#i'll probably do one at the end of the season if i'm motivated enough

[allovesthings]

Things I'm looking forward to: video edits on youtube with the music from the Lightning thief musical and the show.

We deserve a Good kid tribute for Percy (and maybe the reprise with Luke), my grand plan with Annabeth and the tree on the hill for Grover.

[frogkicks]

Why do you ship deathstar? Not asking out of malice I just genuinely wanna hear your thoughts.

I hope you have a pleasant morning/afternoon/night :]

I love Wander and Dominator because I see the potential for interesting characterization, and telling a good story. As a writer first and an artist second, that's how I tend to judge ideas. I'll explain some of the reasons why I think that.

I'm not going to justify all my points, since that'll take forever and it's OK if I don't "convince" anybody. If you get me, that's awesome, if you don't, that's totally fine! This is a lighthearted opinion piece, and I'm not trying to one-up other ships. Please don't take me too seriously!

Nobody cares about Dominator except Wander

I'll keep my ideas for a redemption arc vague, since I may explore them in the future. If it were to happen though, I feel the best setup is Dominator's defeat at the end of Season 2, and she should be separated from the main characters for part of it. However, I don't think it's possible all by herself, and there's nobody else as willing to forgive or help her as Wander.

All of the galaxy's natives hate her for destroying their homes. She toyed with Hater's feelings throughout the show, count him out. Peepers hates her for turning his boss into a lovesick fool and dominating "their" galaxy. Sylvia is clearly capable of getting along with her, but it was limited, and she organized the effort to destroy her in "The End of The Galaxy". Basically, Dominator isn't deserving of a second chance from anybody. Wander is the only one currently willing to offer it anyway, and I like the idea of it building to their first constructive interactions.

To be fair, he was definitely afraid of her. Dominator was a uniquely devastating threat, and as a competent villain, it was impossible to figure out her vulnerabilities. That drove him crazy, until he finally realized she was lonely in the Season 2 finale-- which isn't why she's evil, but the lack of company motivated some of her habits.[1] He proceeds to save her life, and after everything, tells her "it's never too late for a fresh start."

This is an absurdly forgiving and compassionate guy. We'll never know how many villains Wander reformed, but his efforts span over 1000 years. She might be a cut above the rest, but in his own way, he is too.

Wander's strengths cover Dominator's worst flaws

Wander has experience in areas Dominator lacks. She needs him far more than he needs her-- especially after being "a bit of a pill" to him-- which is fine, Wander and Sylvia are the same way. I'll explain why these two are still a great team in a moment.

Dominator is callous, emotionally immature, and socially stunted. "The Night Out" emphasizes all of it, and the ending suggests she might've never had a friend. Meanwhile, Wander is far more compassionate, emotionally mature, and experienced with relationships. He seeks nothing for himself,[2] loves the hate out of evildoers, and had plenty of close friendships.[3] I really like the idea of Wander, perceived as "dumb and hopeful and pathetic," turning out to be wiser than her and her needing to learn from it.

At the same time, he's not condescending at all. That's important in the beginning with how haughty Dominator is. I imagine Wander being himself and extending kindness, until she's reached the end of herself and humbled enough to accept help from him. I don't like the idea of shoehorning romance into their reconciliation, S2 was clear about it not redeeming her. This is simply laying the groundwork for it.

Wander and Dominator together might be overpowered

Deathstar is a bit of a "double the trouble" dynamic for me. Wander might not need Dominator as much as she needs him, but I don't think anybody else will simultaneously keep up and enhance the effects (good or bad) of whatever he does. I feel like Sylvia tells him, "You probably shouldn't do that," and Dominator tells him, "You should probably do it like this."

These two share strengths: perceptiveness and strategy. Wander reads villains like a book, figuring out their problems, and intentionally provokes them to get their attention while planning things to help them. Dominator reads her targets like a book, figuring out their vulnerabilities, and intentionally provokes them for attention or exploits their weaknesses for an advantage. I like the thought of her being the villain that stumped him so long, because she's as skilled as playing with people as he is!

If they fell in love, they would be a power couple. You're wedding a seasoned traveler to a technical genius with unmatched engineering skills. Despite their potential, I don't like sidelining Sylvia in their dynamic for a few reasons. For one thing, her grounded mindset is still valuable. Wander and Dominator are adventurous, and since he's optimistic and she's full of herself, both susceptible to thinking they can handle anything.

my favs. they are zilly

ok, i ship it because i think it works, but i am not a robot. i wouldn't love Deathstar as much if it wasn't my top 2 favorite characters. by themselves, i love them as super interesting and cute sillies. put together, their designs are so freaking cohesive idk,,,

Wander meets the greatest villains in the galaxy and wants to befriend them. it's so funny imagining that meeting THE villain eventually makes him go "smh who left this perfectly good wife here" 😭 my dopey headcanon: she's a special (severe) case and that makes her redemption admirable and attractive in particular,,, he thought he's seen it all after living so long

i love him looking up at her for 1 frame. he is so little!!! 🥺 she didn't pull him off btw. is it only shock or is she touch starved and in denial? goofy ahh green spoon. what is wrong with her??? oh right shes evil 🔥

i like when their eyes derp out and they did thE SAME FACE?? WAIT WHY ARE THESE BOTH FROM SEASON FINALES TOO. HELLO???

Thank you so much for asking. At the time of posting, everything I wrote applies to my current vision of Deathstar, whether or not I conveyed it yet.

[ramblingandpie]

HOKAY SO On the "Pie watches DS9 for the first time" tour, tonight I'm going to ramble about something that's been in my head since I watched it, just, stuff percolating.

Major spoilers for season 3 episode 13, "Life Support," under the cut.

So part of the reason I am loving DS9 is Julian Bashir. They really did say like "Ok take some of Pie's favorite tropes and also favorite areas of academia and roll them up into one (1) repressed twink." And I love that for me.

So for those who don't know me IRL or, like, well over the internet, I fucking love bioethics. It is my jam. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't even know that "clinical bioethicist" is a job that some people can do until I was in my mid-30's and I don't have enough formal philosophy training to get into a good bioethics grad program. I am an attorney and I work in healthcare regulation, which is close enough, I guess. I've written huge research projects about the history of the eugenics movement on aspects of modern health law. I'm also an MPH student. If I win the lottery and can then not worry about money but just do what I love, that's probably what I'd go back to school for. So, like, when I say that bioethics is my jam, I also am not just being an armchair philosopher. Am I the level of a clinical bioethicist? No. Have I done full bioethics consult simulations? Yes.

And, yes, I do have some spoilers for Dr. Bashir And Bioethics And Maybe Why He Cares So Much About Patient Autonomy and hot damn they really did take my favorite tropes.

AND HO BOY did this episode give me a lot to chew on.

Basically, there are 4 "pillars" of clicial bioethics. Patient autonomy, beneficience (the benefits of treatment), nonmaleficience (do no harm), and justice (what's right for everyone involved [not just, like, patient family, but also things like medical supply rationing]). Patient autonomy is HUGE and IMPORTANT and the biggest thing is like... allowing patients to make their own choices with as much information as the patient can have, even if that choice is "I don't want to know." Which presents difficulties. BUT here, Bareil was like ok yes doc tell me everything ok yep I'm choosing to take this course of action that means I'll probably die. Because it's important to me and my values. Which. LEGIT.

AND THEN I got worried because my man Bashir was like I have concerns but it's your call, dude. AND THEN HE WAS LIKE HEY WINN I NEED YOU TO LIE TO THE PATIENT????

NO??? Don't lie to the patient, Bashir! I'm so disappointed!

... UNTIL he was like "Because you benefit politically if he dies you're not a neutral informant so fuck you." And then I was like OH SNAP!!!! Because! One of the ultimate goals is to try to distill what the PATIENT wants, not what the folks around them (who might have ulterior motives) want!!!! So ok yes in that case you might be like "Hey I need you to balance what you did by doing this other thing so that the patient can look at the situation as a whole without a third party trying to get something out of THE PATIENT'S DEATH."

So basically that episode was like crack to me THE END.

[mahou-furbies]

what are some of the magical girl shows coming out soon that you know of? which are you looking forward to and which do you think you might skip?

Here's a list of upcoming magical girl works from last summer, the earliest are already out but to my knowledge it's pretty accurate for the future.

My take on the list:

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies - my closing thoughts are here

Mermaid Magic - might watch at some point but it's not a high priority

Acro Trip, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc, The Story of the Girl Who Couldn’t Become a Wizard - currently watching, I'll write my thoughts once they end

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie - must watch, though it'll probably take a while for it to be available since it's a movie

Mahou Tsukai Precure: Mirai Days - definitely watching this one too

Princess Session Orchestra - contains idols which is extremely meh to me, but otherwise appears mahou enough for my tastes and the designs are great, so looking forward to this

Winx Club - probably won't watch, unless I get motivated to watch all of the winx franchise

Project Symphogear Next - idols + character designs too mecha + haven't seen anything else from this franchise = skip for me, but maybe I'll check it out one day

Hua Xianzi: Zhi Mofa Xiang Dui Lun - I know very little about Chinese animation or the original Lun Lun so dunno about this one

Studio Pierrot’s new anime - seems like idols again...

Lolirock season three - haven't seen the previous two seasons so I'd have to watch them first. Wait this has idols too??

Magic Knight Rayearth revival - definitely watching this one

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card season two - I haven't seen any CCS anime and didn't particularly like the manga, though I feel like I'll get to it at some point

Magical Girl holoWitches - cute designs, but streamers/vtubers as a theme is about as appealing to me as idols. Might take a look depending on what kind of format this will be.

Ojamajo Doremi 16-20’s - I think it's still unknown what format this will be? In any case I'd prefer to finish watching all the original Doremi anime first.

Also:

Kimi to Idol Precure - idols again... but I'll watch it

A second season for Magical Girl Raising Project has been announced ages ago and it's the anime I'm looking forward to the most on this post, but I'm not too hopeful on it coming out soon (if ever...) since things have been so quiet on that front

I'll also watch the Panty & Stocking sequel, though its schedule is also unknown.

[menaceoffandoms]

LMK fanfics i want to write:

An AU where a new cycle is started after season 5, in which Mk doesn't exist. However, he did something at the end of the last cycle to preserve his friends memories, leading them remember everything one by one and eventually going on a mission to find Mk -- currently writting, am almost done with the first chapter and have 10 planned so far. God help me.

A rewrite of season 5 where I give it a special, basically a what if scenario of what could have been if the writers and animators were given more time, more of a restructure than anything if I'm honest -- not started but planned up to episode 5

A rewrite AU of season 5 where I fulfil what I thought the ink curse from season 4 was foreshadowing: ""you're friends will abandon you, seeing you for the monster you will become" -- not started or planned. Btw I promise I don't hate s5 it just gives me a lot of insperation

And finally

An AU inspired by @/renmist on twitter who made some wonderful art where Wukong was trapped within a lantern that Macaque owned -- not started or planned at all, I just really liked the art and wanna write something to fit the concept but I'm struggling to think of why Wukong is in the lantern in the first place

That's everything my brain has latched on to so far. I love writing but I've never published anything I've written before so the fact I'm inspired enough to want to is kinda a big deal for me, only problem is getting the motivation to do it... if I finish the first one (which is probably the most complex concept of them all, why have I done this to myself) then I'll definitely write the others, but if not I guess other people can take these ideas and run with them!

Also if you've read any fanfics that fit these ideas pls share them I will happily consume tehe

[lara635kookie]

"Tell us you didn't got Snowy Serenity and Eternal Attachment without telling us you didn't got Snowy Serenity and Eternal Attachment"

Me:I try to do everything that slightly remembers a kissing scenario.

Bonus one I accidentaly made of Zayne pinching my MCs nose because it's funny:

On a more serious note, I think I am the only person in the fandom who has bad luck enough to not have gotten not only just one but both of these cards. Yay. Not the kind of exclusive conquest I wanted but I guess it counts.

It's hard to tell which one I wanted more because besides the fact that both cards add important facts to the lore, they are completely different. This is really the only thing they have in common.

Snowy Serenity has everything I like:Angst, a strong woman saving her man, Zayne being clear about his feelings WITH WORDS, a really dark aesthetic that I really like and they kiss MORE THAN ONCE. And they go right into it because those kisses were DEEP. PASSIONATE. Not that I don't like the Doomsday Card, I love it, but THAT ONE RIGHT HERE is the card they were kissing like the world was about to end and that would be the last time they would kiss. Also those kisses show MCs face and not just her back and her hair like all of the other kissing scenes we had so far not only with Zayne but with Xavier and Rafayel(because we haven't got Sylus yet and knowing me I will probably try and lose his too). I also like the fact that Zayne tries to contain himself even though he is THIRSTY and never wanted, never NEEDED, anything in his life like he needed that kiss and he STILL only goes fully into the kiss when he realizes MC is closing her eyes and reaching out too.

However, Eternal Attachment has SMILEY ZAYNE. Seriously, he never looked happier. And never looked more IN LOVE. No, I swear, if MC had any doubts this man was hers she threw them all in the trash after this because OH MY GOD, ZAYNE YOU ARE RAISING THE BAR WAY TOO HIGH!!! STOP BEING THE STANDARD, WE'LL NEVER FIND SOMEONE LIKE YOU IN REAL LIFE!!! No angst at all, just fluff everywhere which is something that I love. And while the kisses were the standard kisses in this game, more delicate and soft and not showing MCs face, MC is the one who starts them! And then Zayne kisses her again. And even though it were just two kisses(in Snowy Serenity you lose count of how many they were), the romantic setup, the buildup to the kiss, the fact that is his birthday, autumn being way too pretty of a season and the perfect scenery(as much as I love Snowy Serenity, an abandoned hq is not exactly the most romantic place in the world), everything is just so perfect. Even though I like angst my man Zayne needs a break from it every once in a while.

What makes me more calm about it is that 1:They are definitely times they kissed off screen or that there was a kiss implied but they didn't show, so I can imagine those. 2:I got Hidden Motive and they definitely had sex in this card so I'll just assume they kissed too during it. And I like how, along with Xavier's, Zayne's card is the one that leaves the impression that they had sex the most. I mean, look at this:

Specially with Xavier, MC goes like:"The memories of last night are still livid in my mind." And then puts a bandage on a "red mark on Xavier's collarbone." I'm sorry, but it doesn't get more obvious than this. Meanwhile, with Sylus and Rafayel I was like "Okay...Did they really have sex or was it just a really intense makeout session?" Because with Rafayel they kiss on the bath tub(that saliva string was SOMETHING) and go back to the room still clothed and we are inclined to think they didn't go all the way because Rafayel is a lemurian, not a human. So does he even know how to do it? Because he probably never done it before and we know how sensitive he can be so is he even ready to it? Can he even take it? And with Sylus we are in the bathroom and it shows him carrying us somewhere so I think this card didn't need much to imply that we really got there. Just something like "After that, we left the bedroom" or anything similar to that would do the work. But instead we just jump to them on the balcony in a way that implies that nothing meaningful happened after the bathroom because both MC and Sylus are not acting different from the start of the trip to the end of it. It seems like they didn't even kiss after leaving the bathroom. It's understandable choice tho because we didn't even got a kissing scene and a confession scene with Sylus yet so jumping right into it would be skipping a lot of steps that the other boys got, which would be unfair to Sylus and us; Sylus girlies. 3:We will probably have a rerun eventually. I don't think we'll have it anytime soon but I imagine it will happen one day so I'll have a second chance. And 4:There will most likely have more kissing cards. I can't miss all of them, right??? (Pls don't answer that)

[neonnightflower]

I'd like to talk about the fact that I doubt that Singed really got a happy ending. Yes, that's probably enough for him. But I still find this ending sad.

I'm not going to talk about what disappointed some of Singed's true fans right now. Namely, this is what he was given a primitive sentimental motivation. In general, someone doesn't like the fact that the goals of this character were reduced to bringing his daughter back to life, instead of him doing everything purely because of his scientific interest. Now he can answer any question "for the sake of my daughter." However, in general, I like this turn of events. I haven't played LoL.

So, in the finale of the second season, we see that Singed has achieved his goal. His daughter is sitting at a table and admiring a box with mechanical ballerina, while her father sits down next to her and looks happy. But let's think about what it cost him. This is, in fact, an unhappy character. I'm not saying that everyone else is happy. But nevertheless.

We don't know about his past, but he probably lost his wife if he was the one raising Orianna. Of course, a woman could despair and break up with him on this basis, but maybe Orianna wouldn't have died if she also had a mother who looked after her. So I'm inclined to believe that Singed's wife was dead after all. So, he lost his wife, and daughter is the only thing he has left of a loved one. Accordingly, that's why he values her so much and wants to preserve at least one part of his ruined family at all costs.

Now imagine that this man lost everything, and he was also kicked out of the academy. I don't know if it was before Orianna's death or after. But in LoL, Orianna didn't die. She just gradually became a robot and lost her humanity. Or was Singed not kicked out? Did he resign because of financial problems? I can't say for sure. Was it said in Arcane? I only remember about the resignation. I'd be grateful if you could clarify this point. But, one way or another, he lost both his family and his job.

Singed had led a lonely life for a long time, and where he lived, only his terrible experiments, silence and a dead daughter awaited him. Most likely, there were also many painful and overwhelming thoughts related to the past. He was alone with it all. And so on for many years. Thanks at least to Viktor (I'll add here a meme that was made by guineapigeddie, sorry)), Silco and his work that he had some kind of communication. And he was just great that didn't give up, didn't go crazy, but continued to try to find a solution, putting his life on healing the loved one from the death.

He also suffered severe burns to his body, especially his face, as a result of which he even lost his lips and an eye. It must have been very painful and traumatic. Isn't that the price?

But what is the price for? As a result, he managed to revive Orianna, yes. But who is she now? A robot or a puppet that will never grow up. She will only be able to return to her hobbies, work, and maybe make friends with someone. But, most likely, she is infertile or even asexual, so Singed will never see the birth of his grandchildren, and even, probably, the moment when his daughter finds a partner and will be happy in this sense. Although the question is whether she wants it herself. If so, it was bad, and it was selfish of him to bring her back to life. Did she even want to come back to life? Will she be able to socialize? Would she blame her father for the bad things he did for her sake? Maybe she'll give up on him eventually. Or she'll be left alone when he dies and won't be able to adapt to life.

And who's Singed now? An old and ugly (not for me ^u^) man who was called a monster, the meaning of whose life is now tied only to his daughter. Someone who is stuck in his past. He lost a lot of time, which now he will never get back, and he has relatively little of it left. I think it's a controversial happy ending. A happy ending with a taste of bitterness.

[snowbellewells]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I'll freely admit I wasn't tagged - and this may not be of interest to any of my followers - but I thought it looked like fun, so I'm giving it a try. I haven't done one of these fic writer asks in a bit, so it felt like it was time. :)

How many works do you have on AO3? I have 94 separate works on AO3, though a couple of those are collections of one shots, so it might seem like more. On ff.net I have an even 100, but way back in the day I wrote some fics for Criminal Minds and Castle before I found OuaT. (I was a big time propoent of Morgan and Garcia becoming a couple... ;P)

2. What's your total AO3 word count? Okay, short of trying to look at the count of each separate story and add up all 94 of them, I'm not sure how I locate this. Let's just say, it's a lot of words.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Now, pretty much solely for Once Upon a Time. In the past I have written fic about the Backstreet Boys (yes, I know, but what can I tell you?) Criminal MInds, CSI:NY, NCIS: Los Angeles, Moonlight, Castle, and a couple Lord of the Rings missing moment one shots.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Hmmm.... let's see, shall we? My fic with the most kudos appears to be a one-shot I wrote for CS Neverland New Year: "Fight for me When it Matters' with 130 kudos, followed by a gift fic written for @teamhook, also a one-shot, called "Thick as Thieves (or Princesses)" with 123, then a three-shot birthday fic for @searchingwardrobes titled "One More" and a two-shot I wrote way back when season three was airing called "Under the Weather" - both of those have 86 kudos. Last is a two-shot birthday fic I wrote for @kmomof4, "The Weight of the Crown (is a Feather on the Waves)", with 85 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? I should do better at that than I do. I love and treasure every single comment. They make the hard work feel completely worthwhile. I do try to answer as many as I can, but since most people have migrated to AO3, I don't do as well as I did on ff.net. For some reason I have a harder time following the comment and response page interface on that site than I did on the other one. (I know, I in the very small minority there, but to each her own, I guess?)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Honestly, you've probably not going to find my angstiest fics on AO3. They're old enough that I'm not sure I have ever moved them over from ff.net. I wrote a Lord of the Rings fic once "What Went Unspoken" (mostly missing moments that fleshed out Boromir's character and motivations, etc. before going to join the Fellowship) that is certainly bittersweet rather than fully happy at the end. I also wrote a post-episode fic for the short-lived, but AWESOME, show Moonlight "Forever Waiting" that was melancholy for sure.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? That's honestly hard to answer! I enjoy the angst - and especially love the hurt/comfort - but I usually have my stories end happily by the time they have finished. Particularly when writing for our pirate and princess, I figure they've already been through so much that they deserve their happy ending (beginning).

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have been pretty lucky in that regard. Way back when I first starting writing and posting OuaT/CS stories, I did occasionally get comments that thought I was including Snow and Charming enough, or that I was having Killian do things for Emma that the commenter thought her parents would or should instead, but other than those gripes, I've largely had kind and thoughtful commenters by and large.

9. Do you write smut? To my mind, I don't technically write much smut. I do occasionally attempt a love scene, but I don't feel like it's something I am especially gifted at writing. If something of mine is labeled "M" it probably means somewhere it gets about as close to smut as I'm able to do. (How's that for an uncertain sort of answer?)

10. Do you write crossovers? I haven't played with crossover in fic writing a lot - though I've read some AMAZING ones along the way. I do have one fic from way back in the first CSSNS event @cssns18 that mixed up Moonlight and OuaT, which I was pretty proud of: "Tasting Forever". And I have a long-delayed idea to do a Timeless x OuaT crossover, but it feels awfully ambitious to plot out, and I have a lot of current WIPS that I feel deserve to be finished up first.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so?

12.Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have co-written a couple of fics with my writer friends @whimsicallyenchantedrose, @jrob64, and @kmomof4, which was lots of fun! And I also wrote a Revolutionary War era au fic with @jrob64 and @sotangledupinit, which was also an exciting new challenge.

"Cave Cruises, Cabin Capers, and Cracked Craniums", "Destination Dream Weddings, Driving Disasters, and Dented Derrieres", and "Freed to Love"

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? That's difficult to answer as well, because I tend to love each of my chosen ships in a special way and for their own specific reason. It's probably CaptainSwan (I mean, I spend a lot of time thinking about them, even though the show has been over for nearly a decade!) Still, if Graham had lived, I think Gremma could have given them a run for their money! I also loved and adored Dr. Quinn and Sully and Pacey and Joey on Dawson's Creek (probably my first two ships before I really even knew what shipping was), Morgan and Garcia on Criminal Minds, and Wyatt and Lucy on Timeless.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am not putting anything here. I fully intend to finish all of the fics that I have started. Sometimes it takes me entirely too long to do so, but I won't leave it unfinished forever.

16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm pretty good at setting a scene or creating atmosphere/mood. And I feel like I'm decent at writing dialogue that feels real and true to the characters.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am terrible at coming up with titles! I mean, it's a genuine struggle over what to call the thing ever. single. time. Also, as previously mentioned, I'm awkward at the smut. And I can do action/fighting scenes (sort of) but it takes me a bit of struggle, and then I'm still doubting if it works even when I finally call it "done".

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? It would be cool to have a character who is from another place be able to speak dialogue in that language. I don't speak a second language, however, so while it would be neat, I'm not able to do it. I have referred to my friend who speaks and teaches French for a few phrases and endearments from time to time. though!

19. First fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I wrote for was probably little stories I wrote for my college friends and I starring the Backstreet Boys, and also Dawson's Creek fanfic.

20. Favorite fic you've written? Oh goodness, I don't know! Truly, I"m not being difficult, thanks hard to say. Some I'm really proud of because I tried something new for me and felt like I accomplished it. Some I just really liked the way they turned out, and so on. But often the ones that get the most comments and love, are not the ones I expect to do so.

I have probably tried to answer this question before, and I might have even said something completely different the last time around, but for the sake of trying to answer, I'll go with "Villian's Happy Ending" a sort of 3b spec fic I wrote between the two halves of OuaT's third season. It's never gotten a ton of feedback, but I was always really pleased with it. Or a tie between "The Case of the Heart in Armour" and "For All Life and For All Time". Both of them are set in the Victorian era (which I ADORE!) and have OuaT characters mashed up with some supernatural elements and themes and characters from traditional British lit. Both were challenging and a bit darker than I had written previously, and I felt like the stretch was worth the effort.

Okay, so, it said to tag five people, but please don't feel pressured if you'd rather not do this. I'd love to see your answers if you do it though! Tagging: @kmomof4 @jrob64 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @spartanguard @searchingwardrobes

[terukotime]

i've been inactive for a while and i probably haven't mentioned it before, but i'm a big Tetro Danganronpa Pink fan, and knowing that it's going to be ending in the next two weeks is literally destroying me so i thought i would give my final predictions for the series (season? technically?) before Tetro Friday officially begins. major spoilers, obviously lmao. if you haven't watched it yet, i highly recommend it! it's been such a journey and is legitimately one of the best fangans out there in my opinion. with that, here are my Tetro Pink Chapter 5 predictions!!!

Hayashi: so i'm kinda leaning more towards her surviving, tbh, which is hilarious since she's been having so many death flags LMAO. what can i say, i just don't want another girl to die (especially my favorite of all the girls, no less 😭😭). but on a more practical note, i think she, at the very least, is less likely to be a victim due to the reward she got. if she gets the sole vote in the trial, it would be weird to kill her off as this chapter's victim, because...then what? does the sole vote reward get passed to a random student? the runner-up of the cage game, which is Yanagi? is the reward nullified entirely, and they all just carry on as they would? it has the potential to be interesting, but i think all those possibilities are a bit unlikely. as for her being a killer...i *could* see it, but it would just feel weird. i know i shouldn't go and claim "this character would never do that!!1!", but Mai is someone who *has* killed before in her lifetime, if unintentionally, and though that person did honestly deserve it, she still harbors a sense of regret for doing it and has taken precautions to never have that happen again in her line of work. moreover, Mai is a (mostly) careful and resilient person. she's continuously been bearing the damage others would face so that they don't have to. her whole deal, since the very beginning, was about protecting people and trying to get out. of course, getting out is definitely the biggest motive of all for someone to kill, but even though she's been constantly putting herself in harm's way for everyone else's sake, i just don't feel like her story will conclude with her quadrupling down on her martyrdom. at least, if it does end that way, I'll be pretty disappointed :/

so yeah, my prediction for Hayashi: Survivor my confidence: 6/10

Wada: ohhh my precious boy. my second favorite. honestly i'm surprised my top 3 faves of the series have survived this long LMAO. but anyway, i think Wada has a lot of survivor potential. i feel like it would be the most fitting end for him to have some sort of resolution to his survivor's guilt. that maybe if he survives past the final trial, he'll make it his goal to try and find the families of each of the friends he lost and inform them of what happened. i don't know if there will be any sense of a happy ending in tetro, and maybe there was never meant to be, but if there's some kind of happier resolution to end it on, i think Wada deserves to live. of course, he is immensely scarred, emaciated, and traumatized, but i think even with all the people he lost, he'll never truly be lonely again. they changed his life immensely, and i think he would do everything he can to keep their memories alive and finally be able to live both for them, and himself. sure, Wada's an easy target as always for potential murder, but if he were to die in this chapter, i would honestly expect him to be a killer, because i can see more motive potential for that. but even then i don't know if that would be enough for him to actually go through with something like that, and even if he could, it's a whole other question of how he'd be able to.

my prediction for Wada: Survivor

my confidence: 7/10

Ojima: MY BOY!!!! MY #1 FAV!!!! i swear if all of my top 3 faves survive i will be ecstatic. very unlikely, BUT A GIRL CAN HOPE. unfortunately though, i don't know where i stand on Ojima's survivability. he's my absolute favorite and i want him to live so so so bad, but at the same time i don’t know if he has as much survivor potential as some of the others. if he survives, i would hope it's in a way where he is, at the end of the day, living for his own sake. he's been attached to Hiroaki at the hip the whole series, and aside from the fact that it feels more likely that they aren't going to make it out together, i think what's most important is how Ojima would be able to stand on his own without his connections to the other characters. would surviving lead to him making changes in his life, bringing him to finally begin his healing journey and go back to therapy? would he regress deeper into his dissociation and become a shell of his former self? i'll be honest, i worry so much about a bad future like that for him that i would rather he doesn't survive, at least so that he'll never have to lose the fight to his trauma 😭😭 Ojima's the one character who i just CANNOT have a sad ending for okay, either he survives and lives the best future he possibly can or he doesn’t survive at all!!! i will not have it any other way!!!!! but as for what his role would be if he doesn't survive, i'm not really sure. i could see him going either way, tbh. Ojima's definitely not someone who i think would be likely to kill under normal circumstances (he's made it this far, especially after so many of us were dooming that it was Ojimover all throughout the last few chapters), but i could see him doing it if he found out the cause for all the weird shit going on this chapter. but i feel like it would be more realistic for him to be a victim, because i also don't think he would want to put any of them in a situation where they'd have to find out who it was, and also end up leaving Hiroaki without his love-you bestie :(

My prediction for Ojima: Victim? Maybe?

my confidence: 5.5/10 (i'm not really sold as him being the victim, but i think he's just one of the more likely characters to die. i'm sorry baby boy i so desperately hope you live, i'm praying for you 😔🙏)

Hiroaki: i'll be real. i have no clue what's gonna happen to him. if Ojima dies, i think the possibility of Hiroaki having a happy ending is almost completely shot. he's been teetering on the edge for so long throughout the game, and came so close to taking his life (and would have, if it weren't for Ojima). with him gone, i don't know how Hiroaki will go on, but i imagine it'd be NOT FUCKING WELL. Ojima's been the only thing anchoring him, and at times the only person who actually has been looking out for him and caring for him. and with the most recent episode as of writing this, [Shaky Ground], he's lost all hope of going back to his normal life, or of anyone going back to a normal life. so truthfully, i think it's likely he's going to die. because if Ojima dies before him, i don't think he would want to make it out of the killing game alive anymore. as for being a victim or a killer, that's truly where i can't say for certain. i *want* to say victim, because good ol' reliable sentiment of "he'd never do that!!1!" to character i like, but i think there's been more possible foreshadowing to him killing instead, i.e. Yonekura originally betting he'd be the first person to kill, his whole mentality of "not caring" anymore, his hope for escape already having been done-in.....yeah, i think this guy might be cooked y'all 😭😭 he truly does deserve better, but the more i think about it, the more i'm believing he's not gonna survive

my prediction for Hiroaki: Killer

my confidence: 6/10

Tamba: oh Tamba. Tamba, Tamba, Tamba. you've gotten yourself into such a mess, babygirl. i love you dearly, but if only you hadn't become so paranoid. that being said, however, i think Tamba's pretty likely to survive, although not without bearing the heavy consequences — namely, her broken leg. since there are only two weeks of Tetro Pink left, which will likely consist of Week 1 investigation and Week 2 trial (or it might not be, you never know) there's literally no time for her leg to heal properly, so her gymnastics career is undoubtedly fucked. but because of such a major injury, i think it makes her less likely to die compared to some of the other characters, because killing her now would feel a bit too easy, and a bit lackluster since we were sort of given a fake out death with Hiroaki pushing her. and there's no way she's in any shape to kill somebody, girl won't even be able to STAND. idk how participating in the trial will go. will she get a chair to sit on like Kamimura did after he fainted? will she have to lean/be held by someone the entire time? is her leg so badly broken it has to be amputated??? i'm seriously praying for her, bc while i think she's gonna survive, whatever may happen to her from here on out probably won't be pretty 😥 i do hope that if she survives, she won't have to be stuck with her parents forever, who i'm sure would be more upset about her ruined career than having their daughter back safe and sound. i think people really undermine the abuse she's gone through, cause while it's not nearly as shocking and horrific as what some of the other characters had to go through, she still lives a pretty shitty life with parents who control every aspect of her life and have physically harmed her before. to be honest, it's no wonder why paranoia became such a big part of Tamba's character, because she's ALWAYS been ruled by fear. fear of what her parents might think of her, fear of losing her career and letting everyone she knows down, fear of being weak and easy to kill. many people may not like her, but Tamba, i love you, and i sure hope there's a good outcome for you 😔💖

my prediction for Tamba: Survivor

my confidence: 7/10

Hasegawa: i feel like out of everyone, i'm the most sure he's gonna survive. i can't really explain it, but i just feel like he will. i think surviving this will give his life a lot of new meaning. of course he's absolutely gonna be traumatized and bears very permanent scars from the experience, but it put him in a place where, despite being full of death and horror, he still found beauty. he met Kamimura, and even though he lost him, they both impacted each other so deeply, and he managed to help Kamimura want to live again. he may not have been nearly as close with anyone else as him, but he still made connections with other people that he rarely ever did, or even could, in his normal life. people still grew to care about him despite the situation, and i'm sure he knows that, and i'm sure he cares about them too. unless he's been the one masterminding all the weird shit happening in the chapter, which i mean, *is* possible, i don't see how he wouldn't survive, unless he pulls some REALLY big brain shit and kills, wins the trial, and escapes by himself.

my prediction for Hasegawa: Survivor

my confidence: 8/10

Yanagi: fellow Yanagi likers, we are SO cooked 😭😭 like it is genuinely so over for us. to me, personally, he's been giving the biggest death flags this chapter. Yanagi has earned him a place in my heart for being a guy who is always wholly, earnestly trying his best. he's been beaten down and brutalized both mentally and physically throughout the game, and while he deserves SOOO much better, i just don't think he's gonna make it 😔 i don't think i like the idea of him being a killer all that much, though. of course he's the biggest self-sacrificing white-knight martyr to ever exist and probably WOULD kill someone just to help the others (especially Mai) escape, i just don't want that to be the way it ends for him. like how i feel about Mai, i don’t want him to die doing the same thing he always has, believing the same things about himself that he always has, and in the end, not having much of a conclusive arc for his character. obviously i don't think tetro would be bad and awful if that does happen, i don't think tetro would ever be bad just because none of my predictions are what i want them to be. but that's just personally what i feel about Yanagi being the chapter 5 culprit. so, that being said, i think he's most likely going to be the victim, and i feel like his death would be a very big moment of truth, cause when it comes down to it, it would have to be *Mai* who solves his death. hopefully everyone else cooperates and helps with the investigation too, but it's really down to her to figure things out and be 100%, unmistakably sure who did it, or else she and all the other innocent students die, and she'll be executed knowing she failed Yanagi and wasn't able to bring his killer to justice. of course i don't want to make Yanagi's death all about Mai, because he's still his own character, but i think him being killed will have the biggest, most dramatic, most climactic impact on the story. i sure hope that if he's killed, it isn't too brutal or anything :( like maybe he'll be able to live the rest of his life with Mai just like he wants to. except the rest of his life just happens to be fairly short LMAO

my prediction for Yanagi: Victim

my confidence: 8/10

overall prediction:

Chapter 5 Victim: Yanagi Shigeki

Chapter 5 Blackened: Hiroaki Nakamigawa

let's all hold hands and hope for the best you guys. manifest Kan and Yonekura dying instead of anybody else 🙏🙏🙏

[duckduckhjonk]

I just finished watching the new tpot episode and ouhhggggghhhhhh I have thinks and thoughts

Massive spoilers ahead, this is kinda a full episode review atp, I ramble a lot

First off I really liked One's area, it's super pretty and mystical but somehow feels sinister in a way? Like it's a little too dark to be fully whimsical and fun and mystical without a sinister hint to it.

This kinda also pulls towards my thoughts on One themself. I think they're pulling a cutesy coverup to something evil. I do not trust this number at all. And I pray this doesn't lead to her getting all these contestants eliminated because I am personally biased and will cry the day Fanny gets the boot.

Similarly, I'm really glad to have this storyline start going off. I really wonder what One wants from these characters. Are they as sinister as I am suspecting? I feel like One is moreso a Deal with the Devil type character and I don't think they're actually good friends with Two. I think that's a lie.

The characters themselves that are chosen are also really interesting picks. Fanny, Ice Cube, Basketball, Bell, and Bomby. It's kind of "what do these characters have in common?" I suppose it's they all needed something? Not entirely sure on that though, I mean yeah they probably do. A mouth, legs, help with Robot Flower maybe? An escape from being eliminated? It gets harder with those three to decide what they could get from One to be a part of their scheme.

At least I'll get to hopefully see more Bomby despite his elimination :3

Moving on, I really like the new teams. I think again Death PACT Yet Again is gonna be my favourite but the other teams are super fun as well. Truly devastating news that Golf Ball and Tennis Ball got separated. I fear neither have long left because of this. But on the off chance they do last, I'd like to see how they develop apart.

The challenge felt a little uninteresting but I think it was much more of a catalyst for figuring out team dynamics rather than be a focal point. Still pretty decent and a good finish to it. I personally love that Robot Flower ended up with Death PACT Yet Again.

Also really looking forward to one of the original exitors joining! I feel some of them were vastly underutilised in previous seasons and some got the boot just before getting interesting, pretty namely Dora and Liy come to mind. I voted for Dora because I'd like to see where she's going and what she'd do on TPOT. I think another interesting option would be Match. As much as I dislike her, I think she also has a lot of potential. Maybe a respark in her rivalry with Fanny, I think it would be interesting despite Bubble not being there. Maybe she would also serve as some motivation for Book to try and become better friends with Ice Cube before Match regains her trust.

Speaking of Bubble, I think I'd like to know what the BFB characters are doing. I don't think I'd like them to join the cast/show fully but maybe a check in? We already got Tear Drop in TPOT so none of them could join the show, but it would be interesting to see how they are.

I think in the future as far as theories I have go, I think One is going after either Golf Ball or Tennis Ball next. They're apart and need something and make pretty good targets. Although if it's a 1 per team deal I would also think Donut would be a good choice. He does have his arms missing but also I think he's been the most misused imo. He had a lot of potential on the pre split that I think wasn't utilised, especially with having Four's powers. I think this could be just what he needs.

As for further theories with One, I think they're definitely the weakest of the Algebraliens. Maybe their motivation is having all of these chosen champions and their "favour" is them giving One Twos power at the end of it. That's what I have so far, I mean I haven't seen enough to know 100% and I don't think that would be the case but that's my best theory.

Thanks for listening to me ramble 👍 lmk what you think!

[shiroen]

🔪 - Any characters you don't like?

💬 - Any fan theories you've had or currently have?

🎤 - Any hot takes?

Hello anon! Thank you for sending in an ask. I'm going to answer 🔪🎤 first as they will be shorter answers and then dive into the fan theory part that will have a read-more break because it'll be pretty long (with screenshots).

There are a few character in ITGR that I don't like, but one of my least favorites, if not my least favorite, is Chase. Who, I do notice, is quite the fan favorite, possibly second to Brook. SORRY for the slander if you like Chase by the way uhmm I definitely understand the appeal of his character, in season one, he's a self-righteous idealistic man who takes it in his own hands to do anything he can to improve the state of the world regardless of whether people see it as morally correct. Hell, I like Light Yagami (not Shiro mentioning something from another fandom on his ITGR blog? Breaking his own rules, eh?) even, so of course I can see the appeal of a character like this, but after season three starts, that whole image collapses. He loses his plot involvement and direction as a character, in the end no longer caring enough about the world to take the steps he did before to improve it. While this is a fair development of a character like him, in ITGR, it just renders him near useless. After the arc where they attempt to uncover Scarlet's backstory, he turns into an accessory purely as a motive (taking care of him) for Scarlet, and to an extent holding her back. Going from whip-smart detective with unrealistic ideals to A Guy. A nerd who kinda bums around as the ITGR discord would describe it. It's all a realistic turn of events but nonetheless that doesn't make him a likeable character to me. Not saying that a good character has to necessarily be plot relevant and etc. at all it's just my personal preference that they are.

Sorry. Going to yap a bit more about Chase regarding the hot take I'll be talking about. I personally do NOT think Chase should return and that Zero is Chase, and I don't think he should be from a storytelling perspective. Many have talked about how much they'd like Chase's return and have been hoping for Zero to be Chase, not taking into account how Chase, if he returns, because there is just no way for him to be plot relevant at all as of season four's current plot. All he'd do is be an accessory to Scarlet and hold the plot back. It also feels disrespectful for him to be brought back after that very heartfelt send-off in season three, just taking away all its merit and significance. If Zero turns out to be Chase—I think that takes away the whole merit of his character. His largest appeal to, at least me, is the unsteadiness of his sense of identity, careening between the feelings of a dead man and his own role as an archreaper. I don't know about you, but I think it'd feel very invasive to feel the emotions of someone else that you wouldn't have otherwise, and then being forced to put those emotions (and memories) into conflict with the current identity you have (for Zero, as the most powerful archreaper, directly in opposition to Scarlet). Grave has set up such potential with Zero already, and a reveal that he was actually Chase all this time would be so disappointing IMO.

Fan theory time. Discussing archreaper Three and Five's identities... this is a theory shared by the ITGR discord as I'm actually not great at making theories aha.

FIVE'S IDENTITY

I haven't seen a lot of theories about Five's identity actually. Out of what I know, I can infer that it'd probably be pretty likely in some readers minds that Five could be Ana, considering that she was sentenced to the fifth circle (Episode 11).

However, I propose a different idea: that Five is not Ana, but Natasha (Brook's sister).

Natasha has a very similar sin as Ana, who was sentenced to the fifth circle for killing her own son. If qualifications for the fifth circle is killing a family member, whether indirectly or directly, then Natasha fits the bill (with killing Brook by ordering a subordinate to do so).

In the first archreaper appearance, Episode 155, Five's first words are "...Cease your squabbling, fools," and, "It's unsightly. We should behave with the same status as our stations imply." While we never heard Natasha directly talk to Brook within his backstory, this sounds quite, pretentious? Comes off high and lofty, as if coming from a "woman of high nobility," as Jordan notes. This falls in line with Natasha, the head of her clan and company, who can be assumed to be, if not nobility, then at least rich enough to seem so.

Five's sihlouette, at higher brightness, has hair very similar to Natasha in Brook's backstory.

Comparing that, to:

It's not a perfect match, though it isn't out of the realm for Natasha's hairstyle to have been altered a bit, as Everette definitely underwent a more pretty drastic hairstyle change as well. Now, if we look closer at that image of Five at a higher brightness, if you can, look closely at her pupils: the shape of a crosshair.

Natasha, in Brook's backstory, has been seen with guns:

It would make sense for the archreaper with crosshair pupils to have used firearms in their life, and use them in the afterlife as their main weapon.

Now, examining the silhouettes revealed on Episode 194, here is Five's:

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Five's temperament with her silhouette; a woman with large horns and hair in a braid that falls down to her knees. She appears to be wearing a dress. Everette says: "Five is really scary! She's got a sharp temper! She also thinks she's better than everyone else, which... I dunno, she is pretty smart, but if I talked to her for too long, I think I'd cry...!" The background is bright pink.]

Five's hair has changed, from Episode 155, it being down, to 194, it being braided. That's fine, Vincent's eye color changed from brown to light orange to match his little sister better, Grave has done this before. Also, the background, bright pink, is probably her demon, which is a very similar color to Brook's accent color, yeah?

As for the personality description, we don't know that much about Natasha's temperament, but it fits well for a businesswoman who ran a company. Whip smart and with a sharp temper. Probably makes subordinates cry, or at least fearful.

I think... I've solidified my case of Five's identity pretty well with what we have released at the time of writing this. It also makes sense plot-wise as a way to reinvolve Brook into season four's plot, by exploring parts of his past once again. Their (likely) confrontation will be very interesting to see in the future.

THREE'S IDENTITY

I think Three's identity has been most popularly theorized to be Natasha, but with all that I've said to convince you of Natasha being Five, then who do I think Three is?

I've already disproved Natasha as Three pretty clearly, as her sentence would likely be greater than the third circle for murder (Liam was sentenced to fourth for murdering someone random, while Ana was sentenced to fifth for murdering her own family).

This will be mostly based off my own conclusions and inferences rather than concrete text evidence, so take it with a grain of salt if you will, I believe Three's identity to be Ashe's daughter.

It would make sense plot-wise, if Natasha is a way to bring back Brook and make him plot relevant, than if Three is Ashe's daughter, it could be a big arc of character development for him. At the moment, Ashe's role in season's four plot is kind of... boring? He's kind of just there to fight, not super useful, but if he encounters someone in his past he'd be made plot relevant. Both a backstory reveal and a way to explore Ashe's character.

The only concrete evidence we have of Three being Ashe's daughter is from Everette's description of her in Episode 194.

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Three's temperament. Three's silhouette is displayed as a woman with hair let down reaching her lower back and wearing some sort of dress, probably a kimono. Everette says: "Three is a very put-together lady, and she doesn't speak much. Despite that, I can tell she isn't from the modern day!" The background is a red with a slight pink tint.]

The personality doesn't give much, Ashe's daughter could be anyone with any kind of temperament. However, Everette notes that she notably isn't from the modern day, and she is the only archreaper to which Everette says this. In addition, her silhouette seems to be fitting for someone wearing a kimono, which would make sense considering the time period the Ashe was from in Japan.

I don't have much more to say about Three, but, Jesus christ, this was a huge fucking post. Sorry for spilling this huge yap onto you, anon, and if you did read it all the way, thank you for sending in the ask! The amount of times I've said plot in this post is ridiculous

[rainbowyumy]

I JUST THOUGHT OF AN EVIL AU FOR AVIVA (Probably gonna be ignored of forgotten so just set aside when I have time)

This is inspired by littlecrittereli's "Reprogram AU".

A malfunction almost risk the life of Martin, and Chris gets super angry at Aviva. This results in a nasty dispute between the two and Aviva being scarred by Chris's harsh words. An enraged and depressed Aviva sides with her own ENEMY, Zach, for the sake of getting revenge against the team (mostly Chris.)

Aviva would use her tech building skills and her smarts to create defenses and weapons for herself and Zach. She would also use her smarts and great reflexes to physically attack her rivals, since I thought she would be the type to get her hands dirty.

Chris, already regretted what he said to Aviva in the past, and is constantly trying to apologize to Aviva and get her out of that state. But it fails to no prevail, at least during the beginning. Unsurprisingly, he's the main target whenever Aviva attacks them.

Martin is treated similarly, but not as bad as Chris. Martin didn't like how Chris yelled at her during the dispute, and therefore understand Aviva's reasons and uses that to get to her. Due to her being the cause of his injuries, Aviva is still a bit regretful of him. She's less aggressive with him during battle, but that doesn't mean she would spare him.

At one point, during her evil state, she almost kills Martin. Ironically, the second time since the malfunction. Luckily, MK is rescued before fatal consequences occur. This would be the perfect time for Aviva to question her actions. But it wouldn't fully convince her enough to redemption, yet. At least in my opinion.

Despite working with his enemy, Zach would be extremely thrilled. He always wanted to defeat the Kratt brothers and their team, and this advantage to Aviva's great inventions and strong traits would be in his favor. I'm not sure if he should concerned or even more happy of Aviva's brutal methods. (There will be no shipping involved, however. This would be more story based than shipping based.)

Koki would be as regretful as Chris, for a similar and different reason. She would think it's her fault for not being more supportive to Aviva and not standing up for her during the dispute. Just like Chris, she would try to get her to listen and convince her to stop. However, these attempts would later lead to Martin close death encounter.

Despite Jimmy's flaws of being in the side lines, that wouldn't stop him from assisting his team and getting his friend back. The whole event made a big impact on Jimmy as he willing to break his personal boundaries just to save his friends and stop Zach.

Aside Varmitech, I'm still wondering what to do with the other villains. I did have the thought of also having Paisley being involved, but due to her redemption arc in the season 7th special "Our Blue and Green World, " it wouldn't make sense. Donita would design Aviva's battle outfit, though.

I'm not sure if Aviva would be mind controlled (since that's the usual method many Wild Kratts evil aus do) or she would be mostly motivated by anger. I'm also unsure how she'll redeem herself in the end, but I'll figure both ideas out later.

This is still a draft. Any constructive criticism would be very appreciated. ^^ (I'm not good at make story by scratch, my apologies! )

[reiderwriter]

Hello!!If you were part of the writers on criminal minds,what would you have done differently when it came to the romantic relationships of it all and whats your opinion on some of the ships?Which would you erase and which are your favorites?I'm willing to read as much details and analysis you are willing to give on this lmao😂I loved the analysis on Reids sexual evolution season by season and am really curious on what you think on the ships like Reid and JJ,Reid Lila,Reid and Maeve,Reid and Elle😂Personally I would have created a diffrent character as a love interest for him all together.

This is practically an essay so I'm just going to apologise in advance of this. I'm not going to say I'd change much because the end product we got is my favorite show for a reason but yes, here is me talking about all the romantic relationships I can think of in CM and my opinions on them!

(Spoilers for season 1-15 of CM, CME, and season 8 of NCIS - yeah that's how long this post is).

Reid Ships

I think Reid ships are the ones most people have issues with in Criminal Minds so I'm going to start here with personal headcanons and my personal highlights. It's going to become clear that my biggest pet peeve in CM is when the writers want to give the characters a love interest and then just gender-bend their personalities, so let's start with Maeve and Spencer.

I've already talked at length in other posts about how I think the Maeve/ Zugzwang plotline wasn't my favorite. It was some amazing acting from MGG and Beth Reisgraf, but personally, I think it suffered from "serialized cop drama" plot line status. This show airs week after week with another case to solve in 45 minutes and they don't have the time or the format to pause through moments that in a standard drama would be very impactful.

To go on a slight tangent, that is partially why the relationships between the main cast are usually the only ones developed very well over extended arcs (I'll return to this when I talk about Jeid).

So, when you're trying to have an emotionally resonant moment, and you only have a handful of cold opens and one full episode to do it, you're going to have to make the characters motivations, personalities and back stories mesh in a way that makes you think: "holy shit they're perfect together."

Maeve and Spencer aren't that. I hate to use this term, but Maeve is like a manic pixie dream girl for Spencer? She's written as if she's too good to be true, which is why we're supposed to feel so sad when she dies. But they also tried to make her a complex character and didn't have the time to really do it, which is why we're given a back story that makes no fucking sense (as Spencer's DOCTOR no less) and some hints that she probably doesn't feel the same way as Spencer does for her (fiancé she never told him about etc.)

When Spencer's character starts evolving in later seasons to being more than just a genius, but a genius with trauma, they pull a similar stunt with Cat Adams/ Max

The show runner Erica Messer did mention that the Maeve plotline was always designed to be a three act plot: she's introduced, Spencer is in love with her, she dies. But, in my opinion, we didn't get enough of an introduction to her for me to feel really all that bad about it? They banked a lot on the audiences attachment to Reid, so when you feel bad about Maeve's death it's all about Reid - why do bad things keep happening to HIM, I wonder how HE will get through it - when she is the one who was just murdered. Those kind of dynamics always kind of throw me in romantic relationships.

I'm going to be clear, I do not ship Cat Adams and Reid either and I have pretty much no opinion on Max other than that if she were real I'd probably avoid her (teachers who hate teaching and blame the kids are weird! And I'm a teacher so I can say that I think lol).

Cat Adams is girl-Reid if he had a villain arc. She's 100% again there to push Reid's character development, and she's used as an action rather than a character. Max is the same. In season 15, with the entire team at a crossroads, they have to allow Reid two outs: one villain arc where he gives into his lust for Cat Adams, and one happy ending where he gets to start something with someone who is totally normal and a way out of the BAU the way Savannah was for Morgan. But it can't be as easy for Reid, and that's why we're left with the Cat/Max dilemma because he is really attracted to Cat, despite the fact that she was threatening to end the lives of members of Max's family.

By the end of the show, Reid had been actively on the team the most out of all the cast members (bar Penelope, but she wasn't out on cases first hand, so there's not as much emotional baggage there for her). He can't have an easy exit, so I kind of view this "love triangle" bullshit as a metaphor for Spencer choosing a normal life vs a continuation with the BAU.

Which is why I think that if CME continues, I think we're unlikely to see or hear from Max, because that means he's picked the BAU.

Okay now, not to sound like a broken record but, Jeid:

Before Truth or Dare, there is one single suggestion of Jeid being a possibility and it's a suggestion, from Gideon of all people, in season 1. It is CRAZY to me that after thirteen seasons they just decided to develop that one plotline again because jesus CHRIST.

My main problem with Jeid is that, actually, I think it had a lot of potential. Like I said, serialized dramas only have time to develop relationships between their main cast members, which is why we end up with a pseudo-found-family vibe no matter who happens to be on the team at any given point. A lot of similar dramas go down the route of coworker/ team mate relationships (think Ziva and DiNozzo in NCIS or Mulder and Scully in The X Files).

There was absolutely the potential for an opposites attract relationship with Jeid, but I think the minute they abandoned that after that small dialogue we got something WAY FUCKING BETTER. Their friendship is entirely underrated, Spencer regularly babysits her kid, she comforts him after Emily "dies," enough for them to have arguments about it after the fact. Your honor they are SIBLINGS. That is UNCLE SPENCER. Not your future step-dad.

When they decided to commit to JJ and Will, they should've stuck to it, and as a big fan of the Season 7 finale + Hit and Run it is very shitty seeing them trying to retcon both of these characters amazing developments and growth over 14 seasons and have them regress to shit tier versions of their Season 1 selves.

"But Kacie, there must be some Spencer relationships you like," I hear you ask. And there ARE:

Lila Archer is a great foil for Spencer. She has a happy, glamorous life until their paths cross, and then we can assume from dialogue in season 6 that she continues having a pretty fucking glamorous life after everything goes down. I don't think Spencer works best with characters that are traumatised or overly smart the way he is, because he needs something to return to after the cases that switch off that part of him, to help him forget the horrifying shit he sees on the job.

So Lila Archer was kind of a great love interest.

Another one that I'm so annoyed they didn't explore more is Austin. She's the bartender in the Season 4 Episode "52 Pickup" that is charmed by Spencer's card tricks. She is never mentioned again, but they had a great chemistry, she was quick on her feet and managed to spot the unsub first, and she was a really great foil for Spencer as well; it was a street smarts/ book smarts kind of dynamic. If they'd carried that character forward and had her reappear a few times, it could've been a great romantic plot.

I will just quickly note that the reason we most likely didn't see many romantic plots for Reid was because Matthew Gray Gubler didn't like the idea of giving him a romantic plotline, stating that there were so many more interesting things to do with the character - and he's right!

I'm a fanfiction writer, and the allure of characters like Spencer Reid is they are mostly romantic clean slates - you can write whatever you want for them within reason without having to disregard canon relationships. This is why similarly, Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Venom, and young "Marauders" fanfictions are pretty popular here imo too - canon compliance isn't disregarded, the reader is just written in. So I don't think I'd change a thing for Spencer to be honest (apart from maybe not kill Maeve off and give her the actual villain arc, but I say that so regularly I'm beginning to sound like a broken record).

Also I'll just quickly mention Elle because you mentioned her - outside of fanfiction there are literally zero hints (imo) of a thing between Elle and Reid lmao there's more of a case to be made for Elle and Morgan, but for some reason, writers and fans alike don't like committing to giving Morgan more than simply platonic connections. THEY SHOULD!! THE MAN IS SEXY AS HELL!!!!!!! GIVE ME A MORGAN WHO IS REGULARLY FUCKING!

Hotchner Ships

Speaking of characters that have a long time where they are single! Aaron Hotchner is another fandom favorite to write self-insert fanfiction for, because of the gap between Haley Hotchner's death in 100, and the introduction of Beth in season 7.

In general, I like the way Hotch's relationships play out on screen. Let's start with Haley:

You can tell that the writers really enjoyed the dynamic between work Hotch and home Hotch, because they played on it so much across the four first seasons. The very first time he is introduced he's in his bedroom picking out baby names with his childhood sweetheart, so any further scenes of him being more stern or serious are always in contrast with that introduction. It's a cold open to his character that immediately let's you know that there is more going on in his world than just the BAU, and he is the only member of the season one team that has that.

Then, they really LOVE taking that shit away from him. I'm not going to go into detail here about how fucking wack the time line is for Criminal Minds, but it is stupid and that's important here because:

I think Haley's reasons for divorcing Hotch are stupid.

She says that she married a man who was a prosecutor, not a man that was an FBI Profiler but realistically by the time of their divorce, he'd been in the BAU like 10 years. They rely more on the audiences sense of time (we're two years in, so they've all been on the team two years etc) to push this character motivation off. And for a while it makes sense that they were separated, until the events of 100. But also: in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, you literally signed up for whatever the FUCK happened, that's what a marriage vow IS.

Now I'm a sucker for the angst of 100,but would it not have felt 10x more emotionally disgusting if Hotch and Haley were talking about reuniting? If they had never celebrated in the first place, and had just finished working through their marital issues when Foyet comes back into their lives and Haley has to be whisked away again? Yes. Yes it would.

There's an episode in season 9 that really pisses me off, and it's the one that Hotch passes out from an old tear in his Foyet stab wounds and he goes into surgery and talks with Haley and Foyet in heaven while watching the rest of his life after the events of 100 on a cinema screen. It's cliché and also has no pay-off because it doesn't change the way he views his relationships after that, and it's not like he's at a crossroads at that point, so it means nothing to the audience except as a remembrance of an issue and an episode so far in the past that it feels like flogging a dead horse. They do this twice, btw, and this is the more successful use of this plot (the first time they do it to Elle in Season 1/2 during the events of The Wicker King - she talks to the father we didn't even know was dead, who died decades ago in an unrelated time. Not to keep bringing NCIS up, but I think the only time I've seen it done well is whenever Gibbs kept seeing Mike Franks in the diner scenes). They do not out enough effort into these plots to achieve the emotional resonance they are aiming for in my personal opinion.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this could've been the beginning of the era where Gibson was having a lot of issues with the cast, because it just felt like they didn't want to use him in the on-location shoots for a while lmao. Anyway, all that to say, Haley should've stayed dead, and not come back as a stupid phantom.

After the dust has settled on Haley and Hotchner though, we get Hotchner and Beth:

This is going to be a short note, because I actually really like the relationship between these two characters. They have the very slow cold-open build up that Maeve and Spencer get, but there's a lot more and a lot less to Beth's character that makes the dynamic between them really enjoyable to watch.

We're once again treated to the out-of-work Hotchner that had been missing since Season 4 (his in between scenes with Jack are cute but there's always the tragedy hanging over them). Beth is running a marathon in honor of her dad, Hotch is doing something similar for the FBI Triathalon, they train together the tension builds, they start dating. Now obviously it wasn't the purpose or aim of this character introduction to build to tragedy, and I think they just genuinely wanted to show a happy Hotchner again, but its still a valid criticism of the weird voyeuristic Maeve build-up that they literally succeeded a more sympathetic and audience engaging late minor-recurring-character EARLIER THAN THE MAEVE ARC.

I'll shut up now, but yeah, I like Hotch and Beth.

Penelope Ships

This post is getting ridiculously long, so much so that I'm even contemplating adding a fucking word count, but let's continue and dive in to my next issue.

Penelope's romantic life is used as a punch-line for the first 11 seasons and I HATE it.

There is no easy short to say this, but I despise Kevin. He is stupid, and a joke, and I hate him and I am SO HAPPY that she dumped him. They made her really pathetic about him for a few episodes, and then he kept fucking coming back too which was even worse.

Kevin is literally male Garcia but with all the worst attributes. He's clingy, and needy, and he may be smart but in a very "incel" way. In my opinion, Kevin is less a fully fledged character and more a joke line/ convenient plot point for when they need more tech analyst work. The best moment in the Kevin/Penelope arc is during the The Gathering, where she really lays into him and tells him off for being jealous of her ukelele instructor AFTER THEY'D BROKEN UP.

Penelope deserved so much better than what they gave her romantically in these seasons. First, her date tried to kill her, her boyfriend was a joke, etc. She never gets the serious romantic plotline that her other teammates do (Hotch/Haley, Spencer/Maeve, Derek/Savannah, JJ/Will, Emily/being a big old lesbian etc). Penelope is really great levity for the rest of the cast because she is happy and she is positive and she is unapologetic in her positivity. It's annoying that they don't let her be more than that in the romantic relationships they give he during these seasons.

Then Luke Alvez is introduced and there is some hope! Galvez truther's please, rise they are so adorable.

Anyone involved in the writing of CME - what the hell was that? Now I haven't seen it myself, to be completely fair, but I know enough to ask the question - really what the HELL was that?

Tl;dr Penelope's sexuality and romantic relationships should not be used as punchlines.

The Aversion to Homosexuality

This is just a general note, but the writers originally did plan to have Emily Prentiss be gay - amazing, great, it's a completely different time now, please let her have a gay awakening soon. It was obviously scrapped early in, but there's a lot of subtext that can be interpreted in that way.

They did commit with Tara, and she gets a gf in CME, so I want to see some Temily in the future if we do get more CM seasons.

So just so you know, everytime I mention Emily flirting with someone in my fic, assume it's a woman if you aren't already, lmao.

(They did also talk about making Reid bisexual as well, which would've also been great, but again, I don't think we're ever getting any more romantic plotlines from Reid).

Other Characters

Here's just a rating and short mention for all the other character couples I can think of in Criminal Minds, because this is already thesis length lmao:

Morgan + Savannah - 8.5/10, no notes, really just the gender bent love interest but done right.

Alex Blake + Husband - 7/10, solid couple, very much enjoyed when they started bringing in the people in established relationships again lmao.

Kate Callahan + Husband - 5/10, same as above but I wasn't as attached to her character rip.

Matt + Kirsty - 10/10 really no notes, I too would be called a breeder if I managed to lock that man down, damn.

Rossi + His 3 Ex-Wives - Make total sense for his character, very enjoyable to me, love that he has a nice moment with most of them again throughout the series, not going to rate it lol.

Rossi + Strauss - 3.5/10 - Last ditch attempt to make Strauss a sympathetic character, but I felt more attached to her growth after being called out by Derek rather than the effect that her death had on Rossi.

Gideon + the friend of his who is murdered by that Frank guy at the end of season 2 - stupid, worst way to go out, made no sense for the character, but I know Mandy Patinkin wanted OUT and honestly, anything for you Inigo Montoya.

Why I think Criminal Minds is Better Without Romance

Generally, I really do agree with Matthew Gray Gubler when he said that there were more interesting things to explore with these characters than their romantic attachments. It does frustrate me to no end that they focused on some of them more than others, and that post Henry, most of JJ's big moments are tied to motherhood and being a mother/ wife, but that change in her character is still amazing and leads her to a lot of growth (not mentioning Truth or Dare again, sorry it doesn't exist at this point in the post)(also I didn't have much time to mention Will and JJ, but I do love them).

Their best moments are the ones we get of them together as a team, saving people and putting away murderers for life, it's a perfect Found Family!!!

Also, no more romance = Spencer Reid can be mine. In conclusion, I am delusional. Thank you for reading this far.

[initiumseries]

Hi,

I searched your blog but didn’t see anything, not sure if I’m using the wrong keywords.

I’m watching Angel for the first time and I’m wondering what your takes were on Spike being a champion and the whole Nina/Angel relationship.

Thanks for looking! I haven't talked too much about s5 because usually on a rewatch I'm sick of the show by season 3, but I've contemplated skipping s4 entirely or just watching episodes and then jumping to s5 to refresh me. But anyway, I never really had strong opinions about Nina and Angel. I think at most, I was glad we were finally no longer acting like sex was off the table for Angel, because it never was. Sex with Buffy is off the table and that's because, well, true love. So with Nina came the acknowledgment that there was not the same kind of feelings there and that was fine. Especially after the whole horrible Cordelia thing, it was a breath of fresh air at the time. I don't know if I'll still feel that way now, but I did at the time.

As for the Spike thing...well...hmm. Lol. I don't believe Spike earned his position as a Champion. I think that they made Spike a poor man's Angel and I think his character deserved better than that. Angel's soul was thrust upon him, sure, but he rose to the occasion when called. Spike, did not. Spike lamented his circumstances despite doing it to himself. He whined and self pitied and then was used against the side of good to kill potentials for the first because he was so weak willed. I don't think he did a single think in s7 BTVS to deserve being a champion other than sacrificing himself, which, honestly, isn't enough, because again, he didn't do that to save the world, he did that to save Buffy. Spike's motivations for being "good" have always been either, because he still got to kill (when he had the chip), and then eventually because it got him closer to Buffy. In Angel, s1-3, Angel is put through hell because he is still atoning, but Spike...just gets to be a Champion now? Lmao. He doesn't earn it, and it's insulting honestly. But I think shows struggle with characters changing while still maintaining their core personalities, because it requires a longterm goal and plan.

Consider Zuko's redemption arc. It's probably the best redemption arc ever done on television. But it's because from the very beginning, Zuko was not irredeemable. He struggled, but he received love, he was forced into situations that exposed him to the violence of the fire nation, and ended up on the receiving end of that brutality. He was stripped of his royal status and had to interact with every day people, seeing the scars of war. It fundamentally changed him as a person. And even then, when the time comes for him to make a big choice, he makes the wrong one. He chooses his home, his sister, his previous life, and Aang nearly dies for it. But he had idealized the palace, and when he returns, and his uncle refuses to speak to him, he feels shame and regret. He realizes he isn't the same person he was when he left. He finally makes the right choice, and seeks out the Gaang, and they don't accept him easily. When they do, it's because Zuko *acknowledges* how he hurt them and how he plans on doing better. And even after ALL that, he still has to win over Katara.

But Spike? Lmao. Spike gets a chip in his head - which on its own is hilarious and fun - but becomes exhausting after a while. He doesn't spend more time around the scoobies and begin to see value in what the scoobies are fighting for. He doesn't begin to realize all the fear and harm and damage demons do to humans. He doesn't even actually save anybody, he just kills demons because it's the only people he can kill. He creates the buffybot out of his obsession with Buffy, and she rewards him for it. He doesn't go out and save people on his own, he kills demons on his own. He doesn't begin a path to redemption and keep trying to do right. He manipulates Buffy into spending time together "fighting evil" to expose Riley and stands outside her house so long he leaves piles of cigarettes. When he keeps Joyce and Dawn safe, it's to impress Buffy. It's not really about Joyce and Dawn. Sure, he likes them, but if they weren't an extension of Buffy, he wouldn't care about them nearly as much. He has no path to redemption, no reckoning with who he used to be, no guilt even. With a soul he mocks Robin, and wears his dead mother's jacket. Angel was ANGUISHED over what he'd done before. Spike tries to rape Buffy, then gets a soul to punish her. He never truly apologizes or is forced to confront what he did to Buffy. The scoobies aren't even allowed to be mad at him over it, much less make him work for their forgiveness. Buffy just lets it all slide. Then he self immolates and he's a champion? Where's the path to goodness? Where's the redemption? Where's the amends? Angel has an entire episode dedicated to making amends. Spike? Lol.

So all that to say, I don't think him becoming a Champion is any more earned or deserved than I think it made sense for Cordelia to suddenly take Buffy's place cuz she got visions.

[lpsgirl109]

Yeah fuck it let's talk about Peg's MFA Season 4

'Where's season 3!' Hilariously I've put more thought into s4 because it's the spider man season but all you need to know is s3 is about the x men and is also Adi centric. Anyway

So s4 is where I drop a bunch of spider man villains into the soup and let them wreak havoc. So far our main villains are Harry Osborn, Quentin Beck, nd my darling Olivia Rosemary Octavius. Though Harry and Olivia are sort of the appetizers to Quentin who is the Main main villain

I've discussed Harry in this post. A quick rundown for Olivia is that she's Otto's daughter and Harry’s girlfriend, and Doc Ock happened sometime before s1 (dw I'm breaking his ass put of prison for this one). When the final big fight between him and Spidey was happening, Olivia tried to get in to talk Otto down, and was dragged away kicking and screaming by the few Avengers that were nearby. She blames them for Otto being in prison because she believes she could've saved him, and is part of why Harry believes the Avengers aren't as great as the world thinks they are

The season starts off with Harry and Olivia as the 'main' bad guys. Their identities are a secret right now. It is important to remember that Harry is actively trying to Not resemble the goblin. His costume is completely unique, and while he uses similar gadgets, it isn't immediately obvious that this guy could be Norman Osborn's son or even hav any ties to the Green Goblin, so no one's suspicious of Harry right away. Olivia has her own set of octopus arms, but she's also way less of a known figure than Harry is, so people aren't immediately pointing figures to Doc Ock's daughter because most of the city doesn't even know he has a daughter

While this is happening there's also various other villains that keep popping up/mysteriously getting released from prison. Like Electro, Lizard, Rhino, nd a bunch of others. At some point kinda early on, the Avengers + Peter find out Harry and Olivia's identities. Some of the Avengers COUGH Tony are kinda quick to pass them off as like. Well this isn't anything we haven't seen before they're probably just finishing what their parents started (and its kinda easy to assume this is what Harry’s doing because his arc is trying to prove to the world that the Avengers aren't good heroes, similar to what Norman tried to do). This pisses Peter off obviously because those are his friends but unbeknownst to everyone this also starts to fuck Bruno up. He was in a very similar position as them, hurting, not in a good state of mind, and taking his anger out on people he felt deserved it. He sees a lot of himself in them, so the fact that the people he's considered family are just brushing them off as being just like their parents so easily makes him wonder if they viewed Him in a similar way. Like a nuisance

At some point Quentin gets revealed as being the guy behind the villains getting out of prison. He is trying to build his sinister six. He sways Harry to his side, Olivia doesn't join because she's having our own issues, mainly that both herself and Harry have come close to death like 15 times and she's smart enough to go Hey maybe this isn't a good idea anymore. Harry did not take the hint. I think she's also freaked out from her dad being out of prison but that's another story I gotta develop more

Toward the end we get Bruno fully talking Harry down, Harry and Olivia help take down sinister six, yippee end of season. There's obviously a lot more i need to work on, but this is my general idea. I'll post season 3 when I get another x men fixation and a motivation to work on it

[avissapiens]

Jockbull Summer Final Week Set A (1/1/24-7/1/24)

Model Used is Tsonghan Wu

Here we are bros. I decided to end it early since I accidentally started the Jockbull summer in like the last month of Spring. So we’ll call this a season. 8 weeks and then onto the next. Additionally, interest largely seem’s to have waned and I wanna focus on giving some more stuff that’ll keep your attention rather than flooding your dashboards lol. These will be my last set of diary write ups. And then next week I'll have a retrospective detailing how things went and what I'm likely to keep

1.

I’ll be straight and real with yall. This was probably the worst week yet lol. Mentally i just wasn’t here. Lots of stress and strain. I do have a new workout structure, that includes AMRAP pushups near the end. Diamond push ups that really tire you out by the time you finish all your other training, but its not quite the same or for the same purpose. I tried to sort my time table so that Pushups were combined with the times i wanted to work on my PT cert early in the day. But that has yet to really work out.

2.

Keeping with the smite idea from previous weeks I managed to go on a 3 game win-streak. Total ez streak, possibly because my Elo was reset from not playing in such a long time. But dunking is still dunking and you still get the mental endorphin rush from winning. Only thing that broke the streak is that my Duos partner (yet another Muscle brained Gym bro that i’ve known for years) had to dip mid game. Tragic.

3.

Since this is the last week and its even I didn’t throw anything out. But I am going to have one final push to get some of the last chunks of shitty oversized clothing out of my life. Gonna make an attempt to throw out 4 more pieces of clothing and then the lot will be going to the charity/thrift shop.

4.

I’m good enough at this. I’ll use it more often. And I am 100% going to do that Bro voice file at some point in the future.

5.

There is an episode of Baki where the main character is lying in bed with his girlfriend horny as hell, and they are about to fuck when Baki’s father, Strongest man in the world Yujiro, appears out of the darkness to cheerlead them fucking. And more than cheerlead. This man encourages the most relentless rauchy unending stream of fucking bitches from his 18 year old son. Literally morning noon and night boning down. It sounded like a passage from Alpha breeder. Unbelievable. Why doesn’t this show have more fanart?

6.

A kind of gymbro failure story which makes me sound like a bit of a douche but i also don’t care.

I’m pretty regularly one of the bigger guys in the gym at any given time. Not always. And that’s not really a compliment to me and more of a dunk on the kind of establishment that my gym is. So this one dude has kinda latched onto me as his story for hope cause of all the weight i lost and how much i’ve grown. I think he’s convinced i’m going to give him the secret formula and not just tell him “Just keep training and eat properly.” He came up to me this week and asked if he could come and workout with me another day. Gave some spiel about needing someone to motivate him and keep him going. He’s another immigrant too. So I commiserate with that and I told him sure, even tho i don’t particularly like training push with other people. But then on the day he was supposed to come at the time we had set up he just…didn’t show. Which makes sense. I tried telling him, motivation should be internal. Consistency comes from discipline. But he didn’t want to hear it. And so the outcome made sense. I wasn’t super broken up about it, Just meant i got to train push on my own in peace and quiet.