#idk it was a good episode for the allegory it was mostly going for

[sometimesraven]

re: the ableism in Dot and Bubble

I understand it almost certainly wasn't Rusty's intention for the "can't walk without the arrows" thing to be ableist, but the implications are there and it was so, so hard to watch.

As I said while liveblogging, I've noted that reliance on tech like Google Maps has caused a regression in skills like navigation and a frustrating refusal to even try. I'm frequently faced with that fact as I live somewhere you have to use your eyes to see and most fast food delivery drivers just Cannot Find Us bc the GPS goes wild and they can't follow the directions I always give them so I inevitably have to go out to find them myself. Believe me, I know what he was going for with that part of the script.

However.

When you exaggerate that point to the tune of "she literally cannot walk" without the aid, and then instead of it being deeply disturbing to the two 'kind, helpful' characters (Doc n Ruby), they actively roll their eyes at her and it's played as an "omg how stupid is she" moment, you have to see how that looks.

Let's reframe it: someone you've met was raised in a cult. A very insular, very strict cult that they literally have never seen outside of. At this point in time you know nothing about them but you do know they're in a very insular, very closed-off society. One day they tell you they have no idea how to,,,,,, idk, wash themselves without assistance. If your first instinct is to laugh at them and roll your eyes like they're overexaggerating, you're an ableist.

I struggle to believe anyone like the Doctor wouldn't perhaps initially react with confusion/incredulity but then, after realising this person is 100% serious, go "oh my god that's horrible okay uh let me try to walk you through this and teach you how".

It's a horrible, cynical response that would maybe track if at this point the characters already knew she was an entitled pissbaby. But they don't and that's why it comes across so terribly.

Especially when there's no indication that this is a side-effect of her entitlement and she's literally insulting herself "I'm so stupid!" and genuinely upset and frustrated that she can't even walk in the face of actual death. And yes, she miraculously can walk again once she meets Ricky but it wasn't because she was ignoring the Doctor's advice because racism because he had not given her any. She had literally zero clue how to walk without assistance until Ricky guided her.

This isn't a refusal to learn a skill based on entitlement, this isn't a heavy-handed metaphor, you have given this girl a disability (even if it is psychosomatic, it is still a disability). And in a time where social media + youth entitlement is being blamed for an increase of ADHD, Autism, chronic illness and DID diagnosis-seekers (among other things, but those are the ones people are most aggressive against) that just does not look good At All.

Russel could easily have made it so that they just had no idea how to navigate without the bubble and refused to learn.

Maybe at first show it as genuine frustration on Lindy's part that she can't find anything without guidance but slowly show that no, she's perfectly capable, she just doesn't care to learn.

Hell, you could have everything play out the same way but have her genuinely get offered help to begin with by the Doctor and ignore it, only for Ricky to say the same thing to her later and she gets it immediately.

Idk, anything beyond literally disabling her. The show does a great job at humanising her before showing us that she was a monster all along, but I feel like Rusty himself forgot that he was still representing a Whole Entire Person (something that people on all ends of the political spectrum do All The Time: "person is bad therefore [___ism] is okay in this instance". Ableism especially)

[vampirologist]

wait i want to hear your new and improved version of angel (show)

well right off the fucking bat is the fact I would have kept this scene in

literally feel that would have been so great. it is fucked up and that’s why I feel it’d be so good to include it. he’s struggling with his journey and he fed from buffy a few months ago. he’s got that bloodlust. and the fact that when he meets doyle, doyle mentions to him that he needs to become more personal with who he helps otherwise he could slip and feed from them would be more resonant if that actually happened at the end of the episode. let angel be fucked up and have bumps on his path to redemption. he’s allegorical of a recovering alcoholic- have him relapse because that happens. and then it makes it more meaningful as we see him work through it in the show.

I would also let angel be explicitly bi. he already gets to be the butt of the joke with his sexuality and masculinity brought into question. he’s even made gay jokes himself. let him be attracted to men openly. we KNOW he and spike have fucked let’s get more on that and jokes about it. let him be flirty with men. I know he’s repression guy but in my vision he can be repressed and openly bi. maybe some homoerotism with doyle (not too much tho as he needs to be into cordy to transfer the visions to her)….. similarly lorne is obviously so gay coded but I want him to be more explicitly gay too <3 so it’s a no brainer I would like the show to have our LGBT characters

just better writing towards the female characters and related plot lines. like fear of pregnancy is an issue (such as expecting where the men deceive the women and they get pregnant with demon babies) but it needs to be dealt with more care. it feels a lot like cordy is our only main female character so let’s repeatedly knock her up with demons as a vehicle for issues regarding pregnancy. and it’s yucky

branching from above, more non-white characters! I’m white but like it’s pretty obvious the buffyverse has issues when it comes to race and gunn was finally a main cast member of color. I wish there was more on him and his old gang. they’re only brought up a few times following gunn joining the team and there’s an obvious rift with not only gunn aligning himself with a vampire, but these are all white people he’s joining. issues regarding gunn and race are kind of present in s5 with him becoming a super lawyer- it’s his time where he’s not the angry black man of the streets used as the muscle but instead an educated and respected black man. that’s why he’s so afraid about losing his lawyer knowledge. but it is also assimilation. so yeah better convos on race both with actual characters of color and the allegories through the demons (like in AYNOHYEB where angel is clearly paralleled with the biracial woman, I get what they were going for and again I am not biracial, but it still felt off)

these above points were ideas I already had in mind mostly lol below are ones I thought of when prompted

more cordy fighting! badass fighting cordy…. though I don’t hate it as much as others (I’m just like whatever. in terms of it narratively but the circumstances leading to it and the misogyny inflicted onto cc and her character- I’m very critical of that) I would still do away with the s4 plot line of her being the incubator for jasmine. idk how to do that plot differently it’s 4 am rn but disregard it. don’t have cordelia fuck connor and get pregnant. I know the issue at hand here is cc’s pregnancy which I feel could be played about differently but I can’t think right now. because like they could have cordelia actually being pregnant (groo?) but then idk how to incorporate another baby into the storyline. because angel could still have the angst with connor independent of that storyline, and those lead to him killing connor and then accepting the wr&h offer. I didn’t mind the jasmine story apart from the issue with cordy. maybe cordy can have some type of injury or affliction that leaves her bedridden and she’s helping from the sidelines? because she does do that to an extent already lol but it doesn’t force a pregnancy and possession narrative onto cordelia. perhaps I could think deeper on this

WAIT I’d also have more crossovers with buffy characters. buffy and dawn and anya and xander and giles and willow and tara. I need them to meet the angel team. also in an ideal world maybe whisk spike from buffy and have him join angel sooner

[cloud-navi]

So I finally finished Transformers EarthSpark, lowkey love it. (Plot and human Malto’s)

⚠️ SPOILERS ⚠️

Overall Plot

- I think they did pretty good with the plot overall, I think the biggest plot hole is what happened to Ravage when Soundwave let them out in the cell block. I think it would have been interesting and explained better if they kept what they had planned from the story board instead of cutting it.

I like that they moved the antagonist from the Decepticons themselves to GHOST but I still feel like that left loose ends after the show. Like what happened to the Decepticons vs Autobots war or how did they’re treatment change after defeating Mandriod.

From what I know theres not much information about why the war in this iteration really started except that its tied to G1 through comics and ‘history’. Regardless of how it started I feel like Transformers as a whole is kind if an allegory for real life in many ways, example: Decepticon movement and revolution was (at least that I know in prime) was because the Council forced them as slaves and entertainment which makes their struggle a fictional parallel to events like the Civil Rights movement and revolutionary wars (happened/happening/might happen sometime in many countries).

I just find the idea that I’m supposed to root for the Autobots that want to protect humans after bringing their war to our planet over the Decepticons and their very understandable movement regardless of what their leader is doing at the moment is just kind of weird. Megatron, while is their leader has on multiple occasions changed what the movement has been kinda been about like in TFP he shifted focus from equal rights and changing out of a caste system to wanting to Offline Optimus Prime.

A leader can start a movement but its the people that drive it, if the leader is tainted and no one can/chooses to stand up for the actual cause then the cause is doomed. At the same time the people may not see the change in corse or understand the difference how it isn’t what they were fighting for if the leader words it in ways that makes it sound like the opponent is standing in the way of their success.

In TFP Megatron really wants to offline Optimus Prime, besides the fact that most of the crew on the nemesis is currently drones, the crew that the drones were clones of actively chose to follow him regardless. The crew, regardless if any spoke out, believed that Optimus Prime would be an obstacle in their way of creating a ‘better’ world. So at the end its mostly just manipulation from Megatron to get what he wants and the crew can’t really tell or are not strong enough to do anything about it.

ANYWAY, Characters,

Malto Family (human)

- Robby

I like Robbie, I think he has good character, especially growth. That being said I hate how he acted in the first episode. As a kid that was moved around a lot I understand its hard when you move away from some where that you grew up and know a lot of people to a new place, except the way he handled it was completely just no. He was 13 and came from a big city, understandable that he would miss home and the country would be a big change. But the selfishness in the idea that the only reason he stopped trying to run away from Witwicky wasn’t for his sister, but for giant robots. Just the way he treated Mo in the first episode is un called for and he should have had a sit down talk with their parents about how he felt and what comprises could be made for him to like it out there too. Like idk plan days to go hangout with friends in the city? Clearly you live close enough to bike there if you thought your friends parents wouldn’t send you back home if you actually managed to abandon Mo and get to the city.

- Mo

I love Mo and as a younger sibling completely understands how she sees things throughout the show. Episode one is like a double ended blade, Robby has no obligation to put other peoples feelings above his own about any situation <within reason of topic> however if you’re that close to your younger sibling its not only rude but concerning to push your family away over a move. Yes its a big move but Robby chose not to lean on family. Also the fact that he was so willing to run away and abandon his sister and yell at her for following him is disgusting. I’m sorry, yes a big move sucks, not being with all your friends sucks, but its not like he was too far to visit them and the way he treated Mo was unacceptable. Mo is his younger sister and is not the reason for the move, as an older sibling it shouldn’t have taken a cybersleeve for Robby to understand that Mo was affected by the move too. As a younger sibling, we see it all, we hear it all, we internalize everything. Robby leaving would have left Mo with the mentality that she was easy to leave behind because her own brother valued city life and his friends more then her being there. Theres no way in reality that she would have forgive him so easily for trying to leave after the Terrans were born. The only reason Robby didn’t keep running away was because something ‘interesting’ happened (the Terrans), the idea that two new friends/family members being the largest reason for him deciding to stay wouldn’t impact her mental is crazy.

- Dorothy and Alex

Cute couple, love their love and support for each other. Alex is a silly guy but clearly is a great sad just like Dot is a great mom.

The whole issue of moving to Witwicky was blamed on Dot which isn’t completely wrong but its not like they moved out of state or too far away for the kids to visit the city every so often. Yes its important to want your kids to want/like the move but sometimes its better that you do or theres outside factors that play in it and you have to move regardless. Dorothy didn’t have to have them move but she (very reasonably) wanted a change of pace and scene, they stayed within reasonable range of the city (clearly) so its not a giant problem especially if half the 2/3 other family members think its fair to let her finally have something she’s wanted for a while, a change of scene. Dorothy does so much for her kids and the lack of empathy from Robby to think he can’t possibly live without texting or seeing his friends 24/7 is crazy. Oh you have friends? Okay cool, maybe work on your communication skills with mom and find a schedule that lets you sit in the dining room and talk to your friends and make plans to visit every so often. Also clearly thats a fucking lie because instead of doing his family tradition with dad he stayed home and entered a game tournament IN HIS ROOM, so OBVIOUSLY HE HAS WIFI or connection to the internet and is able to play/connect with friends.

I feel very strongly on how Robby acted in the first episode and can’t see anyway for Mo to not be affected.

[the--highlanders]

for the ask game: 18, 25, 36, 45, and 57

18. Best Doctor monologue?

already answered this but mostly in terms of new who, so I'll add - I really like seven's monologue at the end of survival! it's very sweet, very much an mo for the whole show, and unlike a bunch of the new who monologues, it's all about what's /out there/ rather than centring the doctor themselves. and the fact that it ends classic who works so well, even though it was never intended that way

25. Most underrated companion?

every time I see a companions poll, even of just early who companions, victoria is always so low :(((( my beautiful lesbian daughter who has so much wrong with her

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

so many of them but the first one that popped into my head was the underwater menace? if I want to put on a chill fun two episode I often end up at that one

for new who I feel like my go-to is often robot of sherwood? it's fun and kinda campy but also the whole point about stories and fairytales makes me genuinely emotional

45. Favourite series opening?

literally any of twelve's, I couldn't pick between them!!

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

mm well first of all I am a 60s who fan & an unironic dominators fan so like, 'good' monster is a relative term

but I tend to be far more out-of-universe analytical about new who, so from that perspective. I think any monster can be a good monster as long as there's a /point/ to them. whether that be because the episode is trying to make a particular point or allegory, go for a particular sort of horror or narrative, anything like that, so long as it feels like an active choice rather than 'we needed a monster so we slapped this one in here because we thought it was cool'.

for instance I think the daleks overall are a /good/ monster. there are some very good dalek episodes/serials that make excellent use of them. but the fact that they're apparently obligated to stick in a dalek episode every year or something means that there have been a lot of instances where the daleks are functionally a /bad/ monster

idk I think. especially because doctor who monsters can be so silly from the outside. the writer just has to be really committed to the Bit of that particular monster to really sell it.

doctor who universe question game!

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

idk how many people would even want to see this BUT i wanna yell about Leela and Brax so here's a list of all their scenes togethr/scenes pertainng to them that i can recall (pLEASE add on if i missed anything/ you have any additional thoughts!! i could talk about these two all day!)

right off the bat in Weapon of Choice when Leela is on the outskirts of the Citadel and Brax goes to bring her back (which is interesting in and of itself, bc usually i would imagine a chancellery guard would go do that so what made Brax decide to instead??), Leela kinda goes off at him bc she's hurting and instead of trying to actually explain what's going on Brax doesn't even try to argue he just says "we need you" which is great bc Leela has that instinctive desire to be needed and to help people and he's speaking right to that -- also as far as we know, this is Leela and Brax's first actual meeting in canon? it's implied that they know of each other, which makes sense, but it doesn't seem like they've ever directly interacted before: Brax seems almost slightly uncertain, and Leela is combative, but when he's gentle with her she's actually quite receptive

the literal next scene after that, where the OT4 is all in one room for the first time (they still kinda hate each other at this point but still !!!). Narvin explaining Gryben and being a real jerk about it and Leela (understandibly!) questions if Gryben is a prison world, and Brax (who to this point has been mostly quiet as Narvin and Romana brief Leela) jumps in to both clarify Narvin's previous xenophobic statements while also maintaining the inherent questionable/negative connotations

(btw it's actually pretty important to note that Romana self-edits herself a lot when talking to Leela, especially in the earlier seasons; you can actually hear her revising the things she says to put it in terms that she thinks Leela will better understand. and i mean she does it out of genuine consideration for her friend associate but it often comes across as varying levels of patronizing. Narvin also obviously "dumbs things down" when dealing with Leela early on, but like... Brax never does that on any level. the only difference i can tell in how he addresses Leela vs how he talks to anybody else is that he seems much more kind with her than almost anyone else???)

their conversation about the Matrix in The Inquiry: this is REALLY important (and if you've ever talked to me on ao3 i've probably gone off to you about it lol) because it's layered. they're talking about the Matrix but they're also not because in answering Leela's question Brax is making a very thinly veiled allegory (which he outright states a minute later) to Time Lord society/politicians/most importantly HIMSELF -- he's actually strangely open about his morals/beliefs in this scene and i'm living for it tbh -- and i find it very interesting that even though he does directly explain what he means ("how do you know all this?" / "because i am a politician.") he also leaves it for Leela to work out the implications. like it's a very nuanced conversation bc there's double meaning in it and most people on Gallifrey seem to think that Leela is tone-deaf and can't pick up on that stuff (even Romana sometimes oversimplifies things to her) but Brax totally just lets her take from it what she will bc he believes her intelligent enough to understand. he doesn't think her any lesser because she's human.

ALSO on a secondary note to the above: the fact that Leela has a question/needed clarification (sorry, haven't listened to this in a while i forget how it actually happened) and actively sought out Brax to talk to about it?? like she knows Romana better she could have gone to her but i feel like Leela kinda imprinted on Brax and someone she can go to for help if she needs it; maybe it's partly bc she knows he's under marginally less pressure than Romana is but also the truth of the matter is that Brax was the most genuinely helpful person to her in the previous stories and that probably means a lot to her (esp. bc he acts like the essence of everything she hates about Gallifrey but he doesn't treat her the way she would expect from that). btw this topic is gonna come up again in a hot minute

that part where Brax gives her that information that might help her re: the Andred thing, even though he really probably shouldn't have done that -- it kinda makes me think about what he must have been like with Theta tbh???

actually this is mostly my own conjecture but there's some neat stuff in Spirit bc during the *waves hand vaguely* bodyswap dream sequence thing, Romana is very "!!!! Brax can help us !!!" which is tecnically Leela brain talking, so like there's the implications of the stuff i've said above about Leela having this idea of Brax where she knows he's someone she can go to for help

can u tell i'm soft for them

Leela sounding really sad/distracted when she talks about how Brax isn't there YES i'm grasping at straws but a lot of this relationship really is conveyed through the voice acting bc of how little direct focus there is on the characters. there's actually several scenes in Mindbomb where she mentions him and she outright says that she misses him during her discussion with Matthias

that implied scene with them in Mindbomb!! i have a Lot of thoughts about that!!! it's all conjecture and fanfic fodder!!! but the reason i mention this is because it seems pretty meta that out of the whole Gally Gang, it's Leela who first sees Brax when he comes back to Gallifrey and in turn she's the first person (besides Matthias, i guess) that he sees upon his return?? idk i just feel like that's somehow a meaningful detail??? also her reaction of utter shock after spending the entire episode missing him and how worked up she is when she tries to tell Romana, like I desperately need to know what happened in this missing scene MR RICHARDS PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED

Leela insisting on going with Brax when Pandora starts hurting him and their whole conversation there is just. so good. like they're both just so soft and then when Darkel comes in Leela instantly goes into protective mode. like they just have such an open relationship bc Brax doesn't even try to be all pretentious with her, like he doesn't even try to keep up any facades when he's with her he's just very genuine and it really says a lot about both of them -- Leela is so good at seeing people, like getting down to the core of who people are and what makes them them (which is why she's good for Romana, btw, bc Romana has a lot of identity issues) and Brax is so tangled up in who he presents himself as that he barely knows who he actually is anymore but Leela can see that and she makes it so he can truly be himself and he doesn't have to hide. also she's so gentle with him when they talk about Pandora, she's very caring and empathetic and wants to make sure he's okay and i am WEAK

it's been a hot while since i listened to Panacea but I think i remember Brax being really soft with Leela when he first brings the gang to the Axis, like just sounding really glad to see her

ok other than the fact that Brax is lowkey relatable in Reborn (daydreaming fanfic about yourself/people you know? simping for Mary Tamm Romana? yeah mood, my man) there's that scene where they're first appraoching the Citadel on the alt!Gallifrey and it seems like none of them, and Brax specifically, have seen it from the outside in a good long while bc he's very in awe and he tells Leela that he wishes she could see it and he sounds sO hEcKiNg sOFT oh my word-

and once again with Leela thinking of Brax as someone she trusts for help: in Dissassembled when everything is going to crap she straight-up says that she wants to go find Brax bc he'll know what to do/be able to help

at the beginning of Annihilation when Romana is depressed and questioning if Brax truly was her friend and Leela INSTANTLY, NO HESITATION assures her that he was; i lost where i had her exact lines written down but she actually kinda goes off to make sure Romana gets the point

literally forcing myself to talk about this bc it makes my brain stall out but like,,, the Brax Hound in Annihilation,,, Leela being like "goodbye, Braxiatel... again" she sounds so sad and like UGH i always kinda forget how sad it actually is for them to lose Brax in Dissassembled bc like, it was so sudden and they didn't get to say goodbye and Leela is always losing people and i have many many feels about this scene and how all that emotion is made very clear in how they each respond to the Hound (might make a separate post abt this later if anyone is interested ::eyes::)

Enemy Lines is utter bullcrap about these two and I will never stop being salty about how they not only sidelined the very good, very subtle friendship they had in s1-4, but they??? made Leela acutally not trust Brax??? when literally this entire time she's been the one person who probably genuinely trusts him the most?? what the heck, David

I haven't heard TW3 or 4 yet but i'm assuming there's nothing worthwhile in those with regards to this duo (correct me if i'm wrong tho lol, i would love to be mistaken in this assumption)

TL;DR Leela and Brax mututally imprinted on each other and have probably the most open and healthy relationship within the OT4 and it is an absolute CRIME that nobody besides Gary Russell and Justin Richards cared enough to actually build on it in canon

[michaun]

so I finished Midnight Mass and here are my biggest very minor spoilery thoughts before I go to sleep

best of mike's series but i think some of his films surpass it

the monologues man... I feel like it taking so long for this to get made caused it to get a little overworked if that makes sense and I think it's really apparent with the amount of monologues each character gets, especially erin. bly was 2 episodes longer and hill house was 3 yet this felt double the length of either of them and I think it all comes down to the monologues. it lead to some great acting but they were wordy to say the least. that's my main complaint

another complaint but idk if it is a complaint is that i wasn't satisfied with the ending and that may not be a complaint because i think that was the whole point of the series and i have to sit on it for a while

the scares!!!!!

the score!!!!!!

the cinematography!!!!!

THE ALLEGORIES ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST ACT MY GOD GOOD SHIT

i loved it so much it managed to mostly live up to the hype which is HUGE considering how excited i was for this

[luna-rainbow]

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on in response to that ask 😬😖 but it's so frustrating how both Sam and Bucky got nerfed so hard in regards to their abilities. Idk whether it's laziness, or lack of understanding around fight choreography or what.

I remember watching as it aired, and Bucky's downgrading was so obvious to the point of it being painful (like the fight on the trucks. Barely able to stay upright in a fight against untrained (albeit) super soldier's, when we have literally witnessed him mowing through multiple highly trained super soldiers before.)

But after it finished, and after rewatching tws and cw it struck me how much they downgraded Sam too. We've only seen him fight in short snippets before, but he is highly competent. And there's no doubt in my mind that he's even better than what we've seen.

They didn't have to downgrade Bucky in order to showcase Sam, because Sam was already on par with Bucky, just with a different skillset/fighting style. They could have been presented as equals, and complementary to each other, but instead they... Idk even what they did really. It's sort of like they pitted their styles against each other's instead of using it as an opportunity to show how they grew and worked together as a team. Idk... Sorry to rant in your inbox, feel free to ignore 😅

(Yay I finally got the chance to answer! (And sorry it got super long)

Honestly I’m on a bit of a TFATWS criticism spree here so please stop reading if you love this show.

I think the problem is (at minimum) twofold:

A) Most of the action scenes only served to move people from place to place without regard to what this meant for their characterisations.

The net result is that out of all the characters it was John Walker who got the main character treatment of having a logical character arc and fight scenes that all served to build on his character.

1 - Truck fight: Sam and Bucky are BOTH nerfed in order for Walker to save them. This was supposed to establish Walker as well-intentioned and on par with our heroes. Except both Sam and Bucky were clearly punching wayyyy below their movie level while waiting for him to arrive. 2 - Wakandan fight: This fight served as a turning point for John as he became overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy. However, to set up this fight, SAM went out of character to stop John from taking Zemo (this part was completely inane because Zemo ran away after this so clearly they didn't need him). And don't get me started on how Bucky went out of character to upset the Wakandans in the first place to set up this fight. 3 - Lemar/Flag Smasher death fight: I mean, let's be real, the protagonist of this entire fight was John. The target was John, the death was John's friend, the one who underwent major character evolution was John. Sam and Bucky were both on the sidelines, pulling their punches (although there's adequate in-plot justification for this). 4 - John vs Sam & Bucky fight: I already wrote half a chapter with Sam raging at Bucky's awful fighting style here so I'm not going to do it again LOL. But even SAM was brought down a peg to let John be a threat. Sam landed like...3 punches before he was pinned down and had his wings ripped off. And the characterisation in this fight? I'd say it built more of John getting deranged with the serum (don't @ me, he aimed for Sam and Bucky's heads multiple times while they were down)...with maybe a character beat for Sam coming to terms with the shield at the end. 5 - Final fight: Sam got some good sequences (I'm not sold on the Batroc fight), but John was able to finish off his character arc by a redemption. I'm not going to comment on Bucky because it will just remind me of Spellman's infuriating quote.

In other words, John was the only one in the series where the fights themselves told a coherent story, and in fact Sam and Bucky’s characters were warped to facilitate this. Examined purely from the quality of character development to the care paid to consistency and continuity, you’d think John was the main character, and that’s just...ironic.

B) A conscious decision to make Sam and Bucky not carry any arms against the Flag Smashers.

I feel like this is to parallel current events with Sam and Bucky representing police, and the Flag Smashers representing POC youths. Without getting into whether this allegory is appropriate or effective: it takes away what Sam and Bucky have been using in previous movies. Sam was always backed up by guns in the air, and Bucky also either used guns or knives. The easy fallback is to say that they seem weaker because they're not using weapons anymore, but it doesn't have to be this way.

As I said in my earlier post, Gundam Seed showed it is absolutely possible to have a main character who is staunchly non-lethal but still kicks major ass.

I know Kira has a lot of detractors but here's his signature move: disarm enemy armoured suits without killing the pilots. (GIF by mecha-gifs)

I know this is obviously a completely different type of fighting but Kira, as a main character, sustained this philosophy for the majority of 2 seasons of 50 episodes. He also started off in a basic suit which doesn't let him disarm multiple enemies like this, so his earlier fights were all "hand to hand" fights but he still managed to (mostly) avoid killing people. What I mean is, if they really tried, they could definitely make Sam and Bucky kick ass while being non-lethal. They just...didn't try.

[kinetic-elaboration]

June 17: 1x23 The Omega Glory

Watched the very uneven episode “The Omega Glory” today. Upon some reflection.. I think I have seen it? But I think my last rewatch ended abruptly after “By Any Other Name” so it might have been some time ago.

Anyway, it was... something. Decent, I might even say good, until the last 10-15 minutes and then it just went off a cliff? That’s how I’d summarize it.

Sulu, my beloved. I’ve missed you.

Kirk knows where all the ships are. I mean, obviously, but I love to hear it.

Phasers on heavy stun huh?

It’s so weird to be on a different ship. That looks like the same ship. It’s so empty and haunted looking.

With creepy crystal remains of bodies everywhere.

“These white crystals... are the crew.”

Something was thirsty!! Perhaps... a water vampire? Perhaps... a former McCoy girlfriend?

(Honestly having watched the whole ep...they could have expanded this intro longer. It was creepy and mysterious. Then cut the last act.)

Oh no, they’ve been infected and now must quarantine. Sort of. I guess.

...Oh no, is this Vietnam? Again?

“Our old enemy, Vietnam.”

My mother suggested the disease might be communism and I don’t think that metaphor tracks through the whole episode but you know what.. anything’s possible.

I don’t like this whole “you can’t leave the planet or you’ll get sick and die” thing. Too familiar.

"I may never be able to leave this planet but I have a worse problem: a colleague may be breaking a rule."

Says the man who has frequently violated a directive that has never been referred to as Prime before.

Kirk is getting very mumbly. That’s his serious voice.... bu it’s also his Denny Crane voice lol.

Like bio warfare in the 90s? TOS really thought the 90s was going to be the dark ages, didn’t it?

Only 90s kids remember...

Spock bursting in with a wounded man, just bringing the drama, as he does.

He’s not even listening to McCoy. Rude.

Spock absolutely 100% would have killed Captain Tracey on instinct as soon as Kirk is threatened.

Sulu’s in command? I love Captain Sulu but where is Scotty?

Kirk is so good. Clever, strong, smart. Knows all the regulations.

Tracey’s so dumb. “They’ve eradicated disease and live for hundreds of years!” Man, have you considered that they are...aliens? And their life spans are simply.... naturally longer than human life spans? And even if you could isolate the serum, it might not work on humans?

And his master plan is to isolate their immunity and bottle it for profit. It’s our old enemy... capitalism and the exploitation of intellectual property.

A fight scene!

“The pointy-eared one stays.”

Another fight scene!

Spock is watching all of this, and you know what, I feel like he’s not upset about it. It’s just like Pre-Reform Vulcan. Perhaps some... Amok Time flashbacks? “Damn, I wish that was me.”

Peanut gallery Spock.

“I wish you could teach me that.” / “I have tried.” Omg where is my scene of Spock trying to teach Kirk the nerve pinch?

And then that look Kirk gives him.

I don’t get the point of this scene but it amuses me that as soon as McCoy sees the pretty girl, he feels better.

A post-apocalyptic alien world... a very interesting concept. Like you could do a lot with that idea imo.

“That’s our worship word [freedom too.” Umm.... questionable.

Damn bitch, that was cold. Just knocking him out like that.

Damn yankee.

...Yankee and Communist dammit.

McCoy’s not even surprised to see Kirk and Spock out of jail.

Nature created a natural counterbalance to the biological disease. Where is OUR natural counterbalance, I ask?

McCoy sounds extra Southern rn. It’s all the stress.

I really don’t think Shatner gets enough credit for his subtlety. His face when McCoy explains the whole situation...

Oh he's mad now. "You've hurt Spock for nothing! Oh yeah and also killed thousands but MOSTLY THE SPOCK THING!”

Whereas Tracey really doesn’t seem to care about anything but war for its own sake. He knows now that his master plan for immortality was nothing the whole time...but he still needs to call those Yangs.

In other words, another once-reputable figure of authority now gone mad.

Kirk’s voice is so casual when he’s talking to Uhura and Sulu, you feel like he’s gotta have something up his sleeve. He can never hide when he’s really upset about something.

...Apparently what he had up his sleeve was his crew knowing regulations and then another full body tackle. Fight scene 3!

"My need for attention is vital.” Same, Spock.

This is a very attenuated and unbelievable connection Kirk is making but he’s Kirk so I’ll assume it makes sense that he’s putting it all together so fast.

Alternate Universe: Vietnam canon-divergence lol.

For anyone keeping track, this is right about the point where the episode goes off the rails.

YOU’RE A ROMANTIC, JIM. Well he’s right about that at least and he should say it.

Oh no, an American flag.

Cloud William, chief and the son of chiefs. That’s continuity of government for you.

(Also pretty hilarious that this society is supposedly So American with our exact flag and Constitution and everything... but they’re not a democracy.)

I really don’t want to believe that “under God” is still in the pledge 200 years from now.

"You're confusing the stars with heaven." Kirk thinks he's being called an angel.

The absolute mishmash of meaningless, referent-free words here. America. Native Americans. Communists. The flag, the Constitution. God. Angels. Devils. What???

Like how can they both be flag worshippers AND...believers in God? Who is their God? Alien George Washington?

So rude to call Spock Kirk’s “servant.” That’s his space husband!

Is that a literal picture of Spock as a demon in their.. Bible?

I can’t even follow this anymore.

“You command him.” I mean...yes, that’s how the military works.

“He has no heart.” Wow, rude.

“His heart is different!” I stan one (1) Southern Doctor.

I feel like Spock is just... not having this at all. His face loos like he’s thinking what I’m thinking.

Oh no is that the CONSTITUTION??!

“Kill his servant” wow Tracey is obsessed with Spock, isn’t he? I guess everyone in the Fleet knows about them and their special relationship.

Spock is even amused by the knife at his throat. His eyes say "I am distressed--but fascinated!"

A FOURTH fight scene? And here I thought Kirk was going to recite the Constitution.

“I’m open to suggestions.” He’s just as worried about Kirk as McCoy is, bu the doesn’t show it.

...Yep, he’s being telepathic again. Not really in line with his usual telepathy but okay. Alien magic is flexible.

Okay I have a JD and I can confidently say there is nothing about good defeating evil in the Constitution.

And now this alien guy is immediately ready to make himself a “slave.” That seems problematic. What happened to the holy word “Freedom”?

Wow, Kirk's in a bad mood. "You can't pronounce your own holy words worth shit."

“This is only for the eyes of a Chief,” he says and Kirk just pushes him away.

Spock literally turns Tracey around for Kirk’s big final speech like “Listen up, bitch, my boyfriend’s talking.”

Is this the 4th of July episode?? Feels like there should be canons and fireworks going off behind him rn.

Idk, the words of the Constitution can't be so unique and unprecedented if a WHOLE OTHER ALIEN CIVILIZATION just came up with them, too, on their own, like monkeys typing Hamlet. (Given the timelines here... they probably did it first too lol.)

"Liberty and freedom need to be more than just words." Like what does that even mean in this context? Sounds nice but it’s very hard to put into the context of all the rest of this.

“And uh be nice to the Kohms,” after most of them (?) were probably just killed.

I really was into this until the last 10-15 minutes and I think there were under-explored concepts that could have taken the fever dream of whatever that bizarre-o fever dream at the end was. The abandoned ship. The leftovers of bio warfare. The whole weird and under-explained concept of immunity. The tragedy that so much was destroyed,, including but not limited to the whole Exeter crew, for no reason. What happened to Tracey to so destroy him--was it just greed? What about the “Prime” Directive? Is it important or not. They just leave at the end after (as Spock pointed out) doing quite a bit of their own meddling, even though meddling is allegedly the worst. Also, we know almost nothing about the Kohms at all. The “American” society clearly wasn’t democratic. Were the Kohms literally Communist?

I’m willing to accept a certain degree of alternate Earth scenarios--like Miri (though imo that was not a necessary component of that story) or Bread and Circuses, but this was too much. TOO unbelievable. And frankly unnecessary. You could do an allegory for alternate-Vietnam, and it would be just as clear but even more effective. There wouldn’t be any distraction in the form of “what the fuck is that flag doing here?”

There is a potentially incendiary concept here, which is the same one I thought of reading about actual COG plans--certain aspects of the Yanks’ culture survives, but with absolutely no meaning attached. They have a Constitution but they mispronounce all the words. They have this tattered flag but it has no other meaning. They’ve turned the symbols of the government into a religion, but they don’t practice any of the civil aspects of it--they have chiefs, not democratically appointed leaders, for example. Like, COG asks “what IS the country, and how do you make sure the country endures no matter what?” This was an opportunity to show the worst of that: the country continues to exist as symbology only--incredibly strong symbology, but only that--and all of the actual values that were supposed to be stored with that symbology have disappeared. Similarly, their hatred of their enemies endures. It’s lauded in the ep as their attempt to get “their land” back but what if it’s just war for its own sake, as Tracey seems to be engaging in? To tell that story, especially in the 60s, against the backdrop of Vietnam, and with the references to bio warfare and nuclear warfare, could be powerful. And I know TOS can work in metaphor and comparison. It doesn’t need to bring out a literal fucking flag.

Honestly, it was like they had one good, classic, sci fi story but it didn't fill 52 minutes so they tacked on the American Pride 4th of July Propaganda Extravaganza at the end.

It really felt like the lesson was “America good” lol.

I liked the concept of the post apocalyptic society in the aftermath of bio warfare as a cautionary tale for 1960s America, and I'd be up for crazed snake oil salesman Starfleet Captain (or...whatever his rank was) if it were a bit better explained. But the rest of it....

It also... could have been kinda incendiary with the idea that the Constitution and flag are religious symbols... I mean some people do treat them that way and I've always found that, first, blasphemous, and second, bizarre in such a hyper-Christian country. But I feel like instead of digging ito that, they just tempered it with "But also they're Christian, as you can tell by their drawing of devil!Spock, for some reason."

Idk, this story could have been complete with out the whole weird “Vietnam AU” back story or alternately it could have been a biting commentary about what defines America, and about whether or not our symbols might be more enduring--or even more important to people today??--than the laudable but more complex and difficult ideals that underpin the country’s founding. Are the words of the Constitution just gobbledy gook? They are if you don’t live by them, and America has always struggled to do that. It definitely would struggle even more in the aftermath of an apocalypse.

...I’m more annoyed now, thinking about the possible sci fi story that could have been...

Anyway next is an ep I’m fairly sure I haven’t  seen, so that should be fun.

[gooferdusted]

hypothetically, if I were to write a fix-it/rewrite au fic, (thinking of starting at s5 but debating starting earlier) what are some storylines you’d take out/change, characters you’d save/kill, and specifically changes to sam’s character/arcs you’d like bc i need ideas

ok. ok. I'm gonna try to not go completely off the fucking rails while I write this up but I gotchu (also these r all just my own hot n spicy takes so like. pick what u like, it's all goodie goodie)

• no time passing differently in hell. literally four months is ~Enough!~ a year is enougghh!!!!!! like I get that they wanted to make hell this horrible unreachable thing but u can still like... get that across without having it be this unfathomable chunk of time out of a persons life. like sam was down there with TWO very pissed off angel's for 180 years??? how can he still speak english??? how does dean remember ANYTHING about his old life when mentally more than half of it was spent being endlessly tortured until he finally cracked??? its just.... Too Much...

• ON that note, I feel like later on they never rlly had sam and dean bond over the fact that like... they are genuinely the ONLY two people on earth who have survived actual hell. I mean we got that one off line from dean at some point but??

• no chuck as god. just a greasy greasy rat man getting insane stories projected into his brain. and on the topic of that.... I dont like the reflection of the real life fanbase in the spn universe??? they're pulp fiction novels, it should be all like 50 year old + ladies who picked them up at the local bargain bin, not b*cky r*sen

• I like... WANNA say smth abt s4..... bc I think the way that they handled things were a little out of character BUT I also think that was lind of the point??? like the angels and demons were manipulating them to say/do things they would normally never say/do to eachother to drive a big enough wedge between then that they would eventually say yes to being the vessels. like it hurts to watch sooo much but it did drive the plot forward in a very particular way that probably couldnt have happened otherwise. that being said, when the levee breaks makes me sad, and I dont want to see sam crying for his dead mother alone in a basement! cest la vie.

• sam and dean.... are Friends...,, why did we all forget that..... watch hell house and maybe I'll calm down.....

• PSYCHIC SAM!!!!!! you all know me. you know how I feel about psychic sam... robbed. s4 finale rlly had sam like "drinking that much demon blood has truly changed me forever..... theres no going back now...... 😔😔" like ok. ok. where are your superpowers. where are they.

• I wish some of the other special children had made it out :(( I really liked andy and ava (also sam finding other friend who are like him??? queer allegory??? spare queer allegory?????)

• I also dont think the roadhouse shouldve burned down!!! that shouldve been a Staple Location like Bobby's house. same w Missouri's, literally why did we only visit her once.

• ur sending an ask to my blog so I assume this is just a given for u but!!! we're takin away the misogyny. we're takin away the fetishization! anything that would be given the greenlight by joss whedon we are putting straight in the trash. <3

• this is mostly a thing in later seasons like. idk 9-15, but no ppl knowing who the winchesters are. they are NOBODIES. they pop up like little meerkats and fuck everything up beyond repair.

• also no fancy tech. no iphone 76z or whatever the fuck. sam has an ipod 1. the wheel is so stuck he can barely press play anymore. remember when he literally just tore off the top casing off his laptop and threw it away? more of that.

• no nice clothes. NO nice clothes we fuckin hate that. everything sam and dean own was purchased pre 1995 and dean is an expert at removing blood stains and sewing up jackets. dean will walk into a laundromat with a tide pen and just start goin for it like that scene in deadpool.

• tbh.... I feel like the issues in later seasons are really this massive horrible domino effect. like I could say heres how to fix s7-10 but the fact is if shit hadnt gone down lile it had in s7 s10 would be a different story entirely.

• I am gonna do it tho bc I suck <3

• s6: soulless sam was funney but did that really go anywhere? no. tbh I dont remember what happened w cas and I'm just not going to look it up. it's just not in the cards for tonight. dean w lisa.... ehh.... I've discussed this at wayy too much length w mushroom and we both agreed that dean would probably keep hunting to keep his mind off things and to try and honor sams sacrifice. I guess theres an argument to be made for the fact that it kind of was Sam's dying wish that dean just go fin her and live a normal life but... idk. purgatory was. . indeed a Concept..... that could have maybe gone somewhere if it didnt rapidly spiral into....

• s7!!! I mean. jesus christ. I know some people like this one but jesus christ. the way they literally couldnt commit to having sam have genuine mental health problems after centuries in hell or to just magically wipe them away..... bobby dying halfway thru.... charlie was a bright spot I suppose, but her intro is not my fave episode w her.... idk what the fuck happened w cas, I guess he was god. the leviathan designs were kinda neat but like oh my fucking god it wasnt worth it.

• s8: uh. rough start. idk why the turn tables so suddenly and dean's like "why didnt u look for me >:((" bc??? yall agreed not to???? at the VERY least they couldve had sam been like "I legitimately had no reason to think u werent dead and in heaven and tha wouldve been a little rude of me to pull u out of that." but we went for ~drama~ to make it spicy I guess. ouygh. bunkers there!!! that was cool!!! MoL is a cool concept!!! altho... it doesn kinda contradict the whole sam and dean are nobodies thing... idk. trials of hell was like... cool in theory but bad in practice unless they were planning on ending the show for realskies. and they did not.

• s9: uhh... hated gadreel! hated that shit! wish they had spun that whole storyline to be more "hey sam I noticed u were s*icidal should we maybe address that??" or even like.... I mean dean probably couldve just TOLD sam abt his plan, he had already convinced him to stay alive by that point??? there was no reason to lie!!! plus the betrayal of gadreel not being who he said he was wouldve been like. literally enough drama, we didnt need to fracture the team again. and cas was??? where exactly??? be was human for at least half of that season but hey didnt know what to do w him so they chucked him in a convenience store??? good lord.

• s10: got no suggestions for that one, just toss it

• s11: ok... shes cute.... we can forgive her.... the lore is shaky at best but the episodes SLAP and the characterization is *chefs kiss*. it's been a hot minute since I've seen it so if smth sucked I dont remember and I plan to keep it that way!!!!

• s12: n.. no. no mary. no mary unless we're doing it right. and I promise u doing it right was not poorly ripping off kingsman. couldve brought back bobby!!! if they desperately wanted some drama couldve brought back john!!! actually fuck that, no way

• s13-15: no thoughts, only jack kline <3

[missfinefeather]

pablo360able

Noelle Stevenson, probably: “Hm, I want to do the traditional ‘child keeping a secret from their parents as an allegory for coming out of the closet’ story, but this show is already so queer that it won't stand out as such.  What to do? *snaps fingers* I know!  The parents are both men!  That way it'll have gay subtext and gay text!”

MissFinefeather

XDDDDD

Yeah, pretty much...Season 3, Shadow Weaver tries to seduce Adora straight with an army of shadow bishies

It's going to be horrifying...

GhastlyGhifin

One of the shadow bishes escapes at one point and takes the form of Kyle, causing chaos in his image and making him look even worse

For some reason a spanish guitar can be heard whenever Dark Kyle is around

MissFinefeather

xDDDHe has a full mustache

No! A goatee!

GhastlyGhifin

Why not both?

MissFinefeather

...isn't a goatee basically part mustache? *goggles* apparently not! 0.0;;;;

Man, I'm getting proven wrong a lot today....

NoBrandMinda

Glimmer's reactions to the whole thing was probably my favorite part of the episode

https://queencatradora.tumblr.com/post/184721332979/raficha-glimmer-completely-lost-it-she-didnt

GhastlyGhifin

"Bow....wearing an entire shirt?!? HORRORS! What FOUL SORCEROR has put our good friend under this fiendish enchantment?!?!?"

MissFinefeather

xDDDDDD

NoBrandMinda

@MissFinefeather wanna hear my predictions for Season 3?

MissFinefeather

Sure! ^^

NoBrandMinda

The big thing is Catra gets sent to the Beast Zone and Scorpia goes to rescue herI want to say that she'd be desperate enough to get Adora to help her, but Adora might be too busy dealing with Shadow Weaver and the whole constellation prophesy thing.

If Scorpia does get Adora's help, then Hordak's going to be making some power moves while She-ra is otherwise occupied

GhastlyGhifin

We hear in Perfuma's episode that the old She Ra repelled the Beast Island inhabitants with a single yell, or words to that effect.

MissFinefeather

Oh yeah! 0.0; I vaguely remember that...

NoBrandMinda

But yeah, that's what I really want to see: Scorpia and Adora awkwardly working together to save Catra

In a race against time to find her before Hordak wrecks everything

GhastlyGhifin

Meh, she's worked with Sea-Hawk before. Though granted, he's mostly Lawful Neutral.

MissFinefeather

Well, I'd be very surprised if Hordak sent her Beast Island instead of putting her in a jail cellI mean, well... then again, we don't know how often he sends people off to there...

NoBrandMinda

They set up Beast Island for a reason. No point mentioning the place if we were never going to go there, ya know?

MissFinefeather

True

GhastlyGhifin

Plus, we've never seen what the hell the "Beast Island" inhabitants actually look like

Are they similar to how Catra and Scorpia are half-beast, exept they're more...2/3rds?

NoBrandMinda

Regardless of who or how she gets rescued, I see this as the start to Catra's... idk- "villainous heroic journey"

One of those situations where she gets put through the crucible and comes out stronger on the other end (probably not any happier though)

One thought I had is that at Beast Island, she may learn how to become a full-panther like she could in the old show... but they already made a joke about that in the D&D episode, so maybe not

[in-a-trans-like-state]

I’m watching supergirl (2 episodes in) and here are some thoughts I have 

Kara ffs just accept that you need training. I know she did in the end but she should have been asking for it rather than reluctantly accept help

I liked the speech about  stronger together 

hope James and Winn come to be friends. Seriously the whole ‘two guys are antagonistic towards each other cos they both want the girl’ trope is horrible and I hate it. 

Also on that note I think I read somewhere that they dropped the romance between James and Kara and tried to make it between Kara and Winn (or some other white dude) which no?? Thats not what this season is setting up. (though personally I reckon they could solve the problem with an ot3... I want to read/write a fic where thats a perfectly normal kryptonian relationship model and Kara thinks she’s dating both of them and doesn’t get why they are so slow on the uptake)  

Also Winn is borderline creepy about his interest in Kara. Like either ask her out or be forward about liking her or let it go mate, don’t hang around hoping she’ll suddenly start dating you despite quite clearly turning you down. I mean he could be a LOT worse but still it reeks of ‘men and women can’t just be friends’ 

I am thoroughly enjoying the feminist quips  ‘women need to work harder than men to get half the recognition’ and “is this cos i’m a woman?” (I mean I don’t think the show is perfect but boy its a step up and its nice to hear these things on mainstream TV) 

cut here because I went a bit of topic and rantly and not sure I made total sense 

Also where are Kara’s female friends?? She has her sister which is great. TV needs more of that. (though maybe Alex could use Kara’s name a bit more ? Like I mostly refer to my sister by her name rather than ‘my sister’) She has her boss. Who is a capitalist arsehole but she reminds me of Kuzco a lot and honestly I don’t mind Kat too much. Still though this show obviously passes the bechdel test I want to she more of Kara’s female friends. 

Actually know I think of it they should have made a Winn a woman. I liked the quips about how proud he is of his sewing skills (a joke which wouldn’t work if he was female) but seriously it would cut out the creepy pinning (though I would be so up for lesbian or bi Winn still liking Kara or it being a running joke that she constantly tells Kara how hot she is or why she should date her so long as a) Winn not hung up on Kara and is happy Like she’d so date Kara but another girl would be more than fine too and b) it is NOT framed as predatory at ALL. Like the exact opposite of predatory and its applauded for saying that wlw can have crushes on their female friends and that’s normal and fine. Also I’d like if Kara is either openly bi or they never really confirm she’s straight until one day she flirts back at Winn.) 

Actually on that note why don’t they make James female too. And Henshaw and everyone else. Like men only exist as background characters on this show. 

I don’t know much like any superman lore but I am very interested in Krypton. I want to know the customs and environment and culture and EVERYTHING. And am making myself sad thinking about how they are all dead and gone. Its like Alderaan all over again. Seriously TV/ Movie people can we stop destroying planets?? (though that reminds we that Superman was written as an allegory of the Jewish Diaspora. So maybe we could get more of that theme? Like Kara mentions losing her planet a a fair bit buts its pretty superficial. We know very little about Krypton and how that makes her different to humans other than her powers.) 

Why did  Henshaw leave the knife in Astra? You just gave her a weapon to use against Kara?? 

Also he has red eyes. Please dont make  Henshaw evil. Please?? 

This show isn’t bad. But its also kinda cringey. Idk if its cos I’m very sensitive to second hand embarrassment but I feel the script writing could be a little bit better? A lot better. and the morals are pretty heavy handed. Still its a good show and i like it. Needs more lgbt characters though