#no I - a person who had no emotional time for go s1 when it came out - did not think I’d be getting this defensive about it. however.

[crimson-constellations]

One of the things I’ve been thinking about since I finished arcane was Jayce’s last speech to Viktor bfr the ending.

When Jayce said his imperfections are not weakness but instead beautiful and made him the man he was today and it worked , it kinda downed on me just how perfectly crafted the timing had been, and how It just wouldn’t have worked any other time. Don’t get me wrong it would have a lot of impact on Viktor, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as groundbreaking as it was in the moment of that last scene. in s1 before he began using the hexcore on himself for example, he’s definitely feel somewhat better about himself but not enough to give up on trying to change everything. Maybe he’s think about it further but I don’t personally think anything would go differently. After he died and absorbed the hexcore though, it really wouldn’t have changed a thing, no explanation needed.

But when he came back as machine herald we could see how the idealization of the glorious evolution evolved to a different level of obsession, the perfectionism all tied up to the emotions that formed him, that self hatred that came with his incapability of getting rid of his illness and disability, it reflected directly onto what drove machine herald’s ambition.

And then comes Jayce, fresh out his worst nightmare of loosing everyone he loves along with the entire fucking planet. Days of walking around injured absorbing the reality of what the world will turn into if he doesn’t end the life of his partner. Then the cave happens, and he suddenly has to endure everything that happened to Viktor in a fucked up, symbolic and faster paced way. (There’s a lot of parallels in there tho I’m not covering them I’m sure someone else already did that)

then he got out, shot Viktor, following the wishes of the Viktor he met in the other realm. After this he got an insight on what Viktor went through all his life, and that, along with what he told him about the perfectionism of the glorious evolution, he had time to fucking think about it and I’m sure he spent some nights awake with that on his mind.

So when Jayce got his last chance to try and convince Viktor he knew just how to crack him. I don’t think he thought of it strategically at all though. He said it not only because he meant it but because when face to face with him his emotions got the best of him (again) and the wish to just get Viktor back that’s what he thought Viktor needed to hear. After what he went through in the arcane, they were connected again and that moment was the only one he could have reached Viktor. His emotions were so strong they were inhuman already, the sole source of his motivation. That recognition from jayce in his most fragile state ( into the hive mind )

It’s the words he needed to hear the most all his life from the person who understood, the one that brought him back.

[remythologise]

bitchy drunk post but just saw someone denouncing the good/flag/shadows fandom as being ‘superwholock 2.0’ that makes ‘tumblr unusable again’ ok well sorry some of us were having fun in 2013. truly cannot imagine what you use The Supernatural Website for that would make it ‘usuable’ for you - targaryen headcanons? just blacklist and move on dot com

[stackslip]

I wanna ask what’s going on with arcane but I feel like I’m opening pandora’s box 😅

the thing about arcane s1's writing, is that every plot beat flowed naturally from characters' choices, and every one of the characters' choices made sense in the context of who that character was, where they came from and what information they are working with at the time they make that decision. it felt like a tightly written tragedy where on a rewatch, it all feels completely inevitable that things would end this way because it made sense to who we learned these characters were. and said characters were layered, much time was devoted to giving them a certain degree of depth and believability (bar cait). you can criticize other aspects of s1's writing such as liberal wishwashiness but s1 of arcane was a *good* tragedy with a genuinely compelling cast! the final scene of the show is a confrontation between three major players who were all working with different information and whose motivations are completely at odds but who have a deeply personal tie, it's about jinx as the end result of the zaun-piltover conflict, it's about vi and silco being two deeply broken people who see her in an idealized version they deeply love and want her to remain this static thing they can be comfortable with until it turns out she can't be and she shatters and at the same time irreversably destroys her relationship to both, leading her in her despair to set off the ticking time bomb that is piltover and zaun's inevitable conflict!

so like, s1 has its flaws but its finale imo was perfect and made the whole thing self contained. i was ok with s2 happening. the only thing i wanted was more the dynamic character writing. i expected wishy washy politcs. and act 1 of s2 already struggled with character, but at least the plot beats were interesting and while not earned, made sense according to the characters we'd left in s1.

s2 act 2 is an absolute catastrophe, even compared to the previous act, nevermind compared to s1. it's not just that the plot beats don't feel earned, it's not just that it's missing connective tissue between them--it's that all the most interesting conflicts and dynamics just cease to exist. they don't get "resolved", they either are completely forgotten or are just waved away magically to pave the way for an utterly stupid, shlocky, wannabe shock value emotional final ten minutes of episode 6 that is honestly infuriating in how it's trying to push you to have feelings about it. i don't have any feelings besides revulsion and bafflement frankly. even before these final ten minutes of ep 6, the sheer lack of buildup or of character moments, the way characters are basically willed by the plot to be there at specific points for plot to happen to them instead of them arriving at it naturally--the way it reframes interesting aspects of s1 and s2 act 1 into shlocky, tropey bullshit--it's honestly near mesmerizing? it's like they brought in whole different new writers specifically for this who decided to back down on ANYTHING the show did that was interesting to try to instead push to the league's status quo instead, no matter how little sense it makes. i'm almost in awe. how do you mess up so badly.

this isn't just like, the plot is rushed and we need to get there as fast as possible--none of these resolutions make SENSE. jinx and vi's relationship was the core of season one, and suddenly magically jinx shows up at vi's door and vi bitches a little and then they go hunt vander down together and then they all hug because he was their father too <333 isha. i'm supposed to have emotions about isha? she sacrifices herself for.... forwhat? what? why? it's like they knew they had to kill her off to give jinx feelings and do so in the most stupid and absurd way possible, i was laughing hysterically when the music came in. it was so blatantly manipulative and uncalled for. ok i guess! sevika helps jinx and then once she's served her plot purpose she just vanishes! doesn't she wanna meet vander??? ekko's disappearance doesn't both people much i guess even his own firelights. ambessa says a single line about mel disappearing, and can i say i'm kinda infuriated that two out of three of the main black characters are just locked away from the plot and main cast for a large period of time. jayce--i guess they'll give us an explanation as to why but here it's like he just...... shows up angry and "ruins" things and that's it. whatever there was to ruin lmfao sky and viktor's heterosexuality mind palace leading to him being cyborg satan or some shit? cait finally FINALLY gets some personality, something interesting to her, she is openly a reactionary fascist who gassed half the undercity to sniff out jinx, and then she meets vi and within a solid minute is now back to being Nice and helping out jinx. i guess. silco and vander's backstory kind of completely destroys a lot of the stuff that made vander and silco's relationship to vi and jinx interesting and goes for a Family Is 5ever approach i guess.

just. i don't think there's a single thing there that's redeemable or interesting. it's comically bad. vi has no personality or motivation. she just does things. she got an emo trauma amv so that we get that she's sad but it might as well not have happened bc she barely is a character. jinx is a sad manic pixie dream girl. her psychosis is gone or barely there now apparently. sevika is plot and then vanishes when her part is done. ambessa is not a mastermind as act 1 hinted at but the most stupid comical villain alive. mel is--is she just going to come back to do a big plot thing in act 3 and then that's it? ekko the same? we have no idea what jayce is even doing or what or why. piltover and zaun are gonna ally now i guess lol. ok sure why not. why anything. why do anything at all! what's the point!

it's funny bc i was willing to give this season a chance despite act 1 being so rushed bc again, the plot points were interesting and while the characters needed more time fleshed out for their decisions to make sense i COULD see the characters making these choices and it was just a question of missing buildup. here it's like everyone is a zombie of their actual self. there's no point to anything. it's so stupid. it tries hard to play the emotion part but why should i feel any emotion except befuddlement? why are caitvi shippers happy? i'd be insulted. i feel insulted. i heard via a friend that riot had intervened in the writing more and so far i hadn't felt it but now i'm wondering if that's not exactly what happened bc it genuinely feels like the writers were fired right after act 1. what the fuck lol. i don't think i even wanna watch act 3 after this, i feel genuinely insulted that i should be expected to think this is the same show as s1 or that i should feel any kind of positive feelings about it. fuck this show so bad lmfao i'm sticking to s1 and pretending nothing happened after it. maybe grabbing some act 1 plot points for fun and that's it. it's so bad

[teambyler]

Mike was saying "I love you" to Will

Most people see Mike's monologue and think of it as "proof" that he and El are an endgame couple, but it's actually one of the strongest hints of a Byler conclusion.

Because Mike was saying "I love you" to Will.

Sounds crazy? Of course! He was speaking directly to El, after all. What the hell am I talking about?

Some have focused on contradictions and other issues with what Mike says, including listing El's superpowers instead of the full person she wants to be loved for being. Plus he had to do it (and was pushed by Will), or else El and their friends in Hawkins might have died. It does seem like El sensed something off in what he said, which would explain why she hardly talked to him afterward. But I actually disagree about Mike's "I love you" being a total lie. In the official script it's written that it had a positive effect on El (although the way it was ultimately shot and edited made it more ambiguous). (I got this screencap from a TikTok video):

And so, in the van, Will DID make Mike love El. Mike MIGHT have wondered whether Will was talking about himself too, but one thing he was convinced of was that that El loved him because "he's the heart." Feeling like she loved him for who he was made him love her. I think it's more accurate to say that, while Mike's monologue may have had issues, he DID feel something genuine... BUT the logic of events leads more toward a BYLER conclusion than away from one.

The problem for Mike and El is that Mike was saying "I love you" to the idea of El that WILL put in his head:

Will said that El felt like a mistake, and that Mike made her feel like she was better for being different. She was terrified of losing him and so that's why she pushed him away.

So Mike came out of that conversation with new feelings for El: he thought that SHE needed HIM to love her, not because of "dumb luck," but because of his unique qualities. Who HE is helps her be a superhero.

But El's journey in Season 4 was to LEAVE Mike to "be a superhero." When she left a note for Mike, she tellingly signed it "From El." When she realized he couldn't say he loved her, she chose to let go of their romantic relationship. Her journey in Season 4 was about finding who she was independently from others in her life (most importantly her "papa" Dr. Brenner). El went through her own journey that REQUIRED separating from Mike.

By the time they reunite, she has grown. Instead of Mike coming up with the plan (like so many times before), EL came up with the piggyback plan. While she was piggybacking, Mike said "I love you" -- but having her self-image rely on how Mike sees her was something she was moving away from.

She had felt like a monster. What liberated her from feeling that was NOT Mike and not an elusive "normal life" (with a relationship) -- let alone something as token and symbolic as saying "I love you." She had to realize this on her own:

There were clues in Mike's monologue for her to pick up on that he wasn't fully telling the truth, first and foremost him saying that he "knew, in that moment, that I loved you." (He couldn't have, when he was openly scheming in s1 to get her sent away, possibly to a mental hospital, loud enough for her to hear.)

But Mike DID love El when he said "I love you." Mike saw someone who desperately needed him, someone whom MIKE was a hero to and not just the other away around.

That person he was thinking of, of course, was WILL.

It wasn't like it was news to Mike that El needed his love: El confronted him earlier in the season for not saying he loved her. We all saw that El's heartbreak didn't convince Mike that he loved El.

Ironically, it was WILL'S heartbreak, HIS emotions, and HIS words that did. And Mike felt something real this time, because it came from WILL.

Will's words affected Mike deeply. Deep down, Mike wants to be someone's hero. He's the leader; he's "the heart." When dealing with a superhero like El, he can admire and love her, sure... but does it make MIKE feel loved for who HE is? Does a romantic relationship with El COMPLETE him? Mike doesn't want to be a discount Lois Lane. He wants be loved because who HE is makes him THEIR hero, too.

Mike has always been bullied, misunderstood, and angry. He rambled just before Will's speech about being "some random nerd" and feeling like he didn't deserve El. He felt inadequate, and this affected him ("leader Mike" recedes when he's in a relationship with El, and comes forward when someone -- usually Will -- needs him). Will's point "You make them feel better because they're different" doesn't just describe El + Will; this is what Mike is looking for, too.

Being "some random nerd" is part of why Will loves him so much. Will's painting was the perfect gift; Will knows and understands his best friend better than anyone. The D&D theme was a tribute to Mike the nerd -- he sees everything he is, the "good" and the "bad" -- AND he sees the hero and the leader. WILL's love for WHO MIKE IS made him feel like he's a good person.

(Here's an angelwithnightmares video that shows this about Mike exactly)

Mike's journey in s4 was him rediscovering that he is a hero. And this required separating from El and hearing this from Will. Will said that he's the leader of the group: "You keep the party together." And earlier in the season he reminded Mike "you guys saved me" (with a proud "I did, didn't I" reaction from Mike that was super cute lol).

Will's love gave Mike the strength to be a hero again. Mike pretty much used Will's words in his monologue to El. Two scenes at the end of Season 4 foreshadowed "leader Mike" coming back; his speech to El, and his "We will" shoulder grab with Will. Whatever issues there were in his monologue, this was THE callback to "leader Mike" of s1 and s2. He didn't help El beat Vecna, but he helped them survive. Mike spoke of his genuine platonic love for El, while thinking it was romantic love. And it was WILL's romantic love that helped him be this hero, to say "I love you" to the person he thought made him feel that way, who as it turns out was WILL.

So we'll have a final season where there is this hugest of loose ends when it comes to Byler: Mike will somehow realize that Will in the van was describing himself and not El. Mike will realize that the first time he felt romantic love, was because of Will, and that Will more than anyone helps him be the hero he wants to be. (It's the perfect formula, writing-wise, to make a closeted boy confused about his romantic feelings!)

AND Mike will learn that Will sacrificed his own happiness for him and El. How does that NOT lead to Mike loving Will even more than he already does?

Finn Wolfhard himself said about the van scene:

How is he this clueless right now? What with the Will scene... I remember asking the Duffers, "Why would he not know all this?" And they were like, "Don't worry, kid, it'll pay off in the end."

I think it will.

-teambyler

[moonspirit]

Do you think Levi hates Annie?

Hello anon!

Haha tho, no, Levi doesn't hate Annie. I don't think Levi hates anybody really. (Zeke is another can of worms, let's not go there rn)

First off, what I understand about Levi is that he's a deeply empathetic person. He holds a LOT of compassion and places a lot of value on human life (e.g: he isn't happy to learn that titans were all once humans). At the same time, Levi is someone who recognises that sometimes, it's necessary to make choices that can be violent and ruthless (one e.g: him torturing Sannes; he doesn't enjoy it but it came to that and had to be done). These are two personality traits that can actually coexist.

Coming to Annie. Much of the animosity towards her back when S1 aired was because 1. We didn't know everything about her, and 2. She killed Levi's elite Squad in a particularly violent fashion. She did kill Levi's Squad, and he was enraged, this much is painfully clear, I think. There's no denying he was furious seeing the talented people he worked with all dead in seconds.

But while I believe Levi is an emotional person who takes the deaths of his comrades very seriously, he is faaaaaarr from being vengeful. Remorse, regret, sorrow, and despair, these are things he feels, yes, but irrationally? just for the sake of being angry? No.

When we see the RBA "attacking" Paradis and trying to kidnap Eren multiple times, we (the audience) don't see them as children - we see them as young adults committing unspeakable acts of violence against an innocent population (this is exacerbated by the fact that Reiner is older than the others).

But they are mere KIDS to Levi, who's much older. He isn't stupid. He sees these kids, turning into titans and trying to kill them, and wonders why. Why are these children acting this way?

Also, try to look at it like this and see if it makes sense to you: Once the Scouts reached the basement and discovered the truth of the world, learned of the Eldian race, the Titan powers, Marley's existence, of Liberio within it, of the Warrior programme and how those human war weapons are all just children of 8 and 9 and 10, brainwashed with propaganda and bred to be nothing but tools and monsters - they understood. The Scouts understood before anybody else did, that the world was unfair on both sides of the wall.

Levi too, understood. He watched Annie kill his squad, and he understood at some point in time during the 4 year timeskip, that she was a child when she did what she did, and she had no choice but to do it.

While Levi doesn't express his emotions well, he doesn't dislike someone for the sake of disliking. He's blunt, he's foul mouthed, he's brutally honest and says what's on his mind... But him not openly talking to someone or showing care for them does not mean he hates them.

In fact none of the Warriors wanted to do any of the things they did, they committed those irreversible acts of murder and violence simply because they wanted to go back home. And maybe Paradis was the first place where they experienced some kind of friendship and equality, but it was still the target of their mission, a place they couldn't stay in. They still wanted to go back home to Liberio, back to the people they called family.

Annie, to the family she called her father.

A person as compassionate as Levi doesn't hate Annie, because he knows she did what she had to do when she was just a guilt-ridden teenage kid, even if that came at the cost of losing his friends.

Tell me also: Who in the Alliance hasn't lost their loved ones at the hands of another?

Around that fire with Hange, they've all killed someone dear to the other.

[doughliciousfrosting]

What was it like for your Transfem Leo to come out to her family?

Intro:

Oh my god I love this question. I LOVE ANY QUESTION ACTUALLY. Personally I've been debating on whether Leo would come out as transfem before or after Splinter's death. I've decided before for the simple reason that I really want Splinter to have a nice moment with her as her daughter yk? I guess I'd have to start off with how Leo realized she was transfem. I'm gonna be honest prior to this ask I hadn't given it much thought so I'll try my best to figure it out here right now!! If my initial headcanon for this changes I'll make an update post on it later.

Leo realizes she's transfem:

I'd imagine the turtles themselves don't really have a strong sense of gender, since not only are they turtles, they've also spent the first 15 years of their life in social isolation in the sewers. The only idea of gender they really percieve stems from Splinter, and from their perspective I imagine they kind of just interpret Splinter as a ninja and nothing else. So I think Leo initially tries her best to mimic Splinter and his behaviors. I think Leo's view on herself completely shifted when they met April, because she was an entirely new person. I think Leo at first didn't think much of it because April was human, but then when they met Casey she didn't feel the same kind of envy YKWIM?? Like Leo took one look at April and was like "idk what that is but I wanna be that." I feel like this internal dialogue came to a climax when she went to visit the tea girl from S1. I headcanon she still visits and they have cute lil tea parties lol. So the little girl says she wants to give Leo a makeover, and at first Leo is like "haha no." And the girl is INSISTENT she's like "if you don't let me I'm going to scream and get my dad over here" and Leo caves finally, she's like "OKAY OKAY 😰😰" so the girl dresses her up with what she can (obviously the little girls clothes wouldn't fit Leo who has a huge ass shell on her back LMAO) and she tries to do Leo's makeup. Leo looks in the mirror and thinks like wow.. something abt this just clicks for me. And it kind of makes Leo realize like, this is what she had been wanting since she realized there were genders outside of her rat dad LMAO.

Coming out:

April:

With this in mind, I think that Leo wouldn't exactly have a word for what she is? And frankly I don't think she'd immediately take action either. I think she'd go to April for help, and after telling April what she felt, April would be able to explain what Leo is experiencing. So I guess unintentionally, she came out to April first LMAO 😭 and after Leo realizes she might be trans she's kind of like ermrmmm what do I do abt it now.... So I imagine April gives Leo help on where to start! I think she'd recommend Leo come out to her family members one at a time (if that's what she wanted). So Leo thinks on it for a couple of days or weeks.. (Let's be honest, months). And after finally mustering the courage, she picks a sibling to talk to.

Donnie:

I don't know if this is surprising to some people or not, but I feel like Leo would come out to Donnie first. Mainly because Donnie wouldn't yell (Raph) and would be less likely to accidentally tell other people (sorry Mikey..) Since the 2012 turtles aren't as in touch with emotions as the ROTTMNT turtles, I think that it would definitely be very awkward, but Leo would try to approach it as scientifically as possible. Which serves a double purpose of not being confusing and also being a little more devoid of emotion. I think Leo would start like "you know how gender is a social construct and etc.." And then after blabbing over her words Donnie would be like "hold on are you trying to tell me you're trans?" And Leo would be like "erm.. Yas? Unless u think it's weird because then no.." I think Donnie would know what trans means bcuz Donnie studies human society and stuff. I don't think he'd know how to respond, but I think he'd def question Leo on it out of curiousity, not malice. So after a thorough interview so Donnie can collect data LMAO Donnie kicks leo out the lab is like "cool thanks sis," and that's the end of it.

Mikey:

I think Leo would go to Mikey next because I dont think Mikey would care much BAHAHA. I imagine it's just Leo pulling up next to Mikey (whos doing something like hanging out with I.C.K. or practicing skateboarding) and I imagine the convo goes somewhat like this:

Leo: "Mikey?"

Mikey: "Yeah bro?"

Leo: "uhh I'm not ur bro, I'm ur sister it'd be cool if u could call me that from now on"

Mikey: "cool sis."

Mikey and Leo: "...."

Mikey: "do I still call u Leo orrrr?-"

Leo: "Leo is fine! I have to go train now so uhh bye?"

Mikey: "k bye Leo!"

Mikey would be so unbothered I think LMAO

Raph:

I think Raph would be last, why? Because any sort of convo with Raph regarding emotions tends to be very heavy for Leo and Raph together lmao. I think Leo would STRESS OUT, after telling Mikey she 100% has to tell Raph soon before someone else says something. I think Leo would ask to speak to Raph while Raph's in his room. After knocking and being allowed inside, Leo would sit on raphs bed completely silent and withdrawn. Raph would realize the serious atmosphere and give Leo his full attention. After a little awkward silence, raph would get over it and I think the convo would go something like:

Raph: "Whats up leo? You kinda just made urself cozy in my room. "

Leo: "I..... need to talk to u abt something"

Raph: "well yeah I figured that much"

Leo: "right...."

- more silence -

Raph: "so?? -"

Leo: "Raph. Do you hate girls"

Raph: "WHAT???"

Leo: "WAIT NO THATS NOT HOW I MEANT TO ASK THAT"

Raph: "are u asking me if I'm gay???"

Leo: "NOOO NO NO I'M ASKING ABOUT ME"

Raph: ".... Are *YOU* gay???"

Leo: " WAIT NO.."

Raph: "cuz it's fine if u are this is just a rlly weird way to say it"

Leo: "NOO NO I LIKE GIRLS, THATS NOT WHAT I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU"

Raph: "SO SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!!"

Leo: *sighs*

Leo: "okay I like girls right?.. But I dont just LIKE girls, I also like um.. BEING a girl."

Raph: "huh???"

Leo: "LIKE. YOU KNOW??"

Raph: "wait so.. youre saying that youreeeee a girl?...." (Brain processing)

Leo: "yes...."

Raph: "....so are you gonna like wear dresses and tiaras now?"

Leo: "dude. Have u ever been around a girl?? U don't see April walking around in dresses and tiaras!"

Raph: "I was just asking jeez!!"

Leo: "well don't ask dumb questions!! And to answer ur dumb question no, I will not. I'm a ninja first, I don't think doing flips and Parkour around the city in a big poofy dress is very practical.."

Raph: "righttt.... so when are you gonna tell everyone else?"

Leo: *cringes* "emm I kind of already told everybody else besides splinter? ":)"

Raph: ".........."

Raph: "WHY AM I THE LAST PERSON TO KNOW!?"

-- end scene LOL --

Splinter:

I don't exactly have dialogue for this one, but I think it would definitely be the hardest one for Leo to do. I think Leo would feel like shes ruining splinters expectations of her or something yk?? So she starts off on this big ramble about how she'll always be splinters kid and she hopes this doesn't change anything. I think she'd come off as kind of hysterical so splinter would shut her down and straight up ask what's wrong. So Leo would blurt it out and splinter would 100% be accepting. I think splinter would tell Leo that back when he first named them, he assumed them all to be boys bcuz he didn't want another daughter at the time since he was still mourning Miwa and didn't want to feel like he was replacing her. Splinter would tell Leo he's honored to have her as a daughter now, and then ask if she wants another name that suits her. I personally think Leo would decline, I think she'd want to keep it because it's the one splinter gave her and she doesn't have a problem being called leonardo lolol

Conclusion:

Firstly, this was a long read so if ur still here thank u for listening to my word vomit!! Secondly, I'd like to give a disclaimer here.. **I AM NOT A WRITER** HELPMEAHSLAH I don't know if thats clear or not. I have a vague idea on how these events would go, but I can't always articulate them correctly. I hope this was somewhat comprehensible. And lastly, to the person who sent the message thank u for the asking!! This was very fun to answer and it made me give thought to something I hadn't before!

Edit: WAIT LAST THING I FORGOT TO ADD. I AM NOT TRANS!!!! So if the way I describe this experience for Leo doesn't seem right please let me know 😭😭

[wistfulnightingale]

"Somewhat Heroes" (or, Why Our Ineffables have been a Couple Since the Bus Stop, Part 1)

Mini-Meta Musing #5

Our Dear Ineffables have always been heroes to us. The Almost-Apocalypse in Season 1 pushed Aziraphale and Crowley farther than anything they'd ever encountered before. Each went through a crisis, a loss, and an individual journey during the final days of those events. It's the Classic Heroes Journey, right? Surprisingly, their stories don't reflect the 12 Classic Heroes Journey Moments. Or even the top 7. On purpose? Yep.

Although they made heroic choices at the airport, they were supporting-characters in that climax. It was the Them who stopped the Four Horsemen, Anathema and Newt who prevented nuclear war, and Adam who altered reality and saved the world. Azi and Crowley were "Somewhat Heroes." Kinda ordinary. Almost like Humans Incarnate -- just getting through by doing the best they can.

Nonetheless, Crowley and Aziraphale each came out of it all a changed Being, ready for a New Life. Ready to choose each other.

At the end of a Heroes Journey, the Hero has earned a Reward. For Our Ineffables, their reward was to finally be together, safely, without fear. There was nothing either of them truly wanted more than the chance to be "Us", enjoying the world they both love.

They held hands on the bus because they wanted to. 💕 The Ineffable Commitment began that evening. They were together as a couple from that moment on. The next day, the nightingale sang for them.

Crowley subtly offers his hand, bringing it down from the rail. He can feel the change. Aziraphale takes his hand, holds it. Finally. It was a moment of Truth for the angel. The significance of that gesture of affection was something he'd been carefully avoiding for a very long time.

We can see in the gif that Azi is looking straight ahead as he reaches for Crowley's hand. This moment matters deeply to him. He's crossing a threshold of commitment to this relationship, and it took a great deal of courage, and a great deal of love.

But neither of them could have fully reached this point without going through the Transformative Journey of a "Somewhat Hero."

When Aziraphale and Crowley argued at the bandstand in S1 E3, Aziraphale was still trusting in God's Plan. It was Inconceivable that he would Ever consider killing the child-Antichrist -- he would rather jeopardize their friendship with emotional protests and hurtful words.

When a frightened Crowley later finds him, apologizes, and proposes running away, Azi isn't angry any longer... "Our side" isn't really over... He doesn't reject Crowley. He's simply completely determined in his faith that God will fix everthing. There's even a moment where he seems to (very!) briefly imagine running away to Alpha Centauri.

Oh, he's not seriously considering leaving. Certainly not now -- the world needs saving, if he can just find the right person to fix it all.

For the Somewhat-Heroes Journey of our Ineffable duo, it's noteworthy that, unlike the Classic Hero Journey, there is no Yoda or Obi-wan, no Gandalph or Professor X to guide them. There is no "Meeting the Mentor". They are on their own, with no one but each other to rely on. It's been that way since... well, since The Beginning, when they weren't even quite sure that they'd made choices "their sides" would approve of.

After this brief meeting, they part, and each "Crosses the Threshold", continuing the Journey alone. Azi heartbreakingly learns that his shoud-be mentors/authorities are only uncaring bullies. Crowley must steel himself to face what he believes he fears most -- punishers from Hell. He survives, he wins! "Tests, Allies, & Enemies". They've never had any allies but each other, but right now, they don't even have that.

The next step for Classic Heroes is the "Approach to the Inmost Cave", the inner preparation for the difficult ordeal. I don't see it for our Dear Somewhat Heroes. Maybe I'm missing something... But it seems to me that what makes them different from Classic Heroes is that they're US, they're just very human and doing their best to cope with the dramatic circumstances they keep finding themselves in.

Even when they decided to thwart the Apocalypse 11 years ago, they planned to do it quietly, subversively, no heroic gestures and with what they hoped was minimal risk. Now, with a young Antichrist coming into power with a Hell Hound at his side, Aziraphale and Crowley are just making it up as they go, doing their best and trying to survive, like any of us might.

Ah, but next is "The Ordeal". The Ordeal is when the Hero faces their most deadly enemy, or their deepest fear. They must experience a metaphorical "death and resurrection" to be transformed -- everything they hold dear is on the line. Aziraphale and Crowley each face this, two diverging paths that tear them apart and bring them back together.

The burning bookshop is Crowley's "Inmost Cave", his darkest ordeal. Until now, Crowley's fears of the tortures of Hell limited him. I don't think he fully realized until this moment that the greatest fear of his existance was actually losing Aziraphale forever.

Everything that actually matters to Crowley is destroyed, and the empty space to his right holds nothing but flames. He is broken, and drunkenly waits for The End, lost in painful memories, a metaphorical death of Self.

As everyone but our angel expected, Heaven fails Aziraphale. In his "Ordeal", he is discorporated, pulled into Heaven to prepare for war. the encounter with the Metatron was his "Inmost Cave". What Azi thought was his greatest fear, what he had avoided fully facing for millennia, turns out to be true. Heaven isn't actually Good, it can neither be trusted nor relied on. His corporation has literally "died" in the accidental chain of events from this encounter. Everything he holds dear is now on the line -- the world, its people, and most of all, Crowley. The empty space to his left holds nothing but the glaring emptiness of Heaven. This simply won't do!

Aziraphale "Seizes the Sword" first. For the first time ever, he faces a higher authority, looks them straight in the eye, and defies them. No more fawning, no stammering. He's done with trying to fit in and "act like an angel". Azi is stronger now, TRANSFORMING. He's going Home, and if that means possessing someone in a very non-angelic rather-demonic way, that's perfectly fine. He knows a very nice demon who will understand perfectly!

Crowley, alone in the bar, has no idea there is still Hope. He's lost everything. Aziraphale's return reignites him -- now our beloved demon will do and can do Anything to reunite with Aziraphale. His Angel is his "Reward", and Crowley faces down Hastur fearlessly, in total control of an inane situation. With sheer will and imagination, he drives through unsurvivable hellfire, and holds the Bentley together, determined to reach the Being he LOVES. HE IS TRANSFORMED.

Why do our own hearts flutter as we watch this scene? We recognize a Romantic Hero. Crowley has a new level of confident swagger, an extra swing in his hips. He will win his Beloved, and we have the backlit romantic silhouettes of classic cinema to prove it. The deep gentleness when he leans in and murmurs, "Leave it to me" always makes my heartbeat jump just a little more...!

The car explodes, reality returns, Crowley can't "fix" everything... But Azi again doesn't act like an angel -- it's up to him to deal with the soldier. When they encounter the child Antichrist, Aziraphale is ready to shoot if he must. He was broken and reborn, he no longer trusts Heaven and their rules. Instead, He Trusts Crowley. What was a horrific thought to him when they fought at the bandstand is now his free choice. He fires the weapon to kill the enemy and save everything he loves. Thankfully, Mdm. Tracy prevents him. Other unlikely heroes have also been led to the same place, and each contributes to averting the Apolcalypse.

For Aziraphale, there is one more step to be made to fully complete his Journey to Transformation. He still trusts God, despite everything he's experienced. When Crowley reaches out to his Angel, oh so gently and tenderly, at the bus stop, Aziraphale lights up, but isn't quite able to make that final commitment-- yet.

Lesley, the International Delivery Man, arrives. He takes away the symbols of the horsemen, as well as Aziraphale's sword. Remember, Aziraphale bravely raised that flaming sword against Satan himself. It's committing to Crowley that's the greater challenge. Lesley speaks lovingly of his wife. He leaves. As the bus approaches, Aziraphale thinks of love, and again ponders what Crowley first said:

"Angel, what if the Almighty planned it like this, all along? From the very Beginning?"

This is the final moment of Transformation for Aziraphale. Our Angel realizes that he can trust them both, God and Crowley. He doesn't have to choose. He doesn't have to surrender the core of who he is, an angel who loves and trusts both God and Crowley.

He commits, and accepts the Hero's Reward. He takes Crowley's hand. It's a Promise. It's a Vow. It's the Reward both of our Somewhat Heroes wanted most, the only thing that mattered to them, besides Azi's faith in God. Loving and being Loved by each other...

I would have loved to see a flashback scene of those quiet years in between. The years we as fans imagine and write and draw and share and reblog, the cocoa, the cuddles... Solidifying and building on the bond of six millenia, now fulfilled.

But I have no doubt what we were seeing in the beginning of Season 2. Stick around, if you'd like. This is only the start of more posts that might just convince you...

[asideofchaos]

II 16 Spoilers Ahead!

So I see a lot of people panicking that the contestants aren't real, but I don't that's what the whole "MePhone Created Everyone" was supposed to mean.

Because yes, MePhone made them and we see Suitcase and Knife glitch at the end, but we also see repeatedly that the contestants have their own souls and free will. Sure, there is definitely parts of them that MePhone came up with; such as PB's fire and the S2 Finalist not remembering the S3 time skip, but we see again and again the contestants doing things that MePhone does not want.

Case and point: Taco. Everything about Taco. Not only was she secretly smart without MePhone knowing, but she 1. tried to steal the million dollars, 2. hid in the woods for who-knows how long, 3. conspired with and manipulated running contestants, 4. kidnapped his assistant, and 5. took over the show for an entire episode. If MePhone had control over her then none of that would have even happened.

Outside of Taco, almost all of the contestants do things that MePhone does not want, such as:

Bow never leaving no matter how many times she was punched with the Fist-Thingy

The eliminated S1 contestants trying to escape Idiotic Island

Paper going insane and everything with Evil Paper happening

The Cherries launching Marshmallow to space where she would be unrecoverable

OJ suing MePhone and threatening to do it again

Tissues making MePhone sick

Suitcase developing horrible anxiety and hallucinations

Microphone taking Taco's deal

Lightbulb using Fan to fly (which we see MePhone call out as cheating)

Marshmallow running away to live in Purgatory Mansion

Lightbulb and Test Tube traveling back in time

Paintbrush painting Steve Cobs and then burning the entire field

Lightbulb and Test Tube finding the Gemories

Fan rushing out to get the egg

Knife not telling MePhone about Taco

Fan and Test Tube creating Bot to bring back Bow; who MePhone did not like

The Eliminated S3 contestants being able to go back to the hotel

Box getting hit with a hammer, falling down a mountain, and then bursting into flames when MePhone did not have a medic

The Floor not being able to be eliminated and almost erupting the volcano

Blueberry faking his own death

Silver Spoon letting his aura get the better of him and almost killing Candle

Lightbulb avoiding telling everyone about what is happening

And those are just the things that are coming to mind, I'm sure there are things that I missed, but there's even more compelling questions. If the contestants are fake, then why do they need a place to go when eliminated if MePhone could make them not exist anymore? What about everything going on in Hotel OJ, Idiotic Island, and Indefinite Island without MePhone knowledge; especially for the last one since he didn't even know it existed until Ep10. If the BFDI crossovers and Nickel's early comments in S1 are to be believed, then at one point Nickel had somehow tried to join BFDI instead!

Even in II 16, we see that the contestants can have their life sucked out of them, which shouldn't be possible if they don't have souls, meaning that they have to. There's also how Bow and Dough are both ghosts and how everyone can be body-swapped in S3 Ep8, or even how MePhone can revive them in the first place with all of their memories and personality intact. None of this should be possible if the contestants are fake.

That's not even mentioning that we already know what a fake contestant looks like with the replicas that Spring made in S3 Ep13! They can't talk and they have few emotions, which is in complete opposition to everyone else in Inanimate Insanity.

Even if MePhone made them in the first place, there is so much saying that yes, the contestants are real.

[chaifootsteps]

I get the feeling part of the reason the tide is turning is because the fans who were still on board with the show at this point (outside the ones who are just ride or die Stolas can do no wrong stans) still believed it was really going somewhere

that they were essentially excusing all the shoddy writing and stuff like addressing Ozzie's in a text message because (like another big fandom on tumblr, Sherlock) they were hanging on out of the belief that the show was going to get good. While that belief implies the show isn't good now, for some it didn't matter as long as everything built up to a big emotional payoff

but so far it hasn't come. The Full Moon was dominated by CHERUBs in what should have been a more intimate episode and worse, when the scene of the argument itself came Stolas was so wildly hypocritical and unlike fanon Stolas that fans couldn't help not only feel shortchanged by that, but feel like the show was actively ignoring its own history (i.e. everything from s1 Stolas outside of the deal itself)

for the fans still on board the one great episode that fixes everything is still coming, they're just now putting their hopes on Apology Tour for Stolas to finally show some self-reflection and be the character they thought he was. but in the meantime it seems that some of them are having the realization that everyone else had back in The Circus - that it's Stolas' show now, he's the woobified baby who can do no wrong and he can treat Blitzo (and other imps) like garbage as much as he pleases because the rich are the real victims when you think about it and the show will do its best to frame him as being in the right in the hopes the less discerning fans will buy it. problem is, parts of the fanbase are smarter than Viv gave them credit for

personally if Apology Tour is as bad as we all expect - and I hold out very little hope Stolas will bother considering Blitzo's feelings, let alone apologizing - then I imagine the next great episode that fixes everything will just get moved by the fanbase to being whichever episode it is when Stolas and Blitzo finally get together

but if that Owl in a Cage reprise leak is true and the show does make us suffer through an episode with the thesis 'Blitzo loves Stolas now not for who he is as a person or any connection they have but because he pities him for being abused by Stella' I look forward to the fanbase looking at that and collectively saying 'are you kidding me??'

That's the thing about having utmost faith in someone or something like Viv, and like HH/HB. You can keep holding out hope for a long time, but eventually, you realize you've been had.

[atdawnweryd]

Lucia Appreciation Post

I wasn't in the fandom when S1 came out so hopefully this isn't something that everyone has already rehashed to death, but! I want to give some love, and my own interpretation to the S1 Lucia scene.

First of all, I know we can all agree that it is a thing of pure beauty artistically! But beyond that it's such a great scene because of how it shows a very critical moment in Simon and Wille's relationship:

We know that Simon is a caring person. This is one of his core characterizations that comes into play over and over again throughout the series (eg taking on the role of protector to Sara; playing peacemaker for his mother and Sara when they are not understanding each other well, and then working hard to make sure Sara keeps in touch with their mother while she's living at Hillerska; giving Wille 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances after he gets skittish and pulls away in S1, then not allowing Wille to believe he and Marcus are dating because it will make Wille sad. The list goes on!). Seeing someone he cares about hurting or needing help is something that Simon cannot turn his back on, he truly believes in giving people chances to grow.

So, as the scene starts there is a big conflict happening within Simon, and you can see it clearly in the amazing acting by Omar. When they walk into the classroom, he has already calmed down significantly from the anger he was previously feeling- now that he knows that he's not going to get expelled - but he's still upset. He's not shouting or defensive anymore like he was in the music room, he's listening, but still skeptical of Wille's intentions. He maintains a physical separation between them that shows clearly that all is not forgiven yet.

Wille has really hurt him here by allowing Simon to be put into a position where he might be expelled. Where the rich kids would get away with it while the outsider feels all the consequences. More importantly, Wille showed Simon that he didn't understand or anticipate how upsetting that would be for him during their argument in the music room.

But now Wille responds with honesty and sincerity. He doesn't try to beg, plead or excuse his actions, or worse - try and convince Simon that it wasn't a big deal, minimizing his feelings.

And you can see how much that resonates with Simon here. You can see his defensiveness melt away, leaving him feeling a little lost on how to proceed. Does he just forgive Wille right way? Is it enough? Is this relationship even worth it if this is the kind of B.S. he's going to be exposed to around Wille?

But Wille continues. He opens up and makes himself vulnerable to Simon, revealing how important Simon and their relationship are to him.

He tears up, showing just how scared he is of losing Simon. And Simon, who is a caregiver at heart, can't help but respond to that.

(Me too fr, let's have a brief moment of admiration for Edvin's acting and unreal kicked puppy eyes!)

This following moment right here is so important!! The emotional climax of the scene in my opinion.

You can see it in Simon's eyes, the exact moment when he gives in - when he realizes that his feelings for Wille and his need to comfort Wille overpower his own feelings of hurt and frustration.

But it's not an easy decision for him - he looks almost pained, like he has fought a battle with himself and lost. Like maybe he had no choice at all, this was only going to end one way....

He pulls Wille into an embrace, and it's forgiveness, emotional release, and relief that this is not the end of them. Relief mixed with a very strong feeling on both their parts that their relationship has taken on a new dimension.

Before, they had admitted to liking each other, but their relationship was limited to lighthearted (and sexy) hookups, teasing, and generally enjoying each other's company. The honeymoon phase.

But this is the first time their relationship has been affected by external influences outside their control. It's been put to the test, and although they choose to overcome it together, it leaves them shaken.

Wille gets his first taste of reality - that Simon comes from a different world and does not see things from the same perspective, nor will he put their relationship above his family or his morals (ok yeaaa it's going to take a few more lessons for this one to fully sink in, but I said first taste!). Simon is not a sure thing.

And Simon realizes that being with Wille is not all fun and games, but it's something he wants anyways.

This conflict is unpleasant and jarring for them, but ultimately leads to a better understanding of one another, and new depth in their relationship.

They end this scene with a kiss that is pure comfort. Wille, who craves touch from Simon when he needs reassurance of closeness, goes in for one quick kiss before he pulls back slightly, and they just breathe each other in, Simon lightly stroking Wille's hair and cheek. We very much get the sense that there is an intensity between them that wasn't there before.

This scene was necessary to have before their video was leaked and everything went to hell. I don't know that Simon would have been so certain about sticking it out with Wille, or that Wille would have tried defying his mother for Simon if they hadn't gotten this taste of being apart first, cementing their desire for this relationship.

Because Simon is a very good, caring person, yes. But - he's not a bleeding heart who will stick their neck out for just anyone (for example, he doesn't exactly seem bothered that Alexander's going to be thrown under the bus instead of himself). He's the kind of person who generally prefers to mind their own business unless he or a loved one is involved.

I think that this scene is the first time Simon consciously realizes that he's in a bit over his head with Wille, that the depth of his feelings for him far surpasses what he had believed. Because Wille is now one of those people whose needs Simon will put before his own. He has become a loved one.

[maboroshi-no]

Hamefura BluRay S1 Vol 4 SS

Series: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Title / Character: Sophia Source: Anime BluRay S1 Vol 4 Synopsis: Sophia is not afraid of malicious gossip anymore, she sometimes has nostalgic dreams she can't remember, and she works hard so Nicol can marry Katarina one day. Translation: maboroshi-no

I, Sophia Ascart, attended today a tea party that I could hardly refuse since it was held by a family acquaintance.

Unlike long ago when I was confining myself indoors, I had become able to go outside and now, my "different appearance'" was so well-known that people didn't react to it anymore.

Even so, it wasn't like no one reacted anymore. There were still people badmouthing me.

And today, unfortunately, I happened to meet such people for the first time in a while.

Person A: She's just like a demon.

Person B: So eerie.

Person C: We'll get cursed.

They didn't speak to me, but their words uttered so I could hear them pricked my heart. 

If I had been my younger self, I might have run away and confined myself in a room. But,

Katarina: Your silky white hair and your sparkling ruby eyes are so beautiful.

Ever since Lady Katarina told me these words when I was nine, I had stopped hanging my head down.

Because I had someone who told me that I was beautiful, that they loved me, I raised my face and faced forward.

That's why today too, I faced forward instead of hanging my head down, and threw out my chest to show them it didn't bother me.

Thanks to Lady Katarina, I became able to do this.

After holding this stance, they grew tired of my lack of reaction and the malicious gossip became smaller.

Still, continuously facing malicious words and eyes after such a long time was hard.

When the tea party ended and I returned to the manor, maybe because I had relaxed my tensed-up mind, I was suddenly hit with fatigue.

My body felt heavy, and while thinking that it wouldn't be good manners, I immediately returned to my room and slipped into bed.

When I lay on the comfortable sheets, while thinking of almost nothing, I fell into a dream.

In a big all-white building, people of about the same age and dressed in the same uniform came and went. 

But next to me, there was no one.

I was jealously watching these people happily walking side by side.

I was holding in my hand several of my favorite heart-throbbing books, but somehow, they didn't fill me.

I was lonely, I was sad, and when I hung my head down, tears almost fell. At that moment…

Monkey Girl: Hey, let's go home together.

When I raised my face to the cheerful voice, a girl was extending her hand to me.

While bewildered, the "me" in the dream took her hand.

Acchan: *****

When I called the girl's name, she happily smiled.

When I smiled in response, my chest felt incredibly warm.

When I opened my eyes, there was the ceiling of my familiar room.

I seemed to have slept quite soundly. The morning sun was already shining in through the window.

Yesterday, with something unpleasant happening for the first time in a while, I thought I might have an unpleasant dream, but it appeared to have been an unfounded worry.

Rather, I felt like I had a pleasant nostalgic dream.

Since long ago, I would sometimes have nostalgic dreams like this one, but once I woke up, I would have completely forgotten the content.

Still, I would remember the emotions I had felt during it. There would be "sadness", "loneliness" and some others, but today, it was "joy".

The inside of my chest somehow felt pleasantly warm and I also felt refreshed after waking up.

Maybe because I had plenty of sleep, my tiredness was completely gone.

My unpleasant mood from yesterday had also completely disappeared.

Then, since I had made plans to visit Lady Katarina's home today, I got out of bed, quickly called a maid, and had her help me get ready.

And since I had also promised to bring my recommended books, I packed up several books preselected from the bookshelves.

Hmm~~ For love romances, this many should be fine, right?

The knight in this story was so charming.

And the prince in this story was so romantic and good-looking.

The duke in this one was a gentle person who understood girls' hearts so well. Uuh… They were all so good, it was hard to choose among them.

To be honest, while I had finally overcome my fear of people, I was still far from considering love in reality. Even so, after reading books, there were many things I was yearning for.

I would fantasize about my prince charming appearing one day and extending his hand to me, and I would grin after picturing taking his hand and dancing with him.

After all, there were plenty of charming men in books.

But my top ideal was still Big Brother.

Big Brother was strong, kind, composed, and good-looking. He was more charming than any prince of a story.

And it was because he was so charming that I wished so much that he would marry the one he truly loved and be happy… but there were just too many rivals.

I realized long ago that Big Brother had kept having feelings for my beloved Lady Katarina since childhood. 

But because Big Brother was overthinking things and fretting about them, he seemed to be planning on giving up and erasing his feelings, just because Lady Katarina was Prince Geordo's fiancée.

She might be his fiancée but it was a political engagement and absolutely not one where Lady Katarina especially loved Prince Geordo, so I didn't think there would be any problem even if we broke it off. 

After all, there were people like Lady Katarina's mother and Lord Keith working hard to break it off.

Luckily, Big Brother still hadn't decided on a fiancée, so he had a chance if Lady Katarina broke her engagement to Prince Geordo.

This was why I was doing my best every day to appeal Big Brother's good points in his place since he had given up.

Today too, I intended to have Big Brother accompany me and convey his good points to Lady Katarina, even if only a little.

Because Big Brother wasn't in the same grade as us in the first place, so he had less contact with Lady Katarina compared to the other rivals.

Though, if it came down to it, Big Brother could use his devilish charm to make Lady Katarina fall madly in love with him.

In a little extreme romance novel I had read lately, it was written that such techniques also existed. I would teach them to Big Brother eventually. 

While thinking about this, I prepared a selection of books and took Big Brother along. Now, off to Claes Manor.

Surely, Lady Katarina would welcome us with that lovely smile today too.

Just by imagining it, I could walk looking firmly ahead, without hanging my head down.

And I wished for Lady Katarina to become my sister-in-law one day.

Alright~ For this to happen, today too I would push, push, and push Big Brother to her!

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

TBB S3 Retrospective

Looking back at S3, it's not a perfect season, but I still really, really enjoy it. And let's be honest, CW and Rebels didn't have flawless final seasons either. But what all 3 final seasons have in common is that they were emotional and stuck the landing.

Regarding Crosshair, S3 gave me pretty much everything I ever wanted. I couldn't believe that his story didn't end in the ultimate sacrifice but you know what? I'm glad it didn't. He now has the chance to heal after all he's been through. He also has to live with his choices and figure out who he really is now that he's retired. Still, I'm shocked. I got two Crosshair hugs. Not one, but two. He came home. And he lived. Crosshair definitely changed as a result of Tantiss and his time with the Empire post-S1. His demeanor is softer and he's more open. His experiences chipped away at that harsh outer shell and man we all know lay underneath emerged. Regardless, he's still our Crosshair with his snarky demeanor and love for toothpicks. That will never change about our beloved sniper.

And Omega! S3 handled her perfectly imo. Everything she's ever learned from her brothers has come into play here and I loved it. I don't think S1 Omega would've led the kids out of the Vault like she did in S3. But she's grown so much since then. The epilogue shows what a beautiful, mature young woman she's become.

Crosshair and Omega's relationship is also everything I ever wanted. His bond with her is deeply personal due to their time on Tantiss. He starts closed off and dismissive, but warms up to her. Eventually, he grows to love her deeply. I've talked a lot about Crosshair and after looking at his relationships in CW and the first two seasons, he always gave me the vibe that he's slow to bond with someone, but once he does, you're stuck with him. Omega is so patient and gentle with him. I also love how they trust each other to handle different situations. They know what the other is capable of and rely on each other for support. I love it.

As for the rest of CF99, I still love them in S3, especially Echo. We needed more Echo. But every time he showed up, he proved why he was the ARC Trooper. Seeing Echo get to use his skills to rescue the clones was simply beautiful. This was a man who lost everything and went through pure hell. But he gets to live, free of the Empire. In a way, he finished what Fives started and that's beautiful.

I may have had my grievances with certain choices regarding Hunter, but seeing him in S3 do his best to look out for everyone still warmed my heart. He's trying and in the end, he succeeded. Same with Wrecker. He's more serious, but he always looks out for his brothers and sister. That's never going to change.

S3 looking back has the best animation in the show and some of the best of music. The choice to have a more serialized story vs. episodic like the previous two seasons does change the pacing a bit as well. This season still flies by in comparison to the other two. It's not bad, per se, but it means I wish we got more episodes (or longer ones) because there is so much story that could be told with just one of these ideas alone. Although, I did thoroughly enjoy and appreciate a lot of these episodes more on rewatch. "Confined" and "Identity Crisis" are easily some of the best episodes in the entire show for their dark and mature storytelling. When I really think about it, S3 does honestly a great job tackling some pretty mature topics.

Crosshair's PTSD was a big part and to see him make an effort to begin his healing journey was amazing. The hand chop is another story, of course. But I did like that the show took time to focus on how Crosshair felt about it and that the others wanted to try and help. It wasn't resolved in a few episodes or by Crosshair just suddenly "getting over" it. It was going to take time to heal and as AZI said, it might never get back to 100%. Honestly, I was happy overall with this story arc. It's realistic that Crosshair wasn't coming out of Tantiss feeling 100% and mental health isn't a quick-fix. It's a journey. Hand chop aside, Crosshair has the rest of his life to heal.

Looking back at S3, some of the storylines being dropped or reduced didn't bother me as much because I knew the ending going in. Of course I wanted more from the Rex subplot and the CX subplot. But given that the show probably had to rewrite things for time constraints, I'm glad they at least decided to keep it focused on our little clone family instead of cramming everything in last minute. Remember when S8 of Game of Thrones tried to squeeze 3 giant story arcs into 6 episodes? Be glad we didn't get that. TBB S3 has its flaws and it's ok to be frustrated about them, but all and all, at least we didn't get S8 Game of Thrones cramming level bad. This is how I feel about it now. I'm rewatching Game of Thrones rn and the anticipation for the final seasons is killing me.

(the CX operatives were also really cool and the fact that their story kinda got brushed aside won't stop me from enjoying them).

Honestly, the one element that S3 didn't handle well at all was, we all know where this is going, say it with me: TECH. I've vented enough about this topic in my discussions about S2 so I will keep it brief. I will never understand why we couldn't get one episode of Tech mourning or at least one scene of it. Side note: I also with Phee got more to do then become a plot point. Maybe she gets to talk about Tech and what he meant to her or something. Idk. Just something. She deserved better. Tech deserved better. The way I would fix it is by:

Hunter and Wrecker talk about Crosshair in "Paths Unknown." That way, Tech's legacy is still honored through their search

We see Crosshair find out about Tech, he tells us about how he found out, we see him process it, or a combo of all 3

Omega gets a moment to process Tech, remembering what he did for his squad, and honors him somehow, like Ezra did with Kanan

The brothers talk it out. We needed more of the brothers talking

Tech memorial?

That's all I got off the top of my head right now. Ok, this is really long, but overall I still love S3, even if it's not perfect. Hemlock was a fantastic villain, I loved Emerie a lot more on my rewatch, Rampart makes a great foil to Cross, Nala Se honestly had a fitting end to her story, and Batcher is best girl.

I'll give a mini series overview in the next few days not that I've rewatched it. May the Force be with you all and CF99 has my heart forever.

[foreignswaggersession]

Thank you for your IWTV posts and clearing up misconceptions. Tbh I wouldn't be so annoyed if people weren't constantly determined to do as many bad faith readings as possible when it came to Louis and Armand's relationship. Like of course it was a very flawed and very complicated relationship, we know this! But it's so obvious when a fan is making a post about how it was "completely loveless and devoid of sexual intimacy" solely so their own otp could look better. So many examples that others have already pointed out, including that one take about Louis disliking the first TVD performance, so this means that he hates theater in general and prefers Lestat over Armand (excuse me, what?)

Also more than one person trying to say how loumand had more PDA and not just for Daniel in the Dubai interview. But that this meant "every affectionate gesture between them to ever happen including Paris was just for performance" and was not truly genuine compared to what was with Lestat? Um no shit, Louis and Lestat had more of their love scenes behind closed doors. But also consider the context with how things were in NOLA and Louis having to pose as another person (brother, business partner, etc) because of rumors surrounding him and his lover. How due to racial discrimination he couldn't even get into an opera house without playing Lestat's servant. Then skip forward to the 1940s when he believed he can actually be comfortable doing this openly "Paris was a formative sexual liberation", with him having those casual relationships with other men while cruising. To kissing and being affectionate with Armand in public and not give a damn who is watching or if he's being heckled for it. This isn't even trying to reduce Louis' previous relationships either or say they're less important, more that Louis' comfort with how he expressed his own sexuality and romantic gestures developed over time.

As for Dreamstat... guys he's an extension of Louis' inner thoughts (a complex mixture of emotions before Louis was ready to enter a new relationship), but he wasn't present during loumand sex scenes either... and Louis certainly wasn't having sex with Armand just for Dreamstat to watch??

Despite already knowing what's "endgame" some people still can't allow even a single moment of love, attraction and vulnerability between loumand to just exist without twisting it into something else, or making it actually about Lestat or Daniel while propping up their preferred pairing. good lord, I'm tired of this.

🥰thanks anon! i'm not as familiar with tv fandom so maybe i'm not understanding why people are so resistant to acknowledging louis's attraction to armand (even pre-claudia's murder) when they were together in canon. like in both the show and the book (and not in a future book, devil's minion stans). since when are people not allowed to enjoy different relationships at different times? i think it's silly to ignore or misrepresent whole sections of the plot just to feel like your favorite ship is the more romantic(?) or healthier (😂) ship, i guess? but yeah, recognizing any romance or attraction between louis and armand (especially from louis towards armand) makes some people angry, as though it undermines armand's abuse or any future relationship either party will have.

not much to add to what you said - the majority of fans only care about louis to the extent he cares about lestat, so they focus on dreamstat/lestat scenes in s2 and ignore the many scenes without him. then there are fans that can't let go of their s1 headcanons that conflict with new information from s2 (louis tops sometimes. it's just a fact now. please stop being weird about it.) i also hate the refusal to engage with louis's repeated statements about his changing relationship to his sexuality over time. his sexual preferences are not stuck in 1910, and i don't agree with pathologizing louis topping or having sex with men besides lestat (if you're not into it, just say that, but don't act like there's no evidence for louis enjoying a different sex life in the show).

i'm not a solo shipper and i love thinking about louis so it's not hard for me to imagine louis in multiple relationships (and in various positions 🥵), and lucky for me i get to see that on screen! cause that's what the show is about actually! louis! the titular vampire.

[phyrexian-lesbian]

i’ll talk about what i liked about the new episodes before i get into what i didn’t like (because there’s a lot more of that) so here’s my positivity post about series 14 (it’s never being s1 sorry rusty fans)

as a avid deadpool fan i enjoyed the fact that maestro and fifteen broke the fourth wall so much (maestro playing the dr who theme, 15’s “i though that was non-diegetic”, then both winking at the camera)

liking the children of the toy maker storyline so far. the One Who Waits so far sounds like a cool villain. although i’m not confident after the 60th that rusty has any idea what they are (especially after t*nnant doctor came back for literally no canon reason).

murray gold, ncuti gatwa, millie gibson, and most of the rest of the team are absolutely killing it:

the susan reference??? foreshadowing???

the old lady is following them.

positive side of the post over. now time for what i didn’t like.

the babies. the space babies. every single fucking thing about them. how they were written, their concept, the goddamn cgi- they were just horrible. what the fuck. what the actual fuck.

the booger monster???? my brother in christ there is a thin line between camp and just fucking stupid.

liked the doctor’s emotional response to the bogeyman dying, but like. wrong time. this is literally a baby eating savage animal. no brainpower. it was created (by what, again? you never explained that properly) to eat children. just because it was created at the same time as the babies doesn’t mean it’s not gonna eat them when it gets the chance.

the doctor can heal dead creatures now?wow that would’ve been very useful the past 10,000 times someone had died in their care. don’t @ me with “but the butterfly didn’t have super serious injuries” because the doctor’s friends have died of relatively unserious injuries before.

mr “i can’t have davros in his transport device because it demonises disabled people” immediately made a overtly sexual drag queen nonbinary character as the villain. like pick a skewed ideology my guy.

all he had to do was interview the beatles to get a read on their personalities. dr who is a multinational franchise i’m sure he could’ve done that. but no. the greatest musicians of all time, who laid the groundwork for so many musicians of the modern age, were reduced to two dimensional characters with monotone voices.

fifteens jump to ruby’s time in the nuclear winter, although thematically cool, kinda ruined the continuity of the show. because the future ruby exists in is the one where maestro was defeated and music healed. because that’s the past they traveled to from the future. so where tf did the doctor go to find the nuclear winter

the butterfly paradox was dismissed way to easily.

the humour was not it. i’m sorry.

also the piano zebra crossing? what? hu? whattt?!

rusty immediately used the presence of a god to explain everything that made no sense away again. like the 60th. why the musical? “cuz maestro”. why the musical crossing? “cuz maestro”. nah man. fuck that. it’s bad writing.

all in all bring back moffat or chibnall or hear me out here- get. someone. new.

[samwinchestermydude]

My Supernatural Journey I guess

I actually did go into spn fully expecting to ship Destiel. I came into SPN after watching Merlin, and I had often seen Merthur (my beloved) and Destiel likened together. I barely knew anything about Sam. I only found out that Sam existed because I saw that he was being shipped with his brother on the Ao3 ships polls last year. I didn't know if Sam was important or not because I hadn't seen much content about him. So I ended up calling him the hippie brother mentally.

The only things I thought I knew about Supernatural was that it had some religious stuff in it, Destiel was canon apparently, there were demons and stuff, and John really hated. My impression on Spn was this horror show that was featured this really tough macho dudes but the show was supposedly kind of gay??

I also followed this one person way back for discussing this one video game. They were an ex-supernatural fan way back but left because they found discourse surrounding destiel to be to exhausting. They also used to be a big Sam fan and shipped wincest. I like found the latter to be like really weird back then but man the tides have turned.

So I turned on the Spn pilot with my mom in the same room one day out of sheer boredom. Back then I was still considering Spn as that tumblr show. And then the rest was history, and I lost countless hours of my life obsessing over the show.

So first of all, I only saw one brief glance at Sam before voting for merthur in the wincest vs merthur poll (I'd have probably voted for wincest now lol) so I didn't really know who he was. To me initially he just looked like the 2nd big, gruff dude with long hair. And then I found out that the sweetest looking boy with the floppiest bangs was that guy, Sam.

Also I thought Dean was the younger brother for some reason before watching the show (Probably because Jackles just doesn't age lol). So I was really surprised to see that the little kid in the opening scene was Dean and that the baby was Sam. Oh and I was totally predicting that John died actually in the opening scene and that something else was pretending to be their father lol.

I think I fell in love with the show right away. There was just something really believable and palpable about the brother's estrangement and relationship from the start and I just wanted to see how it developed. S1 is just filled with great horror episodes, and I started watching around October so it was just perfect timing.

So Things that Ended Up Suprising Me the Most/Other Things

I actually ended up really liking John in s1. JDM was just stellar in his all scenes and brought an emotional and sincere side to John. He's tough for sure but he doesn't hide his feelings about his boys. Like you can see the tears in his eyes when they reunite. Also his speech about how he wants Sam and Dean to have normal lives and how he's tired and so broken up after seeing all his friends being killed by meg never fails to hit hard. Do I think John was a good father. No. But he did care about his boys truly. And while I do understand Fandom's widespread dislike of John it is disheartening to see him reduced to this unfeeling caricature. John's problem wasn't that he felt too little; it was that he felt to much and he never really properly managed it and it ended up hurting the his boys.

I thought Meg and Sam would maybe end up being a thing and was like :(((( (because I just liked the bros being by themselves even though I wasn't a wincest shipper at the time lol) but I was also like go Sam if thats what you want ig? Lmao Idk I just wanted Sam to be happy even back then. Anyways thank god that never happened.

Me falling in love with Sam.

Dean. I always saw a lot about him but never found myself to interested in him as all I saw was Destiel content with him. But I ended up falling in love with his character so hard in Devil's trap. When he begs John not to kill him :(((((((((. I think Devil's trap is one of my favorite episodes for Dean. It's when I started to understand him and his loyalty to his family really touched me.

1x22 was also the episode that convinced me SPN was going to be a insane show. Like what a season finale. I feel so bad for the fans who had to wait to watch s2. I actually jumped up and said it ends like that?! The car scared me so bad.

Around s2 I set my foot in the wincest fandom. Back then I thought you guys were scary but in a good way. But I was also getting really into the codependency at the time so I found myself starting to seek wincest out because well you guys just get it. And then Dean sold his soul for Sam and I looked up wincest fic for the first time with the intent to read fic about wincest. Before it was reading wincest fic despite the wincest and then well all hell blew loose (sorry I just had to).

First wincest fic I read: half the man i used to be by dollylux. I wasn't exactly a wincest shipper then. But I thought it was fucked up and strangely fitting to Sam and Dean's relationship and fucked up lives. It was probably the fic that got me into wincest.

I had a bit of an internal rule I set for myself back then where I could only read Wincest fics that were about them being in a fucked and toxic relationship because I felt bad reading fics about an incest ship. So I guess in my mind it cancelled out because then I thought then I wasn't romanticizing the incest lol. Idgaf now. I read anything about Sam/Dean if it's good.

When You're Not Here by raziella was the 2nd wincest fic I read. I read it because it's pretty much gen but it does have some wincest leanings. It's a really good fic.

I gave up Destiel even before s4. It was around in S3 after seeing Sam slowly go insane that I realized I wanted nothing more than the two brothers together.

I just realized that even if Destiel was canon or not nothing could be as important to Dean than Sam was and vice versa for Sam.

I actually was anxious about s4 because I didn't want the show to change that much and drift from the focus on the brothers.

S4 and s5 were really difficult to go through for me. I thought they were great television but it was too painful. I felt horrible seeing what happened to the brothers and how they drifted apart.

S4 Sam hair was probably my favorite.

[ceruleanwhore]

Aang As a Father, in Response to LoK

⚠️CAUTION⚠️

This post is full of Aang and kataang hate. If you like Aang and/or ship kataang in any capacity, scroll on for the sake of your mental and emotional wellbeing. Thank you!

When Avatar: Legend of Korra came out, I remember there being tons of discussion around how much Aang sucked as a father and how surprised everyone was, even some of us who never really liked him as a character. However, I’ve been thinking about it today, and the conclusion I’ve reached is that not only is it not surprising that Aang was not a very good parent, but it was inevitable. The one thing I disagree on that I’ll get to at some point in here is how he sucked at parenting in canon as opposed to how I think he was set up to fail at it given the direction he was headed with his canon characterization.

I’d like to start by getting into that characterization and discussing some of the elements of Aang’s canon personality that I think are relevant. In the series, yes, as we all know and as Aang stans love to point out ad nauseum, he’s just a mere bitty child, but we can also see some of his flaws that, even in his 12-year-old self, have some serious consequences at times. Canon Aang is a messy cocktail of toxic positivity, selfishness, avoidant tendencies, impulsivity, and a dangerous lack of emotional control. He does things like casually throw away the fate of the whole world over his god-given right to have a crush on a girl and then, in the next season, compare that same girl’s experience of losing her mother to his radically different experience of losing his pet for a couple weeks as he tells her to get over it. He also has a tendency to go into the freaking avatar state when he’s upset about something and cause serious damage to everything around him until Mommy calms him down. Even when he doesn’t go into the avatar state, he does things like verbally abuse his friends and abandon them in the desert when Appa goes missing.

All of this is completely relevant to who a hypothetical adult Aang would be and what he’d be like because, all throughout the series, there is never any accountability from Aang. He literally never takes responsibility for the things he does and makes amends or even just apologizes in a meaningful way because he never has to — the narrative makes sure of that. That’s the key part of Aang’s flaws, that Bryke genuinely thought they made a perfect good guy and had nary a crumb of self awareness that they accidentally made him a raging asshole who is constantly being rewarded for his shitty behavior. Even when he’s clearly in the wrong, like with the Bato situation in s1, they somehow turn it around so yeah, I guess he fesses up and apologizes but, at the end of the episode, Sokka and Katara are apologizing to him and there’s no lasting consequences for the shitty thing he did. Because of this crucial element of the story and Aang’s character, it is very likely that he’d go his whole life being a dickhead while continuing to never have consequences for that and somehow managing to maintain his friendships and relationship with Katara.

I want to kind of go through these one at a time, starting with the lack of accountability. Since Aang is the avatar, literally no one in the whole world of atla actually has authority over him, at least once he’s an adult. His peers are his equals but, even though Katara, Toph, and Zuko taught him his bending, they don’t really have any tangible authority over him as his teachers. Combine that with the fact that none of Aang’s friends really ever criticize him or hold him accountable for his actions and it becomes very clear that, as a father, he will never actually be held accountable for being a bad parent. What goes with this is that he also won’t be open to advice because he assumes he always knows best and the narrative also supports and rewards that. Between the two, he’s set up so that when he inevitably turns out to be a lousy father, there will be nothing anyone can say (assuming they would even say anything at all) to help him improve.

With this in mind, let’s start into the actual character flaws that, as concluded above, won’t be corrected at any point, starting with the toxic positivity. One of Aang’s most recognizable characteristics is his bright, cheery disposition which can be a good thing but also leads to him being very dismissive of anyone else’s problems or negative emotions. As a parent, he would never take his children’s problems seriously and would simply brush them off and tell his kids to practice detachment and just let go of whatever is bothering them, regardless of how serious the issue is or how much it matters to the kid. This will teach the kids both not to even try to bring their problems to at least one of their parents and also that any problem they have is actually inconsequential, so even when they do have really big, serious issues in life, they won’t be able to recognize it as such and get whatever help they might need. It also will convey to them that their own father just doesn’t really care about them, at least not enough to engage with them in any capacity about anything serious.

Next up is Aang’s selfishness. Throughout atla, we see time and time again that Aang struggles greatly with prioritizing literally anyone else over his own comfort and desires. He was more than willing to sacrifice the whole world for his ability to avoid having to engage in conflict and then, in season 2, he showed that he was 100% willing to sacrifice the whole world for his crush on Katara. It’s not just that he tends to thoughtlessly give into his impulses and desires without giving thought to how it affects others, it’s also that, because of who he is, that has the potential to cause immense damage and he still doesn’t care. As a father, he would always put himself before his wife and his children. He would treat Katara at least as badly and unfairly as he did in canon and his children would have the lovely experience of watching that and also growing up in a household where their wants and needs don’t really matter to their own father.

Another key factor when it comes to Aang’s personality is his avoidant tendencies. We see multiple times throughout the series just how far he’ll go to avoid doing things he doesn’t want to do, like preventing the world from complete destruction. In his household, I imagine he’d want no part of any of the real, ‘messy’ aspects of parenthood and would just have Katara do all those things. Anything to do with the mess of child care (changing diapers, cleaning up spit up, any sort of wound care for scraped knees, etc.), conflict resolution between quarreling siblings, or correction of misbehavior would fall to her. He, like plenty of real men, would only want to do the cute, fun parts of parenthood, like taking the kids to Disney, while making Mom the ‘bad guy’ who has to do all the real work. 

Then there’s also the impulsivity. Aang tends to get these ideas of things he wants to do and then, without any further thought, just goes and does them. This can be pretty harmless when it’s something like wanting to go penguin sledding and then going off and doing it but, as we’ve seen, there’s plenty of times where it isn’t, like when he hides Hakoda’s correspondence from Katara and Sokka in s1 because he’s feeling pissy. In parenthood, I think this is where we ended up with the unfair treatment showed in LoK because it’s his impulsivity driving it, but I don’t actually think he’d be out here treating his kids differently based on bending abilities, I think they’d all be pretty equally getting the short end of the stick from him. 

The way I see his impulsivity coming out with his family is either with grabbing the kids to go do something on a whim (like riding the elephant koi) or going off on his own or with Katara on some spur of the moment trip that leaves their kids alone or drags them away from home for weeks at a time with no notice. If they’d leave the kids alone while going off without them, that could lead to trauma around neglect and abandonment while, if they take the kids with them, the kids get stuck being dragged along and then ignored while Aang goes off to do all the stuff he’s there for that the kids weren’t really ever supposed to actually be part of. I think that, with stuff like this, the avoidance, and the toxic positivity, he’d think that he’s setting himself up to be the cool, fun dad with Katara being made out to be the ‘bad guy’ when, in truth, he’s out here fucking up his children and they’re going to know and hate him for it in the end.

The last part is the matter of his inability to regulate his emotions. It’s bad enough for anyone to have to sit there and watch as the same toxic positivity dickhead then struggles with anger issues he never even so much as apologizes for, but for his kids, I’m sure it’s unbearable. My dad has struggled with anger issues my whole life, as have I, but we take responsibility and we’ve both spent over two decades working on ourselves, trying to get better. Aang would never do that in any capacity. For his children, they’d get this environment where they can never be upset at all because it bothers Dad but then Dad can fly off into the fucking avatar state as soon as he’s even mildly inconvenienced. This model of ‘you being upset is just a little inconvenience you need to get over but when Dad’s upset it’s a huge deal and he’s actually allowed to be upset’ would be downright infuriating to live with and would definitely contribute to their children’s childhood trauma. It’s not just that you’re not allowed to be upset, it’s also that you always have to be walking on eggshells trying not to set this guy off.

Another thing I would add to this last point is something I learned from my family that I think is relevant here. My dad genuinely thought he was totally normal and didn’t have any anger issues until my brother and I were born, and he also was always really great with other people’s kids and never had problems there until he was working on the railroad with two babies at home. Yes, we’ve already seen Aang’s anger issues in canon, but I would also speculate that his mood and stuff would get worse once Tenzin’s born. This could either lead to him being absent for most of the kids’ early childhoods as he’d just avoid being around them if they’re triggering him or his anger issues could get worse and more prevalent once there’s kids in the mix. Either would be detrimental to his children’s mental health.

So I guess my point here is that LoK having it so Aang’s whole issue with fatherhood is that he treated his kids unequally doesn’t really cover the ways in which he’s set up to be a terrible father. I really don’t think favortism would even be an issue (I think all 3 kids would get dragged around to air nomad stuff, not just Tenzin) but Lord knows there’s other issues to be considered here. As a father, Aang would be selfish, impulsive, dismissive, thoughtless, and hypocritical as well as probably struggling with completely unchecked anger issues. His children would have trauma because of him and they would hate him, but not because he would leave two behind while dragging the eldest around on vacations. The cherry on top of the shit sundae of Aang’s fatherhood is that he would have no self awareness whatsoever as all of this would go unchecked by his wife and friends, so he would genuinely believe that he’s a good, fun, loving father all the way up to the moment of his death.