#poor daniel is my unfortunate extra

[streetlites]

This was hour 8 of a 24-hour flight to The Citadel and my ass was already numb. Any novelty of being in space had quickly worn off by the second hour when it became extremely clear that space was so called because there was so much of it and so very little to see. I fidgeted with the screen in front of me to turn it back to a sitcom that I had already watched 3 times but would never be shown to completion unless I paid 20 credits for an hour of access. Which I wouldn’t.

A chime sounded and the ‘fasten seatbelts’ signs lit up. The guy to my right sighed ‘shit’ and put his laptop away. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice crackled in the overhead speakers. “The captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please be seated and check to see that your seatbelt is securely fastened. If you are in one of the treadmill terminals, remain where you are and securely fasten your harness to your person. Flight attendants will be by to ensure all luggage is secured. Please pass any remaining service items to them at this time. Thank you.”

“What’s going on?” I asked my seat-mate as a chorus of groans sounds through the cabin. I’d never been on a flight before but their reactions had me expecting something bad. I hoped it would only be mildly annoying. If we were going to crash into something, they’d tell you, right?

“They’re going to announce a delay,” he tells me and reaches into a pocket in his suit, producing a small pill bottle.

“How do you know?”

“Because there’s no turbulence out here unless you fly too close to a planet and since,” he gestures to the window, black and dotted with stars but no planets to be seen. “They’re probably working on the Charon Relay again and have traffic backed up. It got fried at the end of The War and they’ve been patching it together ever since. Wish they’d get someone who knew what the hell they were doing for once.”

“Oh shit. How long do you think it’ll be?” I ask, feeling annoyed by the possible delay despite not really having plans once I got in to the station.

“If we’re lucky, a couple of hours – but don’t count on it. Most likely, we’ll sit around for a couple of days.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Exactly. Which is why I’m going to take a Xanax and check out. Do you want one?”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks,” I tell him as he drops a pill into my palm.

He adjusts himself in his seat to get comfortable and I look around the cabin. Some people are loudly complaining about their layovers that they’re going to miss; the guy shakes his head in disapproval. “I don’t know why they’re complaining for – everyone knows you have to schedule your layovers days apart. If I have a job or an appointment I absolutely have to be on time to, I try to get a week lead.”

I nod, not really understanding. I’m watching the flight attendant argue with a guy two seats up - “Sir, the Captain has turned on the ‘fasten seatbelt sign’, please remain seated.”

“I don’t care what the Captain has turned on! I have to use the bathroom!”

“I can assure you that it will not be on for long, please wait in your seat until he gives the okay.”

“Listen, I have a condition and, if I don’t get to a bathroom right away, I will be unable to hold it. And, if I piss myself, I will not clean it up and I will have my dry-cleaning bill sent to you personally! Do you have any idea how much it costs to have one of these suits professionally cleaned?! You will!”

The flight attendant sighs, “Fine but I’d like to remind you of the waver you signed before getting on the plane. United will not be liable for any injuries that occur in zero gravity or when turning on the gravity well for passengers not secured to their seats.”

“Oh, fuck you and your waver! I know how to handle myself in Zero G! I’ve definitely flown more than you ever have. Now, get out of my way and let me pass!”

“Yes, sir.” The attendant shakes his head and continues towards us, checking the overhead bins and seatbelts.

When he gets to us, the man beside me hands him his cups and leans toward the other man, “You’re going to let his ass drop, aren’t you?” He asks, conspirationally.

“Honey, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about,” the flight attendant responds.

Seat-mate nods, “Mmm-hmm.” Which earns him a giggle from the other man.

I reach to try to save my cup of flat soda from being thrown away, the flight attendant lightly batting my hands. “Sorry, no open containers in Zero G. Don’t worry, I’ll be by after the announcement with Nutrino Blocks and water.”

“Nutrino Blocks?” I ask, the very sound of it drying my mouth.

“Yes, and they’re every bit as appetizing as they sound,” the man says, his face twisting in distaste.

“You guys got any beer back there?”

“Of course, they’re $30 a bottle.”

“For a beer?!”

“Sweetie, I don’t set the prices, I just work here.” He tells me, jerking on both mine and my partner’s seatbelts and then stands to check our overhead.

“You guys take cash?”

The man pauses and peers down at me, “Cash?”

“Yeah, like UNAS dollars.”

“Well, yes, but,” he pauses, as if the notion that I’m carrying cash is grinding his brain to a halt. “You’re taking cash to The Citadel?”

I look at both men who are staring at me in open, disapproving disbelief. “Yes?” I answer slowly.

The flight attendant gasps, his fingers of one hand splayed against his chest, “Oh, honey, no. You must not have done any research on that place before coming out. And, to think, you spent five thousand?” He looks at me and gauges the number is higher. “Six? Six thousand to come out to that nasty space station when you could have only spent one and went to beautiful, sunny, Sulani instead.” He shakes his head, “I’m going to bring you that beer, but we’re going to need to talk.” He looks at the man seated beside me, “Help him, please.”

“Man, in about twenty minutes I’m not even going to be able to help myself,” my seat-mate quips.

The attendant nods and points at me, “I’ll be back.”

“You’re a biotic,” the man says, not really a question.

“I- uh,” I don’t really know how to answer. Maybe? I wasn’t sure myself.

“My son is, too. And, if I would have known, I would’ve done the same thing. I’ve stayed at my shit job because the insurance covers his suppressants and mech suit but he wouldn’t need the mech suit if it weren’t for the suppressants.” He sighs. “You don’t have to take suppressants out in Council space but no one will sign a visa for a known biotic unless their parent has a job out there.” He shakes his head, “It’s not right what they’re doing. My kid deserves to have a childhood, you know? I’m spending all my vacation days just to come out here and do interviews.”

“Wow. Good luck, man.” I say. I’d never really thought about what happened to biotics. I wasn’t one and didn’t know any, so, why would I?

“Yeah, you, too. I think that guy is flirting with you but you really need to know what you’re getting yourself into. The Citadel is a lot like Earth if you’ve got money; very comfortable. But, if not? It’s worse because there’s nowhere else to go to escape the bad.” A chime sounds, “Oh, here we go. I hope it’s only a few hours delay.”

“Good evening, this is your captain speaking. I’ve received word that work is being performed on the Charon Relay. Our current ETA has been pushed back by eighteen hours. As a reminder, you may use the terminals on the seat immediately in front of you to access United’s extranet site to reschedule your flights free of charge at any time. I will be turning off the ‘fasten seatbelt’ signs momentarily and flight attendants will be by to dispense our complimentary dinner of Nutrino Blocks. If you wish to upgrade your meal, we have options of a chicken or fish dinner available. While I have your attention, I’d like to remind you that our flight attendants have applications for our United Credit Card on hand that you can receive approval for while in flight and use here to gain points. Perhaps on a nice chicken dinner?” He chuckles and, I swear, I see everyone in my line of sight narrow their eyes with annoyance. “The attendants will be more than happy to help as they make their rounds. Thank you for choosing United.”

A chime sounds again and the seatbelt light goes off, my body feeling heavy as the gravity well on the ship is turned on. There’s a scream from behind me as the Bathroom Guy comes crashing down, skidding on his face in the aisle.

In the distance, a baby begins to cry...

[h50europe]

Why the myth about Steve's PTSD doesn't add up and other inconsistencies

In the last few episodes of H50, PL tried to sell us a mentally broken Steve suffering from PTSD. Only the whole thing came a bit too late. The clip you see is from season 4 and ended up - no, not in the series - but somewhere on the floor of PL's editing room. And why? after Kurtzman and Orci departed, along with their writers, PL took the helm and started turning Steve into a super-soldier. He stylized him into something that wasn't meant to be. Instead of developing the characters, PL began to incorporate more and more hair-raising action sequences into the series and then let Steve fight on the front lines. There was no mention of Steve's mental state, and a lot was explained by PL with: it just happened "offscreen." Yeah, sure. PL can't create a decent character. He can only produce stereotypes and one-dimensional beings. Like Adam. What potential would that character have had had he been turned into Five-0's antagonist? But no. So his role remained diffuse and monotonous. Sometimes even tragicomical.

Back to Steve. When SEAL Team started on CBS, PL also lapsed into SEAL mania. If someone who writes fanfiction were to produce as much garbage as this man did, he would be chased away from every writers' platform in disgrace. PL's Super SEAL also had to rescue his team members from a blazing inferno. Not man by man, no, he flew a helicopter right into the danger zone and lifted a whole cabin out of the burning jungle. If lunacy had a name, it would be PL. While the action became more and more exaggerated and unrealistic, the same happened to the protagonists. After the departure of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, PL completely lost his mind. And please, don't blame the writers for the nonsense that was thrown at you. A series stands and falls with the showrunner. He dictates what he wants and passes it on to his staff.

And so, lovable Steve became a soulless robot who only showed feelings here and there. Danny diminished more and more into a sidekick. McDanno became a ship that drifted anchorless through a stormy sea and threatened to capsize again and again. From season 8, it became a reboot of the reboot. PL tried an ensemble show and failed more than miserably. Often the actors just stood around bored. At least that was the impression. The only highlight was episode 8.10. A feast for all McDanno fans. But even here, the outcome of "who shot Danny" was more than insubstantial.

Wait, there was something about SEALs... Oh, yes. Junior appeared on the scene and became Steve's lapdog. I really wondered when there was going to be an episode where he would fetch sticks for Steve. Luckily we had Eddie for that. And because he thought he was so clever, PL invented the episode speed dating. How many subplots can you squeeze into one episode at the same time? In some episodes, you couldn't even take a look at the bag of potato chips without losing the thread.

The case of the week became the yawn of the week. There were so many loose ends that PL then came up with something called retconning. That's what you do when you're no longer satisfied with what was once established in the series years ago, or it no longer fits. But PL went one step further and did the same with the characters. The more the series was dragged out, the more the characters deteriorated and became OOC. It means, often, they were not recognizable at all. And that's where we come to Steve. Because PL, in his desperation, didn't know what else he could do to Steve, and so he killed Joe White. He did it in such a cheesy way with a fake sunset that it made you sick.

Of course, one episode later, there had to be another gig of PL's favorite Barbie. He stuck a fake beard on poor Steve/Alex, so he couldn't even hug Danny/Scott properly. The episode also raised more questions than it answered any. And Steve? He still didn't suffer from PTSD, even though he had now lost Joe White and a fellow SEAL. Everyone is dropping like flies, except for Steve, who is standing like a rock. No matter what. He doesn't need in-depth talks with Danny, nor psychological care, nor any sleeping pills. No, he's doing great. He also opens a restaurant with Danny because apparently, the carguments are already getting on PL's nerves. Unfortunately, this plot device leads into nirvana. The idea was nice, but nobody thought it through to the end. And the merry-go-round continues. Until we get to season 10, where it gets even more absurd. Now PL is almost bombarding us with McDanno episodes, or at least it should seem that way. Oh well, he's already planning for season 11, so a new character has to come on board quickly. While in the beginning, Steve's mother, Doris, dies.

Alex was allowed to take on the subject. Of course, only under the strict eyes of PL. He then nullifies Alex's idea that Steve kills his mother. Because a good soldier and Super SEAL won't do that. Little does PL know. THAT could have been the opening of a PTSD scenario for Steve. However, apart from that, this episode would have had any potential for a multi-arc. Just imagine Steve chasing his mother across multiple episodes. Again, PL stepped in and butchered Alex's episode. You can really feel sorry for the guy. PL at his best or worse? He just can't help it. And then, on the very last meters of the series, he brings someone new, who is allowed to cruise around with Steve most of the time. Because Danny was kidnapped by Wo Fat's widow, PL also invented quite late to have some villain at his disposal. This wannabe mastermind must really have been living under a rock somewhere if she wasn't even mentioned by her husband or appeared earlier.

Because towards the end, PL obviously ran out not only of steam but also of ideas, everything culminated in a wildly illogical scenario. Steve has to live through a dramatic day with Eddie, who stands as a metaphor for Steve (as I said, PTSD was never a thing for Super SEAL), Danny bangs his brains out in a ladies' room with a complete stranger, who dies shortly after that in an accident with Danny's rental car. Apparently, there was no budget to turn the Camaro into scrap metal. Danny then also goes home alone, ignoring the incoming emergency vehicles. Everything remains open at the end of the episode. While Steve expresses his gratitude to Tani and Quinn and says, he would be just as lost as poor Eddie without the dog and all of them. The strange thing is that you never notice anything until that sentence. A few forced dialogues are supposed to make the drama visible, but they all happen way too late or are so poorly written that you miss them.

PL had decided early on to make Steve a Teflon hero. That also means he didn't need to put much substance into the character. Which you can clearly see if you compare the first three seasons to the rest of the series. But towards the end, PL wanted to turn the tide and forcefully rewrote Steve's past. There is a huge difference if you compare Steve from seasons 1 to 3 with Steve from season 10. It is only a sparse remnant of what made this character so great. This change in Steve's personality also affects his relationship with Danny. The witty, affectionate banter degenerates into a snappy, humorless bitch-fest that takes all the joy out of it.

The final two episodes could have been written for any other crime show. As mentioned, we have Cole, who even gets a book'em Cole from Steve, which can only be described as out of line. And it begs the question, was that what Lenkov originally had in mind? Danny out of the show and Cole in? Was the last episode, which mainly featured McCole, something of a test run? Did all the McDanno moments happen only to tear the two apart eventually? Was the real final scene the one where Steve and Catherine take Danny's coffin back to Jersey? Was Danny not supposed to survive? Was that the real reason Steve wanted to get out of Hawaii because he wanted to pay his respects to Danny? And would he really have returned to Hawaii later? Or would he have turned his back on Hawaii? To me, this ending is more plausible than what PL served us. Then, Steve handed over his credentials to Cole instead of Danny, his second in command. Honestly, you can't make the end of a series any more sloppy and dumber than that. And I won't even lose a word about the last 1:30 minutes because I think everything has already been said.

No PL, mission absolutely not accomplished. You created Teflon-Steve. You never wanted him to show any weakness. You turned him into a superhuman who can survive anything. Only to pull the rug out from under him on the last few meters to the finish line and spit on his legacy. How can you dismantle such a great series and its characters like you did? How much do you have to hate something to do that? In the final interviews, the showrunner didn't exactly cover himself in glory either. Everyone who grew up with the series from day one knows that its end was wrong on all the possible levels and that the showrunner is solely to blame for that. It takes a fair amount of egoism and carelessness to drive 10 years at full throttle against the wall. Not many people can do that. Whether you can be proud of that, however, I doubt.

My respect if you have made it this far. Each of you gets 10 extra brownie points for it.

[chilling-seavey]

OKAY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BLURB THAT I FORGOT TO ASK:

1- what is clementines cutie little baby’s name? I MUST KNOW Because IT WASNT MENTIONED

2- ALSO Clementine is out here making more money than Winston who’s in LAW so I need the secrets, I need the tea *gets notepad ready* what does Clementine do professionally?

3- my personal bias against Xavier’s name makes me like him a little less than Winston and Anthony (hence the very restricted amount of words spent talking about him in my reblog ahah) but now that u did tell me that daniel is a little eh about xavier and I was wondering why-

1 - Since I won't be writing about the girls' future families, I never bothered to pick a name lol. Although I feel like she'd be named something with soft, regal, unique vibes...like Anastasia or Genevieve some shit idk

2 - Sis a fancy fancy lawyer 😌 she met Winston at her first internship after all. Never thought about what branch of law...maybe family law or something...that could be a full circle moment. Winston probably stuck as an intern or whatever a bit longer than she did which is why she was making more than him at that point. Dw the pay gap still exists in this universe unfortunately so once he worked up to her standing too she was back to being second pfhfh

3 - Ohhh that's all explained HERE where Daniel is first 'introduced' to Xavier...he found out about him last and always kinda held this grudge. Not to mention that Xavier is a few years older than Lucy and was once of her first year dance instructors. Daniel's just extra *narrows eyes* at the poor mans...drives Lucy freaking crazy

[mischiefandspirits]

Doppelgänger (11/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Life Lessons, Part 3}

The two ghosts led Valerie through the Ghost Zone in a weaving path. They were going at a pace slower than she was used to when dealing with them, but still fast enough that Danny had to hold on to keep from falling off.

“You okay?” she asked when his grip tightened during a turn.

“Yeah, just not used to it.”

“Maybe I should take you flying with me some time,” she said, glancing back at him and was pleased to see his smile.

“Sounds fun.”

The trip was thankfully short and soon enough Valerie was following the ghosts through a swirling vortex, coming out in the Fentons’ lab.

“Last stop, home,” Danny joked as he hopped down.

“What was that?”

All four teens froze at the voice before the ghosts darted through the walls and Valerie retracted her suit. A moment later, Danny’s parents came running down the stairs.

“Danny!” his mom shrieked when she saw them and the two adults swooped in to hug him. “We’ve been so worried! Are you okay? Did that awful ghost hurt you?”

“I’m-Mom, I’m-I’m okay! I-Dad, I can’t breath!”

The two pulled away and his mom held him at arm’s length to look him over. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, mom. Really.”

She didn’t look convinced, but turned to the other teen. “Valerie Gray, right? Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes ma’am,” she said, blinking. “Um, how did you know…”

“Your boss saw you and Danny get attacked and called it in,” Mrs. Fenton explained. “We tried to track it, but we found out this morning that it managed to get back to the zone somehow without using our portal. We were just preparing the speeder so we could come find you.”

“But you managed to escape on your own,” Mr. Fenton said, slapping Danny on the back hard enough that he stumbled forward. “That’s our boy!”

“The ghost didn’t hurt you?” Mrs. Fenton asked, looking Valerie over as she’d done Danny.

“No. He was some sort of collector or something. He just stuck us in a cage, like zoo animals,” Danny said.

“Well, I suppose that’s better than the alternative. I still want to be sure, though. Jack, why don’t you call Damon and the police and tell them the kids are back.”

“Yes, dear.” Mr. Fenton ruffled Danny’s hair then ran upstairs.

Mrs. Fenton checked them both thoroughly for injuries then grabbed what she referred to as a first aid kit, but turned out to be a large toolbox full of medical equipment. She used it to check their eyes, lungs, and heart before measuring any ectoplasmic radiation they were giving off.

“A 0.3er,” she read off after scanning Valerie. When she saw the girl’s curious expression, she explained, “Lower than I would have thought, which is good. It’s a completely healthy reading. It also means the atmospheric ecto-rad level of the Ghost Zone might be lower than we were expecting.” She then turned to Danny and scanned him. “A 1.18er.”

“Is that bad?” Valerie asked, worried.

Danny shook his head. “I run hotter than most. My whole family does, really, but I got into an accident a few months back so I run even hotter. That’s not much higher than my usual.”

“We don’t start worrying until a person’s ecto-rad level reaches 1.5er,” Mrs. Fenton added. “That’s when ectoplasm starts to negatively affect a human’s body.”

“Mom, Mr. Gray is here,” Danny’s sister said, poking her head in. Her eyes widened. “Danny!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny gave a pleased sigh as he cuddled up between his partners.

“Sorry it took us so long to find you,” Sam said, squeezing him.

He kissed her cheek. “It’s not your fault. Besides, it was kind of fun tormenting Skulker. I think he was actually tempted to send us back towards the end there.”

“Only you would think annoying the crud out of the homicidal ghost keeping you prisoner was a good idea,” Tucker chuckled, nuzzling into his neck.

“That’s why you love me!” Danny nuzzled him back. “How did you guys find us?”

“Someone found video footage of Skulker going through that random portal on their CCTV camera and turned it over to the police,” Sam explained. “Jazz told us when they were bringing in your parents to see the video so we were able to come along invisibly.”

“Weird as it is, Jazz is probably the hero this time,” Tucker said. “She also got you and Val an A on your baby assignment.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah, she came by that night and told us you were missing, then took both sacks with her. Said something about giving us time to process.”

“Which was good because we were up all night trying to find you.”

“Then the next morning after she gave us ours back she went to Tetslaff and explained what had happened. We don’t know what she said, but she turned in the sack and when Tetslaff handed out grades, she said you’d get As for trusting someone so responsible and mature to babysit for you.”

“Wow, score one for teacher’s pet Jazz. Maybe we should bring her in on the secret.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Sam snorted.

“She’s even more overprotective of you than you are of anyone. She���d never leave us alone,” Tucker huffed.

Danny’s nose scrunched up as he remembered how Jazz had hovered over him for two months after his parents had accidentally left him at the Christmas tree lot when he was six. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair. I’ll have to do something nice for Jazz, though. So how’d you guys do on the baby thing anyways?”

Sam smirked. “Well, I got an A.”

Tucker grumbled something and pressed further into Danny’s neck.

{The Million Dollar Ghost}

“Thanks for covering for me, Sam,” Danny said as he scrubbed ectoplasm off the lab’s floor. “There’s no way I’d have been able to get my chores done with all the extra work Lancer assigned me.”

“It’s fine. As long as we cover the next poetry night.”

“I will.”

“Did we charge the bazooka already?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Did we change the ecto-filtrator?”

Danny paused then went to do just that.

“We’d be lost without us,” Sam chuckled. “Did we talk to our dad about showing up at school?”

“Jazz and Mom were taking care of it when -”

“GUYS!”

“Tuck?”

“Volume!”

“Did you hear?” Tucker said, thankfully quieter.

“Hear what?”

“Turn on the tv! Amity news!”

“We’re on patrol,” Sam said as Danny went to the lab’s tv.

“Switching to FaceTime.”

“-etent, non-Jack Fenton ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious,” the news anchor was saying while footage of his dad’s attack on Lancer played. It switched back to the anchor and she continued. “Luckily a mysterious benefactor has offered a million-dollar bounty on the head of Amity Park’s most famous ghost and invited the world’s best-known ghost hunters to track her down.”

Danny’s jaw dropped as a picture of Tucker in ghost form appeared onscreen. “What?”

“Who on earth would place a bounty on us?”

“Besides Valerie, but we know she doesn’t have that kind of money,” Tucker added.

“Valerie wants to hunt us down herself, same for my parents,” Danny said. Then laughed. “Oh man, my dad is going to go crazy when he hears about this.”

“Dude, this is serious.”

“Aren't we worried? These are the best-known ghost hunters in the world!”

“Sam, they’re the best-known, they’re not the best,” he scoffed. “Trust me, I grew up around these people so I have a pretty good idea who’s going to show up. It will be great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We’ll admit, they don’t look threatening,” the trio said, watching the gathering of ghost hunters from atop a nearby building. “It’s actually kind of sad.”

“Tell me about it.” The trio flinched and turned to Valerie as she landed next to them.

“Hey. Hi. You here for the bounty?”

“Lucky for you, no.” She sat down on the edge next to them. “I don’t trust this bounty thing. I’m here for the same reason as you, the show. Danny said his dad would be here to show up the out-of-towners.”

The four watched as the Fenton parents ran over a pair of ATVs.

“And that’s only half the show.”

“What do you mean?”

“SAVE DOPPELGÄNGER!”

The four turned to see a horde of teenagers marching into the Nasty Burger parking lot, all waving signs saying things like, “Protect the ghost boy!”, “Freedom for the ghost girl!”, and even just their name or picture. Paulina and Dash were at the head of the charge with fierce looks on their faces.

“I found out the popular kids at my school were organizing a protest against the bounty.”

“Well, don’t we feel special.”

“Apparently Paulina and Dash, the most popular sophomores, both have crushes on you.”

“Yikes. Wow. We don’t know if we should be flattered or creeped out.”

“You’re dead. It’s creepy.”

“Rude. Do they think we’re a guy or a girl?”

“Dash is adamant you’re a girl. Probably to soothe his poor straight heart. Paulina thought you were a guy, but I think my friend Star said something to her after I let it slip you might be non-binary because she’s been using they pronouns lately.”

“That’s… more forward-thinking than I assumed she could be. Given she’s the popular type.”

“She’s bi. As long as you weren’t femme, she would have been game.”

“Oh.”

“She’s still in the closet, so don’t say anything to anyone.”

“We won’t.”

Screams sounded over the arguing and the four looked back to the crowd to see a trio of bird ghosts dive-bombing the hunters.

“Those are Plasmius’s vultures. Should have known he was behind this whole thing.”

“Plasmius,” Valerie asked.

“A fruit loop of a ghost.”

“Let me guess, he hates you too?”

“Worse, he wants us as his kid. Tried to kill our dad and kidnapped our mom once.”

“Seriously?”

“Unfortunately. Do you mind taking care of this? The out-of-towners are idiots, but we’d rather not test the Fentons.”

She shrugged and climbed to her feet. They watched her drop down and start firing on the birds until a voice sounded behind them.

“Not going to lend your father a hand, Daniel?”

The trio turned to see Vlad floating behind them.

“Wow, you look even stupider than we sai-remember. You do realize the modern interpretation of vampires is a hot person, right?”

“I see you’ve been working on your duplication then,” he said with a scowl. “You do realize you don’t have to talk together, don’t you ?”

“You do realize there are better uses for your time than bothering a teenager, don’t you? Shouldn't you be getting home to the love of your life? Oh, that’s right! Our dad married the love of your life. We’re trying to watch the show, do you mind?”

Vlad scowled and fired on them.

“Should we really be teasing the older, stronger half-ghost? Well, we do outnumber him.”

Vlad split in three.

“Now we don’t.”

Sam raised a shield around her and Tucker while he grabbed onto the GAV’s controls and used it to fire on Vlad. Meanwhile, Danny put his speed to use diving around the three Vlad’s.

“You’ve gotten better,” one Vlad said as Danny curled around his blast, a bit of frustration leaking into his voice.

“And you’ve gotten worse,” they said.

Was it just Danny or were the Vlad’s slower and weaker than usual? Did duplication cut their power?

Interesting, and good to know for Sam.

A green blast flew by and Danny looked down to see they’d gotten the hunters’ attention.

Danny turned back to the Vlads and fired at the one closest to him. A pink blast joined his and the Vlad disappeared.

“Your stalker?” Valerie asked.

“Yup.”

“I believe that’s my cue to leave,” a Vlad said and they teleported away.

“And ours,” the trio said as a few more of the hunters’ blasts flew past them.

Valerie turned her blaster towards Danny, who raised his hands. “Thought you weren’t going for the bounty.”

“I’m not. This is for me.”

Sam and Tucker shot away as Danny flew down towards the crowd, distracting all the hunters and waving at their fans before he dove straight into the ground. He came up in an alley where his partners were waiting and all three transformed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I knew there was something sketchy about this mess,” Valerie said as she looked over her pistol. “I didn’t think a ghost would be the one placing the bounty though.”

“Ghost?” Danny said, coming back over with a now-empty thermos.

“Yeah, some enemy of the ghost kid. They said he wants them as his kid, but I don’t even know how that works for ghosts.”

“No clue. Maybe he’s just insane.”

“Probably.”

Valerie’s phone went off and she pulled it out. “There’s an attack downtown.”

He leaned in as she brought up a live feed.

A large, t-rex-looking ghost was stomping through the street. Sam and Tucker were already there, firing on its head. The hunters, Danny’s parents included, could be seen chasing them in the background.

“You going to join them?” Danny asked, pulling back and grabbing Valerie’s grenade launcher. His partners looked like they had it and they’d give him a call if they didn’t.

“And risk getting into another ghost discussion with those pathetic excuses for hunters? Pass.”

“You should see them at one of the conventions.”

The two worked in silence until Danny’s ghost sense went off and a device on the counter next to them started beeping.

“Ghost?” Danny grabbed it and checked it. “It shouldn’t be picking up the fight from here.”

Valerie loaded the cartridge back into her pistol while Danny grabbed the only other operational weapons on the table, the thermos and Fenton Ghost Gloves.

The vultures flew through the ceiling, then froze. “You should not be here.”

Valerie blasted all three in the face.

Danny grabbed one in one hand and sucked the second into the thermos with the other before they could recover. The third dodged around another blast from Valerie, only for the Jack o' Nine Tails to come shooting out of the stairs and wrap around it.

Jazz slammed it into the floor as she came into the lab. “You guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” Danny said, sucking the last two into the thermos. “You?”

“Fine. I was just heading into the kitchen to grab a snack and saw them flying by.” She watched as Danny went to empty the thermos, then turned to Valerie. “What are you guys doing down here?”

“Well now, isn’t this a surprise?”

The teens looked up to see Vlad hovering over the lab.

“Great, another uninvited guest,” Danny groaned.

The ghost turned to him in shock. “Daniel?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I know you?”

Valerie shot Vlad before he could do anything else.

Jazz tried to grab him with the nine tails, but he caught it out of the air and yanked it away from her. Danny used the distraction to punch him in the back. He smirked down at the gauntlets when the older halfa was sent into the wall.

Valerie slid up to his side as Jazz grabbed the Fenton Foamer off a table and blasted Vlad. “Trade you.”

Knowing from personal -- bruising -- experience that Valerie was better at hand-to-hand, Danny passed her the gauntlets and took the pistol.

The kids didn’t give Vlad a chance to breathe, switching quickly between Valerie beating him into the ground and the Fentons shooting him out of the air. Soon enough, Danny was opening the portal so Valerie could toss him through.

“And don’t come back!” he yelled before shutting it. He turned and smiled at Valerie before meeting Jazz’s eyes. “Mom and Dad never hear of this?”

“Agreed.”

[thegiftedoneishere]

Thoughts on Legacies 2x16...The Finale

Fair warning, I’m still pissed about Rafael and honestly this entire season. Season 1 was such a gem and unfortunately we have to leave this season on this horrible end of a mess. Hosie fans are excited but after this week I’m more of a Hizzie person and forever Hafael!

Without further ado...

- Recap is still bullshit.

- Danielle Rose Russell is a cutie.

- Sigh...wtf even is this show. I still love it so. Talking ass pig.

- It is always Hope.

- Hol up, she can control the Necromancer...okay Dark Josie.

- Seeing the actors laid out like they’re dead always freaks me out. I type that just as MG says it’s just a show and it’s not real...but still.

- Hope acting like Lizzie is hilarious...lmao

- Kaleb is a cutie.

- This version of Hope is freakin me out. Lmao I love it.

- Raf...my baby. You deserved better.

- They really have a talking pig on this bitch. Lmao I can not! 

- This Landon and Rafael story is so anger inducing.

- Thank you with the non-consensual kiss...guess Hosie folks ain’t getting their kiss.

- Random...Hope is short as hell

- Lmao did he call her a ‘dumb broad’

- This whole conversation...I can’t. How is this the season finale Lawd?

- Lizzie is shocked folks aren’t her biggest fan

- Alaric is so useless...I swear

- Hope in this hat.

- Lmao this singing competition at the funeral...wtf is happening on this show

- Fix it Jesus

- Lawd he done ate the pig...

- Yes Dark Josie in the queen outfit 

- MG is such a cupcake. I love him so much

- Yes Kaleb with the piano cue

- Musta been extra cold that night they filmed this convo between Hope and Josie

- Josie finally realized she was playing on her own insecurities. 

- Now that the Necromancer has the dark magic, I guess we’ll have to deal with him again next season...

- Eh Alyssa is back...still don’t like her.

- Poor Josie

- Awww Lizzie giving MG a eulogy. The sweetest shit, I swear. She said he smiled like the sun

- Y’all betta had brought Rafael back...damn Landon

- Why the fuck is Hope still sleep and Landon still dead?

- I know they didn’t anticipate this being their season finale. But with this early ending this year I hope they fix the mess they’ve turned this show into. My thoughts and suggestions.

1. You had a big enough cast already...no need to add new characters. The new cop and twins was wasted time and I think they realized this because they all disappeared without a trace. No more Sebastian...he was unnecessary. Bring back Dorian...thanks.

2. Hope is a Mikaelson!!!! She’s a 1st generation witch from that lineage. Please stop downplaying her power. She’s werewolf royalty. More history into her family from both sides please. Her connection to New Orleans. Those Nawlins witches wanted to kill Hope before she was even born because of a prophecy they believed. She’s a tribrid...please don’t forget this. I don’t need her to die to deal with her vampirism but writer’s let’s not forget this. She’s more than a hero and she’s way more than freaking Landon or a ship! Damn it, give her a decent storyline!!!!

3. Can we find out how Kaleb became a vampire? How MG came to be? 

4. Deal with this malivore shit once and for all and move the fuck on. It’s old and tiring now.

5. Rafael’s family and history came up and then it was just dropped...consistency isn’t much to ask for. Can Rafael stop being an after thought? Especially if he’s supposed to be a main character. 

6. Hafael, I ship it but please have a decent resolution to this. Stop making it seem like it’s one-sided because in my opinion, it is not. I’d like the writers to stop pretending they didn’t build this up all throughout season 1 from the start. 

7. Pedro?

8. No more monsters of the week. More focus on this world with dealing with vampires, werewolves, witches, and an occasional doppleganger. 

9. Season 1 was damn near perfect and it almost seemed effortless. I hope they get back to that in season 3. If not, I’m afraid this show won’t have long and with season 1, it could stay around for as long as vampire diaries did.

10. Fix it!!!!

[travllingbunny]

The 100: 7x01 From the Ashes

Disclaimer: This post is about the episode of the show The 100, From the Ashes, the season 7 premiere, and only about it.  In this post, I will NOT be discussing any original scripts, unused takes, bloopers, behind the scene photos or videos, scribbled notes exchanged between the writers, or any  tweets, Instagram posts, SMS or e-mails by any of the cast or crew members,  considering the fact that none of those things constitute the  show’s canon, which consists of the actual episodes.

I will also not be discussing anything about the future episodes posted by any ‘spoiler accounts’, and, in fact, I am unaware of most of these things, since I’m trying not to read any spoilers. Please do not tell me any spoilers for future episodes or ask me about them.

I really enjoyed this episode, in spite of the unfortunate lack of Bellamy (which I was already expecting since what happens to him here was already spoiled by the trailer. Of course, I’m looking forward to see Bellamy again, and, before that, to everyone finding out about disappearance and it becoming the focus of the season. But until then, the show has quite a few other storylines to deal with, from setting up and delving more into the Anomaly mystery, to dealing with the fall-out of season 6 in Sanctum, and both of these were handled well, for the most part.

This episode in particular had really good characterizations all around - for Murphy, Echo, Indra, Madi, Raven, Emori, Gaia, even Jackson - and, of course, Clarke, who had an arc that took her tendency to try to repress her feelings to an extreme, until they exploded in a most memorable way. It will cause her trouble, no doubt, but it was great to watch, and something I had been wishing for for quite some time. 

There is just one character whose storyline I’m still not sure how I feel about, because I’m not sure what the show is doing with him. 

After the last season’s cliffhanger, there was some concern in the fandom that Bellamy would regress to being all about protecting his sister, after their relationship had been redefined with “You’re my sister, but you’re not my responsibility”. Some of that was really exaggerated: there’s absolutely nothing odd or surprising about Bellamy crying over his sister disappearing in his arms. Of course he loves her and wants her safe. But I was concerned they may regress his development if they make him forget about everyone and everything else in his life in order to impulsively jump after her into the Anomaly. However, that did not happen - Bellamy didn’t decide to go on his own, rather than tell others and make a plan. He was taken.

The mysterious people from the Anomaly seem to be able to control the Anomaly, and have some sort of a cloaking device, presumably connected to their suits and helmets, that makes them invisible to others. They also have some sort of a screen inside their helmets, with facial recognition of targets and commands. It’s all a bit creepy - these seem to be humans, but they are receiving orders the way a robot would. (It’s all very Terminator-like!) Maybe because they also have lost their memories while going through the Anomaly? Where did they get the info about who Bellamy, Gabriel and Echo are - was it from Octavia’s memories? 

Memories and memory loss are obviously going to play a huge role this season. People who come from the Anomaly to Sanctum seem to lose their memories, except when the Anomaly is still there. Does this happen only on Sanctum, or at the other side(s) as well? How does the fact that the Anomaly sucks in radio signals fit into that? Hope had to use a message she put into her own arm to remind herself to “TRUST BELLAMY”. (Interstellar is mentioned a lot as an inspiration for this season, but this reminds me of another Nolan film, Memento.)

We also see Clarke spout knowledge about how the big mansion was built (by Russell for Simone, to remind her of her house on Earth), which she would know due to still having some of Josephine’s memories. And I’m sure that the fact Madi still has the memories of past Commanders will play a big role - specifically, the fact she has Becca’s memories, which could be the way to tie the present day story to the prequel/story about what happened during and right after the apocalypse. (She also probably knows about Sheidheda more than anyone else alive, which may play into the Sanctum story.) 

It’s too early to judge Hope as a character, but the mystery surrounding her is certainly super interesting. Why do the mysterious people from the Anomaly have orders to kill her on sight (as opposed to capturing, which they were supposed to do with Bellamy, Echo and Gabriel)? Is it because of who she is, or what she is - is it about her actions, does she know too much, or is her existence itself that’s the problem? 

I loved the Octavia cameo in Hope’s hallucination, with the confirmation that she was an “aunt” figure to her, a part of a found family with Diyoza and Hope. The Anomaly makes you see your biggest desire or biggest fear - and Hope’s biggest desire seems to be to be reunited with her family 

Echo’s hallucination, on the other hand, is obviously about her biggest fear - so it makes perfect sense that it’s Roan who appears to her, as he exiled her from Azgeda. Of course biggest fear would be losing her kru and her king/queen and being left alone and adrift. I’m as surprised as anyone that I found Echo's scene to be maybe the best in the episode. But she did have some really good character moments in seasons 6, and this is IMO her best character moment so far, picking up from her red sun hallucination in 6x02, and flashback from 6x11. which revealed that even her identity as “Echo” is fake. It seems the show is finally doing the character development it neglected to give her in season 5, and addressing all the obvious issues with Echo’s development and her relationship with Bellamy. I think this confirms that it was indeed Echo talking to herself while hallucinating Emori in 6x02, since her hallucination of Roan tells her the same thing, that she is still just a killer following another master’s orders. We finally see Echo feeling guilt over the things she did in the past, including her betrayal of Bellamy in season 3. When she imagines him calling her out on betraying “the man she now claims to love”, is it just about her thinking the others would doubt her love, or is she herself questioning whether her feelings for Bellamy are really romantic love, or just loyalty to her current leader? Their relationship, especially in S6, often came off more as the latter.

 (It was also really cool to see Zach McGowan again) 

The timeline of 7x01 seems to have confused some fans, but I think it’s pretty obvious that, at the beginning of the Sanctum story, no more than a day (probably less than that) has passed since 6x13 - going by the facts that 1) the Anomaly storyline picked up minutes after the end of 6x13, and the Sanctum story was presumably happening at the same time, and 2) Indra had to explain the situation in Sanctum to everyone. The only thing that seems to go against that is that Russell is said to “not have slept” since what happened on the ship, which makes it seem like it’s been longer. Or maybe Russell was just being extra dramatic. “Oh, I have no slept for a whole day!” He certainly spent a lot of this (his last) episode feeling sorry for himself. At least he seemed to have finally realized he wasn’t the superior good guy in all of it (”Tell them I’m treated better than I deserve” - yes, indeed.)

Indra was great, even though poor Adina was forced to be an exposition machine for a part of the episode. 

A common complaint I’ve seen among fans is that it’s weird that Clarke and others in Sanctum aren’t worried about Bellamy and co. I don’t understand this complaint, as it’s clear that very little time has passed and that Bellamy, Octavia, Echo and Gabriel must have told everyone they were leaving and why (though I don’t know how many details they told them about the Anomaly Stone). People have been gone for a whole day in season 6 when they just went to the Offering Grove (Echo in 6x06) or the radioactive shield (Raven, Emori and Echo in 6x05), which are within the confines of Sanctum and much nearer than the camp by the Anomaly. What are they supposed to do but wait for a couple of days for them to come back? It’s not like they can call them, when radios and other means of communication usually don’t work on Alpha because of the Anomaly sucking the signals.

In fact, their absence was mentioned in the picnic scene, when Raven toasted to “absent friends” and we got a reaction shot of Clarke (I know, Clarke, I'd be annoyed too if I was you, but Bellamy had to be all "I'm gonna go now and explore the Anomaly Stone while Sanctum is in chaos and you're in mourning for your mom" because the plot needed him to..., before Niylah toasted to the “departed ones” (which would include Kane and Abby) and we got a close-up reaction shot of Clarke trying to keep it all inside, as she did every time in this episode someone mentioned Abby. 

The idyllic picnic by the mansion - everyone’s attempt to get some rest and nice time after everything they had been through - was such a contrast to the “powder keg” of Sanctum and the end of this episode. But it also felt fake - just as fake as the deception and lies that Murphy and Emori are Daniel and Kaylee Prime, or that Madi still has the Flame in her head - to keep the devout and Wonkru under control, respectively - and just as fake as Clarke’s attempts to convince everyone she’s “fine”. As usual, the song playing in the background (”Darkness” by Pinegrove) was very fitting:

Suddenly I find I've got darkness on my mind It's a question mark that keeps me looking And it's never satisfied And it's never what I thought Saying I'm happy when I'm not No, I got darkness on my mind Leaning out the frame When it's particulate and gray I'm perpendicular to my whole being When I lean a certain way Saying I'm happy when I'm not Finding roaches in the pot Oh, I got darkness on my mind Some people spend their whole lives looking For someone who could understand While meanwhile a lilac blooming Sometimes on the driest land And I know it's been a long time coming I'm angry and I know that's weak And I'm longing out that open window For whatever it is I seek [musical breakdown] Some people spend their whole lives looking For someone who could understand And while meanwhile a lilac blooming Sometimes on the driest land And I know it's been a long time coming I'm angry and I know that's weak So I'm trying not to be so bitter I'm just looking at it honestly Well, I know it's been a long time coming I'm angry and I know that's weak And I'm longing out that open window For whatever it is I seek Some people spend their whole lives looking For someone who could understand While meanwhile a lilac blooming Sometimes on the driest land, yeah 

I like that there was anger, blame and conflict between our kru and that everyone didn’t just forget what happened last season (and for once, Clarke is not the one getting the blame!) It would've made no sense if no one was blaming Murphy, and it makes sense it would be Jackson, who was so close to Abby and who’s not particularly close to Murphy. It also makes sense there was disagreement about the method of keeping peace in Sanctum, and that not everyone would be happy with Memori cosplaying the Primes. 

Murphy himself had a really good characterization in this episode - we saw his grief and his feelings of guilt. While he tried to defend himself when blamed that he didn’t know what Russell would do, when left alone, he blamed himself for various actions that led to it, which is something Murphy from a couple of seasons ago wouldn’t do.

It’s great to see Raven looking more like her old, pre-season 6 self, and even better to see that her self-righteousness has gone. She’s more like the old Raven but without the snarky b1tchiness. I’m glad that she got called out by Murphy on her “Miss Morality” role from last season (which never really made sense, pre-time jump Raven was never a moral compass of the group, she was smart, pragmatic and could be as ruthless as anyone).

Another major theme of the Sanctum plot were the new beginnings.  Clarke pointing out season 3 feels like another world seems almost like the show going meta and pointing out to the audience how much Clarke and all these people have lived through and been since.What is Sanctum now after the Primes have been defeated, with Children of Gabriel coming back home and clashing with the Devout - brainwashed and loyal followers of the Primes, with the rest of the Sanctumites in between? How are Wonkru and the 36 Eligius prisoners going to start again on a new planet moon? (36?! Wow, so they really suffered heavy losses in that gorge, too, when there are so few left?) Can Grounders be without a Commander? Gaia without her religion? Can Madi be a normal kid, without the Flame - or is that even possible while she has to pretend to still be Heda? The title From the ashes seems to refer to that - and maybe the end of the episode means that you have to burn down the old beliefs and old idols to build something new? 

Mothers and daughters were another theme.  I liked that Madi mentioned her biological parents (well, mother) on-screen for the first time, since the fandom tends to forget about them and ignore them too often. Madi was unsuccessful in her attempt to make Clarke share her feelings with her - maybe because this conversation showed a big difference in how they see each other? Clarke thinks of Madi as her child, but Clarke has never had a child before, while Madi had parents and suffered their loss; Clarke assumed Madi was talking about her and what happened in S6, but Madi always calls Clarke “Clarke” rather than “Mom”, and tried to connect to her on the equal level, as another daughter who’s lost a mother. Maybe it’s exactly because Clarke sees Madi only as her child that she feels she must be “strong” for her all the time and not show grief. 

There was an unexpected parallel between Indra and Clarke in how Indra also tried to suppress outward expressions of grief when her partner - Gaia’s father died, which clearly wasn’t healthy and caused a rift between mother and daughter. (I’m not sure about when that happened, i.e. when Gaia first decided to become a Flamekeeper. I guess it must have been before the timeline of seasons 1-3. So Gaia’s dad is probably not the man that Indra recognized in 2x15 as one of the Reapers? I’m still angry that we never got any resolution to that storyline and that the Reapers were forgotten after season 2.)

 The one thing I’m not sure about is Jordan’s characterization and arc. I’m not sure what the show is doing with his exactly, and I’m afraid that they’ll try to leave it ambiguous just how much he is or isn’t brainwashed. 6x13 made it very clear that he has been “adjusted”, which Russell confirmed here, and Jordan’s “adjustor”, who was creeping behind him in the season 6 finale, was very present and active in this episode, and clearly still had a big influence on him. At the same time, we learn that Jordan does not believe in the divinity of the Primes - instead of that, his hallucinations made him see something connected to the mystery of the Anomaly, which Russell describes as something “greater” (almost like he has finally found God, of sorts, after all, which he talked about 236 years before when he first landed on Alpha)? The good news is that it means Jordan will have a role in the Anomaly story, rather than being the advocate for the Devout. What I’m afraid of is that the show will gloss over the fact that Jordan was brainwashed - whether or not he came to believe that Primes were gods, he certainly did a 180 from despising Primes as murderers, being outraged by their actions and knowing very well that Priya was not Delilah but someone who took over her body; to (just a few days later, after “adjustment”) spouting Prime propaganda about the “peaceful” society they had before the Bad People from Earth came (that’s the peace they had when they regularly murdered their people to steal their bodies, left babies to die, and made them go crazy and kill each other from time to time) and having some kind of attachment to Priya herself and her mind drive.

At least, I hope that Russell unceremoniously smashing the mind drive means we’re done with that storyline. I loved it, it was my favorite storyline of the show, but it’s time for it to be over. It makes no sense that anyone is still letting Russell keep his mind drive, for starters. When will they realize they need to destroy these things?

- Clarke’s way of dealing with grief over her mom’s death was certainly unhealthy - repressing her feelings even more than usual, trying to be calm, composed, logical, to do the things needed to keep peace. In her last scene in 6x13, Clarke was open about her grief with Bellamy, looking to him for comfort, finding comfort in his arms and his words. But now he’s absent, there’s no one else she can be that open and vulnerable with. (The only other person Clarke looked for comfort to was Abby.) It’s nice to see that she and Raven have mended their friendship with Raven, she is starting to develop a new one with Gaia over their mutual care for Madi, she has mutual respect with Indra, she’s known others - like Murphy or Miller = for years, since the Delinquent days... and they all want to help her, but she’s not opening up to anyone, not even Madi. She thinks she must be “strong” for all of them, and her Head and Heart are unbalanced - she’s repressing the latter, until she finally explodes. 

I love the scene of Clarke finally losing it and beating up Russell (I had already seen it in the trailer, and it was my favorite moment) and then crying while holding Abby's clothes. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love seeing an angry, emotional Clarke, letting it all out, especially when it's anger at people she has every right to be furious at. We haven’t seen that from her since early season 3 (when she yelled and spat in Lexa’s face over her betrayal). It had bothered me for a few seasons that Clarke - who used to be vibrant and could be impulsive, angry, hold grudges, yell at people in seasons 1-2, had become so repressed and muted due to her constant self-blame. I’ve had enough watching Clarke look sad while other people keep yelling at her and blaming her. (The only other instance of Clarke being furious was her hurt and rage at Bellamy and the slap in 5x09, but that was more of a silent, “internally screaming” rage/hurt, which turned into Clarke being emotionally frozen for the next couple of episodes, until learning he was alive. When Clarke is keeping everything inside and not yelling, that’s when she’s in the worst emotional state.)

It is, however, so sad that she still blames herself, too, for her mother’s death, whispering “I’m sorry”, the same way she whispered after seeing her father floated.

My only problem with the scene of that stupid palace burning down is that  "mistakes" is a serious real understatement for what Russell has done. I know, I know, this will cause a lot of trouble in Sanctum and Clarke will probably have to go back on some of these decisions to keep peace. But there’s really nothing morally wrong with deciding to execute Russell - not only does he deserve it, but he’s arguably even an exception from the general objection to death penalty, since he’s lived several times the normal human lifespan, by stealing other people’s bodies. And the palace burning down is a symbolic way to send the message that the old power structures are gone - which Clarke pointed out when she said there will be no kings or queens anymore.

Sheiheda taking over Russell’s, or rather his latest host’s body, wasn’t surprising, as that was the most popular theory. But it was cool to see Sheidheda’s creepy mindspace again and Sean Maguire as the original Russell. The bodysnatcher got bodysnatched. That’s something like poetic justice.

I just have to post this because it’s such a beautiful shot!

Rating: 8/10

[abundanceofsoph]

SkyFire 2: Chapter 12

The Late Show with Steve Colbert: September 28th, 2016

Word count: 2.8k

Song is Reaper by Andie Case

SkyFire 2 MASTERLIST

Aurora was anxiously pacing backstage as she waited for her time to walk out onto the set. She listened as Stephen Colbert began his opening monologue and she swallowed thickly as he explained how the following day marked the first anniversary of the shooting and how this episode was in honour of the 43 lives they had lost that day. Mark squeezed her shoulder in support as she was announced and she let out a shaky breath, trying to push her anxiety aside as the curtain was pulled back for her. Her hand trembled as she walked out into the bright studio lights, the crowd applauding as she approached were Stephen Colbert stood in front of his desk. She hugged him before taking a seat on the sofa next to the desk; the audience continued to clap and cheer for a few extra moments before Stephen shushed them and she felt the weight of everyone’s gaze fall on her. She had a smile plastered on her face and if her family were there, they would recognise how fake it was, but to the audience in front of her she looked calm and collected, some would even say excited to be there.

“Aurora, welcome,” Stephen said once the audience fell silent. “Thank you for joining us tonight.”

“Thank you for having me,” Aurora replied. “I know we’ve been trying to make this happen since your first show last year.”

“We have and of course everyone watching knows that it’s been an incredibly challenging year for you, so we are very grateful to have you here. What has this last 12 months been like?”

“Like you said it’s been really challenging. When I woke up in the hospital they told me I’d been shot about a dozen times, once in the abdomen, 4 times in my shoulder and then another 7 or possibly more in my left hand, so for the first few months I was just focusing on all the surgeries and trying to heal.”

“And about a month after the shooting you were trending online after you joined your fiancé Harry Styles on stage for One Directions last concert show. What brought that about?”

“I think in the wake of tragedies like the Columbia shooting we all focus on the victims and their recovery but not a lot of thought goes to the victim’s friends and families if they survive. For those that die, their families receive overwhelming support, but if your loved one survives, there’s not a lot of emotional support and that’s something I never realised until I found myself in that situation. While I was recovering physically and receiving the help I needed to deal with the PTSD and the emotional trauma, my family was struggling and that became pretty clear to me when I watched fan videos from the One Direction tour and I saw the way that Harry and the other lads were hurting. I can’t begin to imagine the trauma of hearing someone you love has been involved in a mass shooting and that they might not make it. That leaves such devastating wounds that I knew I had to go to London and help them through that pain. Getting on stage was just this last minute idea we cooked up to celebrate that I was still there and to thank the fans for all their support.”

“It was a beautiful moment to watch,” Stephen replied, “but you’ve been pretty quiet online since then.”

“I have yeah. I stayed on Instagram and I’ve kept posting there but I deleted all my other social media accounts after the shooting.”

“Why was that?”

“Emotions were running high and unfortunately the anonymity of social media really encourages the worst in people. There was quite a lot of awful things being said about myself and my family in those first few weeks and mentally I wasn’t in a good place so I just deleted everything and my manager does a great job of keeping my Instagram comment section clear of the worst of things.”

“Why stay on Instagram at all? Why not delete it as well?”

“Despite the fame and attention, I’m like most 21 year olds. I want to see what my friends are doing and share the aspects of my life that I’m comfortable sharing and I love my fans. They’re really wonderful people and I like being able to invite them into my world in small ways, I’m just learning how to do that in a way that’s right for my mental health.”

“You said you were receiving a lot of hate after the shooting, what kinds of things were being said?”

“While most people were incredibly supportive, there were also a lot of voices pointing out the special treatment I received because I’m a Stark. I saw the best surgeons and I never had to worry about hospital bills. I also survived because my parents responded to the emergency as quickly as they did, and I was rushed to the nearest hospital. A lot of people died because nobody got to them as fast as they got to me.”

“Did you agree with what they were saying?”

“Of course, and I still do. Growing up poor and then being thrust into my dad’s world has always caused me to have a tremendous amount of guilt. I have so much privilege and even though I knew how lucky I was I didn’t use that privilege to help people. It was really confronting to get called out for that on such a massive scale, especially when I was at my most vulnerable.”

“And you used that as a wakeup call, didn’t you?”

“I did. My father’s charity, the Maria Stark Foundation stepped in immediately in the wake of the shooting and set up the ColumbiaStrong fund to pay for the medical care and funeral expenses of the other victims. The fund has ensured that everyone had access to the surgeries they needed, as well as providing therapy for those of us who developed PTSD and other mental illnesses from that day.”

“It’s an incredible initiative,” Stephen agreed, “and we’ve heard that you’ve taken a more hands on approach in recent months.” Aurora looked at him for a moment, trying to work out what he was referring to. “It’s been reported that you’ve been visiting hospitals over the summer.”

‘Ahhh’, she thought, ‘So people finally caught on to that.’

“I thought I was doing a good job of sneaking around and keeping that out of the news,” she chuckled, attempting to cover her nervousness. “Ever since my own amputation I’ve been visiting the children’s hospitals and speaking to kids with prosthetics and residual limbs.”

“They must love meeting you.”

“They’re incredible kids. Honesty I think they’ve helped me more than I’ve helped them. They’ve always got a smile on their faces and they don’t see themselves as victims. Meeting them helped me come to terms with my own situation.”

“You’re very humble.”

“I just don’t like to take credit for things like I’m some hero. I’m just 21 year old girl that survived something horrific and I’m just trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got.”

“Well we’ve got some people joining us tonight who are also doing the best they can with what they’ve got,” Stephen said to the camera, the audience clapping along. “We’ll be right back with more of the incredible survivors of the 2015 Columbia Shooting and a performance by Aurora Stark.”

As the cameras cut to the commercials, Aurora stood up, making her way off the set to where Mark was waiting for her. “You did great,” he said and they both turned to watch the crew swap out the seat she’d just vacated with a three seater sofa and add three bar stools behind it. There were 5 other survivors of the shooting guesting on the show, all choosing to be interviewed together as apposed the solo interview that Aurora had just given.

“Welcome back to the late show,” Colbert said when they returned from the commercial break. “I’m joined by 5 incredible young men and women; Chris Watkins, Jacinta Flores, Brandy Taylor, Jacob Lawler and Daniel Thomas.”

Aurora watched the interview on one of the monitors backstage. She felt like her own experience was being recounted by the 5 people on set as they discussed their own recoveries and the challenges facing them, so similar to her own. 3 had returned to Columbia to continue their studies, while the other 2, like Aurora, couldn’t face going back. They all had a range of injuries, but she found that they all shared the same burden of nightmares, flashbacks and guilt. After Colbert threw to another commercial break, Aurora headed back out onto the set, this time heading for the stage area. She smiled at the members of Harry’s new band, grateful that they agreed to join her for this performance, and she felt a little less nervous with them sitting behind her after spending so much time with them all in her home studio. Sarah gave her a supportive thumbs up from where she was already sat behind her drum kit, Adam similarly smiling in support with his base guitar in hand, and despite feeling more at home with a guitar in his hands, Mitch had happily volunteered to play piano once he’d heard Aurora talking to Harry about how scared she felt to play live. She didn’t allow herself much time to be nervous about her first solo performance in years, taking a seat on the stool set up behind the microphone and listening on silently as Stephen continued to interview the other 5 survivors. She wiped her sweaty palm against her thigh and then she heard Stephen thanking his guests before walking over towards where she and the band waited.  

“With her new single raising money for the ColumbiaStrong fund,” he said into the camera, “this is Aurora Stark with Reaper.” The lights dimmed across the set, a solitary spotlight softly lighting where she sat as the song began.

Broke down, thought that I would drown Hoped that I'd be found, 'fore I hit the ground Sun rays out the corner of my eye Saw you weeping, saw you creeping Saw you sneaking in the shadow's dawn I feel so strong Saw you out the corner of my eye

Don't come for me today I'm feeling good I'mma savour it Don't come for me today I'm feeling good I remember when You came to take me away So close I was to heaven's gates But no baby, no baby, not today Oh, you tried to track me down You followed me like the darkest cloud But no baby, no baby, not today Oh reaper Oh no baby, no baby, not today Oh reaper Oh no baby, no baby, not today

So come back when I'm good to go I got drinks to drink, and a man to hold I got good things to do with my life, yeah Oh, I wanna dance in the open breeze Feel the wind in my hair, hear the ocean sing I got good things to feel in my life, yeah

Don't come for me today I'm feeling good I'mma savour it Don't come for me today I'm feeling good I remember when You came to take me away So close I was to heaven's gates But no baby, no baby, not today Oh, you tried to track me down You followed me like the darkest cloud But no baby, no baby, not today Oh reaper Oh no baby, no baby, not today Oh reaper Oh no baby, no baby, not today

Reaper  

As the song finished, the lights lifted, and Stephen walked out to hug Aurora before turning to the camera as the audience applauded. “Aurora Stark everybody!” Stephen yelled. “Reaper is available now, all proceeds going to the ColumbiaStrong fund to support victims of gun violence. We’ll be right back.”

She quickly hugged Mitch, Sarah and Adam before following Stephen back over to the desk, joining the others on the sofa.

“That was an incredible song,” Stephen said when the show returned from the ad break. “Thank you for sharing that with us, Aurora.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

“Now back at the start of the show we were talking about the ColumbiaStrong fund started by the Stark family to help survivors of the shooting, and I’m interested to hear what you all think about it.”

“I wouldn’t be sitting here without that money,” Brandy said. “My mom’s health insurance wouldn’t have covered the therapy I needed afterwards, and I was really struggling. My dad isn’t around so my mom was already working 2 jobs to pay the bills and send my 3 younger sisters to a good school. My medical bills would have bankrupted us if the Starks hadn’t helped us.”

Everyone else nodded and agreed, adding their own versions of the same story, while Aurora felt her eyes growing damp. She knew that the foundation had paid peoples bills and she knew that her father’s money had helped people but being confronted by it made it all the more real to her.

“I know Aurora was saying earlier in the show that she felt guilty that Iron Man and Captain America got to her so fast, but I’m grateful they did,” Daniel added. “If she hadn’t been on campus and they hadn’t responded, I hate to think about how many more of us would have died that day. When Iron Man stopped the shooter, he was heading for one of the busiest parts of campus. A lot of people walked away unharmed because Aurora sent out that SOS.”

As he spoke, Aurora felt her cheeks burning and she ducked her head in embarrassment. If she’d known that agreeing to this interview would lead to these people praising her for her actions last year, she would have declined the invitation. She didn’t deserve their praise or their thanks. All she’d done that day was cower under a table in fear and call her dads to come save her, but here these other survivors were, acting like she’d saved peoples lives. She hated it.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I know I deal with a lot of guilt,” Jacob said. “My therapist called it survivors’ guilt and he said it’s pretty common for those who experience trauma to struggle with trying to understand why they survived when others died.” Everyone else nodded in agreement. “Aurora, I want to thank you, even though I’m pretty sure you don’t feel like you deserve it. You saved a lot of people that day and the money that your family has donated has saved a lot more. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your privilege because your using to help people around you. So, thank you.”

Aurora felt a few tears slip down her cheeks, painfully aware of the audience and cameras watching every moment. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want them thanking her for something she didn’t deserve.

“It’s very nice of you to say all of that but I shouldn’t be the one you’re thanking,” she said, quickly wiping at the tears threatening to drip down her blushing cheeks. “The first responders deserve our gratitude. The doctors and nurses. And my dads were the ones to set up the money so please don’t thank me for that. I was lying in a hospital bed just trying to hold myself together just like the rest of you. I’m not anyone’s hero.”

Jacinta, the blonde sitting next to Aurora on the sofa, pulled her into a tight hug.

“As you can see ladies and gentlemen,” Stephen said to the camera’s as the two girls hugged. “The emotional scars left behind by this tragedy are still very fresh in the minds of those who survived. Thank you for joining us this evening in commemorating those we lost and those still healing. Aurora’s single, Reaper, is now available for purchase from all the usual places with all profits going to the ColumbiaStrong fund to ensure support is available for those affected by gun violence. Thank you for watching and goodnight.”

Stephen stood up, walking around the desk to shake everyone’s hand as the audience applauded and Aurora pulled herself back together. She said her farewells as soon as she could, making her way backstage to where Mark and the band were waiting for her.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to go that way.”

“It’s ok Mark,” Rori promised. “I don’t think anyone expected that to happen.”

“Let’s get you guys home yeah?” Mark replied. “Steve said he was cooking a big dinner for everyone.”

NEXT CHAPTER

OR CONTINUE READING ON AO3

[chilling-seavey]

Anything But Mine (d.s.) - Chapter Twenty-Eight

A/N is this the moment we’ve all been waiting for?

Saturday, August 8th, 2020

It wasn’t a relaxing morning for Florence, Grayson, or Emilio as the long awaited appointment was approaching quickly at 11am. By 10:30, there were all sat in the waiting room chairs in the hospital, the week old baby sleeping in Florence’s arms as she stared at the wall in front of them. She felt that if she moved she might throw up from the sickening anxiousness that was bubbling up in her stomach. Nine long months would come down to this one appointment and it seemed as if that was the only thing on any of the three young adults’ minds. With one sentence the entire course of their lives could be altered.

Florence tried to focus on getting through one minute at a time, what her brother always told her when they were struggling through their parents’ toxic rules and ways of discipline. She let her mind focus on the lunch that would be waiting for them at the boys’ house, Callum and the Clifford’s and Clementine there to support her and love her no matter what the results said. She had to stop her mind from whirling as she felt a lump in her throat and couldn’t tell if it was tears or her breakfast.

“You okay?” Emilio asked her quietly from her left.

Florence simply nodded, not taking her eyes off the poster that was tacked to the wall.

Emilio and Grayson caught each other’s gaze past the girl and exchanged nervous glances before looking to the floor.

It was five minutes past eleven when the doctor finally called them in. The extra five minutes were almost torturous for the anxious group of three and they almost ran into the office after the doctor. They took their seats in the three chairs at the front of the desk, the older doctor placing himself behind the desk and opened up a beige file folder.

“How is everyone this morning?” the doctor smiled, folding his hands together on top of the papers.

“Fine.” the group mumbled.

“Has baby been doing okay this week?” the doctor asked.

“She’s good.” Florence forced a polite smile.

“I bet we all want to get down to business so let’s get started.” the doctor sat back and scanned the paper in front of him. “Alright. So we did a cheek swab for the DNA test a week ago, on July 30th. Sent it to the lab, they did their analyzing. They found something a little unusual, however.”

Florence instinctively held Penelope tighter in her arms, her mind thinking over any possible sickness the doctor could be talking about.

“Nothing bad.” he assured them once he saw all three of their worried expressions. “You two gentlemen and the baby are perfectly healthy.”

The room let out a quiet sigh of relief.

The doctor took a breath before continuing, “But when it came to matching the DNA to one of you, neither were a match.”

Silence fell over the group.

“What do you mean?” Florence chuckled humourlessly.

“Neither of you are the father of this child.” the doctor clarified.

Emilio and Grayson looked at each other with their mouths open and eyes wide with shock. They both looked to Florence who was sat between them.

Her laughter surprised them, “No. That’s not possible. Funny, though.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not kidding.” the doctor said, not breaking his serious expression.

“I...I don’t understand.” Florence’s smile faltered. “There’s no other option.”

“Are you positive there is no other possible father?” the doctor asked.

Grayson’s pure hurt expression absolutely ached Florence’s heart and she avoided looking at him at all cost, even if she didn’t know what the hell the doctor was talking about.

“The only other guy was my ex but that doesn’t add up. That was like...” Florence paused as she added the months in her head, “fourteen months ago.”

“Are you sure they got the right samples? Did they get mixed up with someone else?” Grayson asked, his voice soft and wavering with emotion.

“We triple checked. We don’t take these situations lightly.” the doctor assured them.

Florence’s eyebrows were furrowed with confusion, staring down at the sleeping newborn in her arms, wondering where she went wrong in life to get herself into this situation. Grayson continued asking questions and clarification with the poor doctor who had repeated himself too many times.

“I understand you’re confused and upset but we have done all we could at this point. If you think of someone else feel free to bring them in for a test and we’ll be more than happy to look into it for you.” the doctor’s expression towards Florence seemed a little judgemental and she kept her stare down to avoid crying under his intimidating presence.

Emilio was staying silent and had his eyes on Florence’s confused and emotional face, as if silently begging her to make the connection. He was the only one in the room who narrowed it down and knew the truth. Although it hurt to know he wasn’t the father, despite how much everyone told him that the baby looked like him, he was worried about what was going to happen next. It was all a huge mess and it was just made exceptionally messier.

Back in the car, Emilio was holding on almost too tightly to the steering wheel, driving towards the boys’ house for lunch. Grayson was leaning against the window, his hand pressed to his forehead through the frustrated exhaustion, biting on his bottom lip anxiously and to keep from crying. Neither boy pitched into Florence’s emotional rant from the backseat, the girl going on about what a waste of time that doctor was and how they didn’t know what they were talking about.

“$200 to be told nothing.” she scoffed, opening the door and stepping out of the car once Emilio parked in the driveway of the old Victorian. She walked around the other side of the car and took out the baby carrier, the baby still fast asleep. Emilio and Grayson exchanged silent glances as they waited for her to go inside. “And the way he looked at me? Could he be any more judgmental? He’s the one who’s wrong!”

Florence stomped up the front steps and opened the front door.

“Absolutely ridiculous. If he’s so freaking smart and knows everyone who I’ve been with then maybe he should enlighten me.” Florence grumbled as she waked into the house.

Everyone was sitting around the main floor and all looked their way when the stressed out group arrived, Grayson and Emilio staying absolutely silent. Florence’s obvious frazzled state kept the house quiet, everyone looking at her for the long awaited results.

“I wish I could have a fucking drink right now.” Florence broke the silence, kicking off her shoes and walked over to place sleeping Penelope in her carrier on the coffee table in the living room.

“What happened?” Callum asked from the couch, Clementine sat on his lap.

“Literally nothing.” Florence threw her hands out. “Like, literally. Nothing.”

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’?” Jonah asked slowly.

“Just that this idiot doctor has the audacity to tell me that neither of these two are the father?” Florence tossed her hand in the direction of Grayson and Emilio who had now joined the group in the living room, “And wants me to go find who it is? Like okay let me just call Matt even though I haven’t gone within five feet of him in over a year.”

The silence that filled the house was deafening. Emilio looked to Corbyn first who sat next to Callum, the blank expression on the boy’s face and the tense silence being the only answer Corbyn needed. His grey eyes widened, and he looked to Daniel who was sat on the floor in front of the window, the boy’s face a sickening white as he stared up at them. Corbyn could only pray that Daniel wouldn’t faint. That would make the whole situation even more complicated.

It felt like the whole room was staring at Daniel, and they were, except for Grayson and Callum and Florence who were oblivious to the situation at hand.

“What did he say then? They can’t just leave it like that.” Callum frowned.

“I have to figure it out myself and then bring in ‘whoever I think it is’ to be tested as well. Like are you kidding?” Florence set her hands on her hips. “I did already!”

“Why don’t we leave it for now and have some lunch?” Jonah suggested.

Everyone moved to the dining room to grab a slice of pizza from the freshly ordered box, leaving the baby sleeping nearby. Jack had to basically keep Daniel standing, the frazzled boy in a state of shock. He was sat in a chair and Jack placed a full plate in front of him but it went untouched. Daniel leaned his elbows on the table and held his face in his hands.

“I’m not even hungry.” Florence mumbled, mirroring Daniel’s position from down the table. Emilio, Corbyn, and Jonah stood in the kitchen, watching the two friends and their similar states of distress.

“We should tell Grayson.” Corbyn whispered.

Grayson was sat across the table from Florence, picking haphazardly at his slice of pizza, obvious tears welling in his eyes and he refused to even look at the girl across from him.

“Yeah.” Emilio agreed.

“Daniel has to tell her himself though.” Jonah added.

“We all know he won’t.” Corbyn sighed before picking up his plate and seating himself beside Grayson.

“This is all fucked.” Jonah breathed, running a hand through his hair before joining the group at the table.

Lunch had barely began when the front door opened and Cayleigh came in with a big smile and an all-too-cheerful-for-the-situation, “Hi!”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Florence mumbled, unable to hide her eye roll. Callum chuckled from beside her, it being his first time meeting Daniel’s allusive girlfriend. Cayleigh walked around the table and tilted Daniel’s chin up to press a kiss to his pouted lips.

“I missed you.” she smiled widely.

A shaky, “Me too.” was all Daniel could reply with.

Cayleigh helped herself to some pizza and sat herself on Daniel’s lap, pressing kisses to his cheek before she started eating. Florence grumbled unpleasantries under her breath as she took a bite of her lunch. Callum chuckled and set his hand on his annoyed sister’s leg, catching Aidan’s eye from Florence’s other side. They looked away.

“So how was everyone’s day?” Cayleigh asked through a mouthful of pizza.

Everyone responded with some sort of half energetic responses, no one wanting to be in that situation at all. Clementine was staring at her from Jack’s lap across from them, her blue eyes peaking up over the edge of the table. She watched them silently as Jack ran his hand tiredly over her hair, twirling the blonde strands through his fingers as he took a drink from his glass. Silence fell over the room again. Cayleigh leaned her head against Daniel’s, her arm around her shoulders.

“Excuse me.” Daniel mumbled, gently leading her off his lap so he could get up.

“You okay?” Jack asked as Daniel walked past them.

“Don’t feel well.” Daniel said, taking the stairs two at a time. Cayleigh followed after him.

The silence fell again. A soft cry broke the tension, or arguably made it worse, and Florence got up to tend to the waking baby.

Corbyn eyed her, watching as she sat down on the couch and draped the blanket over herself to feed the baby. With her occupied, he turned back to the table.

“We all need to talk.” he said quietly.

“About what?” Callum asked.

Corbyn sighed and glanced at Aidan who shrugged.

“About Daniel and Florence.”

“What about them?” Callum spoke slowly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“After Corbyn’s birthday celebration at the club they were drunk and hooked up.” Jonah whispered.

“What?” Grayson’s head snapped up.

“They don’t remember it. Well, Florence doesn’t.” Emilio said.

“You knew?” Grayson gaped.

“We didn’t think it mattered.” Corbyn shrugged. “Apparently it does now.”

“That’s why Daniel is freaking out.” Callum realized.

“Ok well let’s tell Florence.” Grayson said.

“No.” the boys said quickly.

“Why not? It’ll blow over eventually.” Grayson said, his heart beating hard in his chest.

“It’s not our information to share. Daniel will tell her when he’s ready.” Jack said.

“And what if he doesn’t?” Callum added. “Is she supposed to raise her child alone and not knowing?”

“Well it’s not like Daniel’s going to breakup with Cayleigh just because this happened.” Jonah pointed out. “It is possible that nothing will change if he tells her or not.”

“God...what the fuck.” Grayson rubbed his temples with two fingers.

“So we have to keep this a secret? I have to keep this from my twin sister for possibly the rest of my life?” Callum asked.

“Yep. Welcome to the last eight and a half months of our lives.” Zach threw a thumbs up in his direction.

“Daniel better do the right thing.” Callum grumbled just as Florence walked back over to the table, sighing tiredly as she sat down again, the unfazed baby tucked in her arms.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: 5 WEBTOON Series We’d Love to See Animated!

  With Tower of God over and The God of High School hitting the midway point, it’s pretty obvious that WEBTOON Series adaptations are a hit, but what will come after Noblesse later this year? While we don’t have any real answers to that question, we do have five titles we think would be fantastic adaptations to see animated on our screens. The WEBTOON library is frankly huge and filled with tons of great possibilities, so we decided to try and narrow it down to five different genre titles we think would really shake things up on the “big screen!” If you want to learn about even more WEBTOON Series we think are great (some of which definitely deserve an anime), check out our previous article here.

    When deciding what would make a good anime, though, there’s more to it than just, “Wow, I really love this series, so it should totally get an anime!” It’s also worth asking the question: “Would this benefit from being animated?” What would they be able to do with it that they couldn’t do as a WEBTOON Series? What sort of changes might they have to make? As we’ve seen with Tower of God and The God of High School, action series benefit from animation greatly, but that doesn’t mean only action series deserve some lovin’. So with that in mind, I tried to grab a few different genres and styles of WEBTOON Series. But, of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and we highly recommend you go check out the WEBTOON website or app (available on Google Play and on the App Store) and see what types of amazing series you can find! 

  Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell

    I’m a huge comedy fan, some of my favorite series of all time are comedies. So when I started reading WEBTOON Series, I really wanted to find something that would make me laugh. I didn’t have to look too hard, but perhaps no series has been as funny so consistently than Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell. The main character, Paul, just can’t seem to get the attention of the woman he thinks he loves. So he chooses the best possible course of action: learning black magic and summoning Astaroth, one of the Great Dukes of Hell!

  The comic routinely features amazing, understated visual gags and humor while building an interesting and deep storyline over the course of its run. In fact, I really didn’t expect the characters and world that Duke of Hell creates to really suck me in as much as it did, but that just lends to its overall strengths. As far as an adaptation goes, I could see this as a fantastic comedy hit that either focuses on extensive, gorgeous animation for gags like HINAMATSURI, or a muted and simplistic animation style like Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san that lets the art and jokes combine without getting too big. Either way, just thinking about voice actors for the various characters, especially Astaroth, is perhaps one of the most fun fantasies to have—after all, it would need to be someone with enough gravity to play such an amazing Duke of Hell! 

  Purple Hyacinth

    Purple Hyacinth has long been on my read list and was actually one of the series that got me started on the idea of seeing WEBTOON Series animated. Unlike other series, Purple Hyacinth routinely asks readers to turn their audio on, playing ambient and specific music throughout the series to create a multimedia experience. Of course, that isn’t the only reason for it being on this list. No, Purple Hyacinth is here because it’s a type of story that, frankly, isn’t told very often in anime lately: a gritty crime mystery thriller!

  Lauren, the protagonist, has dedicated her life to avenging the death of her childhood friend and the elimination of Phantom Scythe, a terrorist organization responsible for the events that would alter her life forever. Lauren meets the assassin “Purple Hyacinth,” who just so happens to share similar goals as her. This series really just gets how to build a complex and deep mystery and the fact that you need excellent character drama to make people care about what happens next, especially when big twists and turns come! Lauren possesses the ability to detect lies, “seeing” them in red whenever people tell them. Just imagining the creative ways this could be animated alone makes me giddy at the idea of a Purple Hyacinth adaptation. But beyond that, the character drama and intrigue of the twisting mysteries here would turn this into a killer multi-season anime. I can just imagine the gleeful frustration waiting for the next season after the first one ends on a cliffhanger! If any of these series were worthy of being dubbed “binge-worthy” as an anime, I’m convinced it would be Purple Hyacinth. 

  Lookism

    Readers of our first article on WEBTOON Series pointed out Lookism as a favorite of theirs, and with good reason. This long-running ugly-duckling story packs a lot of punch, both literally and figuratively, as the story threads of school bullying, the ugly side of society, delinquent fights, and more together into a fascinating tapestry. Daniel is poor, overweight, and bullied to such a degree that his mother scrapes all the money together that she can to send him to a new school. However, his life takes a huge change upon arrival to his new school home when he wakes up in a different body: gorgeous, tall, and super-strong! The “new” Daniel gives him the ability to pursue the life he thought he wanted, but it comes with a lot more than he bargained for!

  One thing about Lookism that caught me off-guard is that it seems, at first, to be a sort of traditional ugly-duckling story where Daniel learns to love his original self while teaching those around him to be better people. But it also features heavy delinquent style fights and action. While this might sound a little dissonant, it’s fair to say that Lookism would provide tons of great material for high school delinquent action and social drama—and the fight scenes in later storylines are truly amazing to behold on the page. Lookism also features an amazing supporting cast of unique and weird characters that tend to steal the spotlight from Daniel as they get introduced, meaning there are tons of characters to fall in love with here (I’m a big Vasco and Jay fan, myself!). With a unique mix of action, comedy, and heavy drama, Lookism really has a lot to bring to the table, and when animated, would surely take advantage of its mixed genre-typing to be a big hit.

  Let’s Play

    While many of the series we’ve talked about have a tinge of supernatural action or combat to them, Let’s Play is quite a bit different—just regular people here! Of course, these regular people are involved in all sorts of turmoil and romantic drama, but that’s to be expected. Let’s Play follows game dev Samara “Sam” Young, creator of the game Ruminate, and the trouble she runs into when her game’s biggest critic, Marshall Law, becomes her neighbor. Let’s Play is a fairly interesting drama due to the combination of game dev discussion—which veers into similar territory as shows like Shirobako that delve into making things—and the personal drama of the main cast.

  Although it is indeed a romance, the most striking part of the series is Sam’s struggles with anxiety; her internal monologues and issues make her an incredibly relatable and fresh character. Let’s Play would make an amazing romantic comedy with a woman lead, which we really need more of these days! The video game elements of the story add that extra touch that, in all honesty, feel like they would be amazing to see animated and played with using various graphical touches, allowing animators to play with the adaptation in ways that don’t rely solely on action sequences. 

  unOrdinary

    If you’re an avid WEBTOON Series reader, then it’s very likely you came to this list expecting to see this exact series, so don’t worry: we agree! UnOrdinary would be an amazing anime adaptation, likely to find a huge audience of new fans who would gobble up the series premise: a world in which some people are born with powers, or Abilities, and those who don’t find themselves treated as lessers and outcasts. John, unfortunately for him, is the latter, and as a result, he is relentlessly bullied by his classmates for his powerless nature.

  In a lot of ways, unOrdinary is almost like a darker My Hero Academia, except instead of a world of superheroes and villains, it's a world of the “haves” and “have nots,” where people without abilities are treated extremely poorly. Like quite a few WEBTOON Series, social class, status, and bullying are a big part of unOrdinary, which gives it a sharp, dark edge to its narrative at times. Similarly, John is a fairly interesting protagonist and, without spoiling things, certainly makes unOrdinary, well, unordinary! Given the popularity of My Hero Academia and Tower of God, unOrdinary would probably be the best possible candidate to get the anime treatment next, likely becoming a smash hit in no time—especially once the superpowers start showing up!

    With the continued success of shows like The God of High School and Tower of God, it’s only a matter of time before we see more and more WEBTOON Series adapted to anime. Of course, there’s no real plans or releases yet, but we think our list is pretty solid. No matter what, it seems like an exciting time to get into WEBTOON Series and keep an eye out for the next big hit title that might be showing up on your screens in animated form!  

  Which WEBTOON Series titles do you want to see animated? Do you agree with our list? Let us know what series you like and what you think in the comments!

  ➡️ Watch The God of High School today! ⬅️  

    Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[atamascolily]

lily liveblogs “terminator: dark fate”, part 2

“It’s raining men (and women)”.... hallelujah? Or not, as the case may be.

(For those just joining us, part one is here)

I was kinda hoping they would run the credits  after the title, but I guess filmmakers... don't do that anymore, because we all have short attention spans these days?? Some of that is George Lucas's fault, I know, but tbh I kinda enjoy the creative ways in which filmmakers USED that space occupied by the opening credits... like how The Karate Kid uses it for Daniel and Lucille's road trip between Jersey and California, how it establishes how many friends Daniel had, the importance of his bike, and the whole "putting the car in neutral" and rolling it to get the engine going AND the motif/promise of the pool... all in a minute or two. Magical.  I kinda miss that compared to earlier films.

Anyway, highway at night in what the screen tells me is Mexico City 22 years later. Okay, then. There's ice... and then lightning crackling on the road edge, which can only mean one thing -- a visitor from the future!!

There's a woman making out with her boyfriend underneath the highway, and she says "Oh, my god," and the boyfriend thinks it's all his doing, LOL. Sorry, dude, not today.

THE SPHERE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY OVERPASS, HOLY FUCK, WHO SET THOSE COORDINATES?? It's a good thing the spheres destroy everything around them, or else this movie would be very, very short.

As it is, Grace falls naked from a great height, banging on supports as she goes down. Ow. Great way of showing she's not quite human.

Of course the watching girl goes over to help while her boyfriend sits there slack-jawed until she shames him into going along. They pick her up and carry her towards their car, only for the police to show up and demand to know what's going on. They think that they're drug dealers (?) and don't believe that she fell from a bridge.

"I love it when it rains naked ladies," says the cop, which is movie-speak for, "I'm an asshole about to get my ass kicked and the audience is going to cheer while it happens".

He grabs her, and Grace sees his gun, and goes for it. Yup, he's down. She's got some sort of augmented vision like the Terminator though anyone who's seen the trailer knows already she's on the side of good.

Grace takes out all the cops completely naked, and I love how this scene is filmed because it's so not focused on anything sexual and it's not sexualized at all, at least for the male gaze that I can tell. It's just... a naked woman kicking ass without obsessing over the fact that she's naked, and it's so goddamn refreshing.

The boyfriend thinks she's amazing. His girlfriend walks over and hugs him. Grace strides up to him and compares her bare foot to his boot. "Don't thank me yet," she says in a deadpan.

Cut to Grace wearing his clothes driving away in his car as the boyfriend stands around in his boxers and yells for her to go to hell. And I like this because it's so much more effective  this way to leave the details in the reader's head and show us the results. The girlfriend steers him away, and he starts blaming her, for getting them involved in the first place. Fuck you, dude. I hope she dumps him that night, too.

Cut to Dani in the street somewhere, carrying flowers and chatting with a tamale vendor. We learn from this that she always has flowers -- an association with life and spirit, and not letting the grind get you down. I approve.  

Dani has a brother, Diego, who wants to be a pop star, and a father whom she reminds to go to the doctor. Caretaker of the family! Of course they have a dog, named Taco. I'm sure this will be relevant later. I hope Taco survives. Diego tries to chat up a neighbor named Julia, and I'm sure this will all end tragically. I hope she survives.

Dani and Diego leave just in time... for another naked person to drop from the sky in a glowing electric sphere! What are the odd??!

Okay, I don't remember the spheres forming ice in previous films, but it's a cool detail that it makes all the laundry on the lines freeze and shatter... so it's gotta be SUPER COLD. Like, liquid-nitrogen levels of cold.

Like Grace's sphere, this one drops its inhabitant off in mid-air, but the Terminator is able to do a beautiful leap and land on his feet like a cat. He looks like a marble sculpture here - beautiful, smooth, polished, muscled grace. Hot damn. There is absolutely no emotion on his face as he stands up, and even without the music cues, you know right away something is wrong.

There's a woman staring at him when he turns around. And now he looks friendly... earnest, helpful. "Good morning," he says in Spanish as he reaches out to touch the jacket she has in her hand, and it spills up out of his skin HOLY FUCK THAT IS CREEPY AND AMAZING at the same time.

The woman FREAKS OUT and he SMILES at her ever so slightly, and--

Cut to a busy city street. Unlike the highway where Grace appeared, this in the middle of the city, with lots of apartment buildings and traffic. Dani and Diego are on a bus.

Cut to Dani's father answering a knock on the door while Taco the dog barks hysterically. I know, I know, I'm so sorry, Taco. There's the Terminator, and he's so charming and earnest in his plaid jacket, looking for Dani. He claims to be a friend. Her father is shocked. "That's strange. Her friends call her Dani..."

"Dani?" repeats the Terminator. "Yes, of course." AND HE SMILES... fuck. A TERMINATOR THAT CAN MIMIC HUMAN FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND SHOW EMOTIONS I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS.

(but it actually makes PERFECT SENSE for reasons that will be explained later [kinda] in the film!!!!)

Cut to a factory. Arius Motors. Dani and Diego going in to work as cars swing by on the line. There are robot arms and it's all very timely and metaphorical. Somebody goes by on a bicycle INSIDE THE FACTORY and I have no idea how that works, but okay.

Diego's station has been replaced by "a new guy,"--an orange robot arm. Dani asks the supervisor what's going on and he says, "The future," and the manager wants to see Diego in his office. Dani goes in his place, the supervisor says no, Dani pulls out her hair tie, and goes anyway. THIS IS WHY SHE'S THE LEADER OF THE MOTHERFUCKING RESISTANCE, Y'ALL, she’s ALREADY taking no shit from robots. 

Dani's father shows up at the factory claiming his kids forgot their lunch and can he come in? Poor dad is definitely dead. I hope Taco at least survived, but I doubt it. Meanwhile Grace is approaching and just leaps over the turnstile like it's no big deal and I LOVE IT. Then she follows a security guard into a corner and mugs him for his uniform and it's all so goddamn quick.

The security guard tells "Dad" that he can't come in without a helmet and vest, which is bullshit, because most of the employees don't wear them, but whatever. Grace keeps walking. How the fuck did she dress so fast, but she looks great. She's got a jacket awkwardly covering her gun, and it's not subtle, but no one seems to notice.

Dani is arguing with the boss, who is... American? At least he's speaking English. She's trying to keep her brother's job, but he's all "well, he's not as good as you are," and Dani is Not Having It. She threatens to tell them that machines are coming for ALL the jobs, and god, I love her so much because EVEN WITHOUT TERMINATORS MESSING UP HER LIFE, SHE WAS GONNA GO PLACES.

"Dad" goes to Dani's station and she isn't there, but he talks to Diego. (I don't know how he knows so much, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.) The Terminator makes that lame excuse about bringing lunches, and Diego is confused, because Dani already took care of that--

Then Dani shows up and the lunch morphs into a gun, and I'm not sure how they did that, because wasn't the morphing stuff not supposed to MAKE GUNS--ok, maybe he took the security guard's gun and morphed the lunch OVER it as a cover with his polyalloy bits--but FUCK this dude is SCARY--and points the gun at Dani as she and Diego stare--only to have his head blown open as Grace fires.

Grace keeps shooting as Dani screams, and grabs Dani before she can get to "Dad". Grace is way better at explaining things than Kyle Reese: "That is NOT your father. That was a machine that sent here to kill you. " It helps that the Terminator has lots of metal bits exposed at this point, and rapidly shifting back to normal. Come with me or you're dead in the next thirty seconds!"

Dani doesn't buy this, but she runs as Grace shepherds both her and Diego away.

And that back arch as the Terminator sits up and regenerates back to his "original" persona--which, I'll note, he DIDN't steal from anyone in our present; it was the one he came with UNLIKE the T-1000 in T2--and it's scary as hell. And even watching him run, and leap--it's not human. It's a predator disguised in human form. Well done, filmmakers.

I like how they show Grace's augmented senses here, and how she has the extra warning to shove Dani and Diego out of the way when the Terminator goes flying for her. He slices her cap off with arms that are suddenly sword-knives, and she swings a mallet at him, knocking him flat--and flinging him into a wall when she hits him again. She is really fucking strong, and I've never seen a woman be this strong before and it's AMAZING.

She hits him on the head over and over again, and then he starts crawling up the mallet towards her and it's so creepy HOLY FUCK and then he sends her sprawling and pops the mallet back out of his head OH MY GOD.

Grace starts using a piece of car siding as shield because she lost her weapon, keeping herself between the Terminator and Dani at all times.

Diego crushes him with a machine--I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, FILMMAKERS, NICE CALLBACK. Unfortunately, it doesn't take, but it does give them some breathing room. Meanwhile, Grace is tired and out of breath, and visibly overheating. The perfect time to introduce herself to Dani!

Grace explains the situation on the run, and throws Diego into the truck they steal outside when he hesitates. I gotta hand it to her, she's doing this whole thing pretty well.

Diego sees her arm. "Are you a machine too?" "No I'm human, like you!" They don't believe her. "No, I'm augmented." THIS IS GOING TO BE A THEME, OH MY GOD. More on this later. Grace can argue with them AND hotwire the truck at the same time. #goals.

They bust out of the factory. The police immediately go after them, not sure how that worked, and Grace says "Oh, shit," seconds before the Terminator (now revealed as the Rev-9) busts through the wall with a truck and a... snowplow? I guess it's for moving stone and metal bits around the factory? Whatever. It's a lot. The police cars go flying.

Somehow Grace manages to drive AND explain backstory at the same time, which I admire, because I can barely talk and drive at the same time.

There's a lot of civilian casualties, mostly due to the Rev-9 snowplowing everything. They end up going backwards up the highway off-ramp and onto the highway. The Rev-9 busts through more things and loses the snowplow. It's a bad day to be driving in Mexico City, let's just say that much.

Grace gets the first "FUCK!" of the movie, as the check engine light of the truck comes on, so Dani gets to drive while Grace makes improvised weapons out of rebar. Oh, wait, Dani can't drive, so Diego gets to do it. (Hahaha, I guess Dani's going to learn how to drive soon because METAPHOR)

Graces eases off her jacket so she can blow off steam and leaps into the back of the truck, yelling for Dani to put her seatbelt on OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE. I love it.

She targets the Rev-9 and throws. He doesn't even flinch at the first one and catches the second one. She stabs him several times through and then he grabs the rebar and moves the polymetallic alloy portion of himself onto the front of the truck while the metallic Terminator skeleton drives.

[COMBINING THOSE TWO PARTS IS REALLY CREEPY AND ALSO THE BEST DECISION THEY COULD HAVE MADE 10/10 APPROVED]

It looks like the skeleton is laughing at Grace, but I think that's just his resting bitch face, lol.

Grace changes tactics and shoots for the tires. The Rev-9 jumps and throws a rebar back at her and Grace deflects it so it misses Dani. Then the truck is dragging the Rev-9's protoplasm while the other half crashes and Grace has to fend him off. Rev-9 takes this opportunity and slashes at the tires with his sword-hands. Grace kicks him off and he gets run over, but it won't take. Diego crashes the truck as the tire blows and Grace rolls and takes a bad fall onto the pavement. The Rev-9's skeleton crawls out of the flames.

DANI WORE HER SEATBELT SO SHE'S FINE WHILE DIEGO DIDN'T AND IS INJURED OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE THE DETAILS FUUUUUUCCCKKKK. Like, Grace knew Dani had to wear her seatbelt BECAUSE SHE'S FROM THE FUTURE AND OLDER!DANI TOLD HER TO DO IT! And younger!Dani DID IT! OH my GOD! (either that or they really are just that drift compatible)

Oh, no, Diego has rebar through him, he's not going to survive AAAAAAAAH no whhhhhhyyyyy

Meanwhile, some poor motorist tries to help the Rev-9 and is murdered for his troubles. sigh.

Grace has to pull Dani over the body of her dying brother seconds before the Rev-9 smashes into the car and everything explodes in fire. Dani tries to run to Diego and Grace holds her back. Grace makes Dani run.

All of the Rev-9's protoplasm is oozing back towards the skeleton in liquid dark smears on the ground and it's so creepy FUUUUCCKKKK

Oh god HE WALKS THROUGH THE METAL HIGHWAY GUARD LIKE IT'S NO BIG DEAL HOW CREEPY CAN YOU GET FUUUUCCKKK

And then the skeleton starts throwing rebar at them from the other SIDE fuuuuckk. this movie so isn't subtle, because there's the machine part and the human-looking part, and they're both working together as one, and this is a METAPHOR, we're meant to see the Rev-9 and Grace as FOILS to each other AAHHHHHH and the Rev-9 is also a SYMBOL OF WHAT HUMANITY CAN BECOME IF IT MELDS WITH AI, AHHHHHHH

Can I just note here that the skeleton part DOES NOT HAVE A ROUND HEAD THERE IS IN FACT A GAP WHERE ITS BRAIN SHOULD BE AAAAAAA

"When they start to kill me, run," Grace says to Dani. But... AN SUV pulls up, knocks the skeleton flat on its ass as the human part of the REV-9 just stares in dull, placid confusion.

next up: my fave returns!

[slamsams-blog]

Spectre - #24WeeksofBond

This week’s film in our 24 weeks of Bond marathon is the latest film in the franchise, 2015′s Spectre.  This would be, (or so he thought at the time), Craig’s final Bond outing...hence why it’s been SO INCREDIBLY LONG for a new Bond movie to come out.  Craig had other things he wanted to do before he could be convinced to suit up as Bond one more time.  But man oh man, am I over these 3, 4, or 5 year gaps in between Bond films.  Daniel Craig has held the role of Bond longer than any other actor - even longer than Roger Moore!  That’s is pretty crazy to think about.  Hopefully the next actor to play Bond isn’t so wishy-washy and we get regular installments at a better pace.  Here’s hoping...ANYWAYS

Spectre is a beautifully cinematic, high speed, throwback to the classics that all too often gets the “Tomorrow Never Dies” treatment.  This film was Sam Mendes’ second Bond film in a row, the first one being “Skyfall” which has been regarded as one of the best Bond films not just of the modern era, but of all time.  So when Spectre came out with the same director at the helm, everyone was expecting it to be the greatest film in all of cinema history.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t quite live up to the hype and therefor this movie gets unfairly ragged on.

Not just ragged on...but absolutely SHIT ON.  I’m not kidding.  I’ve seen a lot of “Bond ranking” posts and YouTube videos where this film is in the bottom 5, and one time I even saw it at the bottom.  THE BOTTOM.  Like, worse than “Die Another Day”.  If you actually think that Spectre is a worse movie than Die Another Day, then you either have no clue what you are talking about, have poor taste in action movies, or are just trying to be controversial to be controversial.  Spectre is by no means the best Bond movie ever, it has its plot holes for sure...but it is CERTAINLY not the worst, and y’all need to start showing this film some damn respect.  Pardon my “R” rated language, YouTubers got me hot!

All that being said, I REALLY enjoy this film.  Right from the beginning we have an incredibly visually stunning pre-title sequence at a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico where we see Bond mysteriously tracking a stooge.  With heart pounding music, incredible costumes, and a beautifully shot scene of Craig tight-roping the roofs of the buildings that causes my anxiety to explode...this is such a stimulating experience.  We later find out that Bond was going rogue and M is pissed and suspends him indefinitely.  But Bond is just following a trail that Judi Dench left for him in a video she recorded before she died.  Why didn’t she tell Bond about this before she died? Whatever...it’s just a movie. 

This leads Bond to uncovering an organization called “Spectre”. You can find the acronym for it in my “From Russia With Love” post!  Bond infiltrates a secret meeting to where he finds out the man at the head table is someone from his past.  The man, who eventually turns out to be Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) was once a boy who’s father had taken Bond in when his parents died, making ole Franz jealous, and eventually kills his father and fakes his own death...after he was declared dead he adopted a new name - Ernst Stavro Blofeld.  Odd choice, but here we are.  We have a Blofeld again!

Waltz was an exciting pick for the part, but he doesn’t blow me away in the role.  There is always a subtle creepiness to him, but I think he could’ve done more with it.  There was talk of him being replaced as Blofeld in the next Bond movie, but there was enough fan outrage where they squashed that...so I guess he’s doing something right.

One fun aspect of this film is that there is a Bond villain, that Bond never deals with.  Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott) or “C” as Bond dubs him, not really sure why, is a surveillance officer working for MI6, but secretly for Spectre.  Not so secret though, if anyone has seen “Sherlock”, the mere sight of Andrew Scott makes you think he has to be a villain.  He strolls in and politics his way into dumping the double 0 program in favor of ultra cyber security and drones.  If successful, Spectre would have full control over everything.  This guy is all M’s problem, and he deals with him from concept to completion.  Atta boy M! I just always liked how M was on his own with this storyline. 

Another aspect about this film is Bond is falling in love with Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), the daughter of Mr. White who has been a thorn in Bond’s side working for Spectre.  Mr. White has seen the light and now Spectre has poisoned him, giving Mr. White reason to give Bond all the info he needs and to protect his daughter.  To me this relationship is a bit rushed and forced.  Bond and Vesper in Casino Royale was done properly, but here, Swann seems to fall in love rather out of the blue. And we’re supposed to believe he is leaving MI6 for her.

We’re also treated to a badass train car fight!  I love me a good train car fight...sadly I don’t think there are any more in the series.  Bond comes face to face with the silent, giant, dagger thumbnail mammoth of a man named Mr.Hinx (Batista).  I’m a little biased here because I’ve been a lifelong Pro-Wrestling fan.  But I gotta say, Batista has acting chops.  This train car fight scene is BRUTAL, and is the scene I think about when I think about this movie.

In conclusion, Spectre is a beautifully shot film with an extra dash of humor, and an excessive amount of call backs to past Bond films.  The voodoo-esque nature in the opening (Live and Let Die), the clinic where Bond finds Madeline Swann (On Her Majesties Secret Service), the crator where Blofeld resides (You Only Live Twice), the ejector seat! (Goldfinger).  While it’s fun to see Spectre tip it’s hat to the past, as a die hard Bond fan, you kind of go “ok, I get it”.  And of course, they kept dropping hints in the movie that Craig was leaving the franchise which stressed me out - especially at the end.  I LOVE Daniel Craig as Bond and I, for one, was not ready to let him go just yet. Also, because of the number.  What I mean by that is the number of films each actor has done has been different.  After “No Time To Die” this will be the movie tally:

Lazenby: 1

Dalton: 2

Brosnan: 4

Craig: 5

Connery: 6

Moore: 7

The next actor to play Bond, can ONLY do 3 movies.  If he doesn’t, it just might bother me for the rest of my life.  Unless he goes for 8?  Well, my obsessive compulsive disorder aside, Spectre is not the perfect Bond film...but it deserves respect for the cinematography, characters, and action scenes.  We should all be thankful Sam Mendes came into the world of Bond, and threw a splash of paint on the franchise.

That’s it for this week!  Hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews from Friends:

My Mom:

I was mesmerized by this film. I think the theme song and opening artwork were stunning. Daniel craig was an older, darker version of Bond. I was pretty thrilled to see him with a mature love interest for once. Someone near his own age. I was hoping she would go on through the story but it was not to be. I thought it was very well done. Anxious to see more of this mysterious dark Bond.

Jake Benrud

Until reading your blog, I didn’t realize this wasn’t a well received Bond! I actually really enjoyed this movie. I think this is the third time watching it for me, and I really appreciate the portrayal of Bond by Craig. I thought Waltz did a great job with Blofeld. The drilling scene is always a bit unnerving, but I’d expect nothing less from a sadistic Bond villain. I did think that for all the intelligence that Blofeld and the SPECTRE organization should have that it was pretty poor planning to be able to destroy their entire facility with one shot to the propane regulator. I mean if you can arrange for an elaborate Bond haunted house at MI6 ending with Blofeld hiding behind bullet proof glass, maybe take the time to protect the propane tank at your facility. Chances are if you’re an evil genius looking for world domination, you’re probably going to have Bond at your door step shooting up the place. I digress. Despite this, I thought the story moved along well and it’s a solid installment of the series.

24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -

Thunderball  

[andwhatdostarsdobest]

raspberry i love you’s [t.h]

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Warnings: talking about the tensions within relationships

Summary: Is love always enough? The beginning of relationships are so exciting but how do you make them last?

Word Count: 4.2k

Prompt:  ‘Remember when we were kids and every I love you was true.’

This is my submission for @tom-holland-and-textposts writing challenge.  Flashbacks are in italics.  Thanks @uglypastels for reading through it and giving me the confidence to post

happy reading, lovelies 

masterlist

Time doesn’t hold back anymore.

You tilt your head to the right where your husband is crouching down, trying to pull the zipper up on your daughter’s coat. In your haste this morning you grabbed the one with the zipper that sticks. His cheeks grow hot with the effort, the red flush mingling with the lines that are now burrowed deep in his forehead and around his eyes. The once smooth face of a young man was irrevocably changing. The face that you fell in love with. You knew it was happening to you too. That’s what time does. It changes you into unrecognisable people, for better or worse.

That’s what most mornings are like, impatient. Rushed through to make sure everything was done in time for the start of the day. No time for stolen moments, secret kisses, shy glances or whispered I Love You’s. Just life and its fast-paced ways. Not that you were unhappy with it, but something had recently been playing on your mind. The question, is love always enough? It dances around your mind. At first you didn’t pay it no mind but then you started noticing things. Only small but still significant you thought.

Like the way his eyes no longer linger on you for a few extra seconds when you are getting changed. Like how he has stopped saying ‘finally I’m back home with my beautiful, Y/N’ and now just says ‘hey’ when he walks through the door. Like how seconds turn into minutes turn into hours when responding to a text.

Like how his I love you’s become less frequent.

All relationships have ebb and flow, whatever type they are. You can get complacent with someone but that just means you have to work harder to keep them. People always talk about the spark dying out as their reason for ending things, really that’s their excuse for not trying hard enough or not wanting to. No relationship is completely plain sailing, more of them would work out if they were.  So then, how do you know when your own relationship is going through one of these moments of blandness or if something bigger is on the horizon? Is love always enough?

 Contemplating this question, you can’t help but miss those early days. When love was all you needed and that bond felt invincible. When you first meet someone it's like a seed just beginning to sprout or a fire that's caught its first flame. Limitless potential. The mystery is part of the excitement. Everything is new and as such you pay extra close attention to it, memorising every little detail. Watching the way his body dances before you, the gentle roll and flex of the muscles along his back. How you could hear his breath catch in his throat when you locked onto his eyes and teased him mercilessly. Your skin burning at every graze of a fingertip as you could feel the energy transferring between the two of you.

Senses heightened and both on your best behaviours.

He was still beautiful to you but sometimes you both got lost and distracted with other things. You skip over those little details, time no longer allowing you to breathe them in.

Tom was still struggling with the zip, exasperated grunts filling the porch.

“Daddy, hurry, we’re going to be late,” your daughter whines.

“I’m trying,” Tom huffs.

With one final, triumphant tug the zip glides up the jacket, but the force takes Tom by surprise and he falls backwards, landing on his bum.

“Oww," he grumbles. He sits for a second rubbing his tailbone, his features screwed up as he waits for the pain to subside.

That kind of thing used to make you smile, his awkwardness, the clumsiness that comes with being such a goofball. But right now, you feel yourself checking your watch, impatient for them to get going.

People had always said that when you have kids every other part of your relationships takes a hit, you can’t spend as much time together, you start to dislike each other more and more, the love you have for each other is now channelled into your baby. You never believed them, there was no way you could ever stop loving your wonderful husband, Tom. And you didn’t. You knew that. But why did everything feel flatter these days, not bad, more like the sentimentality had been sucked from it.

You guess everyone experiences these times, where things feel uninspiring.

Relationships are multifaceted, they are like a story, with a beginning, middle and end and no one knows how to write the middle.

“What’s the matter, mummy?” Annie is staring up at you with the same brown eyes as Tom, the perfect shade.

You smile at her, softening your eyes and running a hand over her hair, “nothing, darling.”

“Good.” She pushes past you.

“Because we need to go, daddy. I don’t want to be late.” Annie pushes Tom trying to get him back to his feet, her minimal force having no real effect, but Tom playing up as if she the strongest person he’s ever met.

“Okay, okay,” he clambers to his feet, over dramatically rubbing his lower back, “even though I’m so injured and barely able to move.”

“No, daddy.” Annie places her hands on her hips, pouting.

You should be enjoying this sweet moment, but time was really playing on your mind.

Tom lunges forward and grabs your daughter round the waist and starts mercilessly tickling her.

“Stop,” she squeals.

He pauses and looks into her eyes, grinning, “alright, but only because we need to go.” He boops the end of her nose and she giggles.

“Come on then,” he reaches out his hand, which she takes, a great big grin spreading across her face.

Then he turns to you, puzzled at the expression that meets him.

Tears start to cloud your eyes and you try to blink them away discreetly.

“Love?” His voice is quieter. Annie looks between the two of you, still gripping Tom’s hand.

“Remember when we were kids and every I love you was true,” you blurt out.

You don’t mean to say it, but you do.

 It had reached that part in the evening where booze was being absorbed into people's bloodstreams and their inhibitions were lowing. A medley of 80's hits blared from the speakers and drink sloshed up the sides of cups as people begun to cut loose. No more so than Daniel, a particular brash co-worker of yours who was currently standing in the middle of the room, arms flailing with a recklessness that was kind of concerning and very telling of his desperate need for all attention on himself.

No matter how bad these parties got, and they got bad, you never felt exasperated at the thought of them. That was all thanks to Tom. He was your best friend. You could tell him anything. And he was your chance at respite in moments like these. Any moment he would find your eyes in the group of intoxicated workers and pull this face. A face you knew so well. A face that meant, ‘well this is crazy, but kind of funny too right?’

As if he could read your thoughts, he locked on to you with his beautiful brown eyes. His smile lines drawn down and eyebrows pulling together, the face. You returned his look with a little chuckle. Taking this as his queue, he started ducking and diving through all the people who stood between the two of you. Everyone was still contently watching Ethan make a tit of himself, sipping on their own drinks, leaning into their buzzed hum.

You watched Tom as he came towards you, watched as he intently tried to avoid everyone, considerate even when they weren’t. He glanced at you for one second sending sparks filtering through your body. Unfortunately, it was the wrong second because your most grumpy co-worker stepped back and Tom walked straight into him. You saw his face drop, his hands come up to his chest, half-formed stutters fell from his lips as he attempted to calm the storm cloud- that’s what everyone in the office called Hudson, he could ruin even the sunniest of days with his rumbling temper. For some reason, you thought may have to do with his constant pranks and joking around, Paul thoroughly disliked Tom. He found any excuse he could to erupt at him. That poor boy. But you had to admit it was rather funny to watch Tom squirm to the side, lost for words for once. He didn’t find it so funny, for obvious reasons.

After a string of apologies Tom managed to escape and practically ran towards you, blush still coating his cheeks, a slight layer of perspiration clasping at his baby hairs. He really didn’t like confrontation. He reached out his hand, fingers sliding across your bare arm, to reach safety sooner.

As he drew up in front of you, you noticed how the light reflected off his eyes, highlighting flecks of tawny swimming in hickory pools. And the artificial hum of the office lighting coated his skin making him look warm and inviting. Your gaze dropped to the hand resting on your arm, noting the vibrant purpling of the knuckles, fresh bruises from his boxing training the night before.

You both stood in comfortable silence for a few moments, not needing to speak, just connecting silently.

“You want to go someone else, hopefully quieter?” Tom asked.

You titled your head, unable to hear him over the deafening music and merriment around you, “huh?”

Tom leaned in closer, the faint smell of mint on his breath, “somewhere quieter?” he tried again.

That time you heard him, “oh yes, definitely.”

You had something you had been meaning to tell him all day. He’s the first person you thought of when it happened. He was always the first person you thought of.

“Great, go to the roof and I’ll meet you there in five minutes.”

One eyebrow raised, you asked, “why, what are you doing?”

Tom took a quick glance around the room before returning his gaze to you, “there is just something I have to do.”

Biting down on your lip, you cross your arms, “why are you being so secretive, Holland.”

“Nothing,” he breaks out into a smile, which you mirrored, “now just go.”

He started gently pushing you towards the door, but you dug your heels into the ground making it as hard as possible for him. Giggles now escaping from both of you.

“Come on.” His hands slid down to your waist and despite the laughter, you felt them there, pressed into you, a cold force covering your flesh. You didn’t want to notice them, but you did. His hands glided to the small of your back, applying more pressure, edging you closer to the door.

“I’m not going until you tell me what mysterious things you’re planning.”

The crinkles under his eyes grew deeper as he only responded with a curious smile.

You swivelled around, his hands still on your back, that force still at the forefront of your brain.

“Please, Tom, please,” you mock beg, “best friends share everything.”

He sighed.

“I’ll tell you when I get to the roof, how about that?”

“Perfect,” you beamed.

“Well go on then.” He removed one hand from your back and gestured behind you, nodding in the same direction with his head.

Putting your hands up in surrender you walked the last few steps to the door backwards, winking at him before turning on your heel and heading for the roof. Curious about what he was up to but more than anything just excited about getting to spend time with him and only him.

As you opened the door to the roof the icy breeze pushed against you and caused the breath to get caught in your throat. You wished you had brought your jacket. It’s not like you to forget something like that, you were just too excited. From up here you could see across the whole city, the fluorescent glare from the buildings, red and green flashes mixed in. But if you left the buildings behind, above were a canopy of luminous stars that materialised among the vast ocean of blackness. The moon, a complete orb resting in the sky, so large tonight you were sure you must be looking at it through a magnifying glass.

Some people would say this was a romantic view.

And there’s only one thing that came to mind when you stared at it.

Bang!

You spun around to see Tom bent over, holding onto his shoe.

“Ow, my toe,” he sniffled.

His brown curls that had been so neatly piled atop his head where now flopping down in front of his eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” You offered an outstretched hand, which Tom took, and you feel it again. The force.

This wasn’t the first time you had felt the ‘force’, you had just always tried to push it down. Tom was your friend and that was all he was ever going to be so there wasn’t any point in worrying about it, right? Recently it had been harder to remember that as everything he did caught your attention and held it.

Swallowing down the thought, you helped him to his feet.

“Thanks,” he mumbled as he dusted off his jacket.

“So, what was this surprise then?”

Tom bit his lip as he stood up straighter.

Did he seem nervous to you? Maybe just fizzing with a nervous energy.

Tom reached behind him and pulled out a cardboard box.

“Wait here,” he instructed.

“What do you mean?” Your palms started to sweat.

“Just wait here,” he titled his head, “please.”

You reluctantly nodded, and Tom made his way to the middle of the roof. He had his back to you, so you couldn’t see what he was doing, despite your attempts to peak around him.

“Okay, you can come over now.”

Tom stepped to the side revealing what he had been setting up. A blanket was spread out on the ground and in the middle was a pizza, the lid of the box pulled back. Standing next to it were two drinks, a pile of napkins, and a further pink box, this one much smaller than the pizza with the lid propped open too.

“This was your secret?” you questioned, “you were getting us a picnic?”

Tom scratched the back of his head, eyes drifting to the ground.

“Yeah,” he hesitated, “are you hungry?”

You broke out into a wide smile, “starving.”

You clamber onto the blanket, settling in and grabbing one of the pastries from inside the pink box.

“What are you doing? You can’t start with dessert,” Tom cried, reaching an arm out to stop you.

“You know,” you waved the pastry at him, small flakes breaking off and drifting onto the blanket, “you could do with rebelling a bit more.”  

Tom’s nostrils flared as he rolled his eyes, “as you wish.” A slight flicker at the corner of his mouth.

He flopped down onto the blanket, plunging his hand into the pink box and picking up the other raspberry crown.

“Cheers.” You both brought your pastries together pretending to clink them before taking a bite. The pastry was so buttery and soft, the jam sweet but with an edge of tang to it. It was the best jam you had ever tasted. You couldn’t help it, you didn’t even think about it.

“This is so great,” you mumbled through a full mouth, “I love you.”

And that was it.

That was the first time you told him you loved him.

Back then neither of you fully understood the type of love but you meant it all the same.

 "Hey, mine still do," Tom said, his tone low, slow like he was holding back.

You take a deep breath.

“I know, but I think sometimes we don’t put the same meanings into those words anymore. Maybe if you say it enough it starts to lose meaning.”

Tom simply blinks at you, clearly not expecting this conversation. Perhaps that was a good thing, it meant he wasn’t thinking about it right.

“It doesn’t have to lose meaning.” He swallows. “Has it lost meaning for you?”

“No, no,” you quickly respond. “No,” you say almost to yourself this time.

You know you still love him, you’re just wondering where all the secret kisses went. Or more, the meaning behind them.

So, you say, unable to keep it all to yourself anymore, “you used to pull me into a room for a stolen five minutes even though we worked in the same office.”

“You think I don’t love you because we don’t have time for secret little rendezvous?” Tom asks.

“I never said I thought you didn’t love me.”

You knew all your words were coming out wrong. You want to make Tom understand.

“Mummy, daddy,” a little voice trickles into your conversation, “do you not love each other anymore? Are you going to break up?”

Annie was sucking her thumb, something she hadn’t done for a year. This was bad. God this was a terrible time to talk about this. Why were you so selfish.

“No, no, darling, of course not,” you and Tom both said.

“We do have to go though,” he directs towards Annie.

He pulls her towards the door, picking his keys up from the windowsill before undoing the latch. They both step outside before Tom turns his head.

“We’ll talk when we get back, yeah?”

You nod meekly, unsure of whether this was the right thing to do at all.

  “How long have we been talking?”

Muffled sounds from the other side of the phone filled the room, everything else around you so still. The sun long since dipped in the sky.

“Six hours.” Both your voices were heavy with drowsiness.

“Really, has it been that long.” You tried to stifle a yawn.

After telling Tom how you truly felt about him, you felt freer. Able to let him into every part of you and you knew he was more comfortable too. You could feel it in when he put his arm around you, when he laughed with you, when he stayed on the phone with you for six hours without once suggesting that you should both go to bed. The effortlessness of the conversation made sense to you. It was how you felt when you first met him. Like he was the one who could keep you at ease.

“Mmm, I guess it has,” he said, now trying to stifle a yawn himself. “Are you tired yet?”

“No,” you lied.

You had made the mistake of lying down on your bed about an hour again. The soft silk of your pillow and the warmth of your duvet had instantly made you drowsy. You wanted to stay up all night to talk to Tom, but your body had other ideas. You knew you should go to sleep, after all, you had work in the morning, but everyone knows that people start to spill all their secrets at two am and you were only half an hour off.

There was one secret you were hoping Tom was keeping close to his chest but that was just wishful thinking. Just because you felt something doesn’t mean he did too.

“Y/N,” Tom’s groggy voice came through the phone.

“Mhm," you replied, your eyelids weighing more than you ever remembered.

“Just checking you are still awake.”

“Course, stay awake-” For a moment your head lolled onto your pillow, sleep circling in your brain.

You jolted up, rubbing your eye lightly, “mmm, stay awake all night.”

A crackled chuckle came from Tom.

“Whatever you say, love.”

As much as you fought it, you could barely keep one eye open now.

And as sleep pulled you into the world of impossible dreams you thought you heard three little words echo from the phone. A soft voice whispering, ‘I love you’.

 You slump down onto the stairs, letting your head fall into your hands, wishing immediately that Tom was back here in your arms. You want to run your fingers through his hair, tell him all about your day even though it’s only just beginning.

The love wasn’t lost between the two of you, you just have to make sure the other person knows that. To tell them every once in a while.

***

Did you ever have those moments where you are drawn out of where you are? Not to say you aren’t still present but more that you can see the picture like you are looking in from the outside. A moment of pure bliss, where you are hit with all your emotions at once. The moment when you just look at someone’s face and your heart floods with warmth because you know you love them. Everything feels good in that moment, everything feels light, feels calm.

Well as you threw back your head, laughter erupting from you, you had one of those moments. Snapping a mental polaroid that you would later scribble the three big words on, in a black felt tip marker.

Tom sat opposite you, his tongue caught in between his teeth as he choked back his own laughter. His hoodie was pulled down over his palms, so he could dab at the small tears that were starting to trickle down his face.

As you watched him you were overcome with a simple love, an untarnished love, a wholesome love. No complications. It fizzed throughout your entire body and you felt content, more content than you could ever wish to feel.

Tom’s hand on top of yours brought you back into the present. He had inched closer to you as he was laughing. You weren’t sure if he had done it on purpose or not. Should you follow suit and close the gap further? Pretending to shift in your seat, you scooted a little closer to him.

“I can’t believe you actually said that to him.” Tom’s eyes were wide with amusement.

“I just wasn’t thinking,” you said, biting down on your lip, mildly embarrassed.

Tom didn’t seem to notice, he just inched closer. His nose practically level with your own.

“Oh, you weren’t thinking, were you?” he teased, eyes flickering down to your mouth, then back up to meet your eyes.

You smirked, not because of the story but because you knew what was coming.

His lips brushed against yours, so faint you were almost not sure if they were really there. Then a hand rested on the back of your head, a light pressure tempting you forwards. Your lips met again, this time a little harder and you fell into the kiss, small giggles exchanged between you.

Your fingers danced around the drawstrings of his hoodie, trying to find their own place in this moment.

Sighing deeply into his lips, “I love you” slipped from your own.

You hadn’t meant to say it. But it felt right. It felt exciting. You really did mean it. You really loved him.

 You weren’t sure if you should even cry, you didn’t know what any of this meant. You just want to see Tom. As if he could read your mind the door unlocks.

“Y/N, where are you?” He sounds spirited.

“Here,” you call out, unsure of what to make of it. Now unsure of how to act around your own husband, feeling awkward at the thought of talking to him. Now that you had said it aloud it all seems so silly.  

Tom follows your voice into the kitchen where you are sitting at the breakfast table, your hands wrapped around a mug of lukewarm tea.

Tom looks positively gleeful when you say, “hi.”

“I got you something,” he said.  

You hadn’t noticed how one of his arms was held behind his back until he brought it forward, a pink box in it.

You look quizzically at it, not understanding straight away.

Gently, he places it on the table and flips open the lid. Inside lie two freshly baked raspberry crowns, the pastry golden and the filling shiny with glazing.

“I was thinking about what you said throughout the whole drive and I miss putting in maximum effort too.”

You knew this feeling was only a temporary one because as you stare at Tom in front of you, you couldn’t imagine your life being any different and you didn’t want it to be.

“Do you remember the rooftop picnic, the first time we had these?” Tom pulls out a chair next to you, his hand finding your knee and cupping it firmly. Your hand automatically goes to his.

“I do,” you say.

“That was the first time you told me you loved me.”

“And I meant it.”

Tom’s hand drifts slightly further up your leg. The force.

“And I still do.”

Tagging a few peeps: @thelazypangolin @mysteryavengers @tomhollandthirst @anxieteaandbiscuits @rachramblesstuff @h-osterfield @hazsterfield  @whyistomholland

[eggoreviews]

Top 10 Lamest Game Protagonists

I’ve already taken a good look at the coolest main characters in games, but now it’s time for the flipside; the most lovably bumbling main characters in game history. Those heroes you can still sympathise with, but it’s difficult to get over just how incurably lame they are. Big note, this isn’t an insult to the characters I list, most of them are perfect little eggs. Hope you agree with these characters I’m about to roast!

Spoilers ahead!

10. Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil series)

To be fair to poor Sir Dan, he spends most of his time trying to make up for how medicore he turned out to be in life. Daniel Fortesque went down in history for leading the charge in the Battle of Gallowmere and felling the evil sorcerer Zarok, when in reality he was hit by the first stray arrow while cowering at the back of the horde. But when Zarok came back and started raising the dead, Sir Dan found himself up and walking also, except now he’s a skeleton and he’s missing an eye and a jaw. He can only talk in muffled noises and has to endure the majority of the characters in the game ripping into him for his prior cowardice. So yeah, unfortunately pretty lame, but his low placement is due to his redemption by the end of his story.

9. Frisk (Undertale)

I know what you might be thinking, ‘But Frisk silent the whole time, it’s all the other monsters that are big ol’ lame eggs’, but no, Frisk is just as much. While they’re silent for most of the game, the very few conversation options you’re given as Frisk tell you just how much of a dork they are as they haplessly befriend everyone they come across in the underground, provided you aren’t doing the genocide route (but why would you?). And while you aren’t given too much detail as to who Frisk is and why they chose to climb Mt. Ebott in the first place, it’s clear from the get go that you aren’t playing the strong, silent protagonist in Undertale. Rather the strong, silent dork type.

8. Pathfinder Ryder (Mass Effect Andromeda)

You may be thinking this is an odd choice, but compared to Commander Shepard from the previous Mass Effect titles, Ryder stands as as a cheesy, bumbling mild idiot of a character. Not to say that he’s particularly badly written, it’s just the fact that he tends to blunder through the majority of his dialogue, and the slightly wonky facial animation present in Andromeda doesn’t help his case too well either. Poor old Ryder, he tried his best, but he just turned out a bit too Flash Gordon.

7. Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

I want to make it clear that I love Shulk with every fiber of my being, and having an over the top JRPG protagonist with a strong English accent was honestly a masterstroke. But who, honestly, can take this man seriously? All you have to do is listen to him scream out the name of the attack he’s performing in unabashed enthusiasm or shouting out random meaningless phrases like ‘I’M REALLY FEELING IT’ to get a good impression of just how much of a total dweeb Shulk really is. But hey, I love him for it, so keep doing you Shulk.

6. Rhys / Fiona (Tales from the Borderlands)

Tying in the sixth spot on my list is the dual vault hunters from Telltale’s spinoff of the Borderlands series. And yeah, they’re both completely lovable losers. On a first glance, it would seem like the hapless, slightly incompetent Rhys is the only lame one, with his terrible flirting and endless supply of awful puns. But no, Fiona is just as lame, it’s just that her lameness is so deeply ingrained in her character she hides it quite well beneath her quips and gunplay. The both of them quibble and argue pretty much constantly throughout the game, but what becomes extremely obvious by the end is that they’re both as bad as each other, and Sasha is the only cool one.

5. Chris (Until Dawn)

The funniest thing about Chris as a whole is how the game tries to establish him as the funny one, but in reality, his jokes are bordering on the terrible and he’s a tiny bit of a laughing stock. To his credit, of the eight teenagers trapped on a snowy mountain being hunted by monsters, Chris is surprisingly one of the most capable survivors, as well as being one of the easiest characters to save. But each time you get round to his parts of the story, you’re reminded of just how noticeably lame he is compared to pretty much everyone else. But you can’t fault him for it, it’s good enough for Ashley! Or, you know, Josh.

4. Pit (Kid Icarus Uprising)

Pit is a big ball of positivity and puts up with quite a lot considering his age and his status as a fledgling angel, but that doesn’t change the facts. Pit is arguably the lamest Nintendo protagonist, even beating out Kirby purely because at least Kirby can wield a cool sword if he succs the right enemy. But Pit is a brash, reckless and tiny angel who can’t fly without Palutena’s help. If there’s ever a Kid Icarus sequel, maybe he’ll finally find his feet and manage to get himself off the ground without his favourite goddess, but until then, he stays pretty firmly on this list. At least until his voice drops.

3. Max Caulfield (Life Is Strange)

I’ll admit right now that the vast majority of photography student Max Caulfield’s lame factor is probably down to the writing. Her careless use of words like ‘bizarro’ and the sentence I never wanted to hear ‘Ready for the mosh pit, shakabrah’ establish fairly quickly that Max is a veritable goldmine of lame. She’s a walking edgy art film stereotype, complete with her ‘quirky’ personality and avant garde interests, topping it all off with a polaroid camera, the edgiest accessory ever conceived. Max has a good heart, using her never properly explained, newfound powers to help people wherever she can, whether that be preventing a suicide or saving the life of her future girlfriend Chloe Price, so Max remains a lovable and brilliant character. But oh boy, is she lame.

2. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

As the protagonist of a franchise that nobody really knows why it exists, Sora acts as the tenuous bridge between the colourful, family-friendly Disney and the edgy, complicated and wonderful mess that is the Final Fantasy series. But Sora, with his intoxicating positivity, overly-dramatic poses and massive clown shoes, defines lame. God I love him, but there is nothing at all about this character that doesn’t make you sigh a bit inwardly, especially when you consider his constant company of Donald and Goofy. The odd blend of Disney and Final Fantasy in the needlessly epic plot spanning 15 years and many games only serve to accentuate how ridiculous Sora is as a character, so that’s why he’s this high. Plus, he’s far too extra to use a sword, he’s gotta wield a massive key instead. I love this spiky boy.

Before I imprint my face into a desk while talking about my top pick, here’s a few that almost made into the Hall of Lame (haha get it I’m funny):

PaRappa the Rapper (PaRappa the Rapper series)

Kid Dracula (Castlevania series)

Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong series)

Olimar (Pikmin series)

You (Duck Hunt)

1. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

During his inception in the early 90s, Sonic didn’t start out as incredibly lame as he is these days, but what puts him at the top spot is his steady decline into lame territory, which started right about when they started putting him in 3D. Sonic was designed to appeal to the kids of the 1990s and hasn’t evolved at all since, holding the same overly enthusiastic, outdated persona that people either love or hate, in games of varying quality. Everything from his weird anthropomorphic body, his massive eyes, constant shit-eating grin, his strained voice that sounds a bit like he’s always in pain, it all comes together to make this epitome of lame the character hasn’t been able to escape since Sonic Adventure. And it only looks like it’s set to get worse over the horizon with the announcement of a Sonic movie. Most of my love of Sonic comes out of a place of irony, but it’s love nonetheless. May Sega keep milking him until they run out of totally out of place environments to throw him into.

There’s my list! Just to reiterate, this isn’t a post hating these characters, it’s mostly just pointing out aspects of their personality that for one reason or another, put them on the lame radar. Hope you enjoyed, stay hydrated!

[theboyswithasparebitofparchment]

Fantastic Beasts 2: Review

So, I just watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.  

And oh boy do I have something(S) to say...

Warning spoilers

The movie started off well: the orchestrated Grindelwald escape included the classic switcheroo vis a vis with Polyjuice, mid-air thestral-pulled-carriage fiasco and the pointless extermination of a weird lizard-like creature. (which I don’t understand why it was included at all, as its specimen wasn’t explained, and it served no purpose to the story)

And it went downhill very fast from there.  

I can’t even begin to explain the plot, as this movie had a billion subplots, unnecessary twists and too many infant murders for it to be comprehensible.  

Unlike the first installation, this movie had barely anything to do with actual beasts or the OG squad (Newt, Tina, Queenie and Jacob).  

But, it does includes Jacob under the influence of a love potion, France (need I say more), a wizard freakshow, Credence sad, human Nagini tagging along with said sad boy, Grindelwald killing French people ( babies too) and a giant Chinese lion-like creature (Zouwu: freaky eyes, quite cute, can run really fast)

I didn’t necessarily hate the movie though.

Some scenes were rather enjoyable I.e. the introduction of the aforementioned, Zouwu and a giant seaweed thing that Newt rides underwater.  

And I must admit, I did freak out in my chair when they showed FREAKING HOGWARTS with James Newton Howards’ ‘Hedwigs Theme’ playing alongside (I must admit, I did have goosebumps)

And yes, it was visually beautiful: Daniel Yates did a phenomenal job at directing it and piecing it together.

Despite all this...

the plot was lost, unstructured and confusing which probably led it to be boring.  

And these are my reasons why:

the embodiment of good, kindness and acceptance, goes haywire, barely gets any attention, becomes insecure in her relationship that is more than great and goes towards the dark side after a few minutes of talking to Grindelwald. Queenie Goldstein did not deserve that.

Dumbledore served no purpose, was barely on screen and again gave full responsibility in taking down a powerful, evil wizard, to a student. C'mon bro.

Leta Lestrange served no purpose to the story other than to reveal right at the end that she killed her half-brother baby, that her other half-brother is trying to kill, whom he thinks is Credence. (Confused? Me too)

Unnecessary baby killings.

Queerbaiting. Regarding each other as ‘more than brothers’ and then capturing Dumbledore seeing Grindelwald in the Mirror of Erised, thinking there’s more to it than that but it’s just so Rowling could mention their blood pact, nothing more.

Too many obscure side characters that served zero purposes to the story and were mentioned once and never showed up for the rest of the film. I.e the American minister of magic, every one of Grindelwald’s right- hand men and women, Newts co-worker, the entire ministry workers, the half-elf woman and red-haired woman that got avada-kedavared.

Main characters got lost as their characters weren’t well explained due to very little screen time and poor execution by writers I.e Theseus Scamander, Nagini, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Grindelwald, Leta, Yusuf (and family) etc.

Grindelwald was an ‘okay’ villain but he wasn’t really a standout villain: he kind of had no real authoritative demeanour or stature to him. He was just... meh.

The DAMN Timelines:  McGonagall was born in 1935 and the movie was set in 1927 ( unless she was a relative)

Dumbledore was a Transfiguration teacher before he was headmaster, not a DADA professor.  

Credence, again, served no purpose and was super annoying in the film, if I'm being honest.  I do feel for his character, as people are constantly manipulating him for him to side with them and are toying with his mental and physical health. All he wants is to find out who he is. I want to give him a hug, but he got boring and whiny real fast. Possibly due to bad script writing, sorry buddy.

But him being a relative if Dumbledore?!!!? Unforgivable.There were only three siblings: Aberforth, Ariana and Albus: who the fuck is Aurelius? (Which leads me to believe that Grindelwald was lying to him so he conspires against Dumbledore and gets Credence to kill him).  

I think the movies real crime was getting Rowling to write the screenplay.  Because, as much as I love her, she set it out as a novel, which is not a bad thing, but in cinematic format, it doesn’t work as well.  

The reason why the OG Potter films were such a hit was that they managed to condense it into bitesize chunks. Sure, they cut stuff out, but they made references towards it and in turn, made it well suited for cinema, which is why so many people liked them (you didn’t have to be a die-hard Potter fan to like and follow the story) They’re a pale reflection of the books, not an exact copy. (which I find best, in my opinion, as it saves that little extra magic preserved in its original source: the books)  

I feel like Rowling forgot what she originally wrote about and so tried to piece it together from scratch but it just didn’t work (as it didn’t go by unnoticed) 

She can’t pick and choose different plots without first fully explaining the original; it leads to confusion and annoyance.

I feel like she’s trying to combine two completely different stories into one, which isn’t great, for me anyway.  

I would just have enjoyed a series (or one movie) solely based on the bumbling, lovable zoologist that showcased his vibrant and brilliant view of the weird and wonderful creatures around him and join the adventures he embarks with his friends (and maybe a few small nods to the OG Harry Potter realm) but remain separate from it and stand on its own.  

Or create just a prequel to the Harry Potter series and focus only on the origin story of Dumbledore and his battle and complicated relationship with Grindelwald and family. Trying to mix both? It’s a no from me, unfortunately.  

The one thing that bugged me, was when I left the cinema...

I didn’t have that FEELING.

You know, feeling infinite, as though you can take on the world (after watching a great movie).

However, I was just left feeling disappointed and confused.

I really enjoyed the first film but this movie missed the mark for me. I hope the final instalments are better and slightly less confusing but unlike Professor Trewlawney, I do not possess the noble art of divination, so I do not know for certain.

[danwhobrowses]

AEW: Tier List of Roster Members' Current Ceiling

So, this has been something I've considered for a while, and now I've had time to do it. Finding a template on tiermaker I've found list that has most of AEW's current roster.

Essentially this is a list of how high each member can ascend with their current gimmick and popularity, you may see some wrestlers still green rated highly because of this. Please also bear in mind that their 'ceiling' can change with modifications with the character, alignment and style. I've also not included wrestlers who have already reached their ceiling; Mox, Jericho, Kenny, FTR, Baker, Shida etc. will not be on this list.

And of course, please understand that this is my opinion, it ain't gospel

Excuse the watermark but if you can't see the mark covers Bryan and Rosa. First I'll just note some extras that weren't on this chart - JD Drake, Caesar Bononi, Ryan Nemeth: Potential Tag (with Avalon as part of the Wingmen) - Bear Country: Tag Champions - Hook: FTW Champion - Diamante: Potential World Champion - Kayla Rossi and Brandon Cutler: Potential Midcard Champion - Wheeler Yuta, Tony Nese, Christopher Daniels and Brock Anderson: Midcard Champion

Also though not considered a part of AEW (yet), KiLynn King and Maki Itoh would be World Champions, Ryo Mizunami and Barron Black would be Midcard Champions, and alas poor Jora Johl and Lulu would be non-champions.

I can understand some surprises though, so let me run down a few.

Firstly, apologies for Nick Comoroto, I rate the dude quite well but his affiliation with the Factory has not gotten his character across well so I can only see him getting as high as FTW, similar scrutiny is what avoids Ogogo from being a potential world champion.

I suppose we'll just have to wait for Luther to become Never Openweight Champi-no nope, I couldn't carry on with that joke I'm sorry XD Similar apologies go out to the human punching bags Serpentico and Aaron Solo, and for the baghead Kip Sabian, they work well enough but I don't see gold as they are right now.

It'll appear controversial for me to rate Brandi this high, but unfortunately I have to take into account business and I feel like Brandi would throw rank to get a slice of the glory.

Shawn Dean seems like he's got talent but he's being used more as a PR guy as of recent, his tag run would depend on if AEW utilize his familiar tag partner Carlie Bravo of the Nightmare Factory - I liked their tandem on Dark.

I expect many people to be surprised to see me put Santana in the Potential World Champion category, and that's not mistake. I actually rate him a lot, he's crisp in the ring and incredible on the mic and as a babyface he has the same qualities that Eddie Kingston does.

if you wanna know any reasoning for others let me know, be happy to have a nice, friendly and chilled talk about wrestlers I like, or make your own list, could be fun.

[niel-trbl]

My Flower (Part 1)

Neighbour!Kim Donghan AU

Note: wow i finally decided to write this neighbour au after so long! this is still wip so do let me know what you think is gna happen! and im vvv soft for kim donghan

Read Part 2 here!

you finally settled in your new apartment in the city

the moment you saved up enough from your endless part-time jobs, you immediately bought the apartment you had an eye on

one partly coz of your sibling whom you’re not a fan of rooming with (i mean theyre cool and all but why cant they clean up well...)

and also coz it is alot nearer for you to go to the school you just transferred to

it has been on your bucket list for awhile and you were glad to finally be able to strike that off

since you just moved in, you decided to bake banana bread to give your new neighbours - something you’ve done plenty of times before when your family moved around

it was pretty late when you got the convenience store to get some ingredients

there wasnt anyone else in there so it was nice to shop in peace and quiet

you were browsing through the aisle, searching for vanilla essence when you saw someone familiar entered

well shit, it’s your crazy ex-boyfriend, Daniel asdahkfh sorry i cant think of anyone

he has been on your case lately, despite the fact that you guys broke up quite some time ago

he kept trying to get you back and you kept trying to avoid him

unfortunately, he spotted you and theres nowhere for you to run to

till you spotted a tol guy in the corner of your eye at the end of the aisle

you quickly ran up to him without a second thought, which shocked him abit

“please help me, my crazy ex is here and i really want to avoid him, please just do anything,” you gripped onto his hand desperately

at this point, you dont really expect the guy to do anything coz hes a stranger

so you thought of how to fake a scenario

but suddenly, he had his arm around you then leaned in close to you faints and told you to follow his lead

“________ youre here! who is this?” Daniel looked at the both of you

“her boyfriend, so stop following her around! c’mon babe,” the guy pulled you to another aisle

he still stood by you very closely even after you went to the other side

“okay he’s gone. are you okay?” he looked at you

when you made eye contact, you felt your heart bursting

this guy is hella good looking and you didnt realise it till now??

he had fluffy grey-ish hair with a random blue streak which you thought was really charming

wow his eyes, you could look into them forever

but you snapped back to reality when you realised you have been looking at him for awhile

“i-i’m fine. thanks, err,”

“Donghan,” wow this guy has a really nice name too

both of you continued walking around the store for a bit then making your way to the cashier

before both of you went on separate ways, you thanked him again (and silently wished that you’ll get to see him again soon)

the next day, you finally got round to delivering the banana bread to your neighbours after unpacking a few more of your belongings

“that’s very sweet of you! you really dont have to,” your neighbour, Mrs Kim, cooed

“oh no it’s nothing. just thought it’d be a nice way to say hello to everyone,”

“i am sorry but could you do me a favour? i need to deliver these side dishes to the boy who lives beside you but i need to get going soon. do you mind dropping them off for me?” she asked

“sure of course!”

“thank you so much! poor boy is always eating instant food so i’ll always make extra food for him,” she handed you the containers of food

you placed the containers down and pressed the door bell and waited for your next door neighbour to open up yeoreojwo yeoreojwo yeoreojwo

the door suddenly opened to reveal a tol guy ok you’re just a smol bean thats why everyone is tol to you with grey-ish messy bed hair, clearly just woke up from his deep sleep

before you could say anything, he beat you to it

“oh _______? are you the new neighbour?”

omg it’s Donghan!! ok be cool pretend you hadnt been wondering about him

“Donghan, right? wow what a small world!”

ok you didnt expect to see him again that soon but wow fate is on your side!!

“im so sorry you have to see me like this. i look a lot better than this, trust me,” he ran his fingers through his hair, laughing with his eyes curved like crescents

somehow you had a feeling that both of you would get along really well