#just saying episode 3 has FED US WELL so far

[lovingherwasgay]

the shipwreck will last 3 episodes. buddienation how are we feeling about that knowing what happens every third episode of the season regarding buddie + chris as a family.

[funkii4-blog]

SMG34 In 2024: A Recap Essay

(all text, no images aside from cover below)

This is extremely long since we got fed pretty well this year, so be prepared to read 3000 words of pure insanity from my silly little brain :))

14x01: Mario Opens A Can Of Beans

Not much to begin with as 3 appears very little in this episode, but about two thirds of the way through he's seen stopping by the castle to ask 4 if he can borrow some sugar. Which is funny since he literally owns a cafe next door to the castle lol

14x02: You Used To Be Cool

Oh boy, this one was a real kicker for being so early in the year, specifically for its second half.  

During the scene where 3 is attempting to torture Depresso, we get a short sequence of him thinking back on memories with his friends; playing Garry’s Mod with Mario, Meggy’s heart-to-heart with him in IGBP, and with 4... Snowtrapped?! This is of course the infamous episode from all the way back in 2016 in which the two got rather intimate with each other, so it’s wild that that is what he thought of with 4 first after everything they’ve been through together.

A little later, in an attempt to get 3 to show he’s still a villain (which he isn’t), Eggman tasks him with killing 4 as his final test. When 3 is told to do this, we can instantly see the unease and regret in 3’s reaction; and it’s made clear that he doesn’t want to do this. Over the last year's worth of episodes up to this point, 3 and 4’s bond had improved drastically; it’d been long established by this point that the two are friends now. 

We then see him in his room holding the gun shakily, visibly terrified; he knows he can’t do this, but he also wants to prove himself to Eggman and is torn. He has another sequence of looking back on memories with 4; the moment he finally declared they were friends at the edge of the Demon Pit, their sweet moment under the sunrise (sunset? Idk I just say it’s the morning following the casino heist) as he drew the two of them in his notebook, and as far back as during the Cosmology saga when they only first started to bond. 

He hits a practice target on his wall and starts boasting about how he “finally has a reason to kill that bozo”, but Eggdog is quick to confront what we already know: 3 cares about 4 and doesn’t actually want to hurt him. And while we can’t understand what Eggdog is saying, I think it’s pretty likely he was giving 3 a hard time about how he actually has a crush on 4, to which 3 ignores and leaves the room. 

Cut to the next day when 3 goes to perform the act; he walks into the kitchen where 4 is, raising the gun and saying a dark monologue (presumably knowing Eggman is listening in). He apologizes for this (something I highly doubt he would have done just a year before), and we get a cut to the window being splattered. We of course know he didn’t actually do it, but they still pull this fakeout on us; 3 actually shot the tomato meme that 4 had on the counter to trick Eggman. 

He says he was actually considering killing him “like usual” (which we know isn’t true anymore), to which 4 cries. Eggman then tries to attack the two of them; he initially aims at 3, who is unfazed by this. However, he switches his aim to 4, causing 3 to immediately panic and take down Eggman himself to avoid 4 getting hit. 

The episode ends with 3 setting his hand on the back of the still-crying 4, who is mourning the death of his tomato meme, as he monologues again; this time it’s about how he’s realized he doesn't need to prove how evil he is and that he’s happy with the people around him. 

14x03: CEO Of Rizz

4 doesn't appear in this episode, but I still wanted to note something in this one to come back to later. This episode is about 3 helping Boopkins with his televised date while trying to boost the cafe’s popularity, and there’s a scene early on where 3 goes over gift ideas. He ultimately settles on a creepy Mickey Mouse sculpture, claiming it to be a perfect gift to give a date. 

14x06: Trash Friends

This one also has a lot to cover, so buckle up ;)

3 is currently under a lot of stress, as his recently opened cafe is having a rough start and seemingly failing. 4 runs to him, also upset about supposedly losing an important endorsement he received. When 3 is confused, 4 proceeds to grab him by the face and pull him close in order to use his powers & project a memory of him losing the endorsement onto 3. He begs 3 for his help, claiming it’s because they’re friends and friends help each other.  

4 then urgently claims he needs this endorsement to become popular; we then see 3 getting an idea to take the endorsement for the cafe, but I also like to think he wanted to get it out of 4’s hands to keep him from growing power hungry over his popularity again. He did put a camera in 4’s room to make sure he didn’t go insane again after the whole perfect video fiasco, after all; he wants to look out for him and make sure there isn't a repeat of that. 

Getting this idea, 3 gets 4 to warm up to him via the “buddy chum pal” bit (the exact same way 4 did to him all the way back in Are You Okay). The two of them along with Mario then go to the trash dump to retrieve the endorsement, and classic star trio chaos ensues. 

The two guardians split up and spend hours trying to find Mario, having walkie-talkie conversations in between. 4 asks about the business, to which 3 lies and says thing are going well. When they join back up and 4 sees 3 trying to open a blocked door, 3 panics and says he’s just trying to open the door for him. 

Something interesting happens after that: when 4 is talking, 3 dissociates and ends up imagining 4 belittling him in a way that expresses 3’s fears: specifically, his fears of being inferior to the other (“worse version of you”) and being forgotten. This isn’t confirmed, but I've seen it theorized that the only opinion that matters to 3 is 4’s (with vice versa also possible). 

Once they find Mario, they fight over him as they both try to claim the drive with the endorsement on it, 3 avoiding telling 4 the truth as long as he can. 

The fight eventually goes too far, with 4 calling 3 selfish since he doesn’t understand why 3 wants it so badly. This causes 3 to snap and have a breakdown, admitting his business is struggling severely and how he feels as if he’s the worse version of 4. This makes 4 realize that 3 is struggling a lot more emotionally than he let on, leading to him deciding to give 3 the endorsement willingly.

14x08: SMG4 And SMG3 Rank SMG4 Characters

And here we are, the first of the 3 & 4 improv episodes. I know it’s debated whether these can be considered, but since they consist of Luke & James (4 & 3’s VAs) having in-character improvised conversations, I still want to bring them up. 

A general frequent aspect of these episodes is the two joking around and generally getting along better, which is nice to see. Usually aside from serious moments, we just see them bickering like the rivals they used to be to each other. We also can see loving glances exchanged from time to time in these episodes’ animation portions. 

14x12: Once Upon An SMG4

I only have one note for this one and it won’t make sense unless you’ve watched The Cuphead Show since it’s a parallel to a scene in that, but I still want to talk about it.

After 3’s song at the beginning, he asks aloud ���whoever shall be my sugar daddy?” (yes, that’s actually what he said word for word). There proceeds to immediately be a cut to 4 in his lair. This instantly reminded me of the scene in the Cuphead Show episode “Down & Out”, where King Dice claims there's just one thing missing from the revival of his career; there proceeds to be a camera pan downward to The Devil going about his business in hell. Another thing that likely won’t be known by non-Cuphead fans is that the ship between King Dice and The Devil (at least within the show, idk about the game) is semi-canon: They don’t get together in the media itself, but the team behind the show as well as the two’s voice actors have repeatedly expressed their support of the ship. And based on various events the ship between 3 and 4 can easily also be considered semi-canon... :3 

S14 Movie: Puzzlevision

I think it’s safe to say all the good stuff from this chapter of the PV saga was reserved for this movie, because there’s once again a lot to cover here. So here we go! 

The first of many parodies covered in this movie is of SpongeBob with, pretty fittingly to their characters, 4 as SpongeBob and 3 as Squidward. I know this was likely just done to fit the character roles, but you know I can’t help but note that the ship between SpongeBob and Squidward is also very popular within its own fandom. 

Throughout the movie, the two are seen being notably defensive and protective of each other in the presence of Puzzles, moreso 3 of 4. 

Once the gang is split up into different channels after the song, 3 and 4 are of course put together. The first parody they have to face is Rugrats. When 3 is grabbed, 4 doesn’t hesitate to spring into action and save him. 3 responds with a vulnerable “You saved me!” before going tsundere and calling 4 a baka (surprisingly the only time this running gag was used this year). 

After escaping that channel, they land in a parody of the Titanic film. They spot the portal to the next channel high up in the air above the ship, but neither can reach it on their own. 4 suggests he lifts 3 up to reach it, which 3 hesitantly agrees. The two proceed to reenact one of the most well-known romance scenes in all of cinema, with 3 becoming entranced by the beauty of the view around them as he’s held up by 4, embracing the moment before 4 throws him into the portal. 

14x15: SMG4 And SMG3 Design A Mascot Horror

When discussing game genres to implement, there’s a visual at around the 7:30 mark where 3 (dressed as their game’s mascot) pins 4 against a wall in a flirty manner. 

A bit later when narrowing down mechanics to use, for a split second after 3 & 4 agree to keep the romance aspect, Mario holds up a sign that says “Hi Twitter”. 

14x16: SMG4 Doesn't Meme For 1 Second

I’m not a fan of revisiting this episode, but I’ll do what I must in this case... 

After 4 is sent away, 3 is one of the first to acknowledge that he misses the other’s antics, looking on fondly as he says it made the gang’s lives more exciting. He is also the one to initiate a plan to retrieve 4 from the facility, aggressively knocking on the door when they get there to reach Mr. Niceguy. Much like everyone else, 3 is horrified when he sees how different 4 is when they see him again, attempting to snap him out of it with memes,

14x19: SMG4 Simulator

In the fishing minigame scene, when 4 fishes up 3, it says 3 is worth –100 points; however, 3 has a gold & sparkly aura around him that’s typically reserved for the best items in those types of games; additionally, the 0:34 mark on the minigame timer is skipped. I’ve also seen it theorized that this moment could represent 4 pushing away potential romantic feelings he may have for 3. 

Shortly after, 3 is seen sitting next to 4 as he grows sad over not having the reality from the ASMR video he’s listening to, telling him to do something productive before walking away. 4 contemplates briefly before deciding to listen to his advice. 

Toward the end of the episode, he’s shown to have a bootleg plush of 3 in his inventory. 

14x20: Mario's Plane Trip

3 doesn’t appear in this episode, but this is where my note from CEO of Rizz comes in! 

When 4 is getting his luggage scanned, it can be seen that one of the items inside is the creepy Mickey sculpture from before, that 3 described as a great gift for a date. One of 3’s signature bombs is also inside the suitcase. 

In a scene much later in the episode, 4 and Swag have a heart-to-heart about loved ones back home; in this conversation, Swag mentions his spouse. 4 then pulls a locket out and says he has someone waiting back home as well, but the scene is interrupted by Mario before we can see the picture inside. As you can imagine, a lot of people have theorized that 3’s picture is in that locket.

14x27: SMG4 And SMG3 Shop For Cursed Items

It’s a small visual detail but when settling on a gift for Tari, they do a cute high five. 

14x28: Mario Gets Stuck as a GIF 

When Mario loses control and starts to spin around the cafe, 3 quickly pulls 4 under the front counter with him to keep him from getting hurt. 

When 4 is scanning data of 3 in the HQ computer, 3 takes note of how 4 makes the model of him (“Do I really look like that from the back?”), even checking himself out to compare after. 

14x33: Mario Loses His Mustache 

Before the competition, 3 and 4 attempt to conspire to rig it in Mario’s favor; however, this is quickly shut down by Puzzles. 

14x34: SMG4 Theory 

Barely worth noting, but 4 is seen imagining Snowtrapped as he asks if every episode is a dream. 

14x35: SMG4 & SMG3 Come Up with an Episode 

The episode begins with 4 bursting into 3’s room while he sleeps, asking if he’s ready to “make magic”. He then proceeds to ask afterward what he’s doing in 3’s bed (which, mind you, was an improvised line from Luke). 

When 3 asks why 4 needs his help making an episode, 4 responds with telling him that his videos need spice that he thinks 3 can provide, even calling him the rosemary to his bread.  

This is definitely purely coincidental since this line was also improvised, but the rosemary plant has represented love since ancient times, being believed to reveal a person's true love. 

When 4 agrees that 3 should be a main part of the episode, the official sticker of 3 blushing is stuck onto his face. 

The episode they come up with was eventually made, but no, I won't be covering it. 

14x38: Welcome to Puzzle Park 

When Mario is thrown back by the force of Leggy’s yells, it almost seems as if 3 and 4 are leaning on each other on the sofa. 

When 3 sees Luigi get pulled into a portal and realizes something is wrong, his first instinct is to find 4 & Mario and tell them to run. He fails to reach them before getting taken himself, but texts 4 a warning in the last moments beforehand; it’s also seen they both have joke-insult nicknames for each other in their phones. Just a couple years prior 3 would never have taken time to warn anyone and would just have saved himself, showing how far his development has come. 

On top of that, I've seen it guessed that the reason 3 looked so mortified when he saw Luigi get taken was because it gave him flashbacks to seeing 4 get pulled back into the castle in IGBP, hence his immediate action to help 4 get away. 

14x42: Mario Gets Stuck In Traffic

Though they are seen bickering on their way, it’s commonly joked by fans in the shipping community that their trip together to the forklift convention could be seen as a date. 

14x43: The Mario PC Virus

Okay, there’s only a couple notes for this one, but they’re big and important ones. 

When the Crocker virus entities are scavenging through 4’s computer, one of them digs through a folder on his desktop titled ‘Super-Secret Spicy Memes’. It pulls one out, showing 3 traced over a Grimace meme with the text “what’s the matter smg4-kun"; it proceeds to scream the “I know what you are” line from the English dub of Chainsaw Man at 4 over it. It should be noted that that audio bit is commonly used as a joke to tell someone that you know that they’re queer. On top of the meme bring flirtatious in nature and being in a secretive folder, it’s entirely likely that this goofy five-second bit actually indirectly confirms 4’s already-suspected crush on 3. 

When Bonzi’s power destroys the computer’s data, the video projections of 3 and 4 hug somberly as they’re erased; this is the first time that they've been seen emotionally hugging. It’s notably much more romantic in nature compared to a normal hug too, with their foreheads touching and one of each of their hands interlocked. 

Ben, the show’s thumbnail artist, also followed up with a tweet saying “they gay fr :3"  

Late addition, but in the merch sale community post video the day before 14x45, 4’s drawing could be seen taped to a page of 3’s notebook. 

14x46: Luigi Doesn’t Need Mario 

In the scene where the gang is at the hospital, the angle at which they’re shown makes it look like 3 and 4 are holding hands at Mario’s bedside. 

And that's everything! This year may have been a really rough one for the show, but I think it's safe to say the shippers were done a great service throughout. Hopefully the hints keep coming in 2025! (and possibly even them finally becoming canon? please?? it's clear the team loves to play with their dynamic in a romantic way, if they truly want to make it happen then just do it!!! /silly)

[rayslittlekitten]

Grumpy Old Man

A/N: Okay, so this is my first little Joel Miller fic. This was inspired by episode 3 +5. Just a fluffy little thing. Hope you enjoy!

Rating: G

Word Count: 974

Pairing: Joel Miller x GN! Reader

Plot: Your partnership with Joel evolves.

Warnings: None

You don’t think you’ve ever seen Joel not grumpy. It’s his norm. You can’t tell if it’s an old man thing or he’s just always been perpetually acutely miserable even before you met him. Either way, you find it adorable. And when you tell him that, the corners of his mouth dip down even more and at that point, you don’t know if he’s flirting with you or just emphasizing his discontent.

Joel is not an affectionate man and doesn’t really say or share much. You’ve tried to talk him to open up, but he quickly shuts down the conversation as soon as it gets too personal. You never really know what he’s thinking, but you always notice the little thoughtful things he does for you. Aside from protecting you, making sure you’re fed and have a safe space, he also has his own language of letting you know he cares in other ways.

You notice he usually gives you a bigger portion of food, especially if it’s something you like. Food is hard to come by so you always feel bad when he does that, but you would feign you've had enough to eat so you let him have the rest.

Every now and then when you both go scavenging, if he finds something he knows you'll appreciate, he'll throw it in his bag and gift it to you at a later time even though he's always told you to only take what's useful because you should travel light. To him, anything useless regardless of how small it was, was just wasting precious space.

Says the man who found a stash of worn out Archie comic books, which you once mentioned you enjoyed reading growing up, and quietly shoved them into your backpack when you weren’t looking, probably while you were asleep when he kept watch. He doesn't feel an obligation to you nor distrust you, but for his peace of mind, there are some nights he feels safer keeping an eye open.

Another time, you had found your worn down boots replaced with a newer pair.  Joel apparently found a decent pair your size and swapped them out with the ones you've been trekking everywhere with for a while. The rubber soles were thinning and the one was only staying on the bottom of the shoe because of duct tape. When you made a joke about them not being your favorite color, he said he had checked and that was the only option.

You thank him every time for the small gestures, but he always just grunts and brushes them off or changes the subject. The man of a few words sure says a lot through his actions and tonight is no different.

The temperature had dropped drastically and there wasn't much to keep warm except for two dinky little sleeping bags. A fire was out of the question, not wanting to draw any attention. Joel didn't seem so keen on the idea at first, but he had suggested to use each other’s body heat to stay warm. This is the first time the two of you have ever been so physically close together, aside from that one time he pinned your body against a concrete wall and clamped his hand over your mouth to quiet you to avoid being caught by FEDRA when a trade between your crew and his went sour because you all were at the wrong place at the wrong time. FEDRA had raided the abandoned, decrepit building that was once an elementary school and everyone scattered and ran, but you and Joel were the only ones who escaped as far as you both knew. Joel doesn't take on strays, but having already been acquainted, the two of you stuck together ever since to increase your chances of survival.

It was a bit awkward at first, as the both of you have always remained platonic and only saw each other as allies but you'd be lying if you said there isn't some tension between you two. The more time you spent with him, the more you started looking at him differently, and sometimes you think he senses a change as well, but it's hard to read Mr. McMoodypants.  Whether it's human nature, convenience, or just having no one else but each other, this partnership seems to be breaching companionship.

You're both snug inside a large sleeping bag that he merged together with the two. Your backs are right up against one another which seems silly since it defeats the purpose of keeping each other warm, but he could still be crabby about that comment you made about him being adorably grumpy. Trying to get into a more comfortable position, you turn over and curl up behind him. You rest your hand on his waist and feel him stiffen underneath it for a second. After a few seconds, you feel him grab your hand to bring it up to his chest. His fingers interlace with yours and you press yourself closer to him, basking in the warmth his back is radiating. You can feel his heart slowly beating beneath his cozy flannel.

"Who knew the grumpy old man has a warm heart," you joke.

Joel lets out a deep sigh and ignores you.

After a few quiet moments, you check to see if he's still awake.

"Joel?"

"You're a few words away from getting kicked out of this sleeping bag so choose your next words wisely," he responds, staying in the same position.

You can't help but smirk. He's as grumpy as he gets.

"Good night." You strain your neck to give enough reach to boldly plant a kiss on his cheek before finally settling in.

A few seconds later, Joel surprisingly brings your hand up to his lips and kisses your fingers, his beard tickling you.

"Good night." 

[kinardsevan]

I was totally genuine because I would love your stuff on 911 proper! They're dropping the ball with everything atm, which is so damn frustrating, considering the setup they gave themselves this spring.

Much love! 🤗

Glad for the clarification! ❤️❤️

I can totally understand your feelings. Mine aren’t far off. I waffle back and forth basically by the hour over whether this is all a tee-up and there’s real intention behind it, or whether they truly did give up the best thing that they’ve had in years.

One of my biggest struggles on it all and how it doesn’t make sense, is the active effort to include Tommy/Lou in the social media posts and ABCs use of him in ads as well. I understand that the networks opinion isn’t the end-all, be-all. But I just can’t coalesce all that’s been fed to us to this point, both from a story standpoint, and from the use of Lou/Tommy in the grander scheme at large. It doesn’t make any sense in the narrative, regardless of the ideals that some people have about him being a plot point or “entry level relationship”. One of the quotes I think back on is when Oliver said he wanted to see these two go through the struggles do in their first year of a relationship. That quote alone was one of the things (along with the intentional use of “Evan”) that said to me “people want this to be a short story, but these factors point to Tommy being around long-term”. It goes to the issue that Tommy does not see Evan as “Buck”, when we have already extrapolated that Buck is a mask. We’ve known that since season 3 when he told Bobby that putting on his uniform makes him feel like he can do anything, and “Buck” was a name he took on FOR work. It’s a dignification that creates separation for him from others. By relation, Evan can be as stripped bare and honest as he wants. This is why the use of his first name has always been important. Maddie can see him stripped down and bare, metaphorically speaking, because she knows his trauma. She’s his sister so she gets Evan rights. Eddie used his first name once with the will. In the same context as being stripped down, this was important because he wasn’t communicating with Buck from the standpoint of coworkers, but as a close friend telling him that he had made a decision about the safety and care of his child, should something happen to him. I can’t remember if we’ve ever seen Bobby use his first name, but this has always felt less important because of the father/son narrative.

We’ve seen Chimney throw around “Evan” in weird contexts, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing, so much as they have a unique relationship due to being coworkers, friends, and brothers simultaneously. I think that’s why anytime we hear him say “Evan”, it’s a bit of a play on fucking with him.

So when we cycle back to Tommy, who had only EVER called him Evan, using the name Buck is him forcing himself to create a separation. We also as a fanbase hear that and go “no, that’s wrong, it doesn’t sound right”.

At the end of the day, I cannot reason a fact to build all of this into a narrative (and I do mean ALL of it), include Lou in social media posts, have him be involved in interviews about the show… all to set it on fire 13 episodes after he returns. You’d have to have a damn good reason for doing so, like an actor wanting to leave or being so problematic that they need them gone. Now, a certain group would like for us to believe this, but we don’t have any actual proof of ANY of this narrative. That all said, we have to revert back to what we know and what we’ve been told. Which is confusing.

So. I’ve rambled again. And repeated myself in some contexts 😂 but I think I made my point? (If not I’ll obviously come up with more shit later 😂😂)

[thephoenixandthecrocodile]

Things I love about Season 2 of Rings of Power So Far – in no particular order

1. The entire beginning of episode 1

a. Love Sauron in his fair form off his game and a little shaken

b. Love Adar growing increasingly fed up with Sauron’s bullshit

c. Love the Ides of March moment

d. Love goo Sauron – love his little sigh. That’s me every morning when I wake up

2. Love that Sauron was always a shit and stole the badge instead of saving that guy

3. Love the Elrond-Galadriel brother-sister dynamic and poor Gil-galad caught in the middle

4. Love the Ahhh! Gil-Galad lets out when hearing that Sauron is back

5. Love Elrond jumping off the cliff. Worked for Mom (kinda) should work for me

6. I really want whatever the hell Cirdan is on

a. Also Ben Daniels is AMAZING!

7. Love that Gil-Galad gets to shine more as the grumpy, sassy, weary elf-king this season. Also love that no one is letting Galadriel get away with her bullshit from last season (and I loved Galadriel last season). Actions has consequences, even for elves.

8. YOU HAD ONE JOB, CIRDAN!

9. Why does no one ever listen to Elrond?

10. Sam Hazeldine is doing an amazing job with a tough job. I will always love Joseph Mawle’s take on Adar and he’ll always be MY Adar, but Sam is going an amazing job taking all the groundwork laid by Mawle and then adding his own spin

11. I know the internet is losing its mind over Orc families, but I LOVE the complication these writers are adding to the Orc lore (as well as Sauron’s arc). Even in Return of the King, the Orcs were shown to have their own personalities and weren’t exactly excited about attacking Gondor again. Even in Two Towers, we see the different personalities of Uruk-hai and the Morder Orcs, so it only makes sense to flesh that out further. It adds such an amazing dimension to Adar’s character and the Orcs he cares for and makes us realize that nothing in Tolkien’s world is black and white.

a. Also, also, I love that these writers embrace the fact that Elves are not impartial and they’re hypocritical bastards haha. Of course, they say dwarves and men are covetous and can’t be trusted. Of course, Orcs are irredeemable. To suggest otherwise would jeopardize their own world view. And the Elves have never been covetous or committed genocide for stupid gems. Nope, not ever.

b. Also, also, also love the idea that the Orcs are doomed because they’re convinced Eru will never forgive them, even if they were to ask for it. Such an interesting dilemma to add to the lore. I mean even Sauron considered asking for forgiveness but didn’t because of his pride. If the Valar forgave Morgoth once, and potentially considered pardoning Sauron, who says they wouldn’t forgive the creatures he and Morgoth twisted/corrupted/made?

12. Love Sauron “befriending” the warg. See even the Dark Lord likes dog.

13. Goodbye Waldreg, no one will miss you.

14. Who knew Benjamin Walker had such a nice voice?

15. I’m so surprised Elrond didn’t just completely lose it and go all rabid animal when Cirdan brought back the rings.

16. It’s so funny that this version of Galadriel gets a ring of power. Out of all the Elves to get one, she’s on the bottom of my list. At least make sure she’s Sauron free first.

17. DISA YOU ARE MY QUEEN AND GODDESS!!!

18. LOVE the dwarves.

19. “You don’t have to make this harder than it already is” YES I DO BITCH BECAUSE YOU’RE BEING A STUBBORN GOAT

20. Love that Disa can call out both her father-in-liaw (and king) and her husband for being jackasses

21. Also Durin III stop being a jackass and go apologize to your son, right now

22. Resonating is still so fucking awesome

23. Love the agricultural in Khazad dum

24. I know I was the odd man out because I didn’t mind the Harfoots last season, but I really adore the Stranger’s relationship with Nori.

25. I REALLY hope the Stranger is a blue wizard, but either way I love how Daniel Weyman plays a wizard. And it’s nice he can talk this season and we get a sense of his humor and sass.

26. “Further, Nori” *sigh of exasperation*

27. I have no idea who the hell this evil wizard is nor who the hell his moth minions are, but I love them. They’re so weird.

28. This guy better NOT be Saruman. -_-

29. Poppy! My lesbian Harfoots are reunited!

30. Celebrimbor *sigh* oh, Celebrimbor

31. Elrond “sand the anger away, Sand the anger away.”

32. LOVE the look Galadriel gives Elrond when he calls her out about NOT being manipulated. “He gave you everything you wanted”. True, but also damn, haha.

33. Seriously, I NEED whatever drug Cirdan is smoking.

34. Also love how in this show “yeah, let’s give the rings a try. What’s the worst that can happen” and in LOTR it’s “NO! DO NOT TRUTST THE RING! DESTROY IT ASAP”

35. I can’t believe Halbrand made it rain just so he can look more like a pathetic cat

36. Ok, that umbrella is ridiculous and super impractical.

37. Celebrimbor, honey, the whole “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted” is the oldest trick in the manipulator’s handbook.

38. I love the rollercoaster Celebrimbor goes on as Halbrand “confesses” that he’s not really a man. The utter confusion but also concern, like “my god is this man having a mental breakdown in my forge? And right when I was about to open a bottle of first age wine. Where’s Galadriel when I need her? She should be taking care of her pet human, not me.”

39. NOT THE FIRST AGE WINE!!!

40. I LOVE the reveal of Annatar. It was so over the time and beautiful and so religious. No notes. Absolutely perfect.

41. I was never on team silvergifting, but this show has converted me.

42. Also Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards are giving their ALL in these scenes

43. Love that Celebrimbor is like “ew, no, we can’t give men rings” but when Annatar tells him that Gil-Galad “doesn’t trust the dwarves” Celebrimbor takes it so personally. Like I think it’s because he’s annoyed with Gil-Galad and he wants to control his own forge, but it also sounds like he’s offended that Gil-Galad would insult his new dwarf buddies (who helped him build the new forge to begin with).

44. Durin proving himself the wisest of all peoples (not just dwarves) when he calls Annatar out on his bullshit

45. “Elrond would never say such nice things about me.”

46. Also love all the clever insults and phrases the dwarves have.

47. I’m still very angry with Durin III but I felt that line, “Miner’s punches hurt” “Just wait until your children grow up.”

48. ALSO, Durin III you bastard, your son tells you he DOESN’T trust the rings and you decide, “yeah, let me try out these rings” -_-

a. Also, yes, Celebrimbor and Annatar fucked before, during, and after making the dwarven rings.

49. Oh, Isildur, you disaster child.

a. Again, I might be in the minority here, but I LOVE what they’re doing with Isildur’s character – the perpetual screw-up, the one who tries so hard but can’t do anything right, the character who’s constantly trying to prove himself in a family that is already overly impressive. Makes his final fate just that more tragic.

50. Spider babies. Spider babies. Spider babies.

a. Reminded me of the facehugger birthing scenes from the Aliens franchise for some reason.

51. Super Berek! Here to save the day

52. So, I guess all the men in Aragorn’s bloodline were saved by their horses at least once. Good to know.

53. LOVE the entire ridiculous exchange between Isildur and Estrid.

54. God damn it, Isildur, don’t go to the funeral, save Berek!

55. ☹ Poor Arondir. RIP Bronwyn.

56. Fucking Theo

57. God damn it Arondir, maybe look around next time before telling one kid his family will be reunited in front of the one kid who’s lost his entire family XD

58. “Men can’t build things like that” ☹

59. So, Theo is going to be Isildur’s right hand man and/or will be a ringwraith, right?

60. Operation rescue Berek!

61. Ents? Are those Ents?

62. MIRIEL MY OTHER GODDESS AND QUEEN!!!

63. My brother and I when that woman slapped Miriel: “OFF TO JAIL WITH YOU!”

64. Fucking Earien. Kemen is soooo not worth it

65. Fucking Pharazon.

a. ALSO, love how the writers captured men’s creepy behavior around women in power, especially if they’re “not perfect”. Like when Miriel’s father was alive Pharazon was somewhat respectful around her, but my god that scene in her bedroom? So disgusting and creepy. AND fucking Kemen, “she was blinded while fighting Orcs and surviving a massive eruption. She can’t be queen now” Bitch you couldn’t even sabotage a handful of boats by yourself.

66. Also, also, I know everyone loves Haladriel, but can we talk about the other idiotic couple pining over each other: Elendil and Miriel? Love their dynamic sooooo much.

67. Ok Miriel’s coronation dress is GORGEOUS!

68. That poor eagle was so fucking confused. Like I came here for Miriel, not sure what you all are doing. Ok, this is awkward, I’m flying away now.

[milk3ad]

why the grudge by olivia rodrigo is actually written abt roceit: an unnecessarily long breakdown

(aka basically an in this essay i will… post but i actually wrote it.)

okay so starting off strong, pof was literally released on a friday in may. (i know technically it took place on april 13th in cannon, but the still what are the chances here.)

next we have these lines would refer to the trust janus built up during the courtroom that he then broke during pof. how he set him up to take the fall no matter what, crushing either roman’s self image and/or his dream. it also refers to the flippant way janus address this and how he basically refers to it as a joke. it’s pretty clear throughout the episode, however, roman holds onto everything that was say.

i sorta feel like this speaks for itself.

this next part i think sums up a lot of pof pretty well. roman making fun of janus’s name is shitty. him calling janus evil the whole episode is shitty. BUT everyone JUST told him janus WAS evil and not to be trusted. and janus WASNT to be trusted in svs since he literally was manipulating him. janus caused like half of this and fed into roman’s insecurities and he knew it. so yes, i think roman is handling this BAD, but janus cut first, and he cut deeper.

lowkey another one i feel speaks for itself. this is pretty much stated this is what janus is doing. literally.

roman and pretending he’s fine when he’s not. i mean it’s like all the sides, but def the way roman seems to handle it (like not too much cannon has happened since so) like this. it still seems to affect him in fwas confidence wise and all. just the way this hasn’t even been addressed. you know the boy is struggling.

okay i kept out a lot of the love stuff cause like that’s not cannon and i tried to keep this close to cannon. BUT it fits with that too and my headcannons… maybe another post. it’s just so perfect.

okay if you read this far i love you forever <3 also this may be formatted like the worst thing ever, i don’t use tumblr really so i was struggling making this. also it’s late and i cant think atm :))

[humans-are-space-orcs-1004]

Competitive Chomping (Episode 5 of Human Jon [space orcs])

Warning: If i spell any of the alien words wrong then thats because im on a different keyboard and cant be bothered to check each word

Alice decided to go see her family while Jon, B‘ksa ans L‘öšmgj headed into the heart of the city. Jon‘s parents were taking care of Fluff.

J: Oh my god! A competetitive chompdown!

L‘: Come again?

J: It‘s this thing we do where we have a competition to see who can eat the fastest. You register by filling out a form then you compete against opponents to finish 50 celloth sausages the fastest.

B‘: Why would anyone do this?

J: For fun? People pay to watch this. Speaking of, I‘m gonna buy us a ticket each to watch.

B‘: What could possibly be fun about this? You aren’t savoring the food and you don’t even need that much! You could feed a family with that many celloth sausages.

J: You‘re right, it is a waste of food but the reason it‘s fun is because it‘s just a fun way of competing against others.

L‘: Humans have a weak digestive track. Do they not throw up afterwards?

J: Well yeah but we get to watch them do it! Part of the fun.

B‘: How come there’s only humans comepting?

L‘: That‘s not very progressive.

J: No, see this schedule? It says that today only humans comepte and tomorrow anyone can compete. Humans are at a disadvantage aginst other species so you know.

The three of them get into the crowd to watch strangers force feed themselves plant meat that could have fed a battalion of children. Because Jon bought the tickets off of someone else who didn’t want to watch anymore instead of off of the seller, he was able to get front row tickets.

Announcer: Folks, it looks like two of our contestants can’t make it today on account of being murdered by their competition.

B‘: Holy hell you take this seriously.

A: No, I‘m just kidding of course, the two missing competitors are actually the Garsen brothers but it seems their father has passed. He was a legend in the Competitive Chomping Community. Rest in peace, Fuzz Garsen. A momemnt of silence please.

B‘, loudly: What does he mean by that?

J: Shhh

A: You two, what was that? Did you just disrespect the great Fuzz Garsen? Did you not hear me call for a moment of silence? How would you two like to compete against the others? Fill in for the Garsen brothers?

The crowd started chanting „Fill in! Fill in!“

J: Fuck‘s sake B‘ksa look what you‘ve gotten us into.

A big entity from Fhsbeb picked the two of them up and dropped them on the stage.

J: Is this even allowed? B’ksa is a Hö\an…

But nobody cared. Because B’ksa was small. He was not a threat. Jon was about to get embarrassed in front of this crowd. He was already full and B‘ksa was a meter tall. But Jon had a strategy. The way the competition worked was that you would stop eating once one person finished all 50 sausages, then you get scored based on how many sausages you had left.

A: 3, 2, 1, go!

John took a sausage and bit a part of it. He then proceeded to chew on that bite for a good 20 seconds before taking another bite snd chewing again. He chewed for 20 seconds and took another bite. At 1 minute and 3 seconds, the buzzer rang. Jon had only taken 3 bites and he was feeling proud of himself. He looked to his left and saw both the opponents on his left still had a sausage in their hand, one of them had another in his mouth. To his right he saw a contestant with 40 or so sausages still on his plate and he had passed out. So that’s why they stopped. But then…

A: How the hell did you win?

Somehow, B‘ksa had fucking won. He ate more sausages than anyone else.

A: That’s cheating, get off the stage!

J: Why, what did he do?

A: Your bastard disrespectful friend compressed all the sausages together and then swallowed it whole! Surely that doesn’t count?

Hö\ans were really strong. They also had the ability to stretch their mouth really far. Also celloth meat just happened to dissolve quickly in Hö\an saliva. So B‘ksa had compressed 50 sausages into an unholy stack of plant meat which he then dissolved in his huge mouth.

After being kicked out, Jon searched for the interplanetary record in Competitive Chomping 50 Celloth Sausage%, and found out that B‘ksa had shattered the record by 24 seconds!

B‘: So? Why would I care?

J: You‘re the first Hö\an to compete in this and the beat the interplanetary record!

B‘: I don’t see how this benefits me.

J: I literally cannot with you.

******

Alice: He WHAT? J: Yeah the fucker doesn‘t even care.

A: Damn that’s kind of badass though.

J: Bro what the fuck?

[yeahthatswhatimtolkienabout]

There are some fantastic arguments as to why Izzy won't be the one dying in episode 8, ranging from the fandom backlash, all the way up to some fantastic character and scene analysis. There are some fantastic posts about it happening too – don’t want to diminish that, despite how it makes my heart hurt and my brain very sad.

The key thing to remember is that we still don't really know much about episode 8, other than from a few of the shots we’ve seen from BTS and from the teaser (which I wager, only really shows the first 15 mins or so, if that). I've tried to piece the scenes together into a somewhat cohesive storyline, trying to work out how the crew escapes and why they go back, and how they end up with Ricky (in naval costume), where they're going with him etc and when the funeral scene we’ve seen slots into the episode. It’s so hard, and there may be a multitude of reasons as to why Izzy isn’t in that shot, from a) he is captured still b) he is unable to make it due to the state he's in c) he's lying on a beach somewhere drinking mimosas (which is the headcannon I have)

DJ has said that the season will end on a satisfying note, well enough to be satisfied with if HBO don’t give a 3rd season, which also suggests that maybe Izzy won’t die, or it won’t be left on a 'is he dead?' cliffhanger as that would be as unsatisfying as it comes. He has also said that the opening scene will be incredibly satisfying as well, which may counterargue the above point, but I'm not sure Izzy dying would make that any more satisfying?

Now we've all seen the review that came out, saying that the crew suffers a devastating loss and this gives the 'dying' corner a potential point, but people have also made some real good points about it being the Revenge or someone else entirely.

From my perspective (which has nothing to do with anything really) is that this entire Izzy-dying situation just seems a bit too forced/heavy handed for me - its foreshadowed heavily in the first three episodes (Christ, we think he's dead like 3 times?) and I find it so very hard to believe that they would let a KEY spoiler scene be leaked in their promo footage? I honestly think that all the info we have gotten so far has been fed to us in this way on purpose, so we build it up in our heads, DJ and co know we would analyse everything and by god we have so far, so much - maybe it is all a giant red herring? Maybe someone does die, but it’s a complete 180 from who we think it is?

I dunno, but if he does die I'll be disappointed, not just because I like him, and what that means for him as a character, but because we were able to figure it out mostly from promotional shots and one would think that something as heavy and as big as Izzy’s death would be, would be the furthest thing they'd want to put in there.

I dunno, as we get closer to Thursday, I just have to keep remembering that it will all actually be okay and DJ and co know what they are doing.

[moxie-girl]

I wanted to just put together a post with all of my ideas so far for the straw hat Uta au… (under the cut cause it's long)

the gist of the au is that the main strawhats are all replaced by other characters from their backstories/islands/etc? it's a little confusing to explain but here's what I got so far: (list is in recruitment order, not by role)

Luffy -> Uta (Captain) Uta in this AU ate the gum-gum fruit instead of Luffy (who then ate the sing-sing fruit.) her dream is to be the pirate king, but she doesn't have quite the same deal with Shanks as Luffy does, mostly because I think it'd be funny if the crew was ambushed by Pirate Emperor Shanks and Uta was just like "oh!! that's my dad!!! :D" Uta also grew up on dawn island in this au, because after she ate her devil fruit, Shanks thought it was too dangerous to keep her on the ship (since the WG was kinda after her.) she's a little less than a year older than Ace+Sabo b/c I messed w/ the ages a bit and I wanted her to be the older sister (like half of the crew in the beginning are all older sisters lol but that wasn't even on purpose…) Uta's fighting style is pretty similar to Luffy's, but she has a bit of a head-start on Haki since she spent so much time with Shanks.

Zoro -> Kuina (Swordsman) Zoro's not actually dead in this au, just fyi, because I didn't want to kill off any of the canon strawhats, but his accident did put him in a coma for a while, and he kinda lost most of his ambition and is still struggling with his lost dream… Kuina picked up 3-sword style to "take him with her" and prove to him that it's not an unachievable dream. she's got a bit of a complex still from some of the stuff her father said, and insists on being a "swordsman", not a "swordswoman," which is why when Uta approaches her and says she wants to be the pirate king, that is part of what convinces her to join. Kuina also uses Wado Ichimonji more than Zoro does - I noticed in canon he typically uses his two other swords and only uses Wado when he needs to use three-sword-style, so Kuina is kinda the opposite - she uses one-sword style more as well.

Nami -> Nojiko (Cook) I wanted to not keep all the switched characters' roles exactly the same as their canon counterparts, so I decided to play more with cocoyasi island's tangerine groves and make Nojiko a cook who specializes in tangerine dishes. I imagine she learned to cook to try to make the simple foods she had growing up more appetizing, and continued after Belle-mere died because she had to keep Nami fed. She still worked as a thief for Arlong, same as canon Nami, but instead of his navigator, her role was basically his servant in that she cooked for him and the other Arlong pirates. she fights with Belle-mere's rifle, mostly a mid-range fighter, but she can also use it as a blunt weapon Benn Beckman-style, and does this more after Uta mentions that her dad's first mate fights like that.

Usopp -> Kaya (Doctor) this one's kinda a no-brainer role-wise, and also I really can't believe the canon strawhats didn't get a doctor until like 90 episodes in like?? how are they not dead tbh. Usopp in this au grew to hate Yasopp for leaving instead of admiring him, but Kaya as a kid would also listen to Usopp's mom's stories about Yasopp and was excited by the idea of being a pirate. Kaya also wants to be a doctor because Usopp's mom died from a disease that was potentially treatable, but the doctors on syrup had no idea how to. this Kaya also chafes a lot more under Kuro's strict rules, and he was particularly upset because she kept "squandering" her family fortune on things like medical textbooks and expensive tutors. Kaya fights mostly with scalpels, because I'm an absolute sucker for characters that use scalpels like knives, and at some point on their journey (maybe Drum?) she learns to coat the blades in poisons/paralytics.

Sanji -> Reiju (Navigator) Reiju in this au is the sibling who the enhancements didn't work on, which Judge hates even more because Reiju looks so much like Sora. Sanji is technically Stealth Black, but he actually secretly does have emotions, the physical enhancements just worked on him. He still wants to be a cook, and one of the reasons Reiju wants to map the world is so she can find the All Blue for him. Reiju has a pretty similar backstory to canon Sanji, as in dungeon -> escape to a passenger ship -> shipwrecked with attacking pirate, etc, but the (currently unnamed) pirate she was shipwrecked with wanted to map the way to raftel, and instead of being stuck on a rock, they're stuck in a wrecked lifeboat, where they could theoretically get to an island if they had any navigational gear, but they didn't. Reiju is a bit paranoid about getting lost, the same way Sanji is about wasting food, and she aslo fights with kicks, because how could she draw detailed maps if she damaged her hands? (the only difference is that she wears sharp stiletto heels and tends to stab people with them.)

Chopper -> Vivi (Strategist/Diplomat) (+ Karoo) When this au's strawhats go to drum, they technically already have a doctor, but since Kaya can't treat the bug bite they still need help. Kaya learns a lot from Kureha, but since they don't need a doctor, Chopper stays on drum (for the time being.) Instead, at the end of the alabasta saga, Vivi entrusts her kingdom to her father and Kozha, and decides she'd rather be free and joins the strawhats. her job is kinda vague, but it's basically to try to deal with any situation the strawhats get into diplomatically, though they end up resorting to violence most of the time anyway. she's also the crew's planner, since Uta has a little more respect than Luffy for a well-thought-out plan (but not much!) Karoo also joins the crew, and is their "cute animal mascot" in place of Chopper. I imagine the fact of Vivi having the "will of D" is better-known or leaked somehow in this au, because there has to be someone on the crew who's a "D." Vivi fights using her peacock slashers, obviously, though they get a couple major upgrades at some point.

Robin -> Bon Clay/Bentham (Intel Officer/Entertainer) Robin still betrays Crocodile and helps the strawhats, but she runs off and joins the revolutionaries for a time instead. Instead, Bentham also betrays Crocodile, since he's grown to like Uta and the others, and joins the crew. he has two roles: his devil fruit allows him to gather intel when the crew needs it and confuse enemies, and he enjoys dancing and storytelling and does this in free time on the ship. the crew doesn't have an official musician, since Uta still loves music and grew up with this au's Luffy, who has the sing-sing fruit, so Uta and Bentham both play that role in a way. since both he and Vivi were in baroque works for a while, they often make references to that time like: "hey remember that time we did [super fucked up mission story none of the crew are willing to ask if is actually true]." Bentham's dream is not only to find the okama kingdom, but also to spread the okama ideal around the world so that more people understand it, which stems from his backstory - his parents disowned him because they weren't accepting of his identity :(. he fights with the okama kenpo style, and often trains with Reiju since their fighting styles are very compatible.

Franky -> Paulie (Shipwright) Paulie also wants to build a ship that sails the world, though he's less open about this ambition for fear of ridicule. after enies lobby - where Franky and Iceburg are captured to find the pluton blueprints - Franky decides to stay (for now) to help rebuild the galley-la company and fix up the sea trains with Iceburg. the ship the strawhats get built isn't the Sunny (if/when this au's Luffy sets sail, he'll eventually end up on the Sunny.) since I'm discarding most of the movie canon, their new ship is the Tot Musica: the figurehead bears a resemblance to the demon, and it's a bit more steampunk in design, since Paulie draws more inspiration from the sea trains and his style isn't the same as Franky's more high-tech designs. the Tot Musica's special features draw from stored solar power to work steam engines (like those in the sea trains) and to make an allusion to the sun since the ship isn't named after it. Paulie has a hard time at first on a ship with so many girls since he's so easily embarrassed lol… also he fights using a variety of ropes of different widths/strengths and with different weights/other objects tied onto them.

Brook -> Perona (Archeologist) the crew still help Brook out, but he decides he wants to sail a bit on his own to see how the world has changed. instead, they pick up Perona on thriller bark and she decides to join! I'm playing around a bit with how Perona's devil fruit works, and saying it also allows her to speak with ghosts to some extent. Perona gained an intrest in history because of this, and at one point in her childhood asked a ghost she knew to teach her lots of languages - this ghost was an oharan who died before the island was destroyed, so they taught her how to read poneglyphs without thinking it was a big deal. this ghost taught her enough that she is considered an honorary oharan archeologist, and she meets up with Robin at some point in the story and they get along pretty well. Perona's personality is still pretty close to canon, like her obsession with cute things (she loooves Karoo) but her dream is to find out more about the void century, since not even any ghosts she talks to can tell her about it. she fights using her devil fruit pretty much the same way, but she also has a tendency to see ghosts following people around and comment on it to unsettle them, like "oh your grandma is so disappointed in you :("

additionally, while most other canon characters stay the same, there are two other characters I'm adding, who also serve the purpose of rounding the supernovas up to an unlucky 13…

Lami Lami and Law both live in this au, and they're unhealthily codependent and attached at the hip. Lami is the Heart Pirates' first mate, though she's basically the co-captain. she and Law were both rescued by Corazon, since while both he and Doflamingo saw Doffy in Law, Cora saw himself in Lami. she's more of a medicinal/chemical based doctor as opposed to Law, a surgeon, and she fights using chemical concoctions and bombs - think a little like Honey Lemon from BH6? Lami originally doesn't have a devil fruit, but during dressrosa, since I haven't worked out how but I know Ace lives, the coliseum prize is Cora's devil fruit, which she obtains and eats.

Vicky "Punk Vicky" Victoria (the girl from Kidd's backstory who died & he named his ship after) is the captain of the Kidd Pirates, who are called the Punk Pirates in this au. Killer is still her first mate, and Kidd is the shipwright/mechanic/main fighter(?). Kidd still has the biggest bounty, due to property damage - something she's very frustrated about. I don't have much to work with for her, considering there's only one canon doodle of her, but to fit in with the punk-rock designs of the rest of the crew, I imagine she wears heavy/dark makeup, dyes her hair different bright colors (the mental image I have is her having a different hair color every time the strawhats meet her) and wears clothes with lots of spikes and patches. Vicky's main weapon would be a spiked baseball bat, and she's also skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 3x10 thoughts

The main things: 

The ep starts immediately after last ep, then goes to the next morning and takes place over just one day. Nadia also says it’s been ‘an eventful few weeks’ since she made the deal to buy the house (which was in 3x01, so the entire season has taken place over around 3 weeks)

One of my favourite things about this series, and about Thony specifically, is that she’s not only an unintentional angel of death for the people around her, but also for criminal empires?? Literally this show is full of seasoned criminals who thrived for years in the darkest parts of the Vegas underworld, and then they encounter Thony, and boom! Down they go. Hayak. Cortes. Kamdar. (Even Arman, in a slightly different way). And now it looks like Sin Cara is next… honestly the Feds should be falling at her feet in gratitude haha 

Lol at Thony and Fi’s little bit of theatre for Jeremy as they set up their own little ‘sting’ for him. Thony actually nearly breaking and laughing at Fi’s ranting for a second was so cute, because while this is a serious situation, it is a bit bizarre to think that this is what their life has become. And this scene was so worth it just to get to watch two skilled actors having to pretend to be bad at acting… moments like this are always fun, like a kind of act-ception haha. Ngl it’s a good thing that Thony confronts Jeremy by the end of the episode though, bc I doubt it would have taken much longer for him to notice something was up, with all the dramatic conversations happening right in front of his bugs while and other conversations were hushed under the cover of super loud TV/music. Not to mention the suspiciously intentional-looking plumbing emergencies lol (seriously Thony?? A hammer??? lol).  To be fair though, Fi’s acting did improve a lot by the end, with their clever little ploy to make Jeremy think Thony was on her way to kill Nadia. That entire sequence was done well– even though anyone who has been watching the show for more than like a week would know that Thony would never kill Nadia (at least while literally any other option existed), it was still enjoyable to experience the ‘suspense’ that the creative team set up regarding Nadia’s fate. I just hope that she can make it through the finale… 

Honestly I love the deliberate continued theme in this show of Thony being caught between worlds, and the constant push and pull of ‘good vs evil’ and ‘power vs vulnerability’. It’s why, despite all her efforts, she can never quite escape the criminal world, and she can never quite escape the hold of the FBI either. And they’re often tied up together, too– to protect herself or someone she cares about from one, she reaches out to the other. In late s1, Arman helped protect her from the FBI by agreeing to be an informant, and in turn she was part of the plan to protect him from both the FBI and Hayak. In S2, she agrees to inform for the FBI again in order to protect Arman and keep him out of prison. And now, she’s making that same deal– and risking her own safety– but for Nadia this time. To me, though, I think that she’s reached a kind of ‘fool me once’ situation with the FBI, and though she says she’s going to help then take down Sin Cara, I think she is actually going to be following her own agenda, and using the ties she has to both the cartel and the FBI to manipulate them into taking each other out, and leaving her being the only one left standing. And god I hope that’s where things are headed bc I would be so here for it.

I really wish we’d been able to see a lot more of Thony and Nadia’s relationship this season, because it’s so compelling and complex and I’ve loved every moment they’ve shared so far. Nadia’s “oh no” at seeing Thony walking into the club was hilarious; they haven’t seen each other in the week or so since the wake, but Thony showing up at the club looking deathly serious is never a good sign. I loved that they were immediately like ‘ok bye Jorge the grownups need to talk’ tho lol– he may have formed connections with both of them, but he hasn’t gotten to this level of club membership yet. Thony’s first question to Nadia (“Did you cut a deal with the feds?”) felt like an interesting tie-in to the events of earlier eps, given that it was exactly what Nadia asked her at the wake– tbh these two must feel like they’re on a merry-go-round or something, and it’s all because they just haven’t been completely open with one another!!! But finally, here, they’re starting to be, even if it’s too goddamn late now (*adele voice* we could have had it aaaaaalll). But anyway ughhhh “All I wanted was to find Arman, like you. I wanted to protect him.” Honestly Nadia acknowledging/accepting Thony’s genuine love of Arman has been one of the parts of this season that I have appreciated the most. These two women are bonded by that love, which is why Thony telling Nadia she should have come to her is such a punch in the gut, because you can see her pain and regret, her utter dismay at the fact that her preoccupation with her own family (getting Fi and Chris back, preventing Luca from being taken away) led her to overlook what was going on with Nadia– aka with Arman’s family– and now she has let down the only other person Arman truly loved. And I think she went to La Habana fully intending to warn her, but then it became clear that Nadia wouldn’t listen to her even if she did try to pose the fake-death plan (“You always think you know everything. But you don’t”), and would’ve almost certainly tried to run instead, endangering both of them. So instead Thony tries once more to talk Ramona out of it (unsuccessfully, of course), and ugh when she says she wants to take care of Nadia herself “For Arman” and she squeezes her eyes shut as she says his name… the grief of losing him is still so goddamn fresh and now she’s terrified she’s going to fail him by not being able to save Nadia in time. But that’s the thing about Thony– she never gives up on the people she loves. And because of Arman, that group includes Nadia. 

Nadia’s reaction to Thony striding straight into her house (literally how does Thony even know where that is?) is so funny bc she doesn’t even get angry, it’s just like mild exasperation as she tries to convince Thony to leave. That is, until her brain catches up and suddenly she just stops and says “What’s happening?” because she knows Thony, knows that she wouldn’t actually barge in like this without a damn serious reason. When Thony tells her the danger she’s in, she believes her immediately (ugh her panic was hard to watch) and immediately begs for Thony to help– because while they may have a complex relationship, she knows that Thony is the only person she has left who actually cares what happens to her, and she also knows that Thony is clever and capable and holds a surprising amount of power, and often does manage to fix things even when a situation seems impossible. Which is exactly what Thony does next– and while I wish that Thony had explained to Nadia about what she was going to do, so Nadia didn’t have to have those brief moments of terror and betrayal before she lost consciousness, I get that it had to be written this way or it would have spoiled the twist. But oh man, even though I knew  Thony wouldn’t kill her and that she was going to be fine, the relief at seeing her wake up on that couch was still so damn real, phew. Eva did an amazing job with Nadia’s emotions on waking up, from utter confusion to a mix of relief, gratitude and anger. The scene between her and Thony in Jeremy’s lair felt like it was cut off midway through, which I guess means that they’re going to pick up exactly where they left off in the finale next week, like this was actually a 3-part finale rather than a 2 parter, and I can’t wait to see more of the Nadia/Thony dynamic next week.

And given my love for both Nadia and Thony, gotta say I do love how much Ramona herself has shown genuine admiration for both women, for their competence, intelligence, determination, fortitude, their coolness under pressure, and their desire for power. (Like in her conversation with Ramona, Thony would always deny that desire, but tbh people who want a simple family life do not become cardiac surgeons. Much like being a cartel leader, it’s a profession that provides money, prestige, authority, and a near-godlike ability over life and death– ergo, power). Anyway, Ramona’s entire art collection, her life, is centred around women with those traits, and tbh in another life I think these three incredible women could have become an unbeatable team that ruled Vegas together. Ramona saw that possibility and tried to make it happen, only for both of them to reject her, and now… well, I think we are heading for a ‘this town ain’t big enough for the both of us’ situation, and lbr it’s going to be Thony that’s the one left standing

Honestly I love that I have written a bunch of words already for this ep, and it’s all been about women– that’s one of the true gifts of this show, how much it focuses on women and their stories and their relationships. In the earlier seasons it was mostly just focused around Thony and Fi’s characters, but after the loss of Adan, and having a female villain for a change (two if you count Russo), the focus on women has definitely expanded and been even more apparent this season. I’m sad that it’s looking unlikely that Ramona or my baby Nadia will return next season, because they deserved to have more of their story told. Still, I’m clinging to the hope that Nadia may somehow return, and I’ll get more of the amazing Thony & Nadia dynamic that we all deserve

Anyway I guess I could talk about a boy now– though given that he is literally surrounded by women in his life, Jorge is an honorary girl to me lol. It was cute to see him so excited about all the hotel stuff, from his big spiel to Nadia to all the proposal materials in his office– looks like he’s finally found his own path, not just the one Ramona chose for him. (Though holy shit it’s so messed up that the corporate world is literally the best place to hide illegal activity, wow). I found it hilarious that when Jorge was trying to sell Nadia on the hotel idea and saying all this stuff about how she’ll be the face of it etc, the picture very clearly shows he’s planning to call it ‘JS hotel’ lol. So she’s the face but it’s named after you?? Hmmm. Also geez he laid it on a little thick with the flattery there, but I guess it worked, because you could see how smitten she was with the hotel idea. And I can understand how some people might interpret that as her being smitten with him, but I genuinely don’t think so. First of all, she lost the man she loved literally like a week and a half ago; there’s no way that she has even the slightest inclination to look at anyone romantically right now. Plus, the show has already established that she’s incredibly good at reading people. She knows he’s trying to manipulate her in order to access her money, but in her life, that’s just a demonstration of good business skills. She sees what working with him can give her, and she wants it. In S1 she says to Arman “What do we own? Nothing”-- I think it’s hugely important to her character to actually be in possession of something big, to be the owner, not just the manager, to remove herself as far from the powerless girl from the Argentinian slums as she can. Anyway I love that one of his arguments is that she’ll be ‘set for life’ if they do this… because apparently already having 50 million dollars isn’t being set for life??? Man, what a world they live in haha. Anyway with it seeming unlikely that Nadia will be around next season, I wonder if the hotel will still somehow happen in S4? Maybe somehow Thony gets involved with it, though I don’t really see her wanting any part in something like that… tbh my main concern is that we might not get to see the La Habana set next season :(

Seeing Jeremy’s reaction to being burned was so satisfying. Not so clever now, are you, buddy?? Got outsmarted by a civilian just like Garrett did, and now you’ll be working with her, just like Garrett… but unlike Garrrett, she has zero regard or sense of obligation toward you, and so you may think she’s gonna work with you and follow your orders, but think again. She’s just going to bide her time until she has you right where she wants you, and then she will completely fuck you over, because you betrayed her family and took the man she loves, and that’s what you deserve. Be grateful if you walk out of all of this alive. 

Other stuff:

Omg Fi going for the baseball bat to take out the smoke alarm. Someone has issues with impulsivity haha. Tbh her and Thony’s entire relationship is just the two of them taking turns holding each other back from doing something stupid and I love it

Ugh seeing Nadia standing all alone in that huge empty house, talking about how it’s time to put the past behind her and have a fresh start… and then later saying to Jorge that she just wants to be free… and then Thony telling her at the end that she’s free and she tells Thony that she took her whole life form her… ugh stop giving me stressful foreshadowing here writers. If Nadia has to go, write her out by having her run away into the sunset with her millions. Don’t make me watch her die twice!!!!!!!!!

I didn't initially remember seeing Ramona and Russo cross paths at La habana, but @gsue74 reminded me that they glimpse each other across the club the first time Ramona goes there, and Ramona noticed the way Nadia reacted to her arrival. Well done of the writers to plant that in 3x04 to come back up now. Anyway I do enjoy Russo’s sassiness though. It was never super obvious before bc she was always having to play the serious one keeping Garrett in line, but I think I see why they got along lol

Oh boy the agent that scared Violeta really fucked up lol, like maybe don’t piss off a super powerful cartel leader??? Dude’s gonna be feeding the fishes in the Hoover Dam in no time lol

 I love that the proposed hotel site is completely in the middle of nowhere, like too bad if the guests want to visit any other part of Vegas haha. Though I guess that might be entire point, to make it like a one-stop shop so guests will spend all their time and money in the one place lol

JD is such a cutie. Loved him taking advantage of a free weekday to bring thoughtful gifts for his bae. Lol at Fi shutting him up with a kiss– she really needs to go somewhere private and tell him everything though, bc he needs to know so he doesn’t inadvertently screw things up for them again. 

I really felt for Fi when she found the immigrant worker house empty– this show is always full of painful near-misses in terms of timing, but at least in this case there’s still the hope that Thony will be able to use her sway over Jorge to find Camila and Gisele

Anyway ugh the promo for the finale looks so good… Nadia at Thony’s house, wearing borrowed clothes while Thony makes a plan to get her her money back… Jorge apparently being there too and helping them… Thony in a fancy dress, shooting a gun… it might be Ramona’s assassin guy that she shoots (one of the clips looks like he could be fighting with Jeremy) but man it would be cool if it was actually Ramona or Jeremy that she shoots, and honestly I’m so down for either of those options. Maybe she even does it to protect one of them from the other– like maybe she shoots Ramona to save Jeremy, which would mean she’d probably get pardoned by the FBI for everything. Or she shoots Jeremy to save Ramona, making Ramona extremely grateful, and as a result Ramona makes sure the shooting never ties back to her, and brings her into Sin Cara in a position of power…. Either way it’s going to make for an interesting S4!  

[whump-side]

Whump Challenge

I got tagged by @whump-captain to participate in the challenge. If you see this and want to participate, feel free! Don't by shy~ 1. Favorite whump trope(s)? Anything that'll make a whumpee bleed from the side. Shot, stabbed, you name it !

2. Least favorite whump trope(s)? I'm really not into whump with a whumper or pet whump. 

3. Top 3 whump scenes and why? No.6 episode 11. Oh man, this whole episode goes so hard, if you know, you know Detective Conan Chapter 251-254. I remember obsessively rereading these chapters as a 8yo kid No third place because there are 100 scenes fighting for the 3rd place in my head so I'll leave this empty

4. Top 3 characters to whump and why? Lance from Voltron. I love goofballs getting whumped. The switch between their goofy personalities to just pain, yes. Kaeya from Genshin. If anyone has good whump fanfics, please send them this way. This man is a walking whumpee Can't think of a 3rd character so I'll say my OC Birb 

5. Favorite fandom for whump (show, series, etc)? Anime/manga, animated show (Voltron, Avatar, in these kind of styles where adults look like adults) or Webtoons 

6. Do you prefer written or watchable whump? Watchable but I also enjoy written 

7. Do you also like hurt/comfort? Hell yes ! 

8. What do you think the difference between hurt/comfort and whump is? Hurt/comfort : gentle pat pat to soothe the pain Whump : stab stab to do the pain 

9. How would you explain whump to someone who’s not familiar with it? Angst but add pain, blood and injuries to it. 

10. Is there any old whump you particularly enjoy? (say, pre 2000?) It's gonna be 2000 exactly : Mulan. The moment when she realised she got hurt by Shan Yu. 

11. Why do you think you like whump? Good question it's always been there since I was really young. 

12. When did you realize you liked whump? Never, as mentioned before, it kinda was there all the time. 

13. Favorite posts with whump (gifsets, picspams, etc) ✨Art✨ 

14. Are you “out” to people in real life? My bff know that I love "angst" especially when it's bloody. I think I told them once that I found the whump community, but I'm sure I didn't say the word whump specifically 

15. How did you find the whump community? I was probably looking at "injured" or similar tags until I think I found an anime whump gifset and connected the dots when I saw the tag "whump" 

16. Any unusual mediums you like for whump (plays, music, vlogs, etc)? Stock photos. With enough imaginations, lots of things can be whumpy. It's like using a filter but with your brain. 

17. Any meta about whump you’ve been dying to share? None that I think of at the moment. 

18. Whump fic(s) you’d love to see? I'd love to read some Thoma whump from Genshin Impact. Haven't check now if there's something new with him 

19. Whump you’re looking forward to? (Maybe something teased or something you haven’t seen yet?) I am well fed with whump at the moment 👌 

20. Top 3 favorite whump fics? Oh god. I never save fics and then regret it when I want to read them again. The Purity of Sin by IcyPanther. I red it in one sitting before going to bed and then I realized it's 4am when I was finished There was a fanfic with Lance getting pneumonia while being stranded with Shiro and I can't find it ;-; A fic with my fem!Hawkle and Fenris my bff wrote me a few years ago 👌

21. Tropes you think are overdone? Whumper/Whumpee and captive whump. Let whumpees be hurt by nature in the wild far from any humans for a change. 

22. Tropes you think we could use more of? Environmental whump or whump without a whumper. 

23. Favorite sites/archives for consuming whump? Tumblr, AO3, Pinterest, Youtube 

24. Have your whump preferences changed recently? If so, why? Recently nothing has changed, but I'm always down to explore new tropes. Like I did with a tiny whumpee some times ago

[moonlit-orchid]

You already know who I'm gonna ask for😻 Astral for the ask prompt thingy?

Here we go!

Favourite thing about them

Everything His personality! I love how he is capable of being super serious and cold but also the sweetest guy ever! In the first season, especially near the start, he was the most sarcastic guy ever, and was just done with EVERYTHING, but under all that he's genuinely sweet, just look at him in Cross Duel XD

(I also really love his dub voice. It may sound a bit too old but it's really good, especially how he can sound like a fed up parent one second then a very loving brother the next)

Least favourite thing about them

What happened to him at the end. His way of getting Yuma to duel him in the final duel episode was a bit weird, and his attitude was not like him at all. I feel like it would have been more in character for him to be like 'I don't want to do this, but I have no choice, it's what I was entrusted to do...buuuuuut if you maybe duel me I'll have a reason not to' rather than the cold act he put on. I get that it was to raise stakes and all, but you can have a high stakes emotional duel without making one betray the others, like Joey and Yugi's duel in the Duelist Kingdom Arc. Also I am not happy that he was the only one who didn't get to stay on earth. If frickin' VECTOR deserved a normal life so did he!

Favourite line(s)

(Tired parent voice) "Two multiplied by four is eight"

"Oh, please. You snorer." (Yes he really did call Yuma this. Twice)

(Affection brother voice) "I believe that is called '✨detention✨'

The whole speech he gave when taking over the duel against 96 "Yuma, please know I will always be here to high five sky with you" (you hear that? That's me sobbing)

Also my favourite line (so far) in Cross Duel "I feel the same way about you <3" (this is just a dating sim at this point XD)

BrOTP

Him and Yuma! Obviously. They just ARE brothers, you can't convince me otherwise. I also like to think that Astral's mentally adopted Yuma and considers him his child. Aside from Yuma another one is him and Nelson- they're best friends post series and go off on anime rants at 2 am in the morning on the phone to each other and Nelson uses his connections to get Astral rare merch.

Also thanks to cross duel, him and Yugi are a brOTP (Astral likes how nice Yugi is and Yugi just wants to be there for him), as well as him and Yusei (he sees Yusei as a big brother, and he and Yuma remind Yusei of Leo and Luna, plus Yusei keeps an eye on him) and him and Yusaku (ptsd kids who help each other cope) and also him and Skye (they're both sweet kids and i love the idea of skye helping him calm down when he's triggered)

OTP

me None :)

I just don't ship him with anyone, he's very much aroace (i say that like i dont hc EVERYONE as aroace with only a few exceptions XD)

nOTP

(Hides) Him and Mist! I'm sorry, I know how popular that is, but I just can't ship them! I can easily see them as brothers, but not lovers. Not just because of them looking like twins but also I just don't think it would be a very healthy dynamic. (Also Astral and Don Thousand, because apparently that's a thing. Even if I didn't hc Don as Astral's father, that ship just makes me uncomfortable. Astral's clearly a child and Don is clearly an adult)

Random headcanon

Astral can drive despite being underage. Really really dangerously. He once had to drive a car because Kaito couldn't. In Kaito's words: "Never again!" Did they all live? Yes. Did Astral destory a lot of property? Also yes.

Unpopular opinion

I've already mentioned this one before: I can't hc Astral as nb/ using they/them pronouns. Canon has already established Astral as he/him, and while I fully understand if others want to hc him that way, I just can't, sorry.

Song I associate with them

Angel with a Shotgun (probably because of an amv I watched of him) and also Queen of Mean from Descendants 3 XD, I just think it suits the Sargasso events when he lost control. Also that bit in Happier than Ever, "I dont relate to you, cause I'd never treat me this shitty" sounds like him yelling at Eliphas.

Favourite picture of them

Any scene where he's smiling! (I have waaay too many screencaps to go hunting for one)

Example: THIS SCENE!

[llycaons]

Ep2: little apple mvp

fuck, but these are getting long. putting under a readmore

these early wandering scenes are really nice. lighthearted and peaceful, and probably quite enjoyable for a wwx whose last memories were of grief and pain and exhaustion and stress and persecution

reminds me - wwx was crying last episode when jc came to kill him. he might have smiled a bit, but he seemed so resigned to the fact that jc hated him but when jc told him to go and die he started crying. it was so fucking sad

the most brilliant mind of his generation on coaxing a donkey to walk...

you know this was 😬 but wwx has tremendous bad luck here because how was he supposed to know? saying something slightly rude is now punishable by death because of the context. but wwx made an honest mistake! also jl was being extremely arrogant and aggressive

jc crushing the paperman while lwj carried it so carefully on his palm...so deep

I don't agree with either wwx or lwj's methods here but jc being extremely aggressive and mean and critical of jl is really not helping his emotional development either. fuck, if a parental figure treated me like that I'd act out too

lwj coming just in time to keep jl from fucking stabbing wwx >>>>>>

the petty-off between jc and lwj is extremely funny here bc lwj refusing to deign to even open his mouth while jc fumes and throws as cruel insults as he can and I think wwx is finding it funny too? it seems like he's trying to hold back a smile here

this being wwx's memories of teenage jc 😭

THIS LINE. AFTER HE REMEMBERS HIS SISTER. SOBBING

little apple coming back to him after this very sad little scene had me a little misty-eyed...god but that donkey loves him so much in the end and he loves her so much...lsz was the first to show him kindness in this new life but she was the first to stick with him 🥺

I honest to god could not care less about this plot I think it's very boring but I do like jl's outfit with the little gold dots and the hair pieces

wwx is also kind of harsh to the kids lmao and then jingyi is like 'hgj is going to KILL us 😭' which is very funny given what we've seen of lwj so far (he's very calm and gives them support, info, and encouragement) esp compared to the anger, critiques and unhelpful demands of jc. like, I don't doubt he's disciplined juniors but we never seen anything harsh from him so what is jingyi even referring to? I don't count the handstands as cql canon btw I think it's absurd

comedy scenes of all time. to me. the anti-chemistry is palpable

it's so so funny to see Those jc fans rewrite this episode like 'jc was looking for wwx the entire time 🥺 they're brothers' when it's so starkly apparent that jc was clearly extremely angry the entire time, told jl to kill wwx before learning his identity, told jl repeatedly that all dc's like wwx should be killed and fed to the dogs, and then immediately tried to expel him from mxy's body (kill him again) after learning his identity. buddy I don't think he's at the point in his journey you think he is

he's also really rude and demanding of his disciples...I was wondering how he was with them bc I didn't remember and the answer is, not surprisingly, pretty harsh. well...at least he's involved?

the editing on this was SO funny. cut from wwx asking this to this statue, far in the distance, chasing after these tiny figures of cultivators. way to sap the drama out of a shot

he loves to do a spinny <3 even if they are in mortal danger he must do a spinny

REUNION SHOT!!!!! the tension building between them and FINALLY having them meet is just MWAH. and wwx grabbing lwj's arm afterwards is still one of my favorite little things bc wwx doesn't actually do that very often! it's nice to see him reach out to lwj almost on instinct when it's usually lwj reaching out and trying to connect with him instead. the romance in these first two episodes. ugh. delicious

whatever they did make wn look like this is was really effective

BE NICE TO HIM JC!! also even tho jiangs are the purple clan, they seem to wear blue a lot

lwj also doing a little spinny to open his weapon even though his newly resurrected beloved is in mortal AGAIN from the guy who killed him the first time = wwx doing a little spinny earlier even though his nephew and a bunch of kids were about to die. truly soulmates

I hate this shot SO much. the lens and the angle are so unflattering. you can see right up his nostrils in some of these shots

OHHH YOU"RE HURTING ME. LOOK AT THOSE SMILES

jyl scrunching up her nose here is one of my favorite tiny moments in this entire show. it's so fucking cute and I love her so much

Personal highlights: ep2

wwx grabbing lwj's wrist right after they reunite

jyl scrunching up her nose

wwx and lwj twin spinny maneuvers

little apple coming back and wwx being excited about it

[munchychumpkins]

My Opinions On Characters That No One Asked For: Millie

So, since everyone and their mother have given there two cents on Millie as a character, i figured i’d throw my hat in the ring cause i’ve honestly got nothing better to do on tumblr.com

For the most part, i kind of agree. Millie is kind of one-dimensional

Her entire character atm relies on Moxxie being present and being the center of her attention, she hasn’t had significant growth outside of their relationship together

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s cute, it’s entertaining, the majority of the fandom is in agreement (from what i’ve seen) that this is a healthy, stable relationship

But beyond that, Millie doesn’t have much character that we’ve explored yet

To repeat literally every post i’ve seen on this subject, she’s good at her job, she likes what she does, she’s violent, protective, and sweet to her friends

In a way, that kind of makes me excited for her, because there’s still so much to be learned about her, it leaves more… wiggle room, i suppose, for her to behave certain ways that can’t be deemed out of character because we haven’t seen what that character truly is yet

Now yes, at the point of me writing this we are 3 episodes into season 2 and we haven’t gotten a Millie dedicated episode yet, it’s a problem, it needs to be fixed, waiting this long for it was a mistake but a bigger mistake would be not doing it at all

So what are some things that could possibly happen that would give Millie a reason to grow outside of Moxxie?

Well think about what we know so far

She is always beside Moxxie

She will defend Moxxie with her life

She has violent tendencies when she needs them

So how do you expand on a character who’s growth has so far been dependent on another?

Give them a reason to separate

And before anyone assumes i’m asking for them to break up, calm your tits, that’s not what i’m saying

Make it so that, even if only for one episode, Millie’s can’t be at Moxxie’s side 24/7, they are apart and there’s nothing she can do about it, she has to grow on her own because her usual motivation isn’t there anymore

When you want characters to grow as characters, you put them in scenarios that they aren’t comfortable with, that they aren’t used to

Maybe Moxxie gets sick and can’t come into work, and Millie, for one reason or another, gets stuck on the other side and has to use her own know-how to get back, because Moxxie is literally incapable of helping her atm

There’s plenty of things that could be done to enhance Millie as a character, we just have to get there

So far, the main focuses of the series have been Blitz, Stolas, and Mox, and as much as i love and enjoy seeing how they’ve all grown and how each is being expanded upon, you can’t have one of your main protagonists remain stagnant for an extended period of time, your story will suffer from it

I don’t dislike Mills by any means, i’d actually go as far to say that she’s one of my favorites and the one i’m most excited to see grow outside of Stolas, and i don’t think Vivz has ‘ruined the series’ by waiting this long to expound upon one of her main protags, but the bottom line is that it is needed at this point, because people have begun to grow tired of the same tropes that have been fed to us over this one specific character time and time again

Anyways, watch Helluva Boss, 10/10, one of my favorite shows, highly recommend

[uapro]

Yes we all agree: Every UFO documentary ever made falls woefully shy of perfect. 

Well even "The Best" are far from perfect, most are just plain shit. 

Seriously. If a dog left most UFO documentaries on the carpet you'd rub his nose in them... 

Let's examine again the six rules -- criteria -- that a good UFO documentary must follow. And they are...

#1. Get rid of the hype. 

Most "Documentaries" waste ridiculous amounts of time on hype. Stick to the facts, let the audience decide what is significant.

Presentation is important, yes, but not at the expense of content.

#2. Entertain. 

You have to capture the attention of an audience, and hold it. So you need to be the opposite of boring, which is entertaining. Present facts but do it with style!

#3. Stop focusing on celebrities.

"Celebrity" is a measure of how well known someone is, whether or not you ever heard of them. Some of the biggest (most obvious) charlatans are the biggest celebrities. 

Celebrity drives hype. 

Wait. Celebrities aren't poison. What is poison, and ruins most UFO documentaries, is the same very old list of names & faces.

Regardless of whether you believe Bob Lazar or not, we all know his claims date back some 40 years! You've heard them. You've heard them again. And again. And again. We're about four decades past due to move on!

And there's a lot of UFO "Celebrities" like Bob Lazar -- George Knapp, Travis Walton (etc). You've heard their stories. We don't need to be spoon fed them again & again. Move on.

You know what would be an acceptable use of a celebrity? Try this: A country singer or sitcom star talks about their UFO experience. Providing you didn't already see 800 other documentaries where they talked about it. But the people who make a living off of UFOs? Those "Celebrities?" Give it a rest.

Related..

#4. STOP regurgitating the same stories! 

Unless you're going to say something new about the Phoenix Lights,  don't. As a matter of fact, the amount of time you should spend on  any one event/example needs to be in inverse proportion to it's media footprint. THE MORE it's already been aired in documentaries, THE LESS TIME you need to spend on it.

Debunking is different. 

#5. Debunking is great. 

Debunking is different. The larger the media footprint of a claim, the more worthy of debunking. Obviously if people never heard of a phenomenon or event there's no point in debunking it, unless it's relevant to something else.

#6. Keep it short & sweet. 

While there is such thing as "Too much of a good thing," most UFO/paranormal documentaries are far from good. Quite frankly they are bad. The easiest way to make a bad film better is to make it shorter... so there's less bad to deal with. 

It's similar to how you can't make a shit sandwich taste good, but you can make it taste less shitty IF YOU REMOVE SOME OF THE SHIT! 

Make it as short as you can, no longer than it has to be. If you find yourself going over an hour, break it up. Make it a two or three parter.

SIMPLE RULE: In real life, or at least in broadcast television, a 30 minute show is actually no more than 22 minutes, and an hour long show is no more than 44 minutes. Yes, they leave room for commercials. So once you hit 20 minutes or so you might want to think about doing multiple episodes.

[my-name-is-jefferooni]

Just me talkin bout Sonic Prime, nothing to see here

I literally JUST saw Sonic Prime about an hour before writing this, and... IT WAS AMAZING!! I will be honest, I skipped most of season one so I'm kind of a fraud, but I SWEAR I will get back to season 1 in a moment! For now I have all the context I need.

(plz don't chew me out I promise I'm gonna watch it...)

I wasnt gonna watch sonic prime anyway, i just got fed up with all the out of context spoilers so i wanted to see what all the hype was about

ANYWHIZZLE

I'm just gonna talk about Sonic and Shadow for a sec, don't mind me- Okay so we're all aware of Sonadow. It's been a thorn in my side for years, actually. I never liked Sonadow surprisingly, and that's mostly due to how Deviantart portrayed the ship. When I started out as a mediocre writer, (I'm not working as a writer or anything, I just do this for fun) I posted my work on DA while simultaneously enjoying a bunch of STH fanart. I got into the fandom thanks to Gigi's "The Murder of Me," which is pretty popular. ANYHOW, I constantly stumbled upon Sonadow ship art and every single time I did, it was always overly sexualized to some degree. And back then I was very very not okay with sexualizing characters who are clearly within their teens. I still am averse to this today! So naturally, I developed an evergrowing hatred for Sonadow, only seeing it for the shitshow that DA made it seem like. And that's how it was for years to come. For about 3-4 years, I despised Sonadow with a passion, only leaving room for one or two exceptions. (Read "The Heart of a Monster," which is actually here on Tumblr. I've reblogged the comic a few times on this blog.) Then Sonic Prime came along and chucked all that disdain out the window with the help of some Tumblr peeps that I follow. If you saw the first episode then you know exactly what I mean. I saw the first episode of season 1B, enjoyed Sonic and Shadow's dynamic, started to really think about it... Then I too fell down the Sonadow rabbit hole. So far I only have 2 exceptions for Sonadow but I'm not willing for that to change. Sonadow's probably not all bad, it's probably just the horrors of Deviantart that I witnessed. Sure, the cover of a book is meant to be judged, but I don't read books so I can't judge something that I can't even see. Tl:DR, I used to hate Sonadow but now Sonic Prime is making me love them.

CHAOS SONIC!!!!!!!! I love him so much. I already loved them just based on their design alone and from what little I'd seen of them, but then I actually watched the episode, and... Wow. He is a riot. Like. Literally the first thing this guy says to Sonic is calling him out on his insecurities. RIGHT OFF THE BAT THE TWO ARE NECK-AND-NECK AND FIGHTING TO THE DEATH! Here we have a perfectly great Metal Sonic that can fight Sonic and then get back up again after a defeat without needing any at-home repairs! They're the perfect anti for Sonic, since they also just. Get back up again. They don't ever give up, and that's what I love about him! Chaos also just runs his mouth all the time, never stopping to take a breath because he can't even breathe, and that's great! THIS ROBOT IS LITERALLY JUST ADHD BUT ENCASED IN METAL. As opposed to Sonic, who is ADD encased in flesh and quills. Oh, and don't even get me started on Sonic and Chaos's dynamic! The two bounce off each other in a literal and metaphorical sense! Chaos says something, and then Sonic retorts by either saying something in response or does something in response. They can also read each other like open books, as if they've known each other their whole lives, and it's great seeing them play off each other so well! You don't get to see this kind of rivalry/dynamic between Metal and Sonic anymore these days, since Metal has been sidelined to a silent assassin that just wants to get the job done. Him and Sonic don't have a very intriguing dynamic, but Chaos and Sonic do! And I love that! (I'm not trying to imply that Metal staying mute is inherently a bad thing all around, but it's just really refreshing to see a talking Metal Sonic that has a really great dynamic with the original.)

Nine's betrayal makes sense! That's all I really wanna say tbh-

Aight so I'm sorta losing my "Touch" right now and I've been typing for a while. Look at all this! This is an essay! I do have a ton more thoughts on a lot of the other characters like Mangy and the Amy's, and also Sonic's new form! But this is really long already and my fingers are getting tired, so maybe there will be a part two. Who knows!

Thanks for reading my very first post ever, and sorry about how long it is. Hopefully my next one will be shorter.

Anywhizzle, ima go look at Sonic Prime spoilers. Can't wait for the actual season 2!