#s3 really deserved to be two seasons or at least have 12 episodes

[whitestopper]

Just rewatched part of S3E2 and Darcy's gran clearly didn't know Darcy is a lesbian and I'm like... did Darcy and Tara not have a plan on whether they'd come out? Yes, Ivy Olsson seems affable, but would Darcy be comfortable living with a family member she isn't out to again? Would Tara want Darcy to take a risk like that just for personal space?

Anyway, in another world where S3 gets more episodes (and budget, cough cough) or covers a shorter timeframe, I think a better plot across 3-4 episodes would be something like this:

Ivy tries to get in touch with Darcy because she knows Darcy's mum is annoyed about something but doesn't really trust her daughter-in-law and wants to check in on her grandchild (also Darcy's dad is dead because he doesn't really matter tbh - it's okay, Sarah and Yan are nice mums who are single).

Darcy is happier having a family member around and gets on better with Ivy but is hesitant to come out after S2. Tara encourages them to come out but is revealed to be partially motivated by the desire for Darcy to move out so she can have back her personal space.

Darcy is hurt about this but eventually comes around to her point of view, and Tara emphasises that she doesn't want Darcy to get too invested in the relationship if Ivy does turn out to be a homophobe.

Later, Ivy reveals herself to be an ally and Darcy comes out to her, agreeing to move in now that they know they're safe.

[sentimental-darkness]

Everything Wrong with The Owl House S2

I haven’t written one of these in a long time and Amphibia clearly didn’t deserve any - it was top notch from top to bottom. But I’m sorry Owl House - including well-handled representation that’s crucial part of protagonist’s storyline doesn’t absolve you of your critical writing sins and bad world-building pay-offs. 

Also, before we begin - NO, it’s not merely the result of Disney's abrupt shortening of S3 and potentially portion of S2. Because many of these issues started to resurface earlier in S2 and you can clearly see where episode intros begin to be shortened/abandoned (already aware of the cancellation the crew tried to spare screen time) which only occurs later during the course of the season, starting with episode 12. So I wouldn’t completely blame Disney here... but the creators themselves. As surprising and shocking as it was to me - since Danna looked like someone with solid ideas and worldbuilding abilities - but unfortunately this is the sad truth of the matter and why S2 finale (or even the entire batch of its later episodes!) was hugely dissatisfying. 

So here we go...

1. Everything Wrong with Belos.

(= “Philip” but part of me wouldn’t discard the possibility that Belos=Philip connection was added later, at least in a form that we know of from the show)

Belos design and identity shrouded in mystery was perfect, and a setup for a great, possibly complex, challenging villain. Now, it doesn’t mean I expected a merely misguided guy with pure intentions but actually a complex, interesting, even strongly evil villain (Andrias from Amphibia would be a good example of this). 

But it doesn’t matter what I expected and what could have been, let me just tell you what was wrong with him when coupled with the Philip connection and the portrayal that we got...

From the Magically-Minded Builder of Witch-Empire to the Petty, Bitter, Vengeful Witch-Hater... while living an extended lifespan!

No, it doesn’t work that way - he can’t be both those things at the same time in such extremes at that... If he was what S2 tries to paint him as - with all the Philip stuff - he wouldn’t be able to build a whole Empire in the first place nor would he see any value in doing that. The Empire may be an oppressive force but it doesn’t exist in the societal vacuum, you need to really engrain yourself in local culture, lore, geography, structures and traditions to be able to get support and inspire unification under the banner of progress and expansion, not to mention on the Boiling Isles - a conglomeration of magical beings with magic, which makes the task much more difficult. Earning their respect/support, even if though deceit and with hidden agenda in motion, literally means becoming one of them intellectually exposing your mindset to the whole cultural aspect of magic and different POVs of another world, the world of magic. It was all a ruse cultivated over the curse of centuries, the writers try to say? All fake? All superficial? He just wants everyone gathered at one place so he doesn’t miss any single witch? Are you serious? That’s as cheap as it can get, there is literally no worse way of handling it other than saying outright that S1 Belos was retconned. Which, in a way, he was... although whether intentional retcon or just writers not having a clue the two things don’t fit together (which reflects badly on them and also Alex Hirsh who was a creative advisor on this) - I have no idea.   

Now, I can see how some vendetta types of villains do work under some specific settings: like infiltration of different cultural group/clan with strongly cultivated ties only to strike when least expected to avenge own group or family that upholds different but similarly strongly cultivated values/ideologies. Also, a similar version of this works very well under space settings, like races/planets instead of clans, long time in perpetual rivalry and cycle of vendettas, or a closed-off species finally getting to explore other places out there and eventually becoming an oppressor of other species and/or racist towards them - usually the decisions of the governmental level though, hardly driven by specific individuals, or, if by specific people - they have good enough reason like their closed ones annihilated/genetically transformed by a member of such alien race or in some cases even worse, which contributes to fear/distrust. 

That being said, Belos/Philip WASN’T IT - he existed under the circumstances where it was hard to remain completely stack in such ‘racist’ / ‘vendetta’ mindset at worst or even plain impossible at best - if having to deal with all aspects of building and maintaining an empire, which requires lots of dedication and having to fully dedicate yourself and learn all the ins and outs of the magical peoples, it’s just natural you’re being exposed to all different POVs that you genuinely need to view as integral, honest part of the process else you won’t succeed, heck, you wouldn’t even learn magic if your attitude was so anti. There is no way that this dude from some random Earth town managed to live such extended lifespan and achieved such feats, while remaining completely stack in their old human prejudiced, fear-driven mindset - even if from 17th century, even if heavily indoctrinated into psalms or whatever, but I dislike the idea of painting such parallel for parallel’s sake without it being outright shown, developed and without the bringing of the concept of ‘true god’ into the picture. Also, in all his scenes Philip looked very much like an explorer, intellectual and engineer with an open-mind, not some extreme-prejudice-ridden, unscientific guy. So there is just no way Philip became Belos and then never developed a different way of looking at things after all that time... That’s just the psychoanalysis of interactions-with-your-environment of the Builder Emperor, without getting into the whole ‘behavior gimmicks’ aspect of him...

Belos vs Belos=Philip... both with completely different characterization & motivation.

Look at Belos in his S1 debut. Crazy magical villain, voiced in a very articulated way that was very peculiar and part of his appeal. Some of that behavior still made it into S2, with his ‘knock knock human’ line and a few other scenes. Even some of the Belos/Hunter interactions, while showing a different, less crazy, humanized side of the Emperor, did fit that mental image of the Ominous, Powerful, Eccentric Emperor Ruling with The Iron, Unfair Fist but Exceptionally Competent & Wise that was set up with S1. Although that we only ever saw THAT heartwarming but abusive side of him with his talks... but never the crazy gimmicks and articulated speech patterns from S1... was already kind of alarming. 

Then, once we learn Belos=Philip... it all goes downhill almost immediately. Even when he is supposed to be Belos, parading as Belos, and doing Belos stuff, his dialogues are mostly monotonous or callous, with all of the eccentric flair present in S1 gone here. Seen in his talks with the Collector, some with Hunter, interactions with Luz and all through the finale - where even his appearance gets changed and he gets full-on apathetic treatment, something that wasn’t even a part of Philip in the past to begin with. So unless he has a a very severe over-the-top split personality (...while simultaneously running an Empire, something he earnt/build and not inherited which is an important difference), I really don’t buy it. As discussed earlier - no, it’s not realistic, saying that it was all ‘just an act’ that he was just soooo in-character trying to be seen as someone else that he isn’t isn’t justification enough. Because even if we forget about that previous Builder Emperor psychoanalysis I made above and try to pretend his end goal/lasting ‘witch racism’ seems believable - his behavior patterns still don’t. 

Oh, and they’re all instances in S1 where he doesn’t really need to pretend because he doesn’t gain anything from it, besides they do sound like more genuine one-liners from him. So nothing there aligns too well with S2 Belos=Philip.

Your side where you’re the only one left alive? Sure, makes sense... it’s totally the same racist dude from S2... Also, what would be the point of keeping her in service and then doing the loyalty test since Philip already knew Lilith was there in the past with Luz....... so hmm, is that Philip?

Why though? And where all the symbology used by the Empire comes from? (that was all over the place in ancient structures and crypts)

The entire emphasis on the Wild Witches being a threat to the Day of Unity is pretty much pointless - they are not a threat to the spell. So doesn’t make sense other than some kind of weird obsession of “witch hunter” Philip with killing all of them with one push of a bottom, maybe... but that’s silly, since the entire goal in the first place makes little sense in the entire context of the Builder Emperor as discussed. So not satisfied with that piss-poor explanation.

Why should Hunter be careful with Wild Magic? Why does Belos even care? Why spit the nonsense about “our family gone because of Wild Magic” at all? After all, he supposedly created hundreds of them within his time as Emperor during his 50 year long reign (based on all the masks and bones, yes there was quite a lot of them LOL). So what’s one more? Why show care in this particular matter? This really looks like a forced red herring aimed at your viewers without respect/much thought given to actual characterization. OR this was still the writing for a different kind of Belos... who wasn’t just a witch-hunting Philip. This scene was a bit earlier in S2, so who can tell for sure.

and the way he magically enjoys all that in S1... kinda amusing that he would be a witch-hater and witch-hunter (to the core! 100%!), but obviously “you can’t reason with crazy writers”

Also, if he was 100% S2 Philip in body and soul, why wouldn’t he go back to retrieve his own portal years ago where he once left it? Before Eda got her hands on it? Really, assuming Belos=Philip it just screams ‘he had no intention to return/use the portal’ until the whole new plan about the Day of Unity was born but then the portal was already gone. Which would also explain why he was after Eda and wanted her to join the coven, initially, because maybe he heard she was using that portal. But that implies he initially built the Empire with completely/partially different motivations than lame ‘murder all witches and return home as a hero lolz’ but THAT would actually invalidate his entire S2 goal/characterization entirely. So yes, absolute mess!

Also, ironic... THIS a dude who wants to become a witch-killing hero and ‘savior’ of... humanity? For some reason? 

More needless talk about Titan’s Will where he doesn’t need to do that, if he was S2 Belos=Philip. As already an almighty, established Emperor talking to Earth teenager in a catacombs.  

Also, my personal favorite... He thought Luz thought “they want to invade human realm”

Yes, turned out the Titan’s Will wasn’t even a thing, in any shape nor form, but the end goal was total annihilation of all life on Boiling Isles because you hate witches. So I don’t understand. ‘Not so boarish’ after all... Lmaof. Was Philip on drugs here? In S1? Or... maybe... just maybe...

Belos as originally conceived got completely different characterization and enigma surrounding him with set up for more complex stuff along the way, perhaps something that DID actually had something to do with Titan, but then... once Philip came into the picture Belos got retro-backtracked to become witch-hating Philip with a pseudo murder-crime ‘characterization’ in which he killed his own brother due to prejudice and then had him recreated as a construct only to kill him all over again in a weird display of love depravity... which is hardly even explored on the show but sure, ‘cool’ idea which sounds 100% human and believable (no, not really). Also, the personality shift is even reflected through his design from the reveal of the face to complete attire change, all accompanied by total characterization/motivation shift (kind of)

... because it was ALL a dishonest ruse and he even wears THAT fancy 16th century attire under his Belos disguise, geez, it has Benny Hills and all kinds of unserious, laughable, joke character take all over it (like maybe he has yet another disguise underneath that 16th century one and he is someone else entirely?) except it’s intended to be this “serious, dark” take on a “complex” evil villain that everybody seems to be in love with and take it for granted even though it’s not complex take and can’t be enjoyed as such when viewed properly. Amusing.

His lines in the climax literally being a contest for the “most evil, cruel one liners we can conceive” but hardly make sense within the narrative of the Builder Emperor

Dude, she was LITERALLY your right hand and helped to keep the Empire machine going which screams competent as hell. But evidently that’s no longer the S1 Belos and - which I’ll get into - no longer S1 Kiki. Note how this looks like a forced parallel to how Toffee discarded Ludo in Star vs the Forces of Evil, with the following “find a hole to rot away in” he is even colder than Toffee!

Even if I take his goal seriously, this doesn’t make any sense, the dude was Emperor and had all the resources to gather intel about present-day Earth (from 21st century books that made it through to the knowledge about his own portal that he could actually build all over again if he only wanted to to Luz being A Walking Source of Knowledge On the Subject). So this is just freaking dumbass and laughable at best, that he hasn’t prepared for this. Not to mention... 

... even for 16-17th century idea of how Earth works... this is just ridiculous, there was nothing like “Witch Hunters” to begin with, with lots of different Earth kingdoms busy at war with each other, usually, with some places even less fair than the coven cast system that he created on Boiling Isles. And if the motivation was being praised as a hero by a literal village squadron of dump peasants - after ruling over a literal magical Empire - there is really something seriously wrong with the dude’s head and not in the “interesting, complex” way...... more like ‘my brain is the size of tiny nut’ way. Or “I’m really a cyborg looking like a human programmed to kill witches in this world” - I guess that would work much better here.... to be honest...

Also, the serious way he says that line is just so incredibly pathetic that actual Emperor Belos from S1 as characterized in S1 would just have a good laugh with a sophisticated one-liner and told him that Titan’s will isn’t so boarish and boring. Probably.

Ah, there is another interesting thing too. The above, the way he says things and his other expressions...

Again, note how this all looks like a forced Toffee characterization from Svtfoe - the way he moves, the dominance, the apparent cruelty mixed with indifference having achieved all his goals, the face closeups, annoyed expressions, even the fashion sense and the way he discards the Collector with the “goodbye”! Also the goo...

Except Toffee was actually an actual part of a Lizard race that was once in a dominant position / badly hurt by the arrival of humans gifted with magic - with that entire conflict not being as black and white to begin with, at least prior-S4 - so his motivation to eliminate magic as their source of power, his sense of superiority and his kind of racist stance... did work within the narrative of Star vs, it was nuanced. Philip just... doesn’t work... at all... within his own narrative of the Builder Emperor...

and the entire “you’re Witch Hunter” thing that appeared in this scene... came completely out of nowhere. Never before did Emperor Belos (or Philip for that matter) ever strike me as someone who could even conceive of such an idea but all of a sudden he says something about ‘witch hunter’ and Luz is like ‘oh, so you’re just a witch hunter!’ like there is completely nothing off with it, like it is “a thing” or something! Ridiculous. But what mattered is that everyone repeated it after Luz and now everyone was totally aboard to defeat the evil racist ‘witch-hunting’ Belos! Oh so messy so messy Owl House...

All of that seemed like some kind of a forced black-and-white racist-vs-representation statement... that Belos must be this witch-hateful “witch hunter” all of a sudden, so the “diverse” cast of witches and characters and the lgbt pair of heroes must come together to defeat him and his “ideology”... or straight white male ideology? Which sounds like the equivalent to the disaster of last season’s of Svtfoe, which also went the similar “forced irl politics” route while completely ignoring previously established loose ends, characterization and its complex lore, making everything as simplified as it gets and many characters as dumb as a piece of rock. Kinda... and sounds like this happened to second season of TOH too... 

Belos and Titan’s Heart Are Connected

Hey, remember THIS? How the first thing we ever saw was the Titan’s Heart, above Lilith’s head, before we even saw the silhouette of Belos? 

With the Castle being literally placed in Titan’s chest for this very purpose, obviously to get access to heart, with sinister pipes running all over the place, connected to heart?

And Belos heavy breathing with heart rate increased when Belos was being threatening or under stress?

The heart beating being heard when he frivolously announced (completely out of nowhere!) he knows everything that happens in his castle, further painting the Titan/Belos connection...

Yeah, totally doesn’t matter! ;) Belos is Philip, he wants to be a ‘Witch Hunter General.’ Never spoke to a Titan... Titan’s will was all fake... there was never a Titan connection here... ;)

Interesting that we hardly saw the heart and throne room in S2... Also, the heart beating was gone for the ENTIRETY of S2... so pretty suspicious...

Bad writing and bad pay-off all over it.

There was also the fact that we see all the Titan gore everywhere, actual flesh not just bones, with Belos being able to control it in his fight with Luz. Which paired with a living, beating heart was suspicious and implied Titan wasn’t truly dead but clinging to life/growing back/artificially sustained and experimented with/something else. In any case, it’s gone... like it never happened...

Also, during the Day of Unity even the Emperor’s Castle was gone...

Looks like all these people had gathered in some kind of open space... where the Castle used to stand, with the Heart inside it... but now it’s all gone... apparently?

Are people who praise this show blind or something? I honestly can’t tell. You can enjoy it for simplistic themes of course or even just for representation’s sake - but lots of people praise it for ‘complexity’ and good writing which is just... NOT THERE!

That Danna had the audacity to claim S2 will be “darker than S1″ is kind of a shocker. Because nothing that came out of S2 was as disturbing and closer to “Final Space vibes” as the S1 climax. OK, maybe the King’s birthplace in S2, I’ll give them that. But heck, even lots of King’s shenanigans in S1 - while subtle - had more of a darker tone than most of S2! Which I find truly funny and surprising that people can’t see this.

Speaking of King’s birthplace and Belos...

It’s not the exact same look but looks kind of... familiar? 

Like the thing from the Mural?

Sounds like the creature indeed doesn’t belong here... because it was there in ages past, much bigger, and evidently NOT Philip or Palisman. It doesn’t look the same of course but the overall appearance is strikingly similar to the final Belos form - looking like it could be made from the same green goo, lengthy arms and legs, thick like that of an insect, visibly elevated shoulders, thickness closer to legs etc. Not the same exact look but could be more like a nefarious evil entity? That was - originally - perhaps part of Belos too? Instead of some angry Palismen? Something relevant to the plot that even the King of Demons/Titan/King’s Dad/King’s Previous Incarnation needed to do battle with? (because who knows what was the actual original idea behind King’s origins anyway... because I have my doubts after S2 that we’re getting the original conception here).

I guess it’s possible Belos/Philip was supposed to be sort of a Host for this ancient entity... maybe... or he used its power... or perhaps that entity had something to do with the titan of the Boiling Isles too? Which is how the Heart connection tied into this... with King being something different entirely or perhaps a reincarnation of sort, rather than actual flesh and bone conceived in a normal, biological way. Maybe. With Belos consuming the Palismen magic to heal the outbursts which were the results of something else entirely, not just to gain power - which I have no idea how the Palismen are even supposed to allow him to do the gooey thingy like it’s some sort of a rule? Also how does the Bat Queen ties into all this? I guess she won’t appear again and even if - it’ll be something inconsequential. Oh, and also we’ll never hear about that Mural again. Most likely.

So something was evidently abandoned here. Unless after the King’s birthplace episode they suddenly started to contradict their previous episodes without even knowing it and there was never a plan for all of these to mean anything, with Belos=Philip always supposed to be just a witch hunter.. but excuse me if that idea sounds unbelievably bizarre after what I just described here digging out all of the previously established pieces of the lore that hardly anyone talks about anymore.

In any case, a giant mess and no pay-offs here!

2. Everything Wrong with the Empire.

In “Savage Ages” there was no crisis.

In S1 we’re told there was some kind of event/bad stuff related to Wild Magic which was how Belos Regime could rise to begin with, with promises of stability, progress and order - on which they actually delivered, in part, judged by the technological progress and strict laws. Now, I’m not saying there couldn’t have been something nefarious/manipulative behind the scenes, with the crisis being engineered somehow...

But THAT entire backstory with Philip parading as Belos from village to village, blowing them up and murdering people? Because earlier he was already run out of too many villages as Philip? Looked like a joke and not the kind of ‘crisis’ you would need to garner support on a mass scale. You can’t just approach a bunch of villagers who lived as one with nature or vile demons... and spat some nonsense about Titan/Wild Magic being bad and reasonably expect them to take you seriously... without any sort of nuance and partial truth to it... without any witnesses or allies who could vouche for your version of the story... without any sort of chaotic magical menace plaguing some parts of the Boiling Isles, like Eda’s curse, for example... The moment the show decided to portray everything as ‘part of Philip’s grand plan’ was the moment it erased any sense of complexity and decent, intriguing, believable lore. From this point onward it’s just simplistic nonsense upon nonsense... with the creation of the Empire and the Coven System, in a social sense, as completely unbelievable, impossible events.

Kikimora gets turned into unfitting of her station.

Kikimora looks and acts like a competent figure put in administrative position, with S2 opening even implying that - as a demon picked by Belos - she has this scary, angry, more powerful form so she can kick some ass too, potentially. This all sounds good until...

... she gets turned into an adolescent with teenage dramas, she has a rivalry with the Golden Guard (which wouldn’t be so bad... if it wasn’t confirmed that she knows they always end up as a pile of bones in a pit!), seems completely powerless on many occasions and doesn’t use her scary form, starts to act incredibly annoying and dumbass and like she has no competence at all, and is THEN confirmed to know everything about Philip, the Collector, fakeness of Belos, his true appearance, Day of Unity aka The Witch Hunter Will Kill You All, hundreds of dead Golden Guards and them being most likely constructs, and all sorts of stuff no one should have known... GEEZ, HOW DUMB WAS SHE EXACTLY? What was even her motivation to serve the Empire? I’m surprised the Empire and Coven System haven’t crumbled years ago... to be honest... if she was such a teenager but apparently knew it all...

But yeah, in a simplified version of the show the administration and characterization of its members doesn’t matter, because Philip can evidently create empires out of nowhere, singlehandedly, no allies needed.

The Coven Heads don’t have a clue, they’re literal dumbasses.

Next in line for the dumbass title of the year and hard to decide who would win. Even Darius and his pal 'are actually rebels reveal’, while makes sense... felt kind of out of place and abrupt, especially with Darius and Hunter interactions earlier in the castle. Where you get this sort of “Darius doesn’t care, may betray Belos” vibe from him but not necessarily “Darius is a complete good guy, doesn’t like Empire and its methods at all!” which was something that Rain represented, not Darius. Not even getting into the fact that the previous Golden Guard was supposed to be his mentor? With the Flower Lady probably living through a couple of those? Which is like a plot hole because that implies they ALL have seen and knew a previous Hunter/Hunters as prominent figures of the court but now they see a teenager with the same face and think it’s the ‘nephew’? Also, the sheer number of the Guards’ remains in the pit is clearly overdone, there couldn’t have been more than merely a couple of Guards through the lifespan of this young Empire. But nevermind, let’s talk about something else...

The Heads are literally so dump that after Belos had showed them “the paradise”

and said THIS:

They’ve never wondered what the heck he meant and what the heck is he???

Which btw, I have no idea, yet again, what he meant by it and what the Coven Heads thought his plan truly was?

Sounds like they know he is from Earth? Another Realm? Like the Paradise has something to do with Earth and they never questioned him as their Emperor huh? Never questioned his plans? Or the Covens? Unite the realms? For what? Because they wanted to become “royalty”? LIKE, THEY WERE ALREADY THE LITERAL ROYALTY THROUGH THE COVEN SYSTEM, EVEN WITH SOME WILD WITCHES AROUND. They had nothing to gain from this “day of unity” - what nonsense.

Also, yeah, Kiki knew everything abut the “Witch Hunter” but never told anyone, and Coven Heads were all as dumb as bricks, except they didn’t look like they were that intellectually incapable. The old Flower Lady certainly DIDN’T look like she was, in any case. She seemed crafty, manipulative and like she is supposed to be ahead of others. Also, one of the oldest members so probably working kind of more closely with Belos for a long time...

But yeah, she really wins the dumbass of the year here, because for all that evil scheming she couldn’t figure out a simple universal truth... that there was actually a good enough reason someone who isn’t wild magic would want to prevent the day of unity... Yikes.

Nothing here makes any sense. Those characters are unbelievably butchered. If they were not, who knows what would actually happen, which further brings into question Belos=Philip’s ability to even create and run the Empire unchallenged and successfully in the first place. It’s THAT bad!

It’s a Demon Realm but hardly any ‘big�� demons that matter.

Season 1 had more demon shenanigan but once Emperor Coven’s entered the fray we never really got a clue about what happened with all those dangerous demons King once spoke of. With Kiki there was like a clue that maybe Belos forced them into his service/made vassal states of them but... it was really poorly explored and as stated previously... Kiki turned into a raging teenage drama queen, not really a legit demonic being competent enough to find herself in Emperor’s service as high-ranking administrative official!

3. Noticeable Tone Shift with King in S2.

Talked extensively about it here, so go ahead and give it a read. But basically, he is this baby puppy for the most part of S2 and even his scared, disturbed characterization throughout the finale and then in the pit with bones of the Golden Guards kind of... seemed out-of-character? Like I said in my linked post, I don’t mind the development in regards to Luz/Eda/their friends and his caring/worrying attitude in such situations, but he was just too much of a scaredy cat and helpless puppy throughout the whole thing, all of the things that made him so intriguing/more unique (with darker tones) in S1... gone completely. Through some part of his stronger, cunning, lordly, demonic, uncaring S1 personality got to shine through sometimes - with things like the casual “oh geez, let’s just say there isn’t gonna be the after the day of unity” or his manipulation of the Collector. But it was just a tiny bit... and not much overall. With a noticeable difference in tone, while during the curse of S1 there was clearly more to this character than meets the eye, not just a kid “play-pretending being evil-minded.” While this is something that I think might have changed and there will never be a King that needs to face this dilemma and choose between his demonic, kingly destiny and his friends... it was funny that the Hunters episode actually went out of its way to outright state Titans are lordly and worse than Belos... Is the show having an identity crisis or something? Because honestly I can’t tell, unless something extraordinary happens in the shortened S3 - I think it’s just more of the mess.

4. The Collector Is Ok But Still Kind Of Messy?

The moon and stars seem to be all over the place in places of significance, so there should be a connection. The Hunters were like worshipping the Collector apparently? Which was strange because they knew him as the Great Huntsman and the “Huntsman” has promised them to take part in his big Hunt once they freed him. Which doesn't make sense if the Collector is supposed to be just childlike and so easily exploited/manipulated with promises of tag and other games. Honestly, even in their talks with Belos, before Belos betrayed them, the Collector looked like they’re fully aware of everything that transpires, of all the manipulation of Hunter and even found it amusing suggesting Belos enjoys destroying his creations. Which is the complete contradiction of a popular theory that “it’s a Bill Cipher who doesn’t know how to enjoy cruelty and just wants to play tag” or something like that. So already alarming, that kind of undecisive writing and how in the final scenes the Collector is all about games, playing and seemingly uncaring for the annihilation of the Isles... which in the previous scenes they rhyme about and can’t wait any longer for it to happen? Weird.

Also, why would the ritual sacrifice of the titan get the ‘Huntsman’ freed anyway? What was the influence the Collector had on the Hunters? How did they commune? What’s up with the Collector hunting for Owl Beast and why does it matter? Well, probably it doesn’t... because this shows is the complete opposite of consequential...

Taking into account how abrupt was the introduction of the Collector into the plot, seemingly out of nowhere in the Titan’s skull and no connection to their short-lived strange appearance in the Owl Beast dream... it all seems, so far... like a couple of plot hooks poorly put together but none of this even have any consequence on the Collector’s characterization as the true villain of the show. So hmm, not positive about the Collector in the finale but we shall see. 

Even though, all of the above points taken into account... this show is pretty dissatisfying anyway... so I doubt S3 can change much here because even if it wasn’t shortened - it most likely couldn’t fix all this. 

Sounds like the writing was bad to begin with in many places and its magical fantasy worldbuilding pretty inconsequential - it’s not on the same level as Amphibia here, not on the same level as She-Ra... sadly...

[dil-ibaadat]

Hello. Just curious how chapter 3 of Dowry is coming along and when to look for it. I’ve been really sad about recent Kanthony news (possibly no s3 subplot, no Emmy noms for Jimone) and need my comfort fic more than ever lol :(

aiming to have it posted by this weekend! a return to kate pov, my beloved :D.

i'm sorry you're feeling down about kanthony!

this may not be what you want to hear, but bridgerton isn't exactly the type of content emmy voters look for when nominating their favorite shows. it's frilly froth meant to entertain, nothing more, and this season's story was frankly an incoherent mess saved solely by the chemistry and performances of the two leads. in my humble opinion, it was really engaging, but it wasn't good television, at least not in the classical sense.

now, personally, i think JB did a fantastic job and deserved a nod, but it was a stacked board this season. i mean, succession won 7/12 nominations allotted for guest actors in drama series and a total of 25 nominations overall. that's insane (well, well-deserved, it's a beast of a show, but still). they clearly have their preferences.

but here's the thing: emmy nominations are not the final arbiters of taste. these guys nominated TBBT for YEARS (a show whose writers routinely relied on casual misogyny and jim parsons rattling off the periodic table for laughs) and paid dust to brooklyn 99, bojack horseman, the wire, the office, freaks and geeks (OK, it only ran for a season, but it was a brilliant fucking season, alright?), etc, etc.

so don't feel guilty for liking something because it's not as "highbrow" or critically acclaimed as shows touted in variety or the a.v. club. bridgerton's failure to garner many nominations is nothing but a reflection of the fact that emmy voters simply didn't like the show enough to nominate it. that's it. but for the general audience, season 2 was of major interest! we can see that looking at netflix's streaming stats. in sum, the show is not in danger of being canceled, we will still see bits and bobs of kanthony in the future (even if JB books new shows, as he should), and your favorite actors will go on to have great careers in which you'll have plentiful opportunity to see them on the screen to your heart's content. not having emmy noms is not a big deal, especially for show of bridgerton's caliber and appeal.

and, another, very, very humble opinion of mine:

in my experience, if a show is visually and technically perfect, i won't be motivated to write for it. because the story is finished. it was emotionally satisfying, it was done well. i'm the breed of writer who writes out of rage, who views fanfic as the ultimate 'fuck you' letter to the production of a show that has lost its way. i did not like season 2 - it had some great elements, but overall, the story for me felt unfinished. that's why i'm in the fandom, to read and write about kanthony getting the ending and character development they deserve. a lot of these highbrow shows that have been nominated will more often than not have a different type of fandom, one where fans are more likely to engage in iterative activities (what was your favorite episode, rank your favorite characters, etc.) as compared to transformative activities (as in rage-writing fix-it fanfiction). in my view, season 2's terrible creative decisions did result in a lot of fan engagement with kanthony as a ship. the lack of good content and desire for more is what prompts creators to create. that's a good thing!

imo, we've got a fantastic fictional couple, amazing fans, brilliant writers in the fandom, and enough spite to keep us churning out content for YEARS. so don't worry yet about the kanthony well drying up. we're doing just fine.

i hope this rant makes you feel somewhat better, anon. clearly, i had some feelings to get out as well. :D

[nikadoesanart]

My predictions on BSD getting animated going forward

I’ll be taking a look at the novel page counts (Japanese and English) and comparing them to the screen time they’ve gotten so far and then using this to predict how long the remaining light novel adaptations will be (approximately). At the end will also be my rough prediction/hopes for the order of some of these being adapted. I say some because I have yet to read what there is so far of the gaiden novel translations, the main story manga has essentially still been on the DOA arc almost since where the anime left off, and I personally think that it’s currently too soon for Storm Bringer (aside from money purposes).

Note, most of this was written well before the anime 5th anniversary livestream but the announcements wound up not affecting it. I then of course made adjustments as needed account for the novel content we do have so far, both in Japanese and in English (officially).

Page to Episode Count

Not counting the afterward, ads, etc for the English/US copy, Japanese is including it

Also all eng page counts are using the Yen Press release and jp page counts are taken from the fandom wiki

*148 is purely counting the Untold Origins portion of the novel. If we also count the A Day at the Agency short story that’s included before it (56 pages), then we get the full 203

Also the English page count for BEAST was noted before the English release date but after page counts have been posted by affiliated retailers, so subtract a couple pages from the written count of 176 for the time being to account for the afterward and possible character sheets being included

Now that we have our page to episode counts (as of April 5th, 2021), let’s find the actual content run time of what we do have animated so far.

Seasons 1-3 and the OVA all have the same episode length/duration. Each episode is 23 minutes, and we can subtract 3 minutes on average from that to account for the OP and ED being played. This leaves us with an average of 20 minutes of BSD story content per episode. So on average, each of the first 3 seasons contain 240 minutes, or 4 hours, worth of story content.

Dead Apple’s total run time is 91 minutes, with the OP and ED making up 9 of those minutes. However, we do have a bit of the story content being played while the ED is playing (as sometimes happens in the anime as well). To keep the math simple, I’ll be approximating story content time at 82 minutes.

Apply these numbers to the novels that have been animated so far and this is (approximately) what we get:

Now let’s use these numbers to predict the screen time needed for the other novels

Note that we can’t really use Entrance Exam as a fair measure because of how much got cut out (just compare the run time of it to Dark Era and it speaks for itself). However, the numbers for Dark Era and Dead Apple are the best ones to use, as they both have minimal changes between anime and novel and both have official English translations currently available. Take out the approximate time taken up by OP/ED and and the numbers pretty much match up.

So with that being said, we can estimate Untold Origins (only) at approximately 3 eps/60 min and 55 Minutes at 1h 40-55min/100-115 min or 5-6 eps if it doesn’t get a movie. We can also estimate the A Day at the Detective Agency short story at the beginning of Untold Origins to take up about 1 ep, probably even a bit less.

1+ 3 + 5-6 = 9-10 episodes which isn’t enough for a full single cour season unless they all get put into one big OVA season, but also 10-11 eps (or less) seasons are a thing (ie. Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited, Blood Lad, Black Butler: Book of Circus, The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of a Holy War, FLCL)

My personal predictions/hopes for the anime adaptation timeline going forward

This is considering the manga content, current “pausing/stopping points” what wouldn’t be too awkward, each of the novels relevancy/necessity to the main story manga, and assuming we continue with single cour (12-13 ep) seasons

Hopefully/ideally a 55 Minutes movie

S4: ch 54-70

Early S5 (preferably) or end of S4: Untold Origins or A Day at the Agency

S5: ch 71-88/around where we are now?

A Day at the Agency can, in my opinion at least, be chucked in at any point either as a single episode OVA or as the light novel content for s4 (maybe not even taking a full episode and then starting ch 54 in the last few minutes for example). Keep in mind that the current DOA arc is a long one and has plenty to it, so personally I think it may even be better to not include a novel adaptation in a future S4, as it would likely already be a right squeeze content wise. Remember, we also have a few XX.5 chapters that are continuations of the chapter directly before them.

I still need to read what’s currently available of the gaiden novel fan translations but it can probably be adapted at any point as well. I’m estimating approximately 5-6 eps as an OVA series. I don’t really think it would get a movie, partially because you can make it only so long, especially since it’s an anime movie and unlike Storm Bringer, it doesn’t have Chuuya to practically guarantee the profit.

BEAST also doesn’t directly impact the main story and can be adapted at virtually any point. However, seeing as we do have a live action confirmed for it and it’s page count lines up very closely with Dark Era, it can be either 4 eps or (more likely in my opinion) a movie, as it can be considered almost stand alone content.

Personally, I believe it is currently way too soon to animate Storm Bringer as it came out only a little over a month ago (as of writing this) and has minimal plot necessity as of ch 91, but I do believe it should be either split into 2 movies (a part 1 and part 2) or it would need 8 episodes, likely as an OVA season. If it were to get animated sooner than 55 Minutes or Untold Origins, which I believe to be very unlikely, I feel that it would almost certainly be driven by the financial gains of Chuuya being included, and his popularity alone. Reminder, SB is about Chuuya and not SKK. Dazai’s appearance in SB is proportionally a very small percentage and he’s not even mentioned in the official plot summary.

However, you can argue that SB is starting to have some relevance now, with the recent mention of the Order of the Clock Tower in ch 90 and the increased relevance of sealed ability weapons in ch 91. However, I really do believe that you can’t adapt Storm Bringer before 55 Minutes because of Standard Island and its treaty, it also talks about sealed ability weapons, knowing who Wells is, and 55 Minutes canonically takes place during the “downtime” portion of S3. In fact, here’s Asagiri’s words directly from the Afterward (translation by Yen Press):

“this volume didn’t take place in the past, but rather sometime after the tenth volume of the manga. In other words, it’s a tale about the ‘usual’ detective agency in novel format.” (55 minutes, p 237)

Untold Origins also should be adapted sooner rather than later (at least compared to SB in my opinion) because it’s about Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s shared past, which becomes increasingly relevant ch 70 onwards, as well as the need for the ADA being founded (which ties in with Yosano’s backstory in ch 65-66).

In regards to whether I think each of these would be better suited to a movie adaptation or as multiple regular length anime episodes, it’s mainly due to page count and partly due to the budget difference between the two, as well as how difficult I think it would be to animate each of these based on what needs to be drawn. The anime industry isn’t the fastest to switch to newer technology, hence why we see issues with 3D blending sometimes. I really do think that at the very least, 55 Minutes deserves the movie budget because of how detailed and complex the architecture of Standard Island is described as, as well all the mechanical parts needed for the final battle of the novel. Hate the lizard mouths introduced in Dead Apple all you want, but you can’t deny that the 3D cgi was blended very smoothly. For any of the other novels to be movies, it’s more so because gaiden and BEAST can be considered their own stand alone stories that don’t rely too heavily on the main story in terms of when they take place and get adapted. I feel that SB is more likely to get its own season or an OVA season more so due to its length, but multiple part anime movies have also been done before (ie. the Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel movies), so it’s not entirely impossible. Especially considering that merely having any Chuuya screen time means that you can expect the profit and popularity to really go up, especially with SKK being on screen together (regardless of whether you love or hate how the fandom tends to push a shipping POV on them).

These are all of course just my hopes and predictions and estimates based on information currently available, so take them with some salt. I’d love to hear opinions on how, when, and why each of the currently non animated novels should be adapted going forward. Also please stop begging the relevant BSD official Twitter pages for SB to be animated next and go read the other light novels you Chuuya simp

[mashi-sims]

Ranking AHW's S5 Episodes

I know that ranting about how bad some of the episodes this season were isn’t going to change the fact that they were, in fact, bad, but I still wanted to do an overview of this season in my opinion, and I love ranking stuff, so here it goes:

Also, I should mention that, yes, this is Cooliver biased, although I did take other plotlines into consideration, but mostly Cooliver. Also, lol, I could only add 10 photos so the #13, #12 and #11 don't get one, also they don't deserve it.

Tier 1: I wish they could be un-written, please.

13. 5x12 How Oliver Got His Groove Back

I’ll start with my least favorite episode, and the one we all wish we could unsee. This is the episode where Oliver is feeling down because the girl WE, THE AUDIENCE, just realized he liked, doesn’t like him back (which is a whole other thing), so Katie gets him a date with this girl that’s never been introduced in the show before. Oliver doesn’t want to see her, but he still does, and then he realizes she’s nice, and just like that, he’s happy again. I feel like this plot would not have been that bad if it hadn’t been so out of character, unexplained, and utterly designed to be filler for the season. Worst episode from my perspective, wouldn’t watch it again, barely watched it the first time, ugh, next-

12. 5x11 The Guardian

Same thing with this one, very uneventful episode that talks nonsense, introduces the idea of Oliver liking Lindsay and thinking they’d been dating, but nobody knew about it! How convenient! And again, doesn’t progress into anything, and it just feels out of character, forced, and like they didn’t even try to hide that it was a filler episode. Wouldn’t watch it again, I don’t even think about it, I’ve erased it from my mind. The only reason why this episode is ahead of 5x12 is because of Kathryn and Anna-Kat, and JD trying to find his egg donor, other than that, still pretty ugh.

Tier 2: Did the writers really look at their script and think; “ah, well done”?!

11. 5x07 Under Pressure

I kinda enjoyed this episode even if it didn’t include any Cooliver. I liked Anna-Kat’s storyline about not feeling her popularity and sticking to Franklin, I really really love these two together! So cute! Also, Taylor helping Oliver relax and not stress out that much was nice, although not amazing. Katie and Greg’s double date that led to a city council rivalry, I don’t care for it. Overall, I don’t know if this was intended to be a filler episode, but it totally felt like one to me; a nice episode but not one I’d watch again.

10. 5x05 Kids These Days

Eh, pretty uneventful. Katie wants Franklin and Anna-Kat to be more edgy and to take more risks, ends up in completely nothing. Oliver wants Boosterin and he accidentally drugs Greg, also ends up doing nothing for the storyline. The only thing I liked about this episode was seeing how Cooper cared about Oliver and how Oliver said “Your boy is doing both”, the Cooliver content was still good; other than that, eh. Also, the strange order in episodes this season really threw me off.

9. 5x04 Homeschool Sweet Homeschool

Nice episode, but not one of the best. Mommy blog, Cooliver moves to the basement, Andre shows up and it’s all weird now, eh. I enjoyed this episode because of the Cooliver’s interactions more than anything, but it’s not the greatest in my opinion.

Tier 3: *Sits down on the couch with popcorn and a blanket*

8. 5x06 Mother’s Little Helper

I also enjoyed Cooliver this episode. Although their drinking arc was pretty pointless and, again, ended up being nothing!!, I liked seeing them together, and that shaking they gave each other was funny. This is the episode where Tami was introduced, and I really liked her from the beginning, although I do wish they would’ve given Katie’s original second breakfast club some sort of closure so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about liking Tami and JD, eventually.

7. 5x02 Psych

This episode always made me feel stupid because I never understood what was going on with Taylor, why she didn’t take her gap year, why she never told Katie and Greg that she had gotten in, or at least make something out of it, why she decided to go to another college or if Greg got her in just so she didn’t have to take a gap year, bUT THEN I realized they didn’t actually talk about it, so I’m not the stupid one, I think.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this episode. I like Katie’s storyline of getting involved in other people’s lives after she sells her lasagna business (again, did they ever talk about that or am I stupid?)

This is the episode where we can see the change in Cooliver’s dynamic (a good thing), and the iconic line “stop bothering our boyfriends” saved my life. Having Taylor And Trip with Cooper and Oliver hanging out in the same frame is one of my favorite things and adds a few days to my life.

Franklin and Anna-Kat’s relationship also picks up in this season, and I really enjoy them in this episode. Also, Greg was very funny here, and I am grateful lol.

6. 5x08 Encourage, Discourage

I really liked how this was a Cooper-centered episode, really diving deep into his character instead of keeping him as a shallow side-character. By the way, how did Cooper get so much development and Oliver lost most of his? What was that? Anyway, Cooper saved this episode. I would’ve liked for Oliver to be a more supportive friend in this episode, but he was still there, at least.

Also, Cooper doesn’t think he’s too good for Oliver! Bless his heart.

5. 5x10 Getting Frank with The Ottos

I liked this episode very much! Again, Anna-Kat and Franklin melted my heart, but Oliver and Cooper squeezed it with Cooper’s realization of not wanting to go to Harvard, but Oliver eventually understanding and supporting him? Please, get married. Also, Oliver saying “We’re Cooliver”, and Trevor asking them if they were breaking up made my day. Could’ve been better and a bit more eventful, but it was good nonetheless.

4. 5x13 The Election

I really liked the finale, despite not having any Cooliver at all, the ending was pretty awesome, and I believe it really sets the tone for what could potentially be a great S6, that is if that’s actually happening AND if the writers stop it with the bullshit. Franklin and Anna-Kat getting engaged was very sweet, I adore them! Taylor and Trip getting really engaged was a bit cringe, but still adorable, and I love it! I just wish they had paid more attention to Oliver in this episode, but well, I guess his bang is not here yet and not every episode can be a banger. I hope that whatever comes next will be good enough that the wait will be worth it.

Tier 4: *Chef’s kiss, no pun intended*

3. 5x01 Graduation

Although this episode doesn’t really belong to this season, and it doesn’t share the same 〜vibe〜 with the rest of the episodes, since it has more of a S3-S4 energy, it’s still in S5 and I wanted to include it, too.

Not my favorite, but it’s one of the good ones imo. So much stuff happens in this episode that it almost feels cramped and overwhelming to me, with the graduation and the wedding, but I get that it was necessary to set the scene for S5 and close S4 even if it didn’t turn out the way they’d originally planned, and it came out fine considering the situation the producers were in, which can’t be said for every episode this season lol.

Taylor and Trip were adorable in this episode, Cooper was amazing, Oliver moping around was something I didn’t know I needed in my life, and Lonnie’s speech about not wanting his relationship with Greg to end, even if I never cared for his storyline, was really nice.

This episode made me think that S5 was headed toward amazing things, but not everything was good.

2. 5x09 The Heist

I love this episode because of Cooper’s development. Again, why couldn’t Oliver get that too? However, I did like how they made Oliver seem like he might’ve been a bit thirsty for his fellow Cooper over there, telling him multiple times that he’s good looking? Come on, tell us what you really mean.

Anyway, Cooliver really shone this episode, round of applause.

1. 5x03 Coupling

This episode is superior, bite me. I love everything about this episode, not only Cooliver. Katie and Greg trying to be supportive of their kids having sex with their boyfriends? Yes! Parallels between all four couples? Yes, please! Cooper and Oliver having their first married couple fight, Cooper feeling like he’s being replaced, but Oliver is doing it for the both of them and their future together? Yes! Masterpiece of an episode. I have no more to say.

Hands down, my favorite episode this season. Too bad mostly everything went downhill after that. I hope we do get a season 6 and that things pick up. This series deserves redemption, and Cooper and Oliver deserve to be happily in love together. Thank you.

[the-paris-of-people]

1-5, 7, 8, 10-14, 16-20 for the ask game? Sorry for all the questions😅 just curious!

Love the questions! Ask away :) Also feel free to drop by my inbox and vent your random thoughts/theories.

13, 16, 18-20 are here and here!

Who is your favorite female character?

Kamala or Nalini are my favorite female characters! They are such badasses and are so complex I love them both. They also are very relatable to me since I grew with up multiple strong, Indian women as role models in my household. I particularly love their focus on career and how deeply they care about their family!

2. Who is your favorite male character?

Argh!!! This is difficult because I don't like the male characters on the same level as the females. For now, I think Dr. Jackson but I also have a soft spot for Mr. Ben Gross.

3. Who is your favorite overall character? And why?

My favorite is Kamala because she's hilarious (she had one of my favorite lines: the police work with just anyone), hardworking and intelligent, a biology nerd like me, and indulges in some trash TV (I also hate and love riverdale at the same time)

4. Who is your favorite side character? And why?

My favorite side character is Nirmala! I just love the way she's written and she behaves so similarly to my grandmother. She also deserves more appreciation for being the only person to stand up and care for Nalini.

5. Who is your least favorite character? And why

My least favorite character is Malcolm because he's an emotionally abusive dick who was (implied to be) cheating on Eleanor. I'm glad that shit is over with sooner rather than later and I hope he doesn't make an appearance again. At the same time I thought the satire of a douchebag was pretty fun and the actor is very talented.

7. What’s your most unpopular opinion?

Honestly, I thought Devi two-timing Paxton and Ben was kind of hilarious and I enjoyed watching her try to have it all as a woman. Obviously it's morally wrong but it was very in character for Devi and it was super funny to me that she was like "I'll just date both of them, it requires no mature decision making or introspection." I laughed my ass off LOL

8. What’s your favorite thing about this show?

I love that they decided to take on the manifestation of teenage grief. Lang Fisher's brother also apparently experienced psychosomatic weakness after the separation of their parents (double check me on that in Mindy's Fresh Air episode) and it was a really interesting aspect of Devi's grief. I also love Devi's hotheaded personality, and how that is intensified after the death of her dad, combined with impaired decision making abilities and underdeveloped prefrontal cortex of a teenager, it makes for plenty of disasters but also plenty of hilarity and heart. Crazy Ex Girlfriend is one of my favorite shows of all time, and Never Have I Ever reminds me of it a lot.

I also love the portrayal of Indian family dynamics. I think Devi's mom is similar (but also very different) to mine, and I adore that Kamala and Nirmala also live with them too- the extended family is part of the family too!

10. What was your favorite thing about season 2?

My favorite thing about season 2 was the introduction of all the new characters! I adored them all! I also really appreciated and adored Paxton's character development and his project on his grandfather.

11. What did you hate about season 2?

I've mentioned the Aneesa/anoxeria rumor/storyline but the handling of that upset me a lot. I hope that they expand on it more in s3.

The second thing I hated (or didn't like) was that Eleanor and Fabiola were each gone for an episode so the three of them weren't together as much as they could have been. In general, I felt like a lot of characters had a lot less screen time/interactions with Devi (in particular I would've loved to see more of Fabiola, Kamala/her mom/Nirmala, Dr. Ryan, Aneesa, etc. etc.) idk if this was due to COVID-19 restrictions or what but idk it seemed like all the characters interacted a lot less than the previous season which may be in my imagination or because I am greedy

12. Who is the character you relate to the most?

Ughhhhh I do relate to Devi the most and that's why I get so frustrated when she makes poor choices!

14. What is your favorite ship, besides daxton and benvi?

Dr. Jackson and Nalini all the way!!!!!!! They are so cute together and Nalini deserves someone kind and patient to her the way Dr. Jackson is. Plus the enemies to lovers is so similar to Ben and Devi clearly Mindy loves that trope but I am not complaining at all!

17. Do you read fanfic? And if so what is your favorite fic?

I just started reading fanfic and I love this one by @parkersedith aka magnetic hearts where Ben and Devi are fake-married

[gra-sonas]

I know this topic is such a sensitive one because of how stressed and worried some are about Alex’s involvement in the season or at least the last episodes. So if it’s not a topic you wish to keep discussing please feel free to ignore! But I was thinking about some of these scenes recently filmed where it seems that everyone is accounted for expect him (and Max I guess). As much as we all want Alex in group scenes, the more I thought about it, a character stands a better chance of getting some focus if they’re in their own scene. Having at least 6 of the mains all together, often scenes like this only a couple really have the focus while the others are supporting or hell even there because they need to be included. Since there’s no way Alex is just chilling at home, if he’s not in the scene with everyone I truly believe he’s doing something super important in the moment and we’ll keep cutting back to it and he’ll get the focus he deserves. And honestly, this kind of happened in 12 where mostly everyone was together but it only lasted a short time before people broke off in groups and had their own purpose.

Anyway, sorry to keep harping on this! I just know people, myself included, have been a bit disheartened with spoilers lately and I’ve appreciated all the different theories and perspectives of what could be going on.

Have a great day!

I get being worried, I’m just a little overwhelmed bc whenever Tyler’s not in bts content, my inbox is getting flooded with “negative” messages (in the sense that people “complain” about Alex being sidelined, not getting the attention he deserves, and whatnot), even though there’s no evidence for any of that.

There’s rarely any bts content of him from the past 2 seasons, which makes it seem like he simply doesn’t want to be in it. Tyler not being in pics or vids is no confirmation that he’s not on set tho, even less confirmation that Alex won’t be involved in storylines, or will be sidelined.

We know next to nothing about S3, we barely know when they filmed which episodes, and we only have a vague idea about a handful of characters, and maybe one or two storylines. We’ve speculated a lot, and at least half of it is probably nonsense and won’t happen, or play out differently, and that’s fine.

But always assuming the absolute worst for Alex just because Tyler’s not featured in a pic? I don’t understand why that’s even a thing. And it almost makes me not want to speculate about Alex anymore (which SUCKS bc he’s my favorite), bc these kinds of messages “drain” my excitement. (Not sure if that makes sense?)

Anyway, whether Alex is going to hack stuff or do something else, I’m certain he will be involved in bringing down the Big Bad in a meaningful way. :D

Have a great day yourself, nonnie!

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 65 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 98 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 94 Responses

Although a bit muted compared to last week, the response to this episode was still overwhelmingly positive, with 96.8% of people giving it a rating of 3 and higher. MAPPA’s on a roll!

Amazing!!!!

i just wanna see more!! 20 minutes is not enough. its too good

Awesome episode! Great pacing and the cgi was not too noticeable.

WAAAAYYYYY TOO HYPE

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 93 Responses

Mikasa and Levi took the spotlight this week! 30.1% of viewers felt most hyped up by Mikasa’s “explosive” reintroduction to the anime, while 22.6% were stoked to see Levi take on Porco to save Eren. 18.3% were most hyped by the Survey Corps taking on the Jaw Titan and the subsequent cliffhanger.

THE CGI CONTINUES TO BE A POINT OF CONTENTION. BE HONEST, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE EXECUTION OF CGI SO FAR THIS SEASON? 93 Responses

Just under 50% of responses seemed to indicate that they thought MAPPA was doing very well with the CGI utilized. A little over 15% stated that although it was not their favorite, they understood that it could be a lot worse. Other responses (in order) were being neutral about the CGI, not liking it, but understanding the need for its usage and folks who adamantly rejected 3D animation. 

I actually prefer CGI titans because of the way their movements looks, it looks almost slower, to me it fits very well with how the big titans are. Im not an anime guy at all so ive never seen cgi in other anime but i really like the way Mappa's CGI looks, it blends in very well. I dont like CGI people though, the shot with Jean throwing the marly soldier off the rooftop i didn't like very much.

I feel horrible saying this believe me... but I really vibed with the CGI up until this episode. I think maybe because it's the first time its been used on humans (OPM) rather then titans. I'm not massively put off though, I really apreciate the efforts this episode must have taken. TY Mappa

The episode is great no doubt, my only concern is the CG personally, as a 3D artist myself, I think I would prefer an all 2D medium like the battle at Stohess. Using 3D is fine as long as it blends seamlessly to the background, like kengan ashura, it's not perfect but bearable.

I honestly think that 2D will always 100% be better than cgi but I can understand why mappa is using cgi

It was fine in the other episodes, but in this episode, it looked overused and bit bad

HOW WAS EREN’S ROOFTOP SWAN DIVE? 94 Responses

When it came down to Eren’s swan rooftop dive (“Like a fallennn angel…”), the majority seemed to be impressed, with 68% giving it a score of 4 or higher. It was not a monolithic opinion however and many seemed also rated it poorly. Do better, Eren!

WHICH RETURNING CHARACTER’S ENTRANCE WAS YOUR FAVORITE IN THIS EPISODE? 94 Responses

The Survey Corps has returned! Of these reappearances, viewers most enjoyed Mikasa’s (48.9%), Levi’s (31.9%) and Sasha’s (14.9%) the most. Jean and Connie got a little less love, though we’re sure people were still happy to see them!

WHICH RETURNING CHARACTERS HAS THE BEST GLOW UP? 93 Responses

It would appear that the slight plurality sees Mikasa as having the best glow up out of the cast, followed by (in order) Eren, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Floch and Levi. The Old Captain doesn’t like to change up his style, we suppose. 

Eren didn't have a glow up- he had a glow down.

Mikasa can stomp on me please god

OF ALL THE ORIGINAL CAST, WE STILL HAVE NOT SEEM ARMIN, HANGE OR HISTORIA YET. WHICH OF THE THREE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING NEXT? 93 Responses

In relation to the previous question, we still haven’t seen 3 major members of the cast. Armin, Hange and Historia. When we asked which of the three you were most looking forward to seeing next, the slight majority (52.7%) expressed their excitement for seeing Armin again, followed by 11.8% wanting to see Hange most. Some others have also expressed their desire to see Historia again. 17.2% simply could not choose and 10.8% stated that they simply didn’t care about the 3 characters.

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE WARHAMMER TITAN? 90 Responses

The Warhammer received an overwhelmingly positive response, with the majority expressing much excitement over both its design and powers. 15.6% noted that the design was a bit too creepy for their liking, but the powers were awesome. And on the flip side, 10% noted the Titan’s design was rather cool, in contrast to its rather OP ability. A select few did not enjoy either aspect. 

Would probably enjoy it more if it belonged to someone that likely is not going to be just cannon fodder

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW UNIFORMS? 92 Responses

The Survey Corps returned sporting new uniforms to much fanfare. 30.4% of respondents really enjoy the upgrade, finding the suits to be badass. 23.9% couldn’t find the words and just settled for pure hype. 20.7% enjoy the new uniforms just as much as they enjoy the classic uniforms. 12% felt it was a much needed upgrade, though 10.9% don’t care at all about the uniform change.

I like both but I prefer the old design

EREN SAYS TO MIKASA, “YOU GUYS ACTUALLY CAME.” THIS IS FOLLOWED UP BY MIKASA ASKING EREN TO COME HOME. DOES THIS INSINUATE THAT EREN WENT TO THE MAINLAND ON HIS OWN? 90 Responses

The circumstances of the Survey Corps’ presence on the mainland continues to be a mystery. When we asked about whether Eren was there alone or not a few episodes ago, the majority believed that he was either there alongside the Survey Corps or was sent there by them. Overall, the feelings seem to be the same (that Eren came alongside the Survey Corps). 45.6% think that Mikasa’s words may have some other meaning and that things are way too planned out to be coincidence. 18.9% believe that Eren did go rogue, while 15.6% think that Eren didn’t necessarily go rogue, but wasn’t working with them for a while either. The remaining 20% have already been spoiled on this particular plot point.

THE ATTACK ON LIBERIO SEEMS TO PARALLEL THE BREACH OF SHIGANSHINA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS EVENT IN COMPARISON? 92 Responses

Now that both sides of the conflict have had their rude awakening, we asked how you guys felt about the two events comparatively. 33.7% feel that both attacks were tragic, but still feel more empathy toward the Eldians on Paradis than they do toward those who were raised on Marley. At a tie, 22.8% of respondents felt that the victims of the Liberio attack got what was coming with them, while another 22.8% felt about the same amount of sympathy for the victims on both sides. 10.9% feel this is way worse than what happened in Shiganshina and feel more sympathy for the victims in Liberio. 

I am yet to know the goals behind this attack.

Marley did this countless times so I don’t feel bad for them. I kind of feel for eldians tho bc they are brainwashed from a young age to give up their lives for a country who doesn’t give a shit about them. 

Honestly they deserve what Eren is doing to them. Excluding Falco, no one outside of Paradis has earned my sympathy, even with the additional context.

SADLY, UDO AND ZOFIA DID NOT SURVIVE THE ATTACK ON LIBERIO. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THEIR DEATHS? 91 Responses

Udo and Zofia have joined the ranks of characters who tagged along with the main cast for a while only to be killed off for character development. 25.3% anticipated at least one of them to die, but not both. Another tie on this poll, 24.2% stated that they were disappointed and was hoping to see more of them, while another 24.2% didn’t care about them at all. 14.3% are happy to ditch the focus on them in favor of more familiar characters, and 8.8% feel pure and utter devastation. 

Good riddance Warrior scum

Sad but allows for Gabi’s development 

sad but okay. death is common in this anime.

EREN AND FLOCH’S LAST INTERACTION IN S3 WAS A VERY TENSE ARGUMENT. NOW IT SEEMS FLOCH IS DEDICATED TO EREN’S CALL TO ACTION, SHIFTING THE “NECESSARY DEVIL” STATUS FROM ERWIN ONTO HIM. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS LIKE NOW? 91 Responses

Eren and Floch were anything but BFF’s at the closing of season 3. Now Floch seems to be wholly devoted to Eren’s cause… What changed? 28.6% believe that nothing has actually changed in terms of their relationship, but that Floch simply just latched onto Eren’s fight in need of a new devil. 23.1% feel that they still aren’t friends, but are in more comfortable “ally” territory. 15.4% aren’t sure what to make of it. Smaller handfuls feel that they either grew to become friends and/or co-conspired to attack Liberio together. 22% are already spoiled on the details. 

Floch is easily persuaded...and annoying 🤷‍♀️

WE SEE GABI GRAB THE GUARD’S FUN AFTER WITNESSING SASHA KILL HIM. WHAT DO YOU THINK MIGHT HAPPEN? 90 Responses

Gabi moves headstrong into the fight, wanting to play her part in defending her hometown. A large chunk of anime only viewers have been spoiled on future developments for her character. But for those still in the dark - 24.4% feel that she will successfully kill a member of the Survey Corps. 21.1% aren’t sure what to expect, while 10% think she will only manage to injure someone in the Survey Corps. Smaller amounts feel she won’t be successful in any capacity or may even die herself.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Epic episode, survey corps come back, OH YEAH, but I wished they didn’t use CGI on humans and bettered the CGI on Titans.

It really makes me sad how Eren is continuing the cycle of revenge by killing innocent Marleyan civilians, but it makes sense for his character. 

Real cool ep but w h e r e a r m i n

It sucks that I like the warriors and the Corp bc both of them are victims in different way so seeing them have to go head to head sucks. They all deserve better

SO great I loved it! However, I missed Reiner, Falco, and Zeke. I hope they're okay :-) RIP Udo and Zofia :-(

I think I need more dialogue between the old crew to really settle back in with them. I kinda believe that Mappa's still trying to 'click', they obviously can't just get it right immediately. Other then that I loved the titan scenes, more than ODM scenes 😔

This was a great episode and I was literally vibrating in my seat from excitement! I think MAPPA is doing a great job with the animation and the music works really well with the action. Can’t wait for the rest of the season!

I miss wit studio

Willy seems to have his first daughter really early, he looks like 30 !

I’d say the episode as a whole is a solid 8-9/10, the cgi in some parts really ruins the moment for me

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 88 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Genuine question what is billions even about I see clips all the time and I cannot figure out what the plot is besides like “business” but I am very much in love w Taylor Mason (i think that’s their last name?) so I am intrigued ...

oh i’m so glad you asked

yeah it’s not at all a Just You thing, not only do we often only post about a particular slice of the series, it’s just REALLY difficult to get (or provide. but i’m always up for the challenge) a sense of what Billions is like as a series like, genre wise, and re: the plot, my god, every [usually more than 50 min but less than an hour] episode is a journey, in that So much will have happened. it moves at a Pace, i can tell you. but you know, good news in that it’s not really necessary to explain every plot thread ever, b/c it’s as much about its Themes or what have you

the stats rundown is billions is a weekly showtime tv series partway through its 5th season (12 episodes per season, currently they are producing the last half of s5 but had been on pandemic production hiatus for the past year, we do not yet know when the rest of s5 will air, s6 was greenlit a while ago) this isn’t really need to know for this question lol, but you don’t need to Not know either

the like, content Rundown is that yeah, it’s business, mostly high finance, although one of the main characters is always doing Legal Stuff (don’t care really b/c that side of things is not generally as relevant to, yes, taylor mason, who Makes the series). the kind of overarching Theme / premise is that the show is about like, here’s these Conflicts between people who are wielding some power in various ways, looking at the motivations of the individuals involved / the Cause And Effect web of these conflicts between them, e.g. how the consequences / fallout of one Power Play Maneuver will affect someone else’s storyline and result in them executing their own maneuvers, and of course, the pitfalls of all of this. more specifically, the series kicks off with the two (then (taylor is introduced in season 2) mainest characters, Axe, ceo of a hedge fund, and Chuck, some kind of lawyer who decides to go after axe b/c axe thinks he’s hot shit (true) and chuck is like ohhh i gotta do something about this guy. so there’s an Unending Conflict, axe vs chuck, an ongoing back and forth series of small or more overarching battles, and of course sometimes alliances, because there’s a Lot of characters on this show and we’re in season 5 so there’s been plenty of other Conflicts introduced besides this particular ongoing war. also, uh oh, chuck’s wife wendy works for the hedge fund axe runs! that’s just a whole wrench in things. as some sort of like, in house therapist performance coach sort of deal, thanks wendy, she’s also fairly a Main Character

axe is somewhat more relevant for our purposes b/c that’s that Finance side of the show via which taylor is introduced. but yeah both axe and chuck are exasperating lmfao like, this isn’t a show where it’s about the Likeability of whatever main character where like, you’re rooting for the obviously righteous / justified person or anything, it’s more about being along for the ride where you get to know Why people are engaging in these conflicts for sure, but like, unless you’re one of plenty of fans who maybe aren’t bringing the most Insight to the show who find any of this like, aspirational Epic Winner stuff like hell yeah axe or chuck as the Cool Guy Who Deserves To Win lmfao, being along for the ride is knowing that you’re just getting to watch this unfolding mess, so that’s “fun” lol

to get more to the point, yeah Taylor Mason is again the best part of the series lol, they’re introduced early in s2 as a Very Talented young iintern at axe capital (axe’s hedge fund) who, yknow, part of what makes axe an Eventful character to center things around is he’s (sometimes) capable re: all these strategic finance maneuvers, and also all “i don’t play by the rules,” which can often mean like, the actual rules like “no insider trading please” or more kinda implicit moral rules like “don’t keep taking Business Advantage over people’s deaths,” and here means that even though taylor is this early to mid 20something intern with no experience in finance who’s not even, at that juncture, necessarily planning to stay in the industry, he’s like yeah they’re valuable and i’m not gonna hold them back from that potential / opportunities * just because they’re a 20something new to the industry intern who definitely doesn’t behave in the Usual Way around here and is also a canon nonbinary character, thanks ( * you might not believe it, but axe does not proceed to only ever be a potential encouraging, opportunity creating ally* (*although, one nice thing is that they....almost always....have axe adamantly hold everyone who works with him to respecting taylor as a nonbinary person, at least in how they address taylor. b/c taylor Does get misgendered periodically, which can be exhausting, but they also aren’t exactly striving to hold it to what might be most “””realistic””” so like, taylor isn’t subject to transphobia and misgendering All The Time either) and so taylor very quickly goes beyond internship at axe cap, to the extent that when, at the end of season 2, axe effectively leaves them in charge of the whole fund when his own fuckups mean he temporarily Can’t helm axe cap

aaand then s3 starts off with taylor running things but has axe return Officially in charge soon enough, so there’s problems there, in that axe is now pulling taylor Back, and like, axe is alllllll about his ego, so it’s like, of course he’d Want taylor to have been able to successfully run axe cap while he couldn’t, since it’s his fund, but then of course he’s also mad about it b/c he needs everyone, like taylor, to know he’s better & more winning than them. and taylor doesn’t appreciate now being more sabotaged and stifled and that, like, if they’re mad about being treated this way, axe is just gonna be mad about That b/c you know, why aren’t they Only grateful to their mentor or deferential to his Skill And Experience, as well as the fact that no matter how much of an Ally you are to him, he’ll be mad if you’re not unilaterally loyal, aka if he fucks you over you can’t be mad about it or that’s actually a way you’re wronging Him, and you’re also wronging him if yknow, you say he can’t/shouldn’t just do what he wants, or do anything that to him implies you don’t think he’s objectively the Best most Winning and Deserving guy in whatever regards, like, if you’re associated with someone who makes him feel insecure in his superiority for one moment, and/or who he thinks doesn’t also recognize his superiority or something, he’ll be mad at you.......the Conflicts can arise v easily around here with this beloved character walking around. so, yeah, whereas season 2 for taylor is more like wow taylor you’ve got all this potential and value here, in season 3 taylor’s sure got reason to question their future at axe cap (see this post resident Billions / Taylor Mason Pro soph made last night) and, when not only are they and axe just more often going head to head over what they want here, there’s also this added egregious conflict of “taylor starts seeing this guy oscar who’s also in finance (but not at axe cap) and when they ask axe for some input on a matter via which they intended to help oscar out, axe uses that Information taylor just used to fuck oscar over to his own advantage, and when taylor is like ‘what the hell’ axe is just like ‘what’d you expect!! i gotta be me!!! if you expected anything different, that’s on you, and if you Did expect me to do this, that’s also on you’ because i’m sure it’s a surprise to hear that axe considers himself this like, force of nature where all his feelings and motivations and justifications are Objective and Correct, and then taylor has to tell oscar what happened and naturally this ends the relationship, to their evident further unhappiness” and oops, season 3 ends with taylor having started their own hedge fund.

i could give a tl;dr for what happens over the course of s4 & (so far in) s5, but i think the s2/s3 arcs are kinda the Essential Lore for explaining this character who crashes into the show (not in that their character tends to crash, their arrival and presence is clearly somewhat of a shakeup re: the norm, but they themself are all about staying balanced and Not being driven by tumultuous emotional impulses or anything like that, *cough, the characters they are quite a Foil to in this way*) and quickly ascends to Main Charactership. (also just remembered the other stats note that taylor is played by asia kate dillon, who is themself nonbinary.) another element that is a lot of fun re: taylor is that they have like, the series’ best Friendship lol, the show is not very conducive to a bunch of characters having a bunch of heartwarming relationships, though they sure Do appreciate those characters and let us see a lot of Dynamics at play even beyond the “these people are locked in conflict” plots and characterful interactions and moments for their own sakes, and Alliances, even friendships, sure are the other side of the Ongoing Conflicts coin here. but what i’m getting around to is that taylor gets to be good buds with mafee, a Guy who was working at axe cap already in season 1, who, along with ben kim (Another Guy At Axe Cap in S1, who we are also fans of) is like, one of the actually nice(r) people around there, and who is just like. such this Hapless Cishet Dude lmfaooo but he also happens to be the guy overseeing taylor’s (and presumably others’) internship, and is yknow, maybe kinda conflicted about “i’ve Been an actual employee this whole time and there goes an intern rocketing past me” but is also Supportive towards taylor, and taylor in turn is an Ally to him, and they are Friends, and when taylor starts their own fund, Taylor Mason Capital, mafee is the person from axe cap who helps them do it and leaves axe cap to work for them there. there’s also a part in s4, after an arc in the middle of the season ended up with taylor taking quite an emotional L, mafee has gone and confronted Responsible Parties over it and, naturally, ended up in a charity interfund Boxing Match (which, a] billions is deliberately Wild plenty of times in both its Elevated Dialogue style but also just like, things that happen lol but b] apparently that’s something that can & does happen in real life in hedge fund world. absolutely bizarre to learn this kind of stuff) taylor kinda gives him this pep talk including “asking you to come with me (to TMC, mase cap, their fund) was the best decision i ever made” and even back then, when we’d just started paying attention to the show fairly recently and weren’t exactly familiar with everyone and everything going on, it was like oh i Gotta post that clip lmao

there are many other side characters, this is a very Populated show, including like, recurring characters, people liable to be introduced at various points who might become regulars Or make repeat appearances but more periodically Or be around for part of a season, but naturally also i am mentioning one specific side character of Winston (No Official Last Name), who is a Quant, aka a quantitative rather than fundamental analyst, who first appeared in One Scene at the start of season 3 when taylor was looking to hire some quants for a project, but did not succeed, and the character (then only Quant Kid 2) was only meant to have that one appearance, but delightfully everyone wanted him back and they wrote more material for him asap. taylor later brings him on to their quant project, which is revealed to be part of what ensures they can start their own fund, and in season 4 winston is apparently the head of the quant team at mase cap, and he continues to appear as taylor’s main Quant. could go into a long (and, as he’s not a Main Character and it’s easier to cover his material, very thorough) tangent there lol but you’re asking about taylor and i’m only bringing up winston b/c technically he Is relevant there lmfao but also, i have to, and [tfw this side character quant who was originally only going to appear in one brief scene was the reason you got into this series in the first place and now it’s like well, We’re Here Forever, and also, taylor mason is The character]

natch you must’ve noticed if you’re sending me an ask about billions, but if you like taylor mason you Gotta be following @nothingunrealistic the #1 Tayficianado and who has also recently nobly finished Actually Properly Watching Billions and who can give you all kinds of info about the character / series, there’s A LOT to cover and it’s kinda impossible to convey some stuff w/o simply experiencing things yourself firsthand lmfao but also, we think about these characters and this show every day for like, two years and running, so. as you can see......totally willing to talk about it at any time to any extent lol

[birdlord]

Everything I Watched in 2020

We’ll start with movies. The number in parentheses is the year of release, asterisks denote a re-watch, and titles in bold are my favourite watches of the year. Here’s 2019’s list. 

01 Little Women (19)

02 The Post (17) 

03 Molly’s Game (17)

04 * Doctor No (62)

05 Groundhog Day (93)

06 *Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (86)

07 Knives Out (19) My last theatre experience (sob)

08 Professor Marston and his Wonder Women (17)

09 Les Miserables (98)

10 Midsommar (19) I’m not sure how *good* it is, but it does stick in the ol’ brain

11 *Manhattan Murder Mystery (93)

12 Marriage Story (19)

13 Kramer vs Kramer (79)

14 Jojo Rabbit (19)

15 J’ai perdu mon corps (19) a cute animated film about a hand detached from its body!

16 1917 (19)

17 Married to the Mob (88)

18 Klaus (19)

19 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (19) If Little Women made me want to wear a scarf criss-crossed around my torso, this one made me want to wear a cloak

20 The Last Black Man in San Francisco (19)

21 *Lawrence of Arabia (62)

22 Gone With the Wind (39)

23 Kiss Me Deadly (55)

24 Dredd (12)

25 Heartburn (86) heard a bunch about this one in the Blank Check series on Nora Ephron, sadly after I’d watched it

26 The Long Shot (19)

27 Out of Africa (85)

28 King Kong (46)

29 *Johnny Mnemonic (95)

30 Knocked Up (07)

31 Collateral (04)

32 Bird on a Wire (90)

33 The Black Dahlia (05)

34 Long Time Running (17)

35 *Magic Mike (12)

36 Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (07)

37 Cold War (18)

38 *Kramer Vs Kramer (79) yes I watched this a few months before! This was a pandemic friend group co-watch.

39 *Burn After Reading (08)

40 Last Holiday (50)

41 Fly Away Home (96)

42 *Moneyball (11) I’m sure I watch this every two years, at most??

43 Last Holiday (06) the Queen Latifah version of the 1950 movie above, lacking, of course, the brutal “poor people don’t deserve anything good” ending

44 *Safe (95)

45 Gimme Shelter (70)

46 The Daytrippers (96)

47 Experiment in Terror (62)

48 Tucker: The Man and His Dream (88)

49 My Brilliant Career (79) one of the salvations of 2020 was watching movies “with” friends. Our usual method was to video chat before the movie, sync our streaming services, and text-chat while the movie was on. 

50 Divorce Italian Style (61)

51 *Gosford Park (01) another classic comfort watch, fuck I love a G. Park

52 Hopscotch (80)

53 Brief Encounter (45)

54 Hud (63)

55 Ocean’s 8 (18)

56 *Beverly Hills Cop (84)

57 Blow the Man Down (19)

58 Constantine (05)

59 The Report (19) maddening!! How are people so consistently terrible to one another!

60 Everyday People (04)

61 Anatomy of a Murder (58)

62 Spiderman: Homecoming (17)

63 *To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (95) Of the 90s drag road movies, Priscilla is more visually striking, but this has its moments.

64 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (92)

65 *The Truman Show (98)

66 Mona Lisa (86)

67 The Blob (58)

68 The Guard (11)

69 *Waiting for Guffman (96) RIP Fred Willard

70 Rocketman (19)

71 Outside In (18)

72 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (08) how strange to see a movie that you have known the premise for, but no details of, for over a decade

73 *Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (91)

74 The Reader (08)

75 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (19) This was fine until it VERY MUCH WAS NOT FINE

76 The End of the Affair (99) you try to watch a fun little romp about infidelity during the Blitz, and Graham Greene can’t help but shoehorn in a friggin crisis of religious faith

77 Must Love Dogs (05) barely any dog content, where are the dogs at

78 The Rainmaker (97)

79 *Batman & Robin (97)

80 National Lampoon’s Vacation (83) Never seen any of the non-xmas Vacations, didn’t realize the children are totally different, not just actors but ages! Also, this one is blatantly racist!

81 *Mystic Pizza (88)

82 Funny Girl (68)

83 The Sons of Katie Elder (65)

84 *Knives Out (19) another re-watch within the same year!! How does this keep happening??

85 *Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (10) a real I-just-moved-away-from-Toronto nostalgia watch

86 Canadian Bacon (92) vividly recall this VHS at the video store, but I never saw it til 2020

87 *Blood Simple (85)

88 Brittany Runs a Marathon (19)

89 The Accidental Tourist (88)

90 August Osage County (13) MELO-DRAMA!!

91 Appaloosa (08)

92 The Firm (93) Feeling good about how many iconic 80s/90s video store stalwarts I watched in 2020

93 *Almost Famous (00)

94 Whisper of the Heart (95)

95 Da 5 Bloods (20)

96 Rain Man (88)

97 True Stories (86)

98 *Risky Business (83) It’s not about what you think it’s about! It never was!

99 *The Big Chill (83)

100 The Way We Were (73)

101 Safety Last (23) It’s getting so that I might have to add the first two digits to my dates...not that I watch THAT many movies from the 1920s...

102 Phantasm (79)

103 The Burrowers (08)

104 New Jack City (91)

105 The Vanishing (88)

106 Sisters (72)

107 Puberty Blues (81) Little Aussie cinema theme, here

108 Elevator to the Gallows (58)

109 Les Diaboliques (55)

110 House (77) haha WHAT no really W H A T

111 Death Line (72)

112 Cranes are Flying (57)

113 Holes (03)

114 *Lady Vengeance (05)

115 Long Weekend (78)

116 Body Double (84)

117 The Crazies (73) I love that Romero shows the utter confusion that would no doubt reign in the case of any kind of disaster. Things fall apart.

118 Waterlilies (07)

119 *You’re Next (11)

120 Event Horizon (97)

121 Venom (18) I liked it, guys, way more than most superhero fare. Has a real sense of place and the place ISN’T New York!

122 Under the Silver Lake (18) RIP Night Call

123 *Blade Runner (82)

124 *The Birds (62) interesting to see now that I’ve read the story it came from

125 *28 Days Later (02) hits REAL FUCKIN’ DIFFERENT in a pandemic

126 Life is Sweet (90)

127 *So I Married an Axe Murderer (93) find me a more 90s movie, I dare you (it’s not possible)

128 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (67)

129 The Pelican Brief (93) 90s thrillers continue!

130 Dick Johnston is Dead (20)

131 The Bridges of Madison County (95)

132 Earth Girls are Easy (88) Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum are so hot in this movie, no wonder they got married 

133 Better Watch Out (16)

134 Drowning Mona (00) trying for something like the Coen bros and not getting there

135 Au Revoir Les Enfants (87)

136 *Chasing Amy (97) Affleck is the least alluring movie lead...ever? I also think I gave Joey Lauren Adams’ character short shrift in my memory of the movie. It’s not good, but she’s more complicated than I recalled. 

137 Blackkklansman (18)

138 Being Frank (19)

139 Kiki’s Delivery Service (89)

140 Uncle Frank (20) why so many FRANKS

141 *National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (89) watching with pals (virtually) made it so much more fun than the usual yearly watch!

142 Half Baked (98) another, more secret Toronto nostalgia pic - RC Harris water filtration plant as a prison!

143 We’re the Millers (13)

144 All is Bright (13)

145 Defending Your Life (91)

146 Christmas Chronicles (18) I maintain that most new xmas movies are terrible, particularly now that Netflix churns them out like eggnog every year. 

147 Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse (18)

148 Reindeer Games (00) what did I say about Affleck??!? WHAT DID I SAY

149 Palm Springs (20)

150 Happiest Season (20)

151 *Metropolitan (90) it’s definitely a Christmas movie

152 Black Christmas (74)

THEATRE:HOME - 2:150 (thanks pandemic)

I usually separate out docs and fiction, but I watched almost no documentaries this year (with the exception of Dick Johnston). Reality is real enough. 

TV Series

01 - BoJack Horseman (final season) - Pretty damned poignant finish to the show, replete with actual consequences for our reformed bad boy protagonist (which is more than you can say for most antiheroes of Peak TV).

02 - *Hello Ladies - I enjoy the pure awkwardness of seeing Stephen Merchant try to perform being a Regular Person, but ultimately this show tips him too far towards a nasty, Ricky Gervais-lite sort of persona. Perhaps he was always best as a cameo appearance, or lip synching with wild eyes while Chrissy Teigen giggles?

03 - Olive Kittredge - a rough watch by times. I read the book as well, later in the year. Frances Mcdormand was the best, possibly the only, casting option for the flinty lead. One episode tips into thriller territory, which is a shock. 

04 - *The Wire S3, S4, S5 - lockdown culture! It was interesting to rewatch this, then a few months later go through an enormous, culture-level reappraisal of cop-centred narratives. 

05 - Forever - a Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen joint that coasts on the charm of its leads. The premise is OK, but I wasn’t left wanting any more at the end. 

06 - *Catastrophe - a rewatch when my partner decided he wanted to see it, too!

07 - Red Oak - resolutely “OK” steaming dramedy, relied heavily on some pretty obvious cues to get across its 1980s setting. 

08 - Little Fires Everywhere - gulped this one down while in 14-day isolation, delicious! Every 90s suburban mom had that SUV, but not all of them had the requisite **secrets**

09 - The Great - fun historical comedy/drama! Costumes: lush. Actors: amusing. Race-blind casting: refreshing!

10 - The Crown S4 - this is the season everyone lost their everloving shit for, since it’s finally recent enough history that a fair chunk of the viewing audience is liable to recall it happening. 

11 - Ted Lasso - we resisted this one for a while (thought I did enjoy the ad campaign for NBC sports (!!) that it was based on). My view is that its best point was the comfort that the men on the show have (or develop, throughout the season) with the acknowledgement and sharing of their own feelings. Masculinity redux. 

12 - Moonbase 8 - Goodnatured in a way that makes you certain they will be crushed. 

13 - The Good Lord Bird - Ethan Hawke is really aging into the character actor we always hoped he would be! 

14 - Hollywood - frothy wish-fulfillment alternate history. I think the show would have been improved immeasurably by skipping the final episode.

[birdyisanightingale]

THT S4 Predictions: Brazil Trailer

Back by popular demand, I’m going to be doing a comprehensive set of predictions based on the Brazilian S4 trailer which has additional footage to the main one. If you want to watch it, here’s the link: https://www.handmaidsbrasil.com/2020/12/exclusivo-assista-ao-novo-teaser-legendado-da-quarta-temporada-de-tht.html

SPOILER ALERT!! Please be aware that if you keep reading there will be major S3 spoilers and potentially some S4 ones too!!

First up, we appear to have some sort of scene where June has been captured by eyes (or someone posing as the eyes - I’ll come back to this) . I think this must be at least an episode or so in because she seems to be walking fine and she doesn’t have any obvious injuries (she was basically dead at the end of S3). Another good sign is that she appears to be alone, so if she has indeed been taken by the eyes, they haven’t managed to capture all of the ‘magnificent seven’ (this is the new term being given to the fugitive handmaids from the end of the S3 Finale). 

However, considering the remote location, it looks likely that this scene may be an attempted execution of June. I know what you’re thinking, this is Gilead - if they want to kill you they won’t bother making it private, they’ll make an example out of you and leave you hanging on a wall until you rot. But think about it - at this point, killing June will not be an example, the resistance in all its different forms has gotten too big for that. If they kill June now, they will only be creating a martyr, and the only way to avoid that is to kill her secretly and get rid of all the evidence so no one knows if she’s dead or missing or maybe even escaped to Canada without telling anyone - a great way to crack a resistance is to take away the element of trust! Anyway that’s why they’d make her execution a quiet affair.

But here’s why I think it was only made to look like the yes have taken her. Judging from the location and costumes (although admittedly costume variety is particularly limited in this show), while this is later in the trailer, it looks like a continuation of the same scene. It looks almost like Nick knew that June was in a situation where either he intervened or she was captured (or worse) for real. He obviously still has to make it look somewhat legit because he’s a commander now and he needs to keep good standing to be able to help June and Mayday (not to mention, staying off the wall). 

I think this element of Nick being an asset to Mayday will be explored quite a lot this season, and beyond. Nick’s character development is particularly interesting because we’ve almost had a different Nick every season, but the writers are still finding new ways to surprise us with new dimensions to his character. In S1 we had ‘Nick the Eye’ who was battling this sense of duty and obligation that he had never bothered to question whether he agreed with his orders or not, with finally finding a reason to question those orders - June. Then in S2 when he’d finally gotten to a point where he’d chosen June over duty, we saw ‘Nick the husband’. We know from his flashbacks that he had a religious background before Gilead so he’s had ‘the sanctity of marriage’ instilled in him from a young age. So he’s somehow trying to reconcile his new role as a husband with his love for another woman who’s carrying his baby. And then we get the (admittedly infrequent) S3 ‘Nick the Soldier’ who we know absolutely nothing about, and how dominate that side of him is. Not dominant enough and Nick won’t have enough influence to be useful to Mayday, too dominant and he could potentially betray Mayday... we’ll have to wait and see...

“You can’t save her; some women don’t want to be saved.” Oof, literal chills. I’m really looking forward to this character dynamic. Both are commanders, both helped to create Gilead and regret it, and both have a connection to June. I know this is scene is talking about Nick wanting to save June and probably get her to Canada, but I can’t help thinking that the writers specifically wrote this line to have an underlying tone about Eleanor as her death will still be very fresh for Lawrence. 

This isn’t a prediction so much as a musing but I really hope there gets to be some sort of interaction between June and Lawrence about the circumstances of her suicide. Every time I watch the funeral scene where June and Lawrence just look at each other, I get more and more sure that Lawrence knows that something else happened that she’s not saying - he’s a smart man, after all.

Maybe this scene is a continuation of the ‘secluded forest/potential eyes’ scene. He could have asked her to stop “playing handmaid commander” (I believe this was a direct quote from S2, tell me if I’m wrong) and go with him to Canada and she refuses, hence why he goes to see Lawrence. That would fit the potential timeline as Lawrence would have to have been released from the interrogation scenes we saw in the main trailer, and we’ve established that the forest seven must be at least a few episodes in.

Speaking of rebel handmaid shenanigans, this looks fun! June is heard saying “Where we’re going isn’t safe.” and Mrs. Keyes (Mckenna Grace) replies “It’s not safe anywhere!”. I mean, straight off the bat, it looks like we’re going to get one hell of a performance from Mckenna Grace who seems insanely talented for 14! We’ve had it teased to us by different producers and show runners that Mrs. Keyes will be the confident teenage wife of a commander, who helps to facilitate the resistance. And, I mean being a child bride is horrifying so I can understand why she’s willing to help!

As where they’re actually going, I’m thinking that it’s got to be another ‘attack’ by Mayday. What that will look like is hard to say - another Lillie Fuller style bomb seems unlikely since the bomb-maker was moved and it doesn’t really seem like June’s style anyway (she’d rather go for the targeted kill without Handmaid/Martha casualties), and all remaining kids in Gilead will be under heavy security after the S3 Finale. My money would be on a plan to get out Handmaids/Marthas - in the originally trailer we hear June saying “These women deserve to be helped” which supports that theory. I think her efforts will particularly focus on handmaids since a lot of the kids they got out were kids of handmaids before Gilead so she’ll want them to be reunited where it’s safe to do so.

Right - my guess is that this scene must be following whatever Mayday attempted (successful or not...). Remember in S2 when June was looking at all the Marthas who had been hanged and she said that they had been hanged for being heretics and not for being part of resistance because officially there was no resistance because there was nothing to resist? I think what we’re seeing is June has been caught and she’s being given one of the hanging bags with the symbols on to say why they were hung, pre-execution (which I assume June will somehow survive - my guess would be Nick gets her out before the execution). June’s bag has a cross because she’ll be hung for being a heretic, because officially there is no resistance - although this seems like a bit of a stretch of a story even for Gilead considering what Mayday just pulled off. It’ll be interesting to see the story that Gilead do use to explain what happened.

Another thing I just want to quickly touch on is the costume - mustard yellow with a red strip. It’s a bit out there but I’m putting my money on ‘death row uniform’ - here’s why: the colours of the uniforms all have biblical connotations e.g. the wives where blue because it symbolises the purity of the Virgin Mary, handmaids wear read to symbolise Mary Magdalene who is a redeemed sinner etc. In Revelation (final book of the bible that talks of the end of the world and second coming etc.) the four horsemen (bringers of the end of the world) are described as being yellow as sulphur and red as fire. So the colours yellow and red would symbolise ‘the end’ i.e. a salvaging/execution. This is purely speculation so make sure to comment your thoughts!

Now the opinion you’re probably all here for - Hannah. In the shots shown in the trailer, she can be seen in some sort of glass prison with a doll, and she draws an eye in the dust. There’s been a lot of speculation about the context of this scene with the overriding theory being that this scene is a dream. In some ways this makes sense: June is in the yellow costume but she doesn’t have the same injuries shown in the other footage where she’s wearing this costume (although this could just be that this scene is slightly before that scene), the idea of a glass prison doesn’t really make sense in relation to what all the other cells look like that we’ve seen, the eye that Hannah draws is just way too precise for a drawing done with dust let alone a drawing done by a child, the idea of Hannah drawing an eye is also a strange drawing for a child whereas June would dream that because of the connotations to Gilead spies and ‘under his eye’. Not to mention it makes sense that June would be dreaming about Hannah being trapped as she’s been spending time with Mrs. Keyes who is a child bride close to Hannah’s age.

In all honesty, I don’t really know what I believe. I think that placing Hannah in a glass prison and allowing June to see her and be centimetres away but not be able to get to her is a very Gilead style power trip. Gilead officials know that the only reason that she’s still in Gilead is because of Hannah so it makes sense for them to hold her in a place that is blatantly obvious to June so she can be used as leverage in stopping an on-coming attack. Gilead pretend to be all about protecting children but we all know they’re not above cutting off a limb or two - as long as she still has a working uterus. So if this isn’t a dream and Hannah is being used as leverage, this puts a spanner in the works on my death row theory because you only keep leverage on someone if you need them for something and they won’t kill her if they still need her for something. There’s a number of things that could be - stopping an on-coming attack, intel on Mayday and the Martha network, maybe they’re blackmailing her to tell Luke to stand down on trying to get Fred and Serena convicted?

Anyway.... that was A LOT. Please reply to this post with any ideas you have or to prove me wrong - this is all we have till S4 drops!

Blessed be the fruit loops, bitches x

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

What order would you recommend watching the second part of season 3? Since it's an out of order mess?

I mean, obviously watch Hearthunter and Miracle Queen in the correct order. If you feel like sitting through MQ that is.

After that, it’s hard to say. There is a production order, which looks something like this:

1. Chameleon

2. Animaestro

3. Bakerix

4. Backwarder

5. Reflekdoll

6. Weredad

7. Silencer

8. Onichan

9. Miraculer

10. Oblivio

11. Desperada

12. Christmaster

13. Startrain

14. Kwamibuster

15. Feast

16. Gamer 2.0  

17. Stormy Weather 2

18. Ikari Gozen

19. Timetagger

20. Party Crasher

21. The Puppeteer 2

22. Cat Blanc

23. Felix

24. Ladybug

25. Hearthunter

26. Miracle Queen

Some of this order makes some sense, to an extent, although I can’t explain without getting into spoilers. So, anon, if you haven’t already watched the last part of the season and want to go in blind, I’d suggest returning to the later part of this post after that. Or you can just skip it, if you’re not looking for a long-winded rant. Otherwise, here I go. 

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF SEASON 3 FROM THIS POINT ON.

Ok, so things that make sense - Party Crasher coming after Desperada, Startrain, and Feast. It doesn’t really matter which of the first two comes first, so long as Party Crasher is after them, because Viperion and Pegase make their return. And we see that Fu is no longer hiding out at his place when he gives Kim Xuppu, so this has to take place after Feast.

Gamer 2.0 coming after Desperada, because she makes a cameo in the game, works.

Timetagger before Cat Blanc checks out, because Bunnix makes her return in the latter episode.

I forget where I saw this, but I think someone on the team said that it was important to see Animaestro before Oblivio, because the poster that the amnesiac Marinette and Adrien see makes more sense when you know it’s from the movie. This could have been easily changed in the script so that the two discover their identities regardless, but whatever I guess.

Both Feast and Stormy Weather 2 make sense as mid-season episodes in theory. There are so many problems with both of these episodes in execution, but I’m not going to detail that here. But on paper, an episode that changes the status quo for the second half of the season, and an episode that recaps how far everyone’s come both work at the midpoint.

Of course, there are so many issues with individual episodes in general, so if they were reworked, I think the order would have to be shifted dramatically.

Ladybug would have been a much better episode if it had been the season finale, or at least a two parter. If you’re going to start the season establishing the Lilanette rivalry, then it only makes sense to end the season with the escalation of that rivalry. And pull no punches either - Marinette’s relationships should get shaken up, characters should second guess their actions, and so forth. Alternatively, I have two other options for how this should have been handled.

1. This should have been put into season 2. Because going into Chameleon after Hero’s Day is jarring tonally, something that has been addressed numerous times by this point, so I’m not going into detail further.

2. If you’re going to keep Chloe as a recurring antagonist and fail to redeem herself, then you don’t really need Lila in the show at all. Marinette can still come across the grimoire when Adrien brings it to school. Maybe he forgets about it or something. The Scarlet Army can be caused by a bunch of things going wrong on Hero’s Day that have a domino effect. Chameleon can be cut entirely, along with Ladybug. Onichan can have Kagami in conflict with her mother, since she wants to be a good daughter and not cause problems, but also feels lonely. Lila only caused everything in Miraculer to happen at a quicker rate, but tbh, I still think the episode would have played out without her. Chloe would have gotten fed up with not getting the bee back and taken it out on Sabrina. This could be its own post tbh.

I agree with @miraculouscontent on Desperada taking place before Silencer, especially with Marinette’s behavior in Silencer basically forgetting all about Adrien, since Desperada she learns that she can like the both of them at the same time.

Felix wasn’t as bad as I was prepared for it to be, but I would still have Adrien reflect on his own pushy behavior toward Ladybug, and give the moral that harassment isn’t just physical, it can also be psychological and verbal as well. Also, I would give new, unique forms for Alya, Juleka and Rose.

Timetagger is okay mostly, but I would want some of the stakes to be higher and the foreshadowing to pack more of a punch. Maybe have future!Alix warn Chat that he’s taking things too far or something. Also, have Alya and Nino actually babysit their siblings together instead of making their friends do it. It’s not a good look for them.  

Episodes I would cut:

--> Puppeteer 2 - if you’re not going to make this a dramatic episode where the friend group fights, and just have it as an excuse to embarrass Marinette, then it deserves to be cut. We could actually spend that time on fleshing out Alya and Nino, so that their progress in SW2 doesn’t amount to “dating” and “being superheroes”. Seriously, this episode is the mission statement of the season:

Any other S3 Episode: Clearly, I will have the scene meant to most humiliate/embarrass Marinette.

Puppeteer 2: Hold my beer.

--> Oblivio and Cat Blanc - these episodes are both major teases and do basically nothing for the Love Square except sabotage it. The second one especially explains to us why we shouldn’t ship these two together, in the most dramatic, over the top, killjoy way. Even if I was still a Love Square fan, I would still hate these episodes, because we could actually be getting scenes and episodes that actually develop Marinette and Adrien’s relationship with one another, but instead, we have to waste time and make people feel bad for wanting to “rush” things.

--> Bakerix - while I like that we’re getting more episodes focused on Marinette’s family, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER MOM. Hell, this could have been the recap we got - maybe a two parter revolving around her parents realizing that they’ve been growing apart and that their daughter is getting older. OR Weredad could have been more about Marinette growing closer to her friends, not just a potential romance, while an Akumom episode could be about Sabine feeling out of touch with Marinette’s interests. 

--> Christmaster - WHY DO WE NEED TWO CHRISTMAS EPISODES THAT WASTE OUR TIME WITH HUMILIATING AND/OR MAKING MARINETTE LOOK BAD? This one is worse in the sense that it could have focused on Nino for once, and have it focus on his relationship with his brother. But no. That’s not funny enough apparently.

→ Reflekdoll - A good example of a body swap/power swap episode: “Trading Faces” from Jimmy Neutron. Because the show actually shows both Jimmy and Cindy failing to adjust to the life of the other, learning to develop a small appreciation for the other by the end of the episode. JN is another episodic based show, so they’re still at each other’s throats for a while, but you can see that soften over time. Reflekdoll, on the other hand, refuses to have Chat learn or understand how hard Ladybug’s job is, especially when all he does is joke around and not take things seriously. 

--> Gamer 2.0 - Another episode where Marinette “needs to learn to loosen up” but actually it should be “Marinette learns to prioritize everything in her life while still giving herself some downtime to relax and breathe”. Again, if you cut this episode, you lose nothing really.

TL;DR: You thought you were getting an answer for the best viewing order of season 3, but it was actually a rant about how season 3 is The Worst and how things could have been better. Go with the production codes, I guess.

[lloydshoulddyehishair]

hopes for s13 and brief review of s12?

okok ik s12 just aired but--- hear me out skjskyjs

i really liked this season, wouldn't say i loved it, but still liked it. we got a proper storyline unlike in s11 and some(?) character development, the soundtrack was good - which it also was in s11 - and i loved that they brought the master back.

yet i cant help but be quite annoyed about some things in this season.

the master:

like i said i loved that they brought the master back BUT how can we not have missy mentioned at least once. if this master is an incarnation after missy he for sure would have mentioned her at least once to spite the doctor and hurther even more by her having failed missy or something like that. and if he was an incarnation before missy i'm pretty sure that the doctor would have mentioned her at least once. it just feels like everything that missy hat going for her during s9/10 got thrown out of the window and i highkey do not like that.

i really hope that in s13 we will get some closure on that because i don't really believe we've seen the last of the master yet.

angst? things?

something that bothered me and a lot of others with the doctor in s11 was that it felt like the doctor lacked something the other new who doctors always had and that had just become part of the doctors character over the years.

i'm talking about the darkness, the anger, the sadness.

and i know we got some of that in s12 which i LIVED for btw because i am a huge sucker for angst. but (i'm going to use this word so much in this blog thingy skjs) we never really had an anger moment that made one go "oh damn" like we had with the previous doctors. i mean matt smith had one of those moments in his second episode.remember how he had this cold anger towards amy for pressing the forgot button about the starwhale situation because she didn't want the doctor to have to make a decision - so basically making the decision for him - and how he then screamed at everyone in fury. those are the kinds of moments im talking about and i feel like we haven't had one of those with the thirteenth doctor yet. (i love her anyways because i am basically whipped for her but still)

and i know many, many people like exactly that about her and say that it's refreshing to see a doctor that didn't embody those things and this is obviously just my opinion. i just feel like the doctor isn't really the doctor withthout some characteristics and that's one of them. (maybe its just me growing up with him always being like that that makes me miss it so much now)

and this is definitely not jodies fault because she's a great actress and more than capable of doing a scene like that - she just wasn't given the right material to work with.

the companions:

so this will be quite short because i only have two things to say

1. character development.

it's been two seasons and i'm still not quite sure what kind of people yaz, graham and ryan are and thats just-- not good.

i think they introduced too many characters at the same time and thats why they could barely pull of any character development. would've enjoyed it more if they did something like in s5 where amy travels alone with the doctor for half the season - we get an idea of who she is, ect - and then properly introduced rory.

2. HUGS

where are the good old hugs? thirteen deserves a hug and if she goes of the show without being higged at least twice i will RIOT and steal chris chibnalls identity to rewrite doctor who.

the only hug thirteen got was when she hugged najia khan. yaz' mum. like---

clara oswald would NOT have let this happened

y'all remember when i said i only had like two points about this? i was lying

rule 1

3. death

okay so if there is one hope i have for the next season that i want to happen more than any of the others it's

DO NOT KILL THE FAM OFF

not because i love them so much (i mean i do love them but--)

but because its getting quite boring at this point.

the last three companions have all been (more or less) killed off in some way. amy and rory being taken by the weeping angels and dying of old age, clara being killed by the raven thing, bill being converted into a cyberman.

don't even need a huge donna situation. maybe just have them go on their own, deciding it'd be better to stay home now, like martha did in the end of s3.

that'd be refreshing.

i'm exited for how theyll decide to let the fam go especially since there are rumors that tosin (ryan) and bradley (graham) will be leaving the series.

maybe have ryan realize that all of that traveling is too risky for him after all and that he wants to stay in sheffield and have graham stay with him because he wants to look out for his grandson.

i don't know what to do with yaz tbh because i doubt they'd keep her as a companion for three full seasons with that little character development, ect. maybe have her stay and then go mid-season? idk

regeneration:

i think we all know its coming. the doctor is probably going to regenerate at the end of s13 or around the christmas/new years special. and while i'm not ready to let her go yet because i feel like they could do so much more with her character and i just lover her so much, i don't think they'll make her stay for four seasons. the longest run any doctor had was three seasons so thats why i'm assuming she's going in s13. (i dont fucking want her to go i cant - - - - -)

so if they make her regenerate i hope that they'll do two things:

have her have a memorable speech, doesn't have to be as deep and heart clenching as the one 12 had (i'm still crying about it) but maybe something along the lines of 10 would be nice. but just beacuse i love angst.

the other thing i'm hoping for is that she won't regenerate into a man just yet. not because i want to push some fEmInIsT aGeNdA but because i feel like there are many things that can still be explored with a female doctor - ESPECIALLY HISTORY WISE. yeah we got some of that during the with trials (was that the episodes title? not sure) in season 11 but 1 episode out of 372802275110 (ok i just smashed the numbers on my keyboard but still). have her explore some more of the struggles women in the past had to go and sometimes still go through.

jack:

let me tell y'all something

if they just brought jack back for those 5 minutes in s12 where he didn't even directly interwct with the doc and won't bring him back in s13 i WILL throw hands.

i need a thirteen and jack reunion with jack hugging thirteen tight and lifting her up from the ground and spinning them around while she's still in the air in his arms, grinning like a freaking retard beCAUSE I AM SOFT LIKE THAT

i'll probably do a blog about the things that i really liked about s12, because i feel like it seems like i hated s12 which i really didn't just kinda sad and disappointed (ex. the jack situation) about some things

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

Change of plan, decided to get season 1 out of the way, so I can really get some groundwork. So technically, this is the first true experience of Ninjago.

-Right off the bat, 13 episodes felt too much. I’m glad that future seasons after S2 go down to maximum 10 for the most part. -Honestly the plot is all over the place. The first six episodes are kinda moral episodes, then apparently someone writing Tick Tock said “Actually, I have this kickass angst idea for Zane and I want to use” and the show decided now would be the time to drop the original approach. -Speaking of which, how many fetch quests can you squeeze in one season where there’s just absolute failure on the protagonists’ part? They couldn’t stop the five tribes getting together, and they did not stop one Fangblade being taken by Pythor. It got ridiculous. -That said, the Serpentine are way better than the Skeleton Army, or at least Pythor and Skales are. Pythor is just so hammy it’s fun, and Skales has some real neat setup in the first episodes to establish his moral root (and his eventual heel-face in later seasons, I’m aware of that one). -Some surprising character debuts. The mailman isn’t, but Mystake is already here which I wasn’t expecting for a few seasons yet. -In terms of main characters, Wu and Garmadon are weird. Wu spends half his time in the same bitchy sensei mode as the pilots, but then he has this side story in the underworld and it becomes a story of him trying to save his nephew and he gets all fatherly and it’s like what. Meanwhile, the story keeps drilling in your head that Garmadon is this evil dude yet his evil acts can be counted on one hand. He eventually steps up his game right at the end so I guess that was all S2 set-up (meaning the OG Garmadon was a central villain for one season. He had more evil time after his SoG resurrection!). The family bonding was nice to see after he was so bland in the pilots though. -Nya is more active in S1 which is nice, but it’s still moonlighting as Samurai X as I mentioned. I did not realise that the mystery lasted for all of one episode, so at least there’s not lengthy periods of time where Nya is pretending to be on the sidelines when out as Samurai X. Still really weird that they chose to do it this way until S5 but hey. -Lloyd is fantastic. He’s amusing as a brat and as the green Ninja, and my heart just sorrows at the pain is about to be put through. Weirdly enough, even ignoring the foreshadowing, Lloyd was always the perfect candidate to be the green Ninja. Think about it; he’s adaptable, cunning, determined, persevering, trusting, reflexive, agile, and this all traits from before he even turned good. He was gifted for a 10-12 year old. -Zane is a sweetheart who only had minor fumbles with the green Ninja thing, but he should still be protected at all costs. -Jay’s character is shaky at times, but overall comes out pretty good. The Jaya moments he has in S1 are sweet, and both Nya and Jay drive it naturally (which is good, because the way it was started in the pilot was really clunky). -Worst characters by far in S1 are Kai and Cole. They spend 90% of the time are meathead bullies, and some of it dips so cruelly I can’t root for them. They try to clear it up once we get to the full potential stuff, but too little too late man. Just let me punt these bitches off a cliff and let their S12 selves take over. -The choreography is still pretty piss poor. I didn’t mention it before but now you know. -The Great Devourer ain’t that great. Giant generic snake, woo.  -That being said;

Ed:  *Trying to start his jalopy* Oh, boy. Oh, gosh. Oh, golly. Oh, gosh. *Meanwhile Harumi’s parents lie dead under a building collapse while the child is scarred for life*

-Worst episode by a country mile is “Home”. What were they thinking, making a whole episode where all the ninja bully Zane for being different, regardless of how much Zane does not deserve that and how little sense it makes for Jay and Cole to do that with their history prior to Kai. And it wasn’t a special episode, it was set-up for a different twist. -Best episode...my heart wants to say “The Royal Blacksmiths” because it comes so out of left field in terms of how Cole and Kai are characterised, plays out like a near-legit coming out story (how did they do it this way by accident??) and has so much homoerotic tension between said Ninja. But the correct answer has to be “Tick Tock”. I know Zane is a robot (it’s a central point in S11 and S12), but I was expecting the reveal in S3. So when I realised where the episode was going it was a gut punch all the same, and Zane getting his memories back is legit heartbreaking. -The season also has one of the better first episodes.  -Also yeah this entire season is pretty good for Lava, although Jay and Zane do get plenty to do this time.

As it’s own thing, S1 is generally decent. However, there are some big lows in this season (mostly near the start), and I think some characters just can’t get through it without mud on their face.

As part of the wider Ninjago story, it’s made something apparent that kinda more depressing; the writers have lots of ideas for where Jay and Zane’s characters can go, even if the direction isn’t always met with enthusiasm. Even Nya and Lloyd have had strong stories to run off from the start. Kai and Cole feel like the writers don’t know what to do with them. They had to throw some drama for Cole, so they shoved in the dance thing, Kai needed more conflict, so they tacked on him being more obsessed with the green Ninja power than anyone else even though this was equal for all four at the start of the season. Outside of S1, they either get no arcs, get shunted into other arcs thus wrecking them (Jaya...:( ), repeat arcs that were done with seasons prior or just the most cliche, uninspired stories you could make. 

With the last two seasons going back to roots, I wonder if they have looked at S1 again and realised that this is something that should be examined again, what with the spoilers for S12 and S13. Only time will tell. 

I won’t review seasons over the weekend, that time is reserved for Prime Empire, and I know I’ll enjoy that more.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep1 Part 1: Yugi Ditches Algebra, Cards Become Real

Ah, a new season a new day. It’s Season 4. And we’re going to start of with:

A deep sea sub. Sure, why not?

So Yugi’s unofficial other grandpa, Arthur Hawkins, AKA one of the member’s of this show’s only really happening OTP has decided to kinda ditch his Granddaughter Rebecca and go to the bottom of the ocean. Don’t blame him. Down here is where, I guess, he will come across this very Grecian looking structure.

Like Yugioh nonchalantly passes a lot of bad history at me but like...he’s in the Atlantic Ocean and there’s Grecian style stuff everywhere?

Why? I mean at least he’s not in the Pacific but like...Yugioh. Anyways, we’re not in Greece but the show had very little time to invent a brand new ancient architecture style although I would be super down for that.

But like...here’s the thing about columns--you can go really deep into column lore and people are really freakin picky about columns and what they mean, and this could have been a low key hilarious place to make an entirely new column order just for Yugioh. They could’ve done it and they decided not to. It’s OK, I’ll save it for the Marik’s Boat Time spinoff they’ll never ever make.

But I just want to bring up just real super fast that Noah and Gozaburo must’ve known about this place for years right? Like they super lived underwater and had robots poised to attack mankind stationed all over the sea floor so...we can pretty much guarantee they already knew about this place?

Just gonna bring up what a shame it is Noah freakin died.

Also want to bring up what a shame it was that Arthur didn’t show up at the beginning of S3 and be like “hey Yugi, I was just in the neighborhood, noticed you got picked up by an undersea gang, what’s up?”

(read more under the cut)

Anyway, there he is, our 70 yo adventurer, who has more energy than I have at under half his age. Arthur Hawkins needs to take it down a few pegs.

Or is it Hawkings?

Wtv.

Anyways, I gave Hawkins this tweed colored font that I just realized is nearly the same as Joey’s so it’ll change if he ever comes back.

Thanks for that prologue, Yugioh. Anyway, apparently no one on this side of Japan freakin cares, because despite finding what looks exactly like Godzilla’s lair on the bottom of the sea, we’re gonna instead fixate on Rex and Weevil.

Y’all I was going to make a joke about “why does this show fixate so much on Rex and Weevil at the beginning of so many arcs?” when I remembered that Bakura basically murdered all the other mean mini bosses from S1 except for Bandit Keith, who probably got deported by now.

I had to think long and hard just now about whether or not I’ve used that joke before because it is S4 and y’all I just don’t even remember.

(I have a very long story about Warby Parker that I just deleted fyi)

Rex is a Christmas plaid now because there are too many characters in this show.

Now that Rex and Weevil have been reunited, which is surprising because I just assumed these two have been Bert and Ernie-ing it up in some condo in the NYC, They say:

I almost forgot about the secret side-plot of Yugioh, that everyone is a cheese monger and very open about it.

So anyway, they’re off to have a very simple storyline of “I will try and Challenge Yugi Muto for God Cards” which...good luck with that, it only took 2 seasons for Yugi to finally accept his challenge from Seto Kaiba. Have fun following around Yugi Muto for 2 seasons.

When there’s a...really bizarre twist that happens. Just a very weird turn of events. Like recall that it’s the middle of the day, and the sun is shining, and there’s people and cars everywhere, and it’s a good neighborhood, and then, like playing Pokemon in tall grass, this guy just appears in front of them.

And guys, I’m from the Bay Area and I have slipped and fallen right on top of my phone on Fillmore which was DEVASTATING so like...their unstoppable speed walk down this 12 degree slope is...

I think they wanted to run into them, I really think they did. I think people in this town are so desperate for any excuse to fall into a horrifying disaster that they are just magnetically attracted to anyone wearing an oversized blanket.

Also this guy’s look is...kind of forgettable. It’s somehow weird and also forgettable at the same time. Hit that sweet spot for me. I don’t even remember this guy’s name, it was so forgettable. I’ll look it up later. Maybe bro will do it. I dunno. He wears a Monocle so like...that’s all I can say about this guy.

OK so I just checked in with Bro and then Bro made a weird rant about this guy being called Gurimo and how bro had some strong opinions about Season 4. Then Bro said a statement that really stuck with me, although I only remember part of the statement which was: “...this guy can just go get more monocles from Forever 21 and Hot Topic...” which made me very quickly realize my adult brother has never entered either a Forever 21 or a Hot Topic if he thinks a cultist in a monocle would purchase monocles from there.

I learned a lot and now you have to know this too.

And in case you’re wondering “did Rex and Weevil deserve this?” No. He just immediately decided to steal their soul on the sidewalk in front of Women’s Foot Locker from what I assume is just down the street from Yugi Muto’s house/game shop.

(how did this storyboarder nail the 3/4 degree angle on Weevil here? Do you know how hard that is to do with not just glasses but weird ass chunky glasses?)

Ah, a duel disk that can stab yourself in the stomach with two very poorly laid out barbs.

Very nice rival to Kaiba’s duel disk that will behead you if you don’t fling your arm out just right.

So like...did he steal a duel disk from Kaiba and then mod it? Is that what they did? The whole point of duel disks is that you’re linked up to the Dueling Facebook or whatever...so did this Cultist buy a normal duel disk from Toy’s R Us and then say “ahahah I’m going to do so much card crime!” and then start modding it with help of a cosplay forum? Like what’s the story here of how this guy spent all of last year (and definitely all of last season) modding this duel disk over a computer desk, some metallic acrylic paint, and a sauntering iron, feverishly asking his forum if anyone can 3d print some sick ass runes for his soul-sucking duel disk?

And then I guess this guy dueled both Rex and Weevil at the same time? Like this was all off screen...but why didn’t Rex and Weevil just leave? Just don’t pull out your duel disk and you’re probably good?

Just so many ways to have avoided losing your soul in the first ten minutes of Yugioh.

Anyway, on the other side of town, Tea is worrying about Yugi which is basically her normal.

Joey and Tristan decided to meet up with her, not because she was clearly in distress, but because Yugi isn’t around, and why worry about Tea when instead your friend Yugi is probably going to destroy the world the moment you turn around (and he did. Yugi absolutely effed everything up the very moment these three took their eyes off of him)

And what was weird is that it took Yugi until, I dunno...several streets over to kind of come out of the ether and be like “heeey Pharaoh...um...what’s up?” Like it took him this long to say something. Probably so that by the time they would have walked back to school math would have been over.

So...did Yugi just not notice at first? Like it’s sort of amazing what these two don’t know what the other one is up to. Including this situation that little Yugi absolutely should have picked up on.

As it turns out, the cards are speaking very audibly to Pharaoh. This should have been somewhat of a...youknow...red flag...since Yugi can’t hear them but Pharaoh can. But, Yugi’s like “well...we’re so used to everyone just giving us the answer and that being the right call, I guess this must also be the right call.”

And...although he had quite the head start, These three are more than willing to drop the hell out of class and rack up those absences. I’m gonna assume they had to make up another wild excuse about Tea’s cat to that one teacher to get out of school just like last time, but they did all that offscreen.

And then Tea just kind of snapped, and she did so with a smile the entire time.

Her wording was somewhat different, but she did basically say something along the lines of “if you don’t remember me telling you this a million times, you are an idiot” and Pharaoh didn’t have an answer and so it was like he said without saying anything “yes, I am.”

Which he will further prove like five minutes from now.

Like Y’all, bless his cursed perfect ass, but Pharaoh is the biggest idiot in this show. Sometimes he’s brilliant, but if he’s ever left to his own devices, just the biggest idiot. He got duped by some guy pretending to throw his voice so that his cards looked like they were talking to him. Pharaoh thought cards can talk.

And so that’s how Pharaoh freakin caused the Apocalypse. The first of many.

He did so just so very easily.

His cards started wigging out, the tablet started icing over--it was like “hey remember what took 2 seasons to build up to? Well screw it.”

Also this happened, apropos of absolutely nothing.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand cards are real.

I mean they’ve been real for a few seasons but now the cards are officially real and they’re not cute like Pokemon. They’re all really gross and roided out and they probably have a funky smell. All of them.

I knew we’d get here eventually I just didn’t know it would be SO fast.

When no one was paying absolutely any attention--when my entire focus was inside of this museum, that was when cards became real.

Well...

...time to shove em into little balls I guess. Anyways, that’s it for this update because this episode was a lot of stuff so I’m gonna split it so y’all have it easier and so I have it easier too.

And if you just got there this is S4, if you want to start reading these from S1, here’s a link to the collection in chrono order, it’s basically like reading a Victor Hugo length of book except its just me ranting about WTF is going on in OG Yugioh for 100+ episodes, knock yourself out.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

CYBERVERSE WATCH

S3 Episode 9, 10, 11, 12

Episode 9

WHIRL NO WHY IS EVERYONE RUNNING oh

Gosh I love that Percy’s alt-mode sucks so he’s gotta hitch a ride on someone

Whirl *gracefully descends from the ceiling* Percy: *PLUMMETS LIKE A ROCK*

No joke I laughed so suddenly and loud at that I startled myself

RODDY PLEASE RETHINK YOUR DECISION TO USE A WAR TITAN TO FIGHT YOUR BATTLES IM BEGGING YOU TO USE YOUR BRAINCELL

Whirl *jumps directly on the Titan’s face*  Me: I’d die for you

Roddy: We need Windblade! Me: YEAH YOU NEED SOMEONE SMART ON THIS TEAM

Ok putting the masks on their head to hide from the Quints is actually a smart idea

“I can’t believe that worked” GUYS PLS

Aw I love that Clobber and Roddy do their little fist bump / high-five thing that’s so cute

CHROMIA AND WINDBLADE....Roddy you’re interrupting their date

Roddy: Clobber, you’re a lesbian, can you get through to them Clobber: Sure *picks up Chromia in one hand and walks off*

I feel like the smart thing for them to do would be to wake up Megatron and/or Optimus and use them to wake up other Autobots / Decepticons because like. If I was an Autobot and Megatron wandered by at a parade I’d definitely be on defense. Of course, then Roddy & co. would need to convince Megatron to help them so maybe that’s a no-go anyways

WHIRL NO!!! OH NO

AW I love that everyone’s taking care of Percy, Dead End holding his hand while running was so cute

HELL YEAH USE YOUR FIRE RODDY

HOT ROD NO!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE SAVE MY BOY!! AND WHIRL, WHO ALSO GOT HI--OH MY GOSH THEY KNOCKED THE THING OFF SOUNDWAVE AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

IF ANYONE CAN TAKE DOWN THE QUINTS AND WAKE EVERYONE UP ITS MY BOY SOUNDWAVE I mean, assuming ripping the helmet off his head rather than waking him up normally didn’t totally screw him up

AHHH SOMEONE NEEDS TO SAVE RODDY

WHOA SOUNDWAVE YOU GOOD BUDDY??? OH NO....

“Something’s wrong with him...” “You mean more than normal?” SHUT UP DEADEND

LMAO HOT ROD STRAIGHT UP SLAPPED A QUINTESSON NICE

OH NO IM GETTING FLASHBACKS TO THE MOVIE

COURT!?!??? PLEASE SAY YOUR FAMOUS LINE RODDY

HEY CAN YOU GUYS STOP BEING BUTTS TO SOUNDWAVE

“There are an infinite amount of universes in the multiverse. The Quintessons judge which ones are worthy of existence” NICE NICE NICE NICE OMINOUS AND NICE

ARE WE GONNA GET TO SEE OTHER UNIVERSES???

WHOA WAIT WHAT SCIENTIST, MACCADAM WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

IS THIS GONNA BE THE CREEPY WHEELJACK WE SAW IN LIKE EPISODE 3 OF SEASON ONE???

You know I’m realizing the Titan thing doesn’t explain how Maccadam knows about the future, is HE from a different universe / future?? Has he already seen all of this happen before? Is HE the true Homura of this series?

RODIMUS STALLING TO ANNOY THE COURT NICE

Every time Roddy uses his flames I lose my mind in excitement

HEY DEADEND STOP BEING A BUTT TO SOUNDWAVE

HELL YEAH RIP ‘EM A NEW ONE SOUNDWAVE, SHOW THEM WHO’S BOSS

HEY CAN SOMEONE *PLEASE* SAVE HOT ROD

UH OH IS RIGHT RODDY

“I wish I was a jet” He’s not gonna jump is OH HE JUMPED

OH THANK GOODNESS WHIRL WAS THERE, THANK YOU WHIRL FOR BEING AWESOME

SOUNDWAVE!!!!!!!!!!!

 Episode 10

I saw Soundwave in the thumbnail and got UNREASONABLY excited

AHHHHHHHHHHH IS THIS GONNA BE THE RODDY AND SOUNDWAVE EPISODE I HEARD ABOUT?!?!??! PLEASE??? PLEASE???

Hot Rod is the ONLY bot who could appreciate Soundwave’s background music PLEASE let them get along or at least be amicable by the end of the episode that would be so frickin good

“The Masters of the Multiverse” man what a good title

I’m so glad Season 3 has been so Hot Rod=focused, HE DESERVES THE SPOTLIGHT

lmao I love that Soundwave and Roddy are both crossing their arms on opposite sides of the bar, guys please you’ve got bigger fish to fry

This is embarrassing but I was legitimately so distracted by how nice Soundwave’s legs looked in this scene I didn’t hear a single thing Roddy said and I had to rewind the episode l m a o.....

Soundwave: I know you’re no Optimus Prime Me: *MORTIFIED GASP* THAT’S A SORE SUBJECT DON’T BE MEAN!!!

SOUNDWAVE NO!!! NO FIGHTING

I KNEW IT I knew he was improperly removed!!!

THEY FRICKIN SLAPPED HIM ON THE CHEST TO FIX HIM LIKE HE”S AN OLD TV IM CACKLING

OH SHOOT they already tried doing something similar to Hound oof

SOUNDWAVE AT LEAST SHARE WHAT THE PLAN IS

OH SHOOT SOUNDWAVE GETS THINGS DONE

I can’t believe they came up with names / jobs for these things

Aw Roddy I’m sorry Soundwave’s overshadowing your leadership role :(

“Maybe they’re trading beauty secrets” DEADEND PLEASE

I hope Soundwave didn’t tell her to kill him

OH NO HE DID, CLOBBER NO

Clobber: *crying while trying to kill him* This hurts me more than it hurts you! Hot Rod: No, this hurts me more GUYS PLEASE

I briefly forgot DeadEnd was a Decepticon and was like “Wow you’re not worrying about Roddy getting his head beat in?? Really??”

Gosh Soundwave looks so cool

“The evil back-stabbing music box” omg

Hot Rod: That’s not how Autobots do things Dead End: Yeah but like, we aren’t. So can we kill him

SOUNDWAVE’S INTERROGATION STUFF IS SO COOL I mean it’s mean but that’s an interesting method

AHH HE SAID THE INFERIOR SUPERIOR THING

Who IS the scientist

Uh. ok what is that brain thing. I WAS ASSUMING THE SCIENTIST WAS A BOT BUT GUESS NOT

Episode 11

Gosh the backgrounds in this show are such a delight for the eyes

*GENTLE GASP* BABIES!!!!!!!! ARE ANY OF THEM SOUNDWAVE’S BABIES???

AW OMG SOUNDWAVE IS THERE HE’S CATCHING A CASSETTE OMG OMG.....OH MY GOSH....THERE ARE REAL TEARS IN MY EYES

But at the same time SOUNDWAVE YOU CANT JUST FRICKIN NAB A BIRD OUT OF THE AIR AND CALL IT YOURS

Oh well I guess he can lmao alrighty then

OH NO....BOTS ARE DYING....GUYS YOU’RE TAKING TOO LONG TO DO THIS

how on EARTH did that work

OHOHO just Hot Rod and Soundwave I hope they learn to trust each other a bit

I’m VERY worried they’re gonna kill off Laserbeak in this episode

ALRIGHT. WELL. THAT SCIENTIST ISNT FREAKY AT ALL.

OK SUPER FREAKY HE’S WAY TOO INTERESTED IN SOUNDWAVE FOR ME TO NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT THIS HE SOUNDS LIKE A CREEPY COLLECTOR

‘‘A blue one...I don’t have a blue one yet’‘ UH OH UH OH!!!! OH PLEASE DONT HURT SOUNDWAVE CYBERVERSE WRITERS PLEASE!!!

DOES SOUNDWAVE KNOW THIS DUDE??? HOW ELSE DID SOUNDWAVE KNOW WHAT WOULD OPEN THE DOOR???

The fact that we can now SEE Laserbeak in his chest makes me worry we’re gonna lose her this episode 8(((

WHAT THE FRICK

ARE THESE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF SOUNDWAVE FROM DIFFERENT UNIVERSES??? ARE THESE JUST DIFFERENT BOTS THAT SHARE SOUNDWAVE’S ALT MODE???? IM SO DEEPLY WORRIED

“Why would he collect Soundwaves and not Hot Rods?” RODDY PLEASE THIS IS NOT THE TIME!!!!! That’s a very Hot Rod thing to focus on though lmao

I feel like the Cyberverse writers went “Hm, what would make Ana feel most anxious about her favorite character?” and then proceeded to write this episode exactly about that

Like, on the one hand: Good taste weird tentacle alien dude, on the other, GET YOUR MITTS OFF HIM

“When a judge finds a universe guilty, I like to keep a little...souvenir for myself” WOW THAT’S HALF WHAT I GUESSED BUT HE SAID THAT INFINITELY CREEPIER THAN I THOUGHT HE WOULD

HOT ROD PLEASE SAVE HIM FROM THE WEIRD TENTACLE MAN

I love how this team has exactly one braincell and none of the people currently on the other side of the door are in possession of it

“I keep telling myself I don’t have room for any more, but you would go so nicely right here” me @ me when I’m buying figurines tbh

That’s genuinely so upsetting, like if I were in Soundwave’s place I’d be pissed as HELL

OH BOY ARE WE GONNA HAVE A TOYSTORY 2 SCENARIO wrt THE “You’re damaged!” THING

“I’LL SHOW YOU DAMAGED” LMAO Roddy: *starts listing off all his traumas* Tentacle Dr.: Um,,

LET GO OF MY BOY!!!!

“A parade is the best you can come up with?” ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS RODDY

HELL YEAH GET HIM SOUNDWAVE and thank goodness he got fixed. Hopefully the guy didn’t do anything weird to him

I KNEW THAT WAS TOO EASY WHY IS THIS DUDE SO FREAKY

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT”S FEEDING TIME

EW WHAT’S IN THERE

IM GONNA LEGITIMATELY CRY IF THEY KILL LASERBEAK PLEASE DONT KILL HIS BIRD

Why do the words “Laserbeak! Eject!” get me so emotional WHY AM I SO HEAD OVER HEELS FOR THIS CASSETTE TAPE AND BOOM BOX

DONT SHOOT LASERBEAK PLEASE

Ironic for Whirl to be the one to say “hold your fire”

Wow way to abandon Hot Rod and Soundwave

uH OH UH OH UH OH

Off-topic but tentacle dude’s voice sounds SO familiar I just can’t place it it’s a really good fit

OH SHOOT THEY”RE DRAINING THE ALL SPARK TOO

DO IT PERCY SAVE EVERYONE!!!!

Perceptor you are ADORABLE

PERCY YOU GOTTA SAY AUTOBOTS ROLL OUT

THERE WE GO OPTIMUS

Oh boy let’s see how Megatron reacts to Clobber interrupting him

Percy should just summon a hologram of Optimus, that would do it

YEAHHH THEY FREED EVERYONE!!!

DO IT GUYS!!! HEAT AND SOUND!!!!

CHROMIA!!! :D

FIST BUMP!!!!!

AND LASERBEAK IS OK!!!!

Uh oh spaghettio that doesn’t seem good

OH WOW YOU’RE REALLY GONNA END THE EPISODE THERE??? HECK I FORGET HOW SHORT THESE ARE

Not to sound predictable but I think that was the most interesting episodes of the season so far

Episode 12

Aw man the judge is still alive heck

MY BOYS!!! MY BOYS IN ONE ROOM TALKING TOGETHER AND NOT TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER!!!

Optimus: We will work together to stop this Megatron: *half-hearted grumble of assent*

Bee please don’t reignite the war by bumping into people

LMAO WHY’S IT SOUND LIKE OPTIMUS JUST ASKED MEGATRON TO MARRY HIM

I love this they’re both like “frick this is so uncomfortable”

MEGATRON COME ON

HELL YEAH YOU TELL EM SOUNDWAVE nice teamwork!!!

KUP!!!! AND STRIKA!!!

LMAO THEY SHOVED THEM IN THE TRAINING SIM guys pls. I mean good effort but

Man can I just say it’s so nice seeing these two (especially Soundwave, the world’s most under-valued Decepticon ever) become respected leaders while getting time in the spotlight? I LOVE that!!!!

I should redraw this screenshot sometime

Bee and Arcee and Shadow Striker and Lockdown!! Such a good combo

OH MY GOSH HE SERIOUSLY DID A TOUCH REFERENCE

AHHHHHH SOUNDWAVE BACKED HIM UP WITH MUSIC, I KNEW THEY’D GET ALONG!!!! SALING YOU WERE SO RIGHT AHHHHH

I’D DIE FOR YOU TWO!!!!!!!!!!

TEAM SOUNDWAVE AND HOT ROD: THE ULTIMATE CAPTAINS!!!!

SKYWARP!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

Life-or-death video games really do build friendships

WINDBLADE!!! :D

Aw man are you guys still really gonna wake up this Titan

Windblade: Did you guys ask Maccadam about this first Hot Rod: Oh absolutely he definitely said yes don’t worry about it Windblade: You sure? This dude seems like. Super evil Hot Rod: Nah it’ll be fine don’t even worry about it

THANK YOU RODDY for being the voice of reason for once

Maccadam: Now isn’t the time for this Titan, we need to save that for the season finale

Can’t believe they’re really dragging a bomb through the city

Ok so like. Where is Megatron during all of this. Are you seriously gonna sulk and miss this whole battle Megatron

Arcee with her machine gun is SO cute

Someone please shoot this shark dude and shut him up

AW THEY BROKE ARCEE’S MACHINE GUN :(

GET ‘IM WINDBLADE!!!

HEY MEGATRON OPTIMUS COULD REALLY USE A HAND HERE COME ON

WHOOPS so much for the bomb

OH AND EVERYONE ELSE I GUESS?? FORGOT THAT THE BOMB WOULD PROBABLY HIT THEM

WINDBLADE PLEASE BE CAREFUL

BEE FALLING AND RODDY IMMEDIATELY DROPPING DOWN TO SHIELD HIM, OH MAN THAT GOT ME HURTING SOMETHING FIERCE

HERE COMES IACONUS AND WINDBLADE

Man I hope we get to see Windblade and Starscream duke it out with Titans

THANK YOU FOR SAVING HER MACCADAM I WAS SO WORRIED

“I’ve lost too many cityspeakers this way” OH WOW THAT CONFESSION ACTUALLY LEGIT HURT....Mac how many times have city speakers tried controlling Iaconus? How many people have you seen die apart from the citizens of Iacon?

AW MAN BUMMER PLACE TO END IT ok let’s do a few more episodes after a quick break (I’m still SCREAMING over that Soundwave episode)