#iris haters are annoying

[love-for-burgundy-blog]

Anyone else get shivers down their spine when they hear a adult male say they hate Iris from Pokemon or insult her in some way...

I do and yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. No one certainly has to LIKE Iris but while it is one thing to be neutral on her or dislike her, it's another to wish her death or suffering, call her very provoking and offensive names, say that she was an awful person, and say that Ash hated her. She is a KID mind you.

Another thing that I would like to point out is that Misty was more volatile and annoying to Ash in OS than Iris ever was even in BW IMO. So, besides nostalgia I do not know why Misty gets a pass for being (if I'm being honest) somewhat of a jerk to Ash yet when Iris just simply teases him, people flip out. Not only that, Misty also was mean to Psyduck in OS and people seemed to be less bothered by that than Iris's little kid shtick because it's supposed to be "comical". Iris cared for all her pokemon equally from the beginning and she was kind and caring to every pokemon she interacted with. Yet, haters seem to ignore that and instead whine and complain about her simple catchphrase that's meant to be taken as a joke.

I think the Iris hate is truly pathetic. If these grown adults are going to wish harm on a child because they simply tease their friend and the child doesn't baby them like the adult wanted, then imagine what these adults are going to do if they ever have kids themselves. Like Iris haters, I'm sorry Iris doesn't baby Ash or worship every ground he walks one like you desperately wanted. If your going to be hostile and violent towards a 10 year old fictional character because you can't handle the fact that she can stand her ground and likes to tease, then that's very immature of you and that's your issue, not Iris's. If Iris was such an awful person like y'all like to say, then why did Ash get excited when she returned in JN... Well because he considers her a great friend and thinks highly of her. He wouldn't if Iris was such an awful person. Iris is a better person than you all because while she can be annoying, she doesn't wish harm on people younger than her over small things and she doesn't hold pointless grudges. Iris haters are such little kids am I right?

[redbleedingrose]

🧠 lucien

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

OMGGG Lucien my precious baby <33333

Also dedicating this to the anon who sent this and @princess-tulip-writes

Y'all already know how this goes, SFW headcanons first and then some NSFW ones.... ;)

Okay I am a firm believer this male is super closed off when you first meet him. Not super interested in a relationship, and too be honest, a little tiny bit arrogant. And you do not like that. You don't like the way he walks like he is strutting. You don't like the way he smirks whenever he has shut someone up with his little quips. And you certainly don't like the way his voice goes all raspy and rough when talking to you. And you absolutely hate the way he calls you honey with a little sparkle in his chocolate eyes... you don't like it at all............

okay.. maybe a little

anyway, the relationship builds with time. At first, you guys are haters. Finding everything the other does a little annoying and obnoxious. But, for some reason... for some reason you can't seem to stay away. And neither can he.

Any event, ball, dance, meeting, it starts with you seeing him off talking to someone, making jokes, and you can't help but roll your eyes at how easily he is able to make friends with everyone. He never tried that with you... Nevertheless, as the night continues on, you catch him staring at you to which he raises his eyebrows at you, he catches you staring at him all annoyed and he just sidles a smirk back. Eventually, he makes his way towards you or you end up making your way towards him.

And you tease each other the rest of the night. You spend the entire night chasing after each other trying to get the last word in your argument.

AND OH MY GOD!!!! He pulls you into dances just so he can continue the conversation with you. And Autumn is known for the dances that switch partners at every twirl! But this male!!!!

This fucking arrogant, annoying, handsome, funny, creative, unconventional male will yank at your hips, and the female he is supposed to dance with goes over to the male next to you. Just so he can continue to dance with you and talk to you.

One night, you are just not in the mood for the teasing. It was a rough day, and everything seemed to be going wrong. You didn't even want to come, but your parents nagging forced you to get ready and come to this stupid ball.

Anyway you are standing off in the corner, and Lucien sees that you are ignoring him, not even attempting to make eye contact with him so you can roll your beautiful eyes at him, not even a little nose scrunch you always do whenever he approaches you. In fact, you seem so fucking dettached. And it is eating him up alive. Because who the fuck made you upset??

That is his job. And only his.

So he pulls you away, and asks you "what the fuck is going on with you, honey? You haven't made a quip at my hair yet." And you just huff, not in the mood for his games tonight, even tho his hair is pulled back into a sleek bun that makes his cheekbones and jaw so sharp, he could probably cut paper with them.

Gods, he spends the entire night trying to get you to talk to him, and you just turn away, not even wanting to face him. Eventually, he is just dragging you out of the ballroom and into his private lounge. "Honey... are you okay?"

And you don't know what happens. Maybe it's the soft voice he uses when he whispers his concern at you. Maybe it's the way his brown iris' flick back and forth, completely and utterly focused on you. Looking at you like there is no one else in this world besides you.

But it's enough to make you just burst into tears. And part of you panics, feeling slightly embarrassed that your crush enemy is witnessing you just heave sobs with your palms pressed against your eyes to halt the tears from streaming down your cheeks. Because what if he gets annoyed? What if he teases you for crying? What if he doesn't care?

But he does.

He cares more than anyone. And he just pulls you in for a hug, stroking your hair, kissing your temple, murmuring, "It's okay honey, you just let it out." and "I'm here honey, and I am not going anywhere," and "It is going to be alright honey, I'll take care of it. I'll take care of you, don't you worry honey."

And finally when you are calm enough to step away, he doesn't let you go too far. He just stares into your eyes with this gentle smile, palms cupping your cheeks brushing away any remenants of your tears, pressing soft kisses onto your nose and eyelids. "Tell me what happened honey."

So you do. You spend the entire night telling him everything. And eventually, the conversation shifts. It shifts into telling each other your life stories. It shifts into him holding you against his chest and kissing the top of your head whenever he pleases.

And from there... that frenemies relationship shifts to a friendship. An amazing friendship. A best friendship. You are constantly going out together to taverns, to babysitting his favorite baby nieces Marwa and Twila, to the forests of Autumn court, to the seaside of Summer court. Constantly, you find each other wanting to be in each others presence. Not one of those moments that you two are together is there an uncomfortable silence. It is always filled with conversation that has you laughing so hard, you nearly choke from not breathing.

He keeps you at a distance because of what happened with Jesminda. And even if Beron is long gone, and his favorite older brother is now high lord with his mate as high lady, it is still hard for him to have someone he could lose.

Because he can't lose you.

He wont survive it.

But you know. And he knows. That whatever it is you share. It is not just a friendship... it is something more.

And eventually you get tired of waiting for him to make a move. And you both are drunk as fuck, like absolutely wasted. And he is sitting so close to you, so close that his breathy laughs are kissing at your lips. And so you take the leap. Pulling him by the nape of his neck, pausing when you are a hair-widths away from him, glancing into his eyes and he just smiles back and nods. And you don't hesitate.

You kiss him with everything that you are. You kiss him with your soul. Kiss him trying to convey all your feelings, all your dedication and adoration for him, all your love for him.

And the rest is history...

Okay some more SFW headcanons about Lucien's relationship with you because I would never leave you hanging like that ;)

Like I already said, your relationship is just beautiful. Filled with so much joy and laughter. You are truly in love with your best friend in the entire world. And gods does he love you just the same.

His love language is quality time, so you both are always spending time together. Finding your way to each other no matter how busy you or he is.

He loves loves loves cuddling with you, especially because he is just laying on top of you, face mushed into your breasts, as you stroke his long lucious locks. He loves when you braid his hair, and he turns around to do the same for you.

He loves going outside and exploring Autumn with you. It is practically a ritual for you and him to go horseback riding in the evening, chatting to catch up on your days, and explore the forests of Autumn.

Sometimes, you will bring his little nieces with you, letting Marwa sit with you while Twila sits with Luc.

One time, you and him were riding on your own, and found this beautiful waterfall. One that hadn't been marked on any of the map s you had seen. And you realized it has never been discovered before.

And it essentially becomes a little awasis for you and him. You are constantly going to feel the cool mist brush against your face, dipping your feet into the pool of water that has collected, sometimes splashing at each other.

Lucien gets this look on his face when he stares at you. He looks absolutely relaxed, perfectly content, and his iris' sparkle, looking at you like you are the sun in the sky. His tan skin blushes under your gaze, and now when he catches you staring him, he gets a shy smile lilting his cheeks.

He fucking loves reading to you. He loves reading poems and stories to you. Anything that reminds him of you, he is murmuring into your hair as you sit with your back against his chest under the willow trees.

He adores baking with you. This male is unsurprisingly talented at whatever he attempts. And one day, you are baking a strawberry cake for teatime with the high lady. And he just walks in and kisses your lips when he notices what you are doing. And obviously, he joins in and the cake turns out to be the best, softest, sweetest tasting cake you have ever made???

Basically it is because of Luciens help.

SMH what can this male not do???

He also loves bringing you fresh flowers. You can't seem to figure it out because he always is bringing you fresh flowers the moment one of the flower starts to wilt. And when you finally give into the curiousity, this male tells you he always keeps a flower from the bouquet, just so he knows when to bring you another...

He loves to share food with you. Anytime you are eating something, you are sharing your spoon to feed him. Anytime he is eating something, he is pulling you into his lap so he can feed you after every bite he takes.

He also has created a new nickname for you. Sunshine.

Because you are the light in his darkness. You are the day after a very long painful night. You are the golden hour after it has rained all day. You are the sun in his galaxy. You are what he wants. What he needs. What he craves. What he loves.

Just really small soft thoughtful things he does that makes you feel so utterly loved.

He is so perfect I cannot

Okay some NSFW headcanons so please skip if you are not 18+! MDNI!

Okay I mentioned this in my NSFW alphabet for Lucien, but this male is such a fucking switch.

He goes back and forth between wanting to overwhelm you with climaxes, taking control of your body and soul like no one else can, and wanting you to consume every part of him.

Once you pissed him off (not really) with your teasing, and he just got in this super dominant mood. His eyes darkened at your little quip, hand snaking up to wrap around your neck, squeezing hard enough to make you gasp but soft enough that he wasn't hurting you. And when you gasped... this male fucking spit into your mouth, "swallow sunshine," and you were so stunned, flushing all over, but you obviously obeyed.

I- I CANNOT

This male fucking loves your breasts. He loves flicking, squeezing, tonguing, pinching, sucking at your nipples.

After a long day, he pulled off your shirt, shoving you onto your bed, sucking and squeezing at your breasts. You were fucking soaked. And then he just whimpers out a little, "Mommy"

You both saw the heavens that night

You love to ride this male. You love riding his corded thigh. You love riding his tanned abs. You love riding his thick cock. Sometimes it is hard and fast, with his hands on your hips or waist, pumping you up and down. Sometimes it is slow, your arms wrapped around his neck and hand raking through his hair, messy kisses that are all tongue and teeth, gasping into each other, grinding and swirling around him.

He loves to creampie. And he loves to fuck you through your orgasm. So yoUR SLICK COLLECTS IN A RING AT THE BASE OF HIS COCK AND THEN HE MAKES YOU SUCK IT OFF AHHHH

y'all are so fucking filthy for each other I cannot breathe

He absolutely loves to have his hands all over you while you are fucking, but my gods, does he love it when you clasp his hands above his head when you are riding him... and he is begging to touch you

This male also is such a fucking dirty talker. He once made you orgasm just grinding your hips and making out because he was rasping out such filthy mumurs, "My fucking slut" and "You're so pretty begging f'me" and "Take it" and "Who do you belong to sunshine?" and "Who gets you this cockdrunk honey?"

BUT ALSO YOU DIRTY TALKING AT HIM????

"Gods Luc, so desperate for mommy?" and "Your not allowed to cum until I allow it, okay little fox?" and "Thats right Luc, tongue my cunt"

UHHHHH

This man is so fucking loud. So breathy and so many groans and moans and whimpers. At everything you say, everything you do, the way you look at him, the way you kiss him, the way you ride him, the way your warm cunt feels around his cock.

once you were feeling particularly domme so you shoved your panties into his mouth to shut him up, and he instantly climaxed, shooting his load into the deepest parts of your cunt.

Wow that got so fucking filthy so fucking fast.

Anyway... Imma take a cold shower now :))))))

[solarballs-confessions]

Not to be a hater but I rlly dislike Iris. Design is ugly and personally uncreative.

some ppl think its real and are really annoying about Iris. can't find a single good fan fiction or au without it and im kinda sick of it

Maybe fans weren't so obsessed over a non canon character that is overpowered and off putting looking it'd be just a cool crossover

.

[arcaneodysseyconfessions]

Just some headcanons:

-Revon is definitely the type to twirl his hair, giggle, and kick his feet when he’s excited

-Morden kinda stinks.. no one on the crew is brave enough to tell ‘em tho

-Neviro likes to chew on ice snd eat snow

-if the world of AO had ax body spray, Julian would absolutely reek of it

-he also gets no bitches

-though maybe he and Revon had some weird fling once or twice

-Julian had some notable personality change after he absorbed the glass curse

-Argos even in his old age has admirers and receives love letters

-hot gossip frequently surrounds Revon’s love life which is published in the gossip column of Ravenna’s own newspaper

-whenever Carina punches a hole in a wall, she blames Elius. This worked when they were younger but their father knows better now

-Calvus is kind of a dead beat to his children. He gets the maids to do those parental responsibilities for him

-Calvus didn’t really want to marry or have children, but it was forced upon him since he’s king and he has to continue the royal bloodline n all that

-Argos acted as a paternal and mentor figure for Calvus, not as much for Revon

-Neviro gets mistaken as an old man often. It mildly annoys him

-if Iris and Carina were to meet, they would compete to be the the number one hater

-Edward is really an average fisher. He doesn’t catch anything half the time

—💥

.

[youngparadisedonut]

Hello 👋🏽 so this might not sound like I’m complementing you but I am

When I first found your page I just thought you were a hater with no life.. I think I found you when season four aired and I saw you talking about the Iris situation and let me just say I think I hold the crown for the biggest Carlos hater during season 4, they made me hate him but everytime I would look at your page I would be like we get it so why are you talking about him this much then. I wasn’t really involved in the fandom or has obsessed in the show back then as I am now and I have come to absolutely love tk, and I have found my group of friends on Twitter who love him also. from the moment I came into this fandom it was blatantly obvious biased towards Rafa/carlos (I mean we all saw how fast they were to never talk about ronen again..)that I just didn’t understand, it’s like they foams at the mouth anytime they talk about Rafa/carlos

The Carlos Stan’s have gotten a lot worse imo and we need tk defenders more then ever

What I’m trying to say is I used to see you and go if you don’t like something why are you talking about it but I never said that to people saying the nice things about the characters which is unfair cause we shouldn’t push people who are rightfully calling out characters too the side and make them talk about it with just there friends, if people can say good things, other people can be critical and we need people like you more then ever. Thank you for constantly calling out Carlos cause the watered down “criticism” he gets is such bs

He was not the best boyfriend, definitely not the best fiancée and he’s not gonna be the best husband in the beginning and I’m so tired of these women who are old enough too realize what he does is wrong making excuses after excuses and babying him so much. I think tk deserves way better instead of a man who constantly lies and puts things/people above him then crawls back crying when the damage is done

So just thank you for not stopping with this account cause this fandom is truly delusional when it comes to Carlos and then that fuck ass spinoff they want to do? With his partner who he has “special chemistry” with…

Thank you! I know that I can be very annoying sometimes hahaha.

I’m so frustrated about how TK is often treated by the fandom and the writers. He was criticized for not being ready for a relationship with Carlos, even if he was recovering from a relapse after the boyfriend he proposed to said he was in love with another guy (and probably cheated on him). He was blamed for the breaking up with Carlos after Carlos triggered him by making a big decision that affected both of them without talking to him first, and no one (not the fandom, not the writers) recognized that his motives for the break up were valids. The amount of hate he got just because Cooper was his sponsor was horrifying.

Carlos hiding a marriage, being so dismissive of TK with the wife jokes, blaming TK for Iris disappearance and acting so hostile towards TK was objectively so much worse than any mistake that TK did in their relationship, but I saw feel people calling him out on his bulshit. People even found Iris interactions with TK funny. Everything was fine as long as their favorite could get alway with it. The double standards where very clear.

(It’s so sad how TK has such a kind heart and loves so big)

(Yet no one ever chooses him first)

(Owen with his job)

(Carlos with Iris)

When I saw the news about Carlos and his partner who he has “special chemistry” with was the nail in the coffin for me. Like, nope. I already know where this is going. People will ship Carlos with his partner (even if he turns out to be in a happy relationship) and compare him with TK, how he is so much better and supportive tham TK and Carlos definitely should be with him instead, especially during the probable Jonah arc.I'm not gonna put myself into that.

[delphiniumarchangelmoon]

My pokemon hot takes (and an essay on ninjask getting done dirty)

Lopunny is for the girls and the gays and I’m tired of pretending its not

Me having a little crush on Mewtwo as a kid isn’t weird, what’s weird is that you DIDNT have a little crush on Mewtwo as a kid ok?

Swsh isn’t badly written you guys just completely ignore every non-required area and text box. You wouldn’t know environmental storytelling if it whacked you upside the head.

Paul was the best anime rival, no one stands up to him. His character arc was the best written, his battles had the highest stakes, and best of all he wasn’t fucking annoying!

Iris was the worst anime companion, by far. She did nothing but bully Ash the entire season despite being awful at her own chosen trainer path and it ruined it for me. Girl don’t sit around talking shit when you suck ass at everything!

Fairy should have been weak to bug. Fairy was introduced to be a balancing type by being weak to lesser used types and immune to the strongest type and then made bug WORSE? Fuck off. That makes no sense and it doesn’t even work that well in lore. It could go either way and make just as much sense.

Vanilluxe isn’t even ugly you guys are just haters for no reason AND I think it should get a really cool mega in Z-A based on a sundae and become extremely powerful and viable because FUCK YOU

The Machop line however IS ugly. You do not get to be mad about Incineroar or Meowscarada being too humanoid when that is literally just a man in his undies, and he’s not even cute. Machamp gets a half pass cause the extra arms make it less uncanny but the weird ring around the mouth needs to go, the shorts need to be better integrated into the design (I think gigantimax machamp does a good job of this by blending them down into the color of the legs) and the shinies of the entire line need to be literally any other color but puke green. Either make them all bright green like machamp or skip the green entirely and go dark red. Or a dark gray. Or blue!

Speaking of shinies, green shinies get too much hate. Espeon and teddiursa are cool. Meanwhile yellow shinies usually don’t look yellow at all they look chartreuse and sickly. Like Groudon! Groudon should have a goldenrod color not that abysmal eyesore.

Haxorous did NOT make the jump to 3D well. It just looks a little off and I can’t get over it.

And anyway here’s my regularly scheduled rant about some bullshit because I’m replaying Sword rn and tried to use more mobs I haven’t used before and came across some. Weird bullshit.

Did you know that in swsh ninjask doesn’t learn a single flying type move by level up once it evolves? What the fuck kind of decision was that???? give me SOMETHING I’m DYING OVER HERE.

It technically DOES get Aerial ace by level up but it’s one if those “level 1” moves that you have to get at the move reminder which I forgot was accessible from the start in this game. So I did a bunch of watt grinding yesterday to get a play rough TR for my Tsareena for my Bea fight for no reason and STILL nearly got swept?

And anyway why is that the only one it gets? Why is talking to an npc a requirement to get the ONLY flying move in this Pokémon’s level up moves. Why doesn’t it learn a flying type move upon evolving or in the levels directly after like any normal mon would upon gaining the flying type? It feels really weird and unnecessary. Just swap out the agility level up move for aerial ace, this mon has speed boost it doesn’t need agility.

And then in TM moves it only gets aerial ace (which it already has anyway) air slash (special aka useless on this mom) and acrobatics, Those are its only flying moves which is its better offensive typing! It learns DIG but not fly, peck, wing attack, or pluck?

And in BDSP it’s tm moves get kneecapped! It LOOSES acrobatics and air slash! WHY???? FOR WHAT REASON??? Like sure, it has ROOST and DEFOG now but those DONT DO DAMAGE????

It would have been better for the tms to be roost and acrobatics in the first place. Those are actually useful. But it doesn’t ever get both in gen 8. I could build a seriously annoying ninjask with a focus sash/a berry, roost, acrobatics, leech life, and aerial ace. Pop the sash or berry so acrobatics is increased, aerial ace never misses, leech life and roost heal me. Leech life alone makes it much less of a glass cannon, could you imagine if it got ALL of these moves at once? We were robbed. You can’t give us improved leech life and then not let us build the most annoying asshole bug ever!

And most of its sound based moves are relegated to tm only which is weird considering it’s a CICADA, the bug primarily known for being LOUD. Like they aren’t useful cause they’ve special moves but it should get bug buzz by level up at least. Having screech be its only sound based level up move is just a weird choice, lore wise.

Also its other level up moves are trash. Mind reader is made completely redundant by aerial ace, and doesn’t even make much sense lore wise, it gets like maybe 6 moves between evolving and its last move which ends up being one move every 10 levels or so which is mid at best, and its best bug stab is learned at level 64… or tm which you’ll almost always be doing instead.

Mind reader should be replaced by bug buzz, and there should be another move at around 38-40 that should probably be a coverage move like shadow claw or night slash. It has precedent for learning grass moves too so leaf blade is an option as well though it’s a little bit more powerful so I’d swap its placement with Slash at lv. 50

Anyway quit kneecapping otherwise usable pokemon with nonsensical movesets.

Anyway rant over. Justice for ninjask. Justice for bug types in general.

[coldflasher]

Salty ask list, 9 & 16? 👀

9. Most disliked character(s)?

Dion. Fucking Dion. I hate that bastard SO MUCH. I hate the entire forces plotline and basically all of season 7 but there is something about Dion in particular that I just LOATHE. Tbf when he was first introduced in his first ep I was okay with him but the more they leaned into the all-powerful force god side of things, the more my hatred grew... if Dion has no haters, I am dead

I also HATE that snide reporter (Taylor?) who works for Iris. The ep where she tries to sacrifice that one woman to those terrorists to save her own neck and outs Allegra as a metahuman and then by the end of the ep we're supposed to be cool with her? NO. I HATE HER.

Then there's Nash wells. My least favourite Wells. I hated him sliiightly less on my last rewatch but he's still the worst Wells. He literally led to the destruction of the multiverse because of his own stupidity. Like whyyyy did we keep getting lumped with all these increasingly irritating Wells doppelgangers when we could have just had Harry. And then Harry AND HIS WHOLE UNIVERSE gets erased BECAUSE OF NASH. I HATE THAT MAN.

And you know who else I... not hate, but find highly annoying? Khione. I actually think she could have been interesting if she had been a fusion of Caitlin and Frost and we actually got to see a version of the character that had grown and embraced both sides of herself instead of having these fractured identity states, but instead they just erased them both and gave us the most boring, insipid, flavorless replacement. Khione is such a Mary Sue. She's sooo perfect and kind and powerful with her magic nature powers!! Don't you love her? NO. NO I DON'T. We had 8 seasons of Caitlin and 7 of Frost (in some form) and I found it cheap and disrespectful of both their characters to kill them both off at the last minute and replace them with some wishy-washy hippy version with no personality and expect me to care about her (bear in mind that i haven't seen the end yet and i believe there is a bit more to the storyline that i havent got to see yet but either way i find her so annoying)

I feel in the early seasons there are no characters I actually hate because most if not all of them either had redeeming features or were compelling to watch but the later seasons were rife with insufferable characters who we're meant to like but just absolutely boiled my piss. like of these, only taylor was meant to be a villain and even then she gets a "redemption arc" of sorts but it wasn't enough for me. i wasn't buying it. taylor they could never make me like you

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

I mean the obvious answer is stop Len leaving, or at least bring him back, but barring that I would make Andrew Kreisberg not be a piece of shit so that we could have stuck with his original vision for the show and had it be good forever. Like. They were setting up some seriously good and interesting shit and there were so many cool plot threads and he seemed to have planned so many things years in advance but sadly he's a diabolical person. the industry is well rid of him for that reason but if I could wave a wand and make him be a good and normal person then I would do that. why are good showrunners so often terrible people >:(

barring that... i'd redo crisis entirely. i think they totally bottled that storyline. having it tied up with oliver was a HUGE mistake, they'd been building up to crisis and barry's disappearance since day 1 of the show and the way it went down was such an unbelievable disappointment and a disservice to the show as a whole imo.

also, i love them but i would seriously cut down bart and nora's role in the show, because it made the dynamics weird and aged westallen way before their time. just give them a spinoff or something. and i would get rid of any and all plotlines related to the forces but that goes without saying

[wisconsin2002]

It's been two seasons now.

Yep I still don't understand the point of her character at all.

Honestly the more time goes by the more I'm starting to realise Zoe is the Iris West of miraculous. A character introduced into the the story that you can just tell from the get go that the writers had no idea wtf to do with her.

Which sucks because unlike some people. I actually think Zoe was a great character to introduce into miraculous. The opposite of chloe and she's got her own story to tell. The platonic chemistry she creates with Plagg as well is so sweet and great.

(Hot take: Honestly they should have just let Zoe keep Plagg for a bit longer because I can't express how sick and tired I am of fucking Adrien and Marinette giving up their miraculous when they feel defeated. It was fine in the New York special but it quickly overstayed it's welcome and it holds no sentimental value at all to me anymore cause I know this shows writing and I know they will get it back in the same episode or an episode later. 😮‍💨 So if Zoe actually has chemistry and wants to fight side by side with Plagg and Scarabella to feel safe and wanted. MOTHERFUCKER LET HER! Let her do different shit and explore more with that! God knows the actual héros will just abandone their responsibility anyway and make their Kwamis hit the dusty trail to find a new holder all because of their fucking telenovela dramatic romantic depression or whatever the fuck.

(I cannot be bothered with the way the show is acting like Marinette and Adrien were always so in love with eachother even tho Adrien didn't feel that way about Marinette until season five. THE DAMN SEASON WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW! He literally simps so hard for ladybug in season 4 and not once had any romantic feelings for Marinette in the entirety of 4 seasons and two specials! But nah now he wants Marinette all of a sudden so badly. This is good development to people? Are you shitting me?💀

"she's just a friend", "She's just a friend", "She's just a friend", "she's just a friend" "she's just a friend", "I like you now😍"

😮‍💨Anyways

Just allow Zoe to be the badass for a while. Going back to what I was saying. )

Her romantic feelings on Marinette, she's Chloé's sister who still loves and believes in Chloe despite their differences. I mean dude the possibilities are endless.

But no instead they sideline her in her own focus episodes for no reason or only bring her out to be Visperia and barely do jackshit in the background.

God knows what happened to this. (The missed potential here will always annoy me so much.) This could have brought Chloe back to the light and made Zoe a much more interesting character to connect with at the same time. Chloe Exploring a secret nice bond with her sister to give her character layers (AGAIN) while still being consistent with her hatred for Ladybug after the events of seasons 3 while Zoe starts to notice Chloe's obsessiveness with Ladybug and what that's turning her sister into and that causes some distance between her and Zoe which starts to make Chloe truly think and realize how much more important Zoe is to her than the grudge she holds against ladybug that has only dragged her down deeper and made her lose herself and those close to her.

(put me in the writers room bro I gotchu😎)

Instead they just make her another Chloe hater cause god knows we haven't had enough of those characters already.

Anyways what else? Oh yeah.

She's lesbian.

Cool. We... gonna... do anything.. with that.. or?

Nah? We're just going toss it in with no payoff? Alrighty.

Don't get me wrong. I knew Zoe and Marinette were never going to be a thing. I never expected that at all. But I did expect for us to atleast explore something with Zoe's sexuality instead of just dropping it on her like a dead gold fish in a tank as the fish sinks to the bottom of the tank cause we didn't feed it and did fuck all with it. Basically got the Julerose treatment. Like every other lgbtq+ MLB character who's not a milf or over the age of 30.

You know what? Chloe and Zoe actually do have something in common.

They're both characters with so many interesting pathways to be explored and taken in but the writers said "fuck that" and took them fucking knowhere even remotely interesting or memorable.

In conclusion. Zoe deserved better. She is a character that could have worked if the people behind this fucking show cared to make anything work. But no. Characters continue to be assassinated and/or sidelined and written out of the story.

But that's okay cause Marinette and Adrien go Smooch Smooch this season😘 and nothing else matters. Fuck the characters, fuck actual development with payoff. Nope. Kissy kissy and hand holding is all that matters.

[fledbeast578]

6, 18, and 19. go on, be a hater

6. Any given Guda super fan ship, because holy fuck they are so annoying about how Melt is their wife or Morgan is their wife or whatever. Oh also all of the 'cuck' ships, stuff like Iri x Altria, Alterra x Kriemhild, Tomoe x Guda, they all reek of uncomfortableness and the fans love to rub in how much they love the ntr aspect.

18. Edison! Time and time again I'll see people yell about how he would be a phantom spirit, and how he did nothing, and it makes me mad every time. He is a fascinating figure historically, did amazing work in a variety of inventions

19. Based on a convo we had, Columbus I would say. It's always a bit awkward to talk about, because there's so much baggage attached to him that all I can really say is, "I like his art" or else people start raising eyebrows. However, on top of good art he's an exceptionally entertaining, has a nice voice actor, and was by far the best part of Agartha.

[shrinkthisviolet]

Meta ask! Any oc, all the questions under the fandom section

Gonna answer these for Morgan:

What do you think the fandom for your character would be like? Are they a fan favorite, a love to hate villain, derided for whatever reason, or something else?

Fan favorite for those who like her, annoying for those who don’t

What feelings does your character most often instill in their fans? Affection? A desire to protect? Open lust? A love/hate dynamic? Why do you think their fans feel this way?

If I’m doing it right, affection and a desire to protect 😂

By contrast, what would their haters dislike about your character? Is it a petty complaint? A mischaracterization of the character or their intentions? Are they just a woman in a largely male-centric series?

Well, she is a woman in a largely male-centric series, but I think a lot of her haters wouldn’t like how close she and Barry are…and especially the fact that she does contribute to some significant plot points!

What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

She gets in quite a few fights with Barry 😂 so that, for starters. Then there’s the fact that some people probably wouldn’t like how involved she is with the Team Flash stuff…even though it makes sense considering whose daughter she is (and even after s1, she’s still a valid member of their Team), and she’s still fairly sidelined—as much as she’s the main character of my AU, she’s still a side character in the grand scheme of things, and I do try to respect that!

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Hmm…probably fanfics. Possibly fanart too. Possibly gifsets of scenes she's in (to be honest, I think she'd get the same type of content as Jesse, possibly slightly more in amount due to being more prevalent)

Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?

Probably, those blogs will truly use any character 😂 but hopefully they either age her up if the reader is an adult, or make the reader a teenager. AND make it a QPR, since she's aroace!

Are there any tropes fandom would put upon your character, for better or for worse?

Someone would write a fic of her being a speedster 😂 and/or a villain. And I, of course, would eagerly devour either of those (I made a speedster villain concept for her here a while ago!)

What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?

They’d infantilize her to no end, I just know it...and to be fair, she is the youngest member of the Team, but that doesn’t make her any less perceptive! After all, she’s the one who suspects Jay/Hunter first, the one he sees fit to threaten to keep her quiet (which implies he sees her as some kind of threat, otherwise why bother).

She’s also the one who takes Harry to task first, she’s the one stands up for herself numerous times in s1 and s2…and in s3, her extending trust to Savitar could be seen as naïve, but…it’s based on lived experience with Barry. It’s no more naïve than Iris’s compassion for Savitar.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

I guess the corners that love Wells family stuff? 😂 especially the ones that like her being Barry’s sister. Though idk how many “corners” the Arrowverse Flash fandom has tbh

oc ask game!

[deisbookofdemons]

*slides ace attorney for unpopular opinions*

((Alright... Narumitsu (I think it's called) is overrated imo (And some of the shippers can get REAL annoying. The ones that hate Iris are the most annoying of all I'm betting. I heard that some of the Iris haters exist because to them she gets in the way of their ships. I still like Iris even though my main ship with Phoenix is different.) Also- people who say Phoenix is gay should be slapped. (And I mean ONLY gay) Why? He canonically had a girlfriend. Again- Iris. You can see him as other things but if a character has/had a genuine attraction to the opposite gender you shouldn't go around saying they're gay. Same thing goes in reverse. I'm not sure if this part is unpopular but whateves.))

[love-for-burgundy-blog]

I found this review of the pokemon black and white anime on YouTube and the guy in the video said "Now here are two characters I would like to murder I mean make disappear for a while haha." Referring to Georgia and Burgundy. I'm sorry?! When he said that, it sent shivers down my spine. This might just be my opinion but I think murder is not something to joke about and what makes it worse is that the dude was probably an adult in his 20's or 30's and Georgia and Burgundy I think teenagers (12-16 probably). Even if they are fictional characters, I still think it's rather in poor taste to joke about murdering teenage girls, or any character of any age or gender. He said he wanted to "make them disappear for a while" because he hated them and thought they were annoying. You know what, it's perfectly fine to hate them and find them annoying. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think wishing them death let alone MURDERING them is going too far.

The video is from early 2013 however so I wonder was it more normal back then to wish harm to fictional characters or anybody on the internet. I mean what do I know, maybe it was more accepted back then especially since back then was peak Iris hate era. All in all, there are certainly fictional characters I dislike, but I never would want to wish them death, let alone murder them. Just because Georgia and Burgundy are mean girls doesn't mean they don't deserve to live their lives and exist on planet earth. Geez, some haters are intense. The fandom NEEDS to STOP doing this!!

What are you guys's thoughts on this? Feel free to like, comment, reblog, and share. <3

[lacrimae23]

@acesoneandonly

i'm so sorry but i will respond in reblog because i'm a babbling 'boring people to death with talking' person and my comment was too long so sorry for that!!

Okay! So we can agree to disagree on some parts. And I'm not blaming people for hating them. Maybe I should wrote more about whom I was writing about. Because I am writing about people who literally hate her because of literally anything she's doing because a. she is a woman, b. she is her own person, c. she can OH MY GOD HOW COULD SHE disagree with Oliver, d. she is not a comic accurate love interest. So everything she does, she's doing wrong, right?

Not because I have valid arguments. I saw post with hating on Felicity/Olicity because Felicity has „literally nothing in common with Oliver” - um 1. wrong 2. seriously, now we’re hating on relationship because two people in it are different? What the heck. So, I’m sorry if my post didn’t explain it more deeply. Like I said, I’m literally afraid of writing my opinion more publicly because of haters etc. so I admit that maybe I should be more specific. Because I was writing about people who hate her just because- well literally „just because”. And I don’t agree with that. I’m tired of this. And in the same time, they are also the same people who say that Oliver Queen has never been wrong, is perfect, do everything right. It’s their god. I’m tired of t h i s. I know people can dislike some characters, it’s okay. But some part of Arrow fandom just h a t e Felicity, and I’m not okay with that. Same with Iris [although, I did not see Flash so okay, I'm sorry, it's not okay to say this without seeing show, but I just don't agree with hating like that on a character, period.] It’s not okay to h a t e and doing it „just because”. Yes, I know I’m biased, but let’s just say that I don’t hate for example Oliver, when he’s hurting Felicity. I understand his side of things. I understand his trauma, PTSD, fear or flaws. And I don’t hate Laurel „just because I love Felicity so i HAVE TO hate other Oliver’s love interest”. I’m talking about this part of fandom. Not people who just have their opinions and can actually explain it without attacking everyone who has other opinion. 

That being said, I agree that Arrow writers did some bad decisions WITH EVERY CHARACTER or storylines. Felicity DID annoy me sometimes, I’m not a blind follower. I just can’t understand how you can hate on someone just because. I don’t know if I’m explaining it right in this comment, and I’m sorry if I’m not (it’s also language thing - I can’t express myself in English just as good as in my native language, so I’m sorry). 

Thank you for your response! Thank you for your insight!  Also, I agree with you other comment about actor/character and writers. Some things were just so dumb in this show and I know it's "canon" but I try not to blame characters because... seriously, some things were just so not-Oliver, not-Felicity, not-Diggle, not-Laurel etc. Like, you could just f e e l that this character JUST WOUDLN'T DO IT, ever. It was- But you know what I mean, so I will shut up, because OH MY this rant grew to a gigantic size I'M SORRY. Just one more thing, I'm trying to be understanding person, both - in fiction and real world. So maybe I'm so tired of this hate on Felicity because it's- I feel like even when you hate some characters you could just try to understand some of their actions, decisions. I don't agree with Felicity every single time, but I can at least try to understand her. Felicity haters don't want to even try "because I hate her", so that's it. And besides, Oliver is right, as always, so why should I. I'm talking about this. Okay, really, now I will stop talking, I swear, I just wanted to apologize if my post sounded like I was blaming anyone. I'm just tired of "blind" hate. Also, hate is a really strong word and I used it for a reason. I really understand disliking, but I was talking about hate. And maybe I'm a little bit of a hypocrite, yeah, okay, so also sorry for that, but I just can't overlook treating characters unfair, and with Felicity it is a lot in this fandom. So maybe this affects my opinion. Because Felicity is treated unfair and overlooked. With everything. Oliver did something bad oh no but he has ptsd and trauma so it's okay. AND I GET IT. But Felicity's not having it easy either, but yeah nobody will talk about it because Oliver is main character, he's a man, and had worse.

Sorry about rant. Sorry if I offended anyone. Sorry

stay safe everyone! 💜

seriously, i'm so sick of hating on felicity, making fun of her, mocking her etc. i know i'm biased, i know, okay, i know. i love her, she's my queen, she's my icon etc. BUT i can love her and not hate other characters at the same time and i would just be really thrilled if that was the case with felicity haters. i know not everybody has to like felicity, or even tolerate her, but literally hating on her like she did something bad to you personally??? can we just- um- stop? i'm really tired of this. i really understand SERIOUSLY I GET IT that you don't have to like her but- oh my google seriously- all this energy used just to hate on female character from a superhero show. what's the point yes it hurts my heart i'm so tired of this so yes i had to write this quick rant also, i can't imagine how it would be if i was in arrow fandom on time. because i'm so late so i don't see this hate everywhere, just in some old posts etc. but if i was on time- my my i would be so frustrated more, i know oliver deserved so so soo much better but i can love him and see his flaws at the same time (same with every other character. felicity is not perfect either; i'm not saying otherwise) and i know that there is really many defenders of oliver queen and it's great! i'm all for it. i would be/am(??) one but i think felicity needs it more, to be honest. and i know arrow ended but i would like to call myself her defender and lover even now. i think she deserves some love as a counterweight for all this hate from the previous years i know i'm not the only one and i'm so grateful that there are people who love felicity and appreciate her but they are not active now (understandable i'm just sooo late for arrow *crying in the corner*) so now i will say this: openly loving adoring appreciating defending felicity smoak => ON =>

usually i'm really reluctant with writing my opinions about shows/characters openly etc. because i'm afraid of the drama that could follow (i know internet quite well to know that there is ALWAYS the possibility of it) but well here is my little safe corner so maybe it'll work out i don't want to cause any drama with my opinion. i don't want to argue with someone who has other opinions. i just want to openly love&appreciate felicity smoak on this blog so this is kinda also a warning that MAYBE there is more to come of this kind of posts. it's okay not to agree, i don't want to offend anyone. it's just me&my love for felicity 🥹

sorry for typos mistakes or lack of punctuation i was on a ranting roll 👀

stay safe everyone 💜

[chocolateisgreatandlifeisboring]

I see some people ignoring Iris’ pain because Barry had to go save the world, but he still basically died. Does she not get to be upset about that? She does, okay.

[razzbberyl]

okay some Thoughts on aitsf under read more but tldr yeah it’s fine

I’m kinda surprised the plot was so plain? short? for an uchikoshi game like it wasn’t bad per se just kinda “oh maybe it’s this guy oh maybe it’s that guy” bam it’s the guy you’ve never met bc we’re hoping you didn’t play ztd lol

also not sure how I feel abt “he’s only happy when he’s killing ppl” that feels like such a weak trait I’m not even touching the mental health part I’m just talking character wise he was rly flat. like, I’m sorry you got mommy and daddy issues but so does mizuki and she didn’t kill ppl abt it

for the most part the humor was. there. date is pathetic and yeah that’s fun but there’s only so many sex jokes until it just gets annoying. sorry for skipping like all of date and aibas banter it will happen again

okay so speaking of characters I just couldn’t like. I’m sorry I’m an iris hater she’s so annoying. like it was fun with the whole ‘clever internet idol who lies for a following’ thing they tried to build, but eventually it was just funny tiktok girl. I can already hear that awful tts “ice machine prank gone wrong” I just couldn’t get into her thing and the credits scene at the end was stupid and I literally walked away from it.

I’m also a ota hater and not sorry abt this one he’s so dumb I don’t like how his character is “justified” and also I don’t like that he’s 24. Actually why are there so many adults trying to be sexual with kids idc if she’s 18 she’s in school so she’s a kid. Even her scenes w date were weirdly borderline, like they felt so off it made me gross esp the dating shit

ALSO I don’t like the weird setting up date with hitomi like I get it but I don’t like it I think her character could’ve been more than just ‘mom and love interest’ I also think manaka’s whole thing was kinda boring like at first I thought they had preserved her body for stem cells to treat iris but no they just. froze her for??? the hell of it

the voice acting was good Allegra Clark (Boss) did a fabulous job as always and so did Erika Harlatcher (Aiba) (tho I could only hear ann p5). Corina Boettger (mizuki) rly stole the show tho she had such a believable child’s voice she wasn’t just high pitch adult woman her lines GOT me whenever she cried

I played the switch version and it sucked so bad. controls are clunky and imprecise, and so so sooo slow loading like every time the little AI vision would pop up it would take a solid 10 s to load and you’re just sitting there. Considering how many of these scenes there are, it was so obnoxious. It even crashed for me twice trying to load ai vision, both during the driving sequences.

pewter was cool tho be gay do crimes

overall I’m glad I played but I’m glad I got it on sale yk? fun little 15 hr game with some replayability but considering they refused to let you go 5 sec without a flashback there’s not /that/ much. I liked the concept art additions tho

[riathedreamer]

Zero is Null

A discussion of Zero’s love-hate-relationship with RvB and struggling independence; including a hotdog too big for the bun, tragic backstories, a single bow-chicka-bow-wow, and a cookie at the very end.

Welcome to what will be a lot of text. Basically, it will explore why Zero fails as an RvB (with emphasis on RvB) season. I will not be the first one to bring forth some of the points, and I promise to be fair and civil and fun. This isn’t supposed to be a piece of hate – in fact, I’m writing this because I love Red vs. Blue.

Okay, first of all, to increase your fun – take a guess on just how much of Zero is spent on fight scenes. You see, I’ve calculated the exact amount, and I will reveal it later, but for now, take a guess and remember the number. Maybe you are the winner!

Alright, time to share my thoughts. Wait! Since I suffer from anxiety and have this one annoying voice pretending to be all those critical statements my opinion could be met with, let’s give it an actual voice and address the points throughout this review.

“Why would I care about your opinion, Ria?” – I don’t know, you’re the one who clicked Read More.

“Your opinion doesn’t matter!” – Of course, it doesn’t! Geez. Do you think your opinion matters, though? Listen, we’re on Tumblr, the actual equivalent of screaming into the void. And it’s fun, too!

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch!” - *activates Uno Reverse Card* “You can’t talk about something you haven’t watched!”

“You’re just a Hater” – Actually, this is a point I’ll come back to. Like a cliffhanger. Also, at the end of this, there’ll be a cookie. But this will also include me talking about the stuff I like, because, surprise, Zero is not without talent!

“You just don’t like it because the Reds and Blues aren’t in it!” – Actually, that’s a good point, so instead, this review will start with a sole focus on Zero and discuss the problem that lies within that story. Then we can address why the lack of OG cast is understandable and problematic and weird.

But first! Backstory.

When the first 5 second teaser dropped back in spring (you know, when we were young and innocent and the world didn’t feel like an apocalyptic movie yet), I held onto that one image of what I thought (hoped) to be Grif and Simmons in the sunset, hopefully addressing Grif’s hateglue arc, but boy was I wrong because a) that’s not Simmons, that’s Sarge, and b) the image was from a PSA since the Reds are not in Zero.

Actual face-reveal of me below:

Admittedly, when I heard that the Reds and Blues were not going to be the main characters (or even show up), it felt like a gut punch. However, I actually found myself getting excited due to the creators’ hype. I want to praise them for this. It’s been a while since an RvB season was talked so much ABOUT before its release; it had advertisements, it had creators and voice-actors talking about it. Please. More of that in the future. Their passion rubbed off on me, and that deserves recognition. So it pains me that this was clearly a passion-project, and then when I gave it a try, I didn’t want to touch it again for weeks.

Here’s the thing. I cannot whole-heartedly say that Zero is bad. It’s not gonna melt your eyes. It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good. For me, it’s meh. It’s a Saturday-morning-cartoon aimed for a younger audience with a rushed plot and clichéd characters. The problem is that it calls itself RvB, and with that title comes something to live up to – but more importantly, something to continue.

My main issue is that Zero forces its story into existence by ignoring established content rather than adjusting to it. Let’s call this for the hotdog-too-big-for-the-bun syndrome solely for the sake of the bow-chicka-bow-wow that’s coming now. Bow-chicka-bow-wow. Many of the separate issues I will dive into all add to this hotdog-issue, so I will scream “Hotdog!” whenever this is the case so we can all keep track of my argument.

You can continue the story of Red vs. Blue without the Reds and Blues. While that would personally crush my heart, it can be done. There’s a story of Red vs. Blue that can be continued. The world can be expanded, the previous actions of the Reds and Blues can be explored from another angle.

So.

How does Zero do this? It doesn’t.

I just want to make it clear that new elements can definitely be added when it comes to worldbuilding. That’s literally the point of sequels. But Zero’s settings are presented with so little grace and with no connection to previously established worldbuilding. We get Alliance of Defense and GLASS thrown in our face as very big important organizations – yet we’ve never heard of them before. A big central plot point of RvB is the UNSC and Project Freelancers, and those were introduced naturally with the plot. We already have big established intergalactic organizations. What is AOD’s connection with those? We aren’t told. We are just told they exist and expected to accept it, no questions asked. If this was a whole new world and story – fine. But when you need to build on an already established worldbuilding, you need more grace than this. Chorus was a whole new setting, but it was explained, and it was connected to the previous plot. Same with Iris. Same with Desert Gulch. In Zero, it feels lazy. It feels forced. These organizations are just there because the story is built around them (HOTDOG).

This vagueness when it comes to wordbuilding is also reflected in the settings - we have a desert, a training base, a lab, temples, Tucker’s workplace, and we do not know if all those are set place on the same planet. If that is the case, what is this planet’s relationship with Chorus? Is it Earth? And most importantly, what is the deal with the temples? Why are they connected to Tucker’s sword if it isn’t the same planet. Are they made by the same aliens? Are people okay with this? Why haven’t these temples been explored before? Chorus makes sure to establish this, while Zero doesn’t, adding to a growing amount of confusion.

Okay, so no connection with previous worldbuilding. What about characters? I mean, we got Wash and Carolina and Tucker! So we have RvB characters, it gotta be RvB! Technically – yeah. But it feels dirty. These three characters are not here to be characters. They are here to be props to the new cast. They are not given any development. Their presence isn’t even that important, and if this was a whole new show, they could easily have been replaced with an unknown face. Worst of all, they feel miswritten.

Carolina and Wash are working at a new military organization? Leaving the Reds and Blues behind? To help people? First of all, fucking bad idea, Carolina, the last time you left the Reds and Blues alone, they changed the timeline. But most importantly – Carolina and Wash just joined this new super elite military organization? After being mistreated and manipulated by such an organization in the past?

Carolina is there to introduce the characters. That’s it. We are force-fed their personality by having her literally read out loud their personality. There is no gentle introduction to the new cast. We are not allowed to get to know them naturally. Why show when you can tell, huh? That’s Carolina’s role. That’s why she is there. To introduce the cast and explain their story. That’s it. (HOTDOG).

How about Wash? He is there to get beat up and be a damsel in distress so that the new cast has a reason to explore the plot. Oh, and that brain damage that was the consequence of previous seasons – gone now. The guy who literally has trauma from having an AI explode inside his head is fine with having a computer inserted into it instead. Because that’s needed. To explore his brain damage wouldn’t work now when his role is to be a prop to lure the new cast for one episode and then be put onto the bench for the rest of the runtime (HOTDOG).

And Tucker – he is there to die for a second and have his sword taken from him. That’s literally it. And for the few moments he is there, he feels like old super flirty Tucker, which erases the character development he went through in previous seasons. Okay, so Tucker dies, and then not dies, and then he is put on the bench with Wash where they can sit and talk or whatever (‘cause holy shit, the new cast is not allowed to that), because he isn’t important. The sword is. Tucker is just a prop, even more than his sword is (HOTDOG).

Damn. Wash gets beat up. Tucker gets beat up. Dies. Gets his sword taken away. Almost seems like a Red’s wet dream. Sorry not sorry, Blues, you were done dirty.

So there are miswritten old characters. Even worse is the retconning. The plot needs a “normal” Wash, so, bam, magic computer solution. Never mind Wash’s trauma and character traits. Never mind the logic of the new worldbuilding which also includes a character suffering for years to heal an illness. But the brain damage that was such a big consequence that it became the main part of the plot of the last two seasons – gone. I mean, a gunshot to the head can be healed by CPR. That’s canon. But no one gave Wash CPR so it’s a big thing, okay. It was canonically a big thing, and Zero erased that. This is not me saying that a Cerebral Enhancer couldn’t work in the RvB universe. Imagine it being done right. Wash struggling with the choice of getting used to his disability or accepting the possibility of help - at the cost of reliving his trauma. The struggle between what to choose - what should he choose when he wants to help as many as possible, the sacrifices he thinks he has to make, the way it could have been used as a part of his character growth. But in Zero, the enhancer isn’t a part of Wash’s character. It’s there so the story can work without having to deal with the previous plot’s consequence (HOTDOG).

Same with the sword thing. They sorta explain it by having Tucker flatline, but it’s weak. Honestly, I find it sorta offensive. What about Locus’ sword as well? It’s twisting previous lore to make the new plot work (HOTDOG). (Also, are we not gonna talk about the ultimate power being Spencer Porkensenson’s helmet? Have the writers forgotten Spencer Porkensenson? Have we as a community forgotten Spencer Porkensenson?)

If you have Red vs. Blue in your title, you cannot ignore what you inherit from it. You need to respect the worldbuilding, the established characters, and the previous plot. Zero does not do this.

Let’s talk about the Triplets. No, really, let’s do it. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about them before, because season 14 was a mixed bag for me (that I have now learned to appreciate. Thank you, Zero.) because I have heart at the size of the Grinch and can only love a few characters at a time, and that did not include the Triplets. Can’t even remember their names. Well, I can, but I can’t for the love of me remember which state is which, and my tongue is twisted every time I try to say Ohio, Iowa, and Idaho, and I know it’s on purpose. I know it is. And it got me good. That being said, the fandom actually embraced them really, really well! Seriously, I’ve seen more content for the Triplets than for Zero as a whole.

Why talk about the Triplets? (Was Iowa the lesbian? Or was it Ohio? Fuck.) Because like Zero, they introduced new characters with a story of their own. The Reds and Blues didn’t play a role. But here’s what I feel like the Triplets got right. They didn’t change the settings to force their narrative. They used stuff already established (Project Freelancer), added their own story as a continuation of that. They even included old characters in the beginning (Wash and some other Freelancers) but it felt natural and it didn’t feel like it happened at the expense of the old characters. Wash’s writing felt natural, and his presence wasn’t needed to tell these new character’s stories. He wasn’t a prop to them. He was there to establish the setting and to establish the relationship with these new characters, and then he and the other familiar faces (helmets??) left, and we as the viewers were left with these new characters. And the new characters told their own story by themselves. It felt like, hey, here’s something you know – remember Mother of Invention, and remember Wash’ lower rank, but now, try to imagine being even lower rank than him, aren’t you curious about those fates? Now let’s hear their story! It was new, it was something else, but it didn’t wreck what came before it, and it stayed true to the classic vibes of RvB.

As I said before, the hotdog-issue is my biggest problem with Zero. It infuriates me. I will return to this. But there are more issues, even if we try to look past the title-related problems.

If we try to imagine Zero as its own story and universe (as it should be, in my opinion), it still earns the meh review from me.

These isolated issues include awkwardness, the writing, lack of self-awareness, and pacing. First of all, holy shit, this is a tell, don’t show. Nothing is subtle, nothing is allowed to develop. It’s like the show thinks you are six years old with an attention span of a goldfish. You are not just led by the hand – they have literally pulled off your arm by the end of the show. We are force-fed every bit of information, every bit of personality from these new characters.

The voice-acting is a mixed bag for me. Sometimes it’s pretty good, sometimes it’s not. Some of the problems can definitely be blamed on the dialogue that you can only do so much with. It’s not good. I can’t remember any good jokes (the one joke I really appreciate was the cast on armor, and that was freaking visual humor. That was so RvB. Kudos to that. It was fun. More of that, please.), and RvB is known for having memorably good lines. This is a show built on good, clever, funny dialogue. Zero does not deliver. You have to sit through clichéd lines – “You’re not my dad”, “I trusted you”, “Come with me”, “It can’t be!”, “She’s way too powerful”, and “We have to do this together” – performed unironically. I cringed more than I laughed. Worst thing is that Zero could be a good parody. Sometimes, it feels like it is. One-dimensional characters, a villain wanting ‘the ultimate power’, very overpowered characters, bad one-liners, etc. But Zero takes itself seriously, and I was one of the people rooting for Jax to show up at the end and yell “Cut”. That would have been a funny-as-fuck twist. A spin-off parody. If I can’t have “Sarge the Movie”, I would have taken that and loved it. I would have forgiven everything. “We put so much info into finding that power, but we had no idea what it was” is really a line in the finale, and I cannot believe this is real in a show that somehow still tries to present itself as serious. What a plot.

We have to talk about pacing. God, first of all it should be stated that RvB is a mess when it comes to pacing. I honestly get what they were going for. Sometimes, RvB has come across as a bit boring when you get three episodes stretched over three weeks without much going on. I know season 11 did not have the warmest welcome because it was seen as boring until the finale. But when you see season 11 as a whole, as a movie, as a part of a trilogy, it works so well. Zero is more focused on being episodic. They want something to happen all the time so we will stay tuned. The thing that will happen – a fight. Oh god. The fight scenes.

I have done the math. I have run the numbers. I deserve a freaking cookie for this. Are you ready?

If you put all the episodes together, you have a runtime of 106 minutes. HOWEVER, with the introduction of credits in every episode, you gotta account for this. Removing the credits, this gives us 94 minutes of actual runtime. Out of that, 45 minutes are dedicated to fight scenes. That means 48% of the show is fight scenes.

If I wanted that many fight scenes, I’d watch Death Battle. Except the actual RvB Death Battle episode has a runtime of 20 minutes, and out of that, 5 minutes is dedicated to the actual battle. For the people who hate math – that’s 25% of the actual runtime.

RvB Zero has more fight scenes than a show called Death Battle. Take that in.

The pace suffers from this. Where’s the time to explore the characters? Where’s the time for good dialogue? All I can think of is this:

I get that RvB is a show that’s literally making fun of itself by acknowledging all their characters do is stand around and talk. I get that you want characters to do more than that. But for the love of Church, would it kill the new characters to stand around and talk? For just a minute? Stop fighting, I am begging you, stop fighting! Am I a pacifist now? Am I purple? Have I joined Doc’s team? What has Zero done to me?!

The good thing though is that fight scenes are very good. They’re entertaining. However, they seem to deconstruct themselves when we need to get a fight scene in every episode. Usually, the few fight scenes in an RvB season were in some of the most climatic episodes. In Zero, I can hardly keep up with the pace because they won’t stop moving. Fight scenes aren’t plot. They aren’t character development. You need more than just fight scenes. They entertain, but there’s a limit to that.

Noël Wiggins, the co-writer, stated the inspiration was a Saturday-morning cartoon. They nailed that vibe. If that was their goal, hurray, they have accomplished something! Because of the poor plot and constant fight scenes, it feels like you could just switch on the TV and drop in at any moment and let yourself be entertained by the cool and colorful soldiers punching and kicking each other. I will admit that the fight scenes entertained me. But they don’t make it a good season.

If I were the six-year-old with the attention span of a goldfish that the show believes I am, I honestly would enjoy it. The stiff dialogue and the constant tell-don’t-show makes you feel like an audience that’s not supposed to do anything else but admire the flashy fight scenes. I miss the cleverness of RvB. I miss the characters I get to connect with as I see them grow.

I miss the tone of RvB. Because this isn’t RvB to me.

It’s not that RvB hasn’t changed its tone before. Holy shit, I sorta do want to experience the absolute shock the RvB fandom went through when s6 aired and they were given new characters and serious plot. I would have loved to experience that, but I was too busy being ten years old. The Freelancers seasons also introduced a new tone and more fight scenes with very talented fighters compared to the Blood Gulch gang, but a balance was kept by having half of the season still revolving around the Reds and Blues. But Zero – Zero is so much change. And it’s on purpose. At least this has been made very clear from the beginning.

They constantly seem to appeal to new fans, rather than be directed towards older fans of the show. If you want an entirely new audience with a season with a new cast, new worldbuilding, and new tone, I’m confused as to why they don’t just make a new show. The hotdog-problem begs for this solution. This story and environment and characters feel so out of touch with the original RvB, that with a few rewrites and lack of Halo-armor, it could just be a new show. Problem solved.

If not this, then present it as a spin-off. In all ways, it feels like a spin-off (again, see everything marked HOTDOG). But the creators refuse to do this, and I don’t understand why. I could forgive many of these issues, had they officially separated themselves from canon.

Ah, what’s the idiom? You can’t both swallow and blow? (You can hear the Bow-chicka-bow-wow in the distance). Something about eating cake and having it. Forgive me, English isn’t my native language. POINT IS why are you calling yourself RvB while actively fighting against the core essence of RvB? In my humble opinion, you can’t be both. Marketing it as a spin-off would have granted it some defense when changing, well, literally everything, and I just, would someone please properly describe why it isn’t a spin-off? Isn’t this season marked by its association with the plot of RvB rather than a continuation of it? Zero presenting itself as not a spinoff feels like a toddler clinging to the hem of its mother’s dress while forcefully running away from her, ripping the dress in the process.

When they do connect with the original RvB, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. When they let Carolina, Wash, and Tucker appear for a moment, it feels like luring viewers in with the RvB title. Look at me. Look at me! I’m not saying this is the case. I say that it gives me the annoying vibes of being lured, rather than letting the characters be a part of the show for their own development, rather than having RvB in the title to continue its story. I should not be getting these vibes at all. But I am.

If you want to use RvB in the title, something from the core of RvB needs to be embraced. Things can be changed. They should. Something new should be brought in. But there’s a limit to how much you can change and replace and twist until it would have been better with an original show. As a season of RvB, it should tell the story of Red vs. Blue.

From my perspective, Zero fails to do so.

It pains me that the old cast has been replaced, but as stated earlier, a season could have worked without them. However, I do not like the take that one should be excited about all the new characters. That it isn’t a big thing that the OG cast got replaced. That we should just deal with it. Just, try to imagine another show suddenly replacing the main characters with characters we’ve never met before. Imagine RWBY suddenly only focusing on a new team of huntresses with the previous main characters reduced to an Easter Egg presence, or Camp Camp suddenly being about a new team of campers, no warning given. Can you imagine the outcry? So maybe let’s agree that a replacement of the main cast is a big thing and should be addressed and it’s valid to be upset about this change.

Could Zero have worked? It’s hard to answer this. How can I accept something as RvB if the season actively pushes away the core of RvB aside for an isolated story that could have been told in any other media? As a spinoff, I could have ignored it. To enjoy Zero, I have to fully separate it from RvB in my mind, and then it’s alright. S’not good. But it’s not bad. It’s entertaining enough. I really ended up liking Raymond and Tiny, and there were a few good jokes, and the fight scenes were admirable (but too much) and I love the creators’ passion. But it’s not RvB. I also wish that the new characters had been attached to previous worldbuilding, for example soldiers on Chorus or agents from Project Freelancer. That way we could build on familiar lore which would have decreased the confusion and added a much needed connection with the previous seasons of RvB.

God, the anxious voice is back (by the way, it sounds like Tutter from “Bear in the Blue House”).

“You’re racist” – I hope not. Literally, I do not want to be. Tell me if I’ve ever crossed some lines, because I swear, that is not my intention, I will apologize and most of all, change and do better. I included this because I’ve seen this take thrown around in the big ugly mess that is the fandom clashes regarding Zero. And racism is problem within RT community (this includes AH and RvB, sorry, I just use RT as an umbrella term for the latter), and I’m not saying it hasn’t been a problem with this season. Writers should never be harassed, and never-fucking-ever because of their skin color, and voice actors shouldn’t be treated like they are responsible for the choices of the show. But I was legit nervous to post this review, and I hope it’s been factual without feeling like personal attacks on the creators because that has never been my intention. I was delighted to hear about the diversity behind this project, and Torrian’s passion legit blew me away because it’s been a while since I’ve seen that for an RvB project. I’d hoped for it to be good, and when I feel disappointed, it’s for the reasons stated in this analysis. That said, Zero is made by a diverse cast and it’s made with love, and both of those things are so, so great, but it does not mean that Zero cannot be criticized. It can, and it should. It’s a product, just like all the other seasons, and fans are allowed to discuss it – both what they loved, and both what they found troublesome. And to repeat previous points, and be respectful, always, fuck racists, and never-fucking-ever harass the staff behind a season, what the fuck is wrong with you if you do this.

“Don’t you get it, it’s different because it’s trying something new!” – Hey, remember the philosophical question: if you replace all the parts of a ship one-by-one, is it still the same ship when you’re done? If it doesn’t include the Reds and Blues, if it ignores previous plot, if the old characters feel miswritten, if it values animation over dialogue, if it values fight scenes over comedy, if it wants to be Fast and Furious instead of Red vs. Blue – is it still Red vs. Blue? Because it doesn’t feel like it to me.

“It's been 17 seasons, it’s time to let the Reds and Blues go so someone else can shine!” – I simply do not understand us having been with the Reds and Blues for 17 seasons should be an argument to let them go, rather than be an argument as to why their absence hurt like hell.

“The Reds and Blues ran out of things to do!” – Did- did they, though? I mean, if we were discussing pretty much any other show, I’d probably agree that they were running out of content. But for the Reds and Blues… I think the PSAs nailed it this year! I’m not kidding, I had more fun watching the Reds and Blues discuss how to do laundry than watching Zero. You could literally give me an hour of the Reds and Blues trying to bake a cake or clear a gutter or simply settling down with an ordinary life, and I would trust them to make it worth the watch.

“The flaws were due to the fact it’s only 8 episodes long!” – Look, I can only judge a product the way it’s presented to me. I cannot come up with excuses for it. If they had 8 episodes to work with, they need to come up with a plot that works with this runtime. Seriously, this excuse cannot work when 48% of the season is spent on fight scenes. They could have used more runtime, sure, but the show needs to be able to pace itself and be planned accordingly.

“The OG cast couldn’t be a part of this year, hence Zero!” – That might be true. But. Would one year without RvB kill it? Is Zero necessary? Again, I just can’t judge excuses for the show. But trouble with the cast has been an issue before. Season 15 solves Geoff’s sabbatical by actually making Grif’s absence a part of the plot. Zero’s lack of Reds and Blues just feels like this excuse to tell a story that needn’t be a part of RvB.

Am I a hater? I guess? I greatly dislike Zero for the critique stated above. I do, however, not harass the creators and no one should ever do that. However, I have to admit that I feel there’s been this weird rejection of any critique of Zero where everything’s been brushed off as haters gonna hate, including the critique stated above. And I think that’s a problem because critique, as hard as it can be to hear (and I know this. I’m an author of original works. Weird flex, I know), is valid and necessary and shouldn’t just be shrugged away. As always, both sides of the fandom should always be respectful, but my own opinion is that addressing the flaws of Zero should not be controversial.

Does this super long rant/critique/whatever mean you cannot enjoy Zero? Gods no! I almost envy you if you enjoy this season, but holy shit, feel free to love it and tell the creators that you love it! Me pointing out the issues I have with the season shouldn’t be stopping you. I loved (and still love) s15 when it came out, and it was majorly rejected by the fandom. There were many, many critical posts, people were going on about how RvB should have ended with s13, and it evolved into the writer receiving death threats (me, once again: never ever harass the creators, assholes). But I didn’t tell people to stop being negative. I actually agreed with many of the flaws that were pointed out, and I enjoyed the season despite this, because that is possible. We, as RvB fans, should agree that RvB, is... I mean, it’s not the greatest, most flawless of shows, but we love it nonetheless. So go ahead and love Zero. This is not a stop sign. This is my opinion that you chose to read.

Wait, I promised you a cookie, didn’t I? Well, you’re not getting one. Why? Because I’m a Red and this is my chance to piss off a Blue. As Caboose wisely said: “Well, at least I don't go around... knocking on people's non-doors... and promising them cookies... and then NOT. GIVING. THEM. COOKIES!”

Blue Team sucks.

End speech.