#i will WAIT until the actual episodes drop and see where they take his character

[kittaykattz]

ok ok i get being upset about earthspark s2 having Big Bad Starscream again (i'll admit i was a little upset when i first read the leaks) but who the hell says we can't still get a proper starscream redemption AFTER this? this is the FIRST BATCH of episodes. shit can change!!! let the writers cook before trying to taste it and saying it's bad

[ireneaesthetic]

Pointing out little moments and details of my fav s3 scene.

choir practice scene • episode 2

this scene caught me so off guard, in the best way possible.

it only took simon's "you should do an activity you actually like" for wilhelm to drop everything and choose getting to spend more time with him!

simon's reaction at wille joining the choir was also mine: he can't believe his eyes and keeps looking back at him with the brightest smile on his face. and simon shifting wille's attention to where the song lyric is bc it's all new to him is adorable.

wilhelm's little proud smirk between the kisses while simon is so into it: he knew and imagined simon's surprised and happy reaction to all this, but i bet he was thriving to see it up until this very moment. so he might just be thinking that he made the best choice of his life.

having to practice and wait for everyone to leave was probably torture for simon, when all he really wanted to do since wille came in was this (simon's main love language is clearly acts of service btw *cough*). he felt important, cared for, loved - and couldn't wait to reciprocate it.

also, he's holding the key chain and happens to do the middle finger with the same hand. if you look at it as a way of saying 'mind your own business' to us is quite funny.

simon setting the rhythm and wilhelm fully going along with it. they don't even separate their lips before leaning in for another kiss - melting into it. they literally said 'no need to catch air bc we're already breathing each other in'.

simon not breaking physical contact even once. his hands are the third main character in this scene: they act like a glue for their bodies and carry so much passion. it is peak chemistry.

going on his tiptoes to push himself as close as possible and clinging to wille for dear life is the most simon thing he's ever done. love really brings out the cuddliest version of him.

smiling into the kisses and out of the kisses? insane of them if you ask me (i support it) (keep doing it lovers).

wille smiling and biting his lip bc he's the one overwhelmed by simon's presence now. physical touch is his love language and he's flooded with simon's - he must feel the luckiest boyfriend on earth.

one of their greatest proofs of love has always been to provide each other's comfort by being exactly what they lack receiving from other people or what they need most of the times - it's a constant learning of how to give and take.

they can't get enough of it: it's not even only about the kissing but more about their need to just keep pulling the other closer, leaning into each other, slowing their movements to not leg go yet but take time to touch and deeply feel instead - wille's face speaks for itself. this hug is so intimate ugh.

it's finally shown a glimpse of wille's hand on simon's back! it was always there obv but it's nice to see it more properly.

wilhelm obsessing over simon's neck and simon who tilts his head back to make it more accessible. wille could've done it all and trace the path with kisses - simon wished - but the boy knew what he was doing!

the way simon looks up at him and wille rubs their noses back and forth, keeping his eyes on him, gives me butterflies.

they're super affectionate and it's the easiest thing for them to do. the intimacy that comes with their whispering, their own personal space becoming one for both of them to share bc it's safer, warmer, a lot more comfortable. everything is such a manifesto of how much they genuinely adore each other - it's what makes this the it scene for me.

their bottom lips touching are sooo *internally screaming*.

wilhelm stands still to let simon's lips brush past his own and simon's cheek resting against wille's lips to enjoy the feeling a little longer. they look so peaceful.

it happens after wille's "i like listening to you sing": they went from "he likes it when i sing" / "i do too, don't i?" (locker room's fight in s2) to wilhelm actually telling him that listening to his voice is one of the main reasons he joined the choir. it has to be extremely special for simon to finally hear it.

idk if it's just my mind making this up but let's pretend simon is kissing wille's neck here!

wilhelm picking simon up by the waist to carry him elsewhere and keep the thing going more privately. that's my wille.

can you believe this is the face of someone who's saying that he needs to go? to not miss the bus? he just looks crazy in love to me.

wille's laugh is cute! and simon throwing his stuff on the floor bc the priority was to push his boyfriend against the lockers to make out will never not be funny.

also, @allthefakepeople once said the only thing that could've made this scene even more perfect is if simon paused when walking away and ran back to wille to steal a quick goodbye kiss - ahhh i'd have been so here for it!

[jackwhiteprophetic]

What's your ideal first episode of season 8?

Thank you for the ask!!!!! I've just been thinking about this...

We normally open on a bigger emergency, it's not as obvious this season as last season (the cruise)...

I think there's a possibility that they have the emergency be not call based (the emergency is Gerrard, for example) but I hope not!!

I think they'll likely open with a montage of how general life is over the summer, with Eddie alone in a messy house and Buck trying to help him, Henren constantly texting with Madney and dropping by in the mornings before work, and Bathena trying to figure out housing logistics and how to get Gerrard fired and take down Ortiz. We'll see how Gerrard runs the station, and how everyone responds to this, with no one trusting Gerrard's calls and Gerrard trying to split the team up during shifts, and by the episode will end with a larger scale emergency. I think maybe a really large pileup that the 118 is involved in? Potentially Bobby has to rescue the 118 in the end. I think it will be less of a natural disaster, more of a localised disaster like a fire or building collapse.

They normally mirror and parallel personal conflicts with calls, so I think we might get an earlier minor call where someone hates their boss, and I think they'll be fucking evil to Eddie more by having calls where kids are hurt. I think the theme of the first episode will likely be parental separation (with Henren missing Mara, Bobby without his "118 children" and Eddie without Chris. And I think it's likely we end the episode with some sort of emergency where people are trapped together to contrast this, like for example they show everyone being isolated, and then trap them all under a building or impale them on the same rebar or something.

So I think this would be a multi episode arc, and I think it would be most fluid with what we've ended S7 with, and then ideally I'd like it to be wrapped up with Gerrard being gone and Ortiz being exposed.

I don't think Chris will be back in these early episodes (despite my hopes, although tbh I want them to give the story the time it deserves BC if they're gonna destroy Eddie like that they should at least take the time to explore this and have some good scenes), I think they'll likely wait until Christmas for that, and that there's a potential for an Eddie begins again around that time as well.

Sorry ik you said ideal and ideally it would be fun to open with established buddie and just work backwards in flashbacks from there, but I really hope they take the time to actually let the characters be shown and honoured BC I think the way they just brushed over the impact Gerrard had on Hen and Chim, and the way they just hurriedly destroyed Eddie's life in such a fucking weird way is SO STRANGE and I hope they take the time to fix it well.

I hope this season has more calls and is less rushed, BC it felt like due to filming schedules and how rushed last season was, they kept the characters' plots very separate, for example we saw Hen and Chim's storylines intertwined and that was what they discussed on calls, and we saw this with Buck and Eddie, but BC they were shuffling around the order of scenes it didn't really flow together very well.

Thank you for the ask!!!!!

[kazz-brekker]

hotd episode 7 thoughts

let me tell you, i have been anticipating the funeral drama in this episode for WEEKS and it absolutely did not let me down.

as always i am happy that we got to see some of the dragons but i would have loved even more. where is syrax! i want to see her all grown up!

i’m glad we got the velaryons mourning laena, but it really did make me wish that we’d gotten to see more of her alive. laenor is clearly grieving his sister, but i honestly don’t think they ever had any significant scenes together.

corlys and rhaenys with their grandchildren was really sweet, i especially loved seeing rhaenys comfort rhaena and baela at the funeral.

helaena targaryen continues to be a weird little girl and i support her!

i love the idea of making aemond care more about helaena than aegon does, it’s a good characterization bit and also incredibly evil (cannot wait to see Certain Events that happen as a direct result of aemond’s actions utterly ruin their relationship).

why was this episode so dark. i could see everything but it was really gray :(

however i did like the part where everyone was standing around awkwardly after the funeral, the interpersonal drama was delicious.

matt smith and emma d’aracy have great chemistry, all the staring they did at the funeral made me SO impatient for them to actually interact, and their conversation on the beach was fantastic. 

loved getting to see them confront all their thoughts and feelings about each other that have built up over ten years. i’ve always found their relationship compelling to watch even though it’s obviously. you know. incestuous. it’s just fun to watch! and i feel less “step away from the underage girl” now that rhaenyra is older.

i know harwin strong is dead and never coming back but i’m still glad that we got to see jace mourning him and rhaenyra talking about their relationship.

a brothel …. a shack on the beach … daemon i am literally begging you to bring rhaenyra somewhere actually nice on your next date.

the scene of aemond claiming vhagar was both funny and awesome, the visual of this tiny little kid riding a huge old dragon and screaming his head off was hilarious but the moonlight dragon ride was very cool.

truly family solidarity as exemplified by the targaryen-velaryon kids is when your cousin that you just met for the first time that day wakes you up in the middle of the night to tell you your uncle stole her dead mom’s dragon so you go beat him up together!

i like the added detail that rhaena was planning to claim vhagar, it adds even more betrayal to aemond taking her instead.

is house of the dragon actually an extended psa about the dangers of giving young children knives? maybe so!

mom rhaenyra looking after her kids and making sure they’re okay is very important to me :)

honestly, i felt pretty bad for aemond in the big confrontation scene, he was kind of a jerk to the other kids but it can’t be fun to get yelled at by your dad when you’ve just lost an eye.

i absolutely LOVED the tension in that scene and the way that it built and built until alicent just went for it and tried to stab rhaenyra. characters going completely feral and unhinged in the BEST and alicent dropping her mask of cordiality and screaming at rhaenyra was so, so good.

viserys your parental favoritism is reeeally showing…

the scene between rhaenyra and laenor was wonderful, i’m so glad the show made it clear that even though they have their differences and have been basically forced into a marriage together they still care about each other and their kids a lot.

loved that larys was like “hey alicent want me to stab a kid’s eye out for you? :)” and alicent was like “no dude i’ll actually TELL you when i want you to kill someone.” she’s learning!

there were 3 dragons when the boat was sailing away, does that mean helaena has already claimed dreamfyre?

when rhaenyra and daemon started talking about getting married i was SO worried that i was going to see them engage in some not chill behavior together and kill laenor so i’m glad that didn’t happen.

i do have to respect this show for avoiding another bury your gays by having laenor fake his death but. uh. is anyone ever going to tell corlys and rhaenys that their son isn’t dead?

the valyrian wedding between daemon and rhaenyra was really cool but tbh i was kind of laughing at them passionately making out with tongue in front of their kids.

i say this every week but i am VERY excited for next week, looks like we’re in for even more family drama.

[fairvstairs]

HOTD SPOILERS!!!

I often think about the adult foxes life, especially the mundane things they do. Does Nicky watch Heartbreak High? Does Allison love Renee Rapp (and Renee Walker)? Does Kevin read sports romance?

I think about Aaron and Andrew, bonding over Game of Thrones (if you could call arguing about the characters that) and waiting every week for a new episode of House of the Dragon. I think about Neil shit talking the show (he thinks the directors are obsessed with r*pe scenes and can you really blame him?) only for him to stop in his tracks when Andrew is watching it in their living room because damn, they are riding freaking dragons.

("They look alike" "They're uncle and niece" "Oh, they are holding hands so I thought they were a couple" "They are." "What the fuck are you watching!?") (someone please get the reference)

I think about Aaron watching the season 1 finale, feeling sad because of Lucerys but also because he knows he's gonna hardly hear from his brother until season 2 drops. I think about him watching Helaena choose between her twins and knowing that his mother would have saved him. Him watching two twins at the opposite sides of a war fight each other, one killing the other and then himself. Aaron looking at his phone for hours because this time, Andrew didn't text him.

"Andrew would do it," he thinks "he would kill me if I wanted to hurt Neil but then he would punish himself."

And Aaron doesn't like Neil, he is annoying, he brings trouble everywhere he goes and he has a smart mouth. He doesn't like him, period. But he would never try to hurt him. Not when this is the happiest he has seen his brother. Not when he is the reason there was supposed to be a text waiting for him.

"What happened?"

Suddenly Andrew's voice is talking in his ear.

"What?"

"You don't like talking on the phone and yet you called me so, what happened?"

"I called you?"

A beat.

"Are you drunk? Where is Katelyn?"

"What!? No, no I'm not drunk. She is at work- why didn't you text me?"

The words come out before he even has a chance to think.

"The new episode came out, you always text me and now you didn't, why?"

"We are on our way to the airport, we had an away game. I haven't watched it yet. I'll text you when I do."

"Oh, alright then."

And Andrew is a bit confused by this interaction until he actually watches the episode. The dragons are cool, the actors amazing and he recognizes amazing fashion choices when he sees them, but truth is he doesn't really like how the show handles some topics. He is never gonna say it out loud though. He is Andrew, he does what he wants. He's watching the show because he wants to, no one is making him do it.

But, of course, Neil notices. He sees how the blonde doesn't look directly at an assault scene, how he mutes the TV during the little boy's murder because the noises are too real, how he shakes his head at Helaena's (if that's her name) reaction, how he reaches out his hand for Neil to hold, how he spends the rest of the day in silence. Most importantly he notices how, at the end of the day, when they are in bed, in each other's arms, Andrew takes a deep breath and picks up his phone to text his brother. Aaron immediately responds.

This is my first time posting something and English is not my first language so please be kind. I saw the new HOTD episode and I couldn't help but think about the Minyard twins, I had to get this idea out of my head. I think the show would be a little triggering for Andrew but that he would overall enjoy it, I don't think he would pass up an opportunity to "bond" with Aaron but I also don't think he would do anything he doesn't want to do. Anyway, these characters don't belong to me so these are not their canon personalities!

[genericpuff]

in reference to the have you read LO poll by god have I tried but god. God...

A vicious cycle. I go okay I really do need to plow through more of it if I'm gonna hang around the ULO reddit, and then I step on the comically placed rake. I can't do a complete skip thing bc I'll be too disorientated on where I'm at in the plot but my brain only tolerates it up until she declares she's missing her dick appointment and like, girl. Please. You committed mass murder (if not genocide) and this is a slap on the wrist considering, let alone that your moms got the worse end of the deal.

Why it's that specific moment idk but the bottom just drops out for me and it's soooo fucking stupid because like, she couldn't have just... bitched about being stuck with hard labor? That's the bitchy shit I'd sort of expect from a privileged nepo baby and even barring the twue wuv story going on it's her actual biggest issue going on right then. What she's presently living out. But yeah no, horny, we gotta establish that she's horny. Okay.

Sorry about the borderline vent over it there's just enough really interesting thoughts mixed up in the pile of flaming garbage to make one go rabid if they stew on it, and you clearly get that given the rewrite. Have a good day.

omg i've had that exact sort of thing happen with me before too tho, not in quite the exact same sense of like, "wanting to take part in a community but struggling to get through the source material it's based on", but there are like, so many webtoons and manga and stories I've tried to read - after being urged to by pals and people who read them - that I've dropped after multiple attempts of trying to read them. And they're not necessarily dumpster fires like LO (though some of them definitely aren't great) it's more like I'm sitting there wondering "when's this gonna get good? when's this gonna be worth all the hype?" Tower of God is the biggest one that comes to mind, I have tried to read that webtoon on SEVERAL occasions and I just can't justify trudging through all those early episodes for it to maybe "get good". And that's not even me saying it's bad, it's just not interesting to me in the slightest. No hate to anyone who likes ToG, I think I've also sorta drifted away from shonen over the years so that's definitely not helping, but I just can't be bothered to try and read that webtoon anymore, I've given it so many attempts and I'm doing lmao Kudos to the creator though because it's a LOT of work to make a webtoon of that length and they should be proud of that.

Back on the topic of LO though, yeah, I was following the comic when that episode was still brand new and it really made us all go 🤨 because of how out-of-pocket it was. And then like an episode (or two?) later she bullied a former classmate of hers from 10 years ago at his job. That was the precedent for Persephone's character that was set for the third season of LO and it's just gotten worse as it's gone on.

Either way, if I'm being honest, you're really not missing much by skipping over the majority of S3 (like, if you made it to the dick appointment episode before giving up then you're already pretty close to the current point in the story). Like I'm not gonna lie, you could easily skip up to the midseason cutoff point because everything leading up to that is just a bunch of nothing. Hades and Persephone get married and it's the most underwhelming scene ever despite it being the moment people had been waiting years for, also they 'adopt' Dionysus but he's barely in the comic except for when Rachel remembers he's a character so you could also get by on minimal details. Oh yeah, and it turns out Demeter had a kid during the 10 year time skip who we see in like two episodes and then proceeds to get fridged forever.

So yeah, as much as I'd recommend people read LO as a sort of "entry ticket" into the crit community surrounding it, S3 is a lot of nothing and you would frankly not miss out on a thing if you skimmed it or skipped the middle portion of it entirely lmao

[universallydestinytaco]

💖 >:3

(For the askbox game)

@sometimes-sleeby-octopus

Now I would list off my favorite episode in this particular answer BUT I wanna wait until I have seen ever S2 episode before that because I have a hunch that either one of the last three episodes to go is gonna wind up being my favorite of the entire series because this already-impressive and addictive show has vastly improved since it came back....with that said, I can list off my favorite S1 episode, or at least three contenders for the title.

While the "Whodunnit" plot is a tale as old as time and has been in numerous animated works for decades, I can safely say that "Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?" might be my favorite take on this trope because not only does it avoid playing this plot straight like others, there's a couple of fun twists so the payoff/punchline to the mystery is legitimately hilarious, also I love how the episode showcases Pim and Charlie's dynamic so well here with how they approach the situation and how well they bounce off of each other with Pim being the sensitive and caring one while Charlie is the trying to present himself as the more gruff and business-like of the two while also coming across as a bit of a goofball, also that cute bit at the end satisfied this obvious Charpim shipper. But what happens when you get an episode where it's one without the other and will it work as well as the boys bouncing off of each other? Well...

"A Silly Halloween Episode" is a spooky fun romp where Pim being the wholesome and lighthearted character stars by himself in the dark side of the forest on a dark and stormy night while being targeted by a mysterious force. Why this works so well is that even though Pim is not playing off of Charlie's cynical disposition, instead he is juxtaposed to this uncanny Silent Hill/Blair Witch aesthetic and is clearly terrified while trying to keep it upbeat. I like how it feels like a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode or that Mickey Mouse short with the Mad Scientist. The beginning setting up the episode's ending is also a clever punchline. Now that we covered a SF episode with Pim as the focus and Charlie out of the picture, the last episode of S1 I will cover is the opposite.

"Charlie Dies And Doesn't Come Back" is actually the first episode of this show I watched from beginning to end. Long story short: Believe it or not, there was a time before 2022 where I hated Smiling Friends, because I tried to watch the pilot and initially wasn't impressed for reasons I'll get into when I feel like expressing in another in-depth editorial, another reason for my bias was because at that period I was just more invested in serious adult cartoons like Final Space and Primal. But then I considered giving the show another chance once I saw thumbnails on YouTube of nothing but glowing reviews for this show so I figured I'd give it a second chance in the future...coincidentally I did give it a chance when I was lucky enough to catch the [AS] 2022 April Fools Day broadcast on YouTube and I was not only impressed I was grinning like a fool the entire time and I was still chuckling about it the next day, I just had to bingewatch the rest of the show. What makes this episode work is like the last ep I covered: instead of Pim having a solo episode with a dark tone, Charlie stars in an episode bouncing off a more comedic-toned episode instead of bouncing off of Pim and the episode is even better after seeing the rest of the show because after witnessing Charlie trying to look more stoic than he really is for most of this chaotic show his pokerface is dropped once he makes it clear how freaked out by his unhinged violent environment. The climax-leading-to-the-ending is also incredibly sweet not just for Pim and Charlie's reunion but in retrospect this is because it would turn out to be one of the last voice performances of comedy legend Gilbert Gottfried before his passing in mere days after I saw the episode it made the climax when the character he voices even more of a pleasant surprise, what a way to cap off a carrier...

I know, big shocker I used to hate this show before it came out when it ended up becoming my biggest non-Anime obsession at the moment, but it's not the only shocking opinion I have regarding this show as I have two yellow hearts to answer with a bombshell to reveal for each.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: "Rude, Red, and Royal"

Hello, everyone! Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this <3.

Time’s ‘a wastin’, so let’s dive right in. We open on the girls being escorted by the royal guards up to the palace which, as I said in my last recap, is in no way dependent on Ruby giving up Penny’s sword. They could have simply been ‘captured’ for the crime of denying His Highness a new birthday present and then, as Ruby does in a few minutes, weasel out a game by asking to cheer him up in recompense. The sword is superfluous to the plot, it doesn’t track that it exists in the Ever After, is only shakily compelling in its emotional impact on Ruby and, very soon, will literally be discarded. Though we had some genuinely good emotion last episode, what this could have been - should have been - is still far out of reach.

So they’re marching along and we get a shot of the palace as well as the... pieces? Monuments? Decorations? Embedded in the earth around them. I like the subtle nod towards a potential battle having taken place and the red stains against the white look - whether intentionally or not - like blood. It begs the question of what exactly occurred when Alyx visited. 

Yang: “Are we sure we should do this?”

Ruby: “Well, the Red King helped Alyx”

Weiss: “We’re not Alyx”

Real talk: I'm sick of team conversations consisting of the girls vaguely disagreeing with Ruby and then immediately bowing to her whim. This is, structurally, the same exchange we got in Volume 7 when Ruby decided to lie to Ironwood. Yang and Oscar go, ‘I'm not really happy with this :/’ Ruby reiterates her position, and then that’s it, everyone drops the subject. Why? Because Ruby is their leader? That doesn’t hold water anymore since Volume 8 gave us a Yang who’s upset with Ruby’s decisions and actively challenges her role as leader... at least until she’s suddenly, randomly worried about Blake instead. Now, we’re back to where we were in Volume 7 with Yang (and the others) only making token disagreements for Ruby to ignore. Why is everyone moving backwards in this show?

Never-mind that I actually agree with Ruby here. The girls have been shown plenty of evidence that they’re broadly repeating Alyx’s story, the fairy tale next depicts a King helping human girls lost in this world, and Weiss already tried - and failed - to just bypass all that and walk her way to the tree. Plus, it’s not like any of these guards pose a threat to the girls. You’re telling me they can beat the Ace Ops immediately after a major grimm battle, but we’re simultaneously supposed to believe that a bunch of foolish goons made of wood could take them out? So I legitimately don’t understand what Weiss and Yang’s hesitation is when all signs point to needing to do this, those signs imply a good outcome, they’ve failed to do anything else, and they are not - for them - in any real danger.

It honestly feels like RT is continually tossing in ‘disagreements’ so that they can claim the team still has diverse and rich relationships, but that only works if you ignore the realities of the situation and the fact that nothing ever comes of this division.

As they make their way the camera shows a bright blue butterfly following them. Given that this isn’t the last time we’ll see them, I can’t help but assume that the butterfly is another character (Alyx? Lewis?), or else is foreshadowing for someone with an association with butterflies. You know, like how we saw a crow a bunch of times when Qrow first showed up to fight Winter. Originally, I thought the butterfly was our Cat, but then the Cat just chases butterflies and tends to disappear rather than transform... so idk. We’ll see.

They arrive at the entrance to the palace and the guards start a big ta-do for His Majesty’s arrival. I'm not sure why the girls are freaking out? They’re supposedly oh so knowledgeable about fairy tales, this one in particular, they're going to see the King, but they don't realize that this is how the King is introduced? I can only assume this is an excuse to give us more absurd Weiss animations.

His Majesty arrives and, to the girls’ shock, he’s definitely not a King. He’s the Red Prince and the best thing I can say about him is that I really like the sound design. As a puppet, he clinks with every step and that consistency helps sell that this isn’t a human child. Other than that though? 

Oh my god he’s annoying. Like, he’s obviously supposed to be, but he’s annoying to the point where he’s not enjoyable to watch. I saw someone else compare him to Cordovin - an antagonist whose position and beliefs are immediately undermined because the narrative doesn't treat them seriously - but at least Cordovin was capable of holding a conversation without shrieking. Also, note that once again the girls’ conflict boils down to a joke. Why present them with a legitimately intimidating Prince they have to outwit when you can just give them a temper-tantruming child for the audience to laugh at, complete with snot bubbles?

The Prince doesn’t take kindly to them thinking he’s the King. “Well, I never! Coming to someone’s castle without even know who they are - and on my birthday!”

Eh, he’s kinda got a point lol.

As the Prince goes through his repertoire of screaming and jumping around, one of the guards angrily points out that “if it hadn’t been for your kind the King would still be here!” and everyone quickly shushes him.

Okay wait, so the girls are clearly recognizable as human then, right? I ask because that’s going to come as a huge shock to the Prince later in the episode, but here it’s treated as an obvious fact. How dare you be questioning the King’s disappearance when “your kind” are the ones who did away with him in the first place. So what are we supposed to take away from this? That this one guard is the only one to realize what the girls are and none of his buddies pick up on what he’s implied because they’re too busy keeping talk of the King quiet? That all these very obedient, desperate-to-please guards realize the girls are human and didn’t bother mentioning that to their Prince? 

That RT forgot this was supposed to be a Big Secret until the end of the episode and gave us a minor plot hole?

Regardless, Ruby curtseys to introduce herself and it’s cute enough to distract me. That's a nice shot.

The Prince continues to be annoying, to the point where I want to fast-forward through this scene, and Weiss whispers to Blake: “Ew. Did I use to be this unbearably pompous?” Weiss, I wish you were still unbearably pompous instead of unbearably ridiculous. Give me the Ice Queen over this goofy idiot any day. Still, I’m glad that she’s at least acknowledging her bad attitude from years ago, especially to Blake. It’s something... but not much. Again, this is primarily functioning as a moment of humor for the audience. We’re supposed to laugh at the Prince’s antics and Weiss’ unfounded worry - she was never that bad! Plus, the story doesn’t provide the time for an actual conversation. Like, say, Blake responding that no, you weren’t this annoying... you were just horrifically racist, which is worse.

I want everyone to remember that Weiss lost her inheritance and then deliberately escaped her abusive father. She returned to her Kingdom and was active in its destruction, leaving her without a home, without a title, and (to my ever-lasting frustration), no idea what happened to her own former ‘King,’ Jacques. She’s a princess without a throne, without a Kingdom, having spent years struggling with whether she’ll try to lead from that position of power and if so, how. What does it mean to rehabilitate the Schnee name? How does being a huntress and rejecting the 'crown' offered by her father (AKA being head of the company) accomplish that? Now she comes face-to-face with another entitled, bratty ruler who, on some level reminds her of her younger self...

... and we get a single, joke-y line about it.

If this Volume is meant to develop the characters, then actually let them develop. Next episode the girls will go through a literal seconds-long 'journey' that makes me go, "What was the point?" Each of these areas should have something that clearly ties into one of the girls' lifelong goals, acting as a sub-plot to Ruby's Volume-long depression. Visiting a palace with an annoying, abusive Prince is the PERFECT opportunity to let Weiss reflect on her own choices. Yet RWBY, as expected, has squandered it for more humor.

The guards take credit for finding Penny’s sword, despite Weiss’ protest, and present it to the eager, greedy Prince. However, he immediately kicks it away into the hedges because it’s green, not red. 

Okay, two things. One, as mentioned at the start of the recap I think this is a terrible way to (presumably) end Ruby’s journey with the sword - with the reminder that her 'journey' happened at the tail end of last episode and into the first five minutes of this one. To reiterate: what was the point of any of that? To show us that Ruby is sad about Penny? Yeah, we know that already. It’s bad enough that the story is trying to give her a grieving arc that should have happened at the end of Volume 3, but the best the story can do is tossing in a sword that shouldn't exist anymore, have Ruby immediately give it up to her enemies, and then leave it behind in the hedges somewhere, forever lost? I’m not saying the sword won’t show back up - I obviously have no idea what will occur throughout the rest of this Volume - but for now that’s a real bummer of an ending. Ruby runs to try and grab the sword and the guards block her way, so all she does is whisper, “How could you?” I don’t know, Ruby, maybe he did that because he’s a bratty, literal toy who has no idea why that hunk of aura is emotionally significant to you? The audience knows though, so how about you use that semblance of yours to fly around the guards and grab the sword? Or stay behind to snag it? Or endanger everyone by refusing to leave the palace grounds until you’ve found it because fuck everything that's a part of your friend!! Give us something to show that this last piece of Penny means something to you and that you’re willing to fight for it.

I mean, if I had lost a dear friend - twice! - and their weapon was the last reminder I had of them, and the only tether I currently had to my home, and the only means by which I had to defend myself with my scythe missing, I’d try a little harder to hold onto it. RIP to Ruby but I’m built different.

I actually really like that the Prince kicked the sword away because yeah, why would he want something green? And as established, he's a brat. But Ruby failed to do anything with that action and that remains oh so disappointing.

Also, second, why isn’t Ruby’s presence helping their cause? After all, Ruby is Little RED Riding Hood. The Prince might be mad that the sword is green, but shouldn’t he be pleased that one of the girls delivering it is dressed all in red? Take a look at this shot and how perfectly Ruby fits into the aesthetic of his Kingdom:

I kept expecting Ruby’s polite attitude and her overall look to be their key into securing a game. Or, more interestingly, for the Prince to decide that she will be his present instead: the sweet, young, ruby red girl who can play games with him forever and ever (maybe even with a Ruby who'd be tempted to stay because yes, that would be so much simpler...). Yet her coloring - a staple of RWBY's advertising, an in-world symbol of peace - has no influence whatsoever. It’s moments like that really undermine the arguments that such-and-such had to happen because this is the character’s inspiration. It clearly doesn’t have an impact the other 99% of the time, so why is that suddenly relevant? These girls are in a fairy tale, yet their own fairy tales have no bearing on how they navigate it.

For the crime of trying to present him with a green present, the two guards are taken out into the hedges and beheaded by their fellow soldiers. Now, at this point in the story it's unclear whether they've been killed (because they're clearly sentient beings), or if they're just, uh... disabled? (Because they're wooden toys that can probably lose their heads without actually dying.) Though now that I've written it like that, Option #2 doesn't sound much better, especially in a story that's supposedly exploring disability through one of our main characters. Regardless, the point is that even though the second half of our episode will clarify the guards' fate a bit - more on that later - for now the girls have a reaction like they've been killed. Or at least, they recognize that something truly awful has occurred.

So my question is this: why aren't they doing anything about it? Look, I realize that's a loaded question in the fandom given how often people want to run to the girls' defense - they're too tired, it's too dangerous, you can't possibly expect them to fix the whole world, etc. - but the fact remains that we are watching a story about heroes. So how can they just stand by and watch that happen? Or at least, given that they may not have been able to stop it, why aren't they trying to do something after the fact? Try to make a change? Ruby is grappling with the death of a friend and her own feelings of inadequacy. Weiss is, supposedly, worried about her own position as the heir to an abusive hierarchy. Yet neither of them is interested in doing something about the Prince, only playing nice so that he will help get them home. Is that the standard now? Our heroes will ignore the injustices they come across provided that this ignorance benefits them? That sounds a whole lot like Ironwood overlooking Mantle for his own greater good, something the girls went, 'We condemn wholeheartedly!' about. Toss in the fact that both Weiss and Yang just admitted that they didn't want to ask the Prince for help and you've got a recipe for them working to leave the Ever After in a better place than they arrived, rather than just playing by the harmful rules of Alyx's story in order to get what they want/need. 

Yes, you can make that 'greater good' claim given that they're trying to get back to fight Salem (and I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't weigh that given my own understanding of Ironwood's actions), but then at the very least give us a conversation where the girls debate the merits of risking a later/nonexistent return to help this world vs. ignoring injustice to help theirs. As it stands, I'm continually underwhelmed - if not outright appalled - by how the girls are depicted. What have they done since Volume 5 to actually help people? The most we've gotten is them trying to clean up messes they'd already made. Toss in the fact that there's no sense of urgency for them to get home - they're just meandering along, taking it slow, dodging the question of what they'll do about Salem when they get there, having cute romance moments on the side - and I simply can't buy that they're ignoring helping others out of a greater good necessity.

'Huntresses are heroes who help people who can't help themselves!' Blake will declare next episode and I'm like, okay, agreed... but when was the last time you helped someone? Was it when you ignored the Prince's horrible domain? Sat drinking tea while Atlas was besieged by grimm? Started a fight until you drew a Leviathan to an unsuspecting city? You've gotta put your actions behind those words, Blake.

And yeah, I get it. This is a small moment. It, like the vast majority of this Volume so far, is not meant to 100% be taken seriously. There's implied humor in the way the guards dig their nails into the path and beg for the Prince to reconsider. But at the end of the day, the story has given us a group of girls who, for the most part, already hate this Prince, watch him 'kill' two subjects due to a subpar birthday present, have a teammate who wants to be better than the caricature in front of her, and then... they do nothing with this. 

Hey, if Yang is going to be angry all the time, how about she be angry about this? Where's the fire they had back during the Mountain Glenn arc to fix the broken pieces of the world and help those who were most vulnerable? Where's the realization that this is a job and what they want - or even need - will always have to come second to the people they exist to protect?

Given some of the nice beats last episode, I was really hoping that I'd have more to praise in this one.

So Ruby watches this guy kick Penny's precious sword away and 'kill' two subjects. How does she react to that? By politely asking if they can cheer him up, of course. As said, I think Ruby is right that following in Alyx's footsteps is the best chance they've got of getting out of here (according to the information they currently have), but the writing really should have bypassed Yang and Weiss disagreeing if they wanted readers to ignore the moral implications of this. I mean, the Prince outright responds that "Beheading people does cheer me up" and Ruby's got this expression going as she suggests they play a game: 

We once again see the blue butterfly as it travels down through a tall tower of horns, straight into the chamber where the Prince's game is held. Oh, and we saw it before when the guard is distracted by it flying by and forgets to wish the Prince a happy birthday.

The Prince asks what Ruby will demand of him if she manages to win his game. "There's always a catch," he says. Actually, that's not true. Later the Prince will say, "If you win I will help you with what you ask," but initially his question is, "What exactly do you desire from me in exchange for playing my game?" As someone who loves fairy tales and constantly hopes RWBY is going to be more smartly written than it actually is, I jumped on that with an, "Ah ha! Rookie move, Prince! It doesn't matter now if you cheat to win the game, your original offer was to gift the girls something simply for playing, regardless of who comes out on top." Of course, RT didn't realize they'd written that loophole, this isn't even a cool world where loopholes matter, so absolutely nothing comes of this.

Still playing at the polite little subject, Ruby curtsey's again and tries a compliment: "Your Majesty, you are as wise as you are..." and then she stumbles, unsure of how to praise someone who's such an asshole. Little comes to the rescue - sort of - by whispering in Ruby's ear. She blurts "small" before she can think better of it.

To everyone's shock it goes over well with the Prince. I'm unsure if this is meant to imply that Little actually knew what the Prince would like to hear, or if they just chose a descriptor they were familiar with and ran with it. The latter seems a lot more likely to me, given the ongoing joke that Little is far less useful than they continually claim they are and the fact that, by their own admission, they’re an incredibly young mouse who has never traveled past their own acre. How in the world would they know about royal customs? 

Now in a better mood, the Prince agrees to take the girls to the tree if they win the game (not merely play with him). Ruby settles in and asks how they play, which sets off over-the-top laughter from the Prince and guards alike. I suppose this is just supposed to be off-putting or something? There’s no comment along the lines of, “You don’t know how to play [insert fantasy game here]? Everyone knows it! I play it with every subject who passes my way!” The Prince just starts explaining the rules, easy as you please. I can only chalk this moment up to the writers trying to get a, “They’re so weird and vaguely scary” reaction from the audience.

The actual rules are, frankly, unimportant. To the story, I mean. They have absolutely no bearing on who wins. Not just because the Prince is cheating from the get-go, but because the function of the game is to send all your pieces forward during the same turn and whichever piece wins their battle against the opposing side get to stay there. You could finish the game in two turns, tops--which is precisely what happens. Fool that I was, I had hoped that RT would put more thought into the game-battle that takes up the majority of the episode. You know, maybe hampering the girls’ combat abilities through a set of difficult rules they’re forced to follow, necessitating that Ruby step up as the team’s strategist for the first time in years and find a way to win through means other than brute force, even if the end result is still a technical loss due to cheating. I thought this might amount to something other than throwing 3/4ths of the team onto a battlefield with weak goons and letting them go to town, the trappings of rules and a game board and a puppet(tier) existing as more than just a distracting backdrop. Functionally, this is no different from the Prince angrily sending all his guards against Team RWBY, hoping to behead them for the crime of bringing him a green birthday present. We could have gotten this exact battle outside of the game, which makes the game itself superfluous. Which, you know, sucks when the girls are traversing a Wonderland-esque world where their ignorance should be their biggest weakness. But it turns out they’ve always been familiar with this fairy tale, Blake’s worry that they’re repeating Alxy’s mistakes is dismissed, and the girls don’t actually have to play the games they’re forced into. They can just punch things! 

Am I glad that we actually got some combat in the combat show this week? Absolutely. However, this has been one of the problems with Ever After from the start: designing a world governed by fairy tale logic, knowledge of stories, nonsense rules, contradictions... and then dropping a group of protagonists there who, as Yang herself says, would prefer to just solve everything with a punch. Suddenly, a core expectation of the series - that the girls will fight stuff - undermines the expectations of this specific Volume, made worse by the post-Volume 3 message that the war they fight isn’t winnable by brute force, yet, six years in, that’s all the girls have tried. As I believe I mentioned elsewhere, I think there’s a simple solution here in divvying up those expectations: force the girls to solve Ever After problems with Ever After tools, let them fight the Jabberwalker and Neo, and let them finally start the conversation about what they can do with Salem other than fight her head on... but unfortunately, none of this has occurred. Blake will later shut down Ruby’s Salem thoughts before they can begin, there’s no adherence to what Ever After is asking of them, and the girls won’t encounter the Jabberwalker again for another two episodes.

So we’re left with... this. Yang, Blake, and Weiss getting shrunk down when, narratively, that’s entirely unnecessary and the journey to get them unshrunk will take a fifth of the Volume’s entire runtime. I know we’ve already acknowledged that this Volume is filler, but given how much important stuff actually resides within that filler - discussing what happened in Volume 8, figuring out Salem, helping Ruby recover, mourning Penny, finding Crescent Rose, finding Jaune, dealing with Neo, etc. - it seems like a waste to be taking these detours when they’re so thematically unsatisfactory. Obviously in a story it’s about the journey, not the destination... but if the journey is badly written, how about we at least stop wandering from the main path so often?

Alright, enough of all that. I will say that I’m was quite pleased when the Prince revealed his ability to shrink the girls, displaying some pretty formidable magic. My first thought during the beheading scene was why the guards were obeying the Prince when, to all appearances at the time, he was just a bratty child with no way of enforcing his authority. I was afraid that this was just a case of, “They’re loyal because they’re guards and that’s just the way things are!” or that RT really hadn’t given this any thought; why hundreds of men-like beings with weapons were obeying a vulnerable child when, clearly, that wasn’t working out so well for them. Here though we see that the Prince is not vulnerable, he’s quite powerful, and that really helps to sell the fear we see permeating his Kingdom. 

Ruby is obviously concerned when her teammates are shrunk down to Little’s size, but honestly I can’t take her, “No one’s going to get hurt... right?” very seriously. Ruby is WAY past this kind of naive innocence. Girl, your friends are positioned alongside a bunch of beat-up warriors, facing a Prince who just beheaded two of his subjects. What do you think is going to happen here? More importantly, why are you worried? I’ve seen a couple of fans praise this moment because it highlights Ruby’s perspective post-Penny’s death: none of her friends are safe, anyone could die at any moment, etc. But Penny was facing off against a freaking Maiden, not a bunch of itty-bitty chess pieces with toothpick swords. (Here I point out their relative size because even if they’re now equal to WBY, Ruby is still large and could just flatten them all with one good stomp.) The point is that I’m continually unconvinced by this “So horror, much danger” characterization of the Ever After when we’ve spent the last three Volumes emphasizing how powerful, brilliant, strategic, and all-around perfect the girls supposedly are. We’re really supposed to believe that these literal pawns are worrisome to Ruby after they’ve faced down the likes of the Hound, the Ace Ops, Ironwood, Neo, Cinder, and their like? Imagine if Ruby saw a couple of Beowulfs 2/3rds of her team was about to fight, which to her were the size of mice, and she was all, “You won’t get hurt, right?” Ruby, those are literal MONSTERS out to EAT them, but that doesn’t matter because you’ve been taking out this kind of monster fodder since you were TWELVE. The show continually has it backwards, making the characters smug against legitimately powerful enemies and biting their nails over stuff they could squash in their sleep.

Which, you know, is precisely what happens. The girls have absolutely no difficulty taking out the chess pieces, further undermining Ruby’s worry.

Before that though she asks - very politely - for one of the pawns to move ahead a space, facing down the bigger, badder, meaner looking piece across from him. At first it looks like they’re pretty well-matched, but with a pointed look from the Prince, Ruby’s piece pretends to succumb to his wounds, collapsing until a magical stretcher appears to carry him away. He kicks back with a yawn, happy to be off the battlefield and, presumably, off His Majesty’s shit list.

Three other pieces meet the same end until Ruby gets to Weiss.

Ruby: “Weiss, do you think you could take that space?”

Weiss: “Have some faith!”

Again, I feel like the Volume is going for a total decimation of Ruby’s confidence, to the point where she’s entirely disengaged from reality (AKA, obviously Weiss can take out these talent-less pieces). Ruby can no longer summon up enough hope to fill a jar, she’s oh so worried that her elite team will fall to these grunts... but she’s also constantly telling people that yeah, they can handle this, and of course they’ll get back, and look now she’s acting like she always does with smiles and jokes - a part of the endless gags. There’s also no relief when Weiss does win her fight. I think Ruby’s smile is super cute there

but it doesn’t piggyback off of that worry at all. There’s no sigh and maybe a comment whispered to bring herself back to reality, “Come on, Ruby, of course Weiss was gonna win” - something to alert the viewer that Ruby is actually struggling with this kind of irrational anxiety and attempting to fight against it. As it stands, we keep seeing Ruby’s depression introduced and then it slips away again, unacknowledged until it randomly pops back up. “Have some faith!” Weiss says, which is clearly a callback to Ruby’s lack of it last episode, but nothing that happens either confirms or denies Ruby’s struggle. That shot of her smiling, while adorable, could have been taken from any moment where Weiss is being a badass. It’s entirely disconnected from the extreme of, “Omg can a full-fledged Huntress take out a toy in a fight what if another one of my teammates DIE?” Ruby has two completely separate personalities going this Volume and they don’t mesh at all.

The pawns are also super impressed with Weiss’ victory, same with Yang’s, and that feels... wrong to me? I mean, I’ve got nothing against a team that’s been beaten for who knows how long re-discovering faith (like Ruby) and rising to the occasion. (C'mon. I’m a Ted Lasso fan. I eat that shit up.) However, that’s not the conflict here. The conflict the white pieces are facing is not that they think they can’t win, it’s that they’re being told they can’t win. By the Prince. That was the entire point of the Look™ the white piece bowed to: Either you pretend to fall and deliberately lose this game, or I’ll ensure you suffer something so much worse.

Why then would the pieces suddenly rise to the occasion and try to help Team RWBY win? What have the girls done that convinces them to go against the Prince, risking who knows what - beheading, probably - in the process? Now, if I were writing Volume 9 I’d have had the girls trying and failing to save the guards, or at least arguing forcefully about whether they can risk losing a route to the tree in order to help others. Then, during the game, let Ruby realize not only that her pieces are deliberately losing, but that they’re doing so out of fear. Weiss and Yang’s success can be used as a rallying cry and a promise of safety. You help us win this game, securing our necessary prize, and we’ll use our incredible power to protect you from the Prince. The game dissolves into an actual battle, Team RWBY wins, the Cat arrives with an escape route, Ruby gathers up all the pieces using her semblance, and she sets them free once they escape the castle. Maybe they return at the end of the Volume to help in some final battle.

The point of this is not to do an actual re-write in 30 seconds, but rather to acknowledge that there’s no development here. We know the pieces’ initial motivation, but not what makes them change their minds. Really, this micro plot is representative of the entire show, with characters just suddenly doing things that make the audience go, “Wait, what? Where did that come from?” 

“Hey, hey, what about us?” The white chess pieces cry, suddenly eager to try and beat the Prince. “What do you want us to do?” This question shouldn’t even be on the table because you all are clearly terrified of what will happen if you fight for real and Team RWBY has done nothing to persuade you to their side. Indeed, once it’s revealed that the girls are human the red and white pieces start attacking them, the entire board eager to defend their Prince. This feels like a round robin Volume where every episode - every scene - has different characterizations.

As said though, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all take out their pieces easy-peasy and that produces some super cute interactions between the girls. My fluff-obsessed ass if kicking my feet and twirling my hair at those screenshots. At the time of this writing, I’m a couple episodes behind in Recaps (RIP I tried), which means that I’ve already experienced the less than stellar support Ruby receives in "The Parfait Predicament.” So I was pleased to return here and see strong moments of companionship - and romance. Yang works the crowd while Blake politely claps for her. In return, Yang cheers exuberantly while Blake blushes beet red. Putting aside that this is our bumblebee moment for the episode, I legitimately love that they’re supporting each other in this way, even during - perhaps especially during - such a comparatively easy fight. Combined with Weiss’ bow, it feels like they’re actually friends in this moment, playfully showing off for one another and providing unconditional support. This feels like old school RWBY, back when Ruby would cheer for Weiss during class, or Yang would bask in the Vacuo crowd. It was nice to see this dynamic again.

The Prince gets more and more frustrated as his pieces fall while simultaneously becoming suspicious of Ruby. Wanting to get to the tree is weird enough - especially to creatures who, as far as we’ve seen, never leave the safety of their own acres. Little who does not yet possess a purpose is the exception - so when Ruby reveals that they know someone who also used the tree to leave this world, the Prince really starts to lose it. He leaves the game table and... well...

Opinions about his character aside, are non-RWDE folks starting to see why we labeled Volume 8 Ironwood a “cartoon villain”? No, he doesn’t strike such an overblown pose like the Prince, but that kind of spotlight is (usually) used to showcase a drama worthy of ridicule - as we’re seeing here. RT obviously recognizes this, so the fact that Ironwood is given a similar spotlight to reveal his totally rational plan of bombing civilians heavily implies that the writers wanted him to look ridiculous; exaggerated to the point of dismissive humor. By the end of Volume 8 Ironwood was not a complex, fallen hero whose journey showcases RT’s writing chops, he was very close to another Prince: nonsensical, over-the-top, unworthy of respect not because of his actions, but because the environment is going out of its way to say, “Look how ridiculous this guy is.”

So in the grand scheme of RWBY the spotlight is a #choice. Within just this scene it’s fine, simply another way to show us how spoiled the Prince is and, potentially, that this world doesn’t follow the rules of Remnant (though it is harder to argue that the spotlight is real-real in a Volume making use of markers like sweatdrops, angry speech bubbles, etc.) The Prince finally asks the right question: “What type of creatures did you say you are again?”

Now, I get why some fans are upset with Ruby differentiating among humans, mice, and faunus. The line leaves a sour taste in my mouth too, if only because it severely undermines the allegory Blake represents in a Volume where she will (so far) compare herself to a literal cat three times. The point of giving the faunus animal traits and having others discriminate against them on the basis of that is to mirror the Civil Rights movement and, to a lesser extent, other minorities with visible differences. They’re all “human” in the sense of being bipedal primates with intelligence - emotional and logical - equal to others around them... they just happen to have an extra set of ears, or a tail, or the ability to change colors. It’s obvious why RT meant to equate that with the real life social issue of, “They’re human, they just happen to have dark skin,” or were born without a leg (disability), or can curl their tongue (a biological “talent” that not everyone shares). The point is that the faunus have been going, “We are your equals! We’re not a different, lesser species just because we have minor, biological and cultural differences!” the same way social justice movements have said the same about skin color. There’s such a variety within the definition of “humanity” as to make separate categories not just horrifically dangerous, but ultimately meaningless too.

However... RT doesn’t know how to write a racial allegory, which means that the faunus have been treated as a separate species from the get-go, in direct opposition to what their story is meant to represent. They’ve always been separated verbally like Ruby is doing now - “Humans and faunus” - and if you’ve engaged with RWBY’s supplemental content at all you’ll know that the faunus have a separate origin story, though one that does include humanity as a common ancestor.

It’s a mess of contradictions, but that means that Ruby canonically does have the wiggle room to make such statements. According to the rules of her world - generously helped along by being sci-fi fantasy - she is not in the wrong to describe Blake as a separate “creature” from the rest of her team... but that doesn’t erase the discomfort for the viewer as we go, ‘Wait? What happened to Blake being treated as an equal, not a literal animal and all that represents within her allegory?’

Of course, all this culminates in Ruby ignorantly admitting that the rest of them are human. I LOVE the first shot of the Cat’s eyes. They’re just like, ‘Oh, girl... you didn’t smh.’

Legit, there are so many fantastic shots this episode. The animators are working so hard, god bless.

As I mentioned earlier though, it’s weird to me that this moment is treated as a huge revelation for the Prince, especially since his entire guard seems to realize that they’re human from the get-go. Given what we learn later about Ascension, it makes sense that the Prince wouldn’t remember what humans look like, but none of his super loyal subjects were going to bring him up to date? Especially after what happened when Alyx visited?

So much of RWBY just feels unnecessarily contrived. Characters don’t react to the information they have, or work under their motivations, or remain consistent in their personalities. Things just #happen to move the plot along, regardless of how that sits within the story as a whole. At least it's all pretty this season.

But that’s hardly news to anyone reading this. Regardless, the revelation shocks the Prince and in his fury his face literally cracks down the middle. Frankly, I would have liked if this moment heralded a turn in the Prince’s attitude, moving from bratty and mostly harmless to terrifyingly cold... but that’s just me. I like characters that appear embarrassingly incompetent on the surface, only to reveal how dangerous they truly are when push comes to shove.

Weiss remembers that she can use her glyphs to steady herself - yay! - and a jazz-y soundtrack starts up that I really dig. All in all, I think this fight is solid. Nothing to write home about, but not a failure by any means, either. Though I fully expect the combat to get backloaded to the end of the Volume, it is notable that this is our only true battle so far. There’s a brief skirmish against the Jabberwalker in “The Parfait Predicament,” but to my mind it’s so short and easily won as to not really “count” - not in a combat-focused show, anyway. So this is the highlight battle of the first half of this Volume and though, as said, it’s by no means bad... it’s not exactly carrying the weight of those expectations either.

First, I stand by what I said earlier that it’s downright weird how Team RWBY treats these toys as a legitimate threat, especially after they just demonstrated how easily they are to beat. And again, Ruby could say screw the rules and help out by flattening them with her comparatively giant size. Blake gets thrown into the side of the game board and Ruby acts like she’s been stabbed--“You’re going to hurt them!” Ruby... honey... they have aura. You literally slammed your friends against a wall for FUNSIES during a food fight. The show (and the fandom) has always been weirdly unclear about which attacks are emotionally significant and which are not. These little nobodies shoving Blake is cause for great concern, but everyone should shrug off Qrow punching Oscar because duh, any huntsmen can take a hit. (Never mind that he wasn’t a huntsmen.) Yang losing her arm is a multi-Volume tragedy, but Weiss nearly dying from a stab wound isn’t worth a second mention. I feel like every scene I’m trying to find my bearings again - is this supposed to be a moment when the girls are legitimately scared? Confidently smug in their skills? Why is there not an obvious difference between when we get one over the other?

I’m not buying into the stakes here, is my point, which means that Ruby’s moment of doubt really fails to land. Yeah, I get that she lacks hope right now and is likely working under a very warped perception of their strength post-Fall of Atlas, but why not have her briefly crumble against something that truly tests her, either in skills or via trauma: the Prince’s magic, the Jabberwalker, Neo? A mere three episodes into the Volume, against a collection of low level grunts, does not feel like the time to put Ruby in this state:

Plus, it doesn’t last. Volume 9 continually proves to be very good at introducing Ruby’s hopelessness, but not doing anything with it. What’s the point if, literal seconds after she’s given up, she rediscovers her faith - WITHOUT EXTERNAL HELP! - and yells that they’re going to “Kick their wooden butts!!” Ruby doesn’t lack the hope to fill a jar, her hope supply is just fluctuating radically, depending on when the show is sick of her being a downer. This doesn’t feel like Ruby on an arc, it feels like Ruby continually edging into one and them immediately getting yanked backwards.

That aside, there are definitely some high points to the fight. It has a good flow to it, especially in the second half. It makes complete sense that the whole board would turn against the girls once they learn that they’re human, red teaming up with white, and I suppose that helps sell the danger a little more. I enjoyed how happy Yang was at the start, using Blake’s ribbon to plough through the crowd like one of the old-school team fights, even if she’s unexpectedly angry just a second later.

I’ve come across a lot of criticism of Weiss’ wing shot and... yeah, I can see where that’s coming from. It’s in pretty bad taste to keep giving the racist billionaire’s daughter angel imagery, especially during a Volume when she’s supposedly grappling with the guilt of destroying a Kingdom. RWBY has never been any good at picking up on the implications of its “cool” style. That being said, it is an awesome shot and I love the Yang was able to make use of the Knight’s sword. I mean, it would have been even cooler if we had scenes devoted to the girls’ training/character development and they’d discovered that this was even possible before enacting it with full confidence during a fight... but again, still cool. It’s another nice not provided you don’t think about it too much.

Also, I had to laugh at that epic image transitioning to Ruby, showing us just how tiny Yang actually is...

Yeah, that undermines the awesomeness a bit lol.

We’re given the shot from our trailer as the Prince looses his temper and does what I wanted Ruby to do the moment she was supposedly frantic over the safety of her team: upset the game board. Blake, Weiss, and Yang are thrown across the room and Ruby activates her semblance, catching them right before they go over the ledge.

...

.......

OH, SO YOU CAN INSTANTLY KICK-START THAT ABILITY AND SNAG SOMEONE MOMENTS BEFORE THEY PLUNGE TO THEIR DEATH. FUNNY, THAT.

Okay, obviously there are differences between Yang’s fall and this one, including that a) Little helps Ruby out and b) on the bridge Ruby would have been trying to snag a fully grown woman. But I’m not here to debate the details. I’m not here to quibble over whether Ruby would have been able to save Yang. I only care that she (and the others) didn’t try. The fandom has bent over backwards to explain that moment, how all these fighters with various forms of flight and well-honed instincts just stood there, leaving only Blake to make the attempt. Fans are so desperate to praise RWBY that they’re consistently overlooking the simple explanation of bad writing: RT made the characters stupid so that Yang could “die” and there could be a bees moment as a result. That’s it. Now that there’s nothing attached to the outcome, Ruby is free to remember that she has super-speed and grabs her friends like she always should have.

Man, what a detail to include just a few episodes later...

The Curious Cat finally reveals themselves, distracting the Prince with some ambiguously authentic sympathy. It’s just so sad that he’s failing to do “the one thing you were put on this acre to do.” AKA, win games. They warn the Prince that beheading Team RWBY would be a far more permanent consequence than taking the heads of his soldiers - implying that the guards are “fine” but, again, Team RWBY couldn’t have known that when they were being “killed” - and they slip a little bit of themselves into the Prince’s chest, helping him to calm down.

The Prince dissolves into crying instead of screaming and... weeps jeweled tears? I don’t understand how that fits his aesthetic - what does that have to do with being a wooden toy? - but far more importantly, Yukina did it better:

Ruby takes the Cat’s advice and high-tails it out of there, getting chased by the guards all the while. The castle is a bit labyrinth-like, so she has no choice but to trust the Cat’s directions - which turn out to be sound. That’s potentially an important thing to keep in mind as the Volume continues and we learn more about the Cat’s personality and motivations.

“I don’t know how that went so wrong,” Ruby says when they finally have a moment to breathe. Really? You met a temper-tanruming toy that beheaded his guards and threw Penny’s sword away without a second thought, but you’re surprised that he wasn’t eager to help you after you beat him at this own game? I get that they’re going for a ‘Ruby is vulnerable and tentative in her depression’ vibe, but these moments read so strangely after her hubris of Volumes 6-8, to say nothing of her experience in the wider, morally gray world. Ruby doesn’t trust established allies, but is surprised when an asshole who owes her nothing doesn’t come through? Consistency, consistency, my kingdom for some consistency.

I do like that Ruby thanks the Cat for their assistance though. This episode is the most polite we’ve seen Ruby in years, even if part of it is a manipulation tactic to get on the Prince’s good side, and honestly I’m digging it. This feels like a kindhearted huntress who understands the importance of unifying to succeed. Not, you know, the Ruby we saw with Cordovin, Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, and the Ace Ops.

As a minor point, I’d like to note that throughout this whole escape Little has been completely quiet about the Cat’s appearance. They were awake to help catch the girls and the Cat showed up just seconds later. They then flee through the castle and have a conversation in the hallways, yet not once does Little react to a Cat getting up in their face.

This is notable only because at the very end of the episode we’re going to get another, “Cat? What cat??” joke, because heaven forbid we let Ruby sit with their failure for a moment without interrupting it with a bit of humor that doesn’t even track.

Finally outside, the girls realize that getting a Prince instead of a King and his lack of help means that they’re not really following Alyx’s story. Weiss complains that they’re in the “stupid sequel” instead. Despite this revelation, the next thing Blake notes is that Alyx met the Curious Cat... so they should get their help!

So which is it? Are you following the story or not? I’ve got nothing against the girls still heading for the tree because that’s the only lead they’ve got, but we just established that an assumed ally is actually quite dangerous, so why would the Cat be any different? Again, not saying they shouldn't ask for their help given that the only other option is wandering aimlessly towards the tree (and that's if the world let's them go any farther), but maybe at least acknowledge the problem here?

I'd chalk it up to a "Wonderland-esque worlds are inherently contradictory" vibe if I actually thought RT was deliberately going for that.

We end this episode with the return of the Jabberwalker. It runs across an ~evil~ looking acre--kinda similar to Salem's continent, actually. Will we establish a historical tether between Remnant and Ever After?--and it leaves a trail of blood on a group of razor-sharp leaves, which is a cool detail. It comes across Neo, presumably having just arrived, cycling through various illusions in her fury. As the Jabberwalker closes in Neo's semblance...

*Sigh*

It evolves.

Look, outside of RWBY's larger context having Neo power up post-Fall of Atlas is a good choice. She's certainly at her lowest here, not just lost in a new world, but having just been betrayed by Cinder (again). Plus, it raises the stakes for when our heroes next meet her. No, my issue is that RWBY's semblance upgrades as a whole are fairly random and we've long lost the ability to distinguish a true evolution from incremental change due to growth. Harriet simply announced in Volume 7 that Ruby's semblance has hidden depths, but is splitting into three red blurs the upgrade? Is Nora handling that level of charge meant to be indicative of a change, or did she simply push herself to an already known limit? On the surface it seems obvious that an evolution is when the actual function of the semblance changes - Ren can now mask emotions and track them - but we've still got wrinkles like Weiss' semblance where, apparently, learning to summon instead of just producing glyphs isn't a distinct, evolved ability, it's just the standard end-goal. (And don't get me started on how she remains the only one with an inherited semblance, but no one seems interested in that.) Are we supposed to understand that Qrow's semblance changed on the airship when the bomb didn't drop? How do we measure Blake's abilities when she's stopped using them? I can't help but continually compare RWBY to other shows with power ups, ones where the characters have to work hard to unlock them, train anew to control them, deal with significant downsides that come with this power, or go through horrific emotional arcs in order to unlock them. RWBY- with the small exception of Neo for the last one- has none of this. Evolution simply happens, unprompted, the character can immediately use this new skill perfectly, and unfortunately it's rarely a strong reflection of their growth.

Ren can magically track his friend smack dab in the arc where he's supposedly being the worst friend ever? Right.

So Neo's semblance evolves, make of that what you will. Rather than simply changing herself or something she's touched with illusions, she can now create a large number of copies with (as we'll see later) their own morphing abilities. Wow, wow, wow, that's super op!!! I can't wait to see Neo fall to some generic Team RWBY attack.

I'm kidding. Actually I'm not, but I do hope I'm wrong 🤦‍♀️

For now though there's only the Jabberwalker in her way. Neo's clones close in as the Jabberwalker screams "No!" in true fear. Kudos to the voice acting there. This creature remains one of the few things I'm legitimately interested in this Volume.

And thus ends episode three! In lieu of flowers, please send prayers that I can eventually catch up on this project :3

[g0ldgauntlet]

Why I Dropped Winter Moon.

Disclaimer: This is not a callout post on Merryweather (aka the author), nor am I insinuating that the Webtoon's fans are bad people for reading the comic. I was just personally unhappy with it. Also, quick warning for mentions of queer stereotyping, torture, and abuse. (Image description is in alt text)

Florence is My Least Favorite Member of the Main Team

Yes, we're starting this off with him. Florence is the first character of the main trio who the readers are introduced to in the story, and he's an irritating, hot mess. The man is unlikeable to the highest degree. He doesn't need to be a completely good person with a lighthearted personality to be appealing, but the problem I had was that there wasn't anything actually compelling about him. For a while, Florence's character just consisted of being the flamboyant gay guy of the trio with a horrible and selfish attitude, who also had broken fire magic and could win literally every fight that he was in, even when it really feels like he shouldn't be.

His gay identity was constantly made into a running gag that the author could use for jokes, such as when Risa would insult him based on his orientation, but those jokes never really landed for me. They felt awkward and forced (especially the Pride Month episodes, which were really hard to read). Him mistreating the people around him constantly made me wonder why exactly Gideon was even friends with him to begin with, and Florence's broken magic made every fight encounter that could have been compelling to follow...turn out very boring instead, as the predictable outcome would always be that the three main characters would win by a landslide in the end.

It is not until about 123 episodes in that we finally get to see some crucial depth to Florence's backstory, and later on, he faces consequences for how awful he's been to other people, putting him on track to trying to become a better person. By this point in time, however, it was too late for me to care about him. In comparison, we were given Risa (and her brother)'s backstory much earlier, and she receives character development in relation to it, all the way up to when we first find out about Florence's life outside of playing Magnolia Online. Speaking of episodes, however...

I Dislike The Comic's Pacing

I am not one to pressure creators to make content faster if they need breaks, but in the case of this Webtoon, it wasn't about how long it took for the episodes to be released. Each episode that's released is really short, and because of that, a lot of plot points in the story feel like they go on for far longer than necessary. For example, a segment of the story that goes on for, perhaps, 4-6 episodes could have actually been resolved in just 2-3 if more panels were included in a singular episode. A cheap gag that also takes up about 3 episodes for each one could have all been packed into 1 episode instead.

Again, to compare, this was a strength that I think Lookism had over this Webtoon, as I constantly remember Johan's backstory over the 7 episodes where it was tackled, but there was so much content timed in a way that made the reader want to learn more about him (with Zack and Mira even being involved as well). Everything was worth the wait, and I now wanted to know more about what the author would do with this character in the future.

Since Winter Moon had originally marketed itself as a comedy Webtoon, the short pacing makes sense for a story that relied a lot on quick gags for each episode. For me, however, this got old very fast.

Risa's Treatment and Arc

What the author did with Risa, admittedly, was my last straw, as it was the reason why I ended up dropping the comic. To start, I was never the biggest fan of her design. I figured that it followed a specific set of anime tropes, so I tried to brush past it as the comic continued. However, later on, it is then revealed that while Florence and Gideon are adults, Risa is only 17 years old.

Yes, I know that a lot of her outfits are fantasy costumes from a video game, but I still found the design choices to be questionable for a teenage girl whose avatar is directly supposed to represent her. It's especially weirder when I recall that Risa's comedic gag is supposed to be that she's a seductive, gold-digging priestess. This 17-year-old girl goes around online flirting and calling grown men "daddy" in hopes that she can get them to do her bidding. She tries doing the same thing to Florence to get out of a bad situation, but the gag is basically, "Haha, her feminine wiles don't work on him because he's gay!" Yep. Not because Risa is underage or anything, but because Florence is just not attracted to women...implying that there's a chance it would work if he was straight or bi.

I know that, realistically, neither Florence nor any of the men online would have any way of knowing Risa's age unless she told them, but the author does know her age, and he is the one who consciously wrote that into the story....Not to mention that he also wrote Florence making Risa his slave.

As uncomfortable as I was with this so far, I was pleasantly surprised when the author began to dive further into Risa's backstory and character development. Of the trio, she's probably the most compelling character, and the way she acts, whether she grows for the better or goes into a downward spiral, makes sense for a teenager.

My positive reactions to Risa end here, unfortunately, due to what happens next.

Part of the story subjects Risa to a plotline that involves a stranger of her past named Lance. Risa had been mean to Lance during their time together in Magnolia Online, and because Lance is chronically online, he took it so personally that he made it his mission to track down Risa, and abuse and torture her. This plotline was around for more than 28 episodes, with Lance being hinted at a few times but never actually doing much in the story until the Season 3 finale onward. This plotline's biggest problem was its pacing, which I had already mentioned was an issue for me with the Webtoon. Lance spends several episodes setting up scenarios for Risa to be bullied and abused by her classmates so that he can swoop in and act kind to her, attempting to lure her into a false sense of trust. This made sense for the arc so far, so I wasn't complaining. Then, we finally get to episode 42 of Season 4.

This was the start of when Risa was trapped with Lance, as well as a man that he hired to torture the girl. This torture session (as well as Risa's attempts to escape her aggressors) lasts for 10 consecutive episodes before Risa is finally saved by Deiderich, her brother.

That sequence absolutely did not have to be 10 episodes long. I think reception to it would have gone over better if a lot of the panels that were drawn out over so many episodes were compacted into a few. If I were to be generous, it could have been 5, but if I'm being honest, I think it only needed 3 episodes to get the point across to readers.

The sequence, as is, was extremely uncomfortable to read through, and also really unnecessary. Unsurprisingly, Merry received a ton of backlash over this decision - probably the most backlash he's ever gotten over the Webtoon at that point in the story.

As a former reader of the comic, I can confirm that Merry never warned any of us that the story was going to take this dark of a turn. It began with a bunch of awkward gags, but then it tried to take itself too seriously and the pacing issues became much more obvious over time. I think his fanbase had a right to complain about the whiplash that they got, especially with how long this took to execute. Merry seemed to get the message to at least some extent, as when I checked back to view the comic, Winter Moon's genre changed from "Comedy" to "Fantasy," and now the series is rated as Mature.

Mayui, the illustrator for the comic, was also tasked with portraying Lance's "ugliness," since this was relevant during the arc as well.

The problem with this, which was even pointed out in the comments, is that Lance doesn't look ugly at all. His "ugliness" is only portrayed through the usage of physical features that are very commonly seen on people of color. My first thought when seeing these panels for the first time was that Lance had identical features to Asian guys that I knew back in highschool.

When Lance gets plastic surgery to become "beautiful," his face is designed to fit the standard artstyle of the comic, which features thin-to-non-existent-lips and a thin nose. I just found it strange that Mayui made this decision to emphasize ugliness for the character, since from what I can recall, there are little to no black and brown characters in the Webtoon.

After this plotline was completed, I tried reading some more episodes. However, what Risa had been subjected to kept weighing me down, and eventually I just gave up and abandoned the Webtoon in its entirety. I did not appreciate seeing the only female character of the main team being subjected to so much for the sake of what was starting to seem like shock value based on the pacing of the episodes.

The Takeaway

I realized that the reason why I read Merry's comics was not because of his writing, but the artwork itself, and Winter Moon was no different in this regard. The artists that Merry would hire for each of his comics are all very talented at what they do, creating beautiful backgrounds, atmospheres, and facial expressions for the characters that are accurate to the moment that Merry was writing about. This is exactly what happened to me when I tried reading the original version of My Succubus Girlfriend - I thought the dialogue was awkward and not very funny, but the facial expressions and art for the characters made up for it by actually getting a laugh out of me.

As for Merry himself, however, I picked up on how his sense of humor seems to be more along the lines of what cishet white male anime enthusiasts would find entertaining (such as Lost Pause, who has gone on record to say that he and Merry are friends). This is simply something that has just never really appealed to me, and it wasn't hard to figure out that I'm likely not the target audience for Winter Moon.

If you like this Webtoon, then don't let me rain on your parade. I'm not shaming you for liking it - It's just not for me.

[strbymacaroon]

❀ Episode 6, U. A shenanigans ❀

‘Stuck with a cute hero.’

A series where everyone is just being stupid teenagers. Without the whole hero thing. (Maybe some of it.)

I do take requests on character and what each episode should be about!! This series it's just going to be about fun!

Currently exclusive to Tumblr! ♡︎

Word count: No clue! (Medium?..)

On todays episode will be staring!

❀𖧷 Shinsou Histoshi 𖧷❀

"And that's why she left."

“Really? But you’re so cute?”

You didn’t stop the sentence from leaving your mouth. Just continued to type mindlessly on your phone. Updating Todoroki on the current situation.

Just wait until he fucking hears about this.

Shinsou blinked at you, his eyebrows furrowed together. “What?”

You looked up from your phone. “Yeah, you’re cute.” You looked back, finishing the sentence. “What? Am I not allowed to say that, or something?” You laughed quietly.

“I mean, yeah. But-“

“But what?” You cut him off, a smile emerging on your lips. “Not in a situation like this?” You gestured around you.

“Yeah, actually. I would this is the worst place to say that.” He responded cooley. His hand ruffling his hair.

You laughed, shaking your head. “Hey, tomato, tomato. Just trying to ease the tension!” You looked at him, "What do you want me to stay completely quiet while you wonder what the hell I'm thinking."

You leaned back on the cool metal while Shinsou did the same, trying to give you some distance. Which was hard to do considering the small space.

He averted his gaze from you, looking at his hands. Seeing the way your legs tangled with his. He just closed his eyes, sighing silently.

You noticed, cocking your head to the side. "What? I'm not going to fucking kill you, I don't care if you're close to me." You kinda' couldn't in a situation like this.

Shinsou blushed, dropping his head. "How did we even end up like this?"

You obnoxiously laughed, "Hide-and-seek." You quickly replied, tucking your phone into your pocket. "Same minds think alike." They also are equally as stupid.

You should've checked if the locker was 1; Empty, 2; Unlocked from the inside.

So, that's how you were here. Stuck in a random locker with a boy you didn't know. Well-- didn't know 30 minutes ago. Now, you can say the two of you were pretty close. Literally.

"But, really, she's an asshole for that." You quickly added, "Maybe that's why she's in another school you're here."

"I'm mean, I guess.."

"No, it isn't 'I guess..' it's a straight to the point, yes." You smiled at him, "You're hot, just accept it Hitoshi."

You blinked a few times.

Shinsou blinked a few times.

"I-I-" You thickly swallowed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to- to call you by your.."

"It's fine." Shinsou cut you off. "I don't care." With you at least.

You smiled, "Okay then, Hi-to-shi."

The both of you laughed. A small comfortable silence falling over.

Hitoshi shifted his legs, trying to get more comfortable. It only caused the two of you to shift closer together. It was silent, until- "You think I'm hot?"

"I'm going to kill you." You groaned, tilting your head back and closing your eyes. "I'm trying to make you feel better." You stood up straight, trying to roll out your shoulder which was starting to cramp.

"But, you think I'm hot." He said with a lazy smile. Lifting his hand and placing it on your lower back, making you lean against him. Helping out with the restrictive position you were in. "I think you're pretty-"

"What's your quirk?" You cut him off, trying to change the subject. You could feel your cheeks burning, thank god he pulled you closer to him. And, thank god he was a freaking tree. "If she dumped you over your quirk, you better be some kind of freak."

His body became tense, "I mean-"

You shook your head, "Ignore me." You went quite, waiting for his response. Who was this mystery man's quirk? And, what was so bad about it?

Hitoshi didn't respond, and it made you tilt your head up. Looking at him, only to see him looking back down at you. He sighed, blowing a piece of hair out of your face. Making the both of you laugh. You smiled at him, "C'mon Toshi, it can't be that bad."

His lips pressed together, before parting, "Mind-control."

Your jaw dropped, and his turned his face away. "No way!" You beamed at him, grabbing his face and bring it back to face yours. "That's so cool! So, you can like- control me to do whatever you want." You didn't even let him respond before letting out a- "awesome."

He blinked a few times, lifting his hand and pulling yours away from his face. "You don't think it's weird.. or scary?" You could tell that was something he hated asking.

"Scary, absolutely, you could probably take my spot in the hero course if I slipped up." You shrugged your shoulders, "But, other than that, not really. Just sounds like another powerful quirk."

"It's a scary one." He non-chanantly replied.

You groaned, "You know, one of the most unattractive things a guy to do is be insecure." You pushed his shoulder, making him look at you. "We literally have a five-year old boy with can make explosions with his hands. I say that's scarier than a cool collected boy, humble about his awesome quirk."

He smiled at you, although, it was forced. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." You brushed off. You noticed the way his body almost pulled away from yours, "Ask me what I'd do if I had your quirk."

He blinked at you a few times. "What?"

"I'd make Bakugou jack-off in front of the school."

Hitoshi burst out laughed, his hands coming over his eyes. "Really?" he said in-between laughs.

You scoffed playfully, "Fuck no, I don't even think I'd want to see that happen if I was payed." You laughed with him, "But, foreal. I'd probably make him make me some food or something like that." The bitch knew how to cook.

Hitoshi smiled at you, "You're so weird."

You shrugged, "I just say what comes into my head."

"I like it."

You suppressed a smile, "I do too."

His lavender eyes were trained on you, making your skin burn under the attention. Jesus, this man was hot. You placed your other hand on his shoulder, tilting your head to the side and smiling at him. "I think you should too."

"Really?"

"Mhm! Say it, what's in your mind right now."

"You."

You rolled your eyes, "No shit, it be weird if I wasn't." You gave him a sassy smile, "I tend to have that effect on people."

"On second thought-"

You laughed, before looking back at the locker door. Seeing as it pried open. You smiled at your savoir, "Shoto!"

He shut the door back on you guys. "Sorry, didn't know you two were having a moment."

You could feel a tear of betrayal slide down your cheek. Watching as the door opened again, except a smiling Shoto was behind it. You glared at him, taking a step into the light, and doing a small stretch. "You're such a dick."

You turned to Hitoshi, "See, I told you we'd be out before you know it."

He sighed, stepping out of the lockers. "You never said that, you thought we were going to die for the first five minutes."

Shoto snickered, earning a glare from you. He raised his hands defensively, "Sorry, it just looked like you two were about to kiss."

"I was thinking about it."

Hitoshi's head snapped in your direction, making you turn to Shoto. You flashed him a smile, "I'm just joking!" You shook your head, silently telling Shoto you weren't lying.

"I can still see you."

"Damn."

If you didn’t know, I actually had the biggest crush on Shinsou when I was younger. I absolutely adored this man! ❤︎︎ still kinda do, he always will have a cute place in my heart!

I wrote my first MHA fanfiction about him, (which is currently no longer available to read.)

So, writing this has definitely sparked some happy memories. Ah! I actually kinda want to write something short and cute with him now. Outside of the whole U.A shenanigans.

[ieroween1031]

My Thoughts in Real Time as I Watched Episode 9 of Love in the Air That Absolutely Nobody Asked For (Spoiler Alert!):

- I can’t even skip the intro, I love them so much

- HE JUST PUT THE FUCKING BROWN JACKET ON, THE ONE FROM THE PREVIEWS! ARE WE GONNA GET THAT NC SCENE IN THIS EPISODE? I CAN’T BREATHE.

- Side note: I saw someone say that the teaser with the clips from that NC scene was filmed before the show was finished, and that that was their original one-night stand but they reshot it, and honestly? I’m gonna be so disappointed if that doesn’t resurface somewhere in the show because just from the 7 seconds they showed in the trailer, I can without a doubt tell you that it was a better, hotter NC scene than the one we got. The one we got was good, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Prapai sucking on Sky’s fingers while he’s being ridden like a prized stallion just does things to me and if they don’t give us that whole scene, I may actually die.

- Are Prapai’s siblings twins? Do we have another set of twins in a MAME show?

- That flashback almost made me cry. Nothing happened, but I knew what it meant and I literally gasped.

- Are those actual shorts, or is Sky just walking around in his boxers? Because that’s a power move if I’ve ever seen one.

- Sky, my sweet baby, you’re beautiful. Don’t belittle yourself and don’t think that you’re not just because of what your prick of an ex said and did to you. Do me a favor and just please let Prapai love and adore and spoil you for the rest of your life and wax poetic about how breathtakingly beautiful you are inside and out until you believe that you are a god that walks among men, because you are.

- I mean, we know it’s gonna happen eventually, but I want it to happen now!

- OH MY GOD YES I KNEW IT I TOLD YOU IT WAS CANON THAT SKY HAD HIS NIPPLES PIERCED THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

- Oh, wait. If he had them pierced and then took them out, I hope it wasn’t something his ex did to him or forced him to do. I’m getting whiplash from these back and forth emotions.

- I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with that backwards “Some kine of wonderful” shirt, although I don’t understand if the misspelling is intentional or not

- They did it a-fucking-gain. These flashbacks are killing me. My poor baby.

- Come on, text him back. No, that’s the opposite of what I want you to do!

- My whole stomach dropped seeing Sky holding that x-acto knife. I can’t tell you how fucking happy I am that that did not go in the direction I was expecting it to.

- Prapai and these half-unbuttoned shirts are gonna kill me. Put that on my mortuary report: Cause of death: delicious man tiddies

- Okay, I think I read somewhere that in the book, Sky faints from exhaustion and Rain calls Prapai for help, and I think that’s where this is going.

- Called it.

- Sky, stop, I’m gonna cry!

- I will never get tired of someone rushing to the side of their love interest who’s sick/injured/in grave danger. Give me all of this trope!

- P’Joy is annoying and nosy but utterly delightful.

- “He’s so hot, and I’ve got a soft spot for hot guys.” You and me both, sister.

- I wonder if the character description at the casting was like “We need two disgustingly hot guys that literally everyone is gonna fawn over, and two others”. Cuz like, it must be a blow to the ego to work on a set where two of your castmates are constantly being ogled in the script, and nobody ever talks about the fact that you’re also smoking hot.

- Oh my god, they’re so cute all cuddly. My heart can’t take this.

- Prapai’s wearing Sky’s clothes. I can’t, I fucking can’t. Jesus can just come take me now.

- Fort’s thighs. This is not a drill. I repeat, Fort’s thighs. Fort really said “Sky’s out, thighs out.”

- Yes, we love a moral compass. Good to know that MAME finally realized that a sleeping person can’t consent and that kissing someone while they’re sleeping is assault.

- Love Sky Easter eggs. 😂

- He’s practicing saying Sky’s name in the mirror, it’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!

- No NC scene, but it’s so gotdamn adorable that I don’t even care.

- I’m so fucking gone for them. These two beautiful assholes have got me in an LGBT chokehold and I don’t ever want to be let out.

- Half of me is super happy that I found this show when I did so I can enjoy everything in the moment and fanboy with everyone else, the other part is fucking pissed that I have to wait for new episodes and I can’t just binge everything all at once.

[pandasmagorica]

Third (?) Re-watch in progress - Bad Buddy - first 7 minutes

Okay, I'm torn between blogging this re-watch - and wanting to make sure I get this whole re-watch done before Bad Buddy disappears from YouTube. But these first 7 minutes before the opening credits are such genius that I have to blog something before settling in to watch two or three eps in a row this evening.

My review of Stay By My Side is going to have to wait a few days as well. While I enjoyed it, there is more going on in these 7 minutes than in that entire series. Okay, maybe an exaggeration. Okay, definitely an exaggeration. But that series didn't send me running directly to Tumblr's Create button and these first 7 minutes did.

All of this is from Episode 1 [1/4], before the credits:

1:09 Okay, I didn't know yet (on first watch) that this is one of the two mains (and that Wai isn't), but, damn, Pat (unnamed as yet, unless Korn said it in Thai and it got subbed as an English pronoun as often happens in Thai series) looks like a tough guy. We learn later about him having to sleep with his Nong Nao doll and otherwise being a softie, but he does have this tough side as well.

1:59-2:23 Love the audio in this series. Watch what they do with the sound: dramatic classical music as Pran opens and arranges his drawing kit, until his friend interrupts him and we get the sound of a phonograph arm scraping across vinyl then just the dialog. (Would the main audience for this series even know that sound I know all too well?)

2:33-2:42 But when Pran hears it's Wai in the fight, suddenly we hear a heavily distorted metal guitar riff which continues until Pran takes the first earbud out at which point it suddenly cuts off. Hmm, technically I'd consider that an edit error. I'd expect the volume to drop when he takes the first one out and cut off when he takes the other out. But that's a nitpick. Audio-wise, it's a great choice.

2:41-2:45 We actually saw a glimpse of Pran's OCD starting at 1:59 when he was neatly arranging his drawing kit, but now we really see it as, despite being under time pressure, he takes out his earbuds and carefully stows them. (Earbuds will play an important role in the first few episodes.)

2:50-3:57 This fight is so chaotic and disorganized. This is where my bestie decided she had no interest in this series, although I did eventually convince her to watch episode 5 [1/4], [2/4], and [4/4]. Also thinking about how I didn't know at first watch that Ohm is skilled in martial arts. Don't know about any of the other actors but hope they had a good fight coach to keep them safe.

3:24-3:29 Funny to think the actor playing Wai is a doctor in real life.

4:13-4:17 And suddenly everything comes to a stop when Pat and Pran see each other face to face.

4:18-5:54 For all the Tumblr discussion in which the first 4 episodes are seen as being primarily from Pran's point of view, then episode 5 being Pat's, it's an interesting choice to start their introduction as being the main characters with Pat's view of Pran. Interleaving the shots of their life now with shots of their life in grade school and high school establishes immediately that they have a long history, as well as their history of competition and their parents' clashes.

5:54 Bringing the focus back to the two of them as main characters.

5:55-7:00 And continuing the introduction.

6:11-6:14 Lol at the Buddhist monks eye-rolling at the mothers' competition.

7:00-7:11 And now the fight is Pat and Pran one-on-one. And we go to the opening credits.

Whew! Can I just say the editors are brilliant? Not one wasted second.

I don't get reaction videos and have no interest in watching them. But I guess there is something to be said about being able to share my reaction to each moment.

Okay, I'm going to have to lock my keyboard while I watch this. Going back to moment zero so I can watch this uninterrupted.

[purplerose244]

Watched the sixth episode of LEGO DreamZzz: LOVED IT!

So... LEGO released some drawing tutorials with Mateo and I just... they're so pure I wanna hug him 😭😭😭 They're super adorable, I love especially Z-Blob's since he spends the entire time talking about how great his slime buddy is and MOOD MAT MOOD 💚💚💚

We're beyond halfway, I'm kinda sad but I'll wait until the end, maybe we got luck for a season 2?

Here we go!

THE ANOMALY

NOTHING BETTER HAPPEN TO Z-BLOB DO NOT HARM THE BLOB 😡

Pff, what was the chicken story? 🤣

Zoey is still a bit distant, I can't tell if she wants to join in or she likes these people enough to just hang around. I mean, she wasn't there last episode...

Did Logan drop the "Mattie" nick? It felt very derogatory so him switching to Teo feels like a step forward

IS THIS A COOPER EPISODE?? OH YES PLEASE GIVE ME THE DEPTH! ❤️

I knew it, he is stressed! Poor boy got stuff to do and can't even have breakfast, Coop please take care of yourself and have some proteins first thing in the morning 😢

You'll have all the time you want to have breakdowns once you reach high school

It seems like Cooper is the reliable one, Mateo and Logan are constantly over him asking for stuff. I wonder if they also affected his stress as well...

Okay Logan is still mean 😅 He's better, but still mean, and he changed teams permanently? I don't know if this is a "we're not an actual team, only in the Dream World" or a "we'll always be a dream, even if we're not in the real world"... mm

Finally we see the Night Bureau! We saw it only once before... while Teo was almost turning into a night terror... ah such good untraumatic memories 🙂

Ah, so Z is an anomaly? Come to think of it, did he come across because of Lunia's hourglass? Was there another reason?

These objects are histerical 😂😂

CHICKEN MATEO NOOO 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Okay, I'm liking this consistent trend of having Zoey being the most useful character despite being on her own, she just waltzed in solving that riddle lol

Agent... Strick? Oh-oh

DO NOT EVEN TRY TO TAKE AWAY MY SLIME BABY Z-BLOB 😡😡😡

Oooohhhh, so this is confirmed to be Brooklyn? Cool, I didn't know it was an actual place! Again I'm too used to imaginary places like Ninjago or Chima 😂

This gal is intense, dude you locked Oz in a room, isn't that a bit much? Should we call the policr?

Zoey is just there for the drama, girl are you with us or not? 😂😂

Did... did that detect thing turn red when it was on Mateo? Was it only because Z-Blob was behind? Huh... huh

SHE FLIPPING TURNED INTO A BABY/WOMAN WHAT IS HAPPENING

Z-Blob floating has to be the cutest thing even, like, look at that little guy go! To infinity and beyond 💚

NO WAIT NOT BEYOND THE WINDOW

I see how it's going 😅😅

I'm so sorry I understimated Cooper, look at him! He's just a kid and he really wants to be up to expectations, and now we got a brother that sets the example? Dude I'm eating this, I'm a sucker for angst, LOOK AT THIS BOY HE NEEDS A BREAK 😭😭😭

Z-BLOB SHENANIGANS Z-BLOB SHENANIGANS Z-BLOB SHENANIGANS Z-BLOB SHENANIGANS 💚💚💚

You did not make a hotdog out of slime

YOU DID NOT MAKE A Z-BLOB BALOON WHAT IS THIS SLIME DOING???

Is he afraid of being captured? I've never seen him going this awol before, he's always besides Mateo no matter what! Is he only scared or is there a reason?

Dude Cooper was so stressed he forgot breakfast!!! EAT BABY EAT!!!

Okay baby Strick is kinda hilarious... and Oz is on the ceiling... and there is still junk everywhere... and where is Albert? WHAT IS HAPPENING PEOPLE?!

Cooper you left for half a day, and now everything is on fire 😅

LOOK AT HIM IGNORING HIS BROTHER TO CHECK ON HIS FRIEND 🥹🥹🥹

I👏LOVE👏TEO👏AS👏A👏NICK👏

Cooper skyrocketed on my appreciation list in this episode, his backstory got so much potential for analysis! He's such a good friend, he's just very stressed out but he's super capable!!! ❤️

MATEO IDEA TIME 💚💚💚

Was that the superman line? 🤣

Aaaand, we're back! Are we fixing everything now that Coop is here?

Oh wow we actually are! I adore mechanics, I was all over them in Ninjago (Jay and Nya and Zane and Pixal and Ronin and Cyrus... there are so many in Ninjago 🥰), so this is so cool to see!

Agent Strick approves Cooper! YAS!

Oohh, so Zoey was maybe interested in joining, but never could before? Is this why she was a bit snarky in this episode, maybe she wanted to join but could never physically? That's kinda adorable 😂😂

PARTY TIME EVERYONE💃💃💃

COOPER GOT A SMALL HAIRCUT CHANGE I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! ❤️

Alright this was another really REALLY good episode, but... now I'm stuck with the crazy theory that Mateo is the anomaly 🤣

I'm sure I'm wrong and I'm just blowing this out of proportion, but what if Strict examined that plant and found traces of Z AND Mateo? What if Lunia's hourglass was found by him for a reason?

She said that the anomaly appeared "the other night" so it was clearly Z Blob... but technically the other night was when the show started for me, so I might see this as Mateo appearing in this world for the first time. Could it be he fit in in one night, everyone's memories were changed to accept that, and no one questions this?

... I know this just me headcanoning left and right and it's clearly not gonna happen

... I'M STILL GONNA WRITE FICS ABOUT THIS OKAY 🤩🤩🤩 THIS EPISODE WAS SO GOOD I'M SO INSPIRED!!!!

[the-beskar-alchemist]

TLOU Thoughts: Episode 1

I’m going to be comparing the episode canon to game canon fyi, so if you’re planning on playing the game at some point, just a warning you might want to avoid this post.

‘Tis a bit lengthy here, so I’ll put everything under the cut-off

- I appreciate the background information regarding the cordyceps (fungus), I think it really helped to cement the seriousness of the situation. There was definitely some ambiguity regarding the pandemic in the game, I think it’s good to set the mood up front

- I love that the guy explaining the fungus is Johnathan from The Mummy

- The intro was fucking GORGEOUS, very Game of Thrones-ish. Also I very much appreciate that they incorporated the original music into the series.

- 2003? The original story began in 2013, which isn’t a big deal honestly, I’m just going to trust the process here.

- Joel is 36, in the game he’s believed to be a few years younger than this, again I’m going to trust the process

- Pedro’s “Joel accent” is pretty decent, you can barely hear his real accent, so I’m satisfied lol

- In the game the neighbors are the Coopers, here they are the Adlers, I’m not sure if there’s a hidden meaning there or if they’re just trying not to do too much copy-catting with the source material

- It appears that Tommy is a veteran, the close-up of the sticker makes me think this is going to mean something later on in the series (no background for Tommy in the game)

- I think I caught a glimpse of a Bash poster??? Sarah was an avid audiophile in the game and one of the bands she like was The Bash (believed to be a play on the band The Clash)

- The Last of Us Part 2 Spoiler - I’m only going to say that much.....for now

- A Nokia phone is the very definition of “Endure and Survive”

- Tommy getting arrested for bar fighting is intriguing, especially since Joel has always felt responsible for him, the creators showcasing this aspect early on was a good move (we don’t really see this side of Joel/Tommy until the 2nd half of the game)

- Subtle touch with the guitar, Joel is a music lover and has admitted (in game) to wishing to become a singer at some point (fingers crossed we get to hear Pedro sing!)

- Runner alert: So it looks like they’ve altered the physics a bit here regarding the infected (I’ll probably elaborate on this in a separate post)

- In game the turning process usually takes a few hours to almost 2-days to finalize, here it appears it can take a shorter time period depending on the person (a matter of minutes it would seem). Left 4 Dead showcased varying time periods of turning as well (including a matter of seconds) so this isn’t really a liberty taken by the creators so much as another facet of the pandemic to be explored.

- I noticed they changed the paths taken by the characters prior to the outbreak, but I’m happy they kept the highway sequence when they’re trying to escape Travis County, particularly the moment where Joel refuses to help the family on the side of the road. It’s very telling of his character to put his family above all else, even at the cost of his honor.

- The plane! The plane! (of course the airport runways are out of commission)

- I was wondering when the “babygirl” was going to drop, I like that they waited until Joel was having a very emotional moment, it really adds to the severity of the situation.

- 20 years later - How are there still helicopters?

- I feel like the coup de gras with the infected kid was to give the soldiers more humanity, in-game they’re kind of a bunch of assholes (understandably, it’s a shitty job they have in the QZ)

- Not even Joel with his clout is above work duty.....also the way he was so dead-eyed throwing that kid in the fire??? My man is disassociating so hard

- There’s actually a judicial system in place? In the game they just pulled them out into public and shot the ones that were exposed to the infection.

- There were implications that Joel/Tess were trading with the military, glad to see they expanded on that

- How did Robert catch Tess? I mean the dude was resourceful but seriously, he’s not THAT crafty. Tess was so much smarter than him and his crew, in-game Tess would NOT have been caught like that

- In the game it was a gun stash, here it’s a battery that’s up for trade

- Tess was caught again???? My girls is SLACKING

- “Veronica” has an attitude problem lol

- Joel being in communication with Tommy is interesting, in-game they parted ways over a dispute that left Tommy telling Joel he didn’t want to ever see him again

- It was implied that in-game Joel/Tess had a romantic relationship (or at the very least sexual), but they kept everything else strictly professional. It feels strange to see them sharing a bed, but given their loyalty to each other it makes sense that when they’re “off” the clock they’re less professional.

- Why isn’t Tess’ influence the same as Joel’s? The power dynamic in-game was somewhat balanced between the two with Tess being slightly higher because she’s in charge. Here she claims Joel works for HER, trying to establish her authority over him, but everyone seems more concerned about Joel’s reactions than hers. I feel like the writers were trying to establish Joel’s reputation so much that they fell short on Tess being just as fearsome.

- In-game Ellie went to Marlene for help after the incident, there was no rehash of exactly how that meeting went down, so getting to see that was fascinating. However given Marlene’s connections to Ellie’s mother, it’s strange that she had her surrogate niece chained up.

- Riley name-drop!!!!!

- Where are the spores??? Where are the gas masks??? I’m seriously going to do a separate post on the infection after seeing that body, cause this is bugging the shit out of me now

- Tess being jumpy does not help with my opinion of her

- Joel using his construction expertise tickles me, I wonder exactly how many smuggling tunnels he’s responsible for

- In-game Tess/Joel’s interrogation of Robert helped players to see just how dirty their hands were, and how cold they could be. Not having that interaction kind of takes away from that

- State House?

- I love that they’re not holding back on the Joel/Ellie clashing

- Ellie you little thief (also love that they kept that)

- In-game Joel is very utilitarian, him having a book (even one about music) is a little strange. I understand it’s part of his encryption methods, but Joel is such an audiophile I don’t think he would need a book to help with sending messages. Also how are they still using radios, or am I stupid?

- Ellie not liking Joel but still wanting to ask questions is intriguing, she wants to remain tough but she’s still afraid. She’s relying on her instincts that Joel is worth confiding in

- Ellie was always resourceful, I love that a way for them to showcase her intellect was cracking Joel’s code

- The jackets Joel and Ellie are wearing during the tunnel escape are from the Fall sequence of the game, interesting move by the costume department

- Unhinged Joel is on-point, his PTSD was alluded to in-game but not quite explored in my opinion

- Depeche - Bill signaling for help? Unlikely given his stubbornness. Maybe Frank?

All in all I enjoyed the episode, can’t wait to see where the show takes us.

Tune in next week for more ramblings!

Also seriously, I need to rant about the cordyceps nonsense in a post at some point

[angelsdean]

home always feels like an episode they should have waited a season or two to do to me, when the mythology and characters were a little more lived it. I don't know if this makes sense, but i think in any other season, or even this season in the backhalf, this set up would have lent itself to a classic Dean Studies episode, and it feels weird that once we're actually in the house, we're actually seeing Mary, we totally pull back on Dean. Honestly, outside of the phone call to John, he's very sidelined despite this being an easy set up to explore backstory for him as the only character there who has a memory of the fire. And even Sam as the POV character falls flat not because there isn't interesting tension there, it could have worked! but because it's so heavy unfolding the psychic plot point and it's clear that that's more important to the episode than the family mythology. It just feels like you could take the bones of the episode, drop into season 3, and get something that looks completely different. (You said this much more eloquently re: the narrative, but I'm on s2 of my own rewatch and i keep thinking about this, haha).

hii sorry i didn't answer this sooner, but yea that's def how i felt rewatching it like, it just feels like it comes too soon for it to really *do* anything. we haven't yet really felt the haunting absence of mary. their main plot focuses rn are 1.) finding john (and in conjunction w/ that, finding and killing azazel) and 2.) literally just starting in this ep, sam's psychic visions. the whole concept of going back home and being confronted w/ their mother's literal ghost who recognizes and can talk to them is a HUGE thing that deserved to be the main focus, not a footnote in an ep trying to introduce a major plot element, sam's visions.

literally like you said, there's IS tension from sam's POV but they just don't go anywhere with it, since the focus is more on his psychic visions. like the scene w/ sam and mary could've been so much more. and if this came later in the season, or even a few seasons later, mary's "i'm sorry" to sam would've held more weight and packed a punch bc she feels responsible for what's happened to sam !!! for the deal w/ azazel and causing sam to be infected w/ demon blood. but sitting in the 9th episode of s1 where we still barely know anything it just falls flat and feels like she's just apologizing for what? dying? of course we have the gift of knowing everything to come later, but i'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the 2005 audience. what would they have thought she was apologizing for? like up until s4 that audience doesn't even know about mary being a hunter or her deal. so like, for those early years, it would just seem like she was apologizing for i guess not getting to sam fast enough to stop azazel and for dying ??

but yea anyways i feel like dean should've been the central character for an episode like this and we already know mary's death was traumatic for him. he tells lucas in 1x03 how he stopped talking after mary died. he tells lucas he's scared all the time but tries his best to be brave bc he thinks it's what his mom would've wanted. mary is such a central figure in dean's life and memories and is thee anchor to the myth of the "perfect family" that never was that dean is constantly yearning for and why family is so important to him. also comments like dean saying he always wanted to be a firefighter when he was a kid reveal a lot abt how much the fire affected him and fueled his desire to save people. and then in 1x09 Home itself, we see dean go in to save the blonde mom while he tells sam to save the kids which is interesting bc in 1x03 dean immediately goes for the kid and lets sam save the mom. so, it feels like subconsciously there's something there with dean and his desire to save mary. and this would've been a great episode to explore that trauma and guilt he has for not being able to save her (and god it's so irrational and he must know it, he was literally 4 yrs old what could he have done !!!) but still.

anyways this is getting long but yea i think at the very least, home should've come later in the season and not have to share the plot w/ introducing sam's psychic powers. there's just SO much they could've done with the whole concept of going back home and seeing mary's ghost. i wanted them to feel haunted !!!! haunted by home and the myth of mary !!!!!

[youngpettyqueen]

basically rewriting my own tags here but. AU where The Joker is Wild is a more serious character exploration of BJ set in season 4

this got quite away from me and also long so. under the cut to save ur dashes

the point of the episode here would be to establish BJ more as his own character early on, by directly dealing with the idea of him being jealous of Trapper, and resentful of being compared to him. it also makes for an isolated sort of feel with him- he hasn't built these connections with the rest of the cast yet, and this is a cast who knew Trapper and so far dont really know him. by taking this more seriously it allows for some exploration of BJ's character, some room for him to grow, an opportunity for him and Hawkeye to strengthen their bond, and even some room to drop hints for the anger the bubbles underneath the surface for him

it starts off fairly similarly- BJ pranking Hawkeye and Hawkeye not being particularly impressed, leading to him launching into reminiscing about the "golden days" of him and Trapper's schemes. its implied here that this is something Hawkeye does often; comparing BJ to Trapper, often unfavourably, often bringing up how Trapper did things better and how he misses that. Hawkeye doesnt mean any harm here, he's just trying to reminisce and handling his best friend's departure as best he can, but this understandably still gets under BJ's skin. BJ, clearly unhappy, promises to show Hawkeye he's just as good as Trapper was, maybe even better. Hawkeye, not seeing that BJ is legitimately upset here, doesnt take it too seriously and just wishes him luck

no bet element. nobody else is in on it. BJ is still new to the 4077 and hasn't quite found his footing yet, further cementing his insecurities related to where he stands with everyone. he starts off small, simple, harmless. gag cigars, swapping the salt and the sugar and the like. Hawkeye continues to be unimpressed, goading BJ on, not realizing BJ is genuinely getting more and more upset and therefore not taking him seriously. until finally BJ starts to get outright mean, lashing out more obviously, and Hawkeye realizes something might actually be wrong. still, he doesnt think much of it- he doesnt know BJ, he doesnt know him angry, and he decides to wait until he's cooled down to talk to him about it and see what's up

well, that doesnt happen. Potter sits BJ down in his office at one point and tells him he needs to knock off the childish tantrum and speak up if something's upsetting him. he points out BJ's been lashing out at everyone, acting uncharacteristically mean, and watching Hawkeye be bombarded with a bunch of pranks is exhausting. he warns BJ to stop now before he goes too far. BJ agrees, but then typical sort of TV show dialogue moment- leaves the office and says to himself "after I get him with this one"

one last prank and then he's done. its all harmless, after all, he'll just get this last one out of his system and then this all becomes a funny memory. except that's not what happens. something goes wrong. it was supposed to be harmless, of course it was supposed to be harmless, but something goes wrong and Hawkeye ends up hurt. he was told to stop, he didnt listen, and now his best friend is hurt and its all his fault. nobody will even let him help, and he cant even blame them

once things settle, thats when they lay into him. Potter is the most livid anyone's ever seen him, nearly rips his damn head off because he fucking told him so. Margaret is furious, demanding what the hell's wrong with him, and Mulcahy's right beside her. even Klinger and Radar look ready to kill, Klinger holding Radar by the shoulders while Radar demands how anyone could do something like that to someone like Hawkeye. and BJ's feeling so horrible, so guilty, so angry at himself, it all just rushes out of him. he's so sick of being compared to Trapper, so sick of everyone treating him like he's just Trapper's replacement, all he wanted was to show them that he isn't just a sub-par replacement. he just wanted to be respected as his own person, he just wanted the comparisons to stop, he just wanted to stop being stuck in the shadow of someone he never even met. at this point BJ storms off before they can say anything else, goes to the only place he can go; the Swamp

that doesnt make it right, of course. but that forces some reflection. it makes a bit more sense, now. and the others can reflect on that- its implied they've been doing it, too. comparing BJ to Trapper. they comment on it a bit- Margaret saying she sometimes does it without thinking in OR, Klinger agreeing that he's brought it up when BJ reacts to one of his outfits differently than Trapper did, etc. Potter understands BJ's anger, having struggled with slotting in himself, especially seeing as he's replacing a dead man. everyone's anger softens a bit

meanwhile, BJ finds Frank in the Swamp, the only one that didnt tear him a new one. Frank, for his part, is completely unbothered. says he's on BJ's side, actually. says Hawkeye needed to be humbled. BJ snaps back that that wasn't the point, and Frank asks him what the point of it all was, then. and BJ starts to explain like he did to the others, but it starts to fall apart. and he admits that maybe it became about just taking his anger out on Hawkeye, because he didnt want to talk about it, didnt want to admit how much it hurt. he knows Hawkeye misses Trapper, and he's not mad at him for that, he just wishes Hawkeye would see him for him, see him for a real friend, not just a cookie cutter replacement. Frank makes a remark about how he definitely did their friendship no favours by putting him in the infirmary. BJ, wallowing in his guilt, agrees and makes his exit. one of those instances where frank is unintentionally and obliviously kinda deep?

bit of a time jump. its been a few days. Hawkeye's fine, recovering without a problem- it wasn't anything serious. BJ hasn't gone by, though. things are tense between him and the others, and he feels way too guilty to see Hawkeye. finally, he's eating his lunch in the Swamp, really just avoiding everyone, when Hawkeye comes in with his own tray. he parks himself right beside BJ and asks if he plans on talking to him about it, or just avoiding him forever. BJ tries to say there's nothing to talk about, but Hawkeye doesnt let him off the hook

so, they have a heart to heart. BJ opens up, admits how he hates how much he's compared to Trapper, admits he feels this ridiculous jealousy towards him. explains that he just wants Hawkeye to see him as his own person, as a friend, but he feels like every time Hawkeye looks at him he's just seeing Trapper in his place. he says he's done a lousy job at being the friend he wants to be seen as, and that he's been fucking stupid, and apologizes

Hawkeye, for his part, agrees that BJ's acted stupid. but he goes on to say that he himself was acting stupid, because he didnt see how much he was hurting BJ by constantly comparing him to Trapper. he admits he's struggling with Trapper's departure, and that he misses him a lot, but he also knows thats no excuse for the comparisons. he apologizes for making BJ feel like he was nothing more than Trapper's replacement, and tells him in no uncertain terms that he does like him a lot for who he really is, and values him as a friend. he promises to stop comparing BJ to Trapper, so long as BJ promises to stop with the pranks- at least, the pranks on him. BJ agrees, and they shake on it, both of them smiling now

an undetermined amount of time later, Frank is the victim of a devastating prank by the both of them. while he rages on, Hawkeye and BJ fall into each other laughing hysterically. their friendship has come out of this stronger than ever, and we end on an optimistic note