#season 7 improved a bit but still had problems for me

[rosaluxembae]

I loved DS9 at the start but struggled from about Season 5 and my friend was the same and I was just wondering if it's a thing™. Like is it a significantly common opinion to have? I don't mean everyone but like a significant proportion of the fandom.

[bronx-bomber87]

Hi!! I just spent the last hour scrolling through your page and I adore everything you have to say about tim and lucy…

So I was curious (because I’m a month into the fandom and I don’t really know anyone yet) what your thoughts, predictions, expectations for season 7 would be?

Sorry if you’ve posted something similar before, please point me in the right direction if you have :)

- Loren

Hi! @moderatelydelusional Nice to meet you, Loren. Thank you for the lovely ask :) Making me all red with your nice comment. So glad you liked everything I've had to say about our lovely ship. Appreciate it so much. Before I answer I want to say welcome to the fandom! We are glad to have you here. 😊 There are so many good blogs on tumblr for them. Glad you chose me as one of them. I am honored. ❤️ I haven't really tackled s7 at all so this is a good ask. Excited to answer it. I'm a detailed woman. So imma break your question down into sections if that's alright. I legit don't know how to be brief about this show or them haha Also will do it with gifs cause that's my thing. Here is my detailed answer below. Hope you enjoy it.

Thoughts on S7- Well we've had ZERO and I mean ZERO spoilers or indicators about this upcoming season. Which I do love them keeping it close to the vest. Honestly I do. Just means they have something incredibly good lined up. They just want to make sure we are surprised. Can't fault them for that. But I'm dying for anything. The end of s6 left us wanting so much more with the scene above. We are all chomping at the bit for any content. I know Eric had a interview couple weeks back about s7. From what little he was able to divulge I am EXCITED.

Here is the link to it. Talks about Tim needing to EARN Lucy back in more ways than one. How she is the love of his life. (Tell us something we don't know haha) But I love Eric referring to her to as such. The personal development for Tim to come as well. Like I said they haven't given us much of anything yet. It's hard to have thoughts when we don't have much to go on. But it seems like it'll be well rounded season. It's always been a character driven show so I think it'll be more than just our ship. Which is fine with me. It is an ensemble cast after all.

I fell in love with this show as a whole when it first launched back in 2018. Give me more Tim/Angela, Lucy/Nyla and Wopez. I'll take all of that. I have been all in from the Pilot. I remember watching it on my lunch break on my phone when it first premiered. I was hooked. When we finally get a promo and a friggin premiere date I can probably be more in depth with my answer. Since we don't have a lot to go on it's hard to have in depth thoughts ha But from what little they've let out I'm quite excited for the journey we're going to embark on. We just need a start date for said journey. All we know is Jan but I need a hard date LOL

Expectations For S7. -I expect Chenford to get back to the softness above. It won't be easy but I expect we are headed back there. I think it's gonna be quite the journey to get us there. Both Tim and Lucy are going to need to grow before we do. They both still have shit to work out. Lucy with her career path and the rough time she had last year. It wasn't just Tim that crushed her. I mean it was a huge headliner but wasn't the ONLY one. Our girl has some communication problems and is like her soulmate in how she handles emotional distress. Expect that to be addressed on some level.

Tim obviously has a lot to make up for and he knows it. That is the first step. I expect we see Tim working constantly to improve himself as a person. To be worthy of Lucy again. He's not going to half ass his healing. He is going to be very Tim in how he goes after it. This is going to bleed into every part of his life. I expect to see that all over his character development in s7.

I also anticipate that we'll see an even stronger and more refined version of Chenford in Season 7, with their characters continuing to grow and evolve. Strong separately and even more so together. I cannot wait for the slow burn of their reconciliation. Going to make all the hurt worth it. It'll be Chenford 2.0 and we are all going to be grateful for that. While losing our minds together it's happening. I would rather have our ship and characters be real and develop. Better that than to be puddle deep like John/Bailey. I'll take the pain of growth over the stagnation of boredom. i.e. Bailian.

Predictions-Obviously I want to predict something like above. Them starting over. Kisses, hugs, and if we're lucky enough to get a repeat of 5x12 on screen. That one I'm straight just trying to manifest lol Possibly Celina catching them or almost doing so when they get back together at her place. These are more hopeful than actual predictions lmao But I mainly predict a deeper intimacy between them when they do reconcile. Stronger communication. It'll be beautiful. I also think we're about to see a side of Tim Bradford we haven't seen before. As we know Lucy brings out the best in this man. The absolute best. We're going to see that on full display.

I think he will continue therapy. I also think we’re going to see a very determined Tim driven in his quest to make amends to Lucy. Which will bring out that new side we haven't seen. It's one of the facets of s7 that has me most excited. And not just for the Chenford portion. (Which does make me giddy to no end) But for him as well. You follow me long enough you'll know I love Tim development. So this excites me so very much.

We watched Tim take strides in his mental health walk and as a person in s6 after 6x07. I expect we're going to see the fruit of that not just in his amends to Lucy. But professionally as well. Tim took quite the fall professionally after being bounced out of Metro. He has fences to mend to Grey, Lt. Pine, and those around him as well in patrol. I see him making those strides and then some.

I predict Lucy is going to finally going to get grounded professionally and personally. (She does have a new roommate. I can see development here too) Lucy got very lost in s6. I think s7 she will be righting her ship. Finding her purpose. My guess was T.O. for her with her dipping her toe with Celina in 6x08. She's so empathetic and willing to slow down and teach. I think that could be a good path for her. Whatever her trajectory is I think it's going to be be worked out in s7 for our girl. It's time for her to get some damn wins. I hope that answers your ask LOL Or maybe was too much? HA Either way I can't wait for s7. I need a promo and a premiere date. Seriously ABC, you're killing us.

[the-great-knight-gay]

Ranking Live Action Superman Suits (Not all)

Christopher Reeve:

8/10 - amazing for the time and truly a classic - The logo looks a little off centre and (and this is a criticism for some future suits as well) not a fan of the logo looking like its stitched into the suit. I get that practically it makes more sense but it looks slightly off-putting to me

Brandon Routh (Returns):

7/10 - I like the fabric better than the reeve suit but the symbol and trunks are too small and the red is too dark everywhere - I actually love the belt here and I think this might be the best belt and trunk design put together, if only the red was brighter - This had the potential to be a 10/10 but the red is too wrong - Plus they used the logo too much (I mean, I get the belt and cape but the bottom of his boots????)

Henry Cavill:

6/10 - Used to like it more but too much blue - way too dark - the 'belt' which isn't really a belt doesn't break up the blue enough - In concept it's nice but the execution didn't hit - The slightly alien texture to the costume doesn't work the best here but it is done spectacularly in a different suit which I will mention later.

Tyler Hoechlin (Arrowverse):

8/10 - Honestly solid redesign but the blue is still a little dark and the belt is too high up - This may be the only time I've actually liked Superman not wearing trunks as the belt does an infinitely better job than the Snyder version - Still would have preferred with trunks though and this goes for all of Tyler's future suits except the Flashback suit.

Brandon Routh (Crisis/Kingdom Come):

9/10 - Crazy how one of the best superman suits ever came from a late stage CW crossover - easily one of the best they ever made for the Arrowverse and if the black Kingdom Come section of the suits had been swapped out for Yellow like they were post crisis then it would easily have been a 10/10

Nicholas Cage (The Flash):

0/10 - good lord do I even need to say anything what is this abomination - I am so glad this never got made

Tyler Hoechlin (Flashback/Fleischer):

8/10 - Again amazing - The logo was a bit off for me though and (like all of Tyler's future suits) the padding is horrendous, like WHAT ARE THOSE ABS NO ONE HAS ABS LIKE THAT

Tyler Hoechlin (Season 1-2):

8/10 - Good but feels too much like a bad cosplay and the padding is not good plus not a fan of the logo looking stitched into the fabric

Tyler Hoechlin (Season 3-4):

9/10 - A huge improvement over the previous seasons - Fixes most of the problems like the logo no longer looking stitched horribly placed - most of the bad cosplay is gone from the suit - They did use a similar texture to the Snyder suit which was done to make it more alien looking in Snyder's version but here if you look closely then you see the texture is made up of interlocking Superman Logos which is so cool - Padding is still bad but oh well

David Cornswet: 9/10

9/10 - Crazy how the best look they've given us so far is a behind the scenes set photo (what was that reveal image good lord) but good lord is it so good - The logo could use some work - I've got nothing against the Kingdom Come design but maybe a little curve at the bottom to give it a slight S shape - The gold Fleischer outline is a nice touch - My favourite version of the cape so far, using the New 52 design to attach the cape to the body and the yellow logo at the back??? (Ik its not in this photo but its there search it up) - The belt looks so good and there is minimal to no padding in this suit which means he just looks that good in it - The trunks are perfect and the colour is amazing - The lines are a bit much - makes it look a little too MCU style but the costume designer is the same one who did the MCU designs for Captain America 2 and 3, Avengers 3 and 4 and Guardians 2 and 3 so that tracks - She also did X-Men: The Last Stand and Gunn's Suicide Squad so I can understand the MCU like parts - Go check out her work her name is Judianna Makovsky - she's done some of the best comic book suit adaptations.

[vivid-bluez]

Helluva Boss' Worldbuilding is Awful

This is going to be a different post than what I normally post. It will be a bit more negative than how I normally word things but I want to get my thoughts out there since it's something I've been hyper fixating on for awhile.

Helluva Boss is a web series on YouTube currently in its 2nd season created by Vivienne Medrano, it serves as a spin-off of her other creative property Hazbin Hotel which was recently picked up by A24 and will air its first season on Prime next month. I wanted to discuss the worldbuilding of Helluva Boss, how and why I think it doesn't work, and why that hurts it's storytelling. This essay isn't meant to be only dunking on Viv or people who still love the show, I'm not writing this to be mean. I'm writing this because I do have a soft spot for these shows, Helluva Boss S1 is a comfort show to me and Hazbin was my first foyer into indie animation. I respect Medrano for what she was able to accomplish with her shows and I write this as my own form of a love letter to the show that I want so badly to improve and be the best it can be.

The Hierarchy

Both Hazbin and Helluva take place in the same universe and are set in the same location, Hell. Hell is a concept that's been around for a long time and has had several stories written about it, it has multiple different interpretations and depictions throughout the years. Medrano's version of Hell seems to be based on Dante's Inferno version of Hell, a story that depicts Hell as having multiple layers with the sins being condensed to their own rings. Medrano's version only has 7 rings as opposed to Dante's 9 rings, one ring for each of the 7 deadly sins.

Medrano's Hell is depicted as a hierarchical society with very strict rules that those within the hierarchy must obey. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy are treated like garbage by those above them, with very little one can do to transcend the position they were born into. Furthermore, dating someone underneath you in the hierarchy, especially if you're higher on it like in the Ars Goeita, is seen as disgraceful and disgusting. The hierarchy is depicted below:

This hierarchy, as confirmed by Medrano in an interview and further established in Helluva, is the official ranking of the denizens of Hell. It seems fine until you realize that the Sinners, former humans who sinned in life and got themselves into Hell, are above all of the Hellborn in status. The reason it doesn't really make sense is because Hell is meant to be a place where sinners are tortured for eternity for their sins, with the Hellborn usually being the ones doing the torturing. So why are they above the Hellborn? Why do mortal souls outrank those of actual demons? We're never given an answer for this, it's really odd.

My other problem with the hierarchy is that its established rules are often broken and bent when the writers feel like it. The most prominent example is when it comes to Higher Demons having relationships with Lower Demons. In the first season; Blitz, an Imp, someone at the bottom of the hierarchy, and Stolas, a member of the Ars Goeita and a Prince, being in a sexual relationship with each other is seen as disgusting and shocking by those around them.

When Stella is calling Stolas out for cheating on her she seems more upset that it was with an imp, with most of her insults being based around that.

"Do you want to fuck this one (referring to their imp butler) too?!" - Stella (S1E2 LooLoo Land) "Fucking IMP SUCKER!" - Stella (S2E4 Western Energy)

When Stolas and Blitz are called out in Ozzie's for their relationship, the characters don't seem to point out that he's cheating but again, who he's cheating with.

"ARE YOU SLEEPIN' WITH AN IMP?!" - Wally Wackford (S1E7 Ozzie's) "Whew! My dark lord, how the mighty do fall." - Asmodeus (S1E7 Ozzie's)

All of these moments make it clear that having a relationship with someone outside of your social class, especially those at the literal bottom of the barrel, is frowned upon heavily in Hell's society.

So why are Ozzie and Fizz, and also Bee and Tex, able to be so public about their relationships and nobody cares?

Tex, a hellhound on the same level of status as the imps arguably even lower, is dating Beezlebub, a Deadly Sin and queen of the Gluttony Ring. They don't hide their relationship at all, with Tex introducing her as his girlfriend at a public event and Bee acting very lovey-dovey to him in public. Shouldn't there be a scandal about this? The class difference is arguably more than Blitz and Stolas, with Stolas only being a demon Prince, Bee is a Queen and she's dating someone whom most of Hell considers to be little more than actual pets. No one looks at them weird or even makes a comment about it?

Fizz and Ozzie are in the same boat, a deadly sin, the King of Lust is dating an imp. They at least somewhat point this out in the universe (Newspaper articles of Ozzie being a hypocrite and characters calling their relationship the worst-kept secret in Hell) but they don't get nearly the same amount of venom and societal ridicule that Stolas and Blitz got. When Asmodeus confirms in front of an entire crowd of Hellborns at Mammon's Clown Pageant in S2E7 MAMON'S MAGNIFICENT MIDSEASON SPECIAL, the crowd is... extremely accepting of it. With all of them cheering for Fizz and Ozzie and Mammon seemingly being the odd one out when it comes to ridiculing them for their supposedly forbidden love.

So what's the deal? Are higher demons and lower demons forbidden from dating each other or not? Because of how the show is written, it seems like it's only a problem when it's Stolas and Blitz. It's one example but still a glaring inconsistency in the worldbuilding that leaves several fans confused.

Hell not feeling like Hell

So outside of the hierarchy posing its own issues the actual setting also poses its own issues. A common criticism I've seen of Helluva and Hazbin is that Hell is just "Earth but red" and I'd have to agree with that honestly. You could replace the setting of Helluva as a group of assassins running a business in a major city like Los Angeles and change Stolas to being just a shady rich corporate backer and very little about the plot would change.

I'll just rapid fire some things that Hell has that make no sense in a place that's supposed to be evil, lawless, and a place of eternal suffering:

Fire Fighters

Hospitals that even lower classes can use.

Jails and Cops?? (What the fuck)

A fucking priest, officiating a wedding with a bible which implies there's a Hell Christianity?

Weddings and marriages that seem identical to Earth ones or Christian marriages (wouldn't Hell hate marriages for how they're tied to religion and God?)

Fucking Courts.

If these were one-off gags or something mentioned only once, I could let it slide. (Like Millie and Moxxie being married or Stolas and Stella getting a divorce) but when you drag out these plot points or repeatedly show things that make your world just feel like Earth but with a new coat of paint on it, It begins to feel like your world is just Earth but with a new coat of paint on it.

The worldbuilding in Helluva Boss feels like the worldbuilding in Cars where it just leaves more questions than it answers. (Why are sidewalks a thing in a world of sentient cars? They show an American flag so does that mean that the Car Civil War happened? THE POPE IS HERE IS THERE A CAR JESUS THAT DIED ON THE CAR CROSS FOR OUR CAR SINS??)

What is Demonic Law?

In Helluva Boss, the business the characters run is stated by multiple characters to be illegal. There are demons permitted to access the human world and imps are not one of them, making their business illegal. I.M.P's use of Stolas' grimoire is illegal it is not meant to be lent out to anyone, especially not to imps, Stolas even says so himself in S1E5 Harvest Moon. Stolas later affirms that the Imps need to be careful because if they get caught it could land all of them in trouble in S1E6 Truth Seekers:

"How the fuck did you get caught!? Were you not being careful? If you get in trouble I get in trouble!" - Stolas (S1E6 Truth Seekers)

So what's the deal with Stolas in S2E6 waltzing up to a DEADLY SIN and basically admitting that Blitz's running an ILLEGAL BUSINESS AND HE'S AN ACOMPLIS TO IT?? Asmodeus just... doesn't care that this demon prince just admitted to breaking demon law? Also, Blitz can advertise his business without worry that it could bite him in the ass, no one else at I.M.P. is concerned that they're running an illegal business that could land all of them in hot water? No one questions why a bunch of imps have access to the living world even though they're not supposed to?

Another thing they set up is Human Disguises, in S1E3 where Loona calls them out for going to the human world without using human disguises, making a big deal out of it. Whenever Loona goes to the human world she wears a human disguise as well as Verosika, her squad, and Stolas in S2E2.

"A human called me a possum! I am NOT a possum!" - Moxxie (S1E3 Spring Broken)

The human disguise rule is so inconsistent, why do Loona and Stolas wear theirs in Seeing Stars when Octavia is wandering around without one and the most people do is give her weird looks. The imps run around fine without them and no one cares or can see through their bad disguises The humans in the Hellverse are too stupid to notice the literal demons so why even bring up disguises at all? Why have human disguises be apart of Demon Law if it doesn't matter?

Demons being ...Nice?

A common response to criticism of this show is usually "It's Hell.". While I've already gone over why it sure don't feel like it but what's weirder still is yes, it's hell. Why are some people so fucking nice?

Moxxie doesn't want to kill an innocent mother and seems pretty soft, Millie and Moxxie are incredibly loving and caring to each other, when Blitz is younger, he has qualms against stealing, then we've got Beezlebub and Asmodeus who, by all accounts, are just nice people.

Bee becomes concerned for Blitz when he begins binge drinking (Aka, engaging in her sin) at one of her parties and Asmodeus has an entire speech about why consent matters and how lust shouldn't be forced. I'm not advocating for Ozzie to be a rapist or for Bee to be a one dimensional bitch but, it really doesn't make sense for the literal embodiments of sins to be so nice.

On that same note, there are villians in this show that we're mostly supposed to hate because they're.. mean?

Glitz and Glam, we hate them because they're hyper-competitive and mean to Fizz, but they're demons? Shouldn't we expect them to be mean? Stella is an abusive screaming harpy and awful to Stolas and we hate her for it, but she's a demon princess? Shouldn't that behavior be normal in Hell?

Certain demons being nice is fine, and it can give them depth, but when every 'good guy' is nice and chill and only the evil or villainousxczxc characters are cartoonishly evil it starts to become apparent that it's writer's bias.

Conclusion

While this isn't all of the worldbuilding issues that exist within Medrano's Hellverse, it's the big ones that I have the most problems with. For a show that's supposed to be made as a way to further build upon the world of Hell, Helluva does a very poor job at that and at points is even detrimental to Hazbin.

What I mean is, if Charlie needs a backer to the hotel, why doesn't she ask Ozzie or Bee? They seem like they'd be down for it since they're surprisingly anti-sin. Charlie no longer feels special because she isn't the only nice demon, she isn't the odd one out anymore since a lot of Hell's leaders also seem to be pretty chill and nice.

Again, this isn't a rant or something that I made to dunk on these shows, I love both of them still and I want them to be better. For Hazbin and Helluva to live up to their potential and be the best they can be, no work is above being critiqued, it comes with the territory and I wish more of the fandom was normal about someone having negative feelings towards parts of the show's writing and to stop putting good faith and bad faith criticism in the same boot and backing that shit into the Hudson.

[readingtoinfinity]

Arcane updated thoughts

Spoilers for the end of season 2! I won't discuss much more than vaguely but you've been warned.

I've been seeing a criticism a lot of the end of the show, specifically that the conflict between Zaun and Piltover isn't resolved by the conclusion of the show, beyond Sevika getting a seat on the council.

And I had to think about it for a bit; I thought there was something missing in the finale and couldn't think of what, but that criticism put into words what I'd been thinking about.

There's two ways I can think of this: the show failed and did a bad job, or we're supposed to look at the events and themes and draw our own conclusions. For the benefit of the doubt (and to have something to think about in the shower) I went with the second thought. And I think I did come up with something.

Season 2, episode 7 is one of if not the best episode in the show, detailing what happens to Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger when they vanished from the Hextech tower. Jayce goes through his own Elden Ring/Dark Souls experience and Jayce and Heimerdinger get to experience a better timeline where Hextech doesn't exist and everything has improved.

And I stuck on this. A lot of the problems between Zaun and Piltover existed prior to Hextech but were made worse by it. The first Zaun rebellion happened and was put down with the original technology, and in the better timeline these feelings wouldn't have gone away, either. Silco and Vander's breakup also happened, but in the better timeline they've patched things up to become friends again.

That's interesting. That things improve so much in six or seven years after alt!Vi dies. As if the show is telling us "Without Hextech things would have gotten better", to the point that the bridge becomes a market when it was a boundary in the original timeline.

We can see this bear out in the show: Ambessa only came to Piltover because they had tech she wanted. The Gray was a by-product of Hextech. The wealth that Hextech brought went only to the wealthy and made them rely less on Zaun for labor. I think episode 7 wasn't just a look back at how things could have been, it was a glance forward at how things will be.

Finally, two themes about the show stick out: trusting again despite past experiences and preventing things from getting worse. A lot of season 1 is about scrambling to keep things steady so they can be improved, but outside forces (mostly Ambessa, TBH) stirring the pot and making things worse. And the resolution of the show is about reaching out your hand one last time, to risk being hurt to help an old friend.

I think a lot of this could have been said explicitly. Maybe an epilogue where we show work being done to improve the two cities' relationship. We know there'll be a bond of comradery that wasn't there before, because they all fought together against Ambessa's forces, and that the Enforcer population has dwindled and the wealthy have lost their cash cow with Hextech that means the labor of Zaun will become more valuable, which will give them a bargaining chip, and Sevika has a seat at the table to entreat as their voice. The pieces are there, but the finale didn't weave them together.

But ultimately, I think this criticism isn't fully-fleshed out. The show told us numerous times that, if you only reach out your hand and work with somebody, things can only get better. It's not explicitly hopeful or happy, but it could be.

I may end up changing my mind on this. I dunno; I'm very emotional about the show and I'm still in the defensive stage over it. But I do appreciate seeing the original criticism and giving it a mulling-over; it allows me to think more about one of my favorite shows of the past few years.

[c0smic-coral]

Here’s my story about growing up on MLP

The show started when I was 6 years old, but i didn’t get pulled in until I was 7. I remember it was a McDonald’s Happy Meal Fluttershy toy that did it (I still have it today and it sits on my dresser like a trophy). She had a brushable tail but no comb and a whole bunch of stickers. I looked at the box and my mom, who’d known about the show and remembered the original 80s version from her childhood, but she said she never really watched it or owned any of the toys, but I guess really wanted me to get into it. I still remember the first episode I watched was Read It and Weep (the one where Rainbow Dash gets into Daring Do) which today I find hilariously ironic.

This started a full-blown OBSESSION with the show. Soon I was collecting the blind bags, Beanie Babies, Happy Meal toys, I had FatHeads of all of the ponies on my bedroom wall, I had a My Little Pony lunchbox, a My Little Pony backpack, I wore My Little Pony underwear, I had My Little pony pajamas, I made a Twilight Sparkle Halloween costume one year, I had a My Little Pony birthday party one year. My mom compared me to Pinkie Pie but Twilight Sparkle was my favorite. I was an extroverted kid (the pandemic is what turned me into an introverted adult) and I started hoping I’d meet five friends I’d spend my whole life with just like her. I was a silly kid. I actually got bullied for being obsessed with the show unfortunately… this led to the loss of my first My Little Pony lunchbox.

And I wrote fanfiction! And I drew cringeworthy fanart because I was like that (my fanart improved over the years). When Equestria Girls came out, I started wondering if high school would be like that.

No, I never got to dance on cafeteria tables in school spirit wear. Sad.

As an adult, I think the show has definitely shaped me as a person who believes friendship, while not magic, is one of the most important things in the world. As for G5, it’s okay in my opinion. I haven’t watched any of the episodes after the Netflix movie, but I like the characters and I’m happy to see the next generation of kids gets to grow up on it too.

I did not hate Season 9. The later seasons I agree were not as good, but I never hated the School of Friendship or Cozy Glow (I actually love the idea of adorable child villains). The introduction of Scootaloo’s lesbian aunts warmed my heart, along with LyraBon getting married and implied AppleDash (though I think RariJack would have been better, just saying). I don’t hate The Last Problem either. Once again, a bit upset Rarity didn’t end up with anyone though because she deserved to have a happily ever after (and Gallus and Silverstream ending up in different places. I think those two should have gotten together)

Pony Life is bad. The introduction of Pinkie Pie’s brother makes no sense and opens up a lot of plot holes, even more than Maud never having been in The Cutie Mark Chronicles flashback. I never got behind Sparity. Rarity is too old for Spike and to be honest I think Spike and Sweetie Belle should’ve.

One thing I never understood was the hate on Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce. I think they’re both charming and both good for their respective Twilights. No no no. I ship Sunset Shimmer with EG’s Rainbow Dash, not Sci-Twi. No hate on Twiset, though!

My favorite episode of MLP, or episodes I suppose, are still A Canterlot Wedding, Parts 1 and 2. Queen Chrysalis will always be my fav villain. I love two-parters. Twilight’s Kingdom and To Where and Back Again are my others. I HATED The Mean Six btw. I found it a pathetic return for Queen Chrysalis and extremely anticlimactic. It’s the only episode I genuinely hate. There are some I dislike a bit but that’s the only one I hate.

A large inspiration to how Poisoned Lipgloss sounds is PrinceWhateverer. I love his music and I admire him greatly.

Sorry for the long post!! You guys can ask me anything on my opinions on the show!! Just a reminder, my blog is NOT suitable for minors, so please keep out!

[dwtsfun]

Dancing with the Stars Season 5: Week 2 Rewatch

Sorry about the delay. I was dealing with headaches several days last week. So you all will get both week 2 and week 3 this week. So let's get into week 2. Everyone performed on the same night, so the posts are back to normal.

Mel and Maks- Quickstep (Judges' Score=23, My Score=8)- This was a pretty good dance. I don't think it was as good as their cha-cha, but it was still strong. Her posture was actually really good and she moved well. There were some out of sync moments between herself and Maks, but that's really it.

Mark and Kym- Mambo (Judges' Score=18, My Score=5)- Mark is an extremely awkward mover. He tries really hard, but the dance did not translate this week. I did see a few instances of nice arm lines. But yeah, it just didn't work out this week.

Wayne and Cheryl- Quickstep (Judges' Score=15, My Score=5)- Whew. Okay. That was kinda hard to watch. It was stiff and he was pretty much walking through the entire dance. But I did like the performance a lot more this week and there was a point toward the end when they really moved across the floor that Wayne handled pretty well. I do think he can get better, but he's not amazing.

Marie and Jonathan- Mambo (Judges' Score=24, My Score=7)- Marie came out and surprised me with this dance. While there are still some technical issues with her posture (we don't talk about it much in Latin, but she was hunched over) and her foot placement, she actually did a respectable mambo and performed the hell out of it. I also wanna say that I like her partnership with Jonathan.

Albert and Anna- Quickstep (Judges' Score=21, My Score=6)- I do think that this was better than last week, but Albert seemed to struggle a bit more with feeling comfortable with the dance. Like the judges said, his energy he seemed to lose a bit of his joy this week. His footwork was nasty, but I thought his posture was really really good. I do think he had some higher potential than most of the other men (behind only Helio and Cameron and slightly above Floyd) but unfortunately, this was his last dance of the competition, so it went unrealized.

Helio and Julianne- Mambo (Judges' Score=27, My Score=8)- It was really good. Helio's footwork was very fast and very good. He was mostly precise. He did some really complex moves here and handled it with relative ease. He is extremely charismatic and I found him pretty sexy here. And I've never found Helio to be that until now. My biggest problem with this dance was a lack of fluidity. I just wanted him to be less choppy and have the moves flow better.

Jennie and Derek- Quickstep (Judges' Score=21, My Score=7)- Oh no. I hate that they fell right at the end there. Jennie does need to work on her posture and strengthening that up through her core. And there were a couple of feet problems. But it was a really strong dance otherwise. Jennie has so much potential. I'm glad she and Derek started will figure it out sooner rather than later (I'm excited for week 3).

Cameron and Edyta- Mambo (Judges' Score=21, My Score=7)- I want Jennie and Cameron to sit down with a confidence coach. I think they suffer from some of the same things. And if I remember correctly, both had a similar journey on the show. There were moments of greatness here. His lines are great. And when he does things right, they look great. He looks like a dancer. I do want him to work on his musicality some more. A lot of that is the nerves for sure. But also, he needs to just hear the music.

Floyd and Karina- Quickstep (Judges' Score=21, My Score=6)- So I actually don't think this dance was bad. It was actually decent and a huge improvement. His posture was not good, but that's a boxing habit that needs to be shifted. As I said last week, finesse is still the name of the game for Floyd. He has so much potential. I think the moment everything clicks into place, he will be incredible.

Jane and Tony- Mambo (Judges' Score=21, My Score=8)- Okay so I think Jane has really great technique. However, Jane different give what she should've given for this dance. It felt very uptight and royal and not as grounded and raw as I wanted it to be. I think Jane and Marie can learn a lot from one another. They're two sides of the same coin. But I mean, everything was done well. Jane is amazing.

Sabrina and Mark- Quickstep (Judges' Score=26, My Score=10)- First of all, Mark looked so much like his father when he was younger. Like they were basically twins. This dance though was incredible. I don't have anything to say. Len is full of it. Those light and shade and slow it down comments for a quickstep don't really make sense for a quickstep. Especially not this specific quickstep. It was danced to perfection FOR ME.

My Rankings and Scores Out of 30:

1 Sabrina and Mark- 28 2 Helio and Julianne- 25 3 Mel and Maks- 23 4 Marie and Jonathan- 22 = Jane and Tony- 22 6 Jennie and Derek- 21 = Cameron and Edyta- 21 8 Albert and Anna- 20 = Floyd and Karina- 20 10 Mark and Kym- 16 11 Wayne and Cheryl- 14

So our bottom 2 were Albert and Floyd. Neither one deserved to go home this early. But unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Albert. I think he had so much more to give and Anna seemed to really enjoy him. But as we all know, models struggle on this show. Especially if they are not big names. That was his real downfall. That's the end of week 2. Let me know your thoughts and I will be back tomorrow with week 3 so that we can get back on track.

[kohanayaki]

.:Time and Time Again:. (Marauders Era x Reader) Ch 2

As you reconcile with Sirius, he reminisces on how you came to be friends despite a rather rocky start (mostly told through flashbacks taking place in the Marauders era).

LINKS:   CH 1   CH 2   CH 3   CH 4   CH 5   CH 6   CH 7   CH 8

________________________________________________________

Ch 2 .:Pranks and Past Prejudices:.

~Previously~

“I was about to see if you were awake,” Sirius admitted with a small grin, “Seems we both had the same idea.”

He shifted his weight from foot to foot, stepping aside slightly so you could come in. If the Sirius Black from your school days had offered you into his room in the dead of night, you would have slapped him upside the head; but things were different now, and so were the two of you. 

However, as you glanced around the room you almost laughed at how remarkably unchanged it was, and why wouldn't it be? He hadn't lived here since he was sixteen, and he was only living here now because he preferred this house to an Azkaban cell by a small fraction. While the rest of the house was set in deep tones of obsidian and gray, save for the green Slytherin theme of his younger brother's room, Sirius' room was all warm shades of red and gold, Gryffindor paraphernalia covering every inch of it from Quidditch trophies and old banners to a tapestry he had stolen from the Great Hall when they'd won the house cup that year.

The room was littered with memories of your school life— a set of charred robes from when he and James had drunkenly lit the Quidditch field hoops on fire, an old Beater's bat that he had broken in half during the Cup finals, an old Gobstones set you used to play with in the courtyard, and stacks of classic rock records that you and Remus had gifted him for the holidays. A muggle toolbox sat in the corner of the room from when he'd made improvements to his enchanted motorbike that couldn't be done with magic, which you were certain his parents were mortified by.

Posters of bikini-clad women were plastered across the wallpaper, and you recalled the day he told you his mother had a fit when she realized he'd used a permanent sticking charm on them so she couldn't take them down. Said posters were still present, but mostly covered up by all the photos of him and his friends from their school and early Order days— the only noticeable sign of change you could see from his moving back in. It was truly like some sort of time capsule.

As soon as you tore your eyes away from the room and turned to focus on its owner, a tense silence fell between you two. This was the first time you had seen Sirius in over a decade. The last time you two spoke, he was in chains being led away to Azkaban. What was there to say? How could you possibly think things could go back to the way they were? 

“Sirius,” your voice cracked with emotion as you said his name, and when you saw the look in his eyes, so similar to the look he'd given you when he was in that horrible barbed cage during his trial, the dam just broke.

You practically threw yourself at him, sobbing quietly into his shoulder as the fabric of his shirt bunched up in your trembling hands

“I'm sorry,” you said, “I am so, so sorry I didn't believe you, Sirius. I didn't know, I didn't—”

“(Y/n), it's okay,” Sirius said softly.

You almost jumped at his gentle touch, his arm wrapping around your waist and one hand coming up to pet your hair. It hurt him to see you like this, that you went through this much because of him.

“There was no way you could have known,” he said, resting his chin on top of your head as tears continued to stream down your face, “There was no proof that I wasn't the Secret Keeper. We'd decided to make it that rat at the last second. Only James and Lily knew and, well, they couldn't exactly attest to my innocence.”

Hatred bubbled up in his chest at his own mention of Pettigrew, but he forced it down for you, his expression softening as soon as he looked at you. “That was bad judgment on my part, I suppose,” he said in an attempt to lighten the mood, although twelve years in prison was a difficult matter to joke about.

“I should have just believed you,” you muttered into his collar. Sirius' other hand reached out to cup your face, wiping the last few tears from your cheeks.

“Come now, even Moony thought I'd done it,” he said, a small smirk finding its way to his face, “I know what it looked like. . . I don't blame any of you for not believing me. So please, don't blame yourself for this, (Y/n). You're still my best friend.”

“Oh, now you've done it,” you sniffled, laughing despite yourself as fresh tears spilled over. Sirius laughed along with you and yo u could feel the sound reverberate through his chest, rich and melodic. Warm.

He wrapped both his arms around you, holding you tight as you two chuckled like a couple of idiots, standing there glassy-eyed in the middle of his room. If anyone else had bore witness to the scene they'd have thought you'd gone mad, but in that moment you couldn't care less. Your body had been buckling under the weight of your guilt and how much you had missed him. Hearing him say that he still considered you his best friend. . . that was more than you could have ever asked for.

Sirius swelled with pride as he saw he was able to make you smile, something he'd long considered a small victory. He couldn't believe how much your relationship had changed. If someone had told him all those years ago that you would turn out to be someone he couldn't imagine his life without, he wouldn't have believed them. But he supposed life was unexpected like that. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   1973  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since the day you'd stood up to him, James Potter found himself increasingly curious about you. Of course he and his friends continued to pick on Snape, but when you were around to fend them off it became more and more difficult to do so, something that the leader of the self-proclaimed Marauders decided was cumbersome.

James insisted that to get to Snape they would have to take you down too, since you were so keen on protecting him.

“We need to cut the head off the snake,” he had said.

And so, slowly but surely, James shifted the cross hairs of his mischief-making from Severus Snape to you. It started out small; a Bat-bogey hex here, some heat sensitive combustion power under your cauldron there. What he didn't expect in the slightest was for you to actually retaliate with pranks of your own.

Quidditch season had just ended as the year came to a close, and James, who was supposed to be helping clean out the Gryffindor tent, was lying on his back and fiddling about with a golden snitch he'd found wedged in the wooden scaffolding. His head perked up as he saw the Lily across the pitch, walking next to you and chatting. He clearly couldn't care less about what, as he had no problem interrupting your conversation.

“Hey, Evans!” he hollered, heading towards you two.

As soon as Lily spotted him she rolled her eyes.

“And now we're walking faster,” she muttered, grabbing you by the arm and tugging you along.

“Aw come on, I just wanna talk,” he said, quickly catching up with you. Before long he had jogged a few paces ahead, turning around to block your path. “Hey,” he said with a smirk. He was wearing his Quidditch practice uniform, broom in hand.

“Merlin, you are nothing if not persistent,” Lily huffed.

“What can I say? I'm a Chaser~”

“Goodbye, James,” Lily deadpanned at the pun, and he quickly moved in front of her again.

“Wait, wait! Just watch this, okay?” he insisted.

You bit back a smirk, grateful he hadn't paid you any mind until now.

“Trust me, you've never seen anything like this before,” James said cockily, willing his broomstick to hover a few feet off the ground and hauling one leg over to mount it. However, as soon as his arse hit the wood, his entire body phased right through it. He groaned as his tailbone made unceremonious contact with the ground, his broomstick now hovering above him. As soon as he looked up the stick dropped and plonked him on the head, solid again.

You burst out laughing, revealing your wand that had been obstructed from his view by your sleeve.

“(Y/n)!” Lily looked at you in shock, hitting you in the arm playfully but unable to fight the laughter that rose in her chest. It was nice to see him get a harmless taste of his own medicine.

“Well, you were right, Potter,” the redhead said, “I've never seen anything like that before.”

James' face flushed with embarrassment while you two walked away, gathering his broom and whatever remained of his pride. You wouldn't get the better of him again.

Or, at least that's what he told himself until the beginning of your fourth year.

________________________________________________________

James strode down the corridors leading to the Great Hall with a pep in his step. It had been an unusually peaceful morning; despite having slept in, he wasn't in much of a rush to join his friends who had already made their way to breakfast.

The real reason for his quick pace was because he couldn't wait to see your reaction to his latest prank. It was a classic, amped up a bit thanks to a tube of ink from one of the “magic” markers at Zonkos. He hoped you liked your new look, because you were going to be saddled with it for a while.

As he walked through the courtyard he shot a wink to a fourth year Hufflepuff girl he recognized from his Divination class and she covered her hand with her mouth, turning away from him slightly as she tried to hold back the giggles that spilled from her lips. He gave himself a pat on the back, oblivious to the fact that the laughter was directed at him, an unawareness that stayed with him up until the moment he threw the doors to the Great Hall open. The gasps and laughter that followed him only grew as he sat down at his usual spot. Even his friends were staring at him, wide-eyed and unblinking.

“What?” James ran a hand through his hair in confusion, “What are you guys—!!”

As his hair flopped in front of his face his peripheral vision was curtained with the brightest shade of neon turquoise he'd ever seen.

“No,” he said, “no, no, no way!”

He grabbed one of the food trays, dumping the pastries that were on top onto the table. Peter squeaked as he caught a few that were about to fall, setting them down quietly on his own plate.

James stared at his reflection in the shiny metal, and sure enough his once pristine brunette hair was colored the bright blue of the magic marker whose contents he'd dumped into your shower bottle the night before.

“Did you like the shampoo?” a voice behind him asked innocently.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around to see you, your hair colored the same bright blue shade. Now he was thoroughly confused.

“It smells nice, right?”

“How did you. . . if I. . . why is your hair—”

“A simple connection charm on the shampoo bottle,” you said, “anyone who touches it receives the same benefits and results of the next person who uses it within three hours. In this case, you landed yourself a dye job and a hell of a keratin treatment, so you're welcome. The spell was already on the bottle to begin with; pretty convenient when you have dorm mates that can all save on buying product, and besides it can be kind of nice to skip a hair wash day every once in a while. I suppose I should thank you, I didn't have to do any shopping or sneaking around for this one. You did all the work for me.”

You put your hand to your chin, pretending to study him for a moment.

“You should take care of that fast, though” you said nonchalantly, gesturing to his hair, “you don't look nearly as cute as I do in this color, Potter.”

To further prove your point, you waved your wand around the crown of your head, and with a quick utter of 'aufero hue' the blue in your hair seemed to melt right off the strands, leaving behind your natural (h/c) locks. The color swirled around the tip of your wand in an aqueous state for a moment before you flung it aside. It landed with a splat! against the Gryffindor table, staining a section of the wood that same shade of bright blue as if it had grown that way.

“I'd do it for you myself, but I don't want to,” you smirked, “ Perhaps you could take a few remedial classes to learn the color-leeching charm. Have fun figuring something out!”

And with that you flounced away, leaving behind a very embarrassed, very blue, and very reluctantly impressed James Potter.

He may just have found himself a proper rival.

Sirius scoffed from where he sat.

“Oh please, the stupid charm can't be that hard to do,” he said, taking out his wand.

“Not that I don't have faith in you, mate, but I'm probably better off seeing if Slughorn has anything for this,” James said.

“Why don't you just soak your head in some Valerian water? That's what takes the color out of potions, right?”

“Peter, he might go bald if he does that.”

“Oh.”

_______________________________________________________

James would go on to land a few good jokes on you too. There was one night where you had snuck into the Prefect's bathroom and emerged with a mermaid tail, which was pretty awesome until you realized you had no way of getting out of the tub. From then on, you and James would continue to try and get the jump on one another, marking the start of your now-infamous fourth year prank war. It entertained the students and infuriated the faculty. Gradually, your pranks on one another became more light-hearted, meant to amuse the other person and make them laugh rather than actually hurt or humiliate them.

“Very funny, (L/n),” James said as he walked up to you, his body turned around 180 degrees from the waist up so he had to shuffle backwards to face you. You laughed, nearly choking on your pumpkin juice as you saw your handy work.

“What are you, five?”

“Right, because you're so much more mature stalking and bullying my friends,” you quipped back.

“I really don't understand how Snivelus is your friend.”

“Severus,” you said crossly, “and for the record, I really don't understand how Remus is yours either. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Har har,” James rolled his eyes, “Now would you turn me the right way 'round already? I've got Quidditch practice.”

“Nah, I think you're fine to play like this.”

“Honestly? Not a bad tactic. I can cover my blind spot and stare at my own ass while I fly.”

“Who's five now?” you grinned.

As the months went on, instead of storming over to each other and slinging insults, your interactions with James became more akin to playful banter. And frankly, Sirius didn't get it. You were a Slytherin, and a pureblood at that. Hell, you were a descendant of one of the 28 pureblood families. Everything about you went against everything he believed in and relished in getting away from each year when he would leave home to go to school. You were in the same house as those stupid blood purists, you probably were one yourself—

“You're glaring.”

Sirius blinked, snapping out of his stupor as Remus nudged him in the shoulder. He said nothing, slowly returning to eating his dinner as he tore his eyes away from you, sitting at the Slytherin table with Snivelus, Evan Rosier, and his younger brother of all people. He stabbed at his roast potatoes a little too harshly and his friends traded looks among themselves.

“You alright there, mate?” James asked cautiously.

“Fantastic,” Sirius said, shoving another forkful of potatoes into his mouth to avoid saying anything unsavory as he spotted you heading towards their table.

“Coming to the library today, Remus?” you asked the boy to his right who looked up at you in surprise.

“Oh, sure thing,” he said, “I'm off for the night.”

“Great, we can study for Arithmancy then,” you said. Remus nodded at your suggestion and you gave him a dazzling smile, walking off with your books.

“Since when did you two get so chummy?” Sirius bristled.

Remus rolled his eyes.

“We're just studying for the upcoming mid marks,” he said, “They’re proficient in Ancient Runes and History of Magic. As a study partner it's. . . refreshing.”

“Oi, are you calling us stupid?” James rose a brow.

“Your words, not mine,” Lupin grinned. He saw Sirius' bothered expression and sighed, collecting his things.

“You might get on if you bothered to get to know them,” he told Sirius out of the others' earshot, slinging his book bag over his shoulder before heading off in your direction.

You only continued to grow inadvertently closer to James throughout your fourth year, your prank battle coming to its epic conclusion with the two of you joining forces against some particularly nasty upperclassmen. Your practical jokes subsided, your quips and passing insults were traded for real conversations and walking each other to class. You hated to admit it, but he'd grown on you— especially with him letting up considerably on bullying Severus and annoying Lily lately.

All the while, the closer you got to James the more irritated his best friend became. In Sirius' mind, the more time you were spending with James the less time James was spending with him. They hardly hung out alone anymore. And since James started hanging out with you he started mellowing out, which made Lily start hanging out with him, which made him even more tame. Sirius just wanted his best friend back.

“You do realize that issue would largely be resolved if you weren't so bothered by hanging out with both of them together, right?” Lupin had brought up one night as Sirius was airing out his frustrations.

“I'm not going to bother making friends with someone whose family is so wrapped up in blood politics they forget to be human beings first. Trust me, I've met their mother enough times to know.”

“Have you ever asked them about it?” Remus pressed.

“I don't really need to, do I? They're a (L/n). Open your eyes, Moony!”

Remus' brow furrowed, a shine in his eyes akin to sympathy as he regarded Sirius.

“Perhaps it's you that needs to clear your vision, friend.”

A/N: Thank you all so much for the unexpected early support on this story! I have a lot planned for it~ If you’d like to be added to the taglist just let me know ! 

Read chapter 3 here!

Taglist: @blackpinkdolan @sleep-i-ness @parker-natasha​

[littlealeta]

Can anyone tell me what people see in this new season of Rick and Morty? Yeah I haven’t seen any episodes in their entirety (only a few clips like I said I would) and I have been researching information about it because OCD won’t let me get away from this piece of crap but I really don’t see what all the rave is about with this season. I may or may not have women’s intuition but this overall season just sounds weird. Each episode just sounds mediocre like I have yet to see an actual decent episode even season 4 had a couple of decent episodes. Maybe Solaricks is probably the only one close to decent. I know it’s too early to tell but so far, this ranks below season 4 for me and maybe slightly above 5 (5 was all around mediocre and had some of the worst episodes in the show and I didn’t even watch episodes 2, 4-7)

To me, this new season just doesn’t feel like Rick and Morty while also suffering from some of the same issues seasons 3-5 had. The only good things I would say is that there are still jokes, it’s not entirely unfunny. They have good premises but poor execution. They at least have plot and character development without getting rid of them or insulting the audience. Jerry is an actual character from what I heard of. Rick is a bit more caring and emotional than he was last season but he still feels very off. I don’t mind Rick getting nicer but he just seems overall soft especially with his family almost like a goody-goody. And this is RICK we’re talking about. Rick may have a caring and loving side but soft is the last thing I would use to describe him and I just don’t see why he would get to this point especially this soon. Not to mention Rick’s overly soft attitude also makes him less compelling as a character and more like what Jerry used to be, just a doormat to his family’s bs.

I was hoping that Morty’s new codependency in the season 5 finale was just character bastardization that the writers were eventually going to take back but no. Solaricks and Rick: A Mort Well Lived are continuing to double down on this with Morty craving affection from Rick, showing lots of open affection, and having separation anxiety from him.

It’s like the writers are trying to do the innocent child and hardened adult relationship in the way that it is almost always done. Just all around wholesome and loving. Now there are characters that kind of started out like Rick such as Joel from The Last of Us or Gru from Despicable Me that were asses to their adopted kids in the beginning just like Rick did with his grandson but unlike Rick, Joel and Gru actually had believable buildup to being nice to the children. But what did Rick do to earn Morty’s attachment and being nice to Morty? Sure he had buildup to start caring for his family but as far as being wholesome to Morty? Barely there and mostly the result of the shallow crow arc. What reason would there be for Morty to start being attached to Rick? Sure he always cared for Rick deep down but he was never this lovey dovey or attached to him up until now. Rick spent a day with rebounds then all of a sudden, he’s changed? Not only is it out of character for Rick to want to spend time with someone trying to improve him and then openly admit that he’s fucked up but it’s also rushed. The crows told him to save a couple of aliens and then partnered up with him for anime adventures. How in God’s name would this change his relationship with Morty?

Look, I don’t have a problem with Rick and Morty’s relationship becoming more wholesome somewhere down the line. I love this trope wholeheartedly and I would love to see it in Rick and Morty. But it’s just so cheesy because they are doing this too quick with no buildup or reason to it. If they really wanted to do it, take notes from how Last of Us and Despicable Me did with their irritable, cold protagonists warming up to their children.

They also brought back Rick’s OPness when I thought after destroying the finite curve that caused him to be this powerful/smart in the first place were the writers getting rid of this flaw but ig not. :(

It just feels like the writers are writing Rick and Morty in a way that they and/or the fans fantasize. With Rick and Morty having a more loving relationship, Rick being an all-powerful God who can conquer anything, all the pointless cartooniness. People need to understand that this is 2022, not the 1960s. Cartoons have been starting to branch out from weird absurd looney tunes esque gags for decades now with even Disney branching out of it and Rick and Morty was one of those cartoons with cartoony elements like Rick getting buff with Summer being rare/almost non-existent and the absurdities of the sci fi being the main point of the show. Even when it did get cartoony, because being cartoony isn’t its main identity, the cartoony aspects were more for a joke AND they also had a purpose to it. They didn’t use cartooniness to undermine and automatically get rid of conflict conflict like seasons 3-6 do. The cartoony stuff in Night Family were just there just to be there. They had no point to them and I don’t think a lot of them were even played for jokes.

To me, I think that it’s because the writers are writing in a way the fans fantasize and also they could be giddy because season 5 was so weak for a Rick and Morty season. I also noticed this in the Sonic fandom with Sonic fans who hate Modern Sonic games praising the movies to high heaven despite them actually being pretty mediocre.

Rick and Morty isn’t a show about a loving grandpa and grandson relationship nor was it a show about a terminator who can conquer anything. It’s a show about a super smart broken scientist struggling to learn to care for his family. He was never supposed to be OP and its core identity was never to be cartoony at least in the way things like Looney Tunes, SpongeBob, or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are. The writers need to look at what the show is and not what it should be to the point of immediately changing its identity to make it look like almost a completely different show.

You can really tell that the creators are hands-off with this show because of how unique this particular season feels. It’s been going in weird directions since season 3 so yeah it’s partially Harmon’s fault but I thought season 3 was an oopsy and that they were going to learn from their mistakes but I also heard Justin Roiland quit helming the show around season 4.

It’s clear that Rick and Morty fans can eat pretty much anything up so I don’t think that changing the show back to its original identity would hurt it too much.

[butcherlarry]

Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About Pork Quality (DFD Edition)

I'm about to nerd out on everyone, so sorry in advance 😁

(There is also a little tidbit about how this can relate to the TV show Hannibal too)

(if you are squeamish about meat or pictures of meat, please skip.  There is also a very very brief mention of animal death, so if you don’t like that, please skip as well.  Take care of yourself!!)

Today at work, we were trimming pork ham insides (slap the inside part of your thigh and it's the same muscle), and one of them was DFD (dark, firm, dry). You can see in the picture below. To the left is DFD, and the right is normal pork.

Here is the flip side! You can still see the difference.

To make sure it wasn't blood splash (another meat quality issue), I cut into the very dark part. If it was blood splash, there would be bright red dots all over the area.  As you can see, there are none.

What causes this? It's stress! More specifically, chronic (long term) stress. It's more likely to be seen in the winter (It's December now!), because the animal is dealing with a stressor (the cold weather) for a long period of time.

Why does this happen?  The animal uses up all the energy (ATP) in the body to deal with this stress. Then, when the animal is harvested (slaughtered, if you want to use the less academic term ((yeah, I know it's weird word to use, don't get me started))), the carcass doesn't have a lot of energy (ATP) left over when it goes through anaerobic metabolism, and not a lot of lactic acid is produced (the anaerobic metabolism and the lactic acid produced is what causes your muscles to feel sore when you exercise for the first time after a while).

Since there is not a lot of lactic acid in the carcass, the pH doesn't drop (less acid!), so the pH is around 6 to 6.3, closer to water (7, which is neutral. Meat is normally around 5.6-5.8). This higher pH makes the muscle fibers want to hold on to water, so the water in the meat doesn't release as much, making the meat look dry and feel a bit sticky. Since there is more water being held in the meat, it feels firm to the touch also. The meat appears dark because more myoglobin (the protein that gives meat its color) being held in the meat.  Myoglobin is water soluble (water dissolves it), so when water comes out of the meat, the myoglobin does too (which doesn’t happen in this case).

(Side note, this is the liquid you see in the package of meat in the meat case of the grocery store.  It’s called purge.  It’s not blood, like what people usually call it.  If it was blood, the liquid would be darker and would coagulate, like blood!)

Why is this a meat quality issue?  Well, look at the pictures!  It doesn’t appear normal.  If a customer sees this in the meat case, they are less likely to purchase it.  Also, the pH is closer to neutral (7).  Nasty spoilage microbes like pHs closer to neutral, so this meat will probably spoil faster too.  

What can this be used for?  This pork inside is actually going to get ground up, along with some more pork insides.  This will dilute the color and pH difference, so it shouldn’t affect the product I make out of it.  If I had a bunch of pork insides like this, then I would have a problem.  

If I was to cook this up and eat it, it would be fine.  It’s not harmful at all (as long as it’s not spoiled).  If anything, it will probably be juicier than the pork inside next to it, since it has more water being held in the meat.  I think it might have a metallic taste, but with enough seasonings, that would hide that.

It’s not often that I get to see something like this!  With the improvements in pork quality and animal handling throughout the years, it’s only in extreme cases this happens.  Besides this time, I’ve only seen this once, maybe twice (and I used to work in a pork packing plant!).

Well, I hope whoever read this learned something interesting about meat science!  I used to lecture about this when I helped out in the meat science classes at my university, and when I did the county fair carcass show circuit in my state.  If I find anything else interesting that passes through the lab I work in, maybe I’ll post it here.  And, when I become brave enough and/or more people become interested, I’ll open up my asks ;)

(OH and fun fact, when Hannibal talks about meat tasting frightened, THIS IS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT.  THIS IS ONE OF THE CAUSES).

((along with pse pork, but that’s another issue entirely))

[likesrandomstuff]

Rating AFLW Season 7 Pride Guernseys (Part 1)

I’m sure all the teams put a lot of work and thought into these designs, and this isn’t to hate on any of them, but to compare them. This is just the thoughts of a bi Collingwood supporter who spends 80% of her waking time thinking about AFLW.

Adelaide Crows

It’s the same as last season, and the only difference to 2021’s is the shoulder rainbow. I was watching a game last season and didn’t even realise they had a Pride jumper on for half a quarter (was not Pride Round). It’s understated, and I feel they could just wear this as their home jumper. Would prefer if the rainbow stripes were bigger, and not have the blue stripe after the purple. Have red and orange on the red section, yellow and green on yellow, blue and purple on blue, then red stripe. Rating 6.5/10

Brisbane Lions

The pastels are a new one. I can get behind that. On the broadcast the rainbow got lost and just looked white. I like the different direction of jumper design, and it really looks pretty. Maybe if the lion was rainbow in the traditional/progress colours, which makes it more obvious. Still solid, just not much to discuss with it. Rating 7/10.

Carlton Blues

What is this? Unless Darcy told you that they had no time or ideas, I don’t know why you wouldn’t get them to design the jumper again (player who is a graphic designer and done the previous versions). My biggest issue is that it’s so subtle. Sitting in the stands or watching on TV you’re going to have the same problem as Collingwood’s Indigenous jumper; details are not obvious. If the hands and arms were filled in, +3 easily. Rating 2.5/10.

Collingwood Magpies

I just wanted an improvement on last season’s, and that bar was low. They did it! This is the best photo I could find that wasn’t in the merch store. The progress flag down the front, and starting on different colours is a nice touch. Like the side panels and back having rainbow as well. Would have loved a super cool concept one, but this did enough for me buy it. Showed up well enough on TV. Rating 7/10.

Essendon Bombers

Can someone please show them the colour theory post? The red sash (diagonal line) is not giving me happy thoughts. I know Richmond had free rein on sash designs last season and knocked it out of the park, so you were restricted, but still. Like the hand-print idea. Would have suggested red base, stripy hand-prints on top. The hand-prints are adding the Pride flag to the jumper. Watching in the stands red was only visible colour, rest got lost. Rating 3.5/10.

Fremantle Dockers

This is a no-brainer, right? Of course this was the design they’d go with. Not just because it’s the home jumper of their Season 6 Pride jumper. Replace the white and pink v’s with a rainbow? Design meeting done. They are lucky to have such a pretty team colour to make even prettier with a rainbow. Sure this isn’t the most exciting, but there is some ideas that are worth it. Knocking it down a bit as only the orange and yellow showed up in the game. Back has the progress flag across the top. Rating 7/10.

Geelong Cats

I don’t hate it, but it’s giving me early 2000’s vibes. Like packaging for a storage CD brand my dad bought. It’s more interesting than their old one. The fact the rainbow stripes split a white and navy stripe, but not evenly, bugs me so much. Long sleeve is odd, but will give that a pass cause even some normal long sleeve jumpers don’t turn out great. Rainbow logo, yay? The rainbow was visible from the stands, unlike the other teams in the double header. Rating 4.5/10.

Gold Coast Suns

Nothing revolutionary here. Feels a bit biassed to like the Pie's so much more, when it's basically the same concept. Front on you couldn't really see the side rainbows during the game. Would have liked something on the front. Bring back the wave on the jumper and make that rainbow. Progress flag at the top was added from last season's, so give them credit for that. Rating 5/10.

Greater Western Sydney

Yeah. Slightly more interesting than straight stripes in the G. Or stripes added to the side. Finally get a rainbow logo and I'm underwhelmed. Add in one more element to the jumper and it'll be closer to right. I'd take a shoulder rainbow. Last season had the rainbow spilling from the G to below. That was good. Should've kept that. The back has a rainbow running down the middle that made it hard to read the number. Rating 4/10.

[glittergutts]

Hello, this a regularly scheduled health update!

I'm in a mood again. I feel like this happens a lot but yet I can't stop it. I just don't want to do anything. There's stuff I need to do I want done. Hell, there's even things I want to do but I just can't make myself do it. I'm hungry but I don't feel like eating either I just want to lay down for awhile but I know it would cut into the rest of my day and I would regret it. I guess either way I'm not accomplishing anything.

I wish I had some edible still they really help even out my moodiness. I've been wearing these stress patches with valerian, passion flower, and hops. So far I think it's helpful and I'm going to keep using them, also a sticker on my wrist I can't feel is a super easy way to do a little bit for my mental health. It's also the time of day where I need to take vitamins and my weekly vitamin d prescription. My twice daily antibiotics say not to take within 2 hours of vitamin supplements. So it's been tricky to remember a vitamin in the middle of the day. I think that could help restore some energy. Also if I just got up and ate something would probably help too...

I'm going to start taking omega 3 7 and 9s so *hopefully * I don't get the seasonal depression this year. My mood might not be great but I sure don't feel like I did when I was depressed. At least not yet? Anyways I'm trying to be proactive about that. Also when we pick up Loki next week I'll be outside walking him everyday along with using my elliptical so I just need an upper body work out and the exercise aspect of my health will be in check.

I've been doing really well at not buying junk food or not ordering junk when I go out. I've always struggled to maintain an appetite so sometimes I do eat junk just because it's better than eating nothing. I'm trying to be gentle with myself because it took a very long time to develop a realistic relationship with food for me. I'm down to 116 but I'm sure that's not accurate as I was dehydrated and needed to eat again. I only weigh myself about once a week because I'm scared to obsess over it. Also things are going well!! 24 pounds down just from healthy eating is amazing. Now that I'm exercising again I'm hopeful things will continue to improve.

My weight was causing health problems and I need to go back for more blood work I'm just hoping to lose enough weight to have actually resolved my problems by the time I go. I think my physical health in improving though just due to the fact I'm feeling better. I've even been able to skip the muscle relaxers and sleeping pills sometimes.

I've also gotten annoyed at the amount of pills I have to take (again) and so I've been trying things other than my prescriptions:

- Icey-hot is good on my back but I can't use it on my entire legs which sucks.

-Arnica pellets combined with ibuprofen seems to work better than either alone.

-Moon mints I'm very unsure of. They taste fucking awesome though.

- Essential oils are fun but no where near as helpful as people want you to believe.

I'm thinking about buying a melatonin vape because I'm so tired of all the pills. I have some that dissolve in your mouth but I don't like them.

I've also been drink clam magnesium drink for my muscles post work out and for better sleep. It's too soon to say if it helps. My muscles definitely feel weak but not sore? So maybe it's good.

Also I got these little silicone rings you clip on your septum that smells like lavender and the other one is lemon.

So I've been doing a lot of shit in addition to spiritual reading, meditation, sensory regulation, and other self care type things.

SO if I'm messed up it is not for lack of trying.

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch. 6

Hi guys! I'm back <3 (also, I'm currently looking for alpha/beta readers for Phantom Children, so if you're interested, feel free to shoot me a message!)

In Which: Danny Attempts to get Answers, Bruce Learns, and Dick Finally Learns What's Inside the Door that Doesn't Exist

AO3 | Prologue | 5 | [ 6 ] | 7

DANNY IS KNOCKED DOWN three, four, eight times on the ice. Each time made his back ache, his bones bruised and tired, and his mind burning with embarrassment and a drive to lash out. But each time he gets back up. Each time he lasts a little bit longer against Talia.

The ice still shifts, cracks and rumbles with every wrong move. Danny learned to roll with it. Move on light feet but attack with a firm stance, gauge which parts of the ice are stable and which should be avoided. Multi-tasking has never been Danny’s strong suit, but he’s good at learning and learning quickly.

Talia corrected his form as much as she beat him down. Exploited every one of his openings until he learned to defend them and praised him whenever he managed to pull one over her. The League’s martial arts was the holy amalgamation between almost every single fighting style there is, mashed and refined to perfection to become almost unpredictable to the untrained. A vast improvement to Danny’s previous ‘fuck around and see what works’ brawling and had the added benefit of meshing together with his spontaneity.

“You are doing well, Daniel,” Talia said as she sheathed her sword, hand resting just above her hip. “You have improved greatly in such a short time, as I have expected.”

It takes every ounce of Danny’s superhuman energy to not collapse to his knees, his every breath a ragged shudder as he tries to get his breathing under control. “Still can’t beat you, though.”

“Very few can boast that feat.”

“I’m not exactly sure if that’s supposed to make me feel any better or not. Do I get my prize at least?”

Tahlia tossed her braid over one shoulder with a laugh. “Come, then, let us rest in the caves. The sun is to set soon and we must make camp before we freeze to death.”

“Hypothermia is so last season. I’m way too cool for that.”

He didn’t know whether to be disappointed that Tahlia didn’t react to his pun. It was pretty clever, in his opinion.

('Puns are the lowest form of comedy,' said mind-Jazz.

Says the one who named the Box Ghost the ‘Crate Creep.’

'That’s alliteration, not a pun.')

It was kind of pathetic that even his mind-version of Jazz was smarter than him.

“What would you like to know first?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sarcasm dripped from Danny’s voice. He sheathed his sword and let it hang loose at his side. “Maybe how old this mysterious brother of mine is?” Ancients, his life was weird enough already, it wasn’t supposed to sound like the B-plot to a bad soap opera.

“Damian is younger than you by a little over four years. He will turn eleven this year.”

“Huh. Never been an older brother before.”

“Perhaps you might have been, if circumstances had been different.”

Cryptic. Great. Danny stepped over a particularly large crack in the ice and scampered over to solid ground. “You gotta give me more than that. What’s he like?”

“Prideful,” she said. “But skilled enough to warrant it. He was raised like a prince—as how you should have been.”

“And he lives with…our dad?”

“Yes. In America.” The cave was deep enough to shield them from the worst of the eventual mountain winds. Tahlia had already started building a campfire with equipment from her knapsack, embers eating away and growing into a steady flame. He sat down, legs crossed, beside the fire, hands tucked beneath his armpits.

He bit his lip, a question forming in his mind. “Do…do we have the same dad?”

Tahlia looked up at him. “Of course. Only your father has had the privilege of being called my beloved, and only he is worthy enough to have sired my children.”

Once night fell, it fell quickly. Blanketing as far as Danny could see from the mouth of the cave in a thick darkness. Snow fell from the skies in thick tufts and covered their footsteps.

“Does he—do they know about me?”

“No, they do not.”

“And you probably aren’t going to tell them anything about me, if you could help it.”

“That is very perceptive of you, habeebi.”

“You won’t tell me anything more about them, will you?”

“In due time, I will.”

Danny blew part of his fringe away from his face. Figures.

Despite the ever-present niggling at the back of his mind, Bruce had yet to see what was in the flash drive. The weeks since his strange meeting with Vlad Masters suddenly exploded with criminal activity with the recent breakout in Arkham and the brewings of another gang war in the shadows of Gotham’s paved streets. It was all hands-on deck. And Bruce, whether as Batman or Wayne, had always prioritized Gotham and its citizens over anything else.

The flash drive remained on his person despite the crisis, tucked away in one of the sturdier compartments of his utility belt to prevent the data inside from becoming damaged. Sometimes he found his hands gravitating towards it, fingers brushing against the button that would release the mystery from its confines before he realized what he was doing and steeled himself. Hands fisted to his side and attention forcibly directed elsewhere.

Eventually, the rogues were placed back into Arkham, and Gotham let out a shuddered breath of relief as it remained standing for another day.

Most of the family were out on a light patrol, cleaning up the remains of the breakout and helping where they can. Jason and Dick bickering over the comms whilst Barbara laughed in her clocktower.

(“It’s not that bad.”

"‘It’s not that bad’—shut the fuck up.” Jason spat. Bruce could hear him revving his bike. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that? Certified Grade A idiot. B’s gonna kill you.”

He could hear Dick roll his eyes. “Sure, pile it all on, Jaybird. Blame the victim.”

"It was your fault.”

“It’s not my fault I didn’t see it there!”

"You tripped and got a concussion. From a stick. A. Stick.”

“Can we please just leave that out of the report?” Dick groaned. Barbara laughed. “Oh god.”

“Richard motherfucking John Grayson. I swear if you vomit on me then—”

“I’m not gonna vomit on you! You just turned the corner a little too fast. It’s nice to see you care though.”

"Fuck no, I just don’t wanna smell like regurgitated cereal.”)

Damian was benched from a patrol. Their last conflict with Poison Ivy ended with Damian sticking a bad landing and twisting his ankle. He dealt with it with as much grace as can be expected. Meaning that he spent the last few days sulking as he caught up on his missed schoolwork and shooting daggers at everyone else who came back from patrol.

Bruce flicked the flash drive open and plugged it into the computer. The flash drive contained only a single folder dated six months ago.

He clicked it, and a news headline popped up.

LOCAL TEEN DIES AFTER DRIVING OFF CLIFF

Beneath it, a picture. Blue eyes. Black hair. A familiar face.

Blood pounded in Bruce’s ears. He could hear nothing except a sharp gasp from Damian behind him.

When Dick and Jason arrived at the batcave, it was to an eerie silence. Not that it was usually loud, only that Bruce spent most of his free time down in the cave and Dick had come to expect hearing some signs of him around. Typing on keys, the clicking of a mouse, the heavy thuds of a fist meeting a punching bag or a training dummy, etcetera, etcetera. Or maybe even Alfred cleaning up around the cave, feeding the bats, or restocking their med bay.

(Dick, it turned out, didn’t have a concussion. Probably. Not a severe one anyway. What mattered most was that he managed to convince Jason to have dinner at the Manor. Alfred was making a tarte tatin for dessert tonight and those were absolutely to die for. )

One of Tim’s cases took him to the other side of Gotham. The only person in the cave was Damian, who was staring agape at the batcomputer.

“Why the hell is the demon spawn looking at old pictures of Bruce? We get it. They look alike.

“Uh, Dami? What’s up?”

Damian snapped his mouth shut. “I believe it might be best if you asked father that, Grayson.” Despite his clipped tone, there seemed to be little anger in his voice. His proud shoulders were hunched over on the chair, eyes trained on his lap.

He looked so small.

Damian clucked his tongue. “He’s upstairs, if you need him. So is Pennyworth.”

Dick shot a glance at Jason who raised his hands in mock surrender. “You’re up golden boy. Whatever the fuck the old man’s problem is this time, I’m not dealing with it.”

Dick sighed. “Fine.”

There was a door in Wayne Manor that didn’t exist.

When Dick was a child and recently adopted by Bruce Wayne, one of the first things he did was explore the manor. It’s the prerogative of every child that somehow found themselves in a large mansion—even more so given the castle-like exteriors of Wayne Manor. All castles have secret passages, and if the Batcave lay in the subterranean depths below, then surely the manor proper must have its own secrets.

Dick would tumble and cartwheel along the hallways, opening any and every single door he came across. A lot of them were just empty bedrooms or unused parlors and sitting rooms; the furniture covered by white sheets to keep the dust away. Alfred was probably magic, but even he can’t keep the entirety of the manor dust free.

The majority of the unused rooms were unlocked.

Except for one.

It was a room in the west wing, on the second floor. A couple doors down from where Bruce’s and Dick’s were. Why it was locked, Dick never found out. But he was curious since it was the only room on that floor that remained shut.

When he asked Alfred about it, the old butler only said that it was an unused storage room they preferred to keep locked just in case. When he asked Bruce about it, he’d be quick to change the subject. Usually something Batman related. Which, well, always worked, because it was Batman related. And Dick, young and spry and itching to fly under Batman’s wings, would quickly forget about that curious little mystery in favor of punching bad guys in the face and flipping over rooftops.

At some point that locked door quietly disappeared, leaving a blank expanse of wallpaper and a decorative vase where it once stood. It was never brought up again. And Dick slowly forgot that it was ever there in the first place.

Until now.

The wooden table and vase were shoved off to the side. Wallpaper sliced away to reveal the lines of a doorway. The door, covered in its faint damask wallpaper, was kicked open, the wood around the bolt splintered and cracked. He could hear voices—Alfred’s and Bruce’s—speaking softly on the other side.

He pressed his back against the wall and kept his breathing quiet.

“Three times, Alfred.” Bruce’s voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. “Three times she’s done this to me.”

“Master Bruce…”

“I don’t—I don’t understand why—” Bruce choked, swallowing a shuddered breath. “Damian, I can understand. Jason, I can too. But…This? I—” Bruce suddenly quieted. Dick knew the jig was up.

He unlatched himself from the wall and slowly slid through the once-hidden-door, a hand kept on the frame. “Um. Hi, Bruce? Alfred?” The words fell flat, stilted. Dick winced as he said them. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but, uh…” He trailed off the second he registered what was in the room.

It was large, as so many rooms in the manor were. The room was covered in peeling green wallpaper with faded pictures of baby deer and owls and other woodland creatures prancing about. There was a dresser on one wall. A shelf filled with little picture books and stuffed animals on the other. A brown teddy bear had fallen on its face on one of the shelves.

In the middle—where Bruce was hunched over—was a crib. The wood streaked and aged with time, the beddings within pristine and untouched, if not dusty. Hanging overhead was a mobile with little animals dangling on a string.

“Worry not Master Dick. It is good that you are here since it will inevitably involve the rest of the family at some point.”

Dick nodded absentmindedly, trying to lock eyes with his guardian. “B? What’s—what’s going on?” Dick took one step deeper into the room. “The pictures in the cave. I thought they were you since they were too old to be Damian—” Bruce’s hands on the crib’s railing flinched.

Dick’s breath hitched.

“They’re…not your photos, are they.”

Bruce took a deep breath in, the lines of his shoulders tense. “No. They’re not.”

In their line of work, the answer could have been anything. Clones, magical doppelgangers, alternate universe counterparts, hell, even just someone’s genetic code being coincidentally similar to another person. But…this room, this nursery, pointed towards only one conclusion.

“Who is he, Bruce?”

Bruce angled his head towards Dick, unshed tears glimmering in his eyes. “He’s my son, Dick.

“He’s my son.”

[the-great-knight-gay]

My PJO episode ratings

Before I wanted to start I just wanted to say that I reserved all judgement about the show until it was over because I decided to trust the writers and let me tell you i LOVED pretty much every change because thats what adaptations are about

changing whats not good anymore or improving where it can be

and mainly KEEPING THE SPIRIT OF THE BOOKS WHICH WAS DONE MASTERFULLY

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

Now on to the rankings

EP1: 7/10

This was a solid start to the series which pretty much perfected most of the characterizations. I had a few issues originally but these were pretty quicky turned around.

Mrs Dodds fight at the MET was too short but was made up for by her increased appearances across the season which was really nice imo

random cuts to black to avoid showing the car crash - (i had this problem two other times in the show which was during ep2 and ep5 but i dont mind it anymore but ill discuss that later)

grover felt kinda sleazy for me at the start but i did make my peace with this change overall because of something later on.

EP2: 8/10

Ep2 had the same feel as Ep1 being so very Percy Jackson esque with the humour and the characterizations

LUKE WAS JUST SO LIKEABLE AND IT BROKE MY HEART THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO SEE HIM BETRAY PERCY LATER

ANNABETH JUST SAYING YES SHE STALKS PERCY WAS JUST ICONIC

The fight choreography was also just top notch and Dior's scream was just amazing and i cannot believe that it was unscripted

just goes to show how the casting is so perfect - does not matter at all that they don't look book accurate

again the cut to black was kinda annoying for me as we just skipped the council of cloven elders scene which had SUCH A GOOD SET and i was so dissapointed when we didn't see it but otherwise i had a really good time

DIONYSUS WAS JUST PERFECT TOO

I don't mind that they cut the bowing for the claiming but they could have done it so only the big three kids are bowed to which shows how revered they are

percy not wanting to go on the quest and only going when grover says his mom is in the underworld just exemplifies percy's momma boi tendencies and fixed grovers character for me which made it all the worthwhile

EP3: 9/10 - MEDUSA WAS SO GOOD

I LOVED ALL THE CHANGES IN MEDUSAS STORYLINE THEY WERE SO GOOD AND ACTUALLY FIT THE CHARACTER

This is one of the most accurate mixed of greek and roman mythology for medusa i have ever seen.

in the original greek medusa was more of a monstrous figure while the romans started to paint her as a victim of the gods spats and this i feel captures both parts to that really well and JPK just kills it.

Grover is really good in this episode just trying to hold it together and then giving percabeth a reality check at the end is so good.

EP4: 8/10

Step down from ep3 for me mainly because i wanted to see more of the chimera fight and because it was a little too expositiony at the beginning but overall really solid episode and the change in the fall from the arch is really well done

not much to say really

the kids are getting better and better throughout the show

'its like you want me to make fun of you'

this is percabeth just how i imagined them

walker and leah killed it and aryan is just amazing as well.

EP5: 10/10

WHAT IS LOVE

BABY DONT HURT ME

DONT HURT ME

NO MORE

EP6: 7/10

lets be honest the only reason people wanted to see the lotus scenes was because the movie popularized it and retrospectively because of nico and bianca

if was a tiny (but significant) part of the book and didn't really need to be the whole episode pretty much but I did like how they handled it as compared to the movie version which, while fun, did not really fit a percy jackson kind of vibe to me personally.

Lin Manuel Miranda was really good at playing Hermes and grovers scenes were some of my favourite (especially because thats where we get the di angelos easter egg but whatever)

overall a bit of a dip but still really fun for me to watch

plus i love dua lipa so the music change was a big win for me

EP7 9/10:

HADES WAS JUST AS I IMAGINED HIM. NO HOLLYWOOD HES NOT A BIG TERRIFYING SUPERVILLAIN HES ACTUALLY KINDA CHILL AND THE FLASHBACKS WERE JUST SO GOOD

THE UNDERWORLD CGI WAS GREAT

Procrustes could have been done a little better because it really feels like the suspense was taken away during that scene but the flashbacks were so good

THAT POSEIDON SCENE

THE SHOW WAS SETTING ME UP TO HATE HIM AND I JUST FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM IN LIKE 2 SECONDS

NO ONE SAID TOBY STEPHENS VOICE SOUNDED LIKE THAT

THE THUNDER FOLLOWED BY 'ONE DAY'

CHEFS KISS

ABSOLUTE KUDOS TO THE WRITERS YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING

EP8: 8471782487261078480/10:

JUST PERFECT. ARES FIGHT WAS REALLY WELL DONE

PERCY AND POSEIDON JUST BROKE MY HEART AND MENDED IT THREE TIMES WITH LIKE 4 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

'do you ever dream about mom?'

AND I LOVED LANCE REDDICK AS ZEUS (RIP)

I AM SO UPSET WE DO NOT GET TO SEE MORE BECAUSE IT WAS SO AWESOME TO WATCH

LUKE WAS JUST AMAZING

THE KRONOS SCENE WAS SO GOOD

THE BETRAYAL JUST BROKE MY HEART

'i heard everything'

I DID NOT EXPECT ANNABETH TO SHOW UP THERE

THE DISNEYLAND REFERENCE

SEARCH THE SEAS GROVER AND GET US A SEASON 2 BECAUSE WE NEED IT ASAP

OVERALL THE SHOW IS LIKE A FULL 9/10 FOR ME

[hellswolfie]

Ok so Skam France season 9 ended and i guess this is my opinion on it.

WARNING : this is a salty opinion and while I'm open for discussions if you did like the season (honestly that's very great for you), please respect the fact that some things the writing team did was hurtful for a lot of people. I saw too many people invalidating people's legitimate anger because they themselves liked the season, please stop that.

I want to start with the good bits, because they were there, no matter how shitty the rest was, and they deserve to be aknowledged. I really liked seeing Maya's relationship with each member of Lamiff (except Jo but that's only because I hate her). It was great to see how she interacted with the different characters and that it also gave them some depth too. That was a thing that was missing in season 8 since all the characters, including Bilal, were forgotten in favor of Jo, so I'm glad they didn't make the same bad choices here. I also liked how Maya's character was for the most part pretty coherent with what we knew of her. Skam France always had a problem with that too, especially with Tiff, and I have to say this season is one of the best in terms of character continuity. Moreover, in the last two seasons, the new team seemed to struggle with linking the love story with the main theme of the story like all the other seasons were (because you know it's called basic storytelling sorry I'm still salty), which always kind of made me wonder why would they spend so much time on the love story if it didn't (or almost didn't) service neither the plot nor the character growth of the main. That's something they fixed here, and it was again a cool improvement (altho apparently they can't find any other way than to make the love story the main theme but it still is an improvement so they still deserve a brownie point). Again in terms of the good things of the seasons, the general idea of Maya having to stop runing away from her problems, feelings and past, was a good idea to explore her character. Some plotthreads (her reuininting with her grandmother, her relationship with Mr. Valles,...) were pretty sweet and did have potential to be good. And of course, the visuals, lighting, etc, was really really well done and I can only applaud the team responsable for that because you could definitely see they put a lot of work into it. And a big shout out to the actors (especially Ayumi obvioulsy) because they were all amazing!

Now...The things I didn't like.

First and foremost, making the story about the Mayla relationship. I'm going to come back to how it was handled later, but just the idea of it, focusing so much on it, was a bad one. We only knew Maya from her relationship with Lola at that point (except for the one clip where she talks to Tiff in season 7 I guess), her season could have been a great way to finally explore her character OUTSIDE of this relationship, especially when the "main have to realise break up is for the best" storyline was already the theme of season 1, and that there were so much other things to explore about Maya. But no, they apparently couldn't see it, which is one of Skam France's greatest flaws : having so much potential and gold character and storylines, but not doing anything with it. Hell, she is even officially the skam france main who has the least episodes in her pov (and her season in general was pretty short especially compared to the last two seasons), not to mention all the times the clips suddently decided to focus on other character's POV even when it was completely useless (yes I'm partly talking about Jo being the most annoying person in the universe sue me). Maya deserved to have a story focused on her.

One thing that the old team did right, no matter their faults, is that they actually EXPLORED what they were talking about. I mean say what you want about season 5, but you can't tell me they didn't do their job and research in actually talking about deafness and the deaf community. That is something that, again, the new team struggles with. And it was even more blatant in this season. The tatso busko? Only mentionned once and that's it, we don't even see Maya doing any research on it which makes no sense seeing as how much it affected her at the time -something that was promptly altogether forgotten btw-. Her reuniting with her grandman? Only got like 5 clips with her (one not even in her pov), and there is no follow-up or talk about what her grandma said about her father even when it obviously really perturbed Maya, the evolution of that storyline is so rushed because there is so little time focusing on it even though it is what represents Maya running away and is obvioulsy a crucial part of her arc. Her trauma about her accident and having an alcoholic father? Who cares the writers even forgot about her tatoo even tho it held so much meaning to her. Her growing up as an orphan and in abusive foster families, having to run away because of her foster parents' homophobia, maybe a talk about the social system in France? Lol not even mentionned. Her getting depressed to the point of having suicidal thoughts??? We don't even know exactly what triggered it, it was never explained nor explored and she is suddenly all ok again after a two minutes convo with Lola (but remember kids, this season is REALISTIC). The difficulties and emotional turmol to get a job at such a young age while giving up on studies so that she can survive ? Again, barely talked about. It does lead to her decision to pass her BAC, which could have been a real satisfying conclusion for her, except we never saw anything about that before she suddenly anounced it in the last episode. Apparently her happy ending is about being with her friends, that they're always there for her and whatnot. Something that was always the case since we knew her and that we never saw her seriously doubt. So no evolution there either. She didn't really learn to open up better with them, as we never saw her actually telling them the story about her grandma so either they disovered via insta or she did open to them about that but if it was so important why not show it to us? And she didn't tell them about her "leaving" either, it was Max who found out. Yes it's great that she decides not to leave for bad reasons but that's litteraly all we have. So again, no evolution there. Not to say they couldn't have done something with it, i think it could have been interesting to see her inecurities regarding her friend group who all have families to come back to while they are her only family apart from her estranged grandma, or maybe more about her always having to be Strong and the Mom Friend. But that was never (or barely) brough up.

All that to say, all the cinematically pretty, emotional clips, all the still on Maya Being Sad And That's It, will not save the quality of the season if you don't put some damn substance to back it up or if you don't actually plan to follow through. I honestly don't feel like I actually got to really know Maya with how the writers constantly to refuse to actually explore the topics surrounding her.

Having a season where each episode was super depressing with next to no balance, where Maya had a breadown every few seconds, ending it with her having to accept her hurt of not being with Lola, her evolution being that she had "learned her lesson" with no pay off (except her grandma but like i said if it was her Happy Ending it should have had way more screentime), for a character who has suffered so much already, it is honestly pretty cruel, especially when the new team gave their other two main their Big Happy Ending Where Everything Turns Around Right even when it was very unrealistic.

And so now with the Big Talk. You know the one.

MAYLA

The Big Theme of the season was her relationship with Lola, and the conclusion of the theme of the season is that Maya has to accept the breakup and that Lola suddenly doesn't love her anymore. Why tho? Emma and Yann's break up at the end of season 1 was seen as a satisying conclusion because it showed that she learned her worth, that she wasn't alone anymore and that she realised her mystakes and was ready to face them. Arthur ending up alone at the end of season was, for one, honeslty the most repectful way they could end the shitty love triangle, but also showed him not having to choose between two worlds. Maya's accepting to not be with Lola did not bring anything to her character appart from sadness and hurt. Sure it made her realise things...that she already knew. Because there were the same things that apparently closed her off to Lola and made her leave for five days. The logical conclusion would thus be that she was ready to face those problems and try to fix them instead of ignoring them, ready to actually talk to Lola about them but no. Actually it was made even worse. At the begining of the season, she was runing away from this relationship partly because she was afraid to open up, which led her to having to learn to open up and face her feelings and past, letting Lola in, only for Lola to dump her again but this time saying she didn't even love her anymore like wtf is this morale? That Maya should never have opened up in the first place because it only led her to hurt and be rejected? Her "letting go" Lola was thus just a going back to square one. Not to mention how badly it reflected on Lola to treat Maya that way (no hate to Lola tho I love her with all my heart it's not her fault the writers seem to hate her so bad). And even though it was the Big Theme, it never had a Big Conclusion. It would have made sense to at least made Maya and Lola have a real honest long talk about their relationship but...no. Again, the writers struggle with actually getting into the topics instead of just brushing them superficially.

Honestly this break up did not make sense for so many reasons. 1- like i said, the first fifth episodes were about Maya learning to open up and face her trauma, but then it turned into her realising it was meaningless because Lola did not want her anyway like what. 2- the fifth episode with foreshadowings "the moon is beautiful tonight", Eliott's talk with Lola which was about having a real discussion with her about their relationship that they never had, all that led to nothing, 3- Lola saying she did miss Maya, sleeping with her (which lbr was defintely queerbait to get views), being all lovey-dovey at the party to then out of nowhere turn back and say "well actually i'm not in love anymore looooool" made absolutely no sense.

Like what the fuck was the morale in this breakup? That Lola was right in saying that she only loved Maya because she wasn't ok but now that she was fine she didn't have any feelings for her? That, like i said, Maya should never have opened up in the first place? That Maya was right when she said that different people couldn't stay together, especially when after that June, who was shown as similar to Maya, is the one to make her believe in love again? What were the writers so intent on shitting on such a beloved amazing couple, I will never understand.

And there is the issue of the representation. Because yes, representation does matter. Look, the writers had two whole seasons to add other lgbt characters, other gay couples, but they didn't. The only lgbt characters are the ones who were already lgbt before they took over. They 're the ones who decided to not add any. Even the new recurring characters, at least i assume they will be (sasha, hugo, clement, even Anais) are instantly portrayed as straight just in case we foolishly thought they would have enough decency into at least adding some representation; altho i would love to be proven wrong. So, in a matter of fact, they are the only gay couple left, the only sapphic couple in general in Skam France, the only non-straight characters, and what did the writers decide to do with them? Break them up, and show their relationship as "toxic". And yes, it was hinted that their relationship could become toxic, but it was also hinted they could work on themselves to not make it toxic (Lola going to rehab, admitting in season 7 that she "used her relationship as a bottle" and that she was going to work on it, the first episodes of season 9, again all of that lead to nothing for their relationship) so no it was not necessarily more "realistic" to turn their relationship like that. And seriously if "realistic" is an excuse, then no couples of the new gens should have gotten together in the first place. Max apparently had instantly a crush on Tiff even though the only thing he knew about her was that she was a shallow cruel bitch (as in exposing and mocking poor people, telling to a depressive person that they should kts because no one cared about them, like no, writers, you can't just wave that off!) when he himself was always about being fuck society and being true to himself, and he knew how Tiff treated his friend like shit only a couple of weeks said-friend's mom die (and one of his principal trait in season 6 was his protectiveness over his friend but let's forget about that i guess) but it is apparently realistic that he would be attracted to that with no reserve whatsoever. Their relationship is "resolved", after the problem came from him having deep insecurities, when Tiff buys him a dildo even though he always had expressed great discomfort regarding sex but it apparently fixes all his insecurities, and that's it. And Jolal, probably the worst Skam France couple after Marles, spent the whole season fighting, Jo being bitchy to Bilal for no reason and stomping her foot everytime they tried to have an actual conversation, they never were on the same page, and they get back together without even any dialogue whatsoever when the last time they talked she was extremely cold and cruel towards him. You call THAT realistic but two girls managing to work on themselves and make their couple work despite their issues and trauma is not? And honestly I'm tired of the "realistic" excuse because strangely, it is very often the gay couple who has to be "realistic" so they break up or one of them die. Mayla was one of the very rare sapphic couple that I knew that had a happy ending, who were a couple of two human beings in love with eachother who could be together like a straight couple is allowed to in medias, without Big Drama, just happy and together sometimes witheir ups and owns. But no, they can't have a happy ending either. And to make it better, they end the season, the final clip, with Maya and Lola deciding with a big smile that them breaking up is "better this way" while showing us all the straight couples around them making out and being happy together. That was so blatantly cruel and offensive like seriously what the fuck were they thinking?

Anyway, all that to say that this was the last straw for me. I'm done with Skam France for good. After turning a bully into a girlboss that everyone kisses the ass off, after treating Bilal (the first man of colour who ever had a season on skamverse) and his story like they didn't matter by focusing all on fucking Jo, now the new writers decide to break up their only gay couple they have left, the only saphic couple they ever had for bullshit reasons. I really thought they could never be stupid nor sadistic enough to not make them endgame at the end of the season, knowing that so much of the audience came for them craving for some heartwarming representation and genually loving them as people and as a couple, but apparently I was wrong. Skam France will honestly always manage to astound me with all the terrible choice they make. And i honestly do not care If they get back together off screen in season 10, that would be way too little too late, and in the background like they always were in season 7 and 8. And the next season will very probably be about a character no one cares about who has a straight romance which of course ends well, so like yeah no fuck that.

[princesscandijane]

Chastity Tips by Candi Jane

These tips are coming from the perspective of a sissy(me😀), these things still help without the sissy element.

I have been hearing sissys keep saying that you want to do long term chastity, but are too weak. I am hearing about how you want to feel helplessly desperate and horny. But as you get too horny and before you reach helplessly desperate you grab the key, unlock your little clitty, and jerk off. Then you have to start the process all over. Ideally you would have a keyholder, someone that forces you to keep honest, but most of us are not fortunate enough to have one. So here are some things that may help. Notice how I always use the plural for keys? Chastity devices come with more than one key, so make sure you are keeping them all together😁

Mail your keys to yourself:

Pretty self explanatory, take a self-addressed envelope, put a stamp on it, seal your keys in the envelope and mail it away. This is a great one to get the keys completely out of your possession and away from you for a period of time.

Though I recommend at least using your real address so the keys get back to you 😜

Depending on how the mail runs in your area this could be a 2-5 day event, for the cost of an envelope and a forever stamp. If you mail it on Saturday night after pickup, the mail will not get picked up until as early as Monday, so that is an extra 36 hours. There are also holidays to consider in which the mail doesn’t run, so if you mailed your keys after pickup on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the earliest the mail will pick up your keys will be Tuesday. By that point you will have already had almost 3 days of chastity, add that to how well the mail is in your area, you may end up in a week in chastity! That is not even mentioning mailing during the holiday season when the mail is at its busiest, at that point you may be hoping that the keys did not get lost in the mail 😬 Which is one downside to consider when mailing. How well do you trust your postal service? Sometimes things do get lost in the mail 🤷‍♀️

Freezing your keys:

This one does require you to have a fridge/freezer that you can use to freeze your keys. This one is a bit difficult to do if you share your fridge/freezer. Unlike mailing the keys to yourself, the keys will be with you, so there does require a little bit more restraint, but this can be a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun experimenting with this one, a proper sissy school girl doing proper sissy science 😚 So first and foremost don’t do what I did first and use a glass bottle. I first tried putting the keys in an old glass liquor bottle. That was a horrible idea

DO NOT USE A GLASS CONTAINER

As I learned, as water freezes it freezes from the outside in and expands which makes the frozen water less dense than the liquid water which is why ice floats. I also learned that it is a really strong force and will break the glass, as I learned when the bottle neck broke in my hand and crashed to the floor 😨 I was not injured😅

So next I used a plastic gallon jug, which has a couple of pluses. First and foremost it will not break into harmful pieces(at worst crack open), and second a gallon is more than twice as large of volume as the normal 1.75L that the large liquor bottle has (3.785 liters = 1 gallon) so it will take longer to defrost. Second mistake I made was dropping the keys in the bottom to freeze.

As everything melts from the outside in, this would be the first to defrost and makes the size of the container mostly obsolete. Solution: I tied the keys to a string, lowered it down until it was halfway in the container and taped the string to the jug.

Do not fill it to the top, remember water expands as it freezes so be sure to give it room. Freezing takes about 24 hours. I recommend checking in on it periodically, because ice freezes from the outside in and you will see your keys floating surrounded by its ice prison, and if needed you can add more water.

The first time I froze the keys in the gallon jug(keys at the bottom), I checked how long it took to defrost at 74F in the shade, and it took less than 8 hours. Those that are familiar with cooking meats, know that ideally you wouldn’t defrost at room temperature, but allow it to defrost in the refrigerator. After 24 hours of freezing I put the jug in the refrigerator. Following times are based on my fridge being set at the factory recommended coolness.

After a day the water on the outside has melted, so if my keys were at the bottom I would be able to pour them out at this point.

After 3 days the ice has defrosted enough in which I can now start to see the keys trapped in its frozen prison

Every day I see a bit more ice thawed, slowly and slowly seeing my keys becoming closer and closer to freedom

Finally after 7 days I see my keys floating freely in liquid water

Only one problem

The ice above is not thawed enough to let me pull the string out 😫 So I put it back in the fridge, and five hours later my keys were free!

From freezing to thawing was just over 8 days of chastity.

So the numbers I have for a gallon jug of water is: freezing - 1 day, thawing at 74F in shade ~ 8 hours, thawing in the fridge ~ 173 hours.

During this time you can start focusing on doing important things. At the longest it is 8 days, and that is plenty of time to accomplish things. Many sissys have maid fantasies, well use that time to clean your home, not just a little clean, but really deep clean your house(bonus if you have a uniform). Imagine your mistress/master will be inspecting it later. Ask yourself, “Would I want to serve someone that accepts this kind of work?” or “If I paid a couple hundred dollars for cleaning service, would I be satisfied?” whichever🙃 As you are locked up and cannot jerk off, you can start practicing on your blowjob and anal skills. Use this time to learn to deep throat, or work towards that ever elusive sissygasm. Set goals at the beginning of things that should be done by the time the keys are defrosted.

Because the keys take 8 hours to defrost at room temperature, certain tasks can equal x amount of time out of the fridge. Such as if you are practicing your deep throat skills, every time your nose touches the wall/floor equals five minutes out of the fridge. 8 hours would be roughly 100 times, or even for every second your nose to the wall/floor is five minutes. That gives over a minute and a half total of your throat being filled 😄 Cleaning your home can work in similar point systems too. Each chore is x amount of points, some may be more than others, as cleaning the bathroom takes a lot more than doing laundry(unless you are washing by hand). They don’t have to be sissy/sub tasks. You can make some of them for your better wellbeing. Such as, maybe you are someone that needs some motivation to get in shape. Have each mile jogged/walked/run can equal half an hour. Or can go simple and for the amount of time you spent working out is the amount of time spent out of the fridge. The plus side is you can work on your sissy figure and improve your regular quality of life 😁 These goals can really be for anything that you may need to work better on yourself, like reading more(yes I am talking to you), learn/practice a new language, learn/practice an instrument, even things that will help improve your career(insert your own examples lol). These are only a few examples. But make some tasks/goal(what needs to be accomplished) and rules(the rewards of completing a task and punishment for failing). Simple punishment is it goes back in the freezer. Remember to make sure your tasks/goals are realistic, and don’t try to tackle too many things at once. So often people get this huge motivation and think of all of these things they are going to do, but then when things aren’t working out the way they planned they give up. Schedules get made and when we can’t maintain them we give up. That is how those 10 dollar gyms are successful, their pay plan only works when the majority rarely/never show up. So if you set a really high goal that is unrealistic, say from never exploring anal to wanting to take Captain Ameica’s cock(see Chris Even’s cock) in that time period, maybe unrealstic. Or spending an hour a day working on your blowjob skills. Or the working out goal, you plan to run 2 miles every day, or every other day. That sounds great in theory, but if we fail to meet it we have a tendency to give up. You start out good for a day or two, then on day three you make an excuse on why you cannot and by day 5 you feel your goal is too far out of reach and give up. If that is the case, then adjust your goal and the tasks along with it, the first one may have been too ambitious. So if your goal/task is too difficult, instead of giving up on it, adjust it. Maybe I should be a Sissy Life Coach lol 🙃 Make the goals realistic, try to better yourself as either a sissy or even in your regular life. These are just some of my ideas on this.

I say this as doing this by yourself, but this is something that can be done in a keyholder relationship. And the keyholder can devise the tasks that serve them best.

Freewill:

Now freezing does take some freewill, there are plenty of ways to cheat, and get around things. It isn’t instant, but still freewill is required. Freewill doesn’t require you to freeze or mail or anything. So this last tip I have is: try to get better than the last time. I say this over and over, but remember baby steps. I did not go from buying my first chastity to 60+ 24/7 consecutive days. It took time and practice. I went an hour, then maybe two hours. If I got too horny or it got too painful, I would take it off. The next time I would try to go longer. My first attempt to sleep in chastity I gave up not even halfway through the night, it became too uncomfortable. I worked my way from there, now I prefer to sleep in chastity. So each time try to get better than the last, and if you fail, unlock and jerk off, or if you complete the time and are rewarded with unlocking yourself, well that’s a perfect time to work on becoming a cum eater 😛(again baby steps). If you always lose the urge after, then try to push yourself to at least bring some of it to your face, after that push yourself to taste just a little, and then go from there until you are eating it all 🤤 It may take some months but keep working at it😀

Have fun and drink cum ❤❤❤