#in season 1 he was fine! but then the writers had to keep fucking up his relationship with Eve and I don’t like it

[thieves-never-say-die]

Downsides of The Librarians having short seasons: season 1 and 2 only have 10 episodes 😞

Upsides of The Librarians having short seasons: season 3 only has 10 episodes 😄

[brucebocchi]

Ranking 2024 anime, Pt. 3: #30-21

hey, this post is also available on my ko-fi, so please check it out and consider tipping/donating as i do this for free and am currently between jobs. you can find part 1 of the list here and part 2 here. thanks!

We're chugging along. I'd say we're finally getting to the good stuff, and there is plenty of good at this point in the countdown, but I also just really like complaining.

Let's get it.

30. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, season 3

I have a tendency to refer to the more brainless and/or trashy anime I watch as “junk food.” You know the kind; the ones that don’t really add anything to your life and don’t stand up to the more fulfilling series, but still get the job done when you go into autopilot. I’ve found that, as a habitual (non-metaphorical) snacker, I tend to just reach for something when I’m bored so I have something to do. And looking at it objectively, I don’t tend to enjoy myself while doing it and I usually don’t feel good afterwards.

I feel much the same way about watching KonoSuba.

Not that I think it’s ontologically evil or anything, but KonoSuba often has just as much going against it as it does working in its favor. For every joke that hits, and some of them absolutely do hit, there’s another that makes me question why I’m even watching it. I’m not against dark or even occasionally offensive humor; I adore It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show to which KonoSuba often draws comparisons. The issue is that, at its worst, KonoSuba defaults to either “this person is a pervert,” “this person is a pedophile,” or “this man got sexually assaulted.” My issue isn’t with the subject matter so much as the fact that they rarely rise above the level of base shock value and that they keep happening like that. It almost feels perfunctory, like the writers had quotas to meet.

It’s not all bad, though. Even having only gotten into KonoSuba in early 2023, I still found myself lamenting its hiatus, and An Explosion on This Magical World somehow only made the heart grow fonder for the party members that weren’t Megumin. I appreciate that Darkness plays a pivotal role in the third season, because Darkness is hilarious and terrific. This season had a couple of the best jokes and goofy facials in the series. 

Overall, it’s a bit of a wash, but I can’t be too upset. It’s more KonoSuba, and it’s reached the point where that’s practically a value-neutral statement.

29. Wistoria: Wand and Sword

I don’t really have much new to say about Wistoria. It’s not the best magic school anime I watched this year and certainly not the best fantasy, but it looks terrific and it’s a fun enough time if you turn your brain off.

And turning your brain off is a necessity here because Wistoria’s story is as basic as it gets. It’s more or less Mashle if it wasn’t a comedy, and it’s such a transparent, dirt-simple power fantasy that it might as well be an isekai. Guy’s trying to keep a promise to his childhood friend, he sucks at the one thing everyone else does to the point of getting bullied left and right, but he’s super crazy strong in a his own special way. Actually, shit, I just described Kaiju No. 8.

Rule of cool wins out here, and this show does look phenomenal, but it might be better enjoyed via YouTube clips. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here, but I’m not completely sold yet.

28. Chained Soldier

Chained Soldier is horny isekai trash. Chained Soldier fucking rocks. We got big monsters, wild action sequences, unique and memorable character designs, casual femdom, solid comic relief, interesting (if predictable) twists, uncensored boobs, it’s got it all! 

It’s not the best-looking show in some parts, but that’s forgivable. The production values were fine, all things considered, and the action sequences in particular were terrific throughout, but I’m really glad this series is changing studios for the second season. I’ve read ahead in the manga (don’t judge) and Passione is gonna do a bang-up job as the action and shameless fanservice both ramp up.

It’s early in the story and a teensy bit shaky, but Chained Soldier is already a fun time. I have reason to believe it’ll only get better as it goes. And not just because of the boobs.

27. Suicide Squad Isekai

You wanted an isekai starring the Suicide Squad, and by God did you get one. This is a perfectly serviceable series by Suicide Squad standards and a pretty middling isekai otherwise. Nothing about the world in which this series is set is all that interesting or groundbreaking, but you’re here for anime Harley Quinn (and a few other DC villains I guess), and this show delivers.

Fluid, expressive character animation (when the studio wants it), a terrific Japanese voice cast, and entertaining hijinks among Batman’s infamous rogues’ gallery combine for a plenty fun time that ultimately doesn’t have much staying power. If you liked the James Gunn movie, you’ll have a decent time here. No more, no less.

Between Uzumaki’s disastrous production, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim’s apparent mediocrity, and last year’s unwanted, execrable FLCL Grunge, I’m just glad that at least one recent anime production with Jason DeMarco’s fingerprints on it came out unscathed.

26. ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

I ended up watching so many discrete series during the winter season that it’s probably not a coincidence that my bottom four series on this ranking (and six of the bottom ten) all aired during that season. When you filter feed, you’re gonna take in a lot of garbage. Sometimes you need some stuff that’s “just fine” to clean the palate.

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess is probably a bit better than even “just fine,” but it’s not gonna be a ready recommendation. The premise is pretty one-note on paper: Warrior princess got captured by demons, they try to coax intel out of her via temptation, she folds, the intel is worthless, and the cycle begins anew. But if a run of over 250 manga chapters and climbing is any indication, the series manages to keep it fresh. Time for “Torture” works because it isn’t beholden to its premise and instead decides to play hopscotch with its own framework. Gradually but noticeably, the unnamed princess and her inquisitors and “torturers” become friends, they all enjoy the spoils of her snitching together, and they really just keep it up because that’s how this stuff is supposed to go. 

Nine months later, I still don’t know why I liked this show so much. It’s just the right amount of silly to me, and it’s cute as hell where it counts. Not the best thing I watched this year but far from the worst. If you want something dumb and weirdly wholesome that’ll make you chuckle here and there, it’s a good pick.

25. Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

This is one I’m still agonizing over a bit. Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is a terrific show on so many levels, but I still felt let down by the end of its run. It wasn’t even in the same ballpark of disappointment as Uzumaki or Metallic Rouge, thankfully. Like Uzumaki, it couldn’t live up to the promise of its all-timer debut episode, but on the flip side, Jellyfish largely maintained its high production value. Like Metallic Rouge, it felt like the narrative largely spun its wheels until the writers realized they only had two episodes left, but Jellyfish didn’t leave me feeling like I’d just wasted four hours of my life.

This series already had massive shoes to fill if it was going to be the best showbiz anime produced by Doga Kobo airing this year (“I’d have two nickels” and so on and so forth), but Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night unfortunately ended up getting outclassed on several fronts by shows that just did almost every element better. It looks terrific, it has a memorable cast, the music’s great, and it’s a welcome entry in the “Girls Doing Things” anime canon, but it was outclassed in its own broadcast season by Train to the End of the World, Girls Band Cry, and Yuru Camp. The real shame is that it seemed to have designs on being a tremendous LGBT show if it played its cards right, and instead opted to throw those cards in the air and walk away by the end.

I’d still recommend this show if you temper your expectations of any real narrative punch. There were some tremendous original series that aired this year, but Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night just didn’t reach those higher levels. There’s a whole bunch of good in there, but they couldn’t quite piece it all together.

24. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 2, part 2

I’m gonna be real here: I’m sick of writing about this show. It’s exceptionally well-made and, on balance, easily one of the best anime of the decade so far, but the subject matter can touch such controversial and uncomfortable territory at parts that I can’t recommend it to anyone. 

The back half of Mushoku Tensei’s second season actually did a lot of work towards making up for a lot of the less-tolerable moments in the preceding ¾ of the show, even delivering a couple of the spring season’s best episodes, and then it gets weird again near the end. Not nearly as bad as it gets in the first season, nor in the worst moments of this season’s first half from 2023, but still off-putting, even for people who stuck with it for this long. I expect this to continue.

Mushoku Tensei is a great show. Don’t watch Mushoku Tensei.

23. Undead Unluck, second cour

David Production’s adaptation of one of Weekly Shonen Jump’s most inventive and ambitious action series continued into the start of 2024 as the story just continued ramping up and getting wilder.

Undead Unluck had an interesting, if occasionally uncomfortable start, with a fascinating power system and tons of secrets left to be revealed, and as it continued you could start to see the camera slowly pulling back. Midway through its second cour, shit completely hits the fan and any expectations you may have had fly out the window. Undead Unluck’s debut season was an amusing curiosity for most of its run, but the status quo is upended so effectively midway through the second cour that I was completely hooked. There were some infuriating pacing issues at those exact moments that were enough for me to dock it several spots on this list, but it’s still absolutely worth watching.

I decided to read the Undead Unluck manga a couple months ago and for as wildly as I thought the anime ramped up its scope by the end of this run, it turns out that the series as a whole goes to even crazier lengths than that. I’m completely sold now and cannot wait for more.

22. Kaiju No. 8

Counter to the series I just talked about, Kaiju No. 8 is one of Shueisha’s least​​​​ innovative battle shonen series. And that’s okay! Nothing wrong with wanting to see people fight giant monsters and one who can turn into a giant monster himself, and maybe you don’t want to have to deal with Attack on Titan’s incoherent politics to get there.

There is fundamentally nothing special about Kaiju No. 8, but I do appreciate that the protagonist is an out-of-shape thirtysomething desperately clinging to his hopes and dreams. No particular reason. There’s some interesting worldbuilding early in the story, and although it does lend itself to protag Kafka’s strengths in battle (non-”turning into a monster” category), it all falls to the wayside when it’s time for monsters, guns, and explosions. And I’m fine with that stuff, but I was hoping for a bit more of a hook.

All in all, this is a very well-made show, if a little muddy-looking at times. I wouldn’t have chosen YUNGBLUD and OneRepublic for the opening and closing themes, but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the show. I just like complaining about that stuff. Looks good, sounds good most of the time, and endearingly dumb. Can’t go wrong with that.

21. Mashle: Magic and Muscles, season 2

I ranked this show’s first season pretty low on my 2023 list, but I was willing to stick it out for another season, and I’m glad I did. Mashle really finds its footing during the Divine Visionary exam arc and irons out a lot of the issues I’d had with the first season, primarily how little the comedy initially landed for me.

A series that initially had my eyes either rolling or glazing over quickly recovered my attention early in the second season. Creepy Nuts OPs are a cheat code, I swear. Even putting the killer music aside, Mashle looks a lot better as well and has a much more engaging story in its second season. You can really feel it gaining its footing and finding a bit of swagger as the season goes on. The fight sequences are much more engaging this time out, and sometimes you get all the satisfaction you need out of seeing an emotionless weirdo punch the shit out of a mean nerd. A bunch of the jokes even land this time around!

I’m glad I stuck this out. Mashle is, at the end of the day, a hilariously blatant Harry Potter send-up, and frankly has no good reason to hit like it does, but I’m finally sold. At the rate it’s been going, Mashle seems to be set to adapt the entire manga, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of it.

[anxietycheesecake]

There's something so "performative" about the finale, not sure how to articulate it. I mean, it's been like that for a while, but there were still sincere moments every now and then (probably from the cast putting all their actussy into it). It wanted to make a statement so bad, regardless of whether you think they were mocking us or not. "I'm not a normal sitcom, I'm a cool sitcom, like Seinfield. I don't fit in and I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seen my characters evolve? Oh... Oh... No, you haven't! I artificially took that back every single time! That's cool."

They wanted to remove the sense of a plot and a purpose that season 3 and partially season 4 gave it so hard it's like they couldn't think of anything else. It's funny because it's pointless and unsatisfying, even though we have managed to balance raunchy comedy and emotional scenes just fine before. It's easier this way and it get us Reddit praise. But here's the thing, it wasn't even that funny. Season 1 was just sitcom shenanigans and dark comedy and it was hilarious. Like, when was the last time you physically bent over in laughter while watching this show and are you sure it wasn't because the actors were making a funny voice or a funny face that absolutely wasn't scripted?

But I mean, all that aside, I think it's just cringe. It's giving "how you doing, fellow kids?" It's overdone and so eager to be disruptive it ends up being anticlimatic. "That's the point! We were trying to be anticlimatic!" Ok, bro, you're either a shit writer because you couldn't come up with an actual conclusion or because you genuinely thought that'd make good tv.

Comparing wwdits to Seinfield is like when wannabe great American novelist says he's writing the next Great Gatsby. No you're not. And I don't mean this as "wwdits isn't worth shit compared to actual high art sitcoms such as Seinfield" (I actually liked it better when it wasn't trying to become Seinfield); it's just... There's already a Seinfield. And there was already a wwdits that had found its footing and its voice and was doing a near perfect balancing act between comedy and drama, while keeping it humor-focused at all times. Your story is yours but when my book was starting to sound a lot like The Girls by Emma Cline minus the ABSOLUTE LITERATURE of it (arguably the best thing about The Girls), my mom was like "this not you, girl, what are you doing?" And that was MY MOM, not some random people on the Internet who are a small portion of the people who put food on my table (hopefully, heh -pay writers better, bitches >:(-). Like, dude, you're in your 40s, how can you be this petty?

At the end of the day, it was just petty. It read like fanfiction a troll would write. And they can try to gaslight us into buying it was actually such a smart move and amazing writing, but we know the truth. "We've thought about six possible endings for Guillermo's arc and haven't decided on one", "We kind of just come up with things that might be funny and work them into an episode"; things being said about a show one its fourth and fifth season. Absolutely valid, of course, but you can just admit you bit more than you could chew and wanted an easy way out. We get it, it's your job, do whatever you need to get that (far too small) paycheck, but don't put a "subversive" label on it and call it a perfect ending.

And if you're so willing to disrespect your fanbase or convince them they were watching a completely different show mere three years ago, for fuck's sake, commit to the bit and at least make it entertaining. Characters just spelling out things that are going to annoy the fans or prove to them it was silly to care about the shit and fart show for half and hour? THREE TIMES? Dude, you can be more subtle, media litecary's been dead for a while now. It's not unfunny in the sense that it's offensive; rather it was offensive how deeply unfunny it was. How can you manage to be this dishonest while doing everything in your power to make yourself seem even more dishonest??? smh

[itssomeonetofightfor]

Things I hate about part 2 of Cobra Kai (a rant if you will)

This is an absolute deconstruction of everything that was set up for the last 6 seasons!

Johnny and Daniel STILL fighting about idiocies instead of focusing on the absolute fucking mind fuck that has just been played on both their kids ( not blaming Tory by the way) . Robby is her boyfriend and the last I knew Johnny was aware of Sam and Tory's budding friendship. They decided to best do nothing for them except blame each other. YAY! Off to a good start.

Lets follow it up with the least efficient support system in the world for your captain. Apparently Robby is not allowed to be fucking devastated by the fact that the ONLY person that he trusts fully has abandoned him . Apparently they, and by they I mean Miguel and Sam ( who should know better by now) , in spite of hearing endless Johnny sob sories of how he left his child behind, decides to chide him and undermine him about how he doesn't deserve to be captain. Even though we have had to put up with all his girlfriend drama, INCLUDING him re- dislocating Robby's shoulder to get a win in season 1 because he was jealous. You want to be a leader? Prop him up! God knows he needs it after everything, but NOO lets make him feel less than. And please, when he asks you to back him up you stay silent. Thats the way! It doesn't help whem Sam piles on with half winded information. That is enough to get the rest of the team to demoralize him some more..

Hawk and Demetri becoming the most hypocritical and spineless duo of the season, reverting all the work done in previous seasons. They were annoying as all hell and I couldn't care less if they were there or not. If I was an athlete on their team I would rather withdraw...what a draaag. How they acted about Kenny was so ludicrous that I wanted to punch them in the face. They also acted as if it was only Robby's fault they were failing FUCK OFF!! AND FUCK MIT HAHA.

That's how the writers made me feel, undoing all the greatness that these characters once were. I loved Miguels struggles and Sams defiance of her father. I loved the picked kid Eli becoming Hawk. I even loved Demetri's neurotic insecurities maqueraded in a ball of sarcasm. But what the writers did this season is make everybody useless so that one common purpose could be reached...MIGUEL AND JOHNNY! It would be beautiful if it wasn't at the expense of every single character in the show.It was built up only to be flattened down at the end. That's what pisses me off.

Daniel has all but forgotten the he had a mentee once. Let's give him a pointless kiddnapping story only for him to be off balance and be obsessed about Miyagi ( who these writers should not be messing with btw).

Let's keep Robby off balance for most of the five episodes. Which became a fucking nonsensical plot point by the 1000th time he looked at at Tory.

Yes, Miguel shines as the glue and hope of Miyagi-do..the only one who can keep it together for everyone., and it would be fine IF it wasn't at the expense of everyone else performing down and out of character.

But ALAS!! His lightbulb moment comes only after Johnny assures him that he is is top dawg even if he alludes that he supports Robby ( must have missed it, but if you SAY so) and finally he starts giving Robby some encouragement.

Only then, they let Robby have his well earnt moment, not only with his protegeé Kenny but for himself. IT. IS. GLORIOUS! But then, they undo it the next day by returning his rival to the tournament just to swiftly kill him... why all this you ask? Well to set up the next rival. Who for? Yes you guessed it it's for Miguel using Sam as bait.

My question is why the writers went this way and now unfortunately, because the internet internets I know leaks.

 Why? Why kill Cobra Kai's captain in the most idiotic way.

Why make Robby seem like the most undisciplined and unfocused member of the team?

Why make Sam the most irrelevant party in this tournament (unless it has to do with next rival drama).

Why neither Sensei is there for their kids (Except Miguel of course, how silly of me).

Why keep Tory in Cobra Kai?

Because in one season they are going to deconstruct all of this for it to fit Johnny and Miguel winning together as father and son as it was always meant to ( nevermind his own son who he hasn't had a scene with, but they are going to gaslight you into thinking they did)  All in the name of unity and family. They have done all characters dirty, including Hawk,  Demetri, Devon, Kenny and lets not forget..lets get Daniel distracted with Mr. Miyagi ( and ruin his legacy in the process) so that there can only be the sole father and son combo for the win. Why else make a fake miscarriage about if not for them to be reignited in the fight for the win. Miguel and Johnny. Our heroes!! They will never take accountability or flack for anything. Just as fan service in media loves it. Fuck the overarching story.

Don't get me wrong, I love Miguel and Johnny, I just don't love how they want to get to their endgame.

[im-out-of-it]

part 5 of season 2, episode 17 continued “a dark reflection” I’ll try to go easy on Alec this time

incoming rant about jace again I CANT HELP IT HES THE WORST the fact that I tolerate jonathon and Sebastian more than jace says everything about his character lmao

77. HOW CUTE

78. my favorite thing for when I read and watch shows/movies with a couple is to see them be domestic. I think it’s the sweetest small stuff that matters the most at times

79. I’m sorry I had to. Alec:

80. Magnus is me. my favorite seafood is crab legs and if I was Magnus rich, I would go all out (can’t believe we missed out on Magnus feeding Alec, just found about this thank you 🥺🥹)

81. Alec has come so far

82. I love them here and I honestly think this might be Magnus’s best look tying with episode 4 of season 1

83. Maia and Luke scenes 🥰

84. Luke: good luck, you’ll need it

85. Simons like no I’m good 😊

86. Simon: let’s go on a date

86. can we just please and at least appreciate simons effort? he doesn’t know about Jordan and neither do first time watchers or readers but 1. Maia doesn’t want to be hurt badly like she was in the past and 2. which I don’t see mentioned is that she tried dating Simon and saw that he was interested in clary. so yes she is holding off because of her piece of shit ex boyfriend but Simon and clary JUST broke up so she could be hesitant of that. maybe the writers didn’t think that far but if I tried dating someone and they were having feelings for someone else, then they didn’t work out, and then a few days later were asking me out, I would feel pretty hesitant

OKAY BUT LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE (anyone love Simon and Maia together??????)

87. Maia: let’s be friends instead I don’t want to get hurt

88. she is always so beautiful!!!!! 😌

89. I spoke too soon. Maia said it’s not clary. should have hired me to be the head writer I HAVE GRAND IDEAS

90. how did a regular shadowhunter have the almost mortal mirror PLUS the mortal cup???? they all said Jocelyn was the best but I’m sorry, how could she get away with that when Izzy practically gets threatened with being deruned for a cup she didn’t have. how did the clave not find Jocelyn or know she had the cup???? it’s like they wanted Jocelyn to be this super powerful figure but I don’t see it

91. Jonathon did his best and that’s all you can ask for

92. Clary: I guess my mom is super powerful and untouchable?????

93. so now clary remembers that jonathon is a flower killer but conveniently forgot when jace was thought to be her brother? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

94. “you’ll kill him?” “if that’s what it takes” jace slow your roll already

95. “I know what it’s like to be manipulated by valentine and jonathon is a demon blooded monster”-jace. this dude gives me a migraine. because it was okay when he was thought to be jonathon but now it’s an issue when the real jonathon stands up? I’m sorry but does anyone else see his hypocrisy here???? not excusing jonathon and who he is but why is it that everyone was fine with jace being “demonic” but it’s the opposite for the actual jonathon????? literally jace can commit mass murder and be fine and everyone would excuse his actions

96. “remember what Valentine made you do” “I don’t have demon blood” BUT YOU FUCKING THOUGHT YOU DID. YOU STILL HELPED MASSACRE DOWNWORLDERS BUT THATS ALRIGHT ISNT IT?????? it aggravates me how he never faces any punishment

97. clary: keep your hands off my brother until he kills you then he will be dead to me because you’re the only thing I care about that’s just how I work

why couldn’t she remember this detail when they all thought jace could destroy the soul sword????

98. forgot to add this

99. it is kind of funny how clary is all save jonathon for a second and then once he lays hands on jace, she’s like ewwww omg demon demon demon

okay but let’s just compare jonathon and jace. they both aid valentine and easily fall for his games

jonathon doesn’t help murder hundreds of downworlders but jonathon is still a murderer and he accepts everything he is. he still takes on revenge later when he fully comes back

they both come back from the dead while jonathon feels betrayed by clary and wants revenge and jace takes advantage of Magnus’s kindness and tries to die as if Magnus didn’t just sacrifice everything

while jace acts like he’s better than everyone and hardly has remorse for helping valentine kill hundreds of downworlders and uses excuses like I was manipulated

Jonathan has feelings for clary knowing that’s his sister

Jace doesn’t try to get rid of his feelings for clary while thinking that’s his sister

Jace doesn’t appreciate Alec Izzy Magnus etc while jonathon uses everyone

they both have anger issues and retaliate with violence. Jace cutting off hodge’s hand and jonathon killing people he no longer has use for

I’m only saying they have a lot of similarities and in the books (and a little on the show) jace is extremely abusive to clary. it’s always what jace needs in the books. their whole relationship is toxic. so as much as I see jonathon being evil in the show, jace is not a good person either. he just acts like he is

I can’t believe how much this is making me defend Jonathan lmao but it doesn’t make sense to why jace gets away with everything while everyone else has to pay the price. I need Advil now thanks to this 😭 I’ll attempt a part 6 but it may have to wait a few more hours

[johanna-swann]

Having seen the Daredevil Born Again trailer I gotta say: I don't think my previous worries will be proven right.

I was mostly worried that they'd miss the tone and make the reboot too Disney. After we saw Fisk in Hawkeye dressed like that and after they first re-introduced Matt in She-Hulk of all shows I was seriously worried the reboot would suck. There were rumors about writers being fired and rehired, there wasn't much info about returning supporting characters, then there's the "Born Again" title.

In general the new show seems to have a very serious, dark and violent tone matching the previous Netflix seasons really well, but as far as I understand the Born Again run was what season 3 of the Netflix show was based on, yes? And then they also use it as source material for the reboot / season 4? Still interested in how that will play out. But yeah, in general the vibes are on point.

Plotwise, Matt seems to have stopped his vigilante activities again which one could call repetitive, but I think it makes sense. He quit being Daredevil after Elektra died and the Nelson and Murdock firm broke up due to his and Foggy's conflict about vigilantism. In Defenders he briefly came back because the enemy he fought in season 2, the Hand, had resurfaced and he thought he might be able to save Elektra. Then in season 3 he only reclaimed the Daredevil identity because Fisk was back. Both times he had specific reasons to come back, he didn't just feel like putting the mask back on again. He knows it's dangerous and that often enough the people he cares about suffer the consequences.

Now I personally got the impression that the ongoing corruption within NYPD, the FBI and the Justice system in general paired with the success of putting Fisk away a second time provided the perfect set-up for Matt to go back to being Daredevil for non-specific, principled reasons and with his friends' blessing too.

The new trailer tells us that then something happened. "A line was crossed." and Matt as a result hung up the mantle again. (I assume Matt's moonlighting got someone killed. He's a vigilante with a no kill rule, this is definitely something that would shake him up.) But now Fisk is back and he is Mayor. So once again we've got the same conflict, opponents and basic prerequisite: Matt vs Fisk, Fisk thinking he's actually helping the city and with the power of the system behind him, Matt fighting a corrupt system and therefore having to work outside the law. Not new, but it's a solid concept, I'm down.

(On a side note: D'Onofrio is so good, I have so so much respect for his acting skills. His portrayal of Fisk gives me the chills every time. Charlie Cox gets so much praise and it's deserved, but holy fuck. Vincent D'Onofrio everyone. One round of applause please.)

What I am worried about right no has more to do with personal preference than what I've seen from the reboot itself so far.

It's not a big secret that I did not like Karen in the Netflix series very much. She was fine in season 1, but after that they started writing her in a very hypocritical way. She starts somehow stanning the Punisher and shortly later is super upset about Matt being Daredevil. She constantly runs head first into danger, pulling other people into her mess and then blames Matt for doing the exact same thing. She accuses Matt and Foggy of keeping secrets, dangerous secrets that affect her as well, but doesn't tell them she killed Fisk's right hand man. So yeah, not a fan of that.

At the end of season 3 though the trio (Matt, Foggy and Karen) seem to be on the same page and the Matt/Karen romance could end up as a "been there, done that, it's over" thing. If the writers handle Karen better this season and these three stay platonic besties - it could be good, but I am worried especially with the theory flying around that Foggy might be dead. Without him to balance out Karen's and Matt's reckless stunts this could turn out really bad.

The other thing is that I low-key hated how much space the Punisher took up in season 2. The Punisher storyline was very much the focus of that season while Matt the protagonist and titular character was off doing something else. It's fine that they used Daredevil as a Punisher backdoor pilot, but if he is already getting his own show - why make him the main character of a different show for an entire season? This also ties into the writing around Karen in season 2 and the Defenders. I did not have fun with the Punisher storyline at all. I much would've preferred if they had given Elektra, Stick, the Hand and that entire plot more room since that was also very relevant to the Defenders crossover while the Punisher didn't need to be so closely connected to the rest of the Netflix Marvel universe.

So him being back doesn't thrill me. I hope he's just a minor character they whipped out to create a buzz in the fandom and he won't "steal" the spotlight again. There's a long, long list of other characters I would've loved to see again instead. There's Claire, the other Defenders (especially Jessica Jones), Marcy, Elektra (if Matt can survive Midland Circle collapsing ontop of him so can she), Foggy's frenemy Brett, etc. And now that Daredevil is officially in the MCU this opens up a plethora of new possibilities too.

So. I think objectively speaking the show is looking pretty solid right now, but I'm not sure it'll hit my personal sweet spot.

[disventurecamptakes]

I could rant about how the Disventure Camp writers handled HunTessAlly for days. Keep in mind it's been around a year since I've watched season 2.

First off, loved how they did the storyline in season 2. Maybe it's because I'm a polyamorous person desperate for any canon polyamorous characters, but I liked how it was handled. Each pairing within the polycule had screen time and interactions, the whole polycule had screen time and interactions, and the relationship development made sense. And the scenes where Hunter talks to Rosa about worrying he'll mess up by picking the wrong person and Rosa tells him why should he have to choose if they've been happy as is, and in the finale where Hunter confesses his feelings to Tess and Ally were AMAZINGLY WRITTEN. Like I was fucking shocked they were able to write a polyamorous person so well.

But then season two came along. First it's revealed that Tess moved to New York to study and the three of them haven't spoken much since (which doesn't make sense since phones exist?). Then it's shown that Hunter and Ally are having relationship issues which, okay I guess that's.. fine. I don't know at least to me, I didn't see any potential issues that would arise in season 1 but shit can happen.

But it's okay. Tess came to participate so she can spend more time with Hunter and Ally.

EXCEPT NOT REALLY BECAUSE THEY'RE ON DIFFERENT TEAMS AND SHE BARELY HAS ANY INTERACTS WITH THEM. LIKE, WHY TELL US THAT TESS WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH ALLY AND HUNTER JUST TO NEVER HAVE THEM HAVE A FUCKING CONVERSATION??

I'm just disappointed because we never actually see Hunter, Tess, and Ally when they're in a polycule because they get together at the end of season 2, break up/start a monogamous relationship off screen, and either not talk to Tess or have relationship issues. Like, if you wanted a couple have relationship issues, Grett and Yul are right there. There are also so many conflicts and storylines that can happy with a polyamorous relationship, but that was disregarded for stuff that we've seen before. I was so happy that there were people like me in a popular show, but that potential was ruined in All Stars.

Sorry for the really long post, HunTessAlly just gives me lots of feelings.

.

[stars-n-spice]

Here's an Idea-

Y'know, as much as I absolutely LOVE even more of a DILF Hunter with his salt and pepper hair (that I'm so incredibly jealous of) and his lovely dad bod, AND the conversation he had with Omega,, I've been thinking-

There were 16 episodes in Season 1. (with the first being 70+ minutes) - for a total of 512 minutes. - 9/15 of these episodes were 30 minutes or more. There were 16 episodes in Season 2. - for a total of 462 minutes. - 6/15 of these episodes were 30 minutes or more (with all the others being short by one or two minutes). There were 15 episodes in Season 3. - for a total of 423 minutes. - 2/15 of these episodes were more than 30 minutes.

The Bad Batch finale had me so fucking frustrated it's making me do MATH. fucking MATH. I'm a Screenwriting Major with a minor in Creative Writing, I haven't taken a math class since Freshman Fall semester!!!!

So if you're wondering, "Hey that felt rushed," you're not crazy or anything because it was!!

LOOK AT THAT DIFFERENCE!! From the first season having more than half of the episodes be more than 30 minutes to the third season not even being a third of that!

OKAY BACK TO MY EARLIER IDEA THOUGH-

I'm not going to say shit about/to the writers or anything because as a writer myself, I'm just,, not going to do that? I'm currently struggling with my own script that I really should be working on but I have Bad Batch brain worms and I'm so fucking frustrated I can't focus on it right not but-

Here's what I would've done:

End the 15 episode with them all under the tree. "Whatever we want, kid. Whatever we want."

Boom, that's it. There it's done. Episode ends there.

THEN!! Have another episode that deals with the aftermath of everything. Considering they're all in their armor and whatnot still, it looks like the last moments happen like almost IMMEDIATELY after they get back.

We don't get to see Wrecker and Crosshair talk or do ANYTHING in reaction to the injuries they sustained on Tantiss. They don't further interact with Omega or really each other. So use that 16th episode to have them do that.

Give Tech a proper send off since ya'll wanted to keep him dead or whatever in that 16th episode and finally talk about him. Let Phee be there too. Actually have an emotional conversation with weight to it. There's SO much there you can explore.

THEN end it with the timeskip with DILF-ier Hunter and a grown up Omega.

Then that would make it all feel a little more complete than abrupt like how it felt for me.

OR

Okay, so you don't want to have a 16th episode? You just want the 15? That's fine. I have an idea for that too!

Alright, everything is the same, you end it with the tree, fade to black okay.

Instead of the timeskip, that portion would've been better served to give Tech his send off. To finally fucking acknowledge him and talk about him outside of being the "brains."

That would've been your chance to have that conversation.

As much as I loved Hunter and Omega's conversation, as hot as Hunter was, and as fucking touching as it was to see Hunter old and alive and living; I think it would've been much better to have that time to talk about Tech instead or something.

Originally, while I was watching it and when I noticed it was an older Omega my immediate thought was "Oh no, is she visiting their graves??" because I couldn't be sure of the timeline and clones age twice as fast so I didn't know how much time had passed.

That wasn't the case (thank god, my heart can only handle one clone grave scene) but I think that honoring Tech and REALLY honoring him - not off hand mentions or staring at broken goggles - would've fit PERFECTLY there.

And don't have it be a timeskip because that timeskip, as wholesome as it was (and again, as fucking hot as Hunter was) just left me feeling empty. I felt like I missed out on a huge chunk of something and I didn't like that.

Just...something where a few days after recovering from everything they all have a moment and sit down and talk about Tech or something. Just something.

Anyways, that's it for my ramblings. That's just how I would've done it.

[the-gayest-show]

you know guys they weren't wrong about the episodes "house's head" and "wilson's heart"

they actually were underestimating how bad it gets. actually

you know. those people. they made a point. they were like "OMG house's head wilson's Heart" and I saw some cool fucking FANART and I'm like "damn what could possibly happen" and then....

spoilers under the cut.

i can't do this. Wilson suffering montage is not what I wanted to keep me up at night. I think amber's ok but her death was so hard on Wilson I sobbed when he did look at this mans GLOWING BROWN EYES AND TELL ME YOU DIDN'T WANT TO HUG HIM AS SOON AS HE BROKE DOWN IN TEARS

dear Tumblr it's 1:30 am in the morning I started a mdnight push thru of this episode i'm not the same man I was 43 minutes ago do you FUCKING hear me

even HOUSE got in tears. and NOW he feels Wilson is gonna blame him and house blames himself and wishes HE died in the fucking bus crash and not the healthy young doctor i'm going to ducking die I'm going insane

like bro. it started off ok with house's head, yeah? I LOVED the direction. it was going great! we had these fun montages of house trying to rejog his memory by almost killing himself and seeing hallucinations everywhere. we had oh so much going on. Wilson isn't too bad in this one. Wilson is fine, house is probably on the verge of killing himself and everyone's like "you know you should stop actually" but he doesn't and then we end off with "you know the 2nd sick patient is AMBER" *credits roll, immediately clicks next episode*

but then it got BAD. wilson's heart got me crying. like ok i'll admit I knew amber was gonna die that was smth I kept in the back of my mind but wilson. he made it happen. ok first off, credits where they're do to the director of both episodes and the actors. Wilson was sobbing so hard I STARTED SOBBING. Robert Sean Leonard you son of bitch when I CATCH YOU RSL I WILL HUG YOU TO OBLIVION

he's not like any other patient's family ever he cries the biggest tears and goes absolutely feral. idk how amber felt towards bro but Wilson is in LOVE with her. it SHOWS. did you see how hard he SOBBED during that episode when they said she was going to die I was crying too

no but then Wilson he uh forces house to rejog his memory one last time and then the WORST MONTAGE EVER STARTS. THEY PLAY THE MOST FITTING EMOTIONAL SONG AND SHOW EVERYONE AFTER AMBER'S DEATH IM SOBBING IM ON THE FLOOR I SAW THE OG 3 REUNITE I WANTED TO THROW MY LAPTOP ACROSS THE ROOM (a feeling that has occurred multiple times in 40 mins)

NONONO BUT THEN. THEN WE GET HOUSE IN THE DREAM/COMA SEQUENCE. HE'S SITTING NEXT TO AMBER (DEAD) AND THEY TLK ABOUT IT.

HOUSE DOESN"T WANT TO GO BACK TO CONSIOUSNESS BC HE'S SCARED WILSON WILL HATE HIM AND HE WONDERS SMTH ABOUT THE DRUG ADDICT (HIM) GETTING TO DIE IN BUS CRASHES WHILE THE YOUNG ONE LIVES BUT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN DIDN'T IT AND THEN BRO'S LIKE RIDDLED WITH GUILT AND THEN SFOUWBFSUBF

END SCENE. WILSON COMES UP TO AN ALMOST AWOKEN HOUSE AND THEN

HE LEAVES. HE GETS OUT OF THE ROOM HE LOOKS AT HOUSE AND HE EXITS THE PREMISES. SOB.

OH MY GOD. IM SO GLAD CUDDY IS THERE AT LEAST BUT OH MY GOD. HOUSE. THIS IS YOUR ONLY FRIEND. YOUR BEST FRIEND. THE FRIEND. SEASON 5...................................

save me season 5 save me or else house writers are catching these hands

[amorhedera6]

as someone who watched and loved season 1 of flash, and someone who watched tolerated all the way up to season 5 and half of season 6, i decided to sit down and watch the flash finale. and boy do i have thoughts.

most of them are what the fuck is going on.

i watched all of once upon a time, so i’ve been burned by shows losing steam and obsessing over the main ship instead of the interesting plot before. when i saw the signs in the flash, i pulled back. i didn’t wanna go through it again. honestly i should’ve before i did, but i have a crippling crush on grant gustin.

1) khione

i like dc comics, but it spans infinitely and there are lots of things i don’t know, so correct me if i’m wrong. but i did a little research and it doesn’t seem to me that khione was a character in the comics. so (if danielle panabaker was staying on the show) why not just let her be caitlin? have they just decided against the character they have been writing since season one? khiones plot of understanding her powers, of of coming to terms with who/what she was all could have easily transferred to caitlin. it got her well when they first began to integrate killer frost into her story! they could have continued, once frost died, by having caitlin regain some of frost’s powers. while having her mourn her sister, she adapts to having powers again and how to be herself with them and not frost. an echo of the plot that she was already going through when the writers decided to just jeckyll/hyde her. it would have worked incredibly well! plus, it would give caitlin a fulfilling end to the question she’s been asking since season one: who is she on her own? in season one, it was without ronnie, in season two she was battling discovering these powers, and by season three she was battling becoming the super villain she knew her doppelgänger was. making her another new character with the same plot that caitlin, then frost had just defeats caitlin’s purpose. when the original core characters of your show keep leaving (cisco, joe, any version of wells) why kill of another just to replace her with such a similar character played by the same actress?? it truly baffles me.

2) the time wraiths

i’m sure i’m not the first one to say this, but why introduce the time wraiths if you want to have barry keep time traveling to and fro. “but they’re creatures of the speed force, so obviously wouldn’t attack the avatar!” okay fine. NORA IS NOT THE AVATAR. WHY DOES SHE NEVER FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR HER TIME TRAVELS. SHE HELD HERSELF. AS A BABY. THAT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED.

i may be biased bc i don’t like nora.

3) bart

i know he wasn’t really mentioned much in the finale, but i wanted to understand things i’d missed/forgot so i looked into him for this. why did they make bart a part of the show. i understand he’s a big character in the comics, but if they wanted to have another child for barry and iris be introduced, why not use the tornado twins? why use his grandson and just change it? any create nora at all?? (again i’m probably just biased against nora, but still)

it just doesn’t make any sense to me to take an established character and change their lore just bc you like it better than using the established characters, since that conflicts with your original characters. JUST FOLLOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL ITS NOT THAT HARD.

4) eddie

bringing back eddie thawne, when his sacrifice already didn’t achieve its purpose, completely cheapens the finale of season one. especially by making him an uncle villain who wants to destroy the timeline because his fiancée (who he knew was destined to be with barry in the future) denied him because she already had a husband and family.

eddie didn’t like barry in season one. he rightly thought that he was into iris and came in between the two of them. but he tried to be his friend because he was friends with joe and he loved iris. he was a good guy and he wanted good for the people in his life. he loved iris, and if it truly made her happier to be with barry than him, he would have stepped to the side, the finale completely changes his character for the wills of the plot, making him hate barry for “stealing his life” when he sacrificed himself so iris could continue to live her life happily.

5) iris’ labor

for two and a half of the four episodes of the finale, iris is in labor. and because they’re being attacked by the negative speed force, everyone rallies together to fight, and she is left alone in the hospital in labor.

WHY DID NO ONE CALL JOE???

i get he has jenna to look after or whatever, but that’s his daughter, she’s in labor, the father of the baby he also calls his son, and yeah it’s weird, but we don’t talk about that. his daughter is in labor, all alone, worried about wether or not barry will survive, and no one thinks that he would be helpful to the situation at all. so fucking stupid. i understand if maybe the actor didn’t want to come back for it, but he was already in the finale episodes anyway!! he was a major point in the first episode, and he was there when she finally had the baby in the end!! why couldn’t he just be there for a little bit longer??

6) cisco

okay, carlos valdez has said that he had scheduling conflicts, and that it was heartbreaking for him not to be able to return for the finale. i understand that. i am not at all criticizing that.

they couldn’t even name drop cisco? be like, ciscos picking up the cake at the party scene? have caitlin be in the phone with him instead of her mother at the end? they were best friends, you’re saying when she came back from the dead she didn’t even call him? or say i called cisco, he has blah blah blah going on so he can’t come help buuuut he gave us this vital piece of information!!

come one people. throw us a bone.

7) chester

i did get to chester in the original series, but it was like right as i was losing interest in it, so i didn’t care to research him at all, but i did for this! why did they make him diet cisco?? internet he comics, because he has a vortex inside of him, chester is fat. why was he played by a skinny guy? why did they not utilize his character to its full extent instead of just being a replacement once they found out carlos was leaving the show??

okay that’s all i have, i wanted to complain bc it made me angry. i liked the flash originally, i think it had a lot of good potential, but like so many shows, it was dredged on too long, got convoluted, the writing prowess diminished instead of flourishing, and it ended after too many seasons. sorry to the flash, you could’ve been so good.

[avelera]

“Ted Lasso” critical opinion here, but while I still enjoy the show and make time to watch it within a day of it coming out, they’re so conflict-shy about having anyone be the central villain, or even the central antagonist of an episode, that the whole plot has gone to mush.

(Now just to be clear, I’m criticizing the show’s dramatic structure, not the relative merits of the characters or their individual stories. That’s subjective and people love their favorites and that’s fine. But the show, right now in Season 3 as of episode 8, has no villain or central antagonist and thus no plot other than a vague ambling towards the direction of the final game.)

Rebecca was a stellar villain in Season 1. Her having a redemption arc and a sympathetic backstory doesn’t make her any less structurally the villain. Her role as the villain glued the season together, it offered a powerful focusing factor to the arc and it gave someone for Ted Lasso as our protagonist to face off against, even if he didn’t always know it. As the villain she was the gravity that pulled the story together.

Though it is much panned by many writers, the fact is, having a hero, villain, and a love interest with a central plot of the hero keeping the villain from getting what they want (and an emotional B plot of everyone getting what they need even if it wasn’t what they wanted at the start) is a really strong central story that propels a narrative. Combining villain and love interest is possible and also compelling but notice, whenever Rebecca was in the role of love interest in Season 1, Rupert was brought in to pick up the villain slack. Rupert’s presence kept a villain in the picture to propel the story when Rebecca was busy in that other role.

Now, Rupert has had some walk on moments of villainy in S2 and S3 since then, but besides those moments… who the fuck is our villain in season 3? Who is the plot arrayed against? What is our hero, presumably still Ted, trying to achieve? What does Ted want? Honestly, what does anyone want at this point that they’re taking material steps to achieve and that is being kept from them by a villain or antagonist of some sort? What is this plot about other than Richmond maybe stumbling its way into a championship by the end?

The lesson of Rebecca being so beautifully humanized at the end of S1 and getting that wake-up call from Higgins to stop acting like a cartoon villain and realize everyone here is human was a fantastic story beat. But the lesson from it wasn’t that there shouldn’t ever be a villain. Rebecca having a redemptive moment of realizing she’s been an ass to everyone who actually cares about her, that she’s sacrificing her present to get revenge for her past, is still absolutely beat for beat a standard part of a villain arc. She’s still a villain even if she gets redeemed at the end. S1 had a strong central story of hero vs villain as a result and the humanity of the characters in an otherwise cartoonish plot was what elevated the story to critical acclaim.

Now… everyone is just too damn humanized. And the thing is, you can still humanize people and have them be antagonists, or even outright villains! You can have story conflict that isn’t a huge angry fight, it’s just different people who want different things that are in conflict with what the other person wants and prevents them from getting it. It’s actually a completely natural set up for “Ted Lasso” because it’s a sports story for goodness sake. Everyone wants to win! Everyone has a good reason to win that’s just as valid as anyone else’s. Everyone is working hard to win the trophy and has their own reasons to deserve it, and that puts good people in conflict with one another.

But no one is the villain in Season 3, or even a consistent antagonist taking material steps to stop the hero from getting what he or she wants. Not even Nate, who was perfectly set up to be the dark mirror to Ted this season, with a cold, severe coaching style based on a lifelong understanding of the game, but with no social skills to balance it. A true head to head of the Lasso method vs the method of his protege, the man he gave a chance to shine when no one else did. (Don’t even get me started on the dropped potential for a plotline that takes into account Nate’s age and the racism he undoubtedly felt in his career to still be a kit man at his age, a role that was next taken by a white teenage boy, and despite the skill he’s shown as a coach the minute he was given a chance. Where did all of that go? Nate had legitimate grievances of being overlooked and then achieving his dream despite this and being good at it, but I digress.)

Maybe we’re being set up for a banger finale, a few hours of really tightly plotted story that brings this all together, and we’re just killing time until we get there. I certainly hope so. Because story tropes exist for a reason. Keeley and Roy and Jamie’s love triangle story in S1 was a standard romance trope but it was well applied and that made it work. Ted vs Rebecca is a trope right out of Air Bud, for goodness sake, but it worked because it was well applied.

There’s no tropes happening right now in S3. There’s no plot. There’s no villain. There’s nothing for this story to coalesce around. Maybe it’ll all come together for a banger finale but man… man, I really hope it does.

[showtoonzfan]

Something I’m noticing about Vivziepop’s darker elements to Helluva that bother me (ESPECIALLY with the recent episode) is that she just dumps it all onto you and expects you to go along with it, without letting the scene sink in or linger, and like I said before, doesn’t have the proper buildup or development in the first place. It’s really an issue, because as a writer you’re stuffing too much in your audience’s faces, and this circles back to how Viv is just too ambitious and impatient. We meet Moxxie’s father, Crimson (a character who by the way, could have had WAY more buildup and hints since he had a huge negative impact on Moxxie’s life) and in the same episode we meet him, we also see Moxxie’s childhood, and what Crimson did to his mother, again….something REALLY dark that’s just piled onto us. Even on paper this doesn’t sound good, it all feels so rushed.

What I feel like the show should have done was buildup Crimson more in season 1, then in “Ex’s and Oohs”, we finally meet him, but don’t immediately dive into flashback territory. Set up that Moxxie cut ties with him and wants nothing to do with him, that he left the crime business a long time ago (and yes, let’s ignore that this sounds very similar to Angel Dust) much to Crimson’s dismay. What I actually liked about the sort of first half of the new episode was that Crimson was actually kinda subtle. You could watch the beginning of how he interacts with Moxxie, and there’s this uncomfortable eeriness that something is clearly OFF between them, but you can’t tell why. A normal viewer would assume that Crimson was just not that good of a father at a young age, hence why they broke ties and don’t see each other anymore, Moxxie IS the show’s punching bag after all, so I just assumed Crimson thought his son was a weakling and that’s why the awkward uncomfortable banter was there. However, that wasn’t the case, but just because a show subverts your expectations, doesn’t mean it’s automatically good.

If you wanted the idea that Crimson killed his wife and practically made Moxxie do it at a young age, fine, just don’t show that in this episode. Why not cover Moxxie’s mother’s face in the family portrait, hint to the audience that she passed. Meanwhile have Crimson not mention her at all or even acknowledge her, but show that by just looking at her covered face in the portrait, Moxxie is at unease, even terrified. Let us see that he acknowledges her existence through body language, while Crimson doesn’t. Build the suspense more for this episode, keep the awkward uncomfortable banter between the two, instead of flat out revealing that Crimson is an abusive murderer only 11 minutes into the audience meeting him for the FIRST time. I would have also changed the premise of this episode. Get rid of the dumb marriage for money plot, and have it be focused around Crimson trying to convince Moxxie to come back into the family. He himself said that he heard a lot about how successful IMP was, so what if the episode opened with him seeing their jingle commercial, and arranging the call? What if he at first thought Moxxie was a weakling, but after seeing how skilled his son was at his job, he tries to get him back into the family or…mafia business or whatever for his own personal gain? I’d also take out Blitz for this episode because he didn’t need to be here, you could have a flashback scene of them meeting where Moxxie first gets the job, but Blitz doesn’t need to be here in the present. Crimson would only invite Moxxie and Millie, since they’re married, and Chaz. Get rid of Chaz being Moxxie’s ex, and only make him MILLIE’S ex, so there could be an A and B plot for this episode. The A plot focuses on the relationship between Crimson and Moxxie, and the B plot focuses on Millie and Chaz, so Millie can actually get some fucking development and focus for once. I had the idea that Chaz is only there coincidentally, he initially joined the business for money, but once he realized Crimson was in debt, he wanted to leave but couldn’t and is forced to be with them.

Then, after Moxxie obviously rejected the business, end the episode the same way with Crimson throwing the knife at the portrait, only THIS time it’s the first time we see Crimson aggressive with his mask off. The next time we see him, THEN show the flashback, either from Moxxie’s perspective, or Crimson’s perspective, revealing how abusive he was as a father, and how he killed his own wife. OR…another thing you could do is while we’re away from Crimson, we see Moxxie reflect on his mother, maybe see the flashback without Crimson around. I dunno guys, FUCKING ANYTHING to build suspense and conflict for the characters, and make Crimson more terrifying, and to get rid of all the stupid unfunny comedy. It really disappoints me how by the numbers and lame Vivziepop’s abusive characters are, and how none of these writers can’t build suspense or take any of these dark matters seriously without cracking a cringe dick joke or having a character be SA’d. The way Moxxie couldn’t have his victory and properly stand up to his abuser and yet Stolas can for some reason is fucking disgusting. Let Moxxie have his moment. Let him prove to his dad that he’s not some punching bag who can’t do anything for himself. Let him prove to his dad that he’s not going to take his shit anymore. But no….we can’t have nice things with this show at all because the writers are too horny. At this point guys, just write a porno, because we all know that’s what they really care about.

[redbelles]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by: the wonderful @carry-the-sky 💖

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

51

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

245,595

3. what fandoms do you write for?

i don't ever really abandon old fandoms, but so far 2024 has been all berserk (nothing posted yet, unforch) and masters of the air

4. top five fics by kudos

like a heartbeat drives you mad

the dreadful need in the devotee

and my body found the wind

stuck in colder weather

all the love you need

5. do you respond to comments?

yes! it may take me a hundred million years, but i appreciate each and every comment i get, and i often go back to them for a little jolt of "hey, people actually like your writing!" motivation when i'm stuck

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

lmao uh. known angst goblin meg redbelles here, but i honestly didn't have to do much work to the canon endings of robert baratheon (the clouds will form a crown) or judas iscariot (in the violence of our dreams) to make them even more horrifically angsty, so. one of those, probably!

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i don't tend to go for out and out happy endings—i prefer bittersweet—but i feel like the answer is either the mercy wheel, which fixes dany’s gabarge season eight character arc, or tongue’s talkin’ riddles (sticky sweet), which gives chrissy and eddie a mostly happy future together instead of horrible deaths in deeply cursed hawkins

and! for what it's worth! the chimneys hardly ever fall down is going to end on a happy note! they're just going to have to Suffer a lot to get there! it's fine!

8. do you get hate on fics?

nope

9. do you write smut?

me, currently 3k into a m/m/f threesome scene:

10. craziest crossover:

i enjoy spitballing about crossovers, but i doubt very seriously that i'll ever write one

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of, no

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

i've had offers before, but i've declined every time; they all wanted to host the translations outside of AO3, which is not something i'm comfortable with

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

yep! keep calling me home is a really fun little round robin fic i wrote with three other authors a couple years ago

14. all time favorite ship?

i can't read suddenly.gif

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

shUT UP!!!!! I'M GONNA FINISH ALL MY WIPS!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!

16. what are your writing strengths?

imagery, emotion, themes, dialogue

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

plot? never heard of her. also, i feel like i still suck at writing humor

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

to crib from a previous answer: unless you speak the language, it gets real dicey real fast. i personally avoid it unless a) it’s a canonical term/phrase, like all the faux-russian bullshit in the grisha trilogy, or b) i can check the grammar/usage with a native speaker or someone who is solidly fluent

19. first fandom you wrote in?

[redacted] way back ages ago on [redacted]

20. favorite fic you've written?

recency bias talking here, but i am so, so, so fond of the chimneys hardly ever fall down; i challenged myself to write the first chapter as one continuous scene (i feel like i sometimes abuse scene breaks to heighten tension), and honestly i think i nailed it. also, this sequence:

Maybe he is drunk. That would make sense. He’s going to wake up and find himself alone at the bottom of a bottle. Back in the cold blue, Fort shot to shit and tumbling from the sky like a wounded bird, trailing fire and screaming as she falls. Maybe he won’t wake up at all— maybe he’s dead in a potato field, a ghost who never made it back in the first place. His heart can’t fucking take it.

like, i'm sorry, but that's brutal! and i am so proud of it!

tagging: @sluttyhenley @littlelindentree @oatflatwhite @meyerlansky @ladywaffles

@charmtion @anthropologicalhands @jacyevans @thatworldinverted @thatgirlnevershutsup

and anyone elso who wants a go ✨

[scullysflannel]

alias season 3 is not even close to as good as seasons 1 and 2 (what is) but what I love is it's so MAD. from everyone else’s perspective sydney bristow came back from the dead; from sydney’s perspective, which is also ours, she woke up one day and found out two years had passed and everything was different. everyone wants her to smile and be gentle and instead she seethes. I will never ever forget the feeling of being 14 years old and expecting her to say yes of course I'm fine when vaughn came to check on her, only for her to eviscerate him and tell him she's doing horrible and by the way he was a bad boyfriend for not believing she was alive after they identified her dead body in the charred remains of her apartment. that one rewired my brain. it was better that she was barely making sense. women didn't have to be small; women could be fucked up in a way that takes up space. sydney's a brilliantly realized character in the first two seasons of alias — she's self-righteous alongside her vulnerability, and as smart as she is she gets rash and illogical whenever it gets personal — but the way she and the show keep so many balls in the air dazzles you into thinking she's always going to be able to cope this well. and then in season 3 she kind of comes back from the dead wrong. but not really back from the dead and not really wrong, because she's just keeping it real. she's being a little mean. she picks fights with her ex-boyfriend's new wife and admits "I hate her." and when her ex needs her help fixing the problems he caused, sydney stands in front of him in sunglasses with her arms crossed. cool! ALSO!!! her evil ex-boss has rehabilitated his image and is now a global humanitarian because bad men are given infinite second chances no matter how many bodies their empire is built upon. but sydney won’t forget. she literally has no memory of his rehabilitation, and neither do we, and she's not buying it, and neither are we. it’s a vacuum in the narrative. he asks her to believe he's done the work and she says no when no one else will. and isn't that how the whole world feels. 

it’s a season of almost complete isolation in the wake of this violent series of violations: her body, her mind, her home, her relationship, and now she’s even being told she should be nicer to the man who killed her fiance and her best friend. and I’m not letting the writers off the hook for one of those violations (they took her ova), but the way the season and the show are anchored in her perspective is emotionally visceral in a way that covers a few sins. when sydney was a child she was hardwired not to be brainwashed (trained by her father, one of the only men she actually gets closer to in season 3 — a violation circling back around to being the only kind of love she knows) and I think alias is sort of like that. it’s so hardwired to tell the story from sydney’s point of view that even when it isn’t totally facing the consequences of the plot (she gets one episode to cry that they took her ova) they’re still deeply felt. one thing alias always understands is the cruelty of expecting a woman to smile through her suffering, so the more she suffers the angrier the show intuitively gets. so sydney just goes around biting people’s heads off

[im-out-of-it]

season 2, episode 17, “a dark reflection” aka Alec lies to Magnus 😭

before I start, I just want to say this episode and the next is going to be extremely hard for me to digest. I don’t agree that Alec would lie to Magnus given their whole history and Alec seems to have learned from that. Alec is always thinking of Magnus and I don’t what the writers were fucking on in season two era but they should’ve stayed away from it. I don’t mind drama, I LOVE IT, but why was Malec constantly getting put though it? I feel it’s worse in season two because Alec seems to constantly make mistakes. I love a man who can grow, but he just never seemed to catch a break. so let’s begin, RIP MALEC WE WILL SEE YOU HAPPY SOON

I guess they’re back together

2. is he on standby just waiting for her to make a noise??????

3. they’re barely together and it’s already nauseating

4. Jonathon has become jace’s #1 enemy

5. THIS IS THE SHIT RIGHT HERE THAT I HATE. so it’s acceptable when jace thought he had demon blood but it’s evil when jonathon for real has it? I am no way defending jonathon but it’s very hypocritical for jace to speak ill of jonathon when just a few episodes back, everyone thought he was a demon. I’m reposting this (I posted in sneak peek) just to show how ridiculous jace is

6. and this is what he says now:

7. forgot about these:

8. also does anyone find it kind of creepy how he just runs in there like he’s almost waiting on clary to wake up? maybe I’m just being a bitch lmao

9. also does it seem to anyone else that any mention of any guy in clary’s life and jace seems automatically jealous? I don’t think this is about “protecting” clary. just like when she was with Simon, friends and dating, he was always jealous

10. and once again, I’m really not defending jonathon but it’s a double standard when everyone was fine to protect and love jace even if he was a demon but once an actual demon is in the picture- oh he needs to be rid of asap!!!!!! Alec and Izzy always had jaces back even when they heard he was a demon. he had everyones support from day 1 and still does. I find his behavior to be super hypocritical. I also don’t forgive jonathon for what he does to max and my irritation is mainly with Jace. Jace has “trauma” so it’s okay for him to be a dick but jonathon never had anyone loving him (if you count the way Lilith loved him) and he’s seen as the most vile creature there is????

11. clary: I’ll find my brother

12. I mean when you have valentine whispering in your ear and placing doubts that your mother never cared about you, it would make you prone to believe those thoughts

13. isn’t it wild all that time Jocelyn really thought jace was her son when he wasn’t????? 💀

14. I don’t know where or how the incest comes to play. I feel there’s this whole “he has demon blood so he wants all the wrong things so let’s prove how awful he really is” vibe when it comes to jonathon. but also if you think about book jace and jonathon, they have many similarities which is even more wild. and at least with the show, they don’t force down the incest like CC did

15. “trust goes both ways”, show jonathon is a lot more sympathetic than book jonathon. book jonathon can go rot in hell for all I care but if you think about the show version- he never once had a loving nurturing presence in his life. Valentine fucked up his son before he were born, and Jocelyn was terrified of him, while Lilith burned him and turned him more demonic, he just doesn’t seem to have anyone in his life who tried to show him a different life. I still think he’s majorly a bad person but it’s hard to almost throw away a person when they never once had it good. they didn’t really give him a chance to grow either. also it’s not our fault that the actor is mesmerizing to watch. IT DOES NOT HELP HIS CASE 🥹 and if you think about it- jace has always been a shit person but he’s always had support

16. Max is all grown up

17. Alec is so proud

18. keep Alec in your thoughts. Izzy will be furious

off to part 2 ✔️

[paperandhis-paper]

Arc-V Month Day 8: The Regular- ah, Standard Show and Day 9:Light Across the Aether

Combining two prompts, as I'll be gushing about (among other parts) about the Standard arc. Hope that's fine, @arcvmonth

Anyway, Arc-V has a lot of positives (that tend to get washed by the hatejerk), but what I want all of us to appreciate is that this silly show...exists. Not only that, but the awesome way the staff managed to hype all of us up?

What do I mean by this? Let me put it this way. This is a show about a multidimensional war where each dimension is based on a previous Yugioh series, featuring Returning Characters, and every Summoning Type is used.

Now go back to the original trailer for Arc-V. Notice how there're some things missing. Namely? ALL OF THE ABOVE. We knew about Pendulum Summoning, we knew Yuya rode a hippo...and that's about it.

Marketing-wise maybe this wasn't the brightest move, but it's an example of something I love about early Arc-V. In the year of our lord, 2023, where crossovers are everywhere and meta-commentary is so overdone people do meta-commentary about meta-commentary, it's bewildering how Arc-V kept its cards close to its chest and drip-fed information about its plot to keep the audience interested.

All of Season 1 is like this. At first we only really see Pendulum Summoning. But as early as Episode 3, we get hints about the other Summoning Types, since LDS has courses on each one. But whatever, you may think. It's only an Easter Egg, right?

Then this little fella shows up.

Casually, this kid activates Polymerization like it's nothing. And it's not like Jack randomly Fusing in early 5D's, Sora's deck is clearly Fusion-focused. But if that's not enough, we then meet the LDS trio, who use Xyz, Fusion, and Synchro. AND THEN Reiji tops them all by using all three at once. And Pendulum.

It's easy to take it for granted now, but this was legit just such a "holy shit" moment back then. 5D's featured Fusion a few times, but it was mostly a Synchro Spam. And Zexal pretended Synchros didn't exist. So it was so exciting to know Arc-V would be different.

That would be cool enough, but then they went ahead and made it so that each Summoning Type was tied to a specific Dimension. And again, the war plot was dropped slowly but surely. We get introduced to Yuto, who not only looks like Yuya, but he mentions something about some "Academia". But hey, a GX reference, whatever. And then it keeps going. We learn about Shun, about Ruri. And it all culminates in Shun vs Sora, which... ok, everyone knows this duel is amazing, but it's not just about the duel itself being spectacular. It's about the confirmation that, yes, we really are doing this. That Action Field IS Heartland, Shun and Yuto are from there, and the Academia Sora belongs to is based on GX.

The most ambitious crossover in history is here. And all they told us at first is that Tomato-boy rides a hippo. What the fuck.

Speaking of hippo-ridah. Arc-V always gets the somewhat-backhanded compliment of being the most ambitious Yugioh series, a statement I agree with. However, this is generally just refers to the overall scope of the plot. Today, one aspect that can sometimes get neglected that I want to highlight is how daring their choice of protagonist is.

Yuya, my beloved. I don't wanna spend too much time about how much I love him, because I'm sure I'll do so in the future, but I want everyone to appreciate the writers' choice in creating him.

I'm gonna be blunt: Shonen fans can be dumb. They are not the kind to be receptive to protagonists who're not hyper-macho, badass types and who are prone to show weakness. Just look at the response characters like Shinji Ikari or Natsuki Subaru get. Now, I'm not saying Yuya is as well-written as those, but it shows that even if the writers had written him perfectly there was always going to be a crowd of people who were going to hate him.

So I gotta give a shout-out for creating what's easily the most complex Yugioh protag by a long shot. Other protags could be slotted into one of two categories: "Serious" (Yugi, Yusei), or "Upbeat" (Judai, Yuma). Meanwhile, from Episode 1, Yuya defies categorization. He plays the clown, making one think he'll fit right in with Judai and Yuma, before the show makes it clear that it's just a facade... but also it's not. He truly strives to be the fun-loving, charming Entertainer he projects, but his own struggles and feelings prevent him from succeeding. It's a fascinating struggle, and I'm impressed that a franchise like Yu-gi-oh would even attempt this. And then you throw in the demon inside of him, and the waters get even muddier.

Speaking of which...

Something Cool about the Zarc Duel

(Yeah, that's as good of a segue as you're getting. I just wanna talk about something cool I noticed.)

So. The Zarc-duel. It's a mixed bag. I'm of the opinion most of it is meh (not helped by it taking over a month to air), but that the first and final episodes of it are amazing. And I wanna talk about something cool about said last episode that doesn't get talked about enough.

So, as we know, Zarc, alongside Yuya, created Pendulum to get revenge. And yet he gets defeated the exact-same way, by Ray activating the En Cards...or does he? If you pay attention, you'll notice that the En Cards destroy monsters, negate their effects, and deal 600 damage for each Monster sent to the graveyard (very particular wording these uber-powerful cards). Zarc has 2800 LP, and five monsters affected. 600x5 means his Life Points naturally drop to... 1000?

Of course, that's because Odd Eyes and Zarc are Pendulum monsters, so they're sent to the Extra Deck. If they weren't, he'd have lost right there and then. And not only did Zarc's scheme prevent his defeat, it basically got him the duel: he still had Scales set, and Reira's field was empty, so nothing stops him from Pendulum Summoning Zarc and/or Odd Eyes, and attack for game. Thankfully, the Lancers' efforts managed to reach Yuya, and he regained control and basically Shining Drew Smile Universe. In a hint of irony, they even play Swing, Pendulum of Souls, a song usually reserved for Zarc possessing Yuya.

Speaking of which, Smile Universe's effect is really similar to that of the En Cards. I guess it's the Unofficial 5th one and Smiles are the 5th beauty of Nature.

On that note, one last thing.

The Title: Arc-V

Arc-V is a very peculiar name for a show. And what I love is that it has many meanings. Most straight-forwardly, it's the name of the machine Leo builds to fuse the Dimensions. And obviously, it refers to it being the fifth Yugioh series. But it also refers to both the arc of a Pendulum, as well as the shape of a smile (there's an ED literally called "ARC OF SMILE", in case you think I'm reading too deep into things). I love how well-crafted this show's symbolism and visual language is.

Anyway, this turned into a massive ramble. I'm just happy to talk about this silly show that's burned itself into my mind. Thanks for reading if you somehow made it this far.