#it happened offscreen and got one (1) line

[shigayokagayama]

What are the biggest losses between the manga and anime? I just finished watching mp100 and I'm curious what the manga has!

ok biggest losses are kind of hard to define because like. anime and manga are two inherently different mediums and there are a good amount of cuts that improve pacing and then a good amount of cuts that people sort of argue over the merit of so im just going to go for biggest differences. i would also highly recommend reading the manga just because it is a pretty different experience tonally along with the minor plot differences and cut scenes + theres a bunch of omakes that both flesh out characters that dont get too much focus and have some really good bits in them. putting the rest of this post under a cut bc i ramble

mogami arc

this one is kind of inescapable i feel like but the anime version of the mogami arc had a LOT of things trimmed for a couple different reasons. season 2 already got an extra episode in order to do the fire scene as a cliffhanger so with the way things shook out the director had to choose between a. cutting a bunch of stuff out of separation arc to make it one episode so mogami arc couid stay three episode or b. cutting a bunch of stuff out of mogami arc so separation arc could stay two episodes. imo they made the right choice, whats even the point of adapting mob psycho if you dont get confession arc right, but some of the cuts to mogami arc will be dearly missed and others will be fought over to the end of time. cuts include:

minori being established as a brat in a video everyones shown and the video being part of how reigen deduces shes possessed (reigen deducing her possession in the manga is generally just a lot better done and after you read the manga the scene in the anime feels so awkward because you know whats missing

the psychics deciding to band together to beat this little girl to death to save themselves and shinra stepping between them to protect her and getting utterly thrashed, not by mogami, but his fellow psychics

reigen trying to convince mob to leave without him and call for help while he distracts him which leads to this

the general mogamiland section lasting a lot longer and being more brutal (notably the stray cat mob feeds getting killed in front of him)

mob getting fucking torn to pieces by spirits during the fight instead of ambiguously dying offscreen

generally would recommend if nothing else reading the manga version of this arc and confession arc because i feel like these are the only two where you lose like. a significant amount of the story and themes from the cuts. speaking of....

2. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CUT THIS I WILL BE MAD UNTIL I DIE

maybe its just because i reread this arc on its own probably 50 times before the anime came out but this is the only arc where the cuts actively piss me off because there is absolutely no reason they had to do it. they cut a bunch of important shit, left in things that didnt need to be there, and added scenes that contribute literally nothing to the overall point. if they just did any one of those things or combo of two of those things i wouldnt be as mad but it feels like they put a bunch of filler in then speedran the actual story

cut #1 that pisses me off: HOMOPHOBIA?????

THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HEART IN HIS EYE. WHY DID THEY NOT INCLUDE THIS. THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF TERUS ARC. THIS IS HIM SEEING THE PERSON HE HAS IDOLIZED AND DEIFIED IN HIS HEAD AT THEIR LOWEST AND STILL CHOOSING TO LOVE HIM, AND THROUGH THIS HE IS CAPABLE OF BEING LOVED EVEN THOUGH HES NOT PERFECT BECAUSE NO ONE IS. WHY WOULD YOU CUT THIS?

cut #2 I NEED WHOEVER CUT THE DIALOGUE FROM THE FIRST PANEL IN PRISON

the lack of inclusion of the first panels dialogue along with the cuts to the mob and shigeo conversation (WHICH WE WILL GET TO) make me think the person who adapted this arc fundamentally misunderstood what was happening. this line. is. THE POINT. THIS ISNT SOME SEPARATE SCARY THING. THIS IS MOB. HE IS CHOOSING TO DO THIS BECAUSE HE IS SCARED AND ANGRY AND HURT BUT HE IS IN CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

cut #3 HE DOESNT WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS

this entire conversation is so good and i was looking forward to watching it voice acted for so long and its just. gone. for me the "i am shigeo kageyama who are you" reveal felt like a gut punch because the opening being "i knew i would be needed" made me go "oh hes like possessed or his powers are sentient or something" and this conversation was the slow unraveling of my view of these as two separate people and instead as a scared, traumatized teenager who has convinced himself that the parts of himself he hates are something else outside of his control instead of an intrinsic part of who he is because if he's convinced that the parts of him that are able to feel desire and frustration and anger and malice are him then he'll lose all these relationships he's worked so hard to cultivate as his perfect, non confrontational self. and of course that isnt true. all his friends and loved ones are making their way to the center of a damn hurricane because they see he's in distress and want to help him. but he cant see that so he pushes them away. ugh. mob. protagonist of all time.

cut #4 WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THE COMPOSITION OF THIS I CAN LITERALLY SEE HOW THIS WOULD BE ANIMATED IN MY MINDS EYE W

can you imagine how beautiful this would be in motion. just. god.

cut #5 HE WAS TALKING OUT LOUD. REIGEN HEARD ALL THIS

:(

cut #6 the bowling arc

so the scene where reigen takes his shoes off is supposed to be a lot more solemn bc like. taking your shoes off before killing yourself is a trope in japanese media (ive heard it started in media and bled over into real life but i might have it backwards?). reigen knew he was probably going to die. anyway i cant take this scene seriously because of this edit

the bowling arc.

cut #7 WAAAAAAAAAAAA

WAAAAAAAAAAAA *sniff* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

cut #8 homophobia again

rip pensive fruity tea sip

cut #9 mob threw the cake directly in reigens face on purpose

i literally experienced every stage of grief realizing this got changed. why. its so perfect. why would you change this.

3. World Domination arc

so WD arc is in a very interesting place where it had a lot of scenes cut but unlike the other two most of the cut content youre like. yea probably best not to include that. ill start with the good content that got cut then go into the weird content

serizawa got his power drained by toichiro. i am quite sad this scene didnt make it in because its sorta heartbreaking

teru fighting off the claw assassin is shown and we see that teru can both make shadow clones AND hold a barrier while attacking, he seems to be the only esper with this ability!

the reason dimple could tell mob's family was alive is that there was no sense of grudge at the house which would have been left behind by people passing in a violent manner

mob briefly goes unconscious during the start of the toichiro fight and dimple possesses him and says "shit"

dimple possessing mob shoots shibata with a gun

we get mukai lore.

it doesnt make any sense and just raises more questions but we get it.

toichiro has a team of telepaths to recap where everyone is because this arc took an entire calender year to update

literally everyone shows up to fight shimazaki. i cannot stress enough how many people show up to fight shimazaki. it would be faster to list espers who dont show up to fight shimazaki

the middle school delinquents show up and start fighting the claw grunts literally completely out of no where and this is never brought up or referenced ever again

when mob and ritsu get home ritsu says all their stuff is in boxes and they need to hurry and redecorate the house before their parents get home which implies that shou packed the entire households worth of belongings into boxes and hid it somewhere before lighting their house on fire which is such a funny mental image that i cant even be mad at it. loony toons ass plot point.

4. other random interesting cut things

takenaka is just generally more of a bitch during alien arc. "ah i think they took him" remains one of the funniest goddamn panels in the manga

peak

alien arc overall is a lot funnier in the manga, i have a slight preference for the manga version just bc theres a lot of really good bits that didnt make it to anime but the anime version is so heartfelt and nostalgic it makes me happy

between omakes and small things that got cut or changed for the anime teru just feels way more fleshed out in the manga. like. anime teru is a completely different person. its hard to explain if youve never read it.

the all girls school part originally went right before the ghost family stuff and was the beginning of mob's existential crisis about why spirits and people get different treatment but tbh it works well where it is i just wish it werent. like that.

the scene where ritsu and teru shake hands was teru draining ritsus power which he seems to have learned to do from encountering ???%

teru.

ow

thats all i can think of off the top of my head, im sure ill realize i forgot something some time after posting this but. yeah. read the manga its good

[scoatneyhall]

WILD. Was anyone else aware that the Ted Lasso team has gone in and made post-production edits on season 3 episodes, sometime in the last year?

I've been rewatching the finale in advance of the one year anniversary of it airing, and straight off, I noticed that the points total on the graphic looked different to how I remembered it - a much closer race. It stuck out because I remembered being annoyed that they didn't celebrate the moment Richmond got confirmed for the Champions League, as the gap was big enough for it to have happened a while ago, offscreen. I still have a screencap from when the episode aired:

However, the current copy on Apple has an updated graphic, making the post-production graphic in line with the numbers on the actual physical whiteboard prop and the script mentioning the win streak. See here:

The corrected copy makes Richmond's points match the whiteboard, but it also puts the teams in 3rd to 5th place much closer to them points-total wise, meaning that now, in the current version of the episode, Richmond only qualified for the UCL in "Mom City," making it make more sense that the start of 3.12 is the first time it gets discussed. Would have been nice to mention that stake in the City match commentary during 3.11, but I genuinely am shocked that they went back in and edited the already-published episodes to clean up the post-production errors. For the record, here's the whiteboard as of 3.08: W10, D9, L6.

Just in case anyone cares, the order of those results was - 1 draw against Chelsea, 6 wins with Zava, 1 loss against West Ham, the rest of the draws and losses occurring between 3.05 and the loss against Arsenal in 3.07, and then the 4 wins mentioned at the start of 3.08. By the start of 3.12, it's mentioned they are on a 16 game win streak, so that's 22 wins overall, 9 draws, 6 losses, going into the final weekend, hence the updated graphic.

I like that they went in and fixed it - no idea when in the past 12 months that occured - but I also kind of can't believe they bothered? Then again, I can't believe the mistake was made in the first place, as they were so specific with details in the prior seasons, so maybe they couldn't live with it being wrong.

I know there were rumours about a ton of issues in terms of getting these episodes posted in time - right down to the wire, still fixing the edit on the airdate - and it's clear that these details were not checked and confirmed by the poor people in post who were not working off the show bible that lives in the writers heads. I don't blame them at all, I blame the people who got the edit to them late, but it did annoy me during the season a LOT. The maths wasn't mathing, and as we know this is a show that has been careful with dates and timelines and stuff like that.

Anyway! The point is, a) this post about my UCL qualification fantasies is now moot, and b) I went back and checked another post production error that had REALLY pissed me off, which was the dates of texts in Ted's phone in 3.04. Phone dates have always given us the timeline quite strictly before - it's how @belmottetower and I started the timeline in our primer, with Ted arriving in London on January 6, 2020 and then following the football seasons from there to place the season 3 finale in May 2022 - but in 3.04, all the cute texts we see to all the characters in his phone were badly misdated, placing the timeline further in the future. This caused arguments or misunderstandings, at the time about the actual timeline of the show, but it seems this was another detail the producers really wanted to fix and tighten up, as they've gone back and had it edited.

It's weird, because the texts Ted was actually going back to - the messages from Doctor Jacob - were dated correctly as late 2019, and there's even a little easter egg in the form of a US rideshare notification picking him up to go to the airport in America, on 5 January 2020. (Even the area code, 316, is apparently correct to Kansas.) That's all correct even in the original version of the episode, but somehow we then skip a year and place his most recent texts, as of 3.04, in late October 2022, when they should only be in late September or early October 2021. (I found this post on Reddit that screenshotted his phone at the time.) Examples:

I had to go back and check this, and sure enough, it's been edited to reflect the established timeline - they didn't just redate the year on each message, they also changed a bunch of the chats to be more recent - so rather than dates, his most recent chats with Henry, the Coaches, etc are from "Yesterday," then the first dated texts are in very late September 2021. This matches up pretty perfectly with where they are in a typical Premier League season - they REALLY cleaned it up. Further back, they do just switch the years on the dates, so he still got a picture from Sassy last Valentines Day, and his last one-on-one contact with Jamie is still set before the events of Wembley in 2.08 (FA Cup semi finals are in April, so a few weeks after the March 2021 date on Jamie's chat.)

My brain is itching because I swear there was a screen of Nate and Ted's text chat at some point too? With Ted reaching out about his new job, on a date that deeply did not work with the timeline? But maybe I imagined it. There's no record of Nate's number in his phone at all now, and the texts date back to before Nate left, so I guess in this version of events, Ted deleted Nate's number and message history.

Anyway, I'm aware that basically no one is going to care about this, but I suspect that the three people who will actually care will REALLY FUCKING CARE. Has anyone else noticed it? Does anyone know when it may have happened? Does anyone know what else might have been changed or fixed? I love details and I love the fact that there is no longer conflicting data about what football seasons the show is covering - it's mid 19/20 to the end of 21/22, end of story - but what a fucking mess the production of season 3 must have been, to end up at this point!

[holycatsandrabbits]

How to Write Implied Smut 

**Ironically, this article is somewhat NSFW**

So you want to write about sex without writing about sex. (Or maybe you don’t want to, but you need to, which is usually where I end up.) Some writers and readers love smut, and some don’t, which is totally valid. Or sometimes you’ve got a couple of characters who’d like to get it on, but your story guidelines require a SFW rating. Whatever the reasons for keeping things under cover (pun intended), here are some helpful hints about hinting:

Method 1: Read between the lines

In this approach, there are no sex scenes at all, no (heavy) kissing, no wandering around in nothing but your socks. You want the reader to know Jane and Betsy participate in a certain indoor sport together, but we’re not going to pop a single blouse button on-screen. Here are three ways to do it:

Situation-based clues include having Jane and Betsy share a room at a hotel, arrive at work or leave together, keep their stuff at each other’s houses, wear each other’s clothes, etc. 

Other characters can assume Jane & Betsy are a couple, knowing that if you text one at three a.m. the other is likely to answer, or if you tell Jane something, Betsy will immediately know, or even blatantly stating they aren’t just roommates.

Jane and Betsy themselves can act like they’re lovers in a SFW way. G-rated signs of offscreen physical intimacy include sitting in each other’s laps, touching faces, briefly kissing on the mouth, and holding hands.

This “between the lines” method leaves the physical relationship entirely to the reader’s imagination. There are no hints of specifics in the bedroom, no scenes that will get your reader’s temperature rising. Perfect for some writers and readers. The next two methods have more heat.

Method 2: Kiss and don’t tell

This is what they call “closing the door.” Cue your characters kissing and then fade to black, and if you want to say what happens afterward, stick to general terms. You know, it was a very enjoyable evening, they got to know each other better, Jane learned what it was like to spend a night with Betsy. 

You can also have Jane and Betsy wake up in bed together the next morning, possibly showing them zipping up their dresses or even searching for their dresses wherever they may have been flung off on the way to the bedroom. You can even hang handcuffs from the headboard—and guess what? That’s all still G-rated.

Example from my (rare) SFW works:

They touched as much as they liked then, with fingers and mouths certainly, but also with toes and ears and knees. They laughed and moaned and they learned how to be as close as two people could ever be to each other, not just touching anymore, but for many sparkling moments actually being one body.

–The Other Arrangement (one of my Good Omens fanfics)

Unlike the first method, this “close the door” bit leads the reader into thinking about the specific bedroom scenario you’ve set up, which they can imagine at any heat level they like—or not imagine it at all. (Not everybody wants to look through the keyhole.) The last method is a bit more, well, explicit.

Method three: Think hard—er, carefully—about word choice

How to say they’ve got erections without saying they’ve got erections:

“Oh,” said Aziraphale, in a brave voice, “and here I thought my enthusiasm was rather obvious.”

Crowley didn’t move, but the expression on his face suggested that he could feel exactly what Aziraphale was talking about, and that he knew Aziraphale could feel the same from him.

-The Angel’s Bracelet (oh wow more Good Omens).

Believe it or not, you can actually have SFW sex on-screen if you’re choosy with words. So hard becomes aroused, ass becomes rear, tits become chest. Don’t name any super-naughty body parts at all. 

Terri was even softer and warmer than Heather had imagined, her curves unable to be contained by Heather’s small hands. Not that Heather didn’t try, and that was when they realized they probably should not be doing this in the library.

“You will let me take you on a real date, won’t you?” Terri asked, smoothing Heather’s hair where it had come loose from her bun.

“Well, what’s customary for a fifth date?” Heather asked, refastening two of Terri’s shirt buttons.

–Blind Date with a Book (wtf this is not Good Omens?!) 

In this “word choice” method, the reader knows exactly what’s happening, but it’s still safe enough to be read in public. It’s like naughty art with careful blurring. This method can be satisfying for a reader who doesn’t want to have to imagine the rest of the scene, or at least wants to know how the writer imagined it. And it’s good for writers who want to obey the letter of the law while still showing a love scene (see how I used the SFW term for “sex scene”?).

Writing smut without smut is a good tool (pun intended sorry) for writers because it lets those who don’t want to write smut still convey high heat between their characters, and because it lets smut-comfortable writers reach SFW audiences. I often have two versions of stories I’m submitting, one explicit and one not, so I can try more markets.

Please note you should never send an explicit work to a submission call unless the guidelines specifically say it’s allowed, because some editors/slush readers don’t want to read smut. When in doubt, politely query first.

Anyway if you want to read some more of my non-fanfic smut go here.

Thanks for reading! Looking for (SFW) inspiration? Get some weird writing prompts

This article was first published on my writing blog

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers 

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[glitteringcrab]

SCHEMATICS BOOGER-AIDS-V1 (aka: the first Omega Device)

Season 6, Episode 10 "Ricktional Mortpoons Rickmas Mortcation"

At the beginning of the episode, we see Rick C-137 attempting to track Rick Prime using a killbot (presumably stolen during S6E1):

By the end of the same episode, the view pans out and we get a full view of Rick's sub-basement:

Note the hologram of naked Rick Prime dancing in the centre.

Season 7, Episode 1 "How Poopy Got His Poop Back"

Instead of the hologram of the naked dancing Prime, we have a computer monitor.

When Morty asks him if he's made any progress, Rick sarcastically replies that he totally found the version of himself that killed his wife (heh) and they had a big fight offscreen and Morty just missed it!

Season 7, Episode 5 "Unmortricken"

We see a view of Rick's sub-basement again, and guess what?

There is a clone in there now...!

So, the first thought that pops in our minds is that between S7E1 and S7E5 Rick C-137 went out hunting, defeated and successfully captured one of Rick Prime's clones!

...But Rick's line in S7E1 suggests that the fight might have happened shortly before the beginning of S7E1, and the Prime Clone was being analyzed offscreen somewhere at the time.

Alright, let's head off to the next point.

Inside the Box, Rick Prime announces to the Ricks captured that Diane has been erased from every universe across infinity.

To which Evil Morty responds:

Even though Rick C-137 knows how the infinite murder took place:

Evil Mortyyyyyyyyy... You had stolen Rick C-137's memories! Rick C-137 knows about this weapon, so you should know about it too! I mean, maybe Eyepatch Morty has passed by sentimental trivia of Rick's life when he watched the stolen memories, but this sort of weapon is definitely the sort of thing that would pique his interest (as we saw).

Why is Evil Morty not familiar with the Omega Device?

Well, the conclusion I get from the above is that Rick C-137 found out about the Omega Device after S5E10, after Evil Morty finished scanning his brain (and, uh, well, Evil Morty probably reached the same conclusion).

Gee, which inferior would that be?

(and I'm wondering if some sort of unspoken communication is passing between Rick C-137 and Evil Morty at that moment, because the moment Rick C-137 mentions the name of the device Evil Morty glares at him, understanding that something occurred after he had scanned Rick C-137's brain. And Rick seems quick to deny any involvement: he only heard the name of the Device from some random, "inferior" Rick lol. This does not seem to placate Evil Morty.)

Back at the safety of Rick's sub-basement, Evil Morty chastises Rick C-137 for not learning to cut his losses and quit:

And well, that line makes sense because Rick has ruined his life searching for Rick Prime, but it will make even more sense if my theory is correct :P

Rick, in turn, is already aware of the fact that Evil Morty is scared of the Omega Device.

Which, well, makes sense, but I remember being surprised at that moment. The possibility of Rick Prime targeting Mortys out of spite had not crossed my head, although from what we now know of Rick Prime, it's actually to be expected.

Let's head to my third and final point:

Rick, Rick, Riiiick... Why would you be bummed he built it again (after it was presumably destroyed somehow, by someone, in the past)? Of course Rick Prime built it again, why did you expect/hope it'd be otherwise?

And why would Rick Prime building the machine again be "impressive"? Even from Season 1 Diane was never around, she's been dead for years, obviously from the Omega Device! That's plenty of time for someone to destroy the first Omega Device, and for Rick Prime to build it again.

Of course, it's possible Rick Prime made the first Omega Device a long time ago, killed Diane, then had a clone guard his superweapon for many years, and Rick C-137 found and destroyed the weapon only recently (so of course he'd be surprised and bummed that Rick Prime re-built the weapon so soon)...

BUT.

Interesting line, isn't it? And doesn't Rick appear to be seething in this scene?

Now, supposing Rick Prime has been messing with time... Isn't it possible that:

Shortly before S7E1 Rick C-137 managed to trace one of Rick Prime's clones/decoys, which eventually led him to the Omega Device v1 (pardon, Booger Aids v1)

And that Rick Prime's clone retroactively killed Diane across all infinities?

Wouldn't this theory make Rick's line in the above screenshot a lot more literal?

Wouldn't it make Evil Morty's glare in the box a lot more accusing?

Wouldn't it give more meaning to Evil Morty's remark about Rick C-137 "reaaally learning [his] lesson about chasing this guy"?

Wouldn't it make the threat of the Omega Device a lot more imminent, and a lot more personal, to Evil Morty? After all, if Diane is gone, killed a few months ago in retaliation not to a hundred different Ricks pissing off Rick Prime, but specifically to Rick C-137's failed quest for revenge, who is next when Rick C-137 next fails?

Wouldn't it make Rick Prime's line ("this guy does not know when to quit") a lot... heavier?

Honestly, for me, the cherry-on-top of this theory is the possibility of Rick Prime and Rick C-137 bickering: Rick Prime's clone proudly presenting the "Omega Device", Rick C-137 calling that name dumb, and then Rick Prime changing it to: "the weapon too cool for a name" lol

[muldyfi]

I don’t often do this, I am very team ‘Yay TV is the best and I’m either going to enjoy it or I’m not going to watch it...’ but I need to rant a little bit about the Mandalorian season finale. 

I work in TV, I know stuff goes wrong. And a lot about this season of Mando felt like production issues. Obviously they didn’t have Pedro much (if at all?) and obviously Katee Sackhoff was contracted to appear in every episode which made for some weird story choices in the first two episodes (going from Nevarro to Kalevala to Tatooine to Mandalore instead of Nevarro, Tatooine, Kalevala, Mandalore which makes a lot more sense). And also rumours of stuff being cut from the finale (which it really did feel like happened).

But there were so many story things in this season that weren’t paid off. 

1. The Mythosaur. I’m not saying I needed anyone to ride the Mythosaur or use it in battle or whatever, but to start with Bo-Katan saw it in the Mines of Mandalore and then got it on her shoulder pauldron and then NEVER MENTIONED IT TO DIN. That is such a weird story choice that I thought it was going to be a point of conflict between the characters but it just...wasn’t mentioned. Like if she was meant to have told him offscreen why didn’t she just tell him in Ep 3 when he woke up after she rescued him? And then to have all these random monsters attacking everyone all season EXCEPT the Mythosaur is....also very weird. 

I actually didn’t want anyone to kill it or hurt it but it would have been nice for Bo-Katan or Din or the Armorer to have a moment being like ‘The Mythosaur is one of us, it’s part of Mandalore and we should respect it.’ Perhaps let the Mythosaur help them defeat their enemy. Basically a reason for it’s existence. Because right now the *only* reason it needed to exist is so the Armorer could be all ‘Bo-Katan saw the Mythosaur so she can lead our people.’ Which was also echoed in ‘Bo-Katan has the Darksaber so she can lead our people.’ Like we get it. She can lead the people. 

But the Mythosaur just felt like it wasn’t paid off at all.

2. DinBo. I’m not talking about it as a shipper (I am one, don’t worry, but I didn’t expect anything to actually happen this season. No one in Star Wars gets together unless they’re dying). But why on Earth (or Mandalore) would you build this relationship so well all season, to the point of Din pledging his allegiance to her and then having Bo be all ‘Mandalorians are stronger together’ and then he leaves. What? 

This was one of the best built relationships I have seen on TV in a long time. The way that they went from completely not understanding each other to strongly respecting and trusting each other. Where she became Grogu’s other parent. It’s so nice to see a healthy relationship like that. But then it had no pay off.

There needed to be a scene where she thanked him for everything. Where he told her he was leaving. Where Grogu and Bo got to say goodbye because she’s basically is mother now. Anything. Even just a ‘If you ever need me, you know where to find me’ moment. At the very least a scene of them waving at each other. Lizzo and Grogu got a better goodbye than Bo and Grogu did. This genuinely makes me (and I believe everyone else) angry.

3. The Darksaber. Okay so I’m not even going to be upset about the fact that apparently Gideon can crush a Darksaber with his hands when I couldn’t even bend the handle of my plastic one if I tried. But to me the idea of destroying the Darksaber is to prove to Bo-Katan that she can rule Mandalore without it. 

It’s not the Darksaber that made her a good leader, but instead the lessons she learnt about uniting her people and trusting and relying on those around her, things she’s never been very good at. There needed to be a moment where she had a meltdown of some sort along the lines of ‘It’s gone, how am I meant to rule now?’ And Din (or the Armorer or Axe and Koska or all the above) tells her that her strength to lead comes from within and isn’t about the Darksaber at all. If this isn’t used to show character growth within Bo-Katan then what is even the point of destroying it? 

Honestly this is the thing that annoyed me the most.

4. The Covert and the Armorer. All season I haven’t really been able to tell where they were going with her character or Din’s attitude towards the Covert. But in the pledging to Bo-Katan scene, when Din mentions he was told lies about the other Mandalorians I felt like that was him realising that maybe the Armorer wasn’t so all knowing, that maybe there was another way and that Bo-Katan represented that way to him. 

Maybe it was just me being hopeful that he’d change his mind about his religion and take his helmet off so I could see Pedro’s pretty face more often, but if that line wasn’t about him learning that he’d been lied to his whole life I’m not sure why it existed. Honestly this point is probably more about personal taste but I still find it weird.

5. Coruscant. Why the hell did we spend 38 minutes in Coruscant? Why did we have to listen to Imperial officers chatting about Thrawn? Is this all set up for Ahsoka? Because in a season where most of the episodes were shorter than they should be what we really could have used was more time with our main characters having quiet character moments, understanding their wants and needs...which leads me to... 

6. Din. Honestly this has never bugged me prior to this season, but suddenly I got really annoyed at him wearing his helmet because I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. If we’re not going to see his face, we need to have scenes where he expresses his feelings to someone in words. Otherwise we have a lead character who shows no emotions about anything and doesn’t have an opinion on anything. The most emotion we saw him have all season was when he showed his hatred of battle droids. 

I’m sure the reason Bo-Katan ended up being the focus of the season was a lot to do with the fact her helmet was off a lot of the time and we could actually see her emotions. For us to feel like Din is the lead we need to understand what he’s feeling.

The appeal of the Mandalorian to me has always been that it’s simple, straightforward and fun. It’s about the love between a Mandalorian bounty hunter and his adopted son (yay!). And there was a lot of that great stuff in the finale. But it felt twenty minutes too short. 

Jon Favreau needs a TV writers’ room. It is literally the job of a writers’ room to be like ‘What if we did this in this more interesting way?’ instead of just one man’s fan fiction. A group of people are always going to come up with something more interesting than one person, it’s why writers’ rooms exist.

Twitter and Tumblr were all very good at coming up with fantastic season finale plots - mind flaying Din, him being tortured and his helmet removed, Thrawn showing up, the Armorer being evil, Axe being a traitor, Bo-Katan dying and Grogu having to bring her back with the Force. All of these things that could have added a heightened emotion and stakes in the finale. 

I’m not saying that creators should listen to the internet, this rarely makes for good television, but I am saying Jon Favreau as a solo writer has run his course on this story. He’s not a TV writer either and it was really obvious this season where Dave Filoni seemed less involved because he was focusing on Ahsoka.

Anyway I love this show and I will absolutely look forward to and watch any future seasons, but I was left super disappointed after the finale, despite really loving a lot of it, because it just felt too easy and too emotionally disconnected. 

[lastthroes]

i played at least one version of all tales mainlines and have a lot of faves so in the end rays satisfied me a lot (besides i already like most of the "hated" entries of the mainlines and i'm used to get my food by eating around the edges), but edna is my favorite tales character which brings me back to my wish that they had addressed the earth siblings differently

to circumvent eizen's curse, they pulled out a questionable deus ex machina and did whatever they wanted with the games' lore, then… pretty much never made them interact much anyway? they were never starring on an event together, and after the nor doll event (where eizen spent most of the time avoiding her), the only times you see them interacting are a few lines that can be counted with one hand, a few very short scenes like the summer festival where he comments she looks beautiful in the kimono (her sma) and then reunite with the others; in arc3 (a farewell); the god eaters event at the end (where they basically just check up on e/o for a moment); and the asteria event in arc 4 where edna's possessed so it's not like she can talk either (and it basically ends after she retains her conscience and thanks him after eizen breaks the collar. we don't even know what kind of illusion she was put under like it happens in asteria*)

and yes i know there's this point in where they came to the conclusion of how things had changed from back when they lived together, because eizen had his group and his life and edna had hers too, but 1) this was obviously to not separate them from their main casts and cause trouble writing-wise too much, which i'm fine with, and 2) considering this is a crossover game, and how many times characters got mixed with the casts of different games, it's not an excuse to not have them together in substantial ways beyond a line of an offscreen interaction mentioned by a third person whenever they remember about it, like it happens in the new year event eizen's sma comes from (scene that we never see either), or in the christmas event zaveid got his sma from, he also asks her if she wants to see eizen and edna tells him to just deliver her letter and it just ends there

i'm really just… stumped that they tried so hard to justify edna being able to stay by eizen's side, just to not actually let them be with each other that much in a relevant way anyway? like really, not even an event where they're both bonus characters? there are so many things you can do with their relationship in tir na nog that i just can't understand it. i'd have even accepted something silly and not really plot relevant like eizen freaking out over edna getting a wedding alt like hisui did when kohaku got hers

[jaskierx]

After being subjected to the canyons utter dismissal of anything Izzy did in s1 I honestly started to feel like I’d been misinterpreting the show. The confrontation between Izzy and Ed in s1ep10 is boiled down to Izzy just “saying some mean things”. Izzy’s controlling and shitty behavior is just him being protective and in love with Ed and it’s actually so tragic that Ed would dismiss Iz like that, guys. Take after take, I began to wonder if maybe I’d blown things out of proportion. Maybe he wasn’t that bad.

But then the gears in the logical part of my brain start turning and I remember why framing Izzy in that light is so frustratingly shitty. Like, okay. We all get that Ed isn’t an evil monster for killing his dad. It was a direct response to feeling threatened after suffering and witnessing his fathers abuse. We can all agree on that. So why is it different when Ed has a similar reaction to Izzy threatening him? Why is it okay for Izzy to berate and mock and tell Ed he was better off dead? Izzy displayed controlling and honestly abusive behavior in season 1. Ed was fighting back against his abuser when he killed Father Teach, and we got that. But suddenly that isn’t the case when he fights back against Izzy? I’m so tired of people acting like mental abuse isn’t as valid as physical. That it was only mean words, and that Izzy did everything out of love.

Homophobic parents can be controlling and abusive “out of love”. They think they’re protecting you. That doesn’t absolve them of their shitty behavior. That doesn’t change the fact that their actions are harmful. The same should be said for Izzy. Ed was mentally tormented by that man‼️ For people to dismiss that and act like abuse can only ever be physical is so disheartening. I’ve suffered both. One is not necessarily worse than the other. It feels so invalidating…I want to engage with fans and talk about this because I feel like it’s important, but if I had anyone argue with me about it I think I’d explode into a pile of silly string. It sucks that this is the state of the fandom 😭

yep people will absolutely bend over backwards to view all of izzy's actions in the best possible light. they give him the benefit of the doubt, they full on make shit up that 'must have' happened offscreen, they rationalise his abuse of ed in a hundred different ways. 'it was for ed's own good' 'he was trying to protect the crew' 'ed was going to get everybody killed' etc

(and often when they post about this it's really telling about their attitudes to stede being femme/gnc - i've seen too many posts along the lines of 'izzy needed to stage an intervention for ed, the talent show was the last in a long line of batshit things he'd been doing because he was obsessed with some ponce')

as many people in this fandom have already pointed out, it's like the canyon thinks that a white guy can say whatever the fuck he wants regardless of how threatening or abusive it is, but the moment the brown guy he's saying it to dares to retaliate to protect himself, he's an abuser and he's completely unjustified and etc etc

i resent being called an abuse apologist by the same people on this website who will unironically post takes like 'izzy wasn't abusive to ed because he wasn't trying to hurt him, he was acting in ed's best interests, ed forced his hand' (sound familiar?) or 'if izzy is so abusive then how come he tried to get ed out before the navy got there' (idk bestie maybe he could've tried not selling the crew out at all? maybe if he really did care about ed he wouldn't try to get his partner killed?)

[saelterlude]

link click musical list pt.6, (longer bcs i keep accidentally posting these early, gotta make up for the short pt.5)

also hi, this one took a while bcs i keep getting sad over not finding a Wang Yifei-Zhu Hanbin LG uppies clip :')

(pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, pt.4, pt.5, pt.7 here)

81. 24/03/2024 night, Zhu Hanbin wore his shirt inside out lol, there's a good chance it was like that the whole performance since LG actors don't change costume. Also, I love how Zi bowen shouted his name, it's cute.

82. Cai Lu's short vlog, includes Guo Hongxu and Ji Xiaokun karaoke, JXK being bad at basketball, and chilling in the dressing room.

83. 28/03/2024, Cao Muzhi getting manhandled by Cai Lu (I drew it hehe) and also giving the biggest laugh when he won first round of RPS against Zhu Hanbin plss.

84. 01/04/2024, Wu Hanglu bullying Bai Zhuoming, Du Guangyi being aggressive, and BZM being confused and overwhelmed in RPS. If you're asking why DGY shouted his line, it's bcs BZM and WHL were too busy bickering to beckon him to the couch like they're supposed to do. Also, they sing 'Dive Back in Time' together.

85. 29/03/2024, Wang Yifei, please stop bullying Wu Hanglu, don't squish her, look at her, she's tiny. See? Now she's bullying you back.

86. 05/04/2024 night, piglet is back!! Wu Yihan, Cai Qi. WHY ARE YOU BOTH SO MEAN TO THE PIGLET?? WYH does not let CQ play around with RPS (by not doing them at all)

87. 05/04/2024 night, bonus to the performance above. WYH does not hug in "Pursuing Light" for once.

88. 06/04/2024 day, New Cai Qi pair unlocked with Guo Hongxu. Awkward eye contact and GHX just assumes he won RPS when he didn't lol, don't you know CQ cheats? Also, Zuo Yiping looks so short between them, helpp.

89. 30/03/2024 night, Wu Yihan going *finger points* "whos singing the sofa song?", and Qian Dongyue's birthday!

90. 13/04/2024 day, I think, Wang Yifei scared Guo Hongxu with that overly enthusiatic jump hug.

91. 13/04/2024 night, Jing Yanqiao 21st birthday!! Let's go! There's actually a full video of your encore now.

Also, #90 and #91, both GHX and JYQ caught off guard by WYF and ZHB's mic cupping habit during 'Dive Back in Time'

92. 06/04/2024 night, I can't find a clip showing Wu Yihan drinking vinegar, but I can show you Cao Muzhi being cute as he walks across the table. And saying 'be careful' in 'Dive Back in Time' bcs something happened with WYH offscreen, i think he hit a camera.

93. 06/04/2024 night, nevermind! Shimmer to the rescue! Here is Wu Yihan drinking vinegar! (he Du Guangyi-ed himself (#19 and #31))

94. 14/04/2024 day, Guo Hongxu has successfully been influenced to cup their mics. Also, I'm now declaring that Guo Hongxu and Wang Yifei is the perfect disgruntled cat-oversized puppy duo, just look at their hug.

95. 14/04/2024 day, another POV of the performance above so you can see Wang Yifei nod approvingly once GHX uses his method.

96. 14/04/2024 night, just a shortclip of Wang Minhui putting Cai Qi in a headlock.

97. Event clip, mostly just explaining the basketball event itself but I wanna show you all Du Guangyi being bad at basketball in the last 10 seconds.

(speaking of event, the theatre is gonna count which actor scores the most during basketball scene/"Faith of Friendship". me and the musical brainrot gang over in the lc 18+ server are doing bets on which actor is scores the most by the end of the month)

98. 19/04/2024, poor Deng Xianling just wanna tie her shoes, stop bothering her lol.

99. 19/04/2024, same performance as above. English boy Teng Chunpeng is very excited abt basketball.

100. 20/04/2024 night, have Jing Yanqiao, shamefully losing 2-8 to Zhu Hanbin

101. 21/04/2024 day, Bai Zhuoming won the match, he teases Wang Minhui about it the whole encore to the point he messed up the entirety of RPS song lol. (Also, they got 15-12, they were conspiring together)

102. 22/04/2024, Shu Rongbo getting startled by Cai Lu's leg and Du Guangyi adding to the leg jenga is very precious, I wanna draw that. SRB also won basketball 36-0 bcs DGY is a softie granpa, I guess we knows who wins this month.

(and no, as much as i favored him, i did not bet on srb :') )

(also, did i wait for the 22nd so i can get at least 1 srb video this post? yes.)

*Please give a big round of applause to @shimmeringweeds for all xhs clips. I could not navigate that site at all.

Bonus time! Made a list (here!) of Zhu Hanbin and Jing Yanqiao performances the other day, thus that's the bonus clips you're getting for this part. Please check them out, they're really cool.

But I guess I might as well add this funny video of Cai Qi and Cao Muzhi performing 'Mia Famiglia' from Apollonia musical. It's gold, just for the fact that CQ acts as if he's in a drama while CMZ acts as if he's in a comedy.

[something-about-sunflowers]

Alright, *cracks knuckles, back, pussy, crack, etc* more trailer to break down.

Mirror image of the shot in the teaser? Was it flipped for a reason or are we getting more than one scene like this? What boat are they on? It's not the dinghy, not the revenge (I don't THINK?), and they're not dressed the way they are with the Chinese pirates. (Red scarf presence noted.)

Speaking of: Is this 'Susan' he's talking to? This has to be early on, he's not got his cunty little earring yet. (Just trying to nail SOME of the timeline down, you understand.)

Scarf. Feeling more and more sure it's Ed's silk.

Oluwande 💚. The way this dialogue is cut seems like they're skipping something, the way Olu says 'you dumped him' doesn't flow with the conversation the way it would if it was a immediate response to Stede's 'no, why would he do that?'

Presented without comment.

They're eating the wedding cake. :)

This is presumably happening while Ed is throwing knives at Izzy's head. :(

Anyway. This looks like they're definitely trying to get Blackbeard to stop -

- doing this so they can get through the storm or tell him something's gone wrong. Maybe Izzy's foot/leg gets real bad during the storm? Could be a lot of things.

Initially I thought this might be a precursor to him menacing Frenchie in the one shot in the EW article, but that's in the galley not Stede's cabin and this is a bucket full of bottles (alcohol) and with Frenchie it's a box with bottles (containers, possibly food but I think it looks more likely to be medicine)

(for reference)

I think this is in the auxiliary wardrobe, bride figure in the top right.

Izzy looks MISERABLE here. Whether it's the idea of him knowing EXACTLY why they're at a wedding or because he's in a hell of a lot of pain (foot still present and infected and all that) or some unfortunate combination of both (likely both), I want to wrap him up in a blanket burrito and give him forehead kissies. Also, wider shot here lets me update who's where on the topdown, so:

Jim

Izzy

Frenchie

Fang

Archie

Unnamed bald one with the studded bracers behind Izzy in the previous shot

Ed. Ed you are like. Consistently seen smoking from a pipe. You can't handle a blunt? Or is the weed too dank? Also, pretty sure this is him and Anne and/or the person she's with in the shots a bit after this.

This is why I thought it might have been the shot from the EW article but again, different container with different miscellanea and different room. He. Does seem to be. Interacting with Frenchie a lot though. And. This instance seems very specifically similar to. To him interacting with. A certain someone else. In season 1. . . I'm not saying Izzy's out with a case of Leg Gone and Ed's leaning on Frenchie in the aftermath. . . but.

I feel this so hard. We've all been there Ed. Anyway I'm pretty sure this is the same place he's smoking with mysterious, mostly offscreen, light skin-toned hand person who may or may not be Anne and/or her friend. (No scarf.)

Genuinely I feel like the nose staying on his face would look more believable without the ribbon. Lucius didn't need a ribbon for his finger. Maybe if it was horizontal as opposed to diagonal? It looks LOOSE and that makes it seem like it's not secure enough to be staying on his face like it is.

Deserved (the punch). My baby's leg tho. :'(c It's not even the right height for him. Look how he's gotta bend his other leg just standing.

Olu fighting someone???

Bracer looks like guy number 6 from the wedding raid but this doesn't look like it's on a ship. This guy also seems to have a beard or something that the other guy didn't so idk.

Cracked the code here thanks to @tizzyizzy pointing out something in my server. I was right about this not being during the storm. I was wrong about it being a possibly mutiny. I'm gonna jump a bit ahead in the trailer in a sec to explain but: Ed's got a rock tied around his waist here. You can see the rock at the bottom of the screen.

You can see the line go taut and pull him down.

You can see the rock continue to pull him down. (The rock is right at the bottom of the screen.)

Jumping ahead in the trailer and. Well. Rock with some rope tied around it. (Once again, thank you Tizzy 🙏 you eagle eyed hero) The lighting certainly matches better than the storm did. The question is: Is Hornighost trying to talk him into it or out of it? (And. Yknow. Is he a ghost at all, even?)

Back to where we jumped from. Are these guys wearing the same clothes as the guy Stede 'did a punch' to? Looks like it. *Black Pete voice* What IS this fucking timeline!

Love that Izzy is the only one who doesn't duck away. Also 👀 Lucius spotted. Is he holding hands with Jim? He certainly seems comfortable positioned right between the two little killers doesn't he? ;3c

'Oh no my boat :'(c' Is anyone still on board or did they take a dinghy and get outta there after the storm?

This.

(New promo pic.) This.

(Skipping ahead in the trailer.) And this, are all the same version of Stede. The outfit (weird little arm flappies, red sash) and location are the same. This is absolutely a dream sequence. Stede is dreaming about being the kind of pirate he wishes he was. I'd also venture as to guess this is the extent of his 'revenge on Izzy' that Some Of You are all so clamoring for.

[Out of allowed images, please hold]

[nikadd]

911 7x09 speculation based on the stills

ok im gonna do this thing for fun where i try to predict the order of events of 911 7x09 from the stills that were released bc there were MANY and im just trying to figure out how they are gonna fit everything into the episode. obviously everything is going to be under a readmore.

for clarity's sake, it is 11pm pst on 5/22, the episode airs tomorrow 5pm pst, so the sneak peek clip into the episode has not been released yet.

and i will come back to this post later to see how close i got. there are definitely going to be scenes where i got their order relatively to each other in the same storyline, but maybe the way they intersect with the other storylines could be offbase.

we are most likely missing scenes to have full context of everything, but this is the closest i think i can get to without having seen any sneak peeks or anything else. feel free to let me know what yall think!

1. 911 call

i think we are going to begin with a cold open of a call, just like many other episodes. from the pictures released, there's only one known call, so i'm not 100% sure that it's going to be the first one.

if the call is actually in the middle of the episode, then the first scene would be:

2. the award ceremony

it makes sense to have it happen earlier rather than later because it sets up both bobby's and hen's storylines (and also im assuming eddie's)

it's probably gonna begin with a few speeches and then a sequence of scenes happening around the same time.

3. athena and maddie

athena and maddie celebrating their husbands' medals (with a quick emphasis on bobby's convo in the corner and maybe athena's reaction)

4. henren + surprise guest

hen and karen and their kids also celebrating, but then this guest actress character shows up and somehow affects the whole adoption storyline (911 instagram earlier posted stills from 7x02 where the son of a councilwoman died while hen was interim captain, so im assuming it's either the councilwoman or her agent). this scene could also take place later within the sequence, maybe right before we switch to another location.

5. buck, eddie, christopher, and marisol

a quick moment with buck, eddie, christopher, and marisol. maybe there is a line that directly addresses eddie's lie in a dramatic irony kind of way, like the audience knows what's going on but the other characters don't.

6: henren and tommy

not sure if henren and tommy talking happens before hen's storyline or after and whether it happens before the buck/eddie scene or after. also would be interested to see if this scene is tommy apologizing for past behavior (it was implied offscreen). or maybe it's some kind of a mlm wlw conversation. or maybe even some kind of "if you hurt him we hurt you" conversation. IF this happens after the buck/eddie scene, then maybe tommy asks henren about the nature of that relationship and buck's connection to chris. basically, idk if it's gonna be a conversation about buck or not, but chances are, it is.

7. back at the grant-nash house

this scene was in the promo. basically, bobby still has a lot of survivor guilt and doesn't like being called a hero. athena is worried. the ad break probably happens right after here.

8. eddie and kim's date

absolutely zero idea how this is going to go. kim might do something that is very shannon-like, or maybe she does the total opposite. they might get caught, they might now. actually, i think it is too early in the episode for the secret to be fully revealed, but there is a chance that buck might run into them, and so maybe they have an awkward scene. we are promised a buck x kim scene, but it's unclear if it's gonna happen in this episode or next.

9. hen figuring out the adoption issues

(unsure if the meeting with madney is gonna happen before the first still or not, but im assuming after.)

hen is disappointed with some kind of bureaucratic bullshit she is being put through, so she needs advice.

10. athena seeks out amir's help

in the promo, athena is at the hospital when she says that bobby needs help. amir also has survivor guilt, so it's smart for athena to ask him.

it's cut closely with a scene with henren and madney, but it's definitely a misdirection. the way that athena says it, im assuming there is an ad break or a scene switch right after.

11. henren and madney figuring out the adoption stuff

they are making a plan!

WILDCARD: marisol and christopher

okay so these pics were posted a while ago so i'm assuming they are for these episode, even though there is a chance it's for the finale.

this scene could be happening closer to the end of the episode, but i feel like it might be a scene where eddie actually has marisol babysitting christopher because he's out with kim. or something like that. like i think maybe here we have marisol suspecting something? now, the second pic does look like it's in a hospital, so MAYBE it's not from this episode, but we'll see.

12. amir and athena

they are continuing their previous conversation outside.

13. firehouse

next day? later same day? hen is working on the documents. probably some kind of thematically important conversation with bobby. transitions into:

a fun little sequence of the 118 crew working together to make a meal and then enjoy it together. very much a bobby focus. maybe he's considering finally retiring?

14. more henren and madney

later that day, i'm assuming. the bottom image has somebody in the right corner, and i'm assuming it's karen, sharing an update on the situation.

15. amir, athena, and bobby at athena and bobby's place

not sure if the images are in the correct order, but i'm assuming that the plot here is that bobby shows up in the house as athena is talking to amir, so bobby finds out they've been working together behind his back.

16. eddie and christopher

this conversation seems very important. the bottom pic makes me feel like it's closer to the end of the episode than the beginning. i think eddie either realizes something here or at the very least decides to do something, as he's reminded that christopher is the most important person and he shouldn't hurt him.

17. buck and ...?

same as with the previous scene, the bottom pic makes me think it's in the end of the episode. could be a scene with tommy? maybe it's them breaking it off, or maybe just having an important conversation. buck does look like he's experiencing Something.

(there IS a chance that this scene happens before the eddie and christopher one. maybe it's between buck and eddie.)

18. the fire

okay so there IS a chance that this fire is a dream. if it is, i'm assuming it happens in the beginning of the episode, like a cold open instead of the 911 call. BUT... i think it's in the end of the episode. i think the fire is how the episode ends, and that's how bobby ends up in the hospital in the finale.

[the-fluff-piece]

A heart for a heart - part 3

Sfw fluff Trafalgar d. Water law x fem!reader

If you're not familiar with the other parts, start at part 1

Summary: Law has decided that you should go home, so you leave the polar tang at a travelling hub to catch a ship to your home island. But Law has a really hard time just letting you go, protecting you from the shadows.

Cn: there's a slight mention of alcohol and some offscreen kidnapping, also mention of spiders

As if that would work 😏

I added a conversation between Law and y/n (just before Law's pov) because I felt they should talk more xD, just so you people know.

_______

After your conversation with Law, it didn’t come as a surprise when Bepo took you aside and told you, that they would be dropping you off on an island where you would find transport home. The poor thing looked so ashamed, he almost tried hiding in his own fur. He assured you it was important for your safety, and that some big enemy of theirs was bound to show up sooner or later.

You wouldn't admit it to anyone, but you were really upset that that you would be send home. Sure, you missed your home and your family, but the Polar Tang has become your second home, the crew already felt like a family. Everyone was crammed into that little submarine, so you got to know all of them really well. Except for the captain. You helped Bepo repair the crews clothing, you cooked for them, drank with Shachi and Penguin, helped Ikakku with repairs on the machinery– they were warm-hearted, good people and the first friends you’ve made in a while. „If I just hadn’t asked him…“, you thought, regretting to have brought up the issue. All you wanted to hear was that he had a plan for you, saw something in you.

The crew tried to be professional about your departure, but you were sure they would miss you as well. Bepo had packed you enough food to last for weeks, Ikakku gave you a red hairband "to remind yourself to have fun" and Shachi and Penguin smuggled a short sword into your luggage with a sweet goodbye message.

Even though he made the decision and ordered you off his ship, the captain didn't even have the balls to say goodbye. Figures. At first, he seemed like a dashing man, saving your life on a whim and taking you with him. But he quickly dropped the ball afterwards, revealing himself to be a gloomy recluse that stayed away even from his crew. It was hard to believe the stories the others told you about his great battles and leadership.

So with a few beri for the trip home and a burlap sack with your few belongings, you left the ship on an island just called "the crossroads" - because it was formed like a big cross with harbours to all four sides. You were guaranteed to find a ship home there. It was a huge place, and, being one of the few travel hubs on the grand line, filled with all sorts of different people.

You looked around the small hostel where you would be staying for the night – half hoping to see one of them, coming to retrieve you. Of course, no one was there except the other patrons, all unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place. The polar tang had sailed immediately after you set foot on dry land and they were probably long gone now, having adventures and a great time without you.

You were feeling down, alone, as you ate by yourself for the first time in weeks. How can one feel so alone when surrounded by people?

Finishing your meal, your gaze falls on the red hairband. It was no use to be gloomy now. Soon, you'll be cooped up back home where nothing ever happened. So you decided to spent the last night away from any home you ever had having fun. By yourself. In this big melting pot city full of people!

Styling your hair with the accessory is making you feel bolder, ready to meet new people. The heart pirates had given you more than enough beri to have a night out on top of your ticket home. So you left your room to experience this big, crazy city.

The city was amazing - it sat in the middle of the cross and was therefore fittingly called "centre city", with four harbours to every side. There where shops and musicians and other travellers that would keep you entertained for hours and take your mind off things. You bought some ice cream and made your way down the promenade, looking at strange wares from all corners of the grand line.

As you marveled at antique books, coins and nautical equipment at an antique shop, you noticed a man approaching. He had distinctive white eyes that looked both scary and hypnotic, his white hair was long and flowing, reflecting the colourful lights of the city with a luminescence that seemed otherworldly. It was hard not to stare at him as he invited you to a drink.

Law

He stood at the window as she left the polar tang, feeling the ache in his heart like a punishment for what he had done to her. This was best for everyone, he told himself again and again. Maybe someday, he would believe it himself.

He had been the monster that took an innocent girl away from her home, just because he couldn't control his feelings around her. Now he had to make things right, so he had to make sure that she got on the ship home safely.

They just steered around one of the long peninsulas of the island to arrive at the next port of the city, where Law left with Shachi and Penguin to keep watch over her - Bepo had to stay behind, he was too recognizable. The three of them wore normal civilian clothing without emblems and took small swords and pistols with them to avoid too much attention. Since Jean Bart has been here before, he recommended a cheap and clean hostel to y/n and Law hoped she would stay there - he was lucky, he spotted her eating supper through the window of the inn. Everything was according to plan, now they would wait around until morning, make sure she took the ferry, and be on their way.

"Captain, if I may be so bold...why don't we just, you know, stay with her out in the open? That would be so much easier" Shachi asked when informed about the plan.

"We are still pirates, we could be recognized and cause her trouble. This whole island is filled with bounty hunters, it was risky enough to let her be seen as she left the ship", he explained. What he didn't say: he wouldn't be able to spent this time directly with her. If she so much as asked to stay, he would obey. To make sure he went through with it, it was best if he didn't get tempted.

So he leaned on a wall in front of the hotel with a strong coffee and prepared for an uncomfortable night. Shachi and Penguin were stationed on different sides of the hostel to detect any other danger that might come for her. The traffic on the streets didn’t die down towards the evening – if anything, there was a larger crowd of people out and about, ready to party. It was a great cover for Law against detection, but also a curse if he had to find her. Good thing she would just be staying at the hostel.

He almost spilled the coffee all over himself when she just strolled out of the building, her hair styled with a cute red bow and looking ready to hit the town. Law could only gawk like an idiot at her. He fumbled in his pocked for the portable den den mushi.

"She just left, everyone to me", he whispered into the snails microphone. "Aye aye captain", his crew mates answered.

Together they tailed her in the crowd, almost losing her multiple times. They weren't spies, they were pirates and not made for these maneuvers. Law was absolutely on edge. She was unarmed and alone. But she also seemed more like a tourist, a normal citizen, browsing the shops that lined the streets. Law somehow managed to talk himself down and instead enjoy watching her one last time. His curiosity got the best of him as he registered her tastes and preferences. She seemed especially fascinated by books and maps about the grand line and it’s many secrets, skimming through some of them with practiced moves. He watched intently as her hands glided over some antique coins, expertly picking up the most interesting pieces. Is it to late to get her back…? He imagined showing her his own coin collection and sharing all his previous adventures with her. His thoughts wandered to all the scenarios he craved: she would sit in his room, they would talk all night. Maybe she would even fall asleep on his bed and…

„Law, snap out of it“ Shachi hissed as he hit Law in the ribs.

„What?“ Law growled, irritated to be ripped out of his daydreaming. Penguin joined and gestured towards their target. She was very engaged in a conversation with a white haired pretty boy, who was clearly hitting on her.

Law almost went into killing mode. The nerve! He only realised that he was already drawing his sword, moving towards that bastard when Penguin and Shachi both held him back. "Captain..?", Penguin whispered and ripped him out of his anger. Control yourself, Law thought to himself. She's not the girl to fall for such a-

"They're entering a bar", Shachi informed Law, as he looked through a pair of tiny binoculars.

"I will kill that guy!" Law almost burst with anger. He should never have done this. Seeing her disappear was one thing, seeing her with another man was too much. This time, his friends couldn't hold him back as he stalked in the establissement after them. They could only flank him and do everything to keep their cover.

The bar looked a bit shady. It was illuminated exclusively by candles, barely casting enough light to see. It was maybe better that way. "Looks like there are lots of bounty hunters here", Shachi announced, indicating a row of colorful characters scattered all over the room. They could see all kinds of weapons and dangerous looking folk. The grinding sound Law’s teeth made only added to the menacing atmosphere of this place.

Penguin and Shachi looked at each other and complemented their captain to one of the tables and pressed him into a chair. They could see y/n and the white haired guy from their position. They chatted over drinks for a moment and she seemed to enjoy herself a lot, her giggles echoed through the otherwise quiet room, drawing everyone's attention. Law was at the edge of his seat, ready to race in. The man’s hand slithered around her chair to rest on her shoulders – that was it!

Law jumped up. He didn't care if every bounty hunter in the city would recognize him, he didn't care that Shachi and Penguin clawed into his clothes to hold him back. If that guy touched or even kissed her in front of him - Law would rip him apart, without his powers. Teeth bared, he was drawing his sword again– when Penguin hit him square in the face with a hushed „sorry Captain“, taking Law completely off guard. His two crew mates started a coordinated effort and packed their furious captain on both ends like a rolled up carpet to carry him out of there again, covering his mouth to not make a scene – at least not inside. Good thing, the bounty hunters didn't think a bar fight with subsequent kidnapping was worth noticing.

„What the fuck was that?“ he screamed when they threw him on the ground outside. „I will make you two walk the plank next time we encounter a sea monster!“ He shouted his threat at two very disappointed faces. „Captain, that’s a bounty hunter bar, we didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves, remember?“ Shachi berated his captain. „We will take it from here, you are not thinking clearly“ Penguin threw in. „Please stay here, Law. I beg you!“

Of course they were right. He was a mess, not in control of his emotions. He got up, leaning on his sword, to get himself away from this situation. „Just...just get rid of that guy“, he mumbled as he shuffled away. „Sure thing, Captain, leave it to us“ Shachi reassured him with a thumbs up. „We’ll take care of that pretty boy, he won’t bother her.“

Law decided to hang around just a few minutes more, just in case. He watched the two getting back inside from a safe distance, leaning on the opposite side of the broad street, crossing his arms.

You

You were having a great time! This guy’s name was Fennec or something and he was a super cool bounty hunter who had sailed all over the world to catch pirates and collect the reward. He told you stories about the strangest islands – some were even in the sky – and the most absurd devil fruit powers. There were people in this world that could turn others into stone, make limbs grow out of every surface or simply make an area totally silent- the variety was endless and weird.

He bought you a sweet cocktail and seemed thrilled to make your acquaintance – not like other people. You thought about Law again – he had strange powers, too, although you were not entirely sure how they worked. You wished you could have seen him in action jusy once. You started to ask Fennec if he could tell you anything about Law’s power, when a loud boom suddenly interrupted all conversations in the room. It seemed like there was a fight going on outside. A big one, there was crashing and screaming. Fennec told you stay put and took some kind of long-clawed weapon out of his bag and eyed the door.

It almost burst when a giant bounty hunter ripped it open and screamed: “BIG BOUNTY OUTSIDE! IT’S TRAFALGAR LAW!”

The whole bar was in a commotion, weapons were readied, drinks chugged and pistols loaded as all of them got up and talked about a fat bounty to be collected.

Law..? That must be a mistake!

You got up, too and ran out the door with the bounty hunters.

The street had turned into a warzone, countless really dangerous looking bounty hunters were already positioned around a tall, young man – it really was him! What the fuck was he doing here? He had a smaller sword with him and wore simple black clothes. His shirt was practically unbuttoned and showed his black jolly roger tattoo. Such an idiot. Hot, stupid idiot.

His hand was outstretched and some kind of swirls was forming around is palm as he screamed “ROOM” and the battlefield was swallowed by a blue orb. A few of the hunters jumped him now – they attacked him with swords, bullets, knives and fists, there was even a fucking flamethrower! You were certain that he wouldn’t survive this. Why was he even here? You had to do something, and quick!

Law

Fuck, all those bounty hunters somehow caught wind of his presence. Once one knew – everyone knew. He summoned his power, this would not take long. They were without exception beneath him. Feeling his influence stretching, he already thought about how to destroy them. At least something to blow off some steam.

Those pitiful losers still thought they could harm him, a variety of attacks and projectiles were already aimed at him. With a basic "shambles" he switched projectiles and people to make those fools attack each other.

He was just drawing his sword to end this for good, when Y/n stormed in. Damn, why didn't Shachi and Penguin stop her? With horror he watched her run toward him, this was suicide for a girl like her.

"Y/n, leave now! This is too dangerous!" He shouted at her. She didn't stop. Instead, he saw her wave her hand - and suddenly every bounty hunter was screaming in surprise, some began waving their arms violently. Law looked around, it appeared there were all covered in spiders?

It gave her enough time to safely make it to him.

"Come on, we have to leave! Now!" She was tugging at his arm, looking desperate.

"Just get back to your hotel, I got this. Those are just small fish" he hissed. "Go! NOW!"

She looked shocked but didn't move.

"I am not leaving you here! This is a small army!" She tried to reason with him. The bounty hunters were distracted for the moment, so he used the time to bark orders into his den den mushi for Shachi and Penguin to get here and take her to safety. He pulled her behind him with one arm to protect her until than. If anything happened to her because of him, he would not be able to forgive himself.

"Keep her safe! Get her back to the tang" He shouted at his friends as they finally approached and took her away, one on either side.

He hoped that most of those bounty hunters didn't take his concern for her too seriously or she might become a target as well. Seeing all the beri signs in their eyes he was relieved that his bounty was all they cared about. The mysterious spiders seemed to have disappeared and the fight continued. Knowing she was safe with two of his best fighters, he took his time to finish off all of them, even taking some trophies for his organ collection.

Since the worst case scenario had happened, he had been discovered by practically all the bounty hunters on the island and y/n, he made a big display of his power, hoping to scare off any one who might cause him trouble. He ripped the bounty hunter bar apart and stacked the parts of the building into a crooked tower, he mixed up most of the fighter's body parts to guarantee them fun for the next weeks. He blew off some steam and bought time to get y/n to safety. Silver lining.

After he was done and satisfied with the outcome, he made his way back to the tang, thinking about what might happen next. She could still catch a ship back home, or she could sail with them. He fucked up bad on this one, he figured he'd let her decide what she wants. He passed the antique seller's stand where he had seen her earlier. Figuring that he owed her an apology, he bought the coin for her. Or rather, tried. The shopkeeper was too terrified of the great samurai of the seas to charge him anything.

She must have been scared, seeing all this commotion. But she still tried to save him, running into the fight. She was brave. And she had some explaining to do herself - this spontaneous spider infestation was no coincidence. In any case, he was extremely proud of her. The hope that she might even care a little for him made his step a little lighter.

When he arrived back at the polar tang it was deepest night, the ship was dark. Bepo sat on deck with Law's usual sword and sprinted up to Law as soon as he spotted his beloved captain.

"CAPTAIN, it's awful!!" The bear shouted.

"Come on Bepo, I defeated all of those Bounty Hunters, it was no big deal." Law said with a smirk.

Wordless, Bepo handed Law a piece of paper. It read "we have the girl and your thugs. Find us before dawn. Come alone."

The paper moved in a direction like it was pulled by invisible string. A vivre card.

"They didn't arrive?" Law asked.

Bepo shook his head, tears already dripping from his black eyes.

"I'll get them back" Law said with absolute determination.

So, that was part 3! I am trying my hand on some more complicated story building and I hope you enjoyed it. There will be at least one more part to wrap it all up. If you want more afterwards be sure to write me a comment. And feel free to share your wishes about what should happen next!

Tag list:

@firexfistx

@julia-shephard

@punem699

[epickiya722]

1, 6,9,25 for the violence ask game

1. The character everyone gets wrong.

First character that quickly came to mind is Izuku Midoriya. I'm sorry, but some of the things I have seen some people say about him SUCKS.

"He's such a crybaby." You bet not be a fan of any Shonen protagonist or a side character you think is ever because more than once they have cried their ass off, too. The crying gag ain't nothing new, so stop.

"He's too nice."

This is the same kid is willing to punch the shit out of people. Hell, most of the time, he's just sick of the bullshit going around him.

Other than Midoriya, Present Mic also comes to mind. I'm sorry, he's not dumb, irresponsible or even all that silly. He can be a goof, but it's along the lines of "I'm an outgoing person". Same man who correctly states that there had to be a traitor at UA. Same man who teaches an English class, has to do announcements, runs a radio show...

6. Which ship fans are the most annoying?

Not more so the ship, but the people that annoys me. Like a person can also like the same ship as me, but it doesn't stop me from being annoyed by them if they do something. Example, I will never understand the whole "top/bottom" thing and the top gotta be the provider and the bottom does chores and whatnot.

Oh, what, the top in the bedroom can't be the one to do the household chores and the bottom is the provider?

I think the "top/bottom" thing should just be for takes in the bedroom and not determine the household roles. I have more to say but I don't want to drag this out longer or bore anyone today.

9. Worst part of canon.

Okay, for JJK, there's only three things I'm iffy about so far but not really and this could change, you never know. SPOILERS AHEAD.

One is Yuji and Kenjaku not having more interactions since Shibuya. Kenjaku may truly be dead and that would suck because I wished for just one more interaction between those two.

Two is Nobara not having been in the story since Shibuya. Now I know it's believed she is dead, but until the manga is over I ain't believing it. Hell, I hope she makes a return before Gojo (possibly) does. She deserves to kick some more ass.

The third is Uro. I miss her so much and I just think she deserves to return to and kick ass. I'll be honest, I adore Yuta but I did not care to see him use her technique. I didn't. I hated that the ending of the Uro v. Ryu v. Yuta fight. The latter two talk about Uro while she's offscreen knocked out somewhere. Call me petty but I was glad to see Ryu got killed.

25. Common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing.

BONES, don't release any more trailers for season 7 because some of the fandom acts as if the blue sky is the worst thing in the world as if it hadn't been a thing since season 1 or that maybe it's ironic that the worst things happen when the sky is clear (I have had bad days when the weather is beautiful, it makes me feel worse because it's like 'I should have a good day'). Or that if one pays attention to the trailer, the sky does change color. The blue sky ain't permanent.

Choose Violence Ask Game

[qiqi-media]

"Lizzie wouldn't leave Tommy alone" debate part: 1?

(This may or may not be multiple parts depending on what I want to say. This hasn't been grammar or spell-checked either I was just typing away and hit post.) I don't understand the narrative that Lizzie for lack of a better word forced herself on Tommy. Implying Tommy wanted nothing to do with her and she backed him into a corner. To get it out of the way, while I am a Tommy and Lizzie shipper I have no delusions about the nature of their relationship, I don't find it romantic and I don't think they were necessarily destined to be together or anything like that. That's one of the reasons I liked them, they were something that happened only because a lot of other bad things happened.

But to get back on topic, I never understood this narrative because it was always Tommy getting involved with Lizzie to me and not the other way around. There's once scene (the one in season 4 with May) that you could say she did, yet, I found it a little understandable. I also think a lot of debates are unfair simply because so much of Tommy and Lizzie happens offscreen to the point either side could just make an assumption and say it's true.

1.) Tommy finds a reason, reasonable or not to involve himself in her romantic relationships and always ends up sleeping with her after they end.

Lizzie haters, love to shout that he had reasons for doing what he did and HE DID! He was valid, I'm not saying he was doing it out of jealously or love but the point is, he would get involved in her relationships and they always ended. Her very brief relationship with John, he didn't actually do anything along the lines of actually trying to break them up. He tested Lizzie, she failed and told John who we assume ultimately ended the relationship with Lizzie himself. The next point is why I even started writing this post is because someone said he essentially wanted Lizzie to kick rocks after this but she didn't 'go away'. If he wanted her to go away he would not be paying her to have scheduled sexual encounters at his office, and the likelihood is that he sought her out not the other way around. (An assumption: It's assumed he sought her out after Polly says he needs to essentially get over Grace.) Then in what seems to be an act of kindness, he hires her as his secretary, if he didn't want her around, I doubt he would hire her to personally work for him. Again, I'm not saying these are acts of lust or love but these acts are proving Lizzie wasn't forcing her way back into his life. It happens again after Angel, this is the only time she's directly told not to see someone specifically. Tommy thought he was shady and she got a peaky order to leave Angel alone. I have a problem with this for one main reason only is because it ultimately just seemed like power move from the blinders because there were other options. We're told Lizzie now held an important role in the company and there was the option of just taking that role back and giving her the option to pick, Angel or her role in the blinders. Tommy or any of them could've just sat her down and asked if she really loved Angel and if she loved him enough to leave her role in the company but they didn't she was just given a direct order. Why, because ultimately they knew she was loyal in my opinion. Which is another reason I think it was just a power move, because unless they thought she would get soft or let Angel in on shit he wasn't supposed to know I don't understand why they were so dicky about this. Unless it was a just do as the blinders say and don't try to get closer to us by dating one of our own. But after all that shit happens Tommy starts sleeping with Lizzie again. How it starts is offscreen and how Lizzie tells it is they basically fuck in his office when he wants to. We don't know exactly how it starts in terms of who initiated it since it's 50/50 but simply due to their history it's more likely that it was Tommy rather than Lizzie. In the end though, it's kind of irrelevant who started it, the point is Tommy has agreed to it. It was something he wanted, not forced into doing. If Tommy wanted nothing to do with Lizzie in any type of romantic sense he would not be initiating sex with her while also kind of getting rid of her other options.

2.) Even when he could service a prostitute he went out of his way to have sex with Lizzie.

First episode of season 4 it seemed their little affair had stopped and Tommy was servicing prostitutes instead. Showing us, that they were always an option and having sex with Lizzie was not the only choice he had especially when she stopped prostituting. That's another point I have but won't dedicate an entire section to, he gives Lizzie the means to stop prostituting and tells her no exceptions just to end up having sex with her himself multiple times. Essentially giving us the idea "no exceptions unless it's me" who isn't leaving who alone again? Back to the point, same season, he takes Lizzie out unexpectedly to have sex where he used to meet with Greta. He could've found a prostitute if he really wanted one, yet, he chose to seek out Lizzie. Again, beating a dead horse here, this isn't to prove 'oh he was falling in love' but that he wanted these interactions to happen, that it's not like Lizzie trapped him and made sure he'd pick her over anyone else. This scene is especially important because it's where she got pregnant. In an interaction he sought out, I'm emphasizing this because it's not uncommon for people to say she baby trapped him. She could've baby trapped him in all of their encounters before, she had plenty of time to do it. We can also address the infamous May and Lizzie dick sizing contest here now. I don't think it was as deep as some people make it out to be, she was just jealous, I think it starts and ends there. She didn't actually sabotage anything, because if I recall correctly later May and Tommy could've had their encounter if they wanted to. Nothing is ever explicitly explained to us, but I personally believe there was some rightful frustration going on, "what the fuck are we doing Tommy?" From her POV their "relationship" has always been on his time and by his rules and this was the one time pre-marriage that she seemed to try and 'get in the way'. It's also highly chalked up to pregnancy hormones because in those same scenes we find out that she's pregnant.

3.) He's Thomas Shelby......

That's another big point that it boils down to me, is that he's Thomas Shelby. There were many times he could've been firm with her or instilled fear into her but he never did. He could've been firmer about the baby situation, he could've told her to get the fuck out when he was talking to May. He could've treated her even shittier than he already did, especially pre-marriage. There was a lot he had the power to do to make Lizzie go away if that was what he truly wanted. He at the very least, clearly, didn't mind having her around.

I'm open to other's thoughts, it just seemed like the whole "Lizzie trapped him" or "Lizzie wouldn't leave him alone" was a popular opinion when if you really got down to it, it seemed like he wouldn't leave her alone, even if he was just being a friend. He wasn't doing anything to remove her from his life he was actually doing things to keep her in it.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Nyota Uhura

By Ames

All channels open! We hope you’ve been enjoying our character-by-character spotlight series here on A Star to Steer Her By, because we’ve got a ways to go! This week, we’re shining the spotlight on the OG Enterprise’s communications officer, Lieutenant Uhura, whose mere presence on the bridge did more than people give credit for. I talked about this a bit when I covered Nichelle Nichols’s autobiography, but everything she did as a prominent Black woman character on this show was progressive, boldly representative, and kickass.

While we wish her character got more to do (that’s the understatement of the year), she also got some absolutely triumphant moments, and also a handful of moments that could have been handled better. So join us as we celebrate Nyota Uhura as you scroll on below or listen to the banter on this week’s podcast episode (coverage starts at 1:19:26). We hope you brought your dancin’ fronds.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best Moments

Sorry, neither I’d say you can’t get much more badass than this, but I also know what else is on this list. When Sulu is swashbuckling around and wants to rescue the “fair maiden” in “The Naked Time,” Uhura’s response of “sorry, neither” drops so many mics it blows out the speaker. And Nichelle adding the line herself, especially this early in the series, is nothing short of awesome.

Now that’s what I call music, stardate 2126.1 This is just a fluffy moment from “The Squire of Gothos,” but when Uhura starts playing the harpsichord per Trelane’s request and she seemingly magically knows how, it’s super adorable. Watching the pleased look on her face as she rocks out on an unfamiliar instrument is a fun moment from a fun episode, even if Trelane did address her pretty tactlessly first.

I can think no one better equipped to handle it Throughout The Original Series, we see background characters sliding into other roles when needed, and we’ve seen Uhura or Rand at the front stations before for sure. But when Scotty’s away in “Who Mourns for Adonais?” and Uhura hops into a technician’s uniform to rig up a subspace bypass circuit AND get commended by Spock, it’s clear she knows her stuff!

The game has rules Uhura really gets to shine in “Mirror Mirror,” so much so it’s on this list twice. Even though she’s dropped into the deep end, Uhura adapts to the situation, blends in with the mirror crew enough to enact a plan, and uses mirror Sulu’s obvious lechery as a weapon against him in an act so convincing she has him eating out of the palm of her hand!

There’s not enough room on this pad for the both of us Later in “Mirror Mirror,” Uhura straight up overpowers Marlena Moreau, yoinking a phaser out of her hands and cooling off a tense situation in which the captain’s woman was demanding that she go with them back to the good (or at least better) universe. Sorry, toots, there’s only room for one femme fatale on this ship, and she just handed you your own ass.

Only the sweetest creature known to man Could you blame Uhura for naively succumbing to the cuteness of tribbles and bringing one aboard? I mean, you could, but you’d be wrong because Uhura’s inclination in “The Trouble with Tribbles” to accept the tribble as a gift from Cyrano Jones and to share her offspring with the crew comes from a place of generosity and kindness, and I’ll not hear otherwise.

It is not allowed to refuse selection Sorry for the whiplash because we’re going from a fun episode about tribbles, to watching a Black woman having to fight off a rapist in “The Gamesters of Triskelion” (this is what happens when I order lists chronologically). It’s an uncomfortable scene and you have to listen to Uhura brutally screaming offscreen and watch her battle off a giant brute in shadow, but holy shit, she beats him back.

The future feminists want Somehow, it takes until The Animated Series to finally see women in control of the Enterprise. We give so much kudos to Uhura and Nurse Chapel in “The Lorelei Signal” for showing that each and every one of them is capable of commanding the ship, rescuing the men, and saving the day, all while having to wear those really unfortunate skirts that don’t even cover their asses.

Fool! Human females are intelligent “The Slaver Weapon” is a fascinating episode because it doesn’t feature Kirk at all, giving other characters a chance to shine. We already covered that Sulu becomes the champion of the episode by virtue of being neither a female or a vegetarian (both shunned in Kzinti culture), but Uhura does get some moments herself, like when she escapes their police web, if only briefly.

Get in the closet What might be Uhura’s best highlight comes in The Search for Spock, because movies have more time for secondary characters to do stuff. So when Uhura locks Mr. Adventure in the closet, it is a triumph for her character. Not only does it help her and the crew save the day, but this guy was being a prick to her about her job assignment, and she shuts him the hell up. Hell yes.

Shakespeare is better in the original cetacean Spock may have figured out that the probe in The Voyage Home was trying to communicate with Earth’s whales, but Uhura is the one to clean up the probe’s signal to hear what it would sound like somewhere in the ocean underwater. How does one even know how to do that? Do they train all communication officers how to translate messages in and out of whale song?

I’ve always wanted to play to a captive audience Speaking of singing, there’s more singing to talk about (though some of that will come in the next section). Last on the highlight reel is Uhura singing “The Moon’s a Window to Heaven” and using her fan dance in The Final Frontier to distract a bunch of natives while the others steal their horses. Is it also a little cringey and sexist? Probably, but look at her go! As you’ll see, it’s also one of few instances in TOS that her singing didn’t end in calamity…

—

Worst Moments

Oh, on the Starship Enterprise, there’s someone who’s in Satan’s guise In contrast to recent episodes of Strange New Worlds, bad things always happen to Uhura whenever she sings in The Original Series. Her mocking songs about Spock and Charlie in “Charlie X” make Charlie jealous and perhaps a bit offended (rightly so; it’s hella rude of her!), so he takes her voice from her. And to add insult to injury, no one in the mess hall even notices!

Does she not have object permanence? This small moment always bugged me. In “Arena,” after the Metron have boinged Kirk down to the planet to fight the Gorn, Uhura lets out a piercing scream. It’s always struck me as out of place and out of character for someone who’s usually so level headed and cool as a cucumber to go ballistic over an action the Metron literally just told you they were about to do. Overreact much?

I'm sorry, Captain, I can't do that Okay, she may have been under the influence of mind-altering spores, but it still hurts a little to see Uhura sabotage the communications system in “This Side of Paradise.” And since we haven’t given other characters a pass when they were possessed by things or mirror universe equivalents of themselves or are just pod people, we’re going to do the same here.

No singing on the bridge Yet again, Uhura is singing and something bad happens! It’s like she didn’t learn from the “Charlie X” incident. The instance in “The Changeling” is particularly horrifying though because Nomad finds her singing illogical and wipes Uhura’s memories. All of them! And we’re left for the rest of the whole series to wonder if she was able to get them back and still be herself!!

Immortality and eternal beauty Every so often we get glimpses of Uhura’s vanity as well, which is probably just a little bit of latent misogyny on the parts of the writers. We certainly see Uhura almost get tempted by Harry Mudd in “I, Mudd” when he offers to put her in one of the robo-bodies of his androids and keep her young and beautiful. Lucky for us, she uses this offer to her advantage to turn the tables on the robots instead.

It’s not the sun up in the sky It was bad enough for us that “Bread and Circuses” focuses on another parallel-development planet. But Uhura revealing that the denizens aren’t sun worshippers but followers of the Son of God just makes us groan out loud. Not only did this planet somehow develop one of the same religions as Earth (the one that matters to the producers, for those keeping track), but it’s revealed in a terrible pun. Groan.

I see my death! Here’s another strange moment in which Uhura comes across as vain. Like Sulu’s hallucinating knives in space, Uhura suddenly sees herself as an old woman in her reflection in “And the Children Shall Lead.” Gorgan finds the one thing in her mind that would freak her out, and that’s getting old and wrinkly and infirm. Maybe she should have taken one of those android bodies after all.

I would hear your voice and my fears would fade As much as it’s extolled for featuring one of the first interracial kisses on television, the Uhura-Kirk scene in “Plato’s Stepchildren” is not okay. For one thing, it is nonconsensual as hell and played to be unwanted from both parties, but Uhura’s finding comfort in memories of the captain’s leadership gives the impression that she has found a way to get through it by rationalizing that it’s okay. It is seriously not. And it makes what could be a progressive moment in history into something gross.

We’ve learned not to fear words The writers of TOS had some outdated ideas about the utopian future. When Lincoln calls Uhura “a charming negress” in “The Savage Curtain,” for instance, and then apologizes because of how belittling a term that was in his time (and for viewers of the show), Uhura shrugs it off as if, because so much time has passed, the intention in old Abe’s words are just erased. It’s complicated and there are much better ways this scene could have gone than clean-slating centuries of history and context, is what I’m saying.

I refer to the sky machine which enslaves you Oh boy, here’s another complicated moment for Uhura that could have been handled better. The Shore Leave computer in “Once Upon a Planet” has kidnapped Uhura, spends a while explaining slavery to her (of all people!), and then only listens to reason when Kirk and Spock show up to save her. Come on! Uhura was in prime position to save herself, but the two white men have to bring us home?

Feelings we’ve always been afraid to express Sorry, shippers, but whatever the hell is happening between Uhura and Scotty in The Final Frontier just comes across as weird and forced to me. When Uhura is under Sybok’s influence and starts coming on to Scotty, I just find it uncomfortable, and I give Scotty credit for his line “I don't think I could take it in my present condition. ...Or yours.” Otherwise it’d just get gross.

Dujvetlh 'oH nuq? rIn. Finally, and absolutely the worst of all, Uhura is made to look absolutely incompetent at her job in The Undiscovered Country. How, after all these years, does your communications officer seem to not know a damn word of Klingon? In what was meant to be a comic scene of the crew flipping through dictionaries in a panic, Uhura simply makes a fool of herself. In this final movie, it brings a character we loved down a couple pegs and that’s a crying shame.

—

Signal lost, folks. That’s it for this week, but we’ve still got some The Original Series characters to give their moments in the sun, so keep your eyes here. You can also battle with us through season one of Enterprise in our watchthrough over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, hail us on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe don’t sing in front of lifeforms we pick up in space.

[hazbincalifornia]

Hazbin Episode 1 Liveblog

In order to avoid this post getting Way Too Long, I'm going to make one post for episode one, and one for episode two!

I will say, I'm kinda sad we don't have a 'proper' theme song/intro, just the little jingle :( I do get it, but ah well.

Oh my god the commercial is even better in full.

How the fuck did he get Charlie to keep the name if it was still him???

Al's so fucking offended they're making him use a camera he made it one giant middle finger. I love it.

The voices are definitely going to take a bit of adjustment. It's probably because I've rewatched the pilot a zillion times, though.

I like how Alastor didn't even look at Angel. "Never going to happen!"

Awww, Charlie's ringtone for her dad is cute.

I DO really love Keith David as Husk right away, he suits the role perfectly.

"I like being forced!" and I love you, you weird little gremlin. Hoping for some good CNC stuff with her now, tbh. She'd be fun for it.

The flat delivery of 'crack is expensive' made me wheeze out loud.

Aaaa and here we go, full animation for Happy Day!

Why... why is the 'shoving barbed wire in your hole' guy an imp. Is that, like, his job or something. Is he just an asshole?

Ooooo, that was VAGGIE singing the 'bloodthirsty and deranged?' line? More fodder for her being a fallen angel/exterminator.

'Helluva post' for the mail. Ha.

This just made me fully realize how much the cannibal colony probably considers the post-extermination like a feast day.

Awww, the music note background is a fun touch.

Something about the fact that the 'touch my parts!' guy is a completely shapeless slug-creature instead of just keeping the dick offscreen makes it funnier.

Oh, I love Adam. The fun kind of punchable prick.

The animation seems a bit... overacted? I've noticed it all along but with Vaggie in the scene where she talks about making a new commercial especially. It sort of felt like they wanted to match the pilot's very snappy energy but weren't quite sure how, so everybody makes kind of... aimless motioning instead of moving with purpose, if it makes sense? It feels more like 'moving body parts for the sake of moving things' over 'moving with intent'. It's sort of awkward and distracting. The shifting proportions don't really help, but I just know people are going to be Fucking Annoying about that when it's unfortunately part of the package of making a whole season at once by a regular animation studio.

Oh yeah, Blake's perfect for Angel, lmao. It was more of a change than I expected from the few lines we'd gotten since they sounded more like the original, but he's got the energy.

Charlie didn't know Adam ran the angel army? That seems like the kind of thing she should have known. I wonder if she was relatively sheltered growing up.

'Call me dickmaster' why do I get the feeling the Chaz fans will like him, lmfao.

Since I'm on Adam though, another little groan to myself about the lack of fat characters in the hellaverse that aren't either gross stereotypes or background characters. Adam falls into the misogynist type, (like, the 'redditor', you know the one, just sort of mixed with a sleazy rockstar) Mammon's literally Greed and a talentless abuser, the lady at the pound was gross/uncaring and ugly, and I still think the Nurse was the only one that really broke the pattern and I've seen approximately one piece of fanart or mention of her ever (despite her clearly-developed positive relationship with Barbie!) and it was porn. I'm allowed to bitch on this after people were so fucking annoying about how wanting Bee to be fat was wanting her to be a 'gross ugly blob' and then saying other people were being fatphobic for pointing out everybody's skinny. Somehow. Anyway.

Well, at least they got the vagina joke out of the way early.

I love how his deal isn't for anything that would genuinely screw Vaggie over, he's just pissed they want him to deal with TV.

The fact that the pilot's still 'soft canon' makes sense with how Angel just immediately starts admiring his new clothes without any surprise, since it's happened before. Also, Niffty with the Marilyn pose is cute.

Oh, I'm definitely going to like Lute. I still like my idea she used to be close to Vaggie but when Vaggie was cast down, she stuck tighter to the rules.

Adam's song is fun!

So season 1 takes place over the course of six months? Huh. I'm guessing we'll have some time skips if we only have eight episodes.

I wonder what the Heaven Embassy is for? I can't imagine it's only for meetings like that considering there's couches in the lobby and stuff. Can sinners communicate with loved ones in heaven or vice versa, maybe, just using the holograms?

Oh my god the Katie voice IS basically just Brandon's Bryce voice. Amazing.

Ohoooo? VERY curious who managed to pull off killing an exterminator, and 'can't let them catch on'... hmm.

[missfreija]

louis for the ask meme ❤️

favorite thing about them: his tendency to react with great fervor only to the topics that interest him, his love for literature, his reverence for life only after becoming a vampire, his emotional vulnerability and weird moral principles, his introspective and anguished narrative, his physical appearance lol i like that the author wrote him as a sort of naive dramatic romantic mc.

least favorite thing about them: he is so judgemental. (real answer: his almost total absence after iwtv. I need a trilogy slice of life from his pov lol)

favorite line: 'The great adventure of our lives. What does it mean to die when you can live until the end of the world? and what is 'the end of the world' except a phrase, because who knows even what is the world itself? I had now lived in two centuries, seen the illusions of one shattered by the other, been eternally young and eternally ancient, possessing no illusions, living moment to moment in a way that made me picture a silver clock ticking in a void: the painted face, the delicately carved hands looked upon by no one, looking out at no one, illuminated by a light which was not a light, like the light by which god made the world before He had made light. Ticking, ticking, ticking, the precision of the clock, in a room as vast as the universe'

brOTP: david (basically canon, they often live together for years between memnoch and post merrick, they seem to have a mutual admiration and sometimes david can kiss his maker's husband ahah), gabrielle (a girl can dream lol i wanted more interactions between them), armand in tg era, and i think marius would be a good friend for louis. marius likes louis right away in qotd and once louis got over his reverential fear of the roman they could often discuss about art and other interesting topics. I think louis would get along with almost all the cast

OTP: lestat

(honorable mention under the section 'emotional relationship that made me cry a lot' for louis and claudia <3)

nOTP: i don't Hate them but i've never been a fan of armand/louis

random headcanon: 1) when he was human his only sexual experiences were with prostitutes, he never had a lover. 2) he is a decent billiards player. 3) during the nineteenth century he read and enjoyed penny dreadfuls. 4) even in the present sometimes he confuses words and mixes French and English

unpopular opinion: i dont know, people only talk about show!louis (and i couldn't care less about that version of the character...) or how they hate him in the books.

i like to think that his angsty reunion with lestat at the end of iwtv happened in 1920/'30 (we know that Lestat affirms that this fact never happened and that Louis only spied him from the windows but I don't really like this explanation sooo I prefer to believe louis' version and to think that lestat lied or doesn't remember lol).

i don't know if it's an unpopular opinion but i noticed that many fans love his character development/glow up post merrick (having accepted his nature and no longer being sooo weak) but I have always been a bit perplexed about this event, in the narrative his resurrection is rushed and shallow, to me it felt basically just a pretext to awaken lestat (even his chapter at the end of pl is so...random and out of context but ok). on the other hand I'm happy that Louis got some peace and happiness after so much suffering but the (offscreen) process that led to this change disappointed me

him being the 'royal consort' in the final books gives me second hand embarrassment lol

song i associate with them: saint bernard - lincoln, california - lana del rey, his Canonic Song aka moon over bourbon street - sting

favorite picture of them: there are so many amazing fanart 🫶🏻

i love this artist - this - this