#just random thoughts and pure speculation tbh

[oh-what-the-heck-its-xanthar]

So the dragon age devs have said that the faction you choose in da4 determines your last name. Which just makes me SO curious as to what the Antivan Crow last name will be. Like which house a crow rook would be a part of. I'm dying to know!!!

[capriccio-ffxiv]

Big rambly thoughts / speculation post.

I only JUST cleared the level 99 trial (I am in Job Search Hell and don't have a lot of free time) and have yet to actually enter the final zone, but, have a wild headcanon:

The original Sphene was a Hermes shard.

This is PURE headcanon, by the way, I have 0 canon evidence, but I do have a lot of incidental evidence/themes that fit, and I am Choosing to Go There.

Completely unable to accept death to the point of it being pathological

When confronted with "Honey you gotta let it go," reaction is instead to try to kill everyone

Green

The pattern was also true of Amon. Well, we don't know if he was green, I guess. But "unable to accept death" and "I will start murdering everyone and every thing rather than let people take the thing I love away from me, no matter how bad that would be for the universe, and if the thing is taken from me anyway then I'm just gonna kill EVERYTHING."

Further thoughts: This being a memory simulacrum of the original Sphene, her actual soul was probably slated to be used up a long time ago. (I may be contradicted on this shortly? Please don't tell me anything until I've said I've cleared the rest of the MSQ...) That's perfectly fine for Ascian purposes, & Emet-Selch may well have just quietly plucked that soul up and tucked it away for use later if/when their Fandanial got his ass perma-killed. Even better, if it was put through the memory tumbler, there'd be no pesky mortal memories to cloud up this new Fandaniel. Further thought: the entire thing as a prototype for future Ascian creation, given that Fandaniel was likely unstable from the get-go, and he probably wasn't the first one whose mortal memories caused Problems. Also for retrieving Ancient memories from the Aetherial Sea, which we know is possible thanks to Athena.

Even if she is using her original soul (doubtful), the above would *still* stand, because the process used to create her would have still cleared that soul of memories entirely, leaving it as basically "just" a power source.

Tbh Pandemonium actually primed us for A LOT of these concepts -- the Erich we meet in the Sea specifically is a random memory-less soul that Athena glued his memories to (and Athena was using his actual soul via Claudian as fuel for her attempts at true soul creation). ... we are EXTREMELY lucky that Sphene never met Athena. Holy crap, Athena would have been even more dangerous with the kind of tech and research Alexandria had done.

I'm also getting FF7 Shinra / Midgar vibes from some of Alexandria vis a vis the souls as power source & literally sucking up the lifestream of the planet to sustain a specific lifestyle.

[dormarunt]

This “not every secret can be told in bed” line of Sergio bothered me tbh, it sounded like Raquel is just some random girlfriend and not his equal partner in the heist (who catched him in the fist heist and the gang's escape depended on her..). Also the way they always talked about the plan in bed and the dynamic was: Sergio explaining and Raquel listening like a good student. I didn't like it at all. I guess I'm bitter about Raquel's development, she was my favourite character in s1.

Yeah, I know I'm repeating myself but I feel like the writers didn't really know what to do with Raquel once she joined la Banda. Her story and her character was kickass when she was on the other side of the law and then we got to see her slowly switching sides; I loved that! But now that she's with La Banda-- Yeah, they just didn't know how to do her justice. She's badass but, the way the heists are set up, there's a "brain" outside, which is Sergio, and a "brain" inside, which was supposed to be Martin. And I kinda feel like Martin freeing Gandia didn't feel like it made a lot of sense for this exact purpose - he needed to do something so egregious to deserve a punishment, much like Andres did** - so he'd be removed as heist leader so Raquel could take over. Something worthy of Raquel's skills, leading la Banda inside the Bank (probably the reason she got caught too - lol she couldn't climb a tree - because she couldn't have been a lot of use with Sergio in the stormwater tank and then Alicia wouldn't have had her moments either ==> Raquel needs to get inside the Bank)

Writing an ensemble cast is really difficult, especially when you have a complex plot on your hands. I feel like the writers sacrificed a lot of the character's characterizations/growth in favor of the plot - and the fact that they didn't have it all thought up when they started shooting only made things harder for themselves. So I feel like Raquel's character suffered a lot due to the writing; the writers just wrote whatever they needed in order to get the plot where they needed to get.

But yeah, the Professor (heh) - student dynamic they had made sense in theory? Because Sergio was the one to know the plan, to have worked on it for quite a while. And he did defer to her skills and knowledge when it came to police matters. HOWEVER, she was underutilized - no idea why the writers didn't have her chip in with ideas or suggestions, it really didn't have to be all Sergio telling her and her listening. Did they really want Sergio to be "The" Brain? Because, sure, he had more experience but - she was right there!

But I'm with you anon, I feel like Raquel was kinda did dirty after the first heist. (and on a purely personal note, it was a very heated moment when Sergio yelled at her but I kept expecting him to apologize? And then she even mentioned it and he never apologized. I don't know their dynamic - never paid too much attention, sorry, Berlermo goggles 24/7 - but I would personally never let a man yell at me. And I would not accept for things to go back to normal - even after a proposal - if he didn't apologize. But that's just me and my expectations of men, probably no need to project on a fictional character)

**(and I know I mentioned this before too, but the writers sure forgot about Palermo's punishment in part 5. I know Sergio promised the punishment "when this is all over" so I'm assuming that he'll dole whatever punishment they decide - because he said they'd all weigh in - after they're all safe?)

(what should Sergio's punishment be, now that they all escaped? What does Martin have now that Sergio can punish him with? He made the plan real, he made it work; what?? - is he going to not give him his cut? It's not like he can expose him like he did Andres in the Mint. I guess we'll never know so - open season on speculations!)

[codenamesazanka]

Here’s some random, wild, very non-canonically-based thoughts about Mr. Compress, aka Sako Atsuhiro. Basically pure speculation:

What if he used to be a Hero candidate? Or, he had been encouraged to be a Hero when he was younger? (And that’s exactly what made him turn Villain?)

Let’s set the scene: For all Mr. Compress calls himself an old man, I don’t think he actually is - I can’t see him being as old as All Might (who’s def in his 50s); at most he could be closer to Endeavor’s age (45), but I’ll say he’s probably a bit younger than that too. Not too important though! What I want to bring attention to is the era he would’ve grown up in - around the time when All Might debuted with huge impact. Exploded in Japan, tbh, sending shockwaves all over: a drop in crime, a rise in morale and sense of safety, and, I bet, a flood of new Heroes inspired into the job by All Might, and that’s the start of “over-saturation of heroes in society.” 

What a glamorous job too! You’re more than encouraged to use your quirk - you get to flaunt it; play your role well, and you get fame and wealth, power and influence. Celebrity status. 

Sako Atsuhiro has a wonderful quirk. ‘Compress’ is essentially a stylish magician’s trick, perfect to show off in front of cameras; it’s extremely versatile with good uses in both defense and offense and just plain handy; and the fact that he can capture an entire person into a small marble with just a touch could potentially make him nigh unstoppable in a fight, given the right training and tactics. It’s a quirk that makes anyone think ‘Hero!’ and I’ll bet you anything people said so to him. 

I bet you that people told Sako Atsuhiro this so often he got utterly sick of it. 

See, Mr. Compress is an entertainer at heart: 

He can’t help but show off! He “ad-libs” on impulse and he delights in surprises and mischief. All the world’s a stage, and his life is going to be a great performance - but that’s the point if it’s boring? What’s a show that lacking in creativity, stifled by rules, the players forbidden from expressing themselves? 

In BnHA, the people mainly (and pretty much only) allowed to use their quirks are Heroes. We hear about being able to get licensed for specific other purposes, but iirc we never see an instance; plus that’s still likely under lots of regulations and supervision. Not a lot of freedom, nothing like what Pro Heroes can do - and even Heroes are under rules and scrutiny too.

For Sako Atsuhiro, there was probably a very limited number of paths he could take to be himself and use his quirk freely, with the most promising being one where he would be forced to play the single role of Good Guy Savior over and over again for the rest of his career. 

So maybe, he simply went looking for other options.

[callonpeevesie]

Coco Fic Day Self-promo

Sooo here are my favourite fics I've written:

A Wedge Between [Ao3]

This is about Héctor reeling from the knowledge that he was murdered by his friend and piecing together the events leading up to it, wondering what broke their friendship. It's merciless heavy angst and it was interesting to write Héctor's self hatred and betrayal in detail. This is very dear to me because Héctor is a comfort character and this fic in particular was very cathartic to write for some reason.

Like Sunlight [Ao3]

Julio's perception of Coco as they meet, fall in love and get old together, along with speculations on Coco's similarities with Héctor and Imelda. They're the sweetest and I had to write something about them. It was really touching to go into Coco's struggles throughout her life and how she dealt, from Julio's POV. It's both Julico fluff and Coco's character study and it was super satisfying to write.

I Don't Care [Tumblr][Ao3]

Quite possibly the one I'm the most proud of and it got more attention on tumblr than I expected. It was supposed to be a short drabble but became a 1k fic. It's about Imelda's struggles and insecurities from her childhood to Héctor leaving in the sociohistorical context, written in second person. This one seriously came from within somehow and the final product is exactly how I first imagined it. I think it's my angstiest Coco fic.

Dreams [Tumblr]

Ficlet written for fantober; the prompt was dreams. It came out well enough considering it's a drabble thing I put together at the last minute. I'm proud of it because it's my first work written in second person and it somehow became very emotional and angsty and I didn't even have to try.

Abuelito [Ao3]

Exploration of Elena's feelings for Héctor and how they changed once she knew the truth. I always thought she would get along with him once she got past her distrust and I felt she would be very confused about him after learning the truth. I wanted to explore that. I especially enjoyed throwing in Elena's relationship with Victoria and Coco. It was really satisfying to write Elena making peace with the past and forgiving Héctor, that was something I didn't know I needed.

Imelda's First Move [Ao3]

Just some fluff with awkward teenage Imector where Imelda makes a move on Héctor just to spite the public. It was pure self indulgence, I wrote it because I needed an excuse to put together some random hcs on how they met and got together. I don't write a lot of fluff so this was a fun change and I like how it came out.

Doubts [Ao3]

One of my first fics and tbh I haven't reread it in a while so I can't say how it's holding up, but I did like it and enjoyed writing it. It was about Imelda's doubts regarding Héctor and her decisions. I had the idea because I thought she was bound to have some misgivings and insecurities about what she was doing deep down.

[asunshinepuff]

OLLLIIIIIIIIIIII <3 (yes this may well become a thing XD)

time is a social construct tbh, who needs time anyway?

I'm so sorry college is giving you a tough time but I'm positive that you're going to get through it just fine, I have full faith in you!!!

I drank exactly the right amount to get a liiiiiitle hungover XD

OOOOOO a Halloween party!!! are you going to dress up? ahhh I'm so excited for you!!!

oh my gosh how was decorating? and dinner? sounds like you had a very exciting day!

SARAHHHHH 💜 XD

You know what, yeah. That’s a good point. Who needs time? Not us!

Thanks for that 😊 honestly I’m in the midst of midterms so college just feels like the constant hell hole we used to think middle and (sometimes) high school was. And so I hyperfixate, burn myself out, probably cry a bit, and just push through 😅

Lololololol clearly you did—

No idea if the Halloween party is even actually going to happen, that’s pure speculation. But I think my roommates wanna do something (or else one is gonna binge horror movies all day/night and she’ll probably drag me and the other into it and I would very much prefer NOT TO THANKS—)

But yeah. Either way I’ll dress up. Idc 😂🤷🏼‍♀️

Decorating was fun! We didn’t do too much and couldn’t do the outside because SoCal got hit with a random heat wave this past weekend and I have no clue where it came from? I also was painting my parents closet which used to be my room. no i’m not salty. and was helping my dad cook so that took more time away.

Dinner was good too! It was weirdly nice to catch up with her and I realized we’re so much more similar than I initially had thought (or remembered). It’s crazy how much of a difference being older is even though your age gap hasn’t changed—

Anyways I’m rambling 😅

[bisluthq]

Well regarding the discussion about the RPF fics and stuff I was legit like no I'm never gonna do read that and shit but then I was like what's the harm? Like I'm pretty sure they don't really give too much though to it like they're in the public sphere they have to deal with stuff from fake tabloid bs to people legit spouting sm negativity online and I really don't think they're crying in their mansions about how random ppl on a dead website think how they live their lives like at the worst its annoying af and yeah especially in celebs like taylor she speaks about this and she markets herself and aspects of her life like yeah the peak was in 1989 era and she's really sobered down now but acting like the only reason ppl listen to her is her music is just not true like yeah it's truly fucking amazing but the speculation around it does benefit her in a purely business perspective. So yeah I don't really see the harm in it as long as no one is actively bothering the ppl involved or trying to imply that something isn't fictional like those are NO. like we don't know shit about them and we aren't directly affecting them so as long as I don't actively go up to someone and talk shit about them and their relationships and treat them with a basic amount of respect like I don't see the harm in it?

Like celebs are marketed as sexual ppl the photo shoots and stuff aren't there just so you can be like oh that lingerie is so nice now let me close my eyes before I start having thoughts about it it is to make them seem attractive like yeah harry and taylor both are talented but saying that there are absolutely no ppl who come for the looks and maybe stay for the art isn't truee.

I mean there's a difference between thinking oh those two ppl would be/seem cute it would be fun to think about how they would go together and maybe share it to some random ppl on the internet vs these two ppl are together which is a fact or are pining for each other and are sending us hints through their art so we need to aggressively advocate for their tragic million dollar lives and harass other innocent people involved( kaylors haylors larries)

So yeah that was just my take that as long as we know that this is purely speculation(which has been encouraged atleast in the past tbh) and don't go into delusional territory, are aware that we don't know shit about them in real life then it's like not a big deal like a little bit fun on the internet won't affect these rich af talented ppl.

Exactly.

[kakuriyo]

Has the staff/studio admitted galo/lio are a thing or are they saying 'just bros'? I'm new to Promare and the fandom and am so used to being queerbaited. *frustrated bi sigh*

trigger hasn’t confirmed nor denied them being anything other than friends. even then i can’t recall the term ‘friends’ being specifically mentioned (correct me if i’m wrong). it IS pretty obvious though that they developed a close bond and shared intimate moments throughout the film. keep in mind as well that it has been mentioned before that any of trigger’s works are open to fan interpretation (expanded below).

since you didn’t ask for this long of an answer, i’m going to give you one anyway. strap in cause there’s a lot to unpack.

SIDE NOTE TO ANYONE ELSE READING: please keep in mind these are just opinions. the movie is highly enjoyable either way and ofc you’re free to believe what you want. ignore this and happily move on if you don’t want to. there’s an obvious stigma towards shipping in general (tbh i’m hesitant myself sometimes) but with promare there’s a lot of room to read between the lines so here we go~

spoilers below

ok so first and foremost:

this screenshot was taken from this tweet specifically and i want to reiterate that this is all purely fan speculation and mainly my view(s).

i didn’t intend for this response to get as in-depth as it has, but now you’re coming down the rabbit hole with me. i'm going to briefly talk about this memo of sorts i found from op’s twitter linked above. (this is from the original messenger, not the acc that posted the convo.) it’s about their personal views regarding promare, LGTBQ, and japanese culture. 

op brings up a good point that western and japanese cultures are extremely different. that much is obvious and i didn’t fully grasp it until i started to write this response. op brings up another good point and that is: trigger quite possibly didn’t intend for all this queer-baiting to happen because of these huge differences. WHICH IS TOTALLY OKAY AND UNDERSTANDABLE because gay thoughts aside, promare is simply a great movie about two dudes who come together and save the world. 

now with that out of the way, here’s me ranting about aforementioned dudes and my western gay thoughts.

1. there’s this scene which pretty much speaks for itself. galo is talking about wanting his matoi gear but the gesture is self-explanatory. i mean look at the way his hand is even positioned.

2. then the most obvious scene to discuss is when galo kisses performs ‘CPR’ on lio in order to save his life. the action shouldn’t come as a surprise since galo witnessed lio do the same to a previous mad burnish member. and since it’s not a random course of action, i can understand why people don’t think anything more of it. i still have to commend trigger for the tasteful scene (pun intended) though. speculations aside, the moment seamlessly ties together the two’s relationship and how lio has come to rely on galo.

the screenshot below is also from the wiki about this scene. take it with a grain of salt since it’s a fandom page.

3. after the kiss CPR, the two form galo de lion to save the world and this happens in the fire/cloud formation that follows:

trigger thought they were being sneaky. or maybe they didn’t. who knows? (see above). personally, i don’t understand why the heart shape was necessary, but staff chose to include it. and while it’s common for westerners to believe the heart is a sign of romance, that may not be the case in japan. however, idk cause this is the extent of my current knowledge. 

4. another thing worth mentioning is lio’s clothing throughout the film. in the beginning, he starts out in his full burnish armor. soon after, he’s seen with his actual clothing which is adorned with buckles, belts, etc (this is also used as a symbol, but that’s not the point of this academic essay. stay tuned for part 2). at the end of the film, he’s seen shirtless.

the reason behind this is mentioned on lio’s wiki page and also expanded upon by the twitter op i mentioned above. as he becomes closer to galo, he slowly sheds his constraints and becomes free. you can even say that lio opens up his heart to galo. 

when you think about it, lio being shirtless makes perfect sense since galo himself never wears a fucking shirt. a fitting end. (ooo another pun. that one was unintentional.)

5. there’s a few things outside of the movie too. the lyrics to inferno for example. assuming the song is from lio’s pov, which a lot of people have (idk if it’s confirmed), the lyrics can be interpreted romantically (or even platonically if that’s still your vibe. although if you’ve read this far, i’m assuming you think they’re at least a little gay by now):

if we also assume that the subject of the lyrics is galo, lio is either calling or associating him with home. regardless of what you think, the song still shows that galo and lio have a close relationship.

6. also for your consideration, the official wedding bands: 

even though the rings are directly associated with the franchise, the designs are pretty neutral. it was a smart move from a marketing standpoint. twitter and tumblr once again exploded with fanart and the shipping/movie hype continued.

7. lastly here are some official arts for your thoughts:

TLDR; galo and lio are gay (maybe) but not really cause you’re free to interpret it however you the fuck you want.

thanks for coming to my ted talk

[electra-xt]

Grace!

:D Thank you for the ask!

OTP for them: don’t have one tbh! she’s sufficiently non-human IMO that it’s hard for me to really imagine her romantically clicking with anyone. that saaaid I think there’s definitely room to interpret her as having stirrings of emotion and there are definitely lanes to go down with that, if one is so inclined

BROTP for them: she is very, very, very cute with Diego in the show, no lie. most of the time when I think about Grace, I am also thinking about Diego. most of the time when I think about any character on the show, I am thinking about Diego.

Other ships: same as before!

What kind of fic I’d write about them: definitely something involving Diego— if I were in a gen mood, I might write about seventeen-year-old Diego telling Grace he’s leaving the Academy. he’d expect her to tell him to stay, or tell him to stop, but instead she’d give him The Same Smile and tell him something about how Reginald Hargreeves was a very great man, and he’d realize that she... really wasn’t as much on his side as he thought. exceeeept for Grace, she’s programmed to tell Diego to stay if he wants to leave, but she’s so attached to Diego that she can’t bring herself to obey it— but she can’t bring herself to disobey exactly, either. miscommunication. robot woes. musings of what it means to be a programmable thing and break out of that. is emotion weakness to a robot or does it make the robot stronger? this would be a very sad fic I think

A favorite canon moment: picture the word in your mind diegoooo

Color that reminds me of them: light pink?

Song that reminds me of them: lol, the one that comes to mind is “I Am Not A Robot” by MARINA, but that might be because she’s uh. well she’s a. a r

A headcanon about them: this is less headcanon than speculation but sometimes I wonder about whether the siblings ever used her as a confidential confessional— and if she actually was as confidential as they thought. this COULD go into a very angsty route of Reginald performing even more fucked-up surveillance on the kids orrrr she could have just been their secrets repository for years. kind of like ELIZA the therapy robot

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: not to orbit this character discussion endlessly around Diego, but I’ve been thinking about like... a boarding school AU where Reginald runs the school and Five is his favored son/student, and Diego is another pupil who lives at the school because his mother’s too incapacitated to care for him at home (because she’s a rObOT but that would be replaced by some other... illness I guess? in this AU). and in the AU, Diego and Five would ultimately get close because both of them are more tied to the school than any of the other students and they have equal but opposite strong family ties— Five is attached to his father who is ever-present and demanding and manipulative, and Diego is attached to his mother who is nonexistent and passive and sweet and supportive.

Anything else: I’ve never thought this much about Grace before! but she’s an interesting character from a philosophical standpoint. really makes me think about machine learning etc etc as well as the feminist implications of the robot mother. but also on a purely superficial level............... diego... mother...

this was so much fun to answer! send me more characters for this ask meme, I’m enjoying it immensely

[vnshkk]

Let's talk about Kyo's media blackout.

It is with a slight reluctance that I post this. It's not wise to mention Tanuki online nor share what they talk about within the overseas fandom for a multiple of reasons. 

1. I don't want them to get angry at me

2. I don't want the overseas fandom to flip out and judge the Japanese fandom

3. I just want everyone to be chill and happy and flowers

But I've seen a lot of people freaking out, a lot of random theories floating around and people worrying so I wanted to post this theory and open it for discussion. 

Of course this isn't fact. It's pure speculation. But given the timeframe, PERSONALLY I feel like this may have had something to do with Kyo decision. 

So I post this with two DISCLAIMERs. 

1. As mentioned this is not in any way fact. There is no proof that Kyo does or doesn't look at Tank. I simply find it interesting the sequence of events, the timing of the media blackout and I am only translating this for those who are interested. I hope this doesn't cause any huge arguments or any bad blood. It's simple here to discuss and consider.

2. Please do not judge the whole fandom based on Tank. Just like any forum, any comment section on the world wide web; there will be people who leave negative feed back. It is a tiny portion of people and not a reflection of the Japanese fandom as a whole. Judging them based on what they said would be like someone looking at negative comments or sarcastic jokes on Tumblr and judging the English speaking fandom. That's not to say what they post is okay, but it's just dumb shit posting and shouldn't be taken to heart. 

you get me fam?

Okay, so I contemplated posting screenshots and translating what happened immediately after Kyo changed his profile picture up to when he deleted everything but as I said I don't want to be taken out by angry tank users so I'm just gonna translate a selection of posts. 

These posts are taken from the Meg thread (remember the girl linking arms with him at a concert? That's Meg.) which to be honest is a shit show. It was a thread born from those notorious pics and for over a year now has remained a place where people post rumours, shit talk, complain and just make shit up a lot of the time. So please, AGAIN, bare that in mind. It is a place of negativity born from a scandal that shocked a lot of the fandom. Aint nothing nice ever gonna be said there. Periodt. In reality a lot of the people who post there are still fans of Kyo. I think they're just still a little hurt by the way it came to light about Meg. 

After Kyo posted his new picture I checked tank before going to bed because I was curious about what their reactions would be and everyone had exploded. During the 7 hours I was asleep Kyo deleted everything and left the internet forever so tbh given the fact he was probably bored in a hotel in Fukuoka, just did a radio show, probs wanted to see peoples reaction, etc I personally, believe he was on Tank. This is a running theme in the thread itself and people often say he actively browses it (this is not a major thing, a lot of guys in bands browse tank same as celebs browse twitter. Why Kyo would look at the meg thread in particular? idk. ) 

SO TLDR 

Yesterday around 7pm the thread suddenly changed to mixed reactions after Kyo changed his Twitter pic. 

"His new twitter icon had me shook lol" 

"I hope he changes his instagram one too" 

"Idk I don't like how quickly he's become some kind of social media old fogey" 

"Kyo's turned into a social media monster too" (*edit; my bad Yuchi is beer monster, Shinya is social media monster lol)

"It's kinda cheap" 

"I get you, it's like he's lost his values" (probably because Kyo has always made big deal about how much of himself he shares) 

 It continued like that for a while with people more or less saying the same thing until he posts about leaving social media.

"He just suddenly said he's not gonna do social media anymore" 

"lol after he went to all the effort of changing his profile picture" 

"I'm shook" 

"annoying 40 year old nut job" 

"Bet you he came on here"  

"Do you normally change you icon then quit" 

"Join Kyo online" 

"idg why even though Kyo's had so many haters since he first started twitter he's suddenly affected by it??" 

"I still think he's cute even when he's sulking like this lol" 

"I knew he was looking at Tanuki"

"I don't get why he's suddenly deleting it after all this time?? It's like what is this old man on about?" 

"It's lame how he's making such a big deal of out saying he's quitting" 

(lots of people agreed with this post saying that he's acting childish)

"I wonder what happened? Like everything seemed fine recently. I mean we'll never know but like I'm sure he has a lot going on.." 

"I can't believe he basically wiped his instagram clean but left all the pics of cake and omurice lmao" 

"If only he'd go to sleep earlier and eat a banana the serotonin would fix everything" 

The random comments and mixed reactions continued for all of Friday.  One of the main points that stuck out after the initial reactions was how people began to become suspicious that this was merely a tactic to get people to join Kyo online with people claiming this was typical of business man kyo,  that it was about that time of year where they usually begin to advertise and promote in order to get new members. 

So, allow me to play devils advocate for a second. As someone who is a member of Kyo online I have to admit since he started posting more and more online (compared to hardly ever on Kyo online), the membership has become more or less invalid. In the past it was worth the money for the videos and pictures that as fans we rarely saw. But if he's going to post them online then it raises the question (tickets to concerts aside) is there any point in being a member if you can just get the content for free?  I'd imagine that this plays some kind of role in why the reactions are often negative. Members of Kyo online have suddenly gone from having something exclusive that was only for them, to simply being a part of something anyone can access. 

Another point someone brought up is that whilst it's acceptable for Kyo to be upset. It is very, very childish and the timing is selfish.  Sukekiyo literally made their instagram days ago and suddenly Kyo states how he isn't going to post online anymore. This act instantly casts a negative feel on Sukekiyo's insta. It almost gives a vibe that any picture Kyo is in might be "against his will". Kyo is not new to criticism. He's been in this game for 20 plus years. Everyone who is in the Indies scene knows about Tank. Every fan, every bandmen, knows it's a bad place filled with mostly shit posting and rumours and doesn't represent fans a whole. 

The meg thread is simply fans flogging a dead horse, posting any poor Japanese girl with a straight fringe and some tattoos, anyone who looks even a little like Meg and saying she MUST be a groupie of Kyo. Which begs the question why would Kyo go there? Why would he look at that? Why would he want to subject himself to that kind of thing and then punish the majority for some dumb comments a few bored fans made? What was he expecting by going there?

Of course there is no proof Kyo lurks. But the reality is he probably does, I mean he's only human, he' s bound to be curious about fans reactions for Madara, etc and where else to get honestly reactions than an anonymous forum? Personally, as someone who has lurked tank for a few years now, I think he reads it. There have been times in the past where he's mentioned certain things, done certain things and I've thought "hmmm that's weird tank was literally talking about that". But once again there's no proof. It's just one of those vibes you get sometimes. (one major one I can think of is during the interview for mode of gauze where he said everyone massively complained about it. I know people can submit questionnaires after lives but I feel that a lot of Japanese people are more brutally honest when they can hide behind anonymity. ) 

Considering the "staff" posted a pic of his feet on the sukekiyo instagram today, I feel like this is just Kyo being (sorry to say) butthurt and it might just blow over.  A lot of the comments mention his age, mention how he's clearly trying and failing to copy 20 year olds by using insta, that he's lame or cringe and that's gonna hurt anyones pride. But I honestly think Kyo should be looking at the billions of comments on instagram of people who love him rather than a few trolls online. 

So with that being said I hope this was an interesting read and gave a little insight into why Kyo is often private. It was a big deal that he was posting so much and actively using instagra. I for one was very happy. I believe that in this day and age it is something that is required in order to engage with your audience and keep a good relationship. Hazuki and Ruki are good examples of this and Ive been saying for the longest time I wish Kyo would get more on board with it. So it's a shame he's left at the first hurdle. 

Oh well. This is why we can't have anything nice isn't it. 

[bat-lings]

Hey, you mentioned in an earlier ask any Damian that Tim was also low-key sexist and tbh I'd love examples cause I feel like this has never been brought up and it's interesting??? Anyway, thanks Ur stuffs super interesting and insightful!

Thanks for your interest & nice words!

Let’s be clear tho Anon (I assume it’s the same Anon both times?), you are 200% entitled to disagree with me. Yes I am unapologetic about my opinions and write looong paragraphs of questionable pertinence to give arguments but like. The goal is to explain “why I think what I think,” never to tell you “why you should think what I think”. You’re very much welcome for the Damian post btw

Now I think Tim, precisely, shows internalized sexism. Doesn’t change the end result all that much though.

Random sequences

Let’s get the most straightforward stuff out of the way.

[Robin (1991) #1 || Robin (1993) #43 & #179 || Detective Comics (1937) #687]

Dunno about you but the first two are particularly cringey for me. That and the agenda section.

Okay to be fair: He does attempt to defend Lynx (first example) beforehand, throwing the on-point “she doesn’t have to go with you if she doesn’t want to” line. All is good for five seconds and then he goes “maybe she likes that treatment”.

We may have different sensibilities but the mere fact that that went through his head for even a second is the perfect illustration of what’s internalized sexism imo. Conscious thought & action level: A+ behavior (being able to identify a visibly wrong situation and taking action against it). Unconscious level: blatant sexism (”maybe she likes it” aka a less visible/more subtle manifestation of bigotry).

He has a… pretty specific way to regard women’s agenda. And is overall patronizing to straight-out disrespectful.

Tim’s treatment of Steph is a well-known fact but this is a call-out post so have a non-exhaustive bunch of examples:

[Robin (1993) #4, 41, 35, 44 || Batgirl (2009) #8]

On we go and see how there’s absolutely no ill-intent on Tim’s part in the next examples, yet I have a big problem with how he’s considering the ladies’ agency:

[Robin (1993) #182 || Red Robin #10]

Notice how it’s all about him whether the lady obeys him or not. His failure to impose the necessary authority or his failure to give the right directions. The girls’ choice/independence just doesn’t factor in. It’s a cop and a vigilante we’re talking about, not some civilians caught in the crossfire.

((btw it’s disputable but his apology in RR#10 is too little too late as far as I’m concerned. Tim gets a pass since Nicieza has him referring to his dumbass traitor!Steph arc but he doesn’t deserve any additional credit either. Okay no I’m being mean, he gets kudos for making a step in the right direction with Steph. Tiny kudos. It’s a tiny step.))

[Red Robin #5]

Tam? Okay. She’s the civilian who got embarked into this crazy story, she is in need of saving. But Prudence? Maybe don’t automatically assume that the assassin needs you to pat her on the back to even consider pursuing her own wishes, Timmy.

Tim can be arrogant to everyone yeah (more on that later), but I don’t remember him negating a man’s agenda like that.

[Robin (1993) #25]

Yeah the kid who will feel betrayed when Bruce tells his identity to Steph just elected to tell her name to Connor whom they both don’t know well yet. While talking in her place rather than letting her answer for herself (something he’s done on several occasions). Then he attempts to decide for her whether she has a right to participate, again. On that note: thank you Connor for putting Tim in his place, that sure doesn’t happen often.

[Robin (1993) #6 & #28]

Uh, yes you can. Give the adult woman who’s been handling Gotham’s streets since before you were born some credit, Tim?

As for Helena, the scene in itself is… well, not okay exactly. He’s basically dismissing her wish to handle a personal matter alone, which could imply he doesn’t think the other adult woman who’s been handling Gotham’s streets since before he was born can handle the case.

I’m just putting it with his constant attempts to keep Steph from participating, often to cases that concerned her directly, and how he tends to take it personally when she doesn’t obey… but he casually brushes off Helena when she’s saying she’ll handle a personal case alone. Double standard? Maybe I got too specific a reading but. I don’t remember that sort of thing happening between Tim and male characters– do call me out if I’m remembering wrong though.

And then there’s the “another vigilante” remark.

Anyway yes Tim can be arrogant towards both men and women. Much like Damian being antagonizing to everyone didn’t negate the possibility of him being sexist, Tim being generally arrogant doesn’t negate that possibility for him either.

Plus the only male characters I’ve seen him be that patronizing with are Chris Kent in World’s Finest #3, and Damian. The ten-year-old who’s regularly antagonizing him and does deserve to be put in his place. Oh yeah, and maybe Dodge, another brat. So yeah I do think there’s a slight difference between Tim’s treatment of men and women, if only in frequency. (and in intensity tbh.)

Yes, he’s been consistently disregardful to his girlfriends.

Anon, you say very rightfully that we shouldn’t automatically assume it’s due to them being girls. Please believe it’s not a conclusion I’ve come to automatically though:

A) While I realize that Tim only having canon girlfriends is due to heteronormativity & homophobia rather than a conscious writing intent to highlight any character trait, assuming that he wouldn’t have behaved better with boyfriends is pure speculation– aaand I am totally speculating he’d behave better if only because he’s never that patronizing or that dismissive of his peers’ agency (examples above) when they’re men. that’s part of why I ship tim/kon more easily than tim/steph.

B) Like with everything I brought up on this post I’m not considering his behavior with his romantic partners separately. It’s a character fault that could take its roots in several things, but Tim’s global characterization makes me think the root is sexism.

C) I understand why you’re thinking there’s no reason to conclude his disrespect is due to them being women; in the same vein I think there’s no reason to conclude it’s not. It’s kind of a stalemate and both conclusions are valid.

Skipping Tim’s habit to break up by letter or by phone, ‘cause that’s not cool and obviously disrespectful but even I think it’s more due to cowardice/inadequacy than sexism.

I don’t think I need to speak about Steph again. Let’s go with Ari. Who Tim casually cheated on by kissing Steph on several occasions.

Being a cheat is, in itself, a distinct character flaw that doesn’t always takes its root in sexism. Plus it’s something I have my reasons to assume Tim has grown out of.

It’s his reaction when he learns about Ariana “"cheating”“ on him (she went ice-skating with another dude once in the 87 times Tim stood her up) that ticks me off. Btw and unlike Tim who didn’t seem to feel all that guilty, Ariana did try to tell him about it but he fell asleep during her confession.

[Robin (1993) #15 & #17]

Two things bother me here, a lot more than the cheating in itself: the possessiveness and the hypocrisy. You really don’t have a right to go all “My Ariana” and to chew her out for the grand treachery that is ice-skating when you’ve been casually kissing Steph, Timbo. What those panels prove is that there’s a double standard in Tim’s head. Which one exactly is up to your interpretation and that’s probably where we’ll end up disagreeing. I read it as the “proper girls don’t get close to several boys at one time, but boys who get close to several girls are either ladies men or boys being boys” double-standard, hence Tim’s blatant lack of self-awareness here.

Btw and the thing that solidified my opinion here: Tim, as a rule, tends to be pretty self-aware, at least retrospectively. He puts himself into question and has no problem admitting when his judgment was clouded. I dunno take YJ #55 or Robin #119 for example (I even selected examples that both have Tim recognizing he wronged a girl!)

So if he’s generally self-aware, but doesn’t see anything wrong with his own behavior in the specific situation where he’s cheating on his girl then chewing her out? I explain it with the above double-standard. He internalized a mindset that keeps him from realizing how hypocrite he’s being in this situation. Also he doesn’t confront Ari immediately, he had time to think about it, it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. That should’ve been enough to allow him to step back and evaluate himself but he just. Didn’t.

Bonus: Jack has been hinted to be sexist, and contrary to Tim it’s safe to assume that was totally intentional.

[Batman (1940) #441 || Robin (1993) #122]

Only two occurrences in decades of canon arguably don’t make for solid basis but they still allow me to build a coherence since our parents do influence us without us realizing. And given how much Tim loved his dad (he said himself how much he got from Jack), it sure isn’t an element that could plead against him being sexist.

.

There’s a bunch of other sequences that I low key read as sexist, but that I’m more mitigated about or in which I gave Tim a pass for various reasons so I didn’t include them here.

All in all when I take a solid look at Tim’s global behavior, I see sexism. While it may not be a “solid canon fact” since it surely wasn’t intentional on the writers’ part, I really don’t think it’s an unreasonable thing to infer from his very canon behavior. And tbh writer intent doesn’t excuse much. Factually speaking that portrayal has been there since Tim’s early days,he’s been consistently dismissive & disrespectful of his female peers and/or of their wishes and agency. It’s part of him & his history.

It’s not incoherent with his character either– Tim has always been intended to represent a normal boy/teen (dude was legit marketed around the fact that he’s relatable). It’s not baffling or coming out of nowhere that a random teen just so happened to have internalized sexism. It’s pretty damn common, even. It’s not like Tim being sexist was a brutal turnaround that contradicted what makes the core of his character to the point of making him unrecognizable (*cough* Talia’s current characterization *cough*).

Hope this explains that.

Thanks for the asks!

[ask-gijinka-creationtrio]

clarification on that bit on gender and contemplations on other stuff

If anyone actually bothers to read this lmao

Dialga: This question was pretty much inevitable.

Palkia: I’m honestly fine with being referred to as an “it”.

Giratina: Why the hell should we worry about “it” being “dehumanizing” when we’re not human to begin with?

Something that I knew would eventually get brought up is the genders of my interpretation of the trio. The simple answer is encapsulated in the prev post: they’re dragon gods. Gender is a societal construct; sex is for reproduction. Legendary entities that represent the fundamental laws of the universe don’t really have a need for either society or reproduction. So as with the games, they’re all officially non-binary/genderless.

That said, my designs gravitate towards one or the other. One reason is that i’m not creative, bold, inspired, or talented enough to really translate that genderless attribute into humanoid form. Another is that someone pointed out to me a while ago that Palkia has a low waist-hip ratio, stiletto clawed feet, and some designs will feature a more prominent chest. That and the gendered color-coding Pokemon started doing with blue males and red/pink females, like with the menu screens starting from Gen III, the Eon Duo, Jellicent in Gen V, and Team Skull Grunts in Gen VII. 

That said, I’m not a huge fan of these reasons, as you could also make the counterargument that Palkia looks somewhat phallic. So I kinda wanna get into an Extended Rant™ on why I choose to depict my OCs the way, even though no one probably cares lmao

It starts out with the Kanji/Hanzi for “Universe”: 宇宙, Uchū in Japanese and Yǔzhòu in Chinese. You might recall it if you’ve read Pokemon Adventures. 

You might also remember if you visited that one dude on Route 228 in Diamond and Pearl who gets yeeted out of his house by Cyrus’s contrite grandfather by the time Platinum rolls around. Okay, realistically, barely anyone probably does (that guy wasn’t that memorable), but he basically says the same thing as Cyrus in the panels above: 宇宙, coined by the ancient Taoists, esoterically means something like “the totality of extension” + “the totality of duration”. In other words, the ancient Japanese/Chinese word for “universe” is lit. “space” + “time”. This is actually a somewhat obscure, unnecessary detail that even many native speakers seem to be unaware of. It also ties in heavily with the Yin-Yang 陰陽 of Taoism.

I know Taoism is more a Gen V theme, but it’s a concept implicit throughout the franchise, hence games generally come in twos, sharing complementary/opposing or dualistic/dichotomic themes. Even trios tend to have the third member as the odd one out or mediator. There’s much more to the Yin-Yang than just Truth/Ideals and I sorta wish Game Freak would explore it more to really unite the franchise as a whole around the interconnected theme of both diversity and harmony.

The Yin-Yang isn’t strictly about Truth/Ideals as much as it is about the fundamentally dualistic nature of existence and the oneness implicit in the inseparability of coexisting complementary concepts. Thus, truth and ideals are two sides of the same coin, as are time and space as relativity revealed. The Yin-Yang is vague enough to basically be an umbrella representation term for any complementary duality. It should be noted that the feminine Yin and masculine Yang don’t refer to stereotypical/conventional notions of femininity or masculinity, but rather requires an abstract interpretation.

The Yin-Yang is composed of an active component, and a passive/reflective/receptive one. More easily understood in that one aspect creates the body and the other gives it life. One which shapes/nurtures/mothers being and one which animates/directs/fathers it. Abstract interpretations of the feminine Mother and masculine Father follow suit. As do dualistic concepts like particle and wave, existence and essence, ovum and sperm, object/entity and idea/concept, magnitude and direction, defense and offense, nature/tradition and technology/advancement (Gen I & Gen II), space and time (Gen IV), truth and ideals (Gen V), night/moon and day/sun (Gen VII), and shields and swords i guess (Gen VIII).

I excluded Gen III because among the classical elements, earth and water are both traditionally considered reflective/feminine, with fire and air being active/masculine, but i suppose if you factor in Primal Reversion in Gen VI, it works. With the Aura Trio, I read something unrelated but interesting about how apparently Ohmori Shigeru hinted at parallels between the Weather Trio and Aura Trio. Can’t find the source though. Blue - Seas were the first (Alpha) source of Life; Red - fiery, desolate Lands signify the Death of all in the end (Omega); Green - Order/Balance mediates between two forces of nature that can be malevolent/chaotic left unchecked, with the trio master possessing abilities that cancel out the other two. 

Going off the rails a bit more, speaking of color-parallels, there’s probably going to be one of the subtractive colors between Gen VIII and the (highly probable) Gen IV remakes this generation, with Cyan - Dialga, Azelf, Lucas’ accents, Za-cian; Magenta - Palkia, Mesprit, Dawn’s accents, Za-mazenta; Yellow - Giratina, Uxie, Barry’s accents, whoever the third member of the Gen VIII mascot/box art legendary trio is going to be. I wonder how they’re going to incorporate the parallels tho

Anyway I digress. The ancient Daoists associated feminine Yin with 宇/Space and masculine Yang with 宙/Time by virtue of insisting the feminine aspect precedes, but even disregarding that, Space fits in with the Yin criteria of that which represents the body and Time fits in with the Yang criteria of that which initiates life.

So while they’re genderless, Dialga represents the concept of masculinity and Palkia femininity in their most pure, abstract, and universal form according to the Dao. While this doesn’t make Dialga a dudebro and Palkia whatever the hell the feminine equivalent is, in my mind, Palkia has a strong maternal instinct and Dialga is very much a dad. Giratina is weird chaotic goth aunt/uncle who gives u ur first taste of alcohol just to spite grandpa and reads fanfiction with candles and a glass of wine like it’s a fucking literary hour.

That’s my logic and explanation behind it anyhow. The distinction goes something like Palkia will concern itself more with the state or properties of something (who, what, where) whereas Dialga will concern itself more with the role or activity of it (when, why, how). As time and space are, however, they’re deeply intertwined and cannot be separated.

I might move this bit to a separate post somewhere down the line since this has already dragged on long enough, but I’ll share some thoughts on Giratina here and tie it in with the overarching topic of assigning gender roles lol. According to Game Freak, Giratina represents antimatter, but there are some inconsistencies. I know this shit has to be taken with a grain of salt because of Pokemon logic/science and whatever, but I gave it some thought regardless. My personal headcanon is that Altered Giratina represents dark matter/energy and Origin Giratina represents antimatter. Whatever tf Gira represents in Pokemon lore is based on a combination of the two, with the Reverse/Distortion World probably alluding to the idea of an anti-universe. Antimatter and dark matter are not really the same thing, but they’re both trippy cosmic constructs that sound somewhat similar, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I wanted to make a distinction because while antimatter doesn’t distort spacetime any more than normal matter, it’s speculated that dark matter (actually dark energy) does, and is responsible for the rapid expansion of the universe. 

This would also go along nicely with Gira complementing the the Spacetime twins while also complementing Arceus. It would also fit as justification for Giratina having to switch from Origin to Altered Forme upon entering the universe presided over by Dialga and Palkia, not because of the shift in spacetime stability, but rather due to the violent, annihilating reaction that occurs when matter and antimatter come into contact with one another. It’s by no means a perfect resolution hc, but it is one that I’ve gotten attached to.

Anyhoo, I designed Giratina to appear more androgynous (or at least attempted to). However, going by that masculine active/feminine reflective duality highlighted in the Yin-Yang, Origin Gira, with antimatter a reflection of normal matter, appears a bit more feminine-androgynous, whereas Altered Gira, with dark matter an active driving force for the expansion of the universe, appears a bit more masculine-androgynous (though iirc it hasn’t shown up yet and i’m not too great with consistency regardless). That was my idea behind it in any case. Origin Gira wears a binder under that big dastardly overcoat. i guess it’s technically genderfluid.

Digressing a bit, but another artistic choice was the skin tone of the trio. 0 points for subtlety on my part, but the color is Cosmic Latte, the average color of the universe. Like that bit on gender, I wanted to base it on some aspect of reality. I juggled between that and pure black with stars for freckles, but in the end i’m a lazy piece of shit who cuts corners for a living, so i settled on Primordial Clam Chowder because it was easier lmao. that’s why they pasty af

Anyways, if you have any design ideas or you wanna see a member of the trio in another form, feel free to submit your ideas or a magic anon or whatever! 

TL;DR tbh this wasn’t even a structured rant it was just me going off the rails and sharing random useless deetz. this isn’t even a tl;dr. what the fuck

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Stars Align 5 - 8 | Dr Stone 19 - 21 | Shinchou Yuusha 6 - 8 | No Guns Life 6 - 7 | BnHA 67 | Iruma-kun 7

Stars Align 5

Geepers, I accidentally read some spoilers before watching this episode…so I realised that the person in te clubroom was Toma without his glasses, but it took me a bit to realise still.

“Makimaki”…cute.

Don’t give Maki’s father your name, Toma. Names are weapons for guys like him!

It’s ben a while since I’ve done this type of maths, although the answer appears to be correct.

Huh? The ED went straight to the teachers instead of going to Kinuyo/Ruriha/Kaori (whatever her name is)…

Oh! That heart gesture hints at the fact he has a sister (I’ve forgotten the guy’s name though) – he might’ve learnt some dance choreography from watching idols or magical girls with her. Update: That’s Shingo.

Dr Stone 19

Rule no. 2 of shonen – don’t underestimate the bishonen.

The guy who kinda looks like Kirishima with orange hair is definitely going to be important…(rule no. ???? of anime).

Ooh! The themes I thought would never came back…came back!

Some people do consider underpaying people a modern form of slavery, y’know.

Does Tsukasa always have to be called “the strongest primate”, though…? It’s a badass title, to be sure, but it certainly wouldn’t be said a lot in a normal conversation.

Judging by the flame (homura) she carries, I’d wager her name is Homu-oh, dangit. Her name really is Homura!

Senku teaches Fire Safety 101.

Ginro’s not holding his bokuto (wooden kendo practice sword) anymore…hmm.

I didn’t think Sulfuric Acid lady would be back…ever.

The funny thing is that Tsukasa seems to be a gender-neutral name, so telling the brawny men to “go suck on Mommy Tsukasa’s teat”…LOL.

Hyoga has that mask thing of his anyway, so he’s probably better off than, say, Homura.

Is that a Death Star??????!!!!

Kensaku means “search”.

Cell phone…you’d need extensive knowledge of electronics and/or IT and architecture (for the larger networks, or at least the towers) to get one running.

“…who’ll be our double agent?” – No duh. It’s either Gen (as suggested in the scene just before) or Taiju and/or Yuzuriha.

I never thought a smartphone would make me feel sad for what has gone before, but it just did when all these quotes from the past came through.

Okay, so one of the ingredients is steel (hagane).

I love how Gen gets the wine image. He’s a stage magician, so his fancy suit matches the image of a sommelier.

Byakuya seems to be the one represented in the battery image.

BnHA 67

Yay! Amajiki, my booooooooooy!

Shinchou Yuusha 6

I never thought I’d say this to my seasonal husbandos – I don’t even say this about zaShunina, the random yandere – but…Seiya, you a**hole!

Lemme guess…Seiya’s gonna use some speed seeds?

I read on Leviae’s status earlier that she has an immunity towards fire…*gulp*

A nurikabe is a wall youkai that blocks travel, while a hyosube lives in a river and eats rice plants.

What’s the age gap between Mash and Elulu? I know Mash is hot enough (in the manga) to be compltly within my range, so I’d say he’s about 16 at the youngest, but Elulu is, what, 12…? Update: There’s no real indication as to what the characters’ ages are, but Mash is lvl 16 and Elulu is lvl 8.

Ooh, this is new! Seiya’s thrown caution to the wind for once for the sake of Elulu!

No Guns Life 6

“Strong Smells” (on the can) – Yep, Olivier seems to be proving that name right.

Motor City…I didn’t really care for it at first, but now I’m starting to warm up to it.

Ooh, it seems the implication here is that Olivier inherited the title of EMS commander from her dad.

“…I’m gonna get shot!” - I guess when you’ve got a gun for a head, the assumption is you’re gonna get shot.

Armed Tokisada seems to be this world’s version of All Might…(but then is Juzo Deku? LOL.)

Iruma-kun 7

This OP is a lot more battle-oriented than I remember…

I want a GIF of sparkly Amelie, stat!

Iruma’s voice as Rin is too CUTE! LOL!

Kawaii Comics, LOL.

Ooh! I can recognise Opera by his nail polish now…! His nail polish appears to be purple today.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Opera express his own concern for Iruma until now. Maybe he’s like a surrogate mother to Iruma by now…?

They even have monsters to call out bell noises…LOL wut.

Hmm…I just realised Azz speaks to Iruma rather formally. Not just the –sama, but the keigo as well.

Azz is rather observant too…(Seriously, I swear he’s been teetering on the edge of being my husbando from this show, but since he’s so subservient, it’s a bit of a hard concept to grasp. Not to mention the guy is, what, 14…?)

Even the shadows of background characters are blue and pink…

The little arrow over Clara really sells the moment.

The bird is so cute~!

I only realised it this year, but boba is really in, all over the world, for young people. *stares at all the boba shops that have appeared around my area lately*

I think Ameri = watashi and Iruma = boku. It’s politeness all the way ‘round. I think Sabro might’ve used ore.

“Don’t let go. Desire is your life.” – Sarazanmai ad <- I think this quote is appropriate for this episode.

Oh! We see Kuromu the Akudol in the ED…I didn’t realise that. (<- knows about her due to spoilers)

Oh! I think next episode might be Clara’s seduction class! Ooh! Interesting…

Dr Stone 20

Come to the dark side, we have candy…amirite???

Dr Stone 21

The pun here is that tou is a way to pronounce “copper” and “steal”, so Chrome copped copper in the Eng subs.

Couldn’t Ginro just use the word “s***” instead? That would’ve made the pun a lot better, tbh.

Thy translated all the dialogue in the fake menus! Yay! (<- translator’s brain showing up) For instance, Senku’s attack is listed as 1 while Suika’s is 3 and Gen’s is 5…LOL. The one that really made me laugh was “Runs away the second he knows he’s at a disadvantage. You’re scum, Ginro!”

Magma wasn’t in the fake game menu…!!! (I like how Magma questioned how Senku suddenly started calling him a “friend”.)

No Guns Life 7

I feel like the length of time between distracting the guard and Tetsuro conveying his plan was a bit much, but…okay.

Shinchou Yuusha 7

LOL, Beel Bub…y’know, Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.

If Seiya were watching No Guns Life, he’d freak out…

Is that Cerceus in the back-yep, thought so!

Shinchou Yuusha 8

I almost expected Rosalie to woof…that’s how doglike she is!

Why do I get the feeling we’ll 1) find out what the Warmaster looks like next ep and 2) find out Rosalie’s armour is actually the armour Seiya’s meant to look for…? I could be wrong, but my intuition has some chance of being correct, even if I think up stuff that’s pure speculation…

Stars Align 6

Does Yonex sponsor this show, like Mikasa for Harukana Receive…?

LOL, Mitsue’s reaction.

If this were the Amazing Race, the hometown advantage would suck…but this is Hoshiai no Sora, so this could go either way.

“How to Soft Tennis” indeed…sic.

Wait, who’s Takada…? Update: She’s on the girls’ team, IIRC.

The Takenouchi/Souga pair is a bunch of trolls…LOL.

Oji seems to be the leader, full stop. Same way Katsuragi has been running things.

It’s been a few weeks since I last watched this show, but…is Oji the guy who threatened to punch them all…? He is, isn’t he…?

Stars Align 7

I feel like Mitsue’s bitterness is fuelled by personal experience in the manga field…

Well, the guy’s name isn’t Arashi (storm) for nothing! Update: The guy’s name is in katakana, which may or may not prove my point…

Arashi’s surname sounds like the Japanese word for “prince”, if you’re wondering.

I LOLled so hard at the line “Versus Arashi?” Y’see, there’s this game show with a group called Arashi. Therefore, its name is “Versus Arashi”.

I learnt most of what I know about tennis from Wii Sports, LOL.

I mentally cringed when I saw Itsuki’s burns again…

“…years and experience.” – That’s two things, Tacky!

Souya from Planet With would be in heaven here…what with all this meat.

Doesn’t “Kamuy” mean “god” in Ainu…? That Ouji, so conceited! *huffs at how arrogant the boy is*

Girls do eat like fiends…LOL.

I can’t believe 7 episodes in real life time was only a month in Stars Align time…

Yuta’s really sensitive to Toma’s mood…probably because the former likes the latter. (Yeah, I’m a derp for saying what we already know.)

Stars Align 8

I-I wanna cry…you do realise I gave up piano halfway through high school, only to become an absolute bum when I got into higher levels because I can’t use my piano lessons to demonstrate I can manage my time responsibly anymore???? I quit Chinese the same year and now it’s the one thing that’s preventing me from getting a bunch of beneficial opportunities because now there are so many Chinese people in my region! Studies are not your life! (distant crying can be heard in the background)

I kinda get where the mother’s going with this, but knowing what I know…please compromise, you two.

“The handsome half” – I wasn’t sure what that meant until I saw the image…”half” meaning ha-fu, or a person who’s half Japanese half something else. It’s like calling someone gweilow in Cantonese –it’s vaguely derogatory at the very minimum.

*Yuta’s sisters suggest clothes for him to wear* “Don’t tell mom about this.” – Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…(Then again, I got vaguely spoiled for this point by the This Week in Anime segment…that’s why I decided to watch 3 episodes in one shot.)

Maki’s shirt says “to continue”, as if it’s echoing his nonchalance. Like, “Yuta, please continue” or something like that.

To be real with you, the first resource I consulted to start thinking about the LGBTIQ+ spectrum (outside gender-bending fiction) was a book about an FtM person, so I guess I’m the most used to that sort of thing.

This is why empathy is so good, Maki.

Go, Mitsue! Be the diversion!

Who’s “Kanacat”? Kanako?...Oh, it’s Mitsue. Rigggggggggght.*facepalm*

Why do I get the feeling Mitsue wants to join the soft tennis club…?

Sakurai-sensei’s glasses are all fogged up, LOL.

Ohh (sounds down). These kiddos are soccer nuts.*grumbles about soccer nuts*

Update: To be honest with you, I’m fine with not making hard gender decisions too…Just so you know.

[hulahoopingholt]

idk if you've seen crazy ex yet so sorry if i spoiled you (they broke grebecca up) but somehow i feel like this isn't the end for them? like the break up was way too lowkey for the fact that they brought someone from s2 back especially with a new actor, like all this.. for nothing? if you still have hope could you write a meta on why you do? i think i read one of yours recentely and i loved it!

I.........

I don’t know, tbh.

To be clear, while I’ve always really enjoyed Rebecca and Greg together and thought they had potential to be amazing together if they both worked on their issues, my main otp has always been Rebecca x Happiness. It just seemed to me that of the guys on the show, if CXGF winds up with an “and a guy” ending that Aline has said she loves, it seems to me like Greg would fit the best into that narrative. 

This isn’t super fleshed out, so I apologize if this isn’t the meta post you’re looking for LOL but just some assorted thoughts:

I thought it was REALLY interesting that Rebecca broke up with Greg because she needed to spend some time on herself, and then almost immediately Josh and Nathaniel were clearly plotting how to get her back. It’s such a direct contrast to what we know Rebecca needs right now, so I see both their efforts blowing up pretty spectacularly. 

Plus it also shows that Josh and Nathaniel are putting their own desire to be with Rebecca first, whereas Greg even from the previous episode was trying to give her space and wanted to make sure she was taking care of herself.

They did drop the snippet in about Greg thinking about reopening his dad’s restaurant as his thesis project. That could have been a red herring, or even just a random detail they put in to have something for Greg and Nathaniel to talk about, OR it could have been laying the groundwork for Greg to be staying longterm.

This is purely subjective tinfoil hat, but their reprise to Hello, Nice to Meet You was absurdly sweet and unlike any other song we’ve ever seen on the show. And don’t think I’ve forgotten how Rebecca didn’t hear the love trill when she saw Greg, unlike how she did with Josh and Nathaniel in the same episode, and how Greg does NOT make her feel like glitter is exploding inside of her. 

When Greg left, they made a big point of saying how they wanted to give him a meaningful farewell. Rachel has said in the past that Greg reminded her of herself at a different stage in her life. They sent him off, and we hear from Marco in S3 that he was happy and doing well. I would be REALLY surprised (and frankly super disappointed) if after all that, they brought Greg back just to have his heart broken by Rebecca again and then post-series we’re left again to wonder what’s going to happen to him. It just feels odd to tie a character’s arc up so neatly just to unravel it with a few episodes left in the series. 

I have seen some people speculate that they did it so fans wouldn’t do the “oh, but what if Greg came back,” to just end any question of whether or not Greg and Rebecca could make it work. That doesn’t really hold up to me though, because, um, he had a serious girlfriend who (as far as we knew at the time) he was in love with, and Rebecca slept with his dad, soooo...I think that would squash most people’s “what if’s.” 

And then just from a creative standpoint, recasting a character is always a risky move. Now, CXGF has never shied away from taking risks, but this seems like a hefty one to take JUST to have Greg and Rebecca date for a couple of eps before he drops out of the picture again. (Not to mention just the budget of taking on another recurring cast member...seriously this cast was already getting really big, and I don’t know what Skylar Astin’s going rate is, but you know they had to check the financials of bringing him back on.)

All that said........honestly, I don’t know if Greg and Rebecca will end up together. I think of the three he’s probably still the most likely? But I can really see a world where she ends up with nobody, and while I’m personally mega meh about this theory, I can see her winding up with Jason as a final subversion of the rom com tropes. I’m curious to see the press releases for the final few episodes, and that may guide my theories a bit more. But I’m pretty sure Rebecca herself will not be into any romances for at least two more episodes (even if Josh and Nathaniel try), which then I guess just leaves the question if they can pull off a believable reunion in the final two eps. 

I generally trust the writers, and while I personally would love to see Greg and Rebecca end up together, there’s a world where I could still love the ending of the show even if they don’t work out.

I’d just rather they would.

[thyandrawrites]

Thoughts on DabiRoki after this chapter?

for the dabi todoroki thing, i know most people already made assumption that dabi would be the eldest, but in today’s chapter the third sibling looked really tiny compared to natsuo, so that makes me wonder if he’s really as old as dabi looks, or maybe dabi is a teenager after all. i’m just confused lol

Tbh I’d sworn to myself that I’d never speculate about anything in this fandom, not especially about the Dabi is a Todoroki theory, because that kind of thing ruined my enjoyment of other mangas before, but… I have to say that I have a lot of jumbled and conflicting thoughts about this right now. I might as well use this ask as a chance to ramble a bit about and make sense of them, but please don’t ask me to expand on them further! 

the tl:dr; version of this would be that I have no fucking idea where I stand on this theory anymore beside knowing that I support it :’D More under the cut!

First, let me list “the evidence”, for reference:

which I shall call “picture a”, and that shows this slight difference in the anime, as we all are aware

(I’m calling this one picture b)

and then picture c, our latest glimpse at the todo family:

sooo, here are a couple of random, disjointed ideas:

1. there is only 1 (one) todoroki brother whose face has remained consistently hidden, and that’s the shortest boy. Given how deliberate that is (I mean, in pic c he’s facing forward but his face is still obscured by those floppy bangs, come ON!) we all collectively decided that the Floppyboy is indeed the missing todo brother aka Dabi. Although, there are a couple of things that don’t add up imho, which I shall list now:  

2. might be just a stylistic choice due to shading, but the taller todo kid appears to have red spots in his hair (over his ears) like Fuyumi. Now, given how older!Natsuo in recent chapters was portrayed with pure-white hair, I’m starting to believe that Floppyboy here might indeed be Natsuo. Dabi then would be the spikey-haired kid. That could help make sense of the second thing that doesn’t add up:

3. In pic a and c, Floppyboy has white hair, and in the todo family, white hair equals having inherited Rei’s ice quirk. The todoroki!dabi theory is a bit old, so back then people justified the fact that the anime changed Floppyboy’s hair from white to red as a possible hint at the fact that it was indeed Dabi, the only Todo kid who inherited Endeavor’s fire quirk fully. What throws me off, though, is the consideration that, if it were true that Horikoshi had instructed the anime staff to fix his mistake from the tankobon, so to say, then he should’ve also drawn him with red hair in this chapter, too. Since that’s not the case, I’m considering the possibility that the real mistake is in the anime adaptation (pic b). 

4. Continuing on this wavelength, if Floppyboy is Natsuo and the taller boy is the missing Todo kid, then it could align both from the perspective of their quirks (now sort-of matching the hair colours) and the ages, if, once again, the theory is true in that Dabi is the eldest brother. 

Now, as I introduced, my thoughts are a bit conflicting. 

5. If Floppyboy is Natsuo, I don’t get why horikoshi is even trying to hide his face. I mean, unless he’s purposefully trying to throw us off :’D (I hate to say it, but judging by the recent Aoyama chapter, that might be the case, omg)

6. ignoring points 2 to 4, Floppyboy might still be Dabi even if his appearance makes him look the youngest in pic c. I mean, Natsuo, despite being only 19 to Fuyumi’s 22, is almost twice her small frame: 

my point is, Natsuo might just be exceptionally big for his age. He might have inherited Endeavor’s build, since, you know, Endeavor is massive. I could fit my entire person in one of his sleeves, no kidding. Fuyumi, Dabi and Shouto might have just inherited Rei’s smaller build. 

also, based on picture a alone, I would’ve said that Floppyboy and Fuyumi weren’t that far apart in ages. They could also have been twins. 

7. Actually, it would make some sort of twisted, fucked sense if young!Dabi, on top of being a “failure” for his quirk, was also not as “resistent” and tough as Endeavor would’ve hoped. In pic C, the kid looks frail and kinda meek. He reminds me a lot of Rei tbh. 

(Which also brings me to point 8)

8. as my friend @linkspooky pointed out to me this afternoon, the biggest giveaway that Dabi might indeed be a Todoroki is none of the above, but this panel here: 

that might hint at how Dabi got his ugly scars. 

Now, another thing I feel like I should add is something that I probably should’ve mentioned at the beginning of this mess of a reply :’D Which is the possibility that Dabi is not Shouto’s brother, per se, but his half-brother. 

as tumblr user @ undergroundsky pointed out in this follow-up of the Dabi-is-a-todoroki theory: 

If we assume that each person in Shouto’s household has their shoes sitting by the entrance, then that means all five people are present: Shouto himself, his father (the hastily kicked off dress shoes), his sister (the heels), and two brothers that match the two remaining on the right.

This, too, makes a lot of sense so please give op credit for it! 

[orionsangel86]

13x18 - Episode Review - *Deep breath now*

Lets just say this ones been difficult. Bucklemming aren’t exactly the deep meta types and any message they put across tends to be about a subtle as a brick to the face so I don’t particularly think there is much to really dig into here. But others may disagree. The episode hit the marks and themes which were most likely laid out by the Showrunner for season specific reasons, but other than that it can go on the trash heap for all I care.

*breaths*

I’m gonna focus on the positives, because there were a few that I want to discuss, from an objective, meta view point, though from an emotional viewpoint I have been raging about this festering piece of shit episode all weekend.

Anyway, positives, positives...

Dean and Ketch and the AU world

Of the three stories being told simultaneously, this was the only one that actually held my interest. Probably because Jensen Ackles and David Hayden Jones have great chemistry and know how to captivate their audience.

I think it is extremely clear now that Ketch is going to get a redemption arc. He carries guilt over what he did for Mary when he always did have feelings for her even if he never admitted them and she would never return them. I think that was made clear in season 12 and now in this episode it seems pretty obvious this is where we are headed:

“And your mother. She’s in danger. I owe her that.” 

Mary is the reason Ketch wants to help, to “wash the blood off his hands” I can see him sacrificing himself to save Mary in the end, thus getting his redemption in death (the only way he should be allowed redemption tbh)

Am I happy about that? Not at all. I still feel Ketch’s return was unnecessary, especially when I now don’t think we will be getting Eileen back. After what Ketch did to Eileen I don’t personally think he SHOULD get redemption, and he should have remained dead after 12x22.

However Ketch is currently being presented as a mirror for both Dean and Cas. He has been a Dean mirror throughout his entire series run, representing Dean’s toxic masculine side and his killer instinct – the monster Dean feels resides inside him. In the past two episodes he has also mirrored Cas with his need to redeem himself to someone he loves (very season 6/7 Castiel) and his insistence at staying behind in the mirror purgatory to do his penance. The healing scene brought this to light quite clearly imo, with Ketch taking the time to take care of Dean even when he tried to brush it off. Ketch was also quite good at being able to read Dean – knowing that there was more to the Charlie thing than Dean let on, but still not actually making the correct assumption.

Ketch assumed that Charlie was a romantic connection, when she was a sisterly connection. The wrong assumptions between romantic and platonic love have been plaguing Dean and Cas for years at this point. I thought it was interesting that this was commented on in the text in this episode – like I said, it’s not like Bucklemming know how to do subtlety.

Moving on to Charlie’s return, I am also on the fence about how I feel about this, but pushing my emotions aside I can see why she was brought back in the AU world. This world is the polar opposite of our world, and without Dean and Sam, all those people who died because of them, survive in the AU. So like Kevin and Bobby, it makes sense that Charlie lives over there.

At first I was angry about Bucklemming somehow trying to redeem themselves to fandom by bringing back Charlie, but after applying some more sensible, less emotional thought to the matter, and speaking extensively with friends about it, I realise this is not the case. I am vaguely aware there has been wank about this point. First off, lets make this clear; Bucklemming don’t give a fuck about fandom and wouldn’t even bother trying to redeem themselves over something that they still celebrate themselves for doing in the first place (Charlie’s death in their own opinion was still a good choice and they still pat themselves on the back for it – fucking assholes that they are). Bringing an AU Charlie into the picture is nothing to do with fan service or trying to win favour with those of us who despise them. They don’t give a fuck. Bringing AU Charlie back was purely because it makes sense in an AU world that works in opposite to this world. It was also for Dean’s development, because whilst Bucklemming don’t appear to give a fuck about Sam or Cas and their story arcs, they do take an interest in Dean’s. Dean is the only character they actually understand and the only character (other than Lucifer) who they seem to like writing for. By introducing an AU Charlie, and having Dean face that Charlie, it will help Dean to let go of some of his guilt over her death. I say this specifically because of this:

DEAN: “I don’t wanna lose you again”

CHARLIE: “that’s not your call”

Dean tried to bring Charlie back with him to keep her safe, but Charlie chose to stay in danger. Just like original Charlie chose to face danger to help Dean back in season 10. It was never Dean’s fault that Charlie died (it was stupid writing) It was Charlies own decision to put her life at risk, hopefully this Charlie can teach Dean a lesson about holding on to guilt and blaming himself and carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

This line was also very relevant for Dean in regards to Cas, who Dean has been trying to protect ever since he got him back in 13x05. Dean may have been able to say those words to Charlie, but he has so far been unable to say them to Cas. Yet another example of communication that needs to be had between the two of them. WILL YOU BOYS PLEASE ADDRESS THAT FUCKING ELEPHANT ALREADY BECAUSE ITS MAKING A MESS AND NO ONE IS CLEANING IT UP.

This is why the confusion over what Charlie was to Dean was also so interesting. Because so much of what was said about her is so relevant to Dean and Cas now.

KETCH: “Old girlfriend? Let me guess, she broke your heart” 

...

CHARLIE: “And you were friends with her, me? Her.”

DEAN: “Yes very.”

CHARLIE: “How very?”

DEAN: “She was into chicks.”

CHARLIE: “Oh, I like her.”

Both Ketch and Charlie herself make the wrong assumption about Dean’s relationship with her. Dean has to clarify to both of them. Just like he needs to clarify to Cas and USE HIS WORDS.

The one final point I want to make about the AU world is in relation to the “Commander”. I have seen the awesome speculation post by @charlie-minion​ and I want it to be right. I would love an AU!Cas to appear as I think it would be extremely interesting for Cas’s own development arc, and for Dean’s. I certainly found it interesting that we weren’t given a name, and also thought this angel was far more captivating and memorable than any other random angel we have met in the AU so far. Even Zachariah didn’t really get this much screen time. I hope we see him again anyway, and I hope Charlie’s spec is correct.

Sam and Gabriel – I need you = I need your help

Sam’s speech was honestly one of the highlights of the episode, until Bucklemming ruined it by going back to the fucking porn stars point, but regardless, it was a beautiful moment for Sam, and I did enjoy it:

“Gabriel, you have to dig yourself out of this hole. I know you think it’s safer inside. No more torture, no more pain, no more expectations. I’ve been there. You are nothing like your family, you sure as hell weren’t like your dad, me either. And just like you I got out, or I thought I got out. But then, then my family needed me, and this is my life. No matter how many times I try to fight it, this is what I was put here to do. This is where I make the world a better place, and sure yeah hookers and Monte Carlo sounds great, but your family needs you, Jack your nephew needs you, the world needs you, we need you. Gabriel I need you. So please, help us.”

There is a lot to dig through here, because this is Sam admitting that he has accepted the life he leads. That no matter how many times he tries to escape, he has a duty to the world and to do what’s right. It is somewhat sad to be honest, because unlike Dean I don’t think Sam actually enjoys the job, the hunt, or any of it. But Sam has resigned himself that this is his duty. It does make me wonder about Sam’s endgame to be honest, because it wasn’t a particularly positive speech from Sam’s own point of view. He is much more like Cas in this respect that he sees this as an obligation, as his duty, rather than something that brings him any joy. Both Sam and Cas are similar in that they need to find something else to bring them joy in the life. Dean does get some form of joy out of the hunt and of saving people. Though even he is desperately seeking something more – as many moments over the past few years have shown.

Obviously everyone freaked out about the use of the words “we need you, I need you” but the situation was so extremely different I just cannot correlate the two scenes. Everything about the original Dean/Cas scene was romantically coded. Everything. But nothing about this scene really was. Sam is desperate, he is relying on Gabriel to save them, to help them. He wants to put his faith in Gabriel and you can see the tears in his eyes when he admits this, but Sam’s speech was all about getting Gabriel to help him and the world, whereas the original Dean/Cas speech was all about Dean trying to save Cas. There is a huge difference there, and I cannot see past it. So as much as I am happy for Sabriel shippers who have finally been given some canon to work with after all these years, from a meta perspective, there is nothing romantic about it.  

In fact it only reasserts the continued themes of communication problems between Dean and Cas. Sam uses the word “need” correctly here. He uses it because he does desperately need Gabriel to help them. But when Dean used that word originally to save Cas, just like he used it again in 13x14 “we needed you back” he used it wrong. Dean doesn’t need Cas to help them in whatever world ending situation they have got themselves into, he simply wants Cas by his side, to love, and be loved as who Cas is, regardless of whether Cas is actually useful in the fight or not. The difference between needing a powerful ally (Gabriel) and wanting the love of your life alive and by your side (Castiel).

Other positives from the episode

Anael breaking free from her abuser and basically telling him to fuck off. You go girl.

Ketch once again referring to Cas as “your angel” because like everyone else, Ketch knows there is something more between Dean and Cas.

Asmodeus going up in flames – Kentucky fried style – yes we all got the joke. Ha. Ha.

Charlie is strongly hinted at also being a lesbian in the AU and well, she bloody better be. 

The final scene and seeing the sheer emotion on Sam and Cas’s faces as they watch Dean break down. When does Dean ever really let them see him lose hope like that? It was a difficult scene to watch sure, but it made an impact. I like it that it was Cas that tried to reassure Dean that they would find Gabriel, rather than Sam. Sam regresses to the little brother at that moment. Full of guilt and worry. But Cas does attempt to stand strong and reassure and console Dean. Cas has been framed as Dean’s spouse throughout this entire season, and I thought this end scene was yet another example of that.

Onto the Negatives...

Okay so yeah I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut on these points. But they are going under a cut because I get proper ranty down there. You’ve been warned. Please don’t read any further if you are only gonna get offended and annoyed and come into my ask box to bitch. Sometimes we need to vent about stuff that pisses us off. I suggest you only read further if you are also feeling royally fucked over by these incompetent asshole writers and want to therapeutically live through my rage. If so... enjoy...

First lets talk about Gabriel. Because I’m pissed. I’m SO PISSED about him. I never really gave my opinion on him being brought back after the reveal at the end of 13x13, because I didn’t want to appear too negative at the time and I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding his character. I also really hoped that Perez would tackle Gabriel’s backstory last episode instead of leaving it to Bucklemming. Unfortunately that was not the case and like I suspected from the moment we got Gabe back, they butchered him.

So I’m pissed. We can all officially say sayonara to Fanon Gabriel because he is dead, and isn’t coming back, and Canon Gabriel just had his original redemption arc robbed from him.

I actually found it really awful that they even threw that line into the episode “thanks for the redemption arc” Gabe says at the end… because it proves to me that Bucklemming were totally aware that they were destroying Gabe’s original redemption arc by writing his bullshit backstory. So yeah, I’m pissed.

Gabe tricked Lucifer with yet another double, and was “free” to go and spend his time with porn stars. Lovely. He then gets captured by regular boring demons. Like how? And taken to the weakest of the princes of hell to be his milk cow. Again HOW? One of the only reasons I liked Gabriel to begin with was because whilst he was always ambiguous and a tormentor for Sam and Dean, he always had his own moral compass. He punished people who were dicks basically. Assholes who got their comeuppance in horrifically ironic ways. He ran away from his family because he couldn’t stand the fighting, and he chose to side with the Winchesters in the end because he knew it was the right thing to do. The whole point of Gabe standing up to Lucifer was because he admitted back then that he didn’t want to see the world destroyed, that he liked humanity and found enjoyment in it, and that Lucifer and Michael would destroy that. So this new information about him running away and leaving it all up to Sam and Dean makes NO SENSE. He had chosen to stand by them, put his money on them, and then left. His original redemption is now worth nothing. It is no longer redemption. It instead proves him to be a selfish pervert, and nothing more.

The fact that he was then captured by fucking demons and caged by the most incompetent irrelevant demon of all is another massive insult to his character and his power. It again makes no sense that regular demons could even figure out he was still alive where Lucifer and all of heaven couldn’t, and actually have the strength to capture him in the first place.

Then there is the porn thing. Which I think was a gross, irrelevant, unnecessary joke that failed to hit the mark every time it was mentioned. Having him write it on the walls as part of his story when he was clearly traumatised and catatonic wasn’t funny. It was absurd and made me cringe. Someone please explain to me why bucklemming are so obsessed with porn and sex. PLEASE. Do they actually think these jokes are funny? Are they trying to glorify the porn industry? Or do they just like the idea of an archangel being obsessed with human pornography and porn stars? What is this shows fascination with fucking porn stars?! Jesus Christ stop fucking glorifying the sex industry. It has NEVER been funny. NEVER. FFS Bucklemming if you are that obsessed with the fucking porn industry why don’t you quit SPN and go WRITE for the PORN INDUSTRY. Your outdated stupid and nonsensical writing style would probably be suited to pornography. You can write all the ridiculous stories about Lucifer having dubiously consensual sex with sexy female “angels” as much as possible then. You’ll probably have more free reign to add in your own brand of horrific racism in porn as well in that case because god knows you love the busty Asian beauties bullshit.

So now Gabriel is a disgusting, porn obsessed fuckboy who chose surrounding himself with human sex workers over helping to stop the apocalypse. And then completely ruined Sam’s speech by once again reiterating that point as if the fact that they were PORN STARS SAMUEL was enough of a reason for his running away. Whilst Sam was practically in tears. You ruined that moment. No. I’m sorry. I don’t care if you managed to get all access to the fucking playboy mansion, its crude, its gross and it’s demeaning to women. It’s outdated and shouldn’t be a plot point in a show in 2018. This isn’t “Two and a Half Men” and you are not Charlie Sheen. Who was also disgustingly gross and I was glad when that series got rid of him. I mean, is this the kind of character that Bucklemming think their audience is going to celebrate? Applaud? Urgh. Fuck right off with that. Seriously.

So yeah, sure, Gabriel will probably have a change of heart given the synopsis for later episodes, but that is irrelevant now, Bucklemming have fucked over his character. Just like I thought they would. Seriously I wish they would just fuck off and retire already because I am so done with their outdated crappy disgusting story lines.

As for other completely pointless and irrelevant characters, Asmodeus was burned by his own creators. I guess Bucklemming finally realised that they were shit at creating characters who could be even remotely three dimensional and decided he wasn’t necessary for the story. His death has only proven to me what I thought all along: that he was pointless. That he had no significance to the story, no depth, no motivations, nothing. He was one gigantic joke. I’m glad he is dead. Good riddance. You will be forgotten in a matter of weeks.

Next up Lucifer. I have nothing to say about him. Other than that I found every scene he was in cringeworthy beyond belief. To the point that I feel ashamed when watching his scenes because of the terrible poor quality of acting and writing together makes me so embarrassed to call this show my fave. The exorcism had me dying of second hand embarrassment. Are the supernatural creators PROUD of shit like this? It was goddamn awful. The worst piece of crappy filmmaking I have seen in a while. Every scene with Lucifer is like this for me usually though so I shouldn’t be surprised. I want him killed off and done with now. He brings down the quality of the show to abysmal levels. It’ll never win any awards whilst he still exists in its narrative. I have nothing to meta about him. I can’t separate my meta brain from my hatred of everything he is, and everything Bucklemming have made him to be. I just want the show to be done with him – like I want it to be done with his horrifically terrible writers who wouldn’t recognise decent writing if Shakespeare himself rose from the grave and beat them both around the head with his entire catalogue of sonnets and plays.

Overall, it makes my heart ache when I think of episodes like 13x01 and 13x05, which were spectacular examples of the highest quality writing, direction, and overall production I have seen in a while. If ever I was to choose an episode of this show to introduce it to someone who hasn’t seen it before, I would choose either of those episodes. What amazes me is that those episodes exist in the same season as utter shit like this episode, and 13x13. Perhaps I am being harsh, as the Dean/Ketch/AU stuff in this episode on its own worked well. So perhaps it wasn’t so bad, but seeing as everything else brought it down so badly, I just can’t separate them out. I still struggle to wonder why Bucklemming even bothered to have Cas in this episode at all. He was severely underutilised.

I’m just… so done with Bucklemming episodes. I am so done having to sit through their bullshit and try to force myself to find meaning and anything of analytical worth. Yes, I was able to find some positives, yes, I was able to find some stuff to talk about, but it was a struggle. Half the time I wonder if any of that stuff was even intended, and if it was I reckon it’s only because Dabb had to sit there with their shitty script and fix it as much as possible because I know by now that whenever they write anything of any worth, it must be due to someone elses input. I can’t equate the writers who wrote this utter bullshit about Lucifer and Gabriel with the same writers who wrote Dean’s confession in 10x16, or 11x18, or even the Dean/Ketch/Charlie stuff in THIS episode. How can you be so awful and yet still have stuff like this? You must be getting help.

I’m so sorry to those of you reading who disagree with my above assessments - though to be honest I did warn you. I have re-watched the episode a few times now but each time my rage just boils up again. If Dabb doesn’t start putting a tighter leash on these atrocious writers, then this series will fail in quality. It already has to be honest. I don’t see how we can deal with Bucklemming writing the penultimate episode. Knowing that the fucktards who penned this episode are also basically showrunning the mytharc plot is heartbreaking. I adore this show, but if Bucklemming continue to have control, I’ll be tapping out. Destiel or no Destiel. I can’t watch crappy quality. I certainly can’t watch crapy quality destroy something I adore from the inside out. But that is all I see them doing. 

*sigh*

I’m sorry. I hope that Yokey’s episode next week will redeem Supernatural for me. I hope that we will start to get back into the destiel subplot, because tbh I have felt like it has been severely lacking since 13x06, with only a minor reprisal in 13x14. I hope that we will actually get some focus on Castiel again, because I feel like his story has been lost along the way, and right now it seems he isn’t doing anything. We need to explore his own development arc again but I just can’t see it. I can’t see it at all at the moment. I want him to exist for more than just Dean’s freaking guilt and worry. I had such high hopes going into this season, but the further we get into, the more I lose faith and see the mytharc plot like a slowly loosening thread. Dabb needs to pull it all back together, because the longer Bucklemming keep their grubby porn obsessed hands on it, the more it will fall apart. 

I guess we’ll find out soon enough if all our focus and devotion has actually been worth it.