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popculturebuffet · 10 months

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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review: That's How It Could've Happened, But How About This?

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF AHEAD. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN AT LEAST EPISODE ONE, TURN BACK. SERIOUSLY DUDE. DO IT NOW. IF YOUR COOL WITH SPOILING YOURSELF, ROCK ON.

Hello all you happy scottaholics. I"m back in the saddle again. For those just tuning in i'm Jake, I review stuff.. and a few years back I reviewed the entirety of Brian Lee O'Malley's masterpiece, and the movie as a chaser, having been a fan of Scott Pilgrim since my teens but only having just revisited it at the time I started my retrospective. It was a wonderful journey that made me appricate one of my favorite comics even more and gave me a ton of my best running gags. You can find links to each review HERE in one masterpost.

So naturally when the anime was announced last year, I was entirely on board: I loved this story in all three of it's major forms and was excited to see it again, maybe updated a tad. I was also curious if the story would get a setting update, what would change , and what subplots we'd FINALLY see on screen after the film had to trim a lot thanks to half the series not being finished yet and a tight two hour run time. I was cautiously optimistic when the cast was announced as while I was happy to see the massively talented breakout cast of the film return and get another shot at the characters, I was worried it'd just be the movie but animated.. which thankfully turned out not to be remotely true once trailers came out. Instead they'd simply get a shot at playing the characters again but this time with diffrent characterizations. I coudln't be more stoked.

As it turns out though.. O'Malley had zero intention of telling the same story again. In fact, he almost DIDN'T sign on despite getting the juciest of offer, with the anime's studio, Science Saru, wanting their next project after their breakout hit Devilman Crybaby to be Scott Pilgrim and coming to O'Malley Directly.

The problem wasn't the offer: O'Malley, unsuprisingly, was a fan of Science Saru, who in addition to Devilman had also made Space Dandy and the early pilot shorts for OK KO. The problem was O'Malley.. really didn't want to simply retell scott's story a fourth time. It was a story that was personal, deeply loved and made his career.. but after a movie that everyone knew and love and a video game that was so well loved it was many's holy grail for a rerelease for over a decade after it was delisted, he didn't know how to take the story in a new direction and didn't want to do the story again if it was simply going to be a rehash: people could read the book sometime or watch the movie if they wnated Scott fighting the exes.

Thankfully for us, Brian brought up the offer to his good friend BenDavid Grabinski, a tv and film writer. BenDavid was a huge fan of Scott Pilgrim and thus when the idea came up coudln't help spitballing ideas. And one stuck: What if Scott LOST that first fight. It was naturally just a joke.. but like when Superman died.. it's one that had some heft to it. If Scott were gone what would happen to everyone else? How would Ramona react to his loss? Was Scott really gone? how would his friends go on without him... and what would happen to the exes now they weren't guaranteed to die in a fist fight and the entire problem with Gideon's whole plan was laid bare?

These questions and more are answered as Ramona gets to the bottom of what REALLY happned to scott, who unsurprisingly is not dead and even more unsurprisingly the truth is all kinds of bananas. The story of a human tire fire learning to be a better person and not runa way from his problems... becomes the story of a much more composed tire fire learning she can't run away from her problems after she chases after what might have been, forced to get closure with most of her exes as she tries to hunt down the ex that never was. Along the way there's messy bisexual love triangles, movie rental melee's, Tony Hawk style antics done on swarms of paparazzi ninjas, the greatest musical of all time, the rise of Matthew patel, the fall and re-rise of Gordon Goose, explosions, cameos, and more as Ramona Flowers gets it together while Scott Pilgrim takes off, resulting in one of the best animated series of the 2020's and possibly the best of a very stacked 2023. So take off with me as we press start on a fresh new take on one of my favorite franchises under the cut.

Ramona Flowers Gets It Together

This one's going to be a LOT to unpack, and the best place to start is with our new lead: Ramona Flowers. Ramona has never been unimportant to this franchise: after all it's her exes that make up the fight of the week each volume and who give the franchise it's hook, and in the comics she develops alongside scott: As I said in my reviews, Ramona develops alongside him, having to learn to not keep people at arms length and to not run away, nearly running away from everything before coming back, realizing Scott's worth it. Through each other, they grow stronger.

So with Scott gone... Ramona is forced to grow all on her own. If she wants to date Scott, SHE has to fight this time, and she can't run like she tends to. In the comics, she had to scrap with Envy and Roxy, but all the weight to evolve as a person was put on Scott: Ramona had a stable job, was content in her life even if her friend group was basically "Whoever scott happened to be friends with", she was seemingly all together until the last three volumes slowly chip away at that and reveal she's just as bad at staying and improving instead of noping the fuck out of an intense situation as scott. She has to evolve.. but her getting better isn't the point till the climax of the story. It's a lesson in how while a relationship can HELP you grow, ultimately it's on you to: Scott grows because he stops running and embraces his evil self and thus the memories of all his fuckups, embraces that he could sometimes be shitty so he can learn past it. Ramona has to choose to stand and fight gideon and let go of hte hold he has on her, to let go of running and embrace what she has.

Here without Scott and only the vauge mystery of a guy she dated once, Ramona instead has to confront herself: many a character question her doing this. While it starts simple enough with just Julie questioning it, because Julie hates scott as much as I hate the comics version of her, we get harder questions from Kim, whose dated Scott and knows how insesntive he can be, and Lucas who KNOWS Ramona and knows her style is to run. That a happy ending isn't as easy as finding scott again andmaking out intensely. Ramona has to make her own happy ending.

As a result instead of being the sneaky deutratonist or a prop depending on the version (I Love the movie but man do they not do her well), Ramona has to confront her past on her own, and instead of just getting cathartic punchings, she has to actually.. TALK to her exes and resolve things like an adult. And you can imagine how much she likes the prospect of that.

And this flip in how the story works.. is brilliant: It allows us to get to know Ramona: We're seeing things from her perspective instead of Scotts so we see her way more vunerable, genuinely shaken by Scott's "Death", obssesed with solving his kidnapping, and forced to confront her past. Granted like the books we also get to see the lighter side: Ramona is still the straight man to a lot of the cast especially her exes. She and Kim are the sanest one's here and Kim is often out of focus, leaving Ramona one of the few rational people in a sea of gloriously goofy nonsense. Yet we also see her own intrests: she's a columbo fan, turns out to be a natural for stunt work, and has a meticulous routine for her hair dye. We also find out she's a blonde which is only TECHNICALLY cannon to this version.. but fits too well as her hair color to work.

We get to see Ramona not as some ideal to chase slowly turned into a person but just.. a person. Funny, aloof, kind, easily baffled... this is easily my favorite verison of her. Granted it's not exactly ac ontest: The comic's version is great and this simply takes the best of that and fleshes her out, the video game is a 16 bit brawler, and the movie... well look I like the movie, but the film version is a nigh emotionless prop that barely gave Mary Elizabeth Winstead anything to work wtih forgetting ramona HAS emotions who instead of simply having her emotoins amplified is outright brainwashed. I used to think Kim got the shortest end of the stick but doing this review.. no it was Ramona. Ramona got screentime but had any personality stripped. Thankfully both Ramona and Mary Elizabeth get a second shot on the screen here.

Mary Elizabeth's performanc ecan't be overstated: she nicely ballances Ramona's stocisim, something key to her charcter as her main problem is distance, that she puts up and that she creates by running away, with the emotoin peeking up just underneath to say hello. IT's a truly great performance and I hope she'll consider doing more voice acting, she's an natural.

And this is great as Ramona's quest eventually leads her back to scott.. and to an ending that's both profound.. and pokes some holes in the series itself.

The Adventures of Scott and Scott

So turns out Scott was kindapped by of ALL characters, Robot 01, the Katanagi Twin's robot minion who shows up for one fight in the comics and video game and then explodes real good. Here he's their little robot son.. and how Scott got kidnapped.

But thankfully the culrprit isn't the Twins. I would've liked for them to get more to do, more on that later. THeir involved, having leant their robot boy to a friend since , as a robot who can't eat, Robot 01 has never had meat and has no human limits and thus is the strongest robot vegan who ever existed.

God I love this stupid reveal. Anyways, turns out Scott's kidnapper.. is SCOTT. Specifically a version of him who did the usual story, won, had a happy ten years with Ramona, then it fell apart after an argument which he assumed ended in divorce.

This is another twist that was brilliant.. I thought Scott's kidnapper was another scott, but I assumed a clone situation. I never thought FUTURE Scott but it's such a brilliant move. We see a Scott who won.. but who simply didn't let the lessons he learned stick. It's easy to learn something about you sucks, I have many a time.. it's harder to make the changes stick. I can't tell you how many ephnaiinies i've had only to end up back where I started. Some change has stuck with effort, but it's not easy. You have to constantly work at it, to grow. And it's easy enough to backslide.. and thus sadly easy to buy that this verison of Scott , when hit with his relationship not working, spiralied instead of working at it , not helped by Old Ramona, their words not mine, ghosting him.

He's a ghost of Scott future, every bad thing about the guy amplified: he's oblivious, thinking his newest band is going anywhere with his gloriously crappy music video, and refusing to accept it was his fault, throwing a tantrum when Young Scott states the obvious solution: just tell his younger self some of his fuckups and hopefully that'll right the relationship. Instead Future Scott goes for the solution that's easiest and laziest: use time travel to undo his relationship. And naturally this being Scott he got this stupid idea from taking a joke Wallace told him seriously. I love Wallace's "Buddy I was kidding".

I also love the performance here. Rather than use Michael Cera , Future Scott is voiced by voice acting, comedy and beard legend Will Forte. Forte's goofy nature, penchant for playing man children blind to their own flaws, and deadpan deliveries make Future Scott work. He's deeplys ad, but also deeply hilarious, sharing some of Scott's weird intricates like assuming because Future Wallace's husband works for nintendo he gets all the video games for free and making a virtual boy scrapbook of his relationship.

He's still throughly Scott.. just one who can't get past himself, requiring Scott and Future Wallace to go to Future Ramona for help. Shockingly.. she's more than willing too: While she still has Ramona's own problem of running away at the first sign of trouble, she does still LOVE this idiot, she just dosen't know how to fix it and knows she can't talk him out of this, so she sends scott back to be with his ramona... well rides him back leading to some awkward selfies.

But naturally for this tale, Scott coming back.. dosen't fix things. And not just because his older self put anti kissing nanites in him.

Scott has grown some from seeing what he could be: He apologizes to Knives, in a scene that I truly love.. mostly for this line "Apparently a 23 year old dating a high schooler is frowned upon by society".

And I have to stop for a minute to give ALL the props to Michael Cera. He already had done plenty awesome this year as the boy of the year

He didn't need to go for two but he did. Cera wasn't at all bad as Scott the first go round: the character was different, a bit less goofy but still awkward as hell and oblivious to his own flaws: the core was there. Here .. Cera is playing the character as on page, if slightly amped up: Goofy, excitable, trying to ignore his painful past and flaws, charming.. all the good and bad of scott is bubbling around this guy. And the line deliveries my god: we have instant classics like "I'm using the world wide web" "The place where they make the video games", the instantly memetic sonic scene (Which would be me trying to flirt with a girl, ngl), and the above frowned upon line. Cera just bubbles in this roll, sliding into who scott is: Loveable but a total mess who needs to get his shit together and has made some grave mistakes.

Granted they also take steps to make sure Scott's relationship with Knives as judging from interviews, O'Malley is kinda tried of the take that scott pilgrim is a bastard man. I mean he is, but it's less that Scott has some shit to work out and need to be better and more that everyone acts like this is a new discovery. As the author himself said it's there on the first page and a good chunk of chapter one is the people who know him best asking what the hell is wrong with him.

Granted this is mixed with Stephen hooting and hollering as much as he can with his stoic personality, Neil being in awe and asking if they'd "done it yet" and Wallace being tempted with the idea of a high schooler himself, though I get the impression he never seriously considered it. So it is muddled slightly.. but not NEARLY enough.

I do get it with the movie: the movie.. outright portrays Knives as a legit love interest, and while it ages Scott down, it's not enough to make that not blehhhh and the game has Knives end up with Kim, which younger me didn't get was still pedophilia. So I do get it as while the comics make it clear this is messed up, it got muddled.. but it's also still a pretty weak gotcha when the source material has always said "This is wrong" They even bring up trainspotting for fucks sake, which I haven't seen but is a pretty good indication O'Malley knew what he was doing.

So here they make it clearer that while Scott's still stringing this poor baby girl angel baby along, he dosen't really consider it a relationship, or just dosen't want to and after seeing what he easily could be even with Ramona, apologizes way sooner. So they did make strides to make things a bit clearer here if only so another version didn't miss the point.

So one rant later while Scott and Ramona think things are wrapped up.. it's just not that easy. You can get closure, we'll get into the exes more shortly, but it dosen't mean your done or done growing... or that the past is done with you. Or future in this case. Like I said, Old Scott/Future Scott put nanintes in scott and after figuring out the exes aren't involved, the two get kidnapped along with the exes , knives, pretty much anyone who can throw a punch.

The kidnapper is naturally Old Scott.. EVEN OLDER SCOTT.

I love his look: he still has his old jacket, his iconic x-men one, but laso looks like Ryu from Street Fighter 5, just with a giant beard and crazy eyes, being a mix of that ryu and devil ryu.. and nega scott. Old Scott wasn't a great person but still had the potetial to turn it around if he got his finger out of his ass. Even Older Scott is every horrible thing Scott Could've been.. and this is something the comics foreshadowed was possible.

And the thing is while Ramona was being dickish in her own right there, not getting that while Scott cheated on Knives with Ramona he had changed since then, she's not WRONG. Scott was VERY close to giving up on change entirely if Kim hadn't turned him away. Hell had Ramona not come along Scott might've become Old Scott sooner just by dating a teenager. The potential to, like the exes, sink into his resintment and worst self was always there... this is just a Scott that did. A Scott who when faced with the fact change is hard would rather hull up, get buff and plan to kill everyone he cares about just to avoid changing. This is the Scott he almost became.. and sadly at least one scott did become.

He's also horrifying for more than just the implications of seeing this guy who while a dickhead, CAN be better if he puts in the effort and does change and grow in both main versions as his worst self. It's sad to see that.. but we also quickly see just how dangerous an evil ex scott would be: After all Scott beats all the evil exes... I mean original timeline scott beat Lucas and Todd via Indigo League style technicalities, but still. While Scott was still beatable, it took multiple rounds, a feint, and ramona's help to put down the last four exes, he was still fairly strong.. so give him 24 years more of experince with ten of those spent JUST training and specifically preparing to counter the exes , ramona and his past self.. and you have an unstoppable monster that NOTHING can stop and everyone else is very lucky they get sent back. They all put in a good offense.. but the league is out of their league.

Even Older Scott is a brick wall.. and one that smacks straight into Scott and Ramona trying to run from their problems. Scott is forced to face the fact that even getting better might not last even if he dosen't become this guy and Ramona's forced to face the hide this guy is right. Our heroes are up against the wall, their relationship almost over...

Enter Even Older Ramona. Turns out Even Older Scott just.. ghosted her. But her presence finally gives present Ramona the wakeup call she needs as finding our her older self just.. ran away each time her and scott had issues.. gives her a needed ephinay the same way Older Scott being a dumpster fire on cocaine gave this Scott one and Scott in the comics got one from seeing a dark mirror in gideon: Ramona Flowers.. always run. Lucas outright said as much and with the series fleshing out the exes more, almost there just give me a minute, we find out she just.. bounced on each relationship. Matt isn't a suprise, his backstory is the same as it ever was, and in some cases she was ENTIRELY justified in her assholery: Todd was an obnoxious prick she left another, far better guy for, the Twins were recontexculazed as serial predators who preyed on new freshman with Ramona dating them both being a way to get even on both of them, so while she still did a bad it was on legitly bad people, and Gideon.. is still Gideon. He may get more development here and have his own backstory.. but the series makes it VERY clear he was every bit as shitty to ramona as previous versions, he just hadn't got to using the glow or mind control chips levels of creep yet.

But as i'll get into more in a bit... she legitly hurt everyone else: While Matt didn't get into supervilanny till high school, it's hard not to think that being used as a weapon to keep other boys away didn't lead him down the tryhard path he now walks, Lucas was left devistated and became a xerox of a xerox of the kind of guy Ramona left him for, and Roxy was left genuinely devistated thinking she was nothing. All Ramona has done is run and deny people closure and the series reckons with that.. and like the comics forces Ramona to stand and fight, recognizing that her relationship with Scott could end badly.. but it's worth having.

It's a neat metaphor: our heroes see exactly how badly things could end... and that's how relationships can be. You worry about how badly things are going to go or how you'll fuck up. But the only way it can go forward.. is if you try. Risk the hurt for the good. present/past/whatever Scott made a valid point when trying to talk to his Older Self before seeing that was a lost cause: There had to be good times too? While Old Scott and even Older Scott bury them in self pity, a relationship, even if it fails.. has something to add. Something to help you grow. And given Brian himself had been through a divorce after a ten year marriage it's hard not to see the subtext, to see that idea of "would you talk yourself out of a relationship if you knew it'd end". And the answer he and Ramona have.. is no. It's worth the risk, worth the pain, and worth the possiblity that someone else can do it better.

Granted this being scott pilgrim doing it better involves the ramona's fusing and Even Older Ramona, while done with Scott (He ate up his second chance a LONG TIME AGO) gives both Scott's another chance. As she puts it "This one's just an idiot kid... and this one's a real mess" (When told to kick his ass) "It's never too late to clean up a mess.. " Despite it all.. part of her loves him.. and gives him another chance. Not with her, Oh lord no, but to be better. That .. we can always be better, no matter if your 23 or 47, you can become better. As Super Ramona says "What you've done in the past dosen't define you, hell me keep remembering that". It's a beautiful message: you can screw up, there is no happily ever after.. but you can always be better even if you stumble. And as our heroes face a new future together once again.. it feels a bit brighter this time, like these two kids will make it you know?

Not That Evil

One big pull of doing the story this way for Brian and BenDavid was the exes. Brian admitted in interviews he wrote the books by the seat of his pants and as a naive 20 something who didn't know how skaters or musicians worked except via magazines. Moving to LA among other stuff gave him more perspective, and he wanted to add that to the story, flesh the Exes out as people and use the bits he didn't have time for in the original.

As such 5/7 go from sometimes one dimension, sometimes wholly evil bastards for Scott to punch.. and Lucas, to 5 very flawed , very intresting people we get to see way more of and who all get something resembling a happy ending. Also Kyle and Ken are there. Getting them out of the way once again the adaptation barely uses them, as their more a plot device/backup so we can hear Will Forte sing the theme to Bubblegum Crisis. You know when Brian hinted at that scene in interviews pre show I expected to here Kirean Culkin, Bree Larson, maybe even Micheal Cera. I didn't expect Will Freakin Forte and god bless Brian for that.

So yeah the Twins are.. fine here and I love the anti climax: they don't get closure with ramona.. but are cool with Scott since they'll be buddies eventually. I also like that out of ALL the exes for Scott to befriend after they respawned it's these two guys.

Thankfully everyone else gets way more and no where is that more apparent than with MATTHEW PATEL, the first evil ex.. and the one who naturally gets the most to work with, going from the biggest jobber who ever jobbed, to the guy who killed scott pilgrim

Satya Bhabha gets to have a fucking feast here and I hope this leads to more rolls, voice acting or otherwise. While he was already one of the highlights of the film, easily, taking what was implied to be a music number and making it into this glorious thing.

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The series takes it to new heights.. mostly by giving Matt his best life. Granted.. this life naturally dosen't include Ramona who walks out pissed off and Matt is befuddled "Wait we DON'T get her automatically if we win?"

So he does what you'd expect from an egocentric theater kid who realizes he was just played and this whole evil exes setup is a sham... call a meeting in GIDEON"S OWN LAIR to dramatically reveal it all. And punch the head off a good soft robot boy because he's a prick and a half. A loveable prick and a half but still.

It's something I just.. never thought about with the league. I assumed it was simply a "If I can't have you" situation as that was GIdeon's whole goal.. and to put her in his girlfriend freezer which i'm sure Matt released. Gideon and Roxy seemed like the only ones who wanted her back. But given the weird logic of this unvierse even if some of them DIDN'T want her, I like the idea they'd still like to keep that option open by unaliving someone. It's fucked up as it is sensical for a group that all gathered to keep their ex from moving the fuck on.

It makes equal sense that this was all a ponzi scheme, Gideon , being an entiled dick, just.. assumed he got her if anyone won. That the exes wouldn't object or, more likely, they simply woudln't make it far enough. They were just patsies so he could swoop in and score her on the rebound, also not getting that would never work and sh'ed just hammer his nuts so far in they'd be impacted.

What threw me after this.. was Matt's Challenge to gideon. Not him challenging Gideon, I expected that easily: Matt gets all of Gideon's empire if he wins, Matt dies if he looses. I figured Gideon would kill Matt, again, and would do some sort of cordinated strike. But as before Scott Pilgrim Takes off Decides

Instead we get an absolutely gorgeous, awesome fight scenes. one of the best i've seen in animation and one of the best of the year, which given Invincible came back, is saying something. Gideon, while not having his pixel or glow powers, fights well with swords, a harness and pure skill while Matt is consistently forced to push his powers in new and creative ways. While we get the ones he got to show off against scott, fireballs and demon hipster chicks, we also get to see a lot of cool new shit as he manifests arms ala the Hindu god shiva, with all his powers seeming to tie into Hindu mythology instead of "magic stuff I guess" like the originals. It's a tense fight I assumed would end one way.. but instead... Matthew Patel FUCKING WINS and wins Gideon's emppire, only leaving him alive as a brag

Yeah I assumed from this when first watching that this was some sort of Buffy "Superstar" situation, that Matt had altereted reality to make it better for him. Instead.. nope. This just happened organically. Turns out Matt is badass as fuck, Scott simply had the power of friendship and punches. No power scaling here bitches.

As a result... the League falls apart. Matt is TECHNICALLY leader.. but in practice the exes all go off to do whatever, with Ramona instead encountering them organically. Matt spends the season as a highly paid CEO, mostly showing up once in a while to shut down a whole movie production because it makes him look bad, pathetically hit on ramona.. then get scared when he finds out Scott is alive. My faviorite bit of that is his very timid "Is he mad at me?" like he's a second grader and Ramona's understandably irritated "I dont' know dude" as a response.

Granted this dosen't stop his dreams as Knives and Stephen are able to pitch him a Scott Pilgrim Musical, one of the most gloriously batshit subplots in the history of this franchise. Which really can be said for.. most of this fucking show, but I digress. Despite seemingly hvaing no talent, the prospect of finally getting his broadway dreams back after his dad crushed them is enough for him to level up again, do a performance everyone loves and become a broadway icon. I assume the last part. Hamilton move over, your new compettiion's in town.

(Sidebar to that refrence, I think Hidgens and Matt would be besties. THeir both weirdly violent and obessed with musical theater).

Hell Matt.. dosen't even get upstaged by Gideon. When Gideon tries a looney tunes plan to bomb the theater, the Demon Hipster Chicks just.. disarm it and Matt.. gives Gideon his company back. Turns out being a CEO is hard yo. He's already lost billions. So Matt has his career, his musical, the only thing he didn't want to give up and Gideon could care less about anyway, and a new evil bestie. Life is good.

And naturally it sucks to be Gideon Graves as a result, or rather Gordon Goose. I liked giving Gideon a backstory, aging him down to be julie's old peer who used to wear no fear shirts every day and got shot down hard. Huh I never knew the guy I knew in high school who gave every girl he knew an invitation asking them out in high school became a super villian.

So Gideon spends most of the series in a depressed daze secretly plotting revenge and watching anime. Why is every guy I knew in high school compressed into one sad canadian?

Where he's crashing though was a nice twist: Julie. For those who read my reviews of the comics, you'll recall I didn't exactly like Julie very much. And for good reason: she's the worst. Here she still is.. but Brian found the secret to having a character whose human garbage around without making the audience pull their hair out. You have to make them entertaing. Julie is still a high school alpha bitch all grown up here, but instead of just constantly talking about how Scott sucks, she gets to be funny. She swears constantly, taking a great gag from the film and escalating it, slacks off at her job, and snarks to Ramona about her taste in men.

She also.. gets redeeming qualities. Something I never thought any verison of Julie could possibly have, but here we are. Instead of just seeming to know Ramona and only claming to be her friend because Julie Powers is a starfucker, she's GENUINELY a good friend to Ramona, giving her the info she needs and being contrite when Ramona catches her with Gideon. Julie here feels more like a person and less like a blob of all the worlds sins congealed into that bitch.

And yes she ends up with Gideon, a ship I never thought of in my darkest day but somehow works perfectly. Their both awful in a way that's made for each other and Julie taking in Gordon at his lowest is genuinely sweet.

We get to see Gideon not as G-Man.. but as a nerd whose lost everything.. and gets the greatest and most wholesome montage ever with Lucas Lee. Seriously Lucas and Gideon fucking around Julie's house like two teenage boys is one of the greatest thigns ever put to film, even greater knowing it was somehow only 90 fucking minutes. It's fucking adorable.

What helps though is that while Gideon is a touch more sympathetic and pathetic... he's still not let off the hook for how he treated Ramona. He's not putting the glow in her and stuff, but he was still the same controlling manipulative asshat. I mean he still made the league just to win her back. It's just without the league or the trappings of power... he's a less charming scott, something the books largely hinted at. Ramona DOES get him to be a better partner to Julie, calling him out for leaning on her hard and taking advantage of her, and as a result instead of leeching off her they become equal partners in villianny with vauge never to be elaborated on plans at the end. And it's honestly.. sweet. It's nice their evil together. Sure they'll probably be meancing our heroes with a super mario bros 3 airship eventually, i'm sure, but at least their better. And matt freed his frozen kidnapped wives so we're good.

So moving right along fun and fancy free we have Gordon's best bro, Lucas. Lucas Lee takes more after the film, something Brian admitted was unavoidable for some things: after the movie made some versions of the characters more iconic he really coudlnt' go back. It's why getting the movie cast was so important: While this was going to be it's own thing, having them added a layer and frankly he didn't think anyone else could do it as well. I do think someone could've, there's tones of great voice actors, but i'm still glad he got the all star cast back as their just.. giving it their fucking best. God bless Michael Cera for reviving that email chains.

And you can feel the enthusiasm in most performances, but especially Chris Evans, who responded back within 20 minutes of being asked and hams it up. This Lucas is a bro whose on the verge of being cancelled and who is delightfully try hard, saying let's party as every other line in his films, throwing parties, and generally being axe bodyspray made into a person. He also tony hawks a lot, and you can tell BenDavid loves skater culture.

Lucas is fun to watch, being arrogant and an asshole, but one whose hilarious epsecially squeezed into Scott's t-shirt playing him in young neil's movie. It's a great visual. And his downfall being dating a 30 year old who happens to LOOK like a high schooler is both a brilliant meta joke on ellen wong, and just.. fucking great.

The show also, like all the exes, fleshes him out: It takes what we knew ,that Ramona cheated on him in high school, and fleshes it out: Ramona was his everything, helping a skinny skater kid get by, fixing his boards and generally being sweet.. then aburbtly left him for a fuck boy, with Lucas deciding to become the KING of all fuck boys in revenge.

Lucas isn't super deep, but I love that he's not just the dudebro party massacre we see on the surface: he does actually read the script, has genuine insight into ramona pointing out how unlikely the regular ending of the story is .. simply because she always runs. He also willingly skates into a cloud of ninja paparazzi to cover for her.

And the skating scene.. is one of my favorites in the show. Granted I like me some tony hawk even if I suck eggs at it, so that helps, but the animation is gorgeous. Granted this whole damn cartoon is gorgeous: Science Saru put their heart and soul into every frame and everything looks stunning, having a very early 2000's look with it's frayed edges on the characters, and capturing Brian's style perfectly.

The Skating Segment shows this off, with fluid motion, some great set pieces and some impressive jokes like the alien. It's fucking great.

So Lucas ends up not even able to afford a first class ticket back home.. but finds happiness as a barita. and Stacey finds happiness starring at his ass. Everyone wins. I kinda low key ship those two.. I mean Stacey's a bit younger, yes, but it's not knives level of age gap, and Lucas could use someone with their head mostly on their shoulders. They do try teasing him and kim.. but she'd eat him alive. It'd be fun but she would. So speaking of Kim and the evil exes, let's roll on to my faviorite, Roxie. Roxie is a fucking delight this time, with Mae Whitman, unsuprisingly, bringing her best. It's fun to get to see her cut loose and just play a horny lesbian ninja gremlin like she deserves, with Roxy hamming it up. She spends the evil Ex meeting dunking on everyone else ("Act like you've been here todd!"), and already being the best. She comes off as a combo of her two versions: she has the manic gremlin energy of her film counterpart, being as bi-furious as ever, but has the snarky energy of her book counterpart, being willing to take shots at people and question them... it's just spread to all of the exes since Scott isn't around to be the sole obstacle in her way of ramona.

She's then the first ex Ramona has to deal with herself on her investigation, and it perfectly fits her character: In the film she tried to jump the line, but got a cup of accidental boob punch instead, and while she did wait for Todd to get headbutted out of existence in the books, she also started her attack with some ninja poster clones of Canadian hillary duff in the excellent Free Scott Pilgrim one shot (The very comic that got me into the series), and tried the same sneak attack that ended up in boob punch city. No matter the version Roxy is an impatient little cave goblin and of course the second she realized Ramona was free and the others had stopped giving a shit she'd be the one to show up at her door.

She's also the only one Ramona has to fight instead of just having an adult conversation. And while Takes Off changes a lot by design.. it dosen't deny giving us another excellent Roxie vs Ramona fight, something that I didn't realize was a tradition till this one. Still they saved the best for possibly last as the two's video store dustup is one of the best fights of the series, only topped by the final battle with Even Older Scott and even THEN it's a very close call.

Starting with a furious one on one in No Account Video, one of my faviorite settings from the books i'm glad to see get fully fleshed out and used here, even if it gets wrecked and then shut down as a result, with sprinkler's going off, discount tapes being bodied and Hollie deciding fuck this i'm clocking out, we then get a fun take on an old trope as a stack of tapes fall on them, leading to the two getting stuck in video land. We get westerns, film noir, samurai flicks, Hollie griping about them ruining her faviorite movie but watching anyway, it's a gorgeous fight and the video tape grain just adds to it.

We also get at least one fun bit using the medium as when Ramona gets sucker punched, Kim simply rewinds to help her new bestie out.. and Roxie takes it like a champ and... exits the tape JUST to stomp the remote. Fucking amazing.

The best part though, like a lot of SPTO, isn't the punching, though it's glorious but the payoff. With both exhausted, Roxie lashs out in a brutally painful way, blood down her cheek. It wasn't just that Ramona left, it's that she left.. without saying anything: we get an actual sense of their relationship this time and rather than be the "phase" Ramona cruelly brushed it off as the last two times, we see the two slowly fall in love, a really cute shot of ramona throwing a blanket over the two of them.. and then Ramona moving out, almost saying something but not wanting to, leaving Roxie devistated. It's easy to see WHY she has this bubbling anger at Ramona: every time they've fought, she's made her feel like nothing, something she vocalizes here. It takes what was an extremley dated bit that made Ramona come off like a giant asshole in the previous versions, it's fine if she realized she's not bisexual (which any scene with her and kim in both the comic and this very anime proves is just.. factually false), but it's a face punching way to put it, and puts it in the context of really hurting someone. Ramona realizes she done fucked up, genuinely apologizes and the two.. just collapse. Their friends now.

I also love Roxie hitting on Kim. I could honestly see those two working out.. I mean yes there were no sparks but Kim was kinda put on the spot there and Roxie was on the rebound. Give em some time. Plus I think Kim would work well with a feral gremlin she has to reign in. She's done it before. Roxie also asking about hollie right after before cheerfully leaving.. it's the best. Mae Whitman's the best and I could see her headlining a spinoff easily. Give me more of my feral cave gremlin daughter comma you cowards.

Finally we have Todd. Unlike the others, Todd.. isn't really fleshed out more and is given an entreily new personality from the comics swaggering egotistical rockstar jackass (Since Lucas very much had that niche filled), and the film's errrr...

Brandon Routh done good with the cleaning lady bit, but he wasn't given much to work with. Here... he makes Todd into a gloriously dumb and horny slab of moron. The guy can't go ONE SCENE without nearly fucking envy, which is one of the funniest bits in the show, capped off with the glorious wolf whistling, then fucks Wallace about ten diffrent times that we see over three days, then gets an adorable wallace sailor tatoo.

Todd.. really isn't changed. He was a fucklord in high school and he's a horny cheating mess now. He's an excus efor an already rediculous show to take it up to 11.

So let's unpack the show's sense of humor since I hadn't got to yet: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off takes an already ridiculous franchise with psychic vegans, bollywood hindu sorcerers and literal one ups, and decides to take it to the next level with film fights, lucas lee pro paparazi ninja skater 3, future renditions of Konya Wa No Hurricane by will forte, the montage from stepbrothers: Canadian edition, stunt double fights, and Matthew Patel: The Main Character. This is a series that takes it's emotinal consequences seriously and not much else. And I love it: I love weird shit, I Love balls to the wall humor, and the humor still feels very much scott pilgrim just taken up a notch.

And episode 5 is where it hits it's what the fuck is this peak as Ramona infiltrates the set of the Scott Pilgrim movie. The episode feels like one long shit post and i'm entirely in favor of it. We have Wallace fucking todd and casually dumping him, Envy and Wallace siccing their stunt doubles on each other, an Edgar Wright stand in voiced by Kevin Mcdonald for some reason and Young Neil, who in this series is entirely shit post and i'm here for it. IT's glorious chaos and only the ending is really at all emotional on some level. I mean I feel for Todd, even if he was a cheating bastard, but it's hard to take his grief or envy's seriously when Envy is a carcature of herself in this series and Todd's depression is eating a KFC bucket of poutine and sadly recounting every place he and Wallace made out. Todd isn't given extra depth.. but even as a villian he never really had depth to begin with. He had a disapproving dad and a massive ego. It's fine if he's a giant goofy blushy man who's soul wallace destroys. Brendon Routh does a phenomenal job with that.

Overall the expansion of the exes is part of what makes this adaptation so fantastic. With the exception of the twins they all get to live their best lives, and we get to see more of them. It's fun to see them implicitly join scot'ts friend group, and i've already written little chats about that, as it's fun as hell now their full characters in the world instead of respawning back probably not having learned much except not to punch scott in the face.

And the Rest

So with everything upside down, how do the rest of the people in Scott's Precious Little Life fare when the main character their built to support is gone? It's another hook of this series: if scott's gone, even just temporarily, what happens to everyone else.

Sex Bomb-Omb naturally gets impacted the most, and the versions here are superb.

The standout of course is Knives who deals with Scott's death by discovering a new love: playing music. While Knives had always been a huge fangirl in past versions, it was in the way more teens find music: by glomming on to the first band or two that makes them feel something and guarding that new faviorite thing like a cat with a ski chalet

See? Despite letting these characters live rent free in my head for the past decade, I never once thought of this idea, letting Neil join shatterband, sex bomb omb's followup as it crumbles to dust in the comics, instead.

In hindsight this idea is the most obvious thing: Knives loves music, it's an easy excuse for her parents that eases them into the fact her friends are all 20 year olds, so she can stay with the group easier, and as for why Stephen and Kim would let it happen... both have always liked her. Kim's annoyance is more worrying about Scott scarring her for life, and Stephen an dher get really close towards the end of the series, with him becoming a big brother towards her. The two becoming big siblings to her and letting her join makes sense.

It's especially nice to see with Kim. Kim interacted with Knives a BIT in the books, being the only one on Team Sex Bomb-Omb (The band plus knives and young neil), to take scott to task for the Knives thing to his face, at worst getting annoyed Knives is copying her. Granted like most of the Team, Kim still fucks up with her, most notably.. this

Which at the time I, and apparently the devleopers of the game, saw as a shippable moment but nowadays I see as NOPE PLEASE STOP, PLEASE STOP.. PLEASE NEVER AGAIN. AGE GAP'S STILL AS WEIRD AS WITH SCOTT. PLEASE DONT' TRAUMTIZE THIS CHILD MORE. Kim gets more of a pass than her band mates and neil because she was drunk at the time and clearly regrets it, but it's still something entirely fucked up I wish hadn't happened and feel bad for all involved. This is not how you should find out your bisexual.

The series wisely avoids this as they've realized "This is also statutory". and instead nicely has Kim take up the big sis roll to Knives, being the only one to really look after her after her boyfriend allgedly exploded and was found to have been cheating on her.

Hence we get one of the the best scenes in the series, the drum session. Which I know some did interpret romantically but first off...

And secondly.. really dosen't given the context: Kim sees the band needs a bassist.. but more importantly sees Knives is trying really hard to learn and is clearly spiraling after Scott's death. So she invites her to play since Neil is busy with his screenplay and Stephen, as usual is handeling this sudden loss with all the grace and dignity he's known for

IT's a beautiful scene as two people simply bond as they jam, and both heal a bit from what they've lost. And we find out Knives is a musical progidy who mastered the Bass in only four hours, and masters a keyboard later in less.

This gives Knives her first real plot in the series that isn't tethered to Scott in some way, something that was jarring to realize, but easy to see why: the books are centered around Scott's life, his friends, his love intrest, etc. Their there as needed for his story. Knives has one of the most detailed and intresting character arcs of the main cast.. but it's still thorughly tethered to Scott: his dumping her sends her on a journey of spiraling depression and growth, eventually going from someone who puts scott on such a pedestal that she attacks his new girlfriend instead of seeing the obvious, to accepting Scott wasn't perfect, he cheated and that while he opend her world up, they were really bad together and it was never an equal paring. Even the fun subplot with her dad as the mystery swordsman in book 4.. is because he thought she was still dating Scott and thus attacked him for dating his daugther. The movie makes this worse by trying to make the relationhsip seem legit missing the point entirely. While Knives has a friend in Tamara an da passle of high school drama she gleefully tells scott about, neither are important to the narrative. We only meet her parents because her mom was there when Knives met Scott and her dad tries to run him through.

Here while Scott certainly is part of her story, why she met sex bomb-omb and why she wears his jacket for most of the series, and his death certainly had an impact, she moves on quickly here not because she forgot Scott like it seems a chunk of the cast do or she's TRYING to avoid thinking about him like Kim and Wallace seem to be, she just found a healthy creative outlet, something to put her pain into in a healthy way instead of getting highlights and trying to murder Ramona or dating a guy who looks close enough to Scott. Knives moves on faster here, taking what's implied to be maybe a month at most to move on versus a year.. because she's not isolated in her pain. Scott's friends dont' dump her because it's awkward now and then awkwardly let her stay around post neil because they feel bad. Kim invites her in and after hearing she can wail, Stephen warmly welcomes her into the band, and the two become besties. So we have to talk about Stephen really quick as his plot dovetails into Knives, with the two being a duo for half the series. Stephen is based more on his movie self.

Yeahhh while I love the books on re-read, Book Stephen sucks. He just.. sucks. If your wondering some of the lowlights i'm glad you asked, here's an expertly crafted montage.

And that's just what I could fit into a montage: he also cheats on Julie for most of volume 4, focuses on his affair with joseph to the point he refuses gigs when it's clear playing live is something Kim LIKES doing and helps her relax, and never even informs Scott the band's broken up. The last one's .. iffy because Scott was in a waking depression coma after loosing Ramona, so he coudl've told him and forgot, but out of Scott's friend group he's the most consistently dickish, with Kim's grumpy nature mostly being a wall. It's partly the writing as , again given this is scott centric, we dont' peel back the layers on him the way we do with say Ramona, Knives or Kim. We don't see why he thought it was easier to cheat like we do with Scott and Knives, which wouldnt' make it okay but would make him less punchable. we don't know WHY he stays with Julie. Stephen is just an enigma and as such comes off immesnely annoying when most of his major endevors screw up everyone elses life in some way. And as one final coda to this rant, i'm not saying telling knives about Scott's two timing is bad... i'm saying he's the wrong person to tell her as not only did HE cheat on his partner, and as the last panel shows, KNOWS it's wrong Ramona clearly dosen't know half a year into the relationship, but won't tell her anyway for a friendship he REALLY dosen't seem to remotely care about.

So yeah a hammy constantly anxious relatable stephen was better, and Mark Webber was a delight by contrast. We didn't get to know movie Stephen.. but I didn't want to punch him either. So having Anime Stephen be more like the one who isn't punchable was smart: He's still panicky, crying more over the fact Scott leaves them baseless than over the fact his friend's dead (Which is mildly douchey but as we learned with Julie, if it's for a joke it's fine), and still obessed with making music his career while his band mates are like "Yeah fine whatever", so he's not really changed hard from the core of the character, but he is a delight and him and Knives becoming best friends in a far less hypocritical sense is adorable.

I also REALLY love their pet project: After Young Neil's movie falls through, more on him shortly, they make Scott Pilgrim, the original timeline, into a MUSICAL, complete with a bread makes you fat music number. I do like the ocasional nod here and there: O'Malley and Grabinski conciously didn't want to just.. repeat a gag because it was expected, but threw a few of the more iconic bits in as long as they could remix the joke. It's why the pee bar and the shoe tying making cameos, as their in new contexts, while there just wasn't room for the l-word or scott going out a window.

This whole subplot is gold from Stephens aying "as a creative to another creative" a hundred times, something I relate to since i say as a critic way more than I probably should, to it paying off.

And this is where Knives asceneds. By the end she not only gets closure with scott, admitting she's glad he's back but is glad he died, as the relationship wasn't healthy and she could grow into a hit songwriter, but she has a huge career with an award winning (Probably) musical, a new best friend and mentor, and writing songs for her fav envy.

And most nicely for me.. .I get a reality where Sex Bomb Omb dosen't fall to pieces in some way or form. Yeah without Stephen's drama or callousness depending on the version and with Knives creative vision the band not only stays together, but has a real shot at being something, giving everyone in it a bright future. Knives Chau really got to take off.

Kim is as usual the meaning in my life and the inspriation, with Allison Pill getting to do more with the character since she's not shunted to the background to say one or two lines. I mean she's still IN the background sadly: She gets a major roll in episode 3 and then just shows up when Sex Bomb Omb's together, not even getting that involved in the musical. I really wished after the film Kim got a big beefy roll. She could've been Ramona's sidekick or something like that, the two been clue buddies together. But I suppose the raw sexual tension would've left Scott out. Still she plays of Ramona well and it woudl've been nice ot have Kim around to response to the madness of episodess 4 and 5 with ramona. Still she gets a better shake than the movie: Episode 3 highlights how this version is actually over him, but encourages Ramona's attraction to him, simply warning her of what he's like, is a good friend to Rammy, and gets that moment with Roxie. I love how sh'es just like "I'm not... oh alright". And I think given another chance there would be sparks. Kim is sadly not given MUCH but it's still more kim pine, and i'm always in favor of that.

Finally we have my newly adopted son Young Neil. Unlike with Stephen, they didn't really take from the previous neil, whose super excited, and goofy and better than the graphic novel version whose alright. They go back to the Graphic Novel's glass eyed, barely emotive werido.. yet STILL make him something new rather than just adapt that version.

The result is a neil whose spacey, barely emotive.. but also REALLY dumb and really weird. Naturally I love him and relate immensely. Neil is somehow CRITICAL to the plot this time and entirely unaware of what is going on. He's season 1 todd chavez and it's wonderful.

This Neil gets most of the best bits, with Johnny Simmons having perfect timing. A good chunk of this series weird shit comes form Neil, who takes Scott's death as as sign he should persue his passion for screenwriting and get's his big break when in a half assed wel lmeaning plan, ramona adapts his book into a screenplay and sends it to him. Neil sees a mysteriously cloaked future ramona writing the script.. then assumes it's his sleep paralysis demon and he's a scripting genius.

We then get two glorious episodes of Neil at a movie set not remotely qulaified to be there as he assumes Americans and then the japanese call golf carts mario karts, gets a perscription but somehow winds up with sunglasses, and barely registers Matthew shutting his expesnive nightmare of a film down becuase he can't drive golf carts anymore. It even takes a lengthy and fucking glorious scene with sex bomb omb for him to realize "oh maybe my sleep paralysis demon didn't write this". Just the casual way he says it while everyone else is baffled, and how Kim and Knives have to slowly explain reality to him is great. Neil is comic relief incarnate and I love him, easily the best version. I'm also happy that like most of the cast, he gets a happy ending, as he apparently got a job at the studio after Gideon reopened it driving his cart around. Nick Frost is right, Young Neil really is off the chain.

So onto the one charcter who over FOUR DIFFRENT MEDIUMS has never really talked to anyone I just talked about but knives, we have Wallace. First off: yes i'm still disapointed he never really talked to Sex Bomb Omb. I got it vibe wise: everyone has friends who just.. don't know each other, but the intro got my hopes up they'd actually.. hang out at some point. But just like everything else, the intro isn't remotely indicative of what happened in the anime. The comics sure. And it's a true banger.

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Seriously the colors are vibrant, the song is vibrant and fits scott perfectly, with Necry Talkie really nailing him down, and it's a perfect intro. Even if it ends up being nothing like the series , I still love it. One of my faviorite anime intros of all time. Love that cute falling shot of scott and ramona and the bit showcasing the exes. So good.

What was I on about? Oh yeah Wallace. Wallace here is a mixed bag. As with the film Kirean Culkin is perfect as Wallace: he gets the dry tone down, his drunken antics down and the whole sarcastic vibes perfectly. He was the best performance of the film, and while the compettition's too steep here for him to win again, he's still amazing.

That said Wallace.. is a bit more of a dick here. He comes off more.. tolerating scott instead of having a genuine friendship with him, and the only hint we get of him mourning his best friend is just how plastered he is.. and even then he threatens to change the locks. If Ramona reminded him to. I get the two weren't going to be as focused on, but it's still sad.

I also wish his friendship with Ramona stayed. While it makes sense they don't bond, Scott isn't around to link them, it was one of the funnest parts of the books.

Really this Wallace shows why he needs Scott and what he might be like when his bestie isn't around: Just because Wallace is more put together.. dosen't make him not an asshole. While I admi the's more dickish here with reflection.. I have to say it's not out of character. He's still giving us killer bits from wanting to see a notriously straight actor play him, to his smug acceptance of becoming an actor, to his deadpan acceptance that todd's in love with him, he's still the wallace we love... it's just we're seeing the side of him that dosent look better with a dumpster fire constantly ned tot him.

The biggest douchery is of course stealing Todd from Envy.. but besides it taking two to cheat, Wallace stealing someone's boyfriend.. isn't new behavoir. I laughed at how out of left field the PARING was.. but Wallace is Jimmy's bi or gay or pan, whatever he is, awkaneing in the book and film, and Stacey's reaction in both makes it clear he steals her boyfriends CONSTANTLY. So him stealing Todd and then explaining it was just a fling to him.. is entirely in the realm of Wallac'es douchebagery. He's not a terrible person.. but like everyone else in the cast he's a mess. HIs abuse of his stunt doubles was a bit over the line, but is so over the top it works. And this wallace also sings us complicated. So while I wish we got to see more of the Wallace we don't in the books... what we do get is still great.

Envy.. gets the shortest end of the stick here next to the twins, as she at least had a fairly comepelling arc in the book, being the focus of volume 3 and a major part of volume 6. Here while Brie Larson is once again great there really.. isn't much for Envy here. Even the film, which basically squoozer her in at the last second, still gave us an awesome version of the phone call she gives scott and the iconic black sheep sequence. Here while Envy gets another all timer scene in her funeral concert, the second most obnoxiously awesome crashing of a funeral behind flintheart glomgold

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Envy DID at least get to dance on his casket. Or a stage above his casket. still counts.

Envy.. is left at the face value we meet her at the start of volume 3: queen biatch, queen of all the chaos, queen of all you love and adore. She's still a lot of fun from the above horny antics with todd to her yanking Ramona out of a talking head interview to fight her battles for her, but there's .. nothing really to her and it stand sout in a series that gives everyone else but the twins something new.

Okay ALMOST everyone as Stacey is once again out of focus like the comics. The movie gave her a bit more, but here she's scott's sister who calls people. That's it. It makes sense, Ramona has no real reason to talk to her, but it's a waste of your Anna Kendrick to not find more antics for her, especially since they found wallace and Neil great subplots. That said she does live her best life at the end starring at lucas' butt.

I also want to note the presence of Hollie, kim's roomate, best friend and co-worker. She does little, Shannon Woodward does a fine job, but I like that she's in here at all: Hollie was a character I liked in the comics.. who went on to steal kim's boyfriend for plot convience. So having a verison of her that dosen't do that shit and is just Kim's snarky foil and friend again works for me.

Finally we have a bunch of cameos, the bulk of them legendary. We get Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as security guards, Weird Al as the intro narator for the doc on the failed Scott Pilgrim film, comedy and voice acting legend MIcheal Mcdonald as Edgar Wrong, Bowen Yang as a tv gossip, kal Pen as matt's lawyers and Kirby HOwell Baptiste as Lucas Lee's agent. All fun one or two off bits, all fantastic.

Finishing off the character stuff we have a missed opportunity too: Joseph and Lisa get to cameo.. but are once again left out, to my annoyance. I get not being able to fit them in and Lisa has less of a point without Scott around.. but it'd still be nice to get a scene or something, especially since I was far from the only person asking for Lisa Miller to get a proper apperance.

So with that we close the book on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.. and it was phenominal. While I would've loved a new adaptation, this.. is even better: a spirtual sequel that expands the characters, is not afraid to go full nonsense, let's a lot of the cast from the film fully shine, and has a bitching soundtrack once again. Not a ton of original songs sadly, but I Feel Fine and Orange Shirt are bangers, and we get Will Forte singing an anime theme song. If the last part dosen't appeal to you, I don't know how you got this far in the review. Takes Off is one of the best entries in this franchise and leaves me hopeful we'll return to this world again. Maybe not on screen but hey, even with the mountain of work it took to get this cast together again, tthis adaptatoin has proven anything is posisble.

Thanks for reading.

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jaggedwolf · 7 months

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beau/jester!

when I started shipping it if I did: I honestly don't remember?? I know I instantly found their friendship adorable, so it probably didn't take long. Definitely was shipping them by time of the escalated bar fight.

my thoughts: they just, immediately fall into being co-conspirators and being so charmed by each other, it's great? Even from the start, you have them climbing that tree in Alfield together, Beau listening with amusement at Jester bullshitting about pocket unicorns, Jester helping to decipher the mail Beau stole, Beau tucking Jester in after the latter gleefully goes on and on about Tusk Love. or basically what I said in this post

What makes me happy about them: that instinctive, vicious protectiveness and attachment over each other - Beau is so messed up about leaving the Blue Dragon fight first and says she never meant to leave but especially would never mean to leave Jester, Jester gets so mad at Beau's dad she sends him spooky messages just to fuck with him, Beau tries to talk Jester through her approach of the Gentleman as her dad, Jester worries that she didn't heal Beau enough in that cathedral fight and that's why Beau is avoiding her. I swear, there's a large portion of the campaign where they just want each other so much in ways that they can't seem to verbalize and it drives me and them wild.

Beau's confession to Nott about her crush is still so, so good and so, so sweet

falling through the sky together, grabbing at each other's hands and teleporting away, both their speeds combined, that ridiculous bar fight where it didn't matter which of them won but that they did it wholeheartedly, buying pets together they absolutely were not ready to take care of

What makes me sad about them: hm, you're currently watching the Aeor arc so you can tell me if I'm wrong about this, but there's a point there or earlier where it feels like...they stop going to each other the way they used to. Maybe it's towards the end Rumblecusp, actually, where Beau is no longer comfortable being emotionally protective of Jester and sticks to being physically protective. Don't get me wrong, I find all the Jester and Yasha conversations about Beau/Yasha endearing as hell, but it did feel...odd that we never get Beau and Jester talking about Beau/Yasha similarly, like they'd stopped sharing a metaphorical room too. I can kind of fanwank it as both of them realizing Beau's crush is unrequited, and that ends up making their friendship less intimate than it used to be. Which makes sense, but still makes me sad

oh and i guess it makes me sad that beau never actually gets to see jester truly angry, given their ship conversation. the canon post-hag group convo was good, but I would not have minded jester losing it at beau's offer after.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: it's actually been a while since I've read much critical role fic but hmm. okay this is not a fanfic thing but it annoys me when fandom does not understand that beau lies all the time! beau telling fjord that haha she once had the hots for jester hahaha is not marisha retconning beau's sincere confession but beau playing out a convo with the guy she's always going to think is better for jester than she is and more importantly, the guy she knows jester likes!

things I look for in fanfic: again, I haven't actually looked for fic with them forever. But back when I did I was there for all the hurt/comfort and pining fic forever.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I really do like Beau/Yasha - you have some very good episodes for them ahead of you, and it is a great ending for Beau in canon. I don't feel strongly about other Jester ships, other than NOTP-ing Caleb/Jester and Fjord/Jester XD.

My happily ever after for them: Going off on adventures all around Exandria, taking breaks to see their friends, Beau using said adventures for her cobalt soul purposes, Beau and Artagnan forming a very reluctant truce.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: for some reason I instead picture them sleeping with one of them plopped on top of the other, haha

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: hey, sparring is a non-sexual activity for these two! they have so much fun with it, and don't hold grudges about going no holds barred. honestly anything that lets these two be the co-conspirators engaged in chaos shenanigans that they were meant to be is excellent.

#asks #nanoeggroll #beau and jester #beauregard #jester lavorre #beaujester

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zuluoscarecho · 11 months

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like a slow fire burn

AN: Episode 2x21 Coda. Set between the end of 2x21 when Zoe invites Wade in and the start of 2x22 when they wake up the next morning and George shows up. I actually tried to give this feelings but also it's smutty so there's only so many feelings but Wade is in love with Zoe so…

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Even as he hung his tool belt over the post he knew following her into her carriage house was a bad idea. Sure, the next few hours would be fantastic but she’d feel worse in the morning, and he would too for being close to her for a few hours and knowing it wouldn’t last.

But he could never deny her anything, he’d do anything she asked and he’d take what he could get from her even knowing he’d never get her back after what he did, no matter how hard he tried.

He paused for a second once they were inside to take her in, she looked kind of miserable but was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She dropped the blanket from around her shoulders and stood there waiting.

He was kicking himself but he had to ask, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't. "Zoe…I hate to ask but are you sure about this?"

She huffed putting her hands on her hips in a move he knew well. "Yes, Wade, I am a grown ass woman, I can have a night of hot but meaningless sex if I want to and I know you can too so let's do this."

He paused again, questioning whether he could have meaningless sex with her or whether he could ever deny himself the chance of being with her again, even just for tonight.

"Wade!"

He blinked, kicking himself for wasting time when he could finally be touching her again. He pulled her against him and kissed her hard. He’d forgotten, maybe out of some misguided attempt at not missing her so much but he never wanted to forget again how good it felt. How she made him feel on top of the world just because she let him kiss her.

It'd been so long and she felt so good against him, smooth skin and soft hair and the little moans he swallowed with his mouth against hers.

He still couldn’t get over how small she was compared to him, how fragile it made her seem even though he knew she was anything but. She was fire and determination and lord was she stubborn, always convinced she knew better than anyone about everything.

The palm of his hand fell to her lower back to pull her tight against him while he kissed her. He savoured every second, exploring her mouth, relearning what it was like to kiss her. It was better than he remembered, the feel of her pressed against him, the heat of her mouth, the little panted breaths that escaped her.

Zoe tugged at the zipper on his hoodie while the other hand pulled his t-shirt up, getting the fabric of the two tangled together.

He pulled away with a chuckle. "Now hold on there, Doc. I know you're in a hurry but there's an order for these things."

Zoe glared but it had no heat, not like the looks she'd sent his way before they'd gotten together or worse, the silences after their breakup, and waved at him to hurry up. He smirked at her as he took off his hoodie and shirt. Her hands went to him immediately, one to his hip, flittering across to press against his abs while the other rounded his shoulder and pulled him back to her willingly.

He turned her in his arms, holding her tight against him for a moment as he brushed her hair aside and pressed featherlight kisses against the back of her neck.

He leant his forehead against her shoulder, taking a deep breath and savouring everything about this moment.

God he loved her more than anything, he never thought he'd have her in his arms again and even if it was just for one night he wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

Her head rolled back against his shoulder and he took the opportunity to kiss the skin behind her ear that always made her shiver and moan. He wasn't disappointed this time round when a full body shudder vibrated through her and she tried to press impossibly closer to him. His hands found the back of her dress and tugged on the zipper, pulling it down and pressing kisses against every inch of skin he revealed until he was on his knees, lips pressed against the small of her back and hands spread wide across her hips.

She turned and let the dress drop to pool at her feet. She looked down at him and he realised, in that moment, that he'd stay there forever, on his knees, begging her to take him back. He'd give her anything she ever wanted just to have her again.

She bit her lip, suddenly unsure and hesitant and he realised, again, that he'd been staring. He made to stand up, hands sliding up from her calves to her hips. Instead she held on to his shoulders, keeping him on his knees, as she stepped out of the pool of fabric that was her dress.

"I kinda like you down there," Zoe said, a soft quirk to her lips.

The words were ready to roll off his tongue, to agree with her. I kinda like being down here.

Instead, he rolled his eyes and stood up to kiss her again. "Yeah I bet you do, Doc," he drawled against her mouth, smothering the laugh she let out.

This is what he'd missed, how they could joke and laugh in the middle of sex and it wasn't awkward and didn't ruin the mood. It made it better. It made him fall even more in love with her every time.

He moved his hands to either side of her neck to hold her against him, the feel of her pressed against his chest, skin to skin, was like fire.

He felt her kick a leg up and reach down to pry off one of her stilettos and he pulled back to look down at her. "Leave the heels on, Doc."

It wasn’t hot and fast like the first time they’d slept together, where he’d pinned her against the wall to grind against her, unable to decide where he wanted to touch her next, what he wanted to do to her first. When he couldn't stop kissing her long enough to get their clothes all the way off and he'd slid inside her with his pants still on.

This time he took it slow. He kissed her like he had all the time in the world, like he wanted to make it last. He cupped the back of her head and curled his fingers through her hair to guide her face where he wanted it. He left her breathless as he moved from her mouth down her neck to suck burning kisses against her collarbones.

His hands slid down her back, over the curve of her waist to grab her ass then down further to her thighs to lift her into his arms.

She smiled against his lips and let out a little laugh. She'd told him once, sex-drunk and sleepy, that her favourite thing was how effortlessly he carried her around and ever since he'd taken every opportunity to do so. It was one of his favourite things too, why wouldn’t he want her pressed against him and holding on tight? Well, it was one of her favourite things, he's pretty sure that thing he does with his tongue that makes her actually shut up for 30 seconds is her favourite, but she'd never admit it.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist, slotting her perfectly to grind against him. She let out a moan, right against his ear as she pressed against where he was hard in his jeans. He groaned, face pressed into her shoulder.

"Yes, Wade."

He placed her gently on the bed, sliding his hands down her body to relieve her of her shoes, the height difference not so severe once they were horizontal.

He pulled back, leaning over her and caging her small form against the bed under his body.

“Zoe I-“

She shook her head, reaching out to press her finger against his lips. “Shhh, no talking, remember?”

He bit his tongue and nodded, leaning down to claim her mouth in a searing kiss. Make her feel better. He could do that, he'd pull out every trick in the damn book.

She looked beautiful, even if a little sad, like she knew this good feeling wouldn’t last long and Wade was determined to make it as good for her for as long as humanly possible just to keep that look off her face.

He moved back to her neck, going crazy with how pressing his mouth there made her arch against him. Her thighs squeezed around his hips and her soft skin brushing against him sent sparks down to his hard cock pressing against the zipper of his jeans.

She flittered one small hand against his shoulder in a barely passable attempt to push him way. “Don’t leave any marks," she babbled, continuing to push futilely against him. "It’s too hot for turtle necks.”

He wanted to though. He wanted to see the bruises later and know he’d put them there, to know she’d let him. He wanted everyone to know what they’d done.

Instead he slid further down to her breasts, tongue laving across one nipple before he slid lower. “No one’ll see it here Doc, only me an’ you'll know.” He smirked up at her taking her in, mouth open on a silent moan, one hand scrabbling at the pillow above her head. He ducked his head back down and sucked a dark bruise onto the underside of her breast. She didn’t object, one hand pressed against the back of his head holding him there, not pulling him away.

He knew this wasn't going to last, he knew this didn't mean they were back together but selfishly, possessively, he wanted her to feel him well into tomorrow. He wanted to leave her mouth swollen and red, bruises across her skin from his mouth and his fingers around her hips, sore and aching in just the right way. Something to remember him by.

Satisfied with the marks he'd left he started to move lower. He slid his lips down her stomach 'til he reached the edge of her underwear. He stopped to suck another mark on her left hipbone before he slid his fingers under the elastic. He dropped them carelessly on the floor beside the bed and slid his palms up her inner thighs, spreading them wide and making space for himself between them.

She shuddered, hips twitching against the bed and he smirked, it was just like riding a bike, knowing how to bring her pleasure.

He rested his hands over the juncture of each thigh and brushed his thumbs in slow circles moving tantalising closer to her centre. He wanted to make this last and he wanted to make it good.

She was beautiful like this (she was beautiful always), all breathy moans and stuttering sighs but he wanted to hear her scream and cry out, he knows she will, he knows he can make her.

He settled between her thighs and he thinks he could stay there forever, keep that breathy moan escaping from her until the day he dies. He licked into her, smooth and slow as her hips bucked to get away while her thighs clamped down around his head.

“Easy there princess, you squeeze too hard and we won’t get anywhere tonight.” He chuckled against her before he dived back in.

"Wade, goddammit shut up!"

He knew he was doing good when she shut up, when she couldn’t even form words, just moans and cries that spoke to his soul, when they only thing she seemed to be able to remember was his name.

"Wade, Wade, Wade, Wade. Oh fuck."

He pulled back to look at her, watched as her climax crashed over her in waves. She was trembling, eyes closed and mouth slack. Her eyes opened as he made his way back up her body, twitching away when his fingertips brushed across her breasts.

"No, no, too much," she whined, over-sensitised and buzzing.

"Never too much of a good thing Doc, and that was a hell of a good thing." He grinned at her, cocky and assured but mostly proud he could still make her come like that. That he hadn't forgotten how to make her feel good, the way she deserved.

He lay beside her to give her a few minutes to recover but he couldn't keep his hands off her. One broad palm slid across her stomach and around to her hip to pull her against him so he could kiss her. He'd never get tired of kissing her and she fell into his chest and kissed him back.

"How am I buck naked and you're still wearing pants?" she groaned when she moved to hike her leg over his waist and came up against the rough material of his jeans.

"Tonight's about you, remember?" He ducked his head to tease at a nipple and rolled back on top of her.

"Yeah so it's about what I want, and I want you naked," Zoe said, demanding as always. She reached for his belt and the button on his jeans.

He slipped one finger into her warm, wet heat, curling it up to find that spot. The first push of him inside her, so soon after her first orgasm made her pause, hands falling away from him. She writhed against the bed, his name on her lips. A second finger followed the first and she cried out again.

He paused, two fingers deep inside her and she moaned trying to thrust her hips into his hand. She was so beautiful like this, sweat beading on her skin, her wet heat tight around his fingers.

“Tell me what you want,” he murmured, voice low and hot in her ear. “Tell me what you need, baby.”

“You, Wade, I need you, I want-" she broke off on a moan when he finally started to move his fingers again.

He brushed a thumb across her clit in fast circles, he wanted one more orgasm from her before he was inside her.

"You're so close, baby, I know you are," he murmured, moving his fingers slower now, sliding along every bump and ridge and pushing deep to curl inside her. "Come on, let go."

She groaned in frustration, her hips arching up into his hand. "Wade, come on, enough already."

Her hand fumbled out for the bedside draw but got distracted when his fingers slide across her g-spot and his thumb across her clit and a second orgasm roared through her taking her by surprise. He pulled his hand away, catching her gaze as he licked her juices from his fingers.

He leant over her while she stared dazedly at the ceiling and reached into the draw where he knew she kept the condoms. He allowed himself a private smile when he saw the new box, still unopened from the last time he'd refilled their stash.

He was just about to roll on the condom when small hands took it from him.

"Allow me," Zoe said, looking up at him from under her lashes. Her pupils were still blown wide and he could feel her pulse beating fast in her neck when he put his hand there to pull her into a kiss.

He groaned at the first touch of her hand on his dick, positioning the condom before she rolled it down.

It's not that he'd been unaware of his hard on before, just that he'd been more focused on her than his own pleasure but now that his dick had his undivided attention it was making its desires known. And it wanted to be inside her now.

He slid into her and choked out a moan. God, she felt so good. Like nothing else, like coming home, like everyone before and after her had been a cheap imitation of perfection.

He had to stop, buried inside her, to breathe for a second, hands on her hips to hold her still when she tried to squirm against him.

"Zoe," he managed, face pressed to her shoulder. "Zoe, Zoe, just give me a second here."

"Wade, please. You feel- it's so good, please, come on, I need-"

"Fuck." He breathed out against her, at war with his body on how long this was all gonna last. He ignored her pleading and the way she tried to buck her hips as he gained control and staved off his orgasm, at least for now.

He slowly started to roll his hips into her and she cried out.

His picked up the pace until his hips were snapping into her hard and fast and she was sliding slowly up the bed under the power of his thrusts. He reached one hand out to brace against the headboard to stop her sliding too far. He pressed his mouth to hers but it was more them breathing, hot and heavy into each others mouths than actually kissing.

He knelt back up and pulled her into his lap, changing the angle and making them both moan.

"You ready Zoe? 'Cause I am so ready, baby."

"I'm close, yes, almost." Her head was thrown back, his arms around her waist supporting her as he thrust into her. She reached down to brush her fingers across her clit and dropped over the edge, tightening around him buried deep inside her. He came a second later, spilling into the condom as he lowered her back down to the mattress beneath him.

Minutes, hours maybe, later he separated himself from her and ducked into the bathroom to dispose of the condom. When he came back, she was half-asleep already. He slide into bed beside and wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest, sliding his other arm beneath her head. She let out an annoyed sleepy sound at the man-handling but snuggled back against him anyway and he couldn’t resist brushing his lips across her cheek.

The next morning he woke before her, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering he hadn’t really slept at all, too focused on savouring every moment of her in his arms while it still lasted.

The sun was shining through the blinds they hadn’t closed the night before and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the brightness woke her. But he still couldn’t bring himself to move, to stop looking at her like this, so soft and warm and safe in his arms. He never thought he’d get to have this again.

She was curled up against his chest, face buried in his shoulder and he had one hand curled around her back. He could feel her breath against his skin. He couldn't explain the calmness or the sense of rightness he felt lying here with her. Like waking up next to her every day for the rest of his life would be the greatest thing he could hope for.

He wondered if he smelt like her, if he crawled back into his bed now if he’d go to sleep thinking he was still next to her. The smell of her perfume and fancy shampoo had long since faded from his sheets, even though he’d waited until the last possible second to wash them.

He didn't want to leave. The thought hit him out of the blue, only not really. Zoe Hart got under his skin worse than anything else and no matter how hard he'd tried, he'd never be able to get her out.

But, with no other path to take, he still had to keep trying.

First step was having a shower.

He closed his eyes and took a breath before he slowly slid his body out from under her and replaced it with a pillow.

He didn’t look back as he turned and headed for the bathroom. He spent much longer under the spray than he usually did, trying to put his mind back to rights now that Zoe’s brief lapse in judgement from the night before was over and things would be back to normal as soon as he opened that door.

He turned off the water and took a steadying breath before he had to open the door, took a second to find that cocky, arrogant swagger and devil-may-care attitude that was like armour whenever he was around her.

"Morning Doc."

#zoe x wade #wade x zoe #zoe hart #wade kinsella #hart of dixie #HOD #my fic

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burningtacozombie · 1 year

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This episode was a lot! 😭 😭

spoilers:

Poor Hope, she and letty should I’ve gotten their happy ending! IT DIDNT NEED TO HAPPEN THAT WAY! IDC!

Galindo And Felipe scene was tough and sad.

EZ snake ass is not seeing heaven for what he did to Creeper and putting on a act on that funeral.

Why does it feel like Kody wants EZ smoked by her own hands

Downer and Guero’s cold opening was hilarious. Rock, paper, scissors, FCK YOU!

Also I feel for Guero and understand what he did, I JUST HOPE IT DOESNT COME BACK TO BITE HIM. 🙏

That n@azi Issac needs to d!e! Quickly and I hope Letty be the one to do it

Bottles getting spicy with Guero felt so uncharacteristic but funny at the same time, that’s right baby boy 🤓 you go get your lick back!

And Guero beating the shit out of him 😭 DONT BRING MOMMAS INTO THIS

once again put Andrew Jacobs and Alex Barone in a show together!! (✨ I’m manifesting it ✨)

WHERE THE FUCK IS EMILIO AT?

Poor Angel and Maverick. I need them safe by the finale.

and then the fire nation attacked (Sons burning down Broken Saints chemical lab)

Sighs.

RIP creeper

I'm still fucked up about what happened to Hope, that girl deserved so much better. and Letty is all alone now, she can't go back to the Broken Saints OR the Mayans, she fucked them both over. I hope she's the one who kills Isaac and then moves to Ohio after all. Chucky loved Coco, he would take her in for sure.

Miguel's story makes me sad too, mostly because everything that's between him and Felipe this season is a mess since they retconned his life. I'm still stuck in the storyline where Felipe only found out about Miguel being his son in season 2 on that roof, so what they are doing now is... idk... seems like an alternative timeline or something. I'm struggling with it to be honest, and I'm trying to imagine how Miguel would react and treat Felipe if they'd stayed in the same boat of not knowing, instead of making Felipe know all this time.

Guero and Downer have been my source of laughs since day 1, and it hasn't changed. I'm keeping the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Fuck You for future usage. Bottles running his mouth like that was unexpected but also hilarious. jokes are fine, just don't drag any mamas into it. he kind of did ask to have his face rearranged, lmao. Andrew and Alex absolutely need to be in another show together again!

Alvarez cut off all his patches from his kutte and burned them so instead of looking further into Diaz' murder, I hope he's too tired of all that club life shit and lets it go. stay home with the family, Marcus.

I'm convinced at this point, Angel and Mav will be coming out of this alive, maybe they'll spread Luisa's ashes at the beach at the end, and if I'm wrong I'm gonna be crushed.

the Broken Saints compound going up in flames like that, yeah that is not good for anyone. had Bottles known the text message was a real emergency he would've brought more backup. hopefully Amigo Elio made it out...

#danny pino #miguel galindo #andrew jacobs #guero #clayton cardenas #angel reyes #alex barone #bottles #mayans mc #mayans fx #titans-society

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accidentally-in-fictional-love · 16 days

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Things I Noticed While Writing Light The Fuse: Part 2, Episode 1

And here's more of episode 1 starting off strong with my favourite scene ever /)w(\ I noticed so much stuff crammed into here that I had to make this its own part, I wanna join them on the river so damn bad ;w;

I've seen this damn scene so many times they've created a pavlovian response within me, now whenever I watch it or think about it I gotta doubeltap whatever I'm nearest to, once for Betty and once for Uncle Lug

Johnson saying they're more than Brawlers and he means it! He also motions towards the jacket on time to the music and I must also do the same now, I'm a sucker for timing and this is so simple but cute 🥰 also love how they're just saying this assuming we're Ethan in this moment following them to get his tattoo

This is the old caution room a lot of stuff happens in, you can see it better in the promo image, as well as the fact that some Pinups are hanging out in there too

Matty reading the paper while it gets sewn 😭 I actually thought they went into town for this but nope it's all Agnes and she's doing it in house. I also had no idea what Johnson was doing at first, maybe just being silly, but on the transition you can actually see that he's adjusting his sleeves cause he's about to fix Ethan's collar I'm sobbing again

See 😭 I'm also very convinced they dressed him in canon since Ethan did not dress like this before coming down here and you can't convince me otherwise, they went on a shopping trip just like in my fic and that's the truth. Also I swear to god they share shirts cause sometimes it really looks like they've switched and that makes me insane. I also went ahead and counted how many shirts Ethan wears over the season so I knew how many they'd buy him in my fic lol turns out he's got a bunch!

This is the shot from the promo images!

I love getting to see inside the trailer, I wonder what they keep in those bins back there?

I'm in love with him

I love how this entire scene is Ethan doing all the work while Matty and Johnson shop, I love them so much like the matching HATS DUDE IN THEIR COLOURS and Matty trying to get Johnson back on track and then stopping to look at something else on the way out I would die for them. I also love the detail of every bag going out being red and everyone coming in being yellow, they probably switch between those two every weeks.

This is also the shop where Matty buys Johnson his books in Melt With Me ;w;

💗😭💗 he likes being a Phoenix guys this is all he needs he's happy doing this I'm gunna cry again

Was there any reason to look this hot while opening a trailer, seriously

I'm so goddamn in love with him it's not even funny

This one isn't even an observation I just really wanna have a drink with them they're having so much fun 🥺🙏 why is Ethan is small between them lol and why is that not me

There's so much I love about this shot. Ethan just collapsing. Johnson drinking away in the background. Johnson still being the one to urgently wake him up after a sleep so deep he didn't even move. The fact that they either visit this place multiple times or this was a very long night before Matty gave up the bed and let Ethan rest because it appears again when they're watching tv. The fact that there is only ONE BED in this room and you can see that when they leave and in the bts with Matty. Also the bonus second take making it in lmao he bounced so hard in that one

Again, he could either be talking to us, and so the wink is for us, or he just straight up looked like that to Ethan. I don't know about you guys but... 🙄

They are the hottest men I've ever seen. Hand shot from Matty just for me. His lip curled over the cigarette. Johnson staring directly into the camera. The smoke they both just blow out so casually. I need to participate in one (1) sloppy makeout with these two stat plEASE

I love him I need to have a car ride with him just to hear whatever he's so passionate about. Plus it looks like Johnson is leaning on the back of his seat to listen and that's just plain adorable

They didn't have to do this 😭 I'm so in love with Ethan being so sleepy that he falls asleep on Johnson, and Matty just stealing the whole entire bed for himself (which again there is only one of!) and funnily enough since Johnson's wearing the same shirt as the other scene (obviously because they filmed all this at once but I'm thinking in world hehe) Ethan took his shirt off before bed and put it back on again lmao I'm also completely ignoring how normal I am about this rare glimpse of Johnson chest 😀

Johnson likes to sing! Matty clapping away for him all proud and cheering him on!! Ethan smiling in the background until he joins in!!! These boys make me cry I swear to go- Anyway he's gotta be good, I need to go back in time and get into this scene

This made me laugh when I first saw it, just Matty being so expressive and energetic that he straight up stops driving and Ethan has to take over with such an unimpressed look lmao I doubt he's even listening

Based on his sleeve being rolled up, that's Matty telling him to come on and I think that's so cute ;w; Ethan is so spaced out, nice of them to let him have a sit before it was time to go. In my fic I wrote them as carrying around their own duffle bags with their clothes but it actually looks like Johnson's holding a suitcase, so Matty might be too. I like them having just an excess of duffles though lol I can't see Matty taking the time to pack a suitcase every morning it would be so messy

Literally the three hottest men on the planet and I love them all, I'm so incredibly happy I got into this show

And that's it for this scene! Episode 1 will be wrapped up for real tomorrow, there was just too much to look at here 🥰💙❤️💛

#david dastmalchian #ethan reprisal #johnson reprisal #matty reprisal #Phoenix Details Series

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kitkatopinions · 1 year

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I'm with the people who say that they definitely don't want a second season of the Ever After as-is and I literally was one of the people going "I'll be happy if they're out of this fairy tale land in two episodes" buuuut with that being said, I can't help but feel like almost everything that's been happening so far would be way better if a lot more time could be spent on it instead of rushing through every plot point even faster it feels like than we did with volume 8.

Like, the girls falling, finding each other, actually talking about what happened on screen and with Ruby not passed out, the auction that takes like five minutes in canon, the chess game, them getting confronted with questions about what they are (which needed to be way better and different anyway,) the attack on the market which they barely seemed to try to fight (seriously they had a harder time fighting the Nevermore in the like fourth ep than they had with the enlarged Jabberwalker,) seeing Jaune for the first time, the punderstorm where only Blake and Yang were forced to work through a problem... I feel like all of these things could've been improved if they'd been given more room to breathe and were treated more seriously as opportunities for all the rwby girls to grow.

But specifically since it's the ep that just came out, I'm thinking about the Paper Pleaser town.

Thinking about how the girls showed like no interest in helping the town and instantly dismissed Jaune as unhinged and unreliable and instantly were just like 'oh guess these little paper stars trying to destroy themselves is fine because Ascension was described as a good thing here,' and then instantly it was revealed to Jaune that they didn't think he was reliable (I will point out, I could be wrong since I only watched the ep once, but Ruby seemed pretty not involved in any of that conversation so it feels less 'the girls did all that' and more like 'wby did all that,' but that's just a side note.) And I don't know, I just feel like this would be way better if we got to see Ruby at least acting kind of relieved to leave the work of finding a way out to Jaune while she throws herself into trying to follow the clearly laid out schedule and WBY are kind of being unhelpful (like they have been almost all season,) and Ruby starts acting a bit more frustrated with them, but maybe starts rethinking the things the Cat said and realizing that the Paper Pleasers are acting unhappy which WBY are realizing too, and they could also be noticing that despite Jaune going out every day looking for a solution, he isn't finding one and while one of the girls (Yang or Blake maybe) could start worrying a bit about how Jaune is doing and trying to reach out to him, one of the other girls (Weiss or Blake maybe) could start kind of pushing Ruby about time running out and how they need to find a solution and one of the other girls (Weiss or Yang maybe) could start actually doubting Jaune and getting a bit suspicious and all four of them could hear the Paper Pleasers take on Ascension. And honestly the Cat could show up again and talk to Ruby and she could get 'answers' out of it concerning ascension and more details about Alyx but still not be sure who to trust and grapple with the emotions of never knowing who to trust anymore and how her friends rely on her and tbh maybe she goes to tell her team about talking to the Cat but they react badly so she keeps it to herself (hello Oz parallels.) Then Jaune could overhear the girls talking about whether or not he's right about ascension or if Ruby should be the one actually looking for a way out because he doesn't seem to be doing much, and then that could actually turn into a real conversation where it's put on Ruby again to find a solution and fix things and talk to Jaune and find a way out and should they try and find the Cat again and what does Ruby think about Alyx and Lewis and how much should they be taking the book into account - but before Ruby can do much more than say 'I don't know' Neo's Jabberwalkers show up.

It could be so much better if we had time to actually TRY and figure things out. If we got more information about Ascension - what happened to the Caterpillar, if the Red King got worse what does that mean, how does the Ever After even work - then it wouldn't feel as questionable or confusing when the Afterans all destroy themselves in their effort to ascend. If the girls (Ruby particularly) did let Jaune try to find a way out for a bit before starting to question his reliability, they wouldn't look like jackwagons who don't want to do tasks they consider menial (WBY particularly.) If the girls had gotten to know the Paper Pleasers a bit more, they'd feel more justified in accepting their words over Jaune's (even though he does seem biased to me.) If at least one of them had tried to reach out to Jaune about his mental health, they'd feel a little less judgmental. If Ruby had tried to find answers and listen to different perspectives, it'd feel like good solid growth to me of her not just accepting anyone's words at random, but instead struggling because she doesn't know what the truth is. If Ruby was given good reason to think that Ascension was better than Jaune makes it out to be it'd make more sense and be less dismissive of her to take a jab at his 'mourning' (though don't get me wrong it'd still be harsh heroes can be flawed.) If Ruby had been shown to be relieved to hand the reins of leadership and responsibility over to someone else only to have her team continue to act like she has to make every choice and must come up with every solution, it would feel a bit more reasonable when she says her 'why are you asking me' piece (although I'll say that I think it would've been better if instead of saying 'why do I have to be the leader' she said 'we're supposed to be a team' because imo Ruby hasn't exactly been open to others outside RWBYJNOR leading and has made a lot of choices that put her where she is but her team has been 100% over-relying on her in very unfair ways.)

Idk, I just feel like some of this stuff needs more time, it can't all be one thing after another all the time in your face. There could be so much more depth to this show if they gave things the proper amount of focus and let their audience sit with things. Idk, maybe they know that the majority of their fandom myself included will just write metas and fanfics that do all that for them so they don't have to actually do more than Thor Ragnarok in terms of depth and emotion.

#anti-rwby #rwde #rwby-crit

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obstinatecondolement · 1 year

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Whenever I feel like this again I want to go back in time to tell my teenage self that they are not making it up and the pain they are in is not normal and they are not morally lacking for feeling too sick to go into school, or for having to come home sick so often with anxiety pain.

(um, having now written more of this post, I apparently have very intense feelings about this, so ... content warning for emotional abuse, ableism, and suicidal ideation)

Everyone being hard on me literally only made it worse and if even a token effort had been made to make school less upsetting for me instead of blaming me for being anxious and saying there was "no medical reason" for me to feel that fucking sick and in pain, so I must be faking it or being a wimp, maybe things would have turned out differently for me! It is not normal to be so sick and in so much pain people that think it might be appendicitis three fucking times! I was trying so hard and everyone told me I was a lying work-shy malingerer who refused to apply myself. I used to be so jealous when I'd hear about a distant cousin whose parents felt awful when they found out she wasn't faking being too tired to work and that she had a hole in her heart due to a congenital birth defect that made incredibly fatigued all the time, and they'd been getting angry with her and criticising her along similar lines to what people were telling me before she was diagnosed, when it "wasn't her fault." It wasn't my fault either! I used to fucking fantasise about being terminally ill, so I could die without directly killing myself, and so people would stop telling me there was "nothing wrong" with me and that "no one is sick all the time" (which, like, people with chronic illnesses and autoimmune conditions would like a word, lol).

People with psychosomatic pain are not faking it to get out of things! Psychosomatic does not mean that the pain isn't real! And feeling better if I was allowed to stay home doesn't mean that I was pretending to be sick to get out of going to school! Shockingly, when my acute anxiety was alleviated, I experienced less anxiety pain! But if it hadn't been I would have been in agony all day!

And like ... genuinely all that has changed is that this isn't a daily problem for me anymore. I still am treated like a naughty child when my mental illnesses flare up and I can't Meet My Commitments reliably. A friend once said to me, "Your family must be being very gentle with you right now" during a very severe depressive episode and it was like??? No??? Of course they aren't????? They are shouting at me every single day about how I am choosing to "opt out" of "living a normal adult life" and leeching off them. Like they always do when I get sick.

Whenever people are kind to me and don't treat me like a demanding lazy brat for being disabled, it's borderline triggering, because apparently it's that easy to be accomodating and to understand where I am coming from, and near strangers can show me more compassion than my entire immediate family do, and they can do it without even thinking twice about it.

If I was still in this much pain every day from anxiety they would never stop telling me it was my fault, and I would never ever get a reprieve from it, because they will never change.

#dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite

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pocketramblr · 1 year

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another week, another sailor moon au episode:

Weeks passed, and En fell into his new routine.

Midnight would wake him earlier so he could train before class, and it almost worked at making sure he was only late about half the amount he used to be. It also almost worked in that Midnight was a cat, and so it wasn't like she could really show En how to fight.

Mostly he ran, watched free running videos and tried to emulate them, and practiced throwing his tiara at Midnight as she dodged.

He complained often. Midnight ignored it better than Nana did.

Every now and then, while they trained in the morning or after dinner, someone's cry for help would echo from his earrings. They'd find a monster there, sucking out people's energy and leaving them limp on the ground. Or, sometimes, the monster would claim to have stolen the humans' individualities instead and send them after En like a hoard of zombies.

Midnight gave him a pen once as well that let him transform and disguise himself, which was good because that attack had been at his university. The monster was hiding behind a pop-up store that sold textbooks for so cheap no student could resist the offer. More than one of En's classmates could have recognized him if it weren't for his paramedic disguise.

"You know, between the smokescreen of your shroud and my disguise pen, I'm really starting to feel like I'm supposed to mostly be running and hiding instead of fighting on the front line." He said one day, picking the tiara back up from the top of the parking lot where they'd picked to train.

"You do all three, what makes you think like that?" Midnight asked, tilting her head.

"I'm not sure I do." He admitted. "But Tuxedo Mask sure seems to think it's not enough..."

The man had appeared several other times, stepping in to protect En when needed in a fight. Sometimes his compliments made En wish his gakuran had a higher collar to hide his warm face in, like his red coat did. And sometimes his comments made En want to Moon Tiara Action at him.

"Oooh, and you want to impress him, do you?" Midnight cooed. En glared at her, and she just laughed. "I can see why you would, but remember... he talks a lot for someone who's never fought a monster directly."

It was true, and he also never seemed to rescue other people while En fought. But still, the Moon Scout didn't think it was all talk. Not with how sharp those roses seemed to be.

"Do you think he's all hot air?" He asked.

"Only a little. But you seem to forget air and breathing at all when you see him~"

En threw the tiara at her again. She jumped out of the way, flipping as she did. "Oh, nice one! But I'm just teasing, En."

"Where does he even come from?" He asked. "How does he know about every fight?

Midnight turned a little slower. "I'm not sure. He must have some way of sensing yours or the monsters' energy, but it's like I can't sense his at all."

"So he's not one of the other Scouts we're looking for." En stared at the tiara on the cement. "Do you know what they will be like?"

"I know they're tied to the planets, and that Stellaris found the Venus Scout. I know the scouts are supposed to be looking for the lost royalty of the moon, and I know how to activate the scouts' powers when we find them... But not what they look like. My memories are fuzzy, I told you."

She had. Midnight said whoever had sent her from the kingdom on the moon had messed with her memories, and while she had seen other scouts before that, she wasn't sure exactly how many there were. Maybe four, maybe nine. Maybe more.

Definitely more than two, though.

"And where is the Venus Scout?" He asked, picking up the tiara again. "Why aren't they helping us look, or fight monsters, or anything?"

"They are. There was a monster in Otheon last week they took down."

"In Europe?"

"The scouts could be anywhere, and so could the monsters, it's better to divide and conquer." Midnight couldn't exactly shrug, but he got the gist.

"Yeah..." he didn't throw the tiara, instead sliding it back onto his head and pulling his hair back over it. "Speaking of, I think I know where one might be."

"Oh?" All hint of Midnight's teasing sass vanished as she looked at him now, waiting.

"Mhm. The game center in town has gotten a bunch of new games based on the Deku Scout, and people are apparently obsessed with them. I heard some classmates complaining about how crowded it was and how long to wait for it."

At mention of the game, some of the tension in Midnight's legs and tail fell. "Why do you think that's a monster?"

En stared at her.

"It's like this every time. The monster shows up with something new to draw people in, like the student bookstore, or that crystal cram school, or the free pets from the store, or the jewelry sale, or that flashy fortune telling place, or that fancy radio station-" he waved his hand. "A ton of people get drawn in, the monster feeds off them and then shows itself. So, let's find the monster before it can attack anyone else."

Midnight hummed, tail flicking. "Well, it's good to see you taking initiative."

"Hey."

"You don't get out of bed unless I jump on your face, En. Don't 'hey' me. But I suppose we should investigate it or keep an ear out for anything else with that pattern."

"Cool, we can go to the game center tonight to scope it out." He decided. "which means I should try to grab a nap first. C'mon, let's go home."

But it seemed fate- and his sister- had other plans.

"Enkun, Toshinori-kun and I are going to the game center today since the dojo is closed, you should come with us! I’m buying lunch on the way.”

“Uh,” He glanced down at Midnight, who nodded. “Sure. I was thinking about going over there anyway. When are you leaving?”

“In about fifteen minutes, I’m hungry.”

En changed quickly- training made him hungry too- and snuck Midnight into a bag so Nana didn’t question taking the pet cat with them.

He’d heard a bit about Yagi Toshinori, a high schooler who worked as an assistant at the dojo Nana taught at. Apparently she was impressed with the boy’s spirit and strength, and she’d taken him under her wing a bit the last couple of years.

He had not been expecting a familiar looking kid, taller than him and nearly as broad as Sorahiko, with bright yellow hair and an even brighter voice when he saw them. “Shishou!”

“Toshinori-kun.” Nana smiled, while En blinked. ‘Master’, really? He elbowed his sister, who shrugged. “That’s all him, not my idea.”

“Is this your brother, then?” Yagi asked as he drew closer like an eager golden retriever.

“Yep, En, this is Yagi Toshinori, Toshi-kun, this is En.”

“I recognize you, we’re in the same math class with Kazoe-sensei.” Yagi said, then at the blank look on En’s face, continued. “But you usually come in late and sit in the back, so we haven’t officially met. Nice to meet you, Hirochika-san, please take care of me.”

En felt a little like he should be saying that with the side look Nana was giving him now, but unfortunately Yagi looked too sincere to have meant anything by saying that.

“Nice to meet you. But I thought you said he was in high school.” En said, looking to his older sister.

“Oh, I am.” Yagi rubbed the back of his neck. “I take a couple of college classes too though- when I graduate in March I’ll have a year of credit done already.”

“Nice.” En said. “So you’re studying even more than other high school seniors. And working at the dojo?”

“Yep!” Yagi was happy enough to explain that’s why he suggested the fun afternoon today when they couldn’t work, as he’d heard good things about the Deku Scout arcade game but hadn’t had any time to go. En slowly edged back to be behind him and Nana, following them to the restaurants opposite the game center.

En felt a nudge to his side, and looked to see Midnight peaking out of the bag.

“What is it?” He asked.

Midnight looked at Yagi. “Have you met him before?”

“No. Why, what’s up?”

“I don’t trust him. Something about his energy, it’s wrong. Not standard human, more like yours or a monster.”

“A monster?” He paused, looking at the kid beaming up at his sister as she messed up his hair. En remembered when she’d do that to him, and how he’d get annoyed and push her away. Yagi didn’t push her away, just laughed harder. Ok, weird, and definitely an only child. But a monster?

“Nana’s known him a long time, though. I don’t think she’d put up with him if he were acting monstrous.” En looked back at Midnight. “What does his energy feel like?”

“Wrong, like it shouldn’t be on this planet.” Midnight sounded sure of it.

“Well, I guess we were keeping an eye out anyway… let’s just see.”

Nana told him to hurry up, opening a door to a restaurant, and En quickly shifted the bag to hide the cat and walked inside without another word.

The game center was not as crowded as En had expected, honestly, though there was a line around the Deku Scout game.

He followed Nana and Toshi, watching the girl at the game control a little doll with a cute green uniform and bunny mask as it hopped around a level, avoiding bad guys or hitting them on the head. She took the Deku Scout up to a hidden block, which unlocked… a gun.

With that, she began to mow down bad guys with ease. It honestly looked a little silly on the screen, but there were level puzzles and fun enemy designs so En got it’s popularity, if not it’s subject matter.

“You guys can wait to play this one if you want, I’m going to the dancing games.” Nana waved, and then En left with an excuse about going to the bathroom in order to scope out the whole place.

No one seemed particularly tired around the Deku Scout game, but sometimes it would take hours or days for the effects- and the monsters- to reveal themselves.

He kept looking around.

The only one who seemed off was a game center manager, who was staring at the door and frowning.

“Um, hey,” En asked, not sure how to ask if the guy was a monster trying to feed on the energy of more customers. “Is everything alright, sir?”

The man looked him over, and shrugged. “Just that entertainment center that opened across the block. It’s been stealing my customers with every flashy thing. Heard some kids say they got a roller coaster inside, which can’t be right.” He sighed. “Only thing I’ve got they don’t is the new Deku Scout games. I’d have prepared more if I knew competition was opening, but they just popped up out of nowhere. Not right, but everyone I ask says they’re legitimate…”

“There’s another entertainment center?” En asked.

“Ha, you didn’t see the line outside? The big flashy new signs?”

“I have a one-track mind?” En tried to justify, but the man was already shaking his head with a smile and turning away to take a kid’s tickets.

It was really empty, for an afternoon like today…

“You think we should check out this other one?” He opened the bag again.

“Sounds like a monster, like what you were saying.” Midnight agreed, and En closed the bag, turning to the exit- he should be able to be back before Yagi and Nana noticed. As he left, he saw the manager watching him with a pinched look.

“Of course you’re going over there too now.” He grumbled, and En walked faster.

He tried to look nonchalant as he entered, and- oh yeah wow, it was crowded in here.

Flashing lights threatened to give him an immediate headache, games roared all around as people rushed between them, and there was actually a coaster ride, and a water fountain, and two full restaurants, and-

“Welcome to EletriCity!” an employee said, wearing a bright vest. “Would you like a token bracelet for our opening week? Free games all night long, and half off at the restaurant!”

En wanted to know where monsters got all the money from to throw down the drain in ploys like this, and how he could get a part of it.

He shook his head.

“Sorry, I’m waiting for a couple of friends. We’ll grab some when they get here though!”

“Oh, awesome! Well, you can just take these and give them to your friends when they get here.” they dropped three in his hand. “Let me know if you need more, and invite as many friends as you want!”

Then they left as another customer entered, chatting and smiling and lopping a token bracelet around their wrist in seconds.

En quickly moved away, holding the bracelets down to the bag.

“Monster?” He asked.

Midnight stuck out her head, and sniffed.

“Monster, energy draining. Throw those away.”

He nodded, moving to a fake, glowing tree and dumping the bracelets in its pot.

“We’ll definitely be back here tonight then. I guess I should do a loop, check for entrances… or exits.”

“See if you could spot the monster, or any hint of what they’re like too.” Midnight advised.

He did, wandering the isles to see where windows and doors were, restrooms, places to hide or to watch for an ambush from. It was difficult to focus or see clearly with the lights, but he felt confident. They were ahead of the monsters for the first time, he was figuring this Moon Scout thing out.

And then a girl passed out on a dance game.

He turned to see her shoved off for the next person to take her spot.

“Hey!” En was hardly audible above the noise. He moved towards them, but an employee got to her first.

“Poor thing must have had too much fun!” they said, lifting her up. “Don’t worry, we’ll bring her to the powder room until she wakes or her party can collect her.”

Then they rushed her away.

En stared, and looked around.

Did anyone else really not…

“Guess we weren’t that much ahead of the monsters.” He told Midnight, lifting her out of the bag.

No one noticed.

He hid the bag behind an arcade game, and then transformed.

“Moon Prism Power, One for All!”

No one noticed until he lifted his disguise pen, and then jammed it into the screen of a game four kids were around.

“Everyone out!” He shouted. “It’s a monster attack!”

The kids stared at him.

“Wait, where?”

“Really? I saw those on the TV, where is this one?”

“Can we watch it here?”

“Wait, are you the Moon Scout?”

“Deku Scout is cooler.”

“Will we get to see Deku Scout fight the monster?”

En stared at the kids.

The kids stared back at him.

En looked over to Midnight, who was focused on everyone else, eyes narrowed for sign of a monster. Wouldn’t take long, now, and he needed to get as many people away from the fight as he could.

So, he nodded. “Yep! You guys can watch the fight on the TVs from the other game center, and they’ve got the Deku Scout game over there to play while you watch.” He lied. “Go on, go!”

They ran to left, and a few others did, though a couple turned back to their own games.

At the end of the row, another player fell to the ground by a crane game, though remained upright enough to slump by the game, not fully passed out.

An employee turned the corner to pick them up, then stopped at the sight of En.

“Moon Scout!” He shouted, and suddenly the lights all shut off.

“Damn, I didn’t even get to use Midnight Shroud.” He muttered.

“Moon Scout, duck!” Midnight yelled, and he did, feeling something whiz over his head and crash into a game a moment later.

The lights came back up, and the employee was no longer a technicolor vest wearing fashion victim. The vest turned into armor, the energy draining bracelets into scales along their arms and down their back into a metallic tail.

Their eyes glowed.

Finally, other people started to run, screaming.

The lights fell, and En rolled out of the way, then climbed over a game into the next row with less grace than a shaken chicken.

More crashing sounds, before the lights returned.

“Running and hiding already, little Moon Scout?”

“I really prefer the monsters that just say their name over and over again.” En muttered to Midnight as she slipped between games, looking him over. “They feel less personal.”

“You complained that radio station monster only said “Fear-Me-Mix” and made the fight boring.” Midnight stepped around him as he stood and grabbed a water bottle sitting forgotten on a racing game.

“And you shouldn’t take my complaints seriously. Hey monster!” He threw the bottle at it over the games, then threw himself forward and low to avoid the hits as the lights fell again and something smashed the racing game.

Midnight hummed something and En ignored her, focusing on the fight.

The lights came back up, and he shouted, “Midnight Shroud!” before running towards the fake tree to grab the bracelets.

He nailed the monster in the head with one bracelet before the darkness of the shroud began to dissipate, not helped by the open center doors.

Which someone was running into, not out, the wrong way.

“En? Are you in here?”

Nana’s voice.

The second bracelet he threw missed his target.

“Is everyone ok? Hirochika-san?”

Yagi’s.

En threw himself back into the aisles of games to avoid both their eyes and the monster’s tail.

He ignored the jeers of ‘coward’ and ‘fool’ and demands to give his energy up to the League of Darkness.

“What is that thing?” Nana asked.

“I’ll distract it, you look for your brother and get these people out of here!”

What?

“What- Toshinori-kun, no!”

En dragged two fallen people out of the way to where a game could give them a bit of cover, and turned down the next aisle, running back up to the monster.

Before he could toss the last draining bracelet at it, Yagi appeared behind it, swinging a metal plate taken from the side of an arcade game.

What the hell was he doing?

“What the hell are you doing?” En couldn’t keep from asking, and the monster turned to him just as Yagi swung the metal at its shoulders.

It stumbled a little, and the metal bent plate bent from the force of it, which didn’t stop Yagi from swinging it again.

The monster grabbing him by the throat did, though.

It held him up as he kicked in futile effort.

“Oh, aren’t you full of such energy, and so strong too! You’ll be an excellent source of power for our great leader.” With that, the power bracelets along the monster’s arms began to glow. Yagi squirmed more, prying at the monster’s hands but only managing to move one finger.

A mark lit up on Yagi’s forehead, like a number 4.

Midnight gasped.

The light from the brackets faded, and so did the mark.

“What? Why can’t I take your energy? What are you doing?” the monster dropped Yagi, and raised a clawed arm.

En threw the third bracelet.

“Hey, monsters fight me, not random kids. Picking on them in a place like this, where they’re supposed to have fun? Just makes you worse.”

The monster tilted its head at him. “Aren’t you even younger than him?”

“No.” En said like he wasn’t embarrassed to still be mistaken for a high schooler. “I am not. But I am going to punish you, in the name of the moon. Moon Tia-“

The monster lashed its tail at him, and while En had practiced aiming and throwing at a target that moved, he hadn’t practiced while he himself was the one moving and dodging. He got out of the way without more than a bruised leg, but without managing the attack either.

Midnight ran past, something golden in her mouth. It looked a little like his disguise pen. He’d stopped asking her where she got these things from, or kept them on her bare body.

“Is that another weapon for me you won’t say where you got?” he asked, panting.

He needed to end this soon. But Yagi was closer to the monster than any other civilian had been when he’d dared to throw his tiara any other time. And where was Nana?

Midnight ignored him, and dropped the pen near Yagi’s face.

“Quick! Take this and say ‘Jupiter Power, One For All!’”

Wait, what?

“Wait, what?”

“Jupiter Power, One For All!”

In a flash of light, Yagi was in a different outfit. It looked like a school uniform too, with a white shirt with a yellow and red sailor bandana collar, and blue pants tucked into red and yellow boots. On his head, a tiara like En’s, except something sticking straight up between his long bangs, like an alien antenna.

“Woah!” Yagi said, jaw dropped and eyes wide, much like En’s must be.

“Another Scout?” the monster laughed. “Earth can only send children to protect it, ha.”

With that, it swiped with its tail and knocked Yagi and Midnight aside.

“No!” En threw himself forward as the monster turned towards him, claws raised.

A rose landed between them.

“Hardly the best place for a fight, is it, Moon Scout?” Tuxedo Mask asked, standing by a window.

“Well, I didn’t get to pick it.” En said.

“True, but that means all the more reason to pay attention. Is that a second Planetary Scout?”

Yagi stepped back from the arcade games, holding Midnight in his arms.

“I think he’s the third one, technically.” En shrugged. “But yeah, what happened to you, Yagi-kun?”

“How do you know my name?” he asked, setting Midnight down carefully.

Oh, right.

“Oh, right. Talking magic cat. Anyway… Jupiter Scout?”

“Yep!”

“Enough yammering! A third scout you say, Moon Brat? Then there will soon be four dead fools.” The monster roared, but Yagi started yelling louder.

“Jupiter Thunder Clash!”

Gold lightning flickered around him and up to his tiara, then shot from the antenna in a fury, crashing directly into the monster’s chest.

It toppled onto a dance game, smoking slightly.

En didn’t let it get back up.

“Moon Tiara Action!”

The monster shuddered at the burst of light, and fell to nothingness.

So did the arcade around them, games and lights vanishing as the entertainment center reverted to a blank grey space. Cement floors, whitewashed walls. The people slumped on the floor began to blink, stirring, though some seemed in better shape than others.

In the now empty rental space, everything echoed.

“Not bad, remember to use that tiara sooner, Moon Scout.” Tuxedo Mask nodded. “And Jupiter Scout, that lightning could be just as dangerous to allies as it is enemies.”

“Who are you?” Yagi asked, looking between Tuxedo Mask and En. “Who is he?”

“Tuxedo Mask.” En shrugged, then lifted a hand to the other man, who nodded.

“My work here is done.”

“But you didn’t do anything.” Yagi said, even more confused.

Tuxedo Mask turned and left.

En elbowed Yagi.

“What?”

“Don’t say that, ‘you didn’t do anything’.”

“But he didn’t!”

“Yeah, but we don’t say it.”

“So he really just, shows up, does that, leaves?”

En nodded. “Usually with commentary, yeah.”

Yagi’s brows furrowed. “So, is his work to… push us, in some way? Critique, advice?”

En hoped not.

“I hope not, no. Why?”

Yagi actually took a step back.

“What do you mean, why- is it, like- would it be better if he wasn’t doing anything, than if that was on purpose?”

“Yes.” En said, and then caught sight of Nana, walking someone who leaned on her shoulder closer to them. “Ah, shit. Ya- Jupiter Scout, your six.”

“My- oh,” Yagi turned, and jumped at seeing Nana.

“Moon Scout!” Nana said as she caught their eyes, “and, um, who are you?”

Yagi stared at her.

“He’s Jupiter Scout.” En said quickly. Was she unable to recognize them? That was great, why hadn’t Midnight told him that was a feature?

Well, she didn’t know everything, blamed memory holes sometimes. Bitten En when he’d looked up signs of alzheimer's in cats.

“Great, have you seen my brother? My student? We heard my brother had come here when people started screaming about the monster attack, and my student ran at the thing and I don’t see either of them at all.” Her eyes darted around to the people still on the ground.

“Um,” Yagi said, eloquently.

“They’re fine.” En said quickly. “But I know the monster was keeping some people in what they called a ‘powder room’, and the basic facilities of this place, restrooms, seem to still be set up over there, you can look if you’d like. We’re going to get everyone else out of here, we’ll call you over if we see either of them.”

With that, he grabbed Yagi and tugged him away.

“Um, shouldn’t we be helping them over-“ He started to point to a couple helping each other to stand, shakily.

“No, we need to leave out this way so no one sees you transform back, and you can go reassure her that her student did not die stupidly charging a literal monster with a bit of scrap metal.”

“Ah.”

Yagi let himself be tugged to the side exit without further complaint, though he did ask more questions.

“How do I transform back?”

“I’ll show you.” En said, then realized what that meant. Well, if the kid was a Planetary Scout he was probably trustworthy anyway. Could keep a secret.

That didn’t stop him from being so surprised at seeing En after the change that he honestly felt a little offended, though.

“Woah, I never would have guessed.”

En blinked.

“I mean, Shishou complains about how you never train with her, she was worried you’d be crushed in that monster attack, but turns out you’ve just been keeping your skill secret! But why?”

“What, are you going to shout to the world that you’re Jupiter Scout now?” En asked.

“No…”

“Yep.”

“But not telling your family?”

“She’d be more worried, not less, and it wouldn’t matter anyway because I’d still have a job to do fighting these monsters and watching Tuxedo Mask spin around with his cape.” En shrugged.

“How thoughtful of you.” Nana said, and her voice froze En’s spine.

Yagi stiffened too, eyes wide.

Slowly, the both looked to the side, where Nana was standing, En’s bag over one shoulder and arms crossed.

“How long have you been standing there?” En asked.

“Long enough.” Nana strode closer. “Hirochika Engetsu, what were you-“

“Don’t full name me, you aren’t our mother,” En held up his arm, “And-“

“I’m not your mother when it comes to being late to class or what you eat, but you could have died-“

“And that doesn’t change that, plus, look me in the eye and say you’d do differently in my place.”

“I would-“

“Liar, I saw the police had to hold you back from the jewelry store,”

“I would have done more even if I couldn’t have told you, En, and I’m older anyway-“

“Like that matters when I’m an adult now-“

“You can’t even drink-“

“Um, Shishou?” Yagi broke in, hesitantly. “In my defense, I didn’t know I could turn into a magical lightning rod, so I wasn’t keeping that secret from you on purpose?”

Nana whirled on him in a moment. “You didn’t know you had that power, so when you charged in you could have died-“ But her hand was shaking now, her voice not as harsh.

“It’s ok. We’re all alright now.” Yagi slowly took her hand in his. “See? We’re all here.”

Tears began to leak from her eyes, and she tugged her hand away to wipe at them. “You both could have died, that day Shimura-kun could have died, and-“

“Oh, does she know now?” Midnight asked, stepping between the humans and looking up at them.

Nana stopped, then looked down.

“Holy shit, our cat Midnight talks.” She said, voice still shaken but tears gone.

En whacked her shoulder. “Watch your fucking language in front of the kid.” He gestured to Yagi. “I thought you were all ‘the responsible adult’ or whatever.”

Nana started to laugh, and soon enough, they all were.

Wiping happier tears from her face, Nana took a breath. “Speaking of responsible adults, though. Toshinori-kun… Your uncle needs to know. I mean, I can’t take you to another dojo for a tournament without his permission, let alone you fighting magical monsters.”

Several very different kinds of panic flashed across the kid’s face, before it settled on general fear, and he nodded slowly. “I know, yeah, I will- just let me tell him, Shishou, not you, it needs to come from me.”

Nana nodded. “Alright, thank you Toshinori-kun.”

“Well, Midnight, that arcade monster is gone, and at least twelve hours before I expected to get to it.” En said, taking his bag and stepping away from the group. “So I think that means you can’t say I don’t take initiative.”

Midnight was not impressed.

“You were wrong about the Deku Scout game and lucked into another arcade monster.”

“And you were wrong about Yagi-kun being an evil monster too, so at least my guess was closer.”

“Um, what?” Yagi asked, as Nana did the same.

“Don’t worry about it, let’s go home before we have to give a statement to the cops or something about getting knocked out and totally not being magical space people.”

“Well at least I wouldn’t have to lie.” Nana sighed, but nodded and tugged on Yagi’s shoulder. “Let’s get going.”

En let them take the lead and trailed behind them with Midnight.

Yeah, not a bad day, all things considered.

On the way home, the train station was having a special sale on train bentos, each sold with a Deku Scout sticker. En squinted at the sign.

“You don’t think that’s a monster plot too, do you?” Yagi asked.

“That depends. Midnight, do you smell anything?”

“Just get four of them, let’s go.”

“Ok, only a thirty percent chance of monster involvement. Let’s get four.”

#en... nana... toshi!!!!!#planetary scout au #my writing #my fic

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