#like literally i do Not understand how anyone thinks tim ''i am going to shield kon from kryptonite with my useless cape'' drake

[mamawasatesttube]

ohhhggnnh when will i learn not to ever look at the timkon tag... ohhgnnh my foolish thoughts of "maybe i will see pretty art and get in the mood to keep writing!" foolish foolish FOOLISH

anyway um. i think shovel talks are a fucking terrible trope and i wish they would die off already <3

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

I'm not sure if you've already said this but I'm asking anyway. Since you're the local Flashfam expert and also a PJO lover (you have no idea how happy I am that we like the same things), what godly parents would the Flashfam have? Like, all of the fam. Counting characters like Linda and Iris

And it'd also be cool if you assigned a cabin for the Titans and/or the Young Justice too-

I mean it has to be Hermes. It literally has to be Hermes for the speedsters. Like, maybe we throw in a Roman twist and say Mercury every once in a while, but that's just gotta be the answer.

Jay literally wears Hermes' helmet. Max named himself after Mercury. Barry wears Hermes' winged shoes and has wings on his head. Same with Wally. Jay is also literally given Hermes'/Mercury's powers on Earth-2.

And it makes sense, it really does. God of travellers? Check. The winged aesthetic? Check. God of messengers? Check! God of tricksters, liars and thieves? Look, the speedsters are all of the above just in a VERY chaotic good way. They don't rob people but also when Wally found out that the museum had the bones of a fallen soldier from another country without said countries permission or consent? HE STOLE THEM BACK. Bart has absolutely no qualms taking things, Max has been a thief in the past, Jay and Barry work by pirate rules aka 'if I defeat you, I get your stuff', ect. They don't do armed robbery and they don't like stealing from random citizens, but bad guys are free game.

Iris I have to go on the nose and say Iris because Iris is the goddess of messengers and rainbows, and Iris is literally a reporter? So her whole thing is spreading information? While looking stunning.

Linda is an Athena kid 125%. Linda writes books, she was a kickass investigative reporter, she went to med school, she knows more about speedster biology and how it works than literally anyone else in her home dimension, she regularly fights aliens with no powers and just whatever weapons she finds laying around. Linda is intelligent, she's cunning and witty and she will cut a bitch.

Joan is a Hestia kid. Just... family, love, warmth. Need I say more?

As for the Titans... well, Donna is already taken care of. Garth... is technically also taken care of I think?? Atlanteans exist in Greek mythology so Garth is just the same I think. Roy... fuck it, Ares. I said what I said come at me bro. For Dick I would want to go with a minor god or goddess, I like the idea of him being a child of Psyche (Goddess of the human soul) because he is very human and he understands people on a level that might be considered supernatural. Lilith would be the oracle. Karen would be a child of Hephaestus and Mal would 100% just be a guy who can see through the mist and has a shield.

Gar is the last son of Pan because that's cool AF. Raven would be the daughter of Tartarus I think. Vic would be a son of Apollo. I know it's really easy to go for Hephaestus for Vic but honestly, the key part of Vic's story to me isn't that he's a cyborg, it's that he's human. He's a survivor, who, against all odds, received bat shit crazy medical treatment from his father and survived a fatal accident. I like the idea that Apollo saw a guy doing crazy stuff to advance medical science and was like 'Hey there 😉😉😉😉'. Also pre accident Vic was a football player which has a lot to do with aim, so idk, I just like it. Starfire would be a demigod child of the sun deity on her home planet.

For Young Justice, Cassie and Bart are already covered. Kon would be a legacy of Nemesis (Lex) and a legacy of a deity from Krypton. Cissie would be a daughter of Ares and a legacy of Apollo. Greta would be a child of Morpheus. Tim would be the son of Lachesis. Slobo is Slobo. Anita.... Tbh I want to say she's a legacy of Aphrodite? Love is a huge part of her backstory and I dislike giving the non powered characters godly parentage that explains away their abilities. They worked hard for those skills!

[codenamed-queenie]

#BatsInQuarantine

I am going insane. So I poured my restlessness into one long and very detailed post and got super into it. Please enjoy this hot mess.

The Justice League, being the well-meaning virus-proof Super Friends that they are, took one good look at the news, one good look at their non-powered friends Ollie, Bruce, and their families, and collectively decided that these normal humans must be Protected At All Costs.

Now, keep in mind, Bruce is never one to roll over when it comes to being benched. 

However, he understands the importance of social distancing. He knows he needs to set a good example for his kids, and keep up appearances as Gotham’s Most Responsible Multi-Billionaire. 

So. Quarantine it is. 

But how are his kids handling it?

Dick - 

100% on board in the beginning. Gotta do the Responsible Thing. Gotta set a Good Example. Besides, guys, this is gonna be Fun. Quality Family Time is always a Must.

He lasted 2 days. 

Then he started to get twitchy. 

And as everyone knows? A Trapped Dick Grayson is a Feral Dick Grayson.

He bounces off the walls.

Literally.

“I have to climb.” 

“Dick, no.”  

“I have to climb everything.”

Has scaled the manor 16 times already. Has climbed the chandelier. The banister. Bruce. The roof. The Cave. Anything in the house that’s been bolted down and especially anything that hasn’t. 

Duke found him clinging to the wall 10 ft off the ground like Spiderman and screamed so loud it shattered glass. 

Desperate for news of the outside. 

He thrives off of it like a starving man. 

Was the one to suggest he and Barbara take a break to Social Distance from each other (”Sorry, babe, kissing spreads germs”) and experienced Instant Regret(TM) approximately 5 minutes after. 

The Family has labelled him a Flight Risk Level 1 (Most likely to say f**k it and make a break for the outside world)

Jason - 

Accidentally got trapped inside the manor with the others when Bruce called Shutdown. If he had his way, he’d be chilling in his favorite safe-house right now, binging The Witcher with Roy and Artemis, and not worrying about finding a stray brother in his sock drawer.

But he’s nothing if not an opportunist. 

The way he sees it, Jason has 3 options:

Self Improvement

Self Isolation (See Duke, Cass, and Damian)

Descension Into Madness (See Dick and Steph)

And, well, he always wanted to try a few things. Now he’s got the free time to do it.

So he settles on baking. 

Alfred’s got enough food and raw ingredients stored up to feed an army. (Not because he’s a Panic-Buying-Hoarder in times like these. But because he’s a Panic-Buying-Hoarder all the time. Just try feeding 11+ teenagers sometime.)

Uses recipes he finds off Google.

His first few attempts are, in a word, ‘tragic’.

Alfred slips him a few of his recipe cards, and Jason suddenly starts seeing Results. 

Turns out he’s pretty good at this baking thing once he gets the hang of it. 

Hope everyone’s okay eating nothing but pie, macaroons, biscuits, and whatever else Jason whips up. 

Cause that’s gonna be the only food left by the time he’s done. 

Barbara - 

Self-quarantined with her dad. 

They’ve been binge-watching classic black and white movies together.

It’s a fun time, but she’s started to get a little antsy. Loving her dad and wanting to be around him 24/7 are, understandably, mutually exclusive. 

Calls the manor to video-chat every day.

For her sanity just as much as theirs. 

Gives everyone little challenges to film on their phones and send in. She makes compilations of everyone’s submissions so they can all watch and laugh together. 

Bonus points for Creativity

One comp shows the family trying to drop Mentos into coke bottles. 

Dick did a handstand, and dropped his Mento from the second story balcony. 

Tim did it wearing the Batman cowl. The soda exploded into his face, and the rest of the video is just Bruce’s Shrieking.

Stephanie tried it, but the bottle tipped. Everyone on camera screamed as the bottle rocketed through the front window. 

She spends most of her calls having one-on-one convos with Dick.

They’ve come up with little code phrases so they can be Cheesy even with family members lurking in the background. 

She thinks the way he clings to the monitor is cute. 

Almost like he’s giving her a hug through the screen. 

(It’s easier than letting herself worry about his mental state, at least)

Tim -

Oh this boy.

Freaked out for the first five minutes before he decided ‘hey wait, Bruce is letting me stay in my pajamas all day? Noice.’ 

Now he’s just vibing.

The rest of his family is Low-Key shielding him.

He Has No Spleen, you see.

Steph: “Someone could cough on him and he could die!”

He just goes about his day, playing Animal Crossing like there’s no tomorrow, tinkering on projects, taking naps, etc. Living his best life.

Meanwhile there’s always someone lurking behind him, keeping watch, keeping him safe. 

Dick sneezed within 5 feet of Tim once (the fact that he was on top of the dusty bookshelf Tim was perusing is irrelevant)

Jason still full-body tackled him the second Tim’s back was turned. 

No one with any symptoms--

Like, any symptoms. They don’t even have to be Corona-related.

--is allowed within 10 feet of Tim. 

Tim has been wandering the manor for weeks, now, without seeing another human being. 

(He sees Dick on the ceiling sometimes, but that doesn’t really count)

He’s been trying increasingly drastic pranks and shenanigans to draw someone, anyone, out. 

But it doesn’t matter how many times he steals Damian’s sword, or sets fire to Jason’s brownie bites.

Nobody wants to risk it. 

Cass - 

No one has seen her since quarantine started.

Everyone is approximately 87% sure she’s somewhere in the manor though

Because she does eat the meals Alfred leaves out for her.

Or at least someone does, at any rate. 

(Jason and Santa top the running suspects list)

Santa was Steph’s suggestion. For some reason it snowballed. 

It’s assumed that Cass misunderstood the meaning of ‘social distancing’ and took it too far. 

But no one knows for sure. 

She is Tim’s Guardian Angel. 

People who so much as clear their throats a little too loudly anywhere near him suddenly wake up on a different floor of the house four hours later. 

Duke came closest to spotting her while he was up in the attic. 

Either that, or there’s another Creepy Sister everyone forgot to tell him about living up there.

She is silent, and watchful, sticking to the shadows, but she does leave the occasional note out to brighten her siblings’ day. 

Things like ‘helo i love u’ and ‘hop u ar ok’  mostly. 

She is bound and determined to protect her family from this invisible threat, no matter the cost. 

Steph - 

Like Dick, she was Super Pumped at first. 

(Just kind of showed up at Wayne Manor before quarantine was enacted. The original purpose of her visit is unclear, but regardless, she’s Trapped.)

Also Like Dick, her descent into madness was swift.

She is impossible to pin down. 

Not like Cass or Damian, who’ve stayed off the grid, and are therefore Untraceable. 

No. She’s impossible to pin down, because she never stops moving. 

Switches seamlessly between Zumba on top of the Giant Dinosaur in the Batcave, and furiously knitting Alfred (the Cat) a sweater with a pair of Tim’s used chopsticks. 

Braided everyone’s hair while they were asleep.

Even Bruce’s. 

She tried to do Tim’s, but somehow blacked out and regained consciousness in the attic. 

When she woke up with a scream and a furiously twitching eye, she startled Duke out of his Makeshift Fort he built out of old cardboard boxes and antique furniture. He’s had to resort to finding a new hiding place. 

Sometimes, on the rare occasions she does sit still, staring off into the distance, she’ll suddenly start laughing hysterically. This may last between thirty seconds and thirty minutes, depending entirely on how long it’s been since she’s knitted a cat sweater or done cartwheels through every room in the house.

Blew up the greenhouse out back, somehow.

Everyone has agreed not to talk about it.

Some people were built to handle prolonged time inside their homes.

Stephanie Brown is not that way.

Damian - 

Damian Wayne Cannot Be Contained.

At least not inside the house. 

He took off thirty-six hours into quarantine. 

Thanks to the security equipment around the borders of the Wayne Estate, he can’t escape the grounds. 

(He’s tried and failed multiple times. Jason and Bruce have a running bet on how many times the perimeter alarms will go off per day.)

(Jason is winning.)

He wanders the grounds with Titus as his only companion. 

The two of them run laps, practice drills, and find ways to occupy their time. 

No one’s entirely sure what those ways are. 

In fact, nobody knows exactly where Damian is at any given time. 

Only that he is Out There. 

And he’s the best security system Wayne Manor’s ever had. 

So far, he’s stopped five groups of civilians scaling the perimeter walls before the lasers and electric nets even have a chance to deploy.

They were trying to break in and steal supplies. 

(Even ones they already had in surplus. Like Toilet Paper.)

He’s also stopped Dick from escaping twelve (12) times.

Drags him back by his shirt collar and deposits him on the welcome mat. 

Usually with a note for Alfred/Jason, requesting more fruit tarts. 

Duke - 

Did not leave the attic for two weeks. 

Then Steph discovered his hiding spot (read: was dumped there by Cassandra) which forced him to relocate to the basement. 

Yes, it turns out Wayne Manor does have a basement. 

This was a surprise to Duke, who always thought that the Batcave was Bruce Wayne’s basement. 

Alfred keeps him supplied with all the necessities:

i.e. food, magazines, assorted pastries from Jason’s latest batch, usually straight out of the oven.

Duke also snagged the Manor’s Alexa. 

She has become a sort of ‘Wilson’ to Duke’s ‘Chuck Noland’.

She is his only comfort. His only ally. 

He’s determined to wait out this quarantine, doing his best to avoid the others. 

Duke has seen these people under pressure. 

He knows exactly what he’s dealing with. 

Duke: “Alexa is the only motherf****r in this madhouse I ever respected.”

*offended butler noises from the other room*

Duke: “And also Alfred.”

[batfamily--headcanons]

I really want to understand this universe(the golden era I think) so could you guide me on which comics I should read

I will first admit that I am no expert on comics and I’m not particularly good at keeping track of the different eras. However, I can give you a list of what I think are some of the most classic Batman/Batfam/DC stories and the ones I just adore.

Batman: A Death In the Family-Classic story, everyone pretty much knows of this story but not everyone has read it. This is when Jason Todd (Robin #2) is brutally murdered by the Joker and it is the first introduction to Robin #3, Tim Drake. It gets really weird in the middle, when the Joker becomes an ambassador for Iran, but stick with it because Tim’s introduction is one of the most interesting Robin origin stories.

Batman: Death Of the Family-This is a different story despite the way too similar name. It’s newer and more gruesome than you might expect. This is the story where the Joker taunts the entire Batfamily and kidnaps them all. It has the whole Batfam in it which is what made me want to pick it up and read it in the first place and is definitely a great way to understand the characters as all of their greatest fears are revealed in this story. There are multiple issues spanning across different series from Batman to Red Hood and The Outlaws, so I definitely recommend getting the trade paperback of it because it’s easier than hunting down each issue in order.

Batman: The Long Halloween-This is such a classic story with lots of Batman Rogues running around and causing mayhem. They’re also speculating that this is potentially what the new Robert Pattinson Batman movie is based on, so it might be good to read if you’re excited for that movie (I have mixed feelings, but I’m hopeful). Also as a huge Agents of SHIELD and comic fan in general, I love so much of what Jeph Loeb does.

Tom King’s current Batman run-Pretty good until the wedding issue and then shit goes off the rails fast and it angered a lot of fans, myself included. Nevertheless, it did have some great moments. He also wrote Heroes in Crisis, which I do not recommend at all.

Batman:The Killing Joke-The animated movie did this story so dirty and I will always be mad. It’s one of the many possible Joker origin stories and the most popular by far. It’s not a very long story, but it absolutely regarded as a classic and it is when Barbara gets shot by the Joker so it’s also important for a major change in canon as well. Solid writing, beautiful art. I could go on about this forever. If you do decide to watch the movie, skip the first half, it’s ridiculous filler (with a ridiculous 90′s stereotypical gay character to boot).

Dick Grayson as Agent 37-This was a pretty fun storyline all things considered. It’s great if you want to fully understand Dick’s character without getting confused about the baggage that is having all of the Batfam characters around. For some people, they get the Robins easily confused (part of that is DC’s fault for literally drawing the same character but just taller or shorter) so it shines the spotlight on Dick.

Red Hood and The Outlaws (The one with Roy and Kori)-I so badly want to recommend this because I love these characters together, but Lobdell’s writing is not always spot-on and his depiction of Kori is comic book misogyny at its finest at times. Maybe read the first few issues just to get a better feel for post-Lazarus pit Jason, but it’s not the best series.

Red Hood:The Lost Years:I am a slut for Jason Todd angst, I won’t lie and so this is one of my personal favourites and it helps to establish resurrected Jason’s character to new readers. You really see how he struggled after his death and Talia al Ghul is there too which is even better. Jason is one of the most interesting and complex characters in all of DC comics and they almost never do anything exciting with his character so this series is a breath of fresh air. 

Batman:Under the Red Hood-This is about Jason’s return to Gotham after being resurrected and it’s great. The conflict between him and Bruce once he learns that it’s Jason under the hood is so well-written and you find yourself agreeing with both of them to an extent. Another great Jason Todd story. There’s also an animated movie based on this as well and it’s pretty good all things considered (I have Jay’s speech to Bruce at the end memorized so that should tell how much I enjoy it).

A lot of the new 52 stuff is not great. Tim’s new 52 Titans team were just kind of meh and like I said, Red Hood and the Outlaws had potential but was brought down by not so great writing. I wish I could remember some good Tim or Damian stories right now, but I’m blanking. Super Sons is newer, but I liked it quite a bit. It’s about Damian, Bruce’s blood son, and Jon Kent, Superman and Lois’ son fighting crime and going on adventures together. It’s a nice bit of fluff in the darkness that comics has become these days.

Harley Quinn (The Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner series)-This one is probably one of my favourite new 52 releases. I love where they’ve taken Harley’s character, she’s more than just the Joker’s girlfriend and this series shows it. It’s not too serious and most of the time, it can be downright weird, but it’s so fun you can’t help but love it. I own every single issue from the Conner/Palmiotti run. I haven’t read it since they left, so if anyone has, let me know if it’s any good because from what I did see of it, I wasn’t super impressed.

I do have some non-DC recs too so I’ll put them here as well because why not

House of X/Powers of X-The best X-Men story in recent memory and I love the X-Men so much so this makes me so happy. They’ve done some very interesting things with the characters and I love the acknowledgement that Franklin Richards is technically a mutant and the catty way that Cyclops does it is great.

House of M-One of the best X-Men stories and probably what WandaVision will be taking a lot of inspiration from. If you like alternate universes and reality bending, this is for you.

Matt Fraction’s run on the Hawkeye solo series-This is what made me fall in love with Clint and Kate as characters. It shows that the Hawkeyes are not useless Avengers and it has a bit of humour to it, which I love. The Kate Bishop follow-up to this is pretty good too, but I haven’t finished it yet so I can’t vouch for the whole series.

Deadpool Killustrated Series-This is just Wade murdering his way through the Marvel Universe and then through the classic literary characters that those characters were based on. It’s dark, funny, strange story that’s a whole lot of fun without having to worry about keeping up with 80 years of canon. 

I hope this helped in some small way. I am always up for talking comic recommendations since none of my real life friends care about comics. If anyone has any recommendations for me, I am all ears. I read stuff from all over so brand is no issue. I don’t really feed into that Marvel vs DC stuff anymore. Both companies have their strengths and weaknesses and that’s okay. It’s really late here and I’m procrastinating writing a paper so do forgive any spelling errors or completely incoherent sentences :) Stay safe everyone!

[kcwcommentary]

VLD7x04 – “The Feud!”

7x04 – “The Feud!”

Can anyone tell me what the point of this episode is? I truly do not understand why this episode exists. Not only was this episode written, it was written by the (until part way through this season) Story Editor for this show Tim Hedrick. Even with episodes I think are a waste of time like 4x04 “The Voltron Show!” or 8x07 “Day Forty-Seven” or 8x08 “Clear Day,” I still at least recognize something of the writer’s intention, but I have no idea what the point of “The Feud!” is. There are episodes of this series that I really don’t like, but I haven’t dreaded rewatching any of them the way I dreaded rewatching this one. I don’t think there’s an episode of this show that I hate more than this one.

There is only one interpretation that I can think of for this episode, and it makes Tim Hedrick look extremely petty and unprofessional (see the end of this commentary).

The episode, with the juxtaposition of the visual design and the episode title, is clearly a reference to old gameshows like Family Feud. Voltron Legendary Defender’s target audience was young kids, and it’s hard for me to imagine anyone that young being familiar with old gameshows, so I have no idea how anyone thought this gameshow pastiche would be appealing to them.

I guess this episode is supposed to be funny. Nothing about this episode makes me laugh.

The Paladins are a team on a gameshow. Shiro continues to not be part of the team. Keith, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Allura are all being forced to participate. They are disoriented and have no idea where they are or why they’re here. Pidge says, “The last thing I remember, we were all flying in our Lions.” So, Hunk’s declaration near the end of last episode that the Lions were “in worse shape than ever,” meant absolutely nothing. There is no resolution of the Lions being without power. The show just ignores what it had set up.

Is Bob supposed to be funny? I have never understood why shows – VLD is not alone in this – do episodes with inscrutable characters like Bob. Some faux-mysterious other-being that causes things to happen, functions in some ways like a chaos-agent, but the narrative never gives any real explanation to why the character does what they do. It is fundamentally bad writing to ever have a character whose motivation is nonexistent.

Bob tells the Paladins that they have to win this game or be “trapped here in our studio for the rest of eternity.” Whatever threat that is supposed to have is instantly nonexistent. Of course, the Paladins are getting out of this since there’s more show to go. By using faux-threat like this, by using something so over-the-top severe, the episode causes the audience to instantly disengage with the plot. A story having too much threat can actually turn into having no threat.

Bob locks the Paladins’ feet to the floor, the camera and sound of his voice go over-the-top menacing, and he says, “You will play my game as long as I want you to.” Because everything Bob says is meaningless, the faux-threat just feels absurd.

The laugh track I guess is just part of the old gameshow pastiche that they used for this episode. Laugh tracks have always seemed like lies to me. I don’t like an episode telling me, laugh here. And since this episode is not funny, every time I hear the laugh track, I wonder, did the people who worked on this episode actually think this was funny?

Bob magically infantilizes Keith by putting a pacifier in his mouth while Keith has to draw something for the other Paladins to guess. I guess it’s supposed to be funny that the other Paladins have trouble guessing what Keith’s drawing, but it’s not funny. Allura correctly guesses Arusian for the first drawing, after Lance thinks it’s a chicken and Pidge yells at him. For the second drawing, it’s clearly a sword, and Lance guesses “chopsticks,” which when Pidge yells at him again, he modifies to “space chopsticks.” Pidge gets the correct Blade of Marmora guess. Third guess goes to Hunk who, after cycling through all of the colors, answers Red Lion. The last drawing is of Haggar, which Lance calls “pepperoni, an alligator, a cave, windy cave, […] a thermos,” and Allura slams the platform/desk they’re standing at and yells, “Lance, will you stop talking!”

I hate that this episode has everyone treat Lance like this.

They fail to get the last one in time. And then the “other team” is introduced. Zarkon, Haggar, Lotor, and an “insignificant underling” Morvok. I don’t have any idea what the purpose of bringing them into this is. They don’t behave like the characters actually behave in the show. They’re not even caricatures of the characters used as some form of self-referential meta-analysis.

The instant Zarkon is told to guess Keith’s last drawing, of course he’s going to get it right, and he even clearly knows he knows the answer, but it feels like forever for him to just get on with it and say the answer. I guess it’s supposed to be funny, but it’s not.

Lotor rants about “spending centuries perfecting my exquisite life-like renderings, not that you cared,” Haggar touches Lotor on the arm and says, “I treasured your art,” and he recoils from her, saying, “Don’t touch me you filthy, filthy hag.” This moment feels like the show is criticizing Lotor for his rejection of Haggar, like it’s presenting Haggar as being not-that-bad, like Lotor is unjust in his hating Haggar. It’s offensive to me. If the most wanted production goal of this series was the EPs wanting Keith as Black Paladin, it seems like the second most wanted production goal was to retcon Haggar. Haggar was a horrible person, and the show’s insistence that we change to see her instead as a good person to whom bad things happened honestly feels like the show is gaslighting the audience. Zarkon then yells at Lotor, Lotor hits Morvok, and Bob looks at the camera and says, “Family, am I right?”

The whole moment is about presenting Lotor as the unreasonable one, like he’s responsible for Zarkon abusing him, and all of Haggar’s abuse is somehow our misinterpretation of her character. It’s played like abuse is funny. “Family, am I right?” How about, no.

Zarkon plays some card out of nowhere that makes the next Paladin have to play alone, and Zarkon picks “the dumb one.” The camera zooms in on Lance, who turns to his supposed friends and asks, “Who’s he talking about?” The laugh track laughs.

Lance is “dumb,” isn’t that funny? What is wrong with this show? What is wrong with the people who made this show? What is wrong with Tim Hedrick for writing this? What is wrong with Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery for approving this script? What is wrong with the people at Dreamworks for approving this script?

It would be different if Zarkon called Lance “dumb” and the other Paladins, Lance’s supposed friends, came to his defense. But they don’t. I can only then think that the EPs and the writers of this show do think of Lance as “the dumb one” and that they think it’s funny to write him that way.

Bob sends the gameshow to an advertisement break, and as they’re transitioning out, Lance continues, “Wait, I’m the dumb one?” It kind of makes me want to cry, like it hurts me that the show is treating Lance like this.

There’s an advertisement for that store in 2x07 “Space Mall,” where Lance and Pidge got the Kaltenecker. The alien salesperson doesn’t act here like he did there. The whole advertisement sequence is a total waste of time. I guess it’s supposed to be funny, but it’s not.

Coming back from the break, Bob again refers to Lance as “the dumb one.” Lance reacts, “I’m not too happy being referred to as ‘the dumb one’ like 18 times.” Bob looks at the camera, says, “Oh, it was only about four times, you big dumb-dumb,” and the laugh track laughs.

What is wrong with this show?

Lance has to play “Faces from the Past,” Bob asks Lance if he knows how the game works, Lance says an assumptive yes, and Bob looks at the camera and says, “What do you think, audience, do we believe this beautiful dumb-dumb?” The audience yells, “No!”

What is wrong with this show? What is wrong with the people who made this?

Lance is placed in an “isolation shield,” a clear tube with a mouth on top of it. The first “face from the past” almost lands on Kolivan before shifting at the last second to a faceless member of the Blade of Marmora. There’s no way for Lance to know who this guy is. There’s no way for anyone to know who he is because he’s wearing the traditional Blade of Marmora facemask that conceals his identity. Keith points to his blade, Bob says “that’s a pretty big clue,” but how’s it a clue?

I don’t even know why I’m arguing with this episode. This episode is total crap.

Lance guesses, “Blade… y. Bladey?” The answer is Antok. Everyone else acts like it’s absurd to not know Antok. The only absurd thing is that not just someone, but several people in this show’s production actually thought this was a script worth producing.

I would rather watch 23 minutes of the form-Voltron animation over and over than this episode.

The next face is one of the mermaid people with a squid on her head. Lance knows her as “the serious one.” He knows things she did, but not her name, which is apparently Swirn. The next face almost stops on Nyma, but then shifts at the last second to Rolo. Lance has trouble remembering his name, the other Paladins use their arms to spell out Rolo. Lance runs out of time, and then the Paladins change their arms to spell out “kill.”

The episode literally has Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith express anger and frustration at Lance by saying they want to kill him. What is wrong with this show and what is wrong with the people who made it?

To the audience’s cheers, Bob explains that if Lance misses the next one, he’ll “be forced to hit this button, which will shoot you out of the studio and into the layer of the snick,” which is some big, insect-like or crab-like creature. The last face is Bii-Boh-Bi. How nice of this worthless episode to reference that worthless episode. Lance correctly and instantly answers this one.

Team Zarkon are dropped through a hole in the floor. Their purpose in the episode is concluded. I still don’t what the point of any of this episode is though. Bob brings out Bii-Boh-Bi. This character was not funny in the past, he’s not funny now. Bob continues to call Lance “dumb-dumb.”

Lance has to answer five questions correctly or end up in a tank of percolating green liquid “where [he’ll] be slowly cooked alive.” Bii-Boh-Bi is giving clues to Lance while the weird mouth on the top of the tube Lance is in starts swallowing the tube.

Lance says, “I have no idea what’s happening right now.” Same here, Lance.

Lance somehow guesses various “bi”s and “bo”s correctly. I guess it’s supposed to be funny, but it’s not. Lance does not get the last one correct, the mouth swallows him, and he gets ejected into the tank of liquid.

There’s another advertisement, this time for Vrepit Sal’s. Thankfully, at least, it’s quicker than the previous advertisement.

Lance says the liquid feels like it’s exfoliating him, and Bob replies, “Eventually it will eat through your skin.” There is something seriously wrong with the people who worked on this show, especially Tim Hedrick.

Bob asks the Paladins, who is going to play to free Lance, “who’s the brainiest of the team?” and they all instantly answer, Pidge. She has to play a hole of miniature golf. It takes a lot of time for her to set up her shot, which I guess is supposed to be funny. Pidge seems to accidentally hit the ball into the camera and then into Bob, but it’s clear she meant to do that as she tackles Bob to the ground, trying to arrange a chance for them to escape. Bob teleports back to his normal center-stage position, Pidge and Lance are teleported back to the rest of the group, and they’re now in the final stage of the gameshow. It makes no sense.

Bob says, “One of you will now be allowed to leave the game, the rest of you will be staying here with me forever.” They have to write down who they think should be the one to leave. Hunk votes for Allura because she’s “the princess, and she’s such a natural leader, you know. The universe needs her more than it needs the rest of us, plain and simple.” Of course, the show hasn’t had Allura be a leader since, like, season three.

Allura votes for Pidge, “She and her family have the best chance of rebuilding what my father started.” I guess this “rebuilding” is supposed to be a reference to the Castle Ship and Atlas? I would think Coran would be more capable than Pidge’s family at building a new Castle Ship since he spent the whole show maintaining and running the Castle nearly by himself.

Lance votes for Keith, “He’s our leader, plus he’s half-Galra, so I think he’s like, the future.” What does this mean? How is being half-Galra the future? Lotor was half-Galra too, but Lance certainly didn’t think of Lotor as being “the future.” Why is the show placing worth and value on a person based on this? This honestly feels racist. It’s like it’s a statement that Galra-supremacy is valid, so Zarkon was right the entire time?

Keith votes for Lance, saying, “I just don’t want to be stuck here for eternity with Lance.” Lance initially misinterprets this as a good thing before realizing that it’s an insult. This is supposed to be a team? These are supposed to be people who are friends? This episode is so messed up.

Pidge votes for Hunk, saying, “Hunk gets along with everybody. If anyone’s going to go out into the universe and bring people together, it’s Hunk.”

Bob is impressed that no one voted for themselves and that everyone got at least one vote. So, they all win. That’s the end of the gameshow.

The Paladins wake up in their Lions in space. So, yup, there’s no resolution to how the previous episode ended with the Lions being “in worse shape than ever.” They’re fine now. Whatever.

The Paladins begin to realize that, since they all experienced the gameshow, that it was real, not a dream, so that’s a giant cliché. Coran pops in at the sound of the name “Bob,” who he says is an “all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being who judges the worthiness of great warriors.” Keith replies, “The guy was kind of a jerk though, right?” The other Paladins seem to agree with him.

Then there’s another advertisement for the mermaid planet.

Is Bob supposed to be a reference to Bob Koplar from World Events Productions? If, as Keith says, Bob “was kind of a jerk,” does that mean this episode is all about Tim Hedrick complaining about Koplar and WEP? The executive producers were very public about their complaints that executives wouldn’t just step back and let them make the show however they wanted. As an executive of WEP, Bob Koplar could be one of the executives that JDS and LM referenced in their complaints. Hedrick left Voltron this season, and this episode is the first one where he shares Story Editor credit with Joshua Hamilton. If this episode is Hedrick criticizing Bob Koplar, then (regardless of what kind of person Koplar is) Hedrick is a really petty person. The same way it was seriously unprofessional for the show to have written the EPs’ complaints about having to keep Shiro into Coran’s dialog in 4x04 “The Voltron Show,” if “The Feud!” is Hedrick ranting about Koplar as he’s leaves the show, then that is also seriously unprofessional.

If there is some other possible explanation for what in the world this episode is supposed to be, I don’t know.

As much as other episodes of this show infuriate me, “The Feud!” is the absolute worst episode of Voltron Legendary Defender.

[thelastarchangelaskblog]

DJ & Zira & Tony

Another chat on the way to Briarbane with an injured Clint in our cart! This one features some hurt feelings and apologies.

Thanks @rebaobsessions and @thechaoticwave for your help with formatting!

Tony & Zira’s Chat                                        Charcoal as Breakfast

Tony & Rhodey’s Chat                                  Tony & Luna

Tony & Rhodey Compile a List                     Clint & Tony

The Trouble with Two Tonys                         Rhodey & Bob(Tim)

Rhodey & Bob(Tony)                                    About Death (Tony & Zira)

Rhodey & Zira (and Tony)                            Pre-Campaign Tony & Rhodey

DJ & Zira                                                      Bob(Tim) & Luna

DJ & Tony                                                     DJ & Tony & Rhodey

Rhodey & DJ

**

(Read more.)

A little after talking to Tony and storming off, Zira is...not feeling great. So she turns to a well-loved book. Walking beside the cart, rereading stories she already knows by heart, her mind drifts to old friends. And she stumbles a bit, curses, and jogs up next to DJ.

Zira: DJ. We are talking now. Holding your bloody and unconscious form was unpleasant, but I can deal. But I know there have been some...cultural differences, so I imagine you are unused to the experience of being hit until you fall unconscious.

DJ just stares at Zira, a bit bewildered. 

DJ: (eloquently) Uhh. I'm sorry it was unpleasant for you?

Zira: NO! I am attempting sympathy for you. It is clearly not working.

Zira: >:/

DJ: I...I already knew you were upset, Zira. You don't have to force yourself into a role you are uncomfortable with for my benefit. Heck, if anything I should be the one thanking you. You saved my life.

Zira: No!! That is my JOB! There is no need for thankfulness. My friend did this and it worked much better.

DJ: Okay, first of all, I don't care if it is your (and he makes air quotes) job or not. You saved my life, and I am gonna thank you for it. So thank you. Second, I don't need you to be anything like anyone else but you. You are My friend, Zira. I only need you to be you. Not your friend or anyone else you are not. I like you the way you are.

Zira actually jerks back a bit at the word “friend.” She brings her book up, almost like a shield.

Zira: ...So you are sure you require none of the...pep talking?

DJ pulls his quarterstaff down and uses it, from his seat on the wagon, to gently push the book down, smiling. 

DJ: Tony and Rhodey both gave me a pep talk. You and I both know they are really good at that. It doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you. But...you don't have to try and cheer me up. Especially if you aren't feeling cheerful yourself.

Zira: They are good at it. ...I feel...bad. I lost my temper with Tony. It wasn’t fair to him. He had done nothing to incur my wrath.

DJ: Then apologize to him. I mean I was hiding from him for a while, even though I knew he was worried so I'm not exactly guilt free either. But I explained and he understood. I'm pretty sure if you explain he will understand, too. Who did you want to wrath at?

Zira: ....

Zira: It. Goes against a lot of. What has been taught, but i suppose.. fight or flight is named aptly. I feel. Incredible anger. I want them to leave me alone. I want to eat chocolate. I want to read fairytales. I...I love this book. Someone very kind gave it to me. Do you understand? If I ever left it behind, I would always come back.

DJ blinks for a minute, cocking his head to the side, obviously thinking over what Zira has said.

DJ: I'm glad you had someone kind in your life before us. Someone who would give you that book. You deserve that kind of kindness. And I feel that way about my Alchemy Notes. A lot of the other students got fancy new books when they graduated to Journeyman, but I kept my old one. I just paid someone to spell some more pages into it. My Mom and Dad gave it to me when I went off to the Academy, and when I use it, I remember them and all they did to get me into school.

Zira: ...Yes. That could be an apt comparison. The people who gave me this, they had no obligation to be kind. But they were. And I don't know how much they sacrificed for that. I hope they’re okay.

DJ frowns more, probably remembering he still hasn't written a letter to his parents yet. 

DJ: Being kind isn't about obligation, Zira. Honestly, I think true kindness is like, the opposite of obligation.

Zira: That is a nice thought. The idea that there is no give and take in everything. But it was nice. Talking. I'm glad you got your...pep talk...from someone else. I don’t think I’m any good at it.

DJ: There doesn't have to be a give and take in everything, Zira. Some people are nice because they like you and they want to be nice to you. They don't expect anything in return. And we both know I am really bad at pep talks. Since I tend to scare people with mine.

Zia: If it makes you feel any better, I've never been scared of you.

DJ looks very confused. Zira cocks her head, birdlike, at him.

DJ: But I thought I scared you when I talked about turning people into soap. I felt really bad about it.

Zira: Why would I be scared? I'm not afraid of knowledge. And, no threat intended, i could get you before you got me. I know the vast potential for pain, both causing and receiving it. I’m not afraid of your potential. Or else I would have to be afraid of, well, everything. Anything could kill anything else. A person with a knife, or poison. A tree. A really dedicated duck.

DJ was going to protest the comment about Zira being quicker on principle, but now... 

DJ: A duck?

Zira: Oh, absolutely. Some of those fuckers are mean. And have far too many sharp teeth for comfort.

DJ: Geese are so much worse. There was a gander on my parents’ farm that might have actually been a demon in disguise. And don't get me started on swans.

Zira: Swans, honestly. They have the rage of suns burning in them and no moral compunctions whatsoever.

DJ gives Zira a dry look. 

DJ: And a wingspan twice as wide as I am tall, so imagine what all three of those are like from my perspective.

Zira: By Ioun. At least I can, I dunno. Step on them.

DJ: Lucky you. I just gotta run from something that can fly. (sighs) I do not miss that aspect of farm life. And now we know we both agree waterfowl are evil.

Zira: Most definitely the work of something infernal.

DJ: Thank goodness Tim isn't, you know, a giant duck.

Zira seems knocked speechless at the thought.

Zira: That would be terrible. I don’t think I'd ever want to work on a farm.

DJ: Why do you think I went to school? I wasn’t cut out for that sort of thing. I had a much better time hiding in the bookstore and reading.

Zira: Oh! Hiding in bookstores is really something. The air feels, soft, I suppose. Very still. Very safe.

DJ looks positively dreamy. 

DJ: Yeah. It's like the next best thing to a big university library. Like the one in the Cobalt Sanctuary, just without all the calisthenics.

Zira: Oh, my favorite is in a little village, just on the border of a forest. It was my first time in a bookstore, and the owner was lovely. She actually gave me this.

Zira holds up the book of fairytales.

DJ: Yeah, bookstores are great. The family that owns the bookstore in my town let me get away with reading all the books even though I couldn't pay. I mean I know Papa slipped him a little coin now and then, but he still didn't need to let me get away with using his store like my own private library.

Zira: is it just a bookstore owner thing? I couldn't pay at all, but she took me in, gave me a warm drink and a book, no charge at all! And then promised to not tell anyone was there, with no prompting! I was very glad for that. I would have hated to threaten her

DJ: It might be. 

DJ looks off into the distance for a minute. 

DJ: Then again, I might have also been distant cousins with the bookstore owner. I don't know. I come from a...rather large family.

Zira: What was it like? To have a large family. I imagine that comes with quite a few allies.

DJ: Well even when I was at the Academy, every once in a while a random Halfling would wander up and tell me we were related and I...couldn't really know if it was true. Besides that, it was...fine I guess. I don't know, Zira. It was all I really ever knew so I don't have a thing to compare it with. But they weren't allies. They were family.

Zira: I don't think that’s possible to have so many people like that. Our families were small for a reason. You couldn't possibly be so close with too many people.

DJ: Yeah, for me it was the opposite. Like I was flummoxed when someone told me it wasn’t normal to have over 50 first cousins on each side. And I might not be super close to anyone but my siblings, but I would still help out a family member if they needed it. And if I ever called on one of my cousins to help out, they'd be there in a heartbeat. 

Zira: That. That is literally what having allies is? An exchange with enough trust in the other to not backstab you. Over 50??

DJ: I guess I have always felt allies was an impersonal term. But that might be my own preconceived notions talking. And while I don't necessarily trust my cousins not to cheat in Barnball, I do trust them for important things. And that reaction there is how I knew it wasn't normal.

Zira: It certainly seems like a lot to keep up with. My family was only 5 people total. Imagine having to pacify over 50 people so they continue thinking of you positively. That would be exhausting.

DJ: Well, I don't really have to pacify them. And I don't even think of them all positively. There are quite a few of them that are pricks. But they are family so we still look out for each other. And it was all I knew growing up, so I guess I was so used to it that it was normal rather than exhausting.

Zira: I understand looking out for each other. Some of my family were cruel at times, but they were mine.

Zira looks guilty.

DJ frowns a bit at the cruelty part. 

DJ: I am going to be honest. I...I don't understand the cruelty part. Even when we were mean to each other, we weren't cruel. Maybe that's cultural differences?

Zira: I'm starting to realize the depths to which the...place...I came from was wrong. We all coped, I guess. Some tended to lash out, but they always tried to make it right.

DJ looks genuinely thoughtful as he considers her words. 

DJ: I...I am not sure I can truly understand that. But I think...I think I can see where it comes from. How what you guys went through might make our reactions different than what I would think is normal. 

DJ thinks a little more. 

DJ: I am sorry any of you had to experience things which would make you lash out like that...but, I'm glad you had your own sort of family.

Zira: I am, too.

Ziira looks even guiltier, hunching her shoulders and looks away.

Zira: I wish I hadn't left them. I don’t want to go back! But I want them.

DJ nods. 

DJ: Yeah. I get that. I have no desire to go back to my home. But sometimes I wish I had my family with me. Maybe that's why I ended up sticking with Tony and then Rhodey for so long. We are making our own family. And now the rest of you get to join in, too. If you want.

Zira: Family is a big commitment. And the things that make it-

Zira: Well. They're not pretty.

DJ nods.

DJ: Childbirth is messy.

Zira: What? No? I mean, the bonds. The loyalty. The trust.

DJ: What?

He gives up being serious and starts giggling like a loon.

DJ: Sorry.

Zira cracks a smile when he starts laughing

Zira: No. No, you’re right. Childbirth seems terrible. They made us learn about it. None of us could make eye contact with Ms. Payne for the entirety of that lesson.

DJ: Please no stories! I already heard about it in letters from my sister. I'm still traumatized.

Zira: God.

DJ: And I did mean the trust, Zira.

Zira: I don't trust any of you.

DJ frowns. 

DJ: Oh.

Zira: Well. I trust you to do whatever youre good at, and you all seem too kind to murder me in my sleep. But.

DJ frowns even more if possible. shoulders hunching.

DJ: Oh.

Zira: I don’t know. I trusted my family with everything. We picked each other up, watched each other’s backs, and never even dreamed of doing anything else.

Zira seems to realize something she said was wrong

Zira: Uh. Uhh...but you seem... trustworthy? Uhm.

Zira is obviously at a loss

DJ: Thanks. I...I have to go. 

DJ basically climbs across Rhodey to sit on his other side. If Zira catches a glance, she would see a brief look of hurt and sadness on his face before he shoves it all down and pulls out his notes.

Rhodey is staring ahead and pretending he wasn’t witness to a very awkward conversation

Zira is currently just ???? 

Tony is trailing along behind the cart; he didn’t hear the conversation but is very curious what happened. Zira didn’t seem to be in a good mood at all, and he’d messed up.

Zira: (to herself) What did I say?

She sneaks another look at DJ, and he seems unwilling to talk further. So she just glances around, and falls back, no longer keeping pace with the front of the cart.

Tony sees Zira slowing her pace. He doesn’t say anything but steps to the side so he isn’t walking directly behind her. He’s not sure what to say, but he doesn’t want to start because if he messes up again...

She falls back further and glances at him, and kinda curls in on herself a bit. And then shes walking right next to Tony and looks hesitant.

Zira: DJ...told me i should apologize. I...lost my temper. You had done nothing to incur that. My apologies.

Tony looks surprised.

Tony: Uh, you’re kidding me, right? If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I said something wrong.

Zira: What?

She seems shocked. She looks like she didn't expect Tony to admit any wrongdoing.

Tony: I can be a bit pushy. So...sorry about that.

Tony offers Zira a small, apologetic smile

Zira: No. That’s not how this works. That’s not how this works.

Tony tilts his head to the side in confusion.

Zira: You have more experience here. You have heavily armed friends and allies. You are the superior here. It’s nice you’re trying to be nice, but that's not how this works. There is a structure for a reason!

Tony: Zira.

Zira: You give me things, and advice, and you're kind. You apologize! You’re doing it all wrong.

Tony: You read people, right? Tell me...am I lying when I say I’m sorry?

Zira ...

Zira: No. No. No, you’re not but that doesn’t make any sense. And you did nothing wrong!

Tony smiles wryly.

Tony: Didn’t I?

Zira: Being pushy is exactly what a leader is supposed to be! If you wanted you could order the information out of me, and that makes me a bad operative, to not have told you already, but I don't want to.

She seems taken aback at her own boldness.

Tony: Like hell am I ordering you to do anything.

Zira: Wait no - Tony, I didn’t mean--

Zira: What?

Tony: I said, like hell am I ordering you to do anything. Because that kind of structure you’re talking about? It’s bullshit. Total bullshit. And if you’re in that you should bail because there’s zero respect for anyone. Just blind obedience to what the party line’s supposed to be. And all too often that party line is absolute bullshit. So I was pushy and I shouldn’t have been pushy. I should have respected your space. And that’s why I’m apologizing to you, Zira.

She curls in on herself even more.

Zira: ...Nothing here makes sense. I told DJ the truth, that I don't trust any of you, and he ran away.

Tony: (mutters) Damn it; I’m being pushy here again, aren’t I?

Zira: You’re saying sorry. That’s not what superiors do. That’s what my family does.

Tony: From what I’ve learned, anyone decent with a sense of empathy apologizes for what they did wrong. I’m not asking you to trust any of us yet. I know that’s asking a lot. But I hope that you can realize you’re safe here.

Zira: No, I’m not. Tony, you're very sweet, but when I left I did the unthinkable. I’m an example, and there is nowhere in the world that is safe for me. I just want to read my book. You're kind, and good, don’t feel bad.

Tony looks at her for a long moment.

Tony: It’ll be safe at some point.

He’s smiling slightly

Zira: ...If you say so. I’m going to go read. This is my favorite book. If I ever left it, I'd always come back.

Tony: Then go read it. The cart’s quiet right now if you want to get in. I’ll keep that in mind.

Zira: Thank you.

And she jogs forward and clambers in, and shuts the flap behind her

Tony keeps walking behind the cart, but he’s looking pensive, frowning. He’s tapping fingers against the amulet hidden under his armor. His other hand is playing with his dagger, flicking it in and out of the sheath it’s strapped into on his arm.

Inside the cart, Tim starts a little when Zira climbs into the cart, but does not react further. He picks out a flower that has been a little too squashed and throws it out, continuing the flower chain.

Zira nods at Tim, and then crunches up into a little ball and starts reading. She looks like she doesn't want to talk

[wolfenm-marveling]

There are three big reasons I have not and don’t want to see Endgame ....

For one, I wrote a lengthy article about that will run in June at Sequential Tart (I'll update this post with the link when it goes live *EDIT* Here it is: The Subject of Character Death, Revisited - http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=3362 ). The other two, I'll talk about here; they involve Steve and Bucky.

I know what you’re thinking: Wolfie, how can you form an opinion on a movie you haven't seen? Well, I do have mental health issues (undiagnosed and untreated because I have no insurance or job, yay), so when the film was released in China, I found someone to spoil me so that I might make an informed decision as to whether or not I could *handle* seeing it, given some worries I had (and especially since 3 hours without a bathroom break was not going to work for me or my companion). I determined from that convo that it would be a Very Bad Idea for me to see the film.

Even seeing the constant posts about it  -- especially ones that called it a  “beautiful” or “perfect” end, etc. -- was triggering anxiety and mental anguish / circular thoughts (admittedly in part because there were similarly “bad” things happening in other fandoms of mine -- it was too much at once). And I'm STILL having massive issues with circular thoughts about it.

This essay isn't meant to tell anyone they’re wrong about how they perceive / feel about the film, BUT, while I know I shouldn't care what other people think, the sitch still makes me feel how I feel: frankly, a bit disturbed that people are loving things that are making me so awful. I feel like I've stepped into some sort of Bizarro world -- like I'm somehow in the wrong universe. It’s very distressing. (I mean ... they call it mental *illness* for as reason, right?)

In this franchise where I once found such great joy, I now find little more than anguish. It’s actually been making me physically ill to see the posts -- or to look on my massive Marvel collection; I've had to box much of it away for now. Hopefully some day I can enjoy it again. (I can't exactly stop using my $60 Captain America backpack I begged for, for my birthday, though. :/)

I find that when my thoughts get like this (like I'm on a runaway train that keeps revisiting the same stations), the only thing that helps even a little is to sort out my thoughts on the page -- even if I’ve done it before, as I have with this in the comments section of friends posts. (You may have seen other people express similar thoughts, too.)  And really, I don't want to rain on my friend’s parades, so I figure I’ll post it in my own space, and then if people ask me my thoughts, I can just point them here. And hopefully this post will help others who are similarly struggling (I know there are at least a few).

As for the old chestnut “It’s just a story/ a fictional character”, well, for one thing, let me repeat: mentally ill here. If I could control how I feel, I wouldn’t BE mentally ill. But also, I'm a writer who feels writing is a sacred calling, so when I feel a story is badly told, I tend to take it personally. Yes, I know my opinion is not the be-all, end all -- if you think it’s a good story, yay for you. Me, I feel betrayed by this story in a way I have rarely felt before (the other biggest instance having happened the week before the film's release, so double-whammy, yay).

Warning: if you read any further, I assume you either saw Endgame or don’t care about Spoilers.

(*edited to add* If you need some solace too, check out @antiendgame to find other people who are upset.)

The first upsetting points for me were the Noble Deaths (and, in Loki’s case, lack of resurrection) -- I hate that trope with the fire of a thousand suns. But that’s what I wrote the article on (including how 2012 Loki’s escape doesn't make me feel any better), so no more on that here.

Now, let me preface the rest of this by saying no, I wasn’t expecting a romantic presentation of Stucky. And as hard as I ship them fanon-wise, I don’t actually hate Steggy -- I adore Peggy in her own right (and like the idea of them  being a threesome with Bucky).

What I DO hate is that Steve abandoned Bucky for her.

Aside from Steve’s moral compass, Bucky was the impetus behind pretty much *everything* Steve did in his trilogy. He found the missing soldiers because Bucky was amongst them. Bucky’s death broke him -- and finding him again in Winter Soldier seemed to give Steve, who was clearly depressed, new life. Despite Sam insisting Bucky was Gone, Steve wouldn't kill Bucky to save the world. And in Civil War, Steve fought other dear friends, and was willing to throw away his own freedom, to protect his best friend. So how the FUCK is them being *separated pretty much forevermore* a satisfactory end to that story???????

TL;DR, the Captain America movies were about the repeated separation and reunion of Steve and Bucky … and yet we barely got to SEE them together before Steve said sayonara to the man he’d been best friends with for over a for over a decade, to go be with a woman he’d known for about a year. 

A woman who’d already had a family without him.

Yeah, we can say her family still exists in the original timeline -- but I have seen soooo many different explanations of how the time sitch works out, it’s not even funny.

Really, that’s the third reason I don't want to see the movie: I HATE time paradox, and this movie sounds riddled with it. Also, as I understand it, the writers and the Russos are saying different things, with the Russos saying it’s a different timeline (which apparently Steve would be going *back* to after the shield pass, for some reason, and yeah, that bothered me, that he didnl't even give his best friend that momento, and sent their last onscreen moments together talking to SAM), and the writers saying no, the alternate timelines were only a thing when the Stones were in play. So yeah, Steve could spend the rest of his life with Bucky then ... but that means he also would have erased Peggy’s family (and maybe her work). Unless he was the man she married all along.

Either way, it would mean that Steve let Bucky suffer, and let HYDRA infiltrate SHIELD, neither being things I could see him doing.

And if it IS a branched-off timeline, I LOATHE that time theory, because it means NOTHING WE DO MATTERS. There’s always a version of us that’s our worst selves, and people who suffer because of it. That’s hella depressing. (Even if it would explain why I feel like I'm in the wrong world.)

At any rate, the ONLY end I really wanted was to see Steve and Bucky get to be together, no matter how -- “just friends” would have been fine. It was literally the thing I wanted most in the whole damn MCU franchise (aside from seeing Loki be redeemed and then fight alongside the Avengers. *sigh* At least I didn't have high hopes there ...). I would rather Steve had taken Bucky back in time WITH him, even if Steve still married Peggy; time paradox issues aside, I could have lived with that -- yes, even if it meant we didn’t get The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. (And honestly, how much am I supposed to look forward to that anyway, when Sam has been such an *inexplicably* uncompassionate asshole to Bucky in WS and CW? A guy who runs meetings for people with PTSD holds a grudge against a guy who was brutally mind-raped? It's like they made him OOC for the lolz!)

As for “Oh, but Bucky knew and he was okay with it!”

Uh, if he was okay with it, it's just because the writers *wrote* him that way for their own convenience, so they could do this ending. I have been besties with someone most of our lives. We broke up a few times, but we managed to keep finding our way back to each other. We don't live in the same state, so we rarely see each other, but at least we DO sometimes, and we write each other. If this person said they were going to go live somewhere with no way to communicate with me ever again, so they could be with someone they loved, of course I wouldn't want to say don't leave, because I'd want them to be happy, and wouldn't want to stand in the way … but that doesn't mean I'd be “okay”. in the slightest. And I wouldn't WANT other people I care about to go through such pain, much less think it beautiful to watch.

Plus, as I always say, this is fiction -- I don't need *that much* “reality” in my escapism. Temporary angst is my bread-and-butter -- it’s cathartic -- but I need a happy ending to be the payoff. To me, A TRULY happy ending for Steve -- and the one that would have been the best payoff for the narrative we’ve spent a decade watching -- would have been for him to not have to choose between the two people he loved most.

Edited 5/11/19 to add: For all those who are all “Oh, they’re just friends, they aren't gay”, I am more or less fine with sexual Stucky staying fanon; they still love each other platonically, are SOULMATES, ACCORDING TO THE SCREENWRITERS THEMSELVES (Christopher Markus and Steve McFeely), who wrote this as part of the intro to the graphic novel Captain America: White - “…Of course, this is still a rollicking adventure tale, and no adventure is complete without a love story. And yes, these books have one – the longest, most tortured one in Marvel history, in fact. We’re talking about Steve and Bucky, without smirking or innuendo or raised eyebrows. Platonic though the relationship may be, from the meet cute to the tragic separation, their bond has all the elements of a classic romance.  These two men love each other – as any pair of friends who faced exclusion, combat, inhumanity, and death would. Their bond stretches across half the twentieth century. The loss of it gnaws at Steve throughout the modern day, and it slices his heart in half when the Winter Soldier rears his tormented, homicidal head. Just as Jeph and Tim’s earlier Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man: Blue, and Hulk: Gray all dealt with the major love interests in the heroes’ lives, so too does Captain America: White. Steve and Bucky are each others’ soulmate, if you will, because no one on Earth understands what either of them has been through as well as the other does. The book deals deftly with the strengths and weaknesses that relationship engenders. As the Red Skull himself says to Bucky, “The captain has a … ‘soft spot’ for you. A spot I intend to put a bullet through this very evening.” Soldiers fight for their country. They fight for themselves. They fight for each other. And sometimes they die for these things, too.  The ones who don’t carry the memory of the ones who did for the rest of their days. Steve Rogers is no different.”

So he's gonna leave his soulmate (no matter the nature of their love) behind forever? FUCK THAT NOISE. I am completely baffled ow two writers who see Steve and Bucky that way would go on to give them that ending.

And retouching the whole for Bucky “knows and is okay” thing, the Russos also said that Bucky is too damaged still to be Captain America. Uh, THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE THEY REALLY THINK HE’S OKAY.

[survivor-guyana]

Episode 5 - "Another day, another swap." - Jess

Sarah was robbed.

Please tribe swap, please tribe swap.

Not really sure how to feel at this stage...

Jess absolutely botched this challenge for us, and it was probably the worst individual effort in a competition that I have seen in years. For that, she automatically created a target on her back.

HOWEVER, I need to control who goes here, and it won't be Jess. It sounds like Dani and Nick were on opposite sides of the joint tribal, and will likely target one another.

I would personally like to see Alyssa go sooner than later, but there is no context in taking her out right now. She is "Hosororo strong" apparently, but the tables have turned. I'm not sure if I am willing to give her the same mercy that the favs gave us.

Honestly I wouldn't mind losing this so Mitchell goes home but then again I wouldn't mind Arakaka going to tribal either. I also feel like Nick is fucked over at Takama. He has the idol but that'd require someone using it on him which I doubt would happen. He better up his social game! If Arakaka goes to tribal then it should obviously be Aidan bc of his advantage and bc of Jones, Sammy, and Chelsea/JD alliance. Wait is Chelsea a fan? Lol idk.

So Ive been talking to Maynor and TJ individually about having an alliance of us 3 since I put them both high on my list! They both agreed and so I formed the alliance called... JONES'S ANGELS! I feel like we're gonna be a good alliance as well. Oh José is on our tribe as well as Mitchell. José is someone that I talked to the least on our OG tribe and from the looks of the trust list, someone who is not very trusted. Mitchell has his karma coming from the joint tribal round and for voting out Sarah. (PSST Sarah I miss u queen I can't wait to see you in Survivor Michigan.)

Another day, another swap. I've officially been on EVERY single tribe now. I am Guyana's Orphan. Honestly, I'm actually okay with how we swapped this time around.

I'm in the majority both in several ways. 1. I'm in the majority if Devon and I decide to stick with the "Fans" (barf). 2. I'm in the majority if we decide to go to Hosororo Way (yassss bitch) 3. I'm in the majority if Favourites attempt something (meh).

BUT this bitch is literally her OWN ENEMY RIGHT NOW. I flopped that memory competition harder a nerd at Comic Con trying to talk to a female. YIKES. I hope the flu isn't what sends me home or else I'm going to FUCKING RAGE.

I was able to re-connect with Dani which was okay? for me? I guess? Honestly at this point I have no loyalty to the Fans tribe (I don't think I ever had any tbh). I don't think a label in front of someone's name should stop me from trying to further my game. That being SAID....

Nick is on A WHOLE NOTHER' LEVEL Y'ALL. This man literally knew me for 5 seconds and spilled his whole game. I expected more from a dude who owns a buff personally. The only thing he didn't tell me last night was his social insurance number. I kind of feel bad for him but I don't want to let him get far. I rather keep Dani around than him at this point. I don't want that to hurt my relationship with Alyssa so.. I AM STRESSING RIGHT NOW.

Speaking of Alyssa...

MY GIRL ALYSSA GETTING FIRST.. fucking SCARES ME SHITLESS. I would honestly consider her my #1 at this point but now this has me thinking.. am I really HER number 1? Does she have the same relationship with me like she has with others? If we merge does she have my back over people like Jones/JD who she speaks HIGHLY of to me? I have my doubts but I think having someone like her on my side in this crucial time is an ASSET. She is VULNERABLE and I need to make sure I make her feel as fucking comfortable as possible. It's times like these where those strong relationships form and I honestly think if we can possibly

That's my bitch, that's my girl. I honestly think Alyssa is my gate-way drug to the Favourites at this point. I also really just want to meet Jones because I'm convinced she's my future best friend.

Something I haven't touched on.... ever BUT I can't wait to possibly re-connect with TJ. I miss being able to strategize with him. The way he sees games is insane and I have a half of a brain cell so it's always nice to have a smart person do the thinking for you.

I NEED TO FIND A FUCKING ADVANTAGE OR A GOD DAMN IDOL.

I cant believe we won immunity. I was really scared that we would have to go to tribal. Me, TJ, and Tim made an alliance called Jones’s Angels and i cant wait to be reunited with Jones. Mitchell is acting like last vote wasnt against me but it was like. How can you say theres 100% trust when there isnt. The Jenna vote was not  as much of a suprise for Mitchell cuz i mentioned my worries about Jenna. Im being buddy buddy but if we lost next round. He is going home for sure. Once you brake my trust, you cant really get it back. Sorry mitchell buddy. And i have eyes on Aidan and Dani. Karma for Sarah is coming.

WOW! That's all I have to say right now. This game is really putting me through the ringer but I'm in it to win it and this fucking tribe swap threw me for a loop. I knew the trust lists would come into play but I didn't know right away. But I sort of made such a power move on my tribe and then got shuffled into this and I saw the numbers and went FUCK.

Like four favorites versus little old me! But I like a challenge... I'm not Sarah, I'm not going to let myself get swapfucked. *gives the camera a shady look*

Having the Opal Idol in my pocket is amazing and I'm glad I went for that temptation. Everyone knows I have it but honestly I think there's an advantage to standing out. I feel like this series is used to a lot of UTR, lowkey players and people lying low and that's just not my thing... I honestly can't lay low to save my life. So my plan is to go after them. Honestly since I was low on the trust list it makes sense to go after people high on the trust list. I'm honestly not that bitter but if I can use it to justify targeting some people, I'm going to do it.

I'm not sure of my tribe because everybody is meh so far? I don't know if I'm dry or they're just all in alliances but I can't get a read on them for shit. I saw how well they all did in their past games and JD is giving me this loner act but she's been to an FTC so I know she's not as dumb as she's letting on. For some reason the fact that there are more girls than guys concerns me because I feel like those bitches could link up?

I guess I like Chelsea the best but maybe that's because she seems a little more exciting. Sammy does too but he seems like a game threat. I think I'm reluctant to share anything with anyone because I'm not sure of their relationships with each other. I think I want Jonesy out though... she has this cutesy act that is relatable and did pretty well on her first season. She was high on the trustlist too.

In all... I feel isolated but not intimidated.

Nobody has asked about the temptation but I'm ready to lie about it being a vote steal like I told Dani and Mitchell. I need to start keeping my lies in order because they're going to be PISSED when I reveal what it really is but hopefully they understand... if I ever see them again. I'm worried about Dani AND Jess over there at Takama because Devon is crafty. They are some people I hope I can rekindle with at merge. I'd consider working with Maynor but he seems like the type to want revenge.

WE WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN fuck yeah also i wanna elaborate on something i said in my last confessional about using Aidan as a shield bc idk if I ever explained that Aidan has proclaimed that his tribe did not trust him at all, AND he has an advantage, right? so obviously, people would want to vote him out because of it. HOWEVER, if I get him to trust me/on my side, not only can we work together, BUT everyone will always target him over myself, so yeah, logic ;)

Unfortunately we didn't lose and just as I feared Nick's tribe lost. Welp you had a good run Nick.

So this round has been messed up.  I was swapped to a tribe with 1 person I talked to breifly on our original tribe and had an alliance with to search for idols.  The other 3 players were all people I never spoke to.  Furthermore Dani even voted vote for a few tribals ago.  After a botched challenge I’m hoping that it’s going to be Dani tonight and not me.  I’ve spoken with Jess and Devon and get good vibes that they want to play together.  Let’s hope their not playing me.

So pretty much I’ve been able to establish a strong relationship with Maynor this game... now I just need a majoritu on this tribe to be able to cause some damage within the merge, so we’ll see how things go when I reach that phase 😤 I want to work with TJ tbh, but we’ll see how that goes I guess haha

Ugh I hope Jess and devon aren’t ducking with me but I think it’s me or nick. Really hoping it’s nick. Sorry for typos drubk

Ummmm, so what did i do? Nothing, what have I done? Nothing, I didnt do the challenge ether cus like, wow I do not have a shity memory. But we won so yay team! 

[survivorkomnata]

Episode #9: "Anyone wanna speak up?" - Zach

they tRIED IT SDLGKDMSKLGM

ok so miguel was voted off 5-4-1 miguel/ME??/luke. the four people who voted me were stephen / ally / jess / luke. thankfully, i could count on the Kato 2.0 people on having my back. we also just made an alliance!!! because FUCK my og alliance with stephen/ally/(and karthik). and I STILL HAVE AN IDOL.

ok i'm just shook. i lowkey thought maybe alyssa was playing me but.. she wasnt. she saved me and i owe her for that. i hope it doesnt really hurt her position in the game but she's by far playing the best i think.

i'm just shook. i'm not mad at anyone. i apologize for how i acted post-tribal but oMGGGfgGgG these BITCHES|!!! it's the game tho, and i hope i can keep on kicking and swinging cuz im gonna fight tooth and nail in this game.

also it's so funny idk why but me saying the last line was ALGKDLSGK i still laugh:

anyone wanna speak up?

(ill give more later im just.. frazzled)

Ummm so about that fucking vote. WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! WE HAD THE CHANCE OF TAKING OUT A FORMER WINNER AND A PROVEN CHALLENGE BEAST! I'm convinced the IQ of this person who flipped is a -20 because.. that was the stupidest move in the existence of Tumblr Survivor..... and I'm the QUEEN of the House of Stupid Moves. I can declare it.

I'm not 1000% sure right now who it is but I have two guesses.

My first guess is: It was Ally.

Reasons: 1. Ally has admittedly worked with Zach in another Survivor game. 2. She also arguably had the MOST contact out of everyone with Zach all day. 3. She possibly wants to pin this vote on Alyssa to break up any possible alliance between myself/Stephen/ Alyssa. 4. She wants to break up me and Alyssa 5. The group of Karth/Zach/Ally is a thing?

My second guess is: Alyssa Reasons: 1. If Zach left she is the next biggest threat here. 2. She wanted a shield. 3. She's trying to build as many relationships with people as possible to cover her social fucking ass. 4. She hates me and wants to off me and will use Zach to kill me in this game.

I honestly don't even know if my predictions are correct here but... I sort of hope they are and I don't look dumb in the future.

My plan going forward is: to not create a bigger mess that was already created.

XOXOXO Jessip Girl.

I'd also like to add another reason why I think it's Alyssa is because Miguel was one of the people who tried to vote her off.

THANK U

Wow!! An attempted blindside gone wrong. This was really exciting and fun. These are the reasons I play this game for, finally happy to see these happening. A lot of lies and betrayal all of which is understandable but these things has got me pumped up. I am going to play with my emotions and they have triggered me. Time to start playing the game and play it hard. An attack on Zach is an attack on me, so they better be prepared to handle my rage.I feel this was a very good tribal in terms of the game as it makes its future bright and exciting. Luke....what are you doing??? Everything that has come to out of his mouth so far has been a lie. I just cant believe the way he is playing, no where close to what I was expecting from him.

After last night's chaos... my word. I have a feeling Touchy Subjects is going to destroy some people here.

Plot twist: I've heard some recent developments about the flipped vote.

According to Tim it was Luke? Oh? Buddy.... has officially been put on my "Shit List" in this game. You can't sit around and play both "sides" of this game. THAT'S MY JOB.

I'm not too sure how I'm going to break this to Ally. She might not believe me but I KNOW I NEED TO TELL HER.

Also: I still don't get why sooo many people trust Tim. I know Tim doesn't trust me anymore or maybe... not as much as he used to. BUT why did he tell Zach right away about the Miguel vote yesterday? IT ALL SEEMS SO SKETCHY.

Being thrown in the basement has given me an opportunity to reflect on some things in the game. I was kinda flattered to be the winner of both "running the game" categories in Touchy Subjects. Unfortunately, that perception might cause the other players to plan more behind my back. I know from last vote that being in the basement before Tribal Council shouldn't impact things tooooo much for me. Still, I'd rather have the opportunity to talk with people whenever I want.

Speaking of last vote, I tried to blindside Zach! And it didn't happen. The original plan was Miguel, but things got switched up when no one seemed to bite into wanting him out. Ally wanted to get Tim instead, which signaled to me that she obviously didn't have a strong relationship with him. So I had to swoop in and say Zach should go instead because Tim is in one of my many alliances. Honestly I'm beginning to prefer the 4 Elements alliance over AJ's Angels because it's possible Alyssa was the one who flipped, and she's not telling me it was her. But after Touchy Subjects, I think I have a better chance against Karth in the end than I previously thought. He's viewed as inactive, which I personally disagree with, but that perception is very good for me.

Another alliance I'm in is the "Samurais" which I would have liked to call "The Resistance" but Luke had other plans. I honestly just view this alliance as a means to an end. That end being.... getting Zach out, SOON! Hopefully Ally has a case of tunnel-vision with getting Zach out as soon as possible and her/Luke don't suspect a thing when I flip right afterwards.

All of this is contingent on Jess feeling the same way, since flipping on my own wouldn't get me the numbers, which I think she will now that she sees the other players view Karth as being dragged to the end.

I'm still in the basement, so I don't know who the 2 sides are voting for. I doubt Zach sent me down here because he wants me to find an advantage... so I could be a target. I hope Karth and Tim would keep that from happening, and push the vote onto Luke instead. I might prefer to get Jake out just because I don't have a strategic relationship with him, but beggars can't be choosers. It's not like I'm particularly close with Luke anyway.

Ok so sorry for not making confessionals as often as I did before!!  The game has literally been warped based off of the fist merge vote. Zach was targeted by Stephen, Ally, Luke, and JESS. Freaking Jess flipped on me when I thought we were really tight and cool. I played off my frustration with the others in the alliance of the 4 elements as understanding but I made moves. I first formed that allaince but now I formed an allaince of Kato 2.0 minus Miguel ofc. Tonights vote I want to do Luke but lets see. I will talk about challenge results soon as well!!

i won IMMUNITY!!! i'm so blessed because i've been told by two sources (namely tim & alyssa) that i was going to be targeted had i not. so? bless!

regarding what ''subjects'' i won: - would dump rice in the fire [true] - biggest physical player [true] - most likely to have an idol [true] - trust the most [false??] - want to see win at the end [false lol]

so that's interesting. i did a tentative game ranking and originally i put: alyssa > zach > ally > karthik > stephen > jake > jess > tim > luke

but now i'd put: alyssa > ally > karthik > zach=stephen > jake > jess > tim > luke but it's still super tricky to accurately rate because of the multiple factors you could include (threat size, potential to win, potential to go to FTC, allies, etc.). i honestly think my jury management is 0/2 so far, and that i will lose at FTC due to ''not working with people'' even tho i entirely blame others for that :D

now let's talk about the reasonings for voting me (hopefully i haven't spoken about this already): stephen - were worried about a potential idol play/new vote so they voted the "safer option", named zach. --> this kinda throws me off. i think it's realistically the most truthful of the 4 excuses, but it's kinda sad that my name was a ''safe'' vote opposed to someone having my back (because i have tried to work with them and especially like. jess.) ally - felt betrayed by the stephen w. vote and like i ignored her. --> i think this is dumb. firstly, girl, we kno u are STRATEGIC. secondly, i didn't ignore her whatsoever?? i was the closest to flipping imo but i didn't because stephen w. targeted ME? like if she genuinely voted me bc i didnt flip after my name was stephens main target (bar jake) then... sister idk what u want. luke - last minute scramble, didn't think i was getting many votes. --> well this is just false. point, blank and period. jess - that when she offered miguel's name, i was hesitant and freaking out (and that she wanted to be my number one opposed to number two). --> dumb. i told her miguel's name. i said it'd be sad but i'd be down and not willing to stick my neck out for miguel. maybe i came off poorly, sure, but if you truly wanted 2 be my ''number one'' u shouldnt make the vote me but rather someone else.

i'm just peeved.

on top of that, karthik is sooo rude??? like he didn't tell me shit about the basement until i confronted him. LIKE. I SENT AN ENEMY (OF MINE) TO THE BASEMENT AND YOU FAILED TO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU GUESS EVERY 6 HRS OPPOSED TO 24?? LIKE ?? I COULDVE SENT IN A DUCKING FRIEND!! so rude. i honestly am questioning my trust with him more and more through each round.

i also want to talk about someone that's great. JAKE! i love you so much. last confessional i may have doubted you (and, maybe the round before) but i'm extremely appreciative for you in this game and i can't stress enough that i'm just paranoid as duck and worry way more than i should. thank u LOL i trust u a lot now.

but, that's all in the past. let's talk about tonights vote. allegedly, stephen told tim that the target was going to be me, but due to immunity, jake is now the target. this makes a little sense given allys been wanting jake out the absolute MOST, but i feel like it'd be a decoy. don't matter tho xx i'm safe. alyssa is also apparently flipping (or, staying i guess) with our side and voting out luke - who is our sides target. i see logic in voting luke. he'll be the easiest of that side to get out, but on the other hand, he's the least threatening and if i'm going to flip someone, it'll be easier to flip people against ally (best liar, etc.) or stephen (running the game, etc.) opposed to luke (voted out next, don't want 2 see win, etc.). but have it be known that i'd CRAVE idolling out stephen or ally, and i may just do that.

it's still early in the day, and a lot can happen. i'll try* to keep yawls posted. i genuinely trust no one and i'm like at the stage of being sad ): because i don't think i can win and i don't think anyone wants to work with me even though i feel like i've been super social. i am always opened when i play games, and that may be 'snakey' or something but i'm willing to work with ANYONE. but they are not seeing that, and i don't know what to do abt it. maybe they're targeting me for being a threat (as a main reason), and that'd make me content but it feels like i'm one of those "one sided" people and... yeah. i guess only time will tell, but my fatass is in final 8 with an idol and all these birches know that, and i'll just have 2 play around that. good luck to me LOL ALSGKDLSKG

After a shocking touchy feelings, I’m feeling nervous about this tribal. No one is saying anything and I’m honestly feeling like I’m going home tonight. People are telling me I shouldn’t be and I want to believe them but I just don’t know.

ugh I want to save Luke but I cant afford to lose Tim/Jake/Zach's trust so I may have to just follow the groups preferences and vote Luke. I would rather have preferred the target to be Jess/Alyssa as they seem to be playing good games and aren't close to me. I had talked it out with Luke and now I feel like he would be help to my game down the line but dont feel like going over the board to save him.

Luke is voted out 5-4. He becomes the third member of our jury.