#shipped them since season one and got so much flack for it

[catz4ever]

ME:

[i-dont-know-how-this-site-works]

3/?

So, per post nr. 2, let's talk about the dorito-shaped squad member (I am hungry).

HUNTER

Now, I will admit that the idea for this series of posts came from the fact that I felt like we didn't get enough Hunter&Tech moments. Tech had so much development during this season and they really fleshed out his relationships, but almost any time they spoke with each other it was about the matters at hand, like the battle, or the plan, or something else entirely. Outside of dialogue, we also didn't get them bonding in any other way. Despite their differences, Echo and Hunter shared so many quiet moments, tired glances, they spoke to each other a lot about actual important stuff, but there was almost nothing with Tech in that regard.

For this one, it was mostly just them sort of looking at each other and the only time they spoke about something deeper was in ep.9, where Hunter had to explain to Tech the intricacies of preteen angst. Also, I loved this interaction in ep.8 when Tech launches the escape pod with the group + Rex in it and lands pretty far without any boosters and Hunter compliments him ("Not bad.").

And now, let me put on those rabid Hunter attorney glasses and say: This man is fucking clearly grieving.

I know he got some flack for dismissing Crosshair's message (which like, if you don't know how POV in fiction works, you need some theory of mind lessons) and somehow he is getting flack for not reacting as emotionally as people would have wanted.

But he is their leader. Not only in the military sense of the word, but he is also the head of their little family. They look to him for guidance, for direction, for orders, and while they are free to do what they want now that that military structure is gone, their dynamic carried over to their non-military relationship either way.

He feels responsible for them. Which is why he wanted to hide and was not enthusiastic about this mission or even wanted to consider that Cross really turned against the empire, because that's such a huge risk. This man has an actual child under his care and going to a highly secure location with top imperial officers to maybe get a shot at freeing their brother who tried to kill them multiple times? Hunter knew it was a bad idea, but he greenlit the mission anyway.

And you know what? Hunter was right.

Literally all of his fears came true in a span of 24 hours and his cautiousness and withdrawal were not unwarranted.

His brother is dead. His daughter was taken by the Empire. His other brother and he himself was badly injured. And worse of all, it was for nothing, since they didn't get any information on where Crosshair is being held.

But, he is the leader. He needs to call the shots, even in the face of the greatest failure he ever experienced, life does not stop and he needs to steer the ship. He can't allow himself to fall apart, because other people depend on him too.

(well, this one turned into an essay with me defending Hunter, the next one will be better, I promise lol)

[storiesofsvu]

Hi! CM anon here. It's been a while since my last message, but I'm back. I'm now in season 8 (I'll be watching the season finale tonight). These past seasons had been quite a journey, the Lauren episode destroyed me, and Garcia's voicemail broke my heart.

I knew that season 8 would be an uphill struggle for me without Prentiss, but I enjoyed it more than I expected, especially with the replicator storyline.

Now, I've seen a lot of ships in the fandom, like everyone with anyone. Since I'm pretty much new in the fandom, I wanted to give it a chance to most of them and I think I have a few favorites already. But I wonder, which ones are yours?

oh hiii!!!!

glad you're back!

omg, the lauren arc is literally what i'll watch when i'm in the mood for cm but also in the mood to cry LOL.

season 8/9 get a lot of flack from people because there is no emily, and i totally understand that. HOWEVER, you get Alex Blake, which is an extremely good addition (i only wish we got to actually see her and emily like, solve a full case together or share time on the team cause that would be incredible). I also found s 8/9 to have a lot of good storylines and episodes. I think they're likely the seasons i've watched the most on repeat since watching cm. If Alex wasn't your cup of tea at first i also find that she grows on you, she's just so soft. i love her so much.

the replicator storyline is so good! i love those eps!!

oooo fun!!

TBH, i don't heavily ship anyone from the show. LOL, i know that's weird, but hear me out, i'll go through the big ones here:

Jemily: incredible potential when it comes to the early seasons, they have this chemistry and unspoken bits that scream more than friends (it's very similar to Cabenson imo, if you're an svu fan). Even like, s6/7 there are still moments of pining, but once they made the choice to write in AJ's pregnancy and have JJ settle down with Will, they ended Jemily. (and dont get me started on the s17/18/evolution jemily cause i literally have to log off twitter over how batshit the fandom is going rn).

I like them, i see the appeal. if Paget hadn't been leaving at the end of s7 and they had gone through and killed Will like they planned (and cbs weren't cowards) i could have seen the natural progression for Jemily to start then (slowly and over the years lol) but otherwise, it's a no for me (CANON) (i do still enjoy it in fics, even if i don't particularly read straight up jemily. if that makes sense).

Hotchniss: i completely and totally understand the appeal and why people ship them, but i simply cannot get behind them. Like, i want them both to run me over but ONLY ever individually. people often are all "but you write hotch and you write emily, why not a hotchniss threesome?" and i simply cannot answer that. I get the bestie, watching out for each other, willing to die on their sword for the other to protect them/their family, supporting each other vibes, and platonic love but i cannot see past that. Part of it is the shitty background writing for characters on this show and Emily's background/history not making a single lick of sense cause he apparently worked for her mother, sometimes its said he knew em when she was a teenager and he was an adult and that makes things super weird. but yeah... i get it, but its not my cup of tea. ESP in fandom when people write them married and dilute emily down to being this shell of a woman who is just a wife/mother and needs his support and protection to survive. like.. what... lol

Morcia: LOVE THEM. i absolutely love the vibe they give and i do think that they were always meant to be best friends. I love the teasing, the flirting with no harm, how much they truly love each other and protect each other.

Willifer: i swap back and fourth a lot on these two. I didn't see any huge issues then i rewatched the earlier stuff. 1: the writers threw them together so fast (again, because of aj's pregnancy) and the first time i didn't even remember him from his original ep by the time he showed up again. My second watch, it was the way he outed her for being pregnant and turning down his proposal in front of the entire team and said she shouldn't be out in the field that made me want to kill him. overall we see them making a happy family together so, in the long run, whatever, but that moment really gave me the ick.

I know you're not there yet, but:

Temily: basically the only ship that i REALLY like. they've got these little moments, tara is someone who comes into em's life later and isn't fully knowledgeable about emily's past, it becomes emily's choice when to reveal those little things, ya know? And i think that would make emily that much more comfortable and confident around her. i *personally* also think that this would be a much more logical step (as of the end of s16 at least lol) in canon than jemily but that's all i'll say to not spoil shit lol.

It's also not really a big ship, or much of one, but you cannot deny JJ/Alex had chemistry over their time together. If we completely ignore Will during those years, it's totally feasible they had a little fling. LOL.

SO.... yeah... i like the little undertones of a lot of ships while watching the show, i wish some of them had been developed a little bit more, like just give us crumbs pls. Others i absolutely despise. Others i have literally zero opinions on. It also very much can and does differ between canon and fanon.

have a great day!! <3

[queeniecamps]

what do you expect from the special?

Production wise?

Either it'll be like 5 minutes long or maybe 20?? I'm not expecting anything big, but i wouldn't be too surprised if they wanted a good final sendoff to get CC fans off their asses (RT STILL has "camp camp" blocked from their tiktok comments last I checked)

And the animation will either be kinda choppy and rusty?? maybe like season 1-2 quality, or it'll be REALLY good from experience, but honestly i'm not expecting season 4 quality since they actually overworked the animators for S4 and didn't pay them for the overtime they did (they got some BAD reviews on glassdoor from that one)

But plot wise? I'm thinking a reunion special would be neat, since it's been a few years IRL, seeing the campers aged up would be cute, but that would require a bunch of new models, so i'm not holding my breath on that one

Or it'll be the end of summer, where the kids finally go home. Maybe like a "wet hot american summer" situation where it follows the FULL last day from wake up to the farewell ceremony at the end of the summer when they get picked up

maybe some dadvid? for the (STRICTLY PLATONIC) fanservice?

i'm not holding my breath on ANY ships being canon, like, not even gwenvid. they'd get SOOO much flack from other shippers who want danvid or sumn to happen

[hondoohnakasrankings]

4. Episode I: The Phantom Menace - D tier

This is the first instalment in the Prequels Trilogy. Although I gave it a D-tier rating, I do enjoy this movie, do not get me wrong! I think this movie is severely criticized unjustly for some aspects. I gave it this rating because on its own it could be better, but knowing other background knowledge and if there were less borderline racists instances it would deserve a shining B tier rating.

We get introduced to some great characters like Jar Jar Binks, Darth Maul, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidal and Qui Gon Jin. Unfortuneatly one of the reasons this movie gets flack is Jar Jar's aloofness, which I can agree is a bit much at times

But I would go as far as arguing that this is the entire point! JAr Jar is comedic relief in a movie for children. He falls, he gets in weird situations and talks weird: what else could kid want? In the clone wars, he remains just as silly, but he does gain some layers, showing himself to be a good leader at times, even under pressure of being discovered by Genreal Grivieous in episode 4 of season for called "Shadow Warrior". But the actor that plays this goofy character got an unreasonable amount of hate for his portrayal of the character and for...his skin color? That's right, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Ahmed Best retells his experience with the toxic Star Wars fan calling him "every racial stereotype you can imagine" to a point where his performance made him contemplate suicide. He plays an animatronic as much as Chewbacca and yet that's what the people on the internet decided was wrong with him, and that just goes to show how toxic fandoms can get with sequels. But the actor, even after swearing he would never return to this Universe, came back as a Jedi Knight who saved Grogu from order 66 in the third season of the Mandalorian! I am personally happy for him and hope he gets the love he deserves.

Another character we meet is pre Darth Vader aka Anakin Skywalker as a kid. He is an upbeat young man, even when he is kindof a slave, and he already loves to invent and fly ships..

He meets the Queen of Naboo and quickly falls in love in a, its true, cringy way, but he is also around the age of 9 so it should be understandable! She is nice to him when no one else apart from Shmi ever seemed to care.

Certainly Watto never cared. A despicable character who has the Skywalkers as slaves. The Toydarians' first appearance as since been changed but his shady trader's attitude, greediness and physic are reminiscent of vile antisemitic stereotypes. At least he has a purpose to the story, he's the origin of Anakin's dark side in a way. The design of the species was edited in the Clone Wars in order for them to be more neutral looking but it still fells wrong for many. https://www.chsglobe.com/43852/commentary/star-wars-a-tale-of-racism/

In the same vein, there is the members of the Trade Federation who are money driven also. They are harsh on the depts of the planets and are rather shown as cowards. They also wear cloths reminiscent of ancient Chinese royal clothing and also "Yellow Peril" characters popular in shows like Flash Gordon, an inspiration of George Lucas'. Creating aliens is one thing, but basing them on hurtful stereotypes that are embedded in society is another.

We get introduced to another of my favorite villains of this universe, is Darth Maul, he gets his first live action appearance until Rogue One as the Leader of the Shadow Collective, his crime syndicate. He is rather silent in this instance of himself compared to his crazier Clone Wars self.

Overall I did enjoy this movie, and the additional lore from the Clone Wars I think only makes it more enjoyable!

[truessences]

Some of my fave anime ships

No one asked but I'ma share some of my favorite anime ships. I have't watched every anime or anything but I have some that I just can't give up. I've never been the hugest shipper but there are some that just find their way into my heart.

Nalu (Natsu x Lucy: Fairy Tail)- currently rewatching so they're fresh in my mind. They have such a good friendship and they're so loyal to each other. Natsu is also incredibly sweet when he wants to be when it comes to her and she trusts him without hesitation. She jumped out of a window and knew he would catch her in time. Like... what??

Edward and Winry (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood)- this is my favorite anime and I will rewatch it but I love that they've been friends since they were kids. They may not have liked each other from the beginning (romantically) but grew into it. The fact that she was his mechanic and he didn't let anyone else fit him for automail, or let anyone work on it... not to mention, I loved their arguments lol and I loved the scene where he tells her basically he loves her in his own way lol. "Equivalent exchange! I'll give you HALF of me if you give me HALF of you!"

NejiTen (Neji x TenTen: Naruto)- Obviously this won't really be a thing since Neji is dead 😭 but I feel like if he wasn't killed, they would have been together. Tenten was the only one Neji seemed to fully respect and trust on his team. They understood each other and I feel like he might have been open about his family with her. I also feel like because Tenten was an orphan and lived on her own, that she felt comfortable around Neji. Plus, Guy and Lee were so over the top that they had to lean on each other.

Inuyasha x Kagome (Inuyasha)- So I know these two get a lot of flack and I think the road to their romance was complicated but I really and truly believe that Inuyasha loves her. Sure, he might have had a hard time in the beginning because of Kikyo but if he didn't care about Kagome he wouldn't have tried to save her as much as he did. Plus, she was always to break him out of his demon spells. I love them lol. I was never a huge Koga fan so I would never support that ship lol. I'm not caught up with Yashahime so don't spoil me!

Atem x Tea (YuGiOh)- So this is an old old ship from when I was young but I always thought that while Yugi was one of Tea's best friends, she liked Atem/Yami Yugi. I really felt like they flirted lol. I rewatched it not too long ago and still stand by that lol. She was always super emotional when it came to stuff with him lol. She was emotional period but super emotional lol.

Senku x Kohaku (Dr. Stone)- I'm not caught up on the manga so no spoilers but I really love the anime and I'm down for this. Now, if it doesn't happen, I'm cool with that because they both seem so... uninterested in romance but they have a trust between them and I think she definitely likes him as of S2. He's so narrow minded on what he's trying to do that he won't notice his feelings for her and hers for him for a while but when he does, I think he'll do everything he can to ignore it. I think that tracks for him.

Kirito x Asuna (SAO)- Obviously they're together and nothing will come between them lol. I'm watching the current season of Alicitization and when Asuna and Alice kind of got into it over him lol had me cracking up. Kirito also has a harem but Asuna is the only one he actually has eyes for... though if it wasn't for her, I think Sinon would have a chance lol. But I love their relationship. They love each other so much that they will literally move heaven and hell to find each other... love them.

Marinette x Adrien (Miraculous Ladybug)- Not quite an anime... I want them to get their shit together honestly. I love this show lol. Their romance square is hilarious but this is what I want. I want the tables to switch, where Ladybug starts to look at Cat Noir differently, as well as her to apologize for how she treats him. Cat Noir deserves much better than what he is given. But also, I think the superior part of their square is Marinette x Cat Noir, since this is the only part of the square where their feelings don't get in the way lol.

That's all I got at this moment lol

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (April 11th-16th)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After the Truth episode occurs, Luka will either not appear nor be talked about(not even by Marinette, Juleka, Sass, or Anarka) at all, or, if he does appear, he'll avoid Marinette like the Black Plague. Guess who's fault it'll be(Kagami will still appear and be on good terms with Adrien, though, since anything that makes Marinette happy needs to be either ruined or gotten rid of, while anything that makes her miserable needs to stay around just to be rubbed into her face.).

I s2g if they have Adrien and Kagami patch things up immediately just to make Marinette feel awkward--

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: The idea that Nino's hat is a keepsake from his late brother comes up during an episode where it inevitably gets damaged and/or destroyed. Marinette is somehow responsible/blamed for this, and/or is forced to try and repair it regardless of feasibility, while being guilt-tripped/ridden every inch of the way. Bonus points for Adrien making some clueless comment about buying a replacement and STILL being treated as more empathetic to Nino's feelings even while ignoring them.

“Bonus” if everyone pressures her over the hat, which eventually leads to Marinette realizes that it can’t be fixed to be the exact same way, so she hides it and lies about it, leading to the episode blaming her for hiding things from her “totally understanding friends” (who are suddenly “totally understanding” and are only upset that she lied to them/”thought so lowly of them”) instead of her friends for making her feel like she had to be perfect.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: A Sleeping Beauty-inspired akuma will ensnare Ladybug, 'forcing' Chat Noir to kiss her awake. While Adrien/Chat naturally claims that he would 'never take advantage of his lady', he is openly gleeful at the prospect and taunts her afterwards, complete with a call back to Oblivio as he tells her to 'check the LadyBlog' to find out what happened. Her dismay over this is played entirely for laughs.

*flashbacks to the “jokes” in “Prime Queen”*

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Just like in countless Salt Fics, Alya will get upset at Ladybug for claiming that it's 'too dangerous' for her to be Rena Rouge anymore after Miracle Queen. Regardless of what she does/how she lashes out, Marinette will be held 100% responsible for the fallout, with Su-Han criticizing her for selecting Alya/the others in the first place AND for 'allowing' their identities to be exposed.

That’s what you get for trusting people, Marinette (apparently).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will expose more Miraculous-related secrets on the LadyBlog, such as posting the identities of the heroes who were 'already outed' by Miracle Queen. Marinette will be blamed for this, with Su-Han reading her the riot act for every single choice she's made.

And also, Alya will get no flack for this because “she’s a journalist!! she’s just doing what she’s supposed to do!”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After spending most of the season taking the piss out of Marinette at every available opportunity, Su-Han will start warming up to her just in time to be taken out of the equation by something like Alya posting another 'big scoop' on her blog revealing his existence to the villains. Marinette will be left with even less support and all of the guilt, while Alya learns absolutely nothing from the experience because why would she?

Considering “Truth,” I just automatically presume that characters who support Marinette lovingly/unconditionally will either be abused or kicked to the curb.

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: "Queen Banana" will be like typical episode with Chloe akumatization. 90% Chloe drama and angst, 10% akumatized Chloe (and probably 0% sense)

Show, I’m begging you, just let this character’s focus die already. We are SO tired...

Anonymous said:

didnt need burrow: the show ends with hawkmoth (now shadowmoth i guess) being defeated, heavy implications that the LS will be canon, but no solid proof, any other plot holes disappear in the cheery end music and all fans are left annoyed at the open ending filled with plot holes (bonus: That Guy says smin like "you would know if you watched carefully" to anyone that asks wtf happened)

Fun for us love square salters at least so there’s that? :P

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Trixx wants to return to Alya despite the danger/her past exposure, and ignores Marinette's concerns, leaving/reuniting with Alya over her protests. This is either played as 'It's fine, and Marinette should have trusted Alya more' or 'It's not fine, and it's all Marinette's fault for trusting Alya in the first place and letting Trixx get so attached'. Or both.

Astruc would totally use the opportunity to brag about the whole, “She’s already taken!” line in “Truth” being foreshadowing.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Bunnix reveals that there is an alternate, 'better' future in which Lila never worked with Hawkmoth and became a heroine instead. The turning point was, naturally, that Ladybug never called her out for lying/stealing from Adrien. (Possibly because Adrien never snooped in the safe in this timeline, yet it's still depicted as Marinette's fault.) May couple with confirming she's the future Hawkmoth and that it's all Mari's fault the heroes are still fighting her years later.

Which means that Chat makes the “reversible” mistakes (i.e: Cataclysming Bunnyx’s miraculous) while Ladybug makes the “permanent” ones.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette/Ladybug will get accused of being a selfish glory hound who needs to learn how to share the credit and 'be a team player'... after Adrien/Chat slacks off during a fight and refuses to help. Bonus points if this is tied into the exposed heroes' predicament somehow, implying that the REAL reason she won't give them 'their' Miraculi back is that she's selfish/short-sighted/not good at working with others/insert other bullshit excuse here.

T_T

I’m so tired.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will do something unbelievably selfless and self-sacrificing, only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was incredibly selfish.

Honestly you could just ad lib that.

“Marinette will do [something positive], only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was [negative].”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will pressure, belittle and berate Marinette until she breaks and agrees to give up being Ladybug/the Guardian. This is naturally treated as the worst thing she could possibly do, with everyone (including Su-Han) ripping into her for it. There is no equivalent of Plagg's 'I've had many holders, but nobody can replace you, Adrien' shilling, beyond Marinette being informed that she MUST continue and deal with her many inadequacies by becoming BETTER. She has no choice.

“You’re the worst Ladybug!”

“Okay I’ll stop being Ladybug.”

“HOW DARE YOU”

“?!?!?!”

Anonymous said:

Don’t need Burrow to know that the writers will retcon Marinette allowing Adrien to BORROW her lucky charm so that Marinette actually GAVE it to him instead.

Bonus: of course, the birthday scarf issue/secret is never addressed. RIP in piece, Marinette gift number xxx0

Technically, this has already happened even back in “Befana,” so I don’t count it. Adrien has said that Marinette gave him that lucky charm forever.

Definitely adding that scarf one though.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We get Love Square scenes (shipping fuel) in the next episode (even though Maribug and Adrichat just broke up with Luka and Kagami).

I mean, we got love square shipping fuel in the Adrimi and Lukanette episodes, so :|

I’ve just come to expect inappropriate timing at this point.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: In a future episode Chat Noir will be even worse than he was in Lies and still be portrayed sympathetically. I don't know how you can get that low, but I have faith that the writers will be able to pull it off and that's not a good thing

“I don't know how you can get that low“

they’ll find a way, I’m sure

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Kagami will become an antagonist/team up with Shadow Moth post-Adrimi breakup for the plot twist "the main villain has been in the show all along." ((This is based on the end card for Lies. I really hope they don't do this because Kagami is one of the only reasons I'm still watching the show.))

I’d only be here for that if her endgoal is getting Luka and Marinette as far away from the plot as possible.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We STILL don't know how the Peacock Miraculous got damaged and how Emilie Agreste fell sick. Bonus points, we find out in the season/series finale or on social media.

Double bonus if Astruc claims that the decision is good and they did it on purpose (probably to keep people talking).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Zoe debuts as the new Bee holder on the same episode Chloé is akumatized.

I’m 100% expecting Chloe to be salty at all the adoration that Zoe gets.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: if Adrien is ever in the wrong about something, it will only be for about five minutes and it will ultimately be blamed on Marinette.

Marinette: *breathes*

writers: Yes! Something we can blame on her!

Anonymous said:

Didn't need burrow: The relationship between the Couffaines and Jagged will not be explored. They might perform a song together and that's all, Luka forgives Jagged for abandoning him (his daddy issues just magically disappear so he doesn't bring it up anymore) while Juleka doesn't interact with Jagged at all

I’m torn between, “Luka will basically never appear again,” and, “Luka will suddenly appear much more often now that he’s no longer a ‘threat’ to the love square (Marinette didn’t break up with him because of Adrien but sure).”

Anonymous said:

Didn't need Burrow: "Gabriel Agreste" will be all about how he's not really evil just misunderstood. He had a lonely childhood or some garbage and we should feel totally sad for him you guys.

wow i hate it

[zalrb]

hmm maybe you could just rank them according to your personal preference?? i think it would be a little different from the other one right

Sure! I’m sticking to canon ships.

1. Stelena

I have an entire masterlist dedicated to why Stelena is number 1.

2. Forwood

Oh, Forwood:

Caroline and Tyler were fundamentally altered because of their supernatural conditions and that shift was the basis of their relationship. Becoming a vampire empowered Caroline, she had a sense of strength that she never had, she was confident and centred, she became everything she wasn’t in season 1,

which allowed her to be emotional support for Tyler

who, because of the werewolf curse, became everything he wasn’t in season 1 too: humble and vulnerable and grateful for assistance

and that allowed him to actually take the emotional support from Caroline

so they actually grew together through this time, complementing each other and seeing different sides of their personalities, surprising each other even though they’d known each other since childhood.

And also no one gives Tyler credit for being a loving, whipped boyfriend

and like

and just look at them

I don’t care what anyone says, this is such a cute exchange

3. Stebekah/Steferine

I put them together because which one I prefer more depends on the day. I like Stebekah because they’re dark and there was a lot of potential there:

I think that Katherine unfairly gets credit for the second half of a Dark Stefan ship. Every time Stefan has been rebellious or dark and has had a woman at his side, it’s been Rebekah such as in the 20s:

And such as season 4. When Stefan was just tired of all the Delena and   Defan and triangle bullshit and was like fuck it, I’m doing something   for me, I don’t care if it’s a bad decision, he went to Rebekah for some  crazy sex with a crazy ass vampire: 

So I think Rebekah has insight into the depraved, dark, deviant Stefan because she relishes it with him

I like Steferine a) because of Dobsley chemistry b) because I find their dynamic interesting

[Steferine is] the one ship that the show portrays the baggage and the hurt and the sort of inescapability of certain connection quite well although it’s not emphasized so I wonder if they actually portrayed it well on purpose? But anyway.

The reason why I think it’s done well is  because I think the relationship contradicts the idea that loving someone is always good, Katherine’s “love”/obsession with Stefan in fact  continuously destroys him and hurts him […] She  is more in love with the idea of Stefan loving her than she actually is  with Stefan. That’s why she hijacks Elena’s body in season 5 and  attempts to seduce him because  let’s think about that. Katherine hijacked the body of a woman she  hates and tries to seduce Stefan as that woman, a woman whose break up with him was a trigger for his PTSD, a woman who was in a relationship  with his brother and she doesn’t think or care about how seducing him as this woman would fuck with his head:

It’s also why in season 2 she threatens to kill Elena while Stefan watches because it doesn’t matter if he’s scarred or hurt, what matters is owning him:

And Stefan knows that about Katherine and yet Katherine knows Stefan’s psychology, she knows how his mind works, she knows which ways to get through to him:

and that creates a lot of tension for Stefan and you see it because it’s like, “you legit ruined my life though, like you completely fucked with my head, fucked with my life, I hate you, like I legit hate you”

and yet, AND YET, I can’t help but be of comfort when you’re in need

and as much as I hate you, when you’re around there’s just, there’s this thing (because Stefan always looks like he’s a half-step away from having hate sex with her)

At the same time, Stefan is never able to let Katherine in completely

And  he also experiences catharsis by being able to torture her in season 2  then kill her in season 5 and despite dying with her, killing her again  in season 8, he gets to continuously avenge himself which other victims  on TVD don’t get to do

4. Beremy

Here is the thing about Beremy and my opinion on them is definitely framed by the fact that I now know that the only other relationship Bonnie is really in is with Enzo and I think Bonenzo is bullshit, but the thing about Beremy is that Jeremy goes hard for her (especially in season 2) and I don’t think that’s quite acknowledged.

I definitely think that Kat deserved a better screen partner because Steve didn’t really have much of a presence onscreen

but I do think his lack of presence is also why a lot of good and cute Beremy scenes go unnoticed.

and I don’t think their chemistry was bad, like it’s not Grahamwood chemistry, it’s not Somergraham chemistry but it’s not like Steroline flat or Delena cringey, it’s decent:

like their first kiss is a good first kiss

and I’ve also said that they’re at their best when they do angst, that’s where they live. It’s not Stelena angst or Forwood angst but it’s pretty good angst

The way Enzo is supposed to love Bonnie, I think we actually see with Bonnie and Jeremy

Jeremy is this puny pre-hunter human but he goes into the tomb for the moonstone so Bonnie won’t have to use her magic.

In 2x18 when it was all don’t tell Elena that Bonnie will die trying to take down Klaus, Jeremy essentially chose Bonnie by telling Stefan what was going to happen.

Like look at the way he smiles here:

but the writers really fucked this over: And here’s the thing about that. I can understand the fact that Jeremy never really got closure from Anna and that seeing your girlfriend get dragged out, screaming, by cops and knowing that your uncle killed her would be traumatic. But it’s like JP wanted to humiliate Bonnie with this triangle because first of all, Bonnie is the only character who’s been cheated on and not only are the overall stakes of the show super low for the consequence of Bonnie using her magic to be Jeremy being able to see his ex-girlfriends, it’s a petty way to punish Bonnie. Moreover, it’s not just that Jeremy kissed Anna, it’s not even just that he’d been talking to her and essentially having an emotional affair with her, it’s that he degrades his relationship to Bonnie for Anna and when Bonnie finds out, Jeremy legit couldn’t give a fuck and he does nothing to get her back and he’s just never apologetic about it, not toward Bonnie anyway and then it just gets to the fact that Jeremy has a tendency to only care about the women he dates when they’re about to die and it’s just, I understand why the whole Anna situation keeps people from shipping them or giving Beremy the time of day.

5. Maroline

OK Maroline gets a lot of flack and it’s not that I don’t understand why and it’s not like they didn’t have issues but 1) their coming together was organic and on a show like TVD, having two people come together organically is actually pretty rare, it’s basically Stelena, Forwood and Maroline. I enjoyed the fact that despite being opposites, they found emotional common ground, they bonded over the fact that they were both lonely and they both felt isolated and they were both desperately seeking someone to love them

and their respective stories support this interaction

it’s not just something that’s said to be said, we see Matt’s life, we see him have no parents, we see him to the best of his ability try and keep tabs on Vicki, who is dead but he thinks she bailed, we see Elena fall in love with someone else right in front of him, we see Caroline’s abusive relationship with Damon, we see her insecurities from Day One in the pilot but their bond didn’t just stay at them wanting company, they actually had fun spending time together, they actually liked each other

and I liked that it was no pretense, I liked that it was Family Guy and junk food. You know, Klaroline ha the champagne and the ball gowns, Forwood would just “be” a lot, you know, they were the enjoying each other’s silence kind of ship, Steroline as a couple .... but Matt and Caroline, like, hung out and I liked that.

2) They were super realistic for a teenage relationship and I respect that. Like this is so high school

I remember being 16 and doing things to “test” my boyfriend or the guy that I liked, I remember my guy friends being reluctant to express liking a girl because of what their friends would say, I remember being a teenager and just doing teenage things, which is what Maroline did,

I don’t fault them for that, and yes, in season 1, Matt would be like, we’re not going to last etc.

and I don’t blame people for being put off by that, I wasn’t because it’s pretty 16/17-year old boy but you also see how that doesn’t seem to be what he actually thinks

and we see that expand in season 2

which is why the infamous Mattlena hug scene in 1x17 had me, like, the writing is just contradicting itself now because in 1x16, we have this out where Matt  explain being over Elena and seeing her as a friend and at peace with the fact that she loves Stefan because he’s into Caroline so having Caroline look in on them again was like, we’ve already covered this especially since it’s not consistent after 1x17 either.

Like the whole thing is that she can be exasperating --- and people forget that Caroline actually can be exasperating, she made an offhand classist remark about Bonnie liking the bus boy, which Matt overheard, she was dealing with vampirism and Tyler’s transformation but Matt didn’t know anything about that so she just came across to him as hot and cold, he didn’t have context --- but he loved her anyway

With regards to when he finds out she’s a vampire, I like how people are more pressed about Matt being involved in trying to take her down when he has no frame of reference for vampires other than the fact that one killed his sister and they’re not like, wow Liz, that’s your daughter, but I also like how as they ‘grow up’ and become entrenched in the Supernatural, despite the fact that Matt consistently says he wants nothing to do with it, both of them look out for each other

6. Klaroline

I’m pretty indifferent to Klaroline, I don’t have strong feelings about them but I have maintained that they are better than Delena

Even Klaroline does a better job with that dynamic and those kinds of arguments than Delena because you see Caroline be like “I can’t do this, why the fuck am I even here?” every time they’re together  

the dynamic DE was supposed to have better, the “fiery” “passionate” thing works for them because they know how to argue and because they play up the conflict

I’ve also maintained they have good chemistry: and yet their chemistry begins winning me over in the scene and I think what really sells it is that Candice reacts to the phone call in a way I’ve only seen Caroline react to Klaus and it’s this sort of… she catches her breath/is stunned

I have a vid that’s basically just of their gazes because they’re always charged, they have a very seductive chemistry and it suits their dynamic because the more Caroline interacts with Klaus, the more she’s drawn to him and that shows with the kind of chemistry they have where, as someone who is quite indifferent to their dynamic, the more they interact onscreen the more I want them to remain onscreen, I start off unimpressed (much like Caroline) and move toward being engaged (again like Caroline) and like I said, they do their dynamic well too, Caroline’s annoyed-but-charmed and Klaus’ arrogant-but-charming

(although their physical chemistry is not great) I just don’t think they have any real narrative.

7. Simara

This is purely about Dobsley chemistry: I have spoken about Silas and Amara quite a bit actually, but honestly, mostly in relation to the chemistry between Paul and Nina because I think that the SIlas and Amara storyline is textually weak and it felt rushed, there isn’t much nuance so I don’t find their story particularly tragic because we didn’t spend enough time on it but I still find them tragic because of how Paul and Nina played the tragedy.

Like it was a storyline that just let Paul and Nina do their magic onscreen,

they didn’t have to try to undercut it with dialogue or anything so I appreciate Simara because I love seeing Nina and Paul working together but in terms of the content, I’m like I don’t really care.

Last: Delena/Bonenzo/Steroline

You can look at the masterlists!

[sepublic]

Understanding Willow!

           Big surprise- ANOTHER great episode!

           You know what, let me just try to process what happened, by going through the beginning and from there! Firstly, it’s funny that the show confirmed that Amity is only tolerating Boscha and Skara at this point (and I guess some of those other friends), and she’s making it pretty clear to them as well- At BEST, her expressions are neutral around them! Honestly, Boscha and Skara’s parents being friends with Mr. and Mrs. Blight makes sense, it’s messed up but not surprising that they’d use their kid to try to establish connections with OTHER families! I have to wonder what Boscha and Skara’s parents are like… We know Boscha’s mom is, well…

           Also, I was wondering why Dana confirmed Skara’s name, and now we know- It’s because she’s slightly plot relevant in this episode! I love the details of the literal butterflies being converted into birthday invitations, that’s always neat… Apparently Skara is also considered ‘popular’, too? Anyhow, I also noticed that the one girl in the Healing Track with glasses, who was also at Amity’s Moonlight Conjuring, got the haircut we saw Matthieu Cousin draw her with! THAT was a neat little easter egg! We also see a young Bo with Boscha at some point, and this is super-pointless… But would their ship-name be BOscha? Boschabo? Bo squared?

           Gus’ little B-plot was pretty funny, and I’m glad we’re getting more interactions between the cast now! I love the callback to Sense and Insensitivity, with Not-Dana/Tiny Nose being ‘missing’ ever since her deal with Piniet… I can only imagine what happened there! Honestly, there’s not much for the dude to squash into a cube, but you get the idea! Eda and King competing for Gus’ interview was also hilarious, and DANG IT KING, answer the question- WHEN were you born, I know a couple of people, myself included, who are VERY interested in this answer…! I suspected Hooty would be chosen and I was right, but also not surprised, when Gus quickly regretted his decision! But hey, at least Hooty is happy!

           (Also, that Eda dance.)

           Luz is such a dork as always, loudly declaring that she’ll stick her face into something random, and then just going NYOOM when Inner Willow chucks her in- I wouldn’t have her any other way, and I love that we have ANOTHER picture of her when she was younger! Season 1B just keeps giving… Although let’s be real, it’s an extension of Season 1, and THAT gave us this entire show and Luz to begin with!

           Onto the meat of this episode! First off… WILLOW’S DADS ARE GAY! Honestly didn’t see that coming, but I love it and I wish we got to see more of them! I’m also interested to see which dad (assuming it’s not both) has a Magic Staff, and if it has a Palisman, but that’s another discussion for another day! I WANT MORE WILLOW AND HER LOVING PARENTS, dang it! Parents who put her in Abominations but also still mean well and have Christmas morning with her! I want to see Willow’s house and life at home, dang it! I want to MEET her parents properly, see them react to Luz!

           YOUNG WILLOW AND AMITY! YOUNG WILLOW AND AMITY! That’s just adorable… I love their little memories together, and the egg-pit gag was hilarious! It’s also super-minor but I adore that we got a cameo from the librarian during their past memories as well!

           Inner Willow, though… At first I thought the flame-being was just, like, the incarnation of Amity’s spell. But then Eda mentioned the Inner Willow, and was like, OHHH… Oh boy. She was out for BLOOD, too! Angry Willow is pretty terrifying, but rightfully so- I’m glad the show didn’t shy over her anger and her genuine grievances with Amity! That had to have HURT, being on fire, but at the same time you can tell that Willow also genuinely wanted to burn her memories with Amity, too… Oof. How many years of pent-up rage and grief, manifesting, before spilling over at this final straw of being burnt? Amity is thematically associated with Fire, which burns plants, and her last name literally refers to a plant disease! You can tell just how BADLY Willow has been hurting on the inside, possibly even hating herself in the process, and I...!

You know, I doubt there’s any substantial connection between Willow and Belos beyond this, but I think it’s interesting to see that they BOTH have glowing green eyes- It’s interesting that such characters are shown (or at least implied) to be powerful, and now I can’t help but imagine Willow meeting Belos, and Willow going HAM for her friends… I wonder if the glowing eyes are a sign of being emotionally repressed, until it all just comes flowing outwards? Given how Belos values control, this may also apply to himself as well… Anyhow, I adore Willow’s friendship and love of Luz though, she has NOTHING against her and I love how even after almost losing her mind she still jokes with her! Willow’s got that scary side, but she’s also sweet and I love the show acknowledging how gangly Luz can be!

           Amity! Looks like her dad got to have a voice, after all! Not much to her memories (Makes sense, we’re going into Willow’s here), but we clearly had insightful character moments! I have to wonder, did Amity know about how destroying the photos would destroy the mind as well? We don’t know if she’s in Photo Class and if she knows about the Memory Tweezers, so who knows? Either way that was NOT cool…

           Honestly, I like that the show doesn’t shy away or forget what Amity did to Willow! I love Amity with all my heart, but I was definitely anxious to see how these two felt about one another- I had a feeling that Amity may not have totally gotten over her issues and still felt a little harsh towards Willow, which makes sense! She’s a flawed, messed-up character with her own problems. But speaking of problems…

           DANG, her parents really made Amity get rid of her friend, on her own BIRTHDAY?! Jeez, at least wait until tomorrow at least… And not a big fan of them apparently deciding Amity’s guest list for her, it’s like they’re using their kid as a means to heighten their social status! Not that I’m shocked, I’ve already suspected this, but c’mon. I wonder how Emira and Edric felt about the whole thing with Amity breaking ties with Willow- Were they concerned for Mittens? Did they know about the parents threatening Willow, or to them did their little sister just suddenly become so cold and distant? I can only imagine how harsh Mr. and Mrs. Blight could be to them, but the twins seem a lot more independent and self-assured; It helps that they have each other!

           ALSO, Amity is in the Owl House for the first time! She gets to see how weird the shenanigans are, and I love how she makes the choice to enter a wanted criminal’s home to fix what she did wrong! I really have to wonder what went on in her head, when she chose to burn that photo of her and Willow… SUPER MESSED UP, of course, and I love how Eda just unapologetically gives Amity flack for it! But at the same time, I wonder if that moment was Amity’s greatest regret… It’s unlikely, but perhaps there was the tiny hope in Amity’s heart that if Willow forgot (assuming that was the intention), maybe they could be friends again? Again, not likely- What is more likely though is Amity not wanting Luz to think badly of her and ‘lose’ THAT friendship, but I digress!

           Poor Willow… I can only imagine how much PAIN she was in, both beforehand and when her Inner self was on fire! It was cute seeing her young and current Inner Selves interact, but at the same time it hurts because Willow is clearly someone who is used to being quiet and not noticed, and she just bottles up her rage and wrath inside until it manifests! I wonder… Could this be related to her glowing eyes? Could this apply to Belos? I dunno.

I appreciate the detail of Willow and Amity not exactly being willing to be friends again, I half-expected it and it makes sense! Amity clearly regrets what she did, it wasn’t her choice to begin with and she partly did it to protect Willow (Seriously, Mr. and Mrs. Blight were going to abuse their power to RUIN Willow’s education, what the heck?!) but she still let Boscha and Skara bully Willow. I’m glad she apologized for it, it shows a lot of growth on her part… It’d have been easy for Amity to blame her parents for what happened (and she wouldn’t even be WRONG, either) but she still owns up to not only her mistake of burning the memories, but just in general of being apathetic to Willow’s plight!

(Unrelated but I appreciate the Azura poster in her bedroom)

Overall- A fascinating episode, as expected! I did have issues with DisneyNOW constantly cutting the episode off with its Error symbol… And recently, every time the Error thing shows up and I click back in, instead of resuming the episode as always, the website is now forcing me to watch a few ads EVERY SINGLE TIME- I had to watch, like, seven times the ads I normally would have! Near the end it got pretty bad too, although I suspect this is because a lot of people are watching the episode! And I know it only became available at 2:08 AM or so (yeah I was EARLY and checked) but let’s be real here- We’re ALL pulling all-nighters for this show!

(I mean, I didn’t, I slept and woke up at the most convenient time without meaning to, but you get the idea.)

I didn’t touch on it as much earlier, but I love Luz’s whacky antics (or should I say shenanigans?) and how Willow and Amity are just… USED to it at this point! Willow totally expects Luz to try to repair her friendship with Amity, her kindness is just so well-known at this point and she’s so unconditionally well-meaning! Luz could’ve easily relegated the task of fixing Willow’s memories to Amity, who caused the problem- But her friend was at stake! And yeah she also wanted to experience Willow’s memories too, but still.

Honestly, with how much Luz is willing to do for both of these girls, it’s no wonder they love Luz so much! And with Enchanting Grom Fright up next… Even if there is no ‘declaration’, I can see their being the beginnings of a certain crush… for Amity, Luz is an anomaly who came out of nowhere but offers her unconditional love and support and has been changing her life for the better!

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I thought about every episode of The Owl House Season 1 (Part 1/2)

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Hey, do you miss Gravity Falls?

...

Yeah, I know, dumb question. Which is why I have good news! Not only is there a new series that is just as good as Gravity Falls, but in some ways, it's even better. That new series would be none other than Disney Channel's latest hit: The Owl House.

The Owl House, slowly but surely, became my new obsession since Eda reacted to decapitation with an unconcerned, "I hate when that happens." I wrote fan-fiction, made fan-art, and even began to separately review new episodes. Unfortunately, I got in a little late in the reviewing game and only managed to analyze the last four episodes of season one. And like an idiot, I promised that I'll review the rest when they came out on Disney+. Seeing that all of the first season has finally come on a legal streaming service (which means WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!), it's time I finally saw through to that promise. However, I'm not going to over-analyze each episode because that would be insane. So instead, we're going to lightning round these suckers. Because it's my Tumblr, and I get to decide what I review and how the hell I review it...hooah.

Which means this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen The Owl House yet. Seriously, it's a great show, and you can catch up right now on Disney+. A week-long trial is more than enough time to watch the series, so DO IT! With that out of the way, let's get started with:

“A Lying Witch and a Warden”: This episode gets a lot of flack for having poor pacing and being too preachy with its message. And to that, I say...you're not wrong. Yeah, I wish I could be that person who can defend this episode against criticism like that, but these are understandable problems that just left this icky feeling in my tum-tum when watching. But that's only when looking at it as a regular old episode when in reality, people need to see it as a first episode. The first episode in any show needs to get viewers interested enough to continue watching by answering these five essential questions: What's the plot of the show? What's the tone? Who are the main characters? What's the world they live in? And what are the rules of the same world? "A Lying Witch and a Warden" does a great job of answering all of these questions. And if you stuck around until the season finale, then that means it did a great job of keeping you interested in sticking around as well. So seeing how it got its job done, albeit, with mixed results, I give this episode a B-.

“Witches Before Wizards”: Don't mind me. Just reveling in the fact that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Because that's what this episode is in a nutshell. Through the "quest" that Luz goes on, she learns two important lessons: One, don't trust strangers who offer you something nice and shiny (bonus points for Eda warning Luz to avoid men with sandals and then have Ategast wear sandals). And two, there is no such thing as having a predetermined destiny. I love the idea that Luz coming to the Isles was just a twist of fate, and everything that happens afterward is pure dumb luck. And that moment when Eda gave a speech about making your own path instead of waiting to become something special? That was the moment when I went from thinking this was going to be a fun show to thinking it's going to be a great show. So consider this episode a solid A in my book.

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: How is it possible for an episode to get better and worse with time? Because here's the thing: This episode does a great job of showing how perfect Amity's development is. After one single season, it already feels jarring, seeing the way she acts in certain scenes. However, in that same respect, it's the same reason why this episode got worse. I didn't mind that Willow practically got away with cheating and vandalizing the school with her magic because she and Luz were basically trying to show up a two-dimensional bully. But knowing what we know in the future, it does seem unfair that Amity gets punished for their bad behavior and Willow got little consequences for it. Sure, Luz got banned and had to work at gaining Amity's trust, but what about Willow? Although, despite this complaint, I don't really hate this episode. It builds a believable connection between Luz and her friends, and the B-plot King and Eda show off their budding friendship. So while this episode is a C-, it's a somewhat enjoyable C-.

“The Intruder”: Is it weird for anyone else that King gets most of the blame in this episode? Yes, he took the potion, but Luz was the one who kept pushing him. This is why it never sat right with me seeing how everyone, including himself, blames King for this episode's incident. That being said, "The Intruder" is fantastic. Eda, as the Owl Beast, is legitimately threatening, and the way the episode treats Eda's curse like a chronic illness is actually kind of sweet. It teaches kids how this is something that just happens to people, and they're not any weaker because of it, as long as they take the right steps. Which is cool, and it's why this is another solid A episode for me. Sure King getting the blame bothers me, but it pales in comparison to everything else “The Intruder” does right.

“Covention”: If you want my personal opinion (obviously, seeing how you're reading this), "Covention" is the perfect episode to show a friend to get them into watching the The Owl House. Everything there is to love about the show is seen in just these twenty-two minutes. Eda being a chaotic good, Luz being a sweet and understanding character, some incredible/natural world-building, an actually decent B-plot, an epic fight scene, great comedy, and, my personal favorite, the building of Luz and Amity's relationship. In fact, this episode has the most quintessential moment between these two, that Dana Terrace herself took charge of making the animatic for it. A scene that is so perfect that you can do an analysis of these few minutes alone...which is what I did. Click here to read it! "Covention" gets an A+ in my book and might possibly be the best episode of the season. Maybe even the series!

“Hooty’s Moving Hassle”: There's not really a lot I can say about this episode. I don't hate it, but I'm not exactly in love with it. The interactions between Luz and her friends are adorable, and there are a few good jokes that kept me laughing. But the story is kind of bland, and I just find Eda's sudden obsession with Hexes Hold'em kind of odd. Especially since a card game is what nearly defeated the "undefeatable" Owl Lady. If it wasn't for the nice reveal of Willow's and Amity's friendship (which comes into play in a far better episode), I'd say that you could skip this one on future rewatches. Because this is a C grade episode that just doesn't grab me as well as others.

“Lost in Language”: Ah, yes. The episode that made dozens of fans jump aboard the Lumity ship...unless you're like me, and you've been shipping these two since the show's theme song (And I don't know why, either. It's just the second I saw Amity my first thought was, "Oh, honey. You're gonna fall in love with the main character, aren't you?" AND I WAS F**KING RIGHT!). But jokes about shipping aside, "Lost in Language" is a fantastic episode. It has a great lesson about how people are more complex than their first impressions (Or to not judge a book by its cover, if you wanna stay on theme). Edric and Emira seem like a chaotic duo who cause mischief all for good fun. But Luz, as well as the audience, learns that Ed and Em are kinda the worst (they get better in future episodes, but still). Then there's Amity, who hasn't had the best first impressions in the last few episodes. We got glimpses of a good person here and there, but for the most part, that's all they were. Glimpses. Then there's this episode, which gives us more than a small look, but some actual insight into who Amity really is. Better yet, who she wants to be. It's something that I appreciate about The Owl House in that it wastes no time in developing Amity's character. So much so that I can forgive this episode for shoehorning a "Two idiots and a baby" plotline that does nothing but add maybe two minutes of padding. So yeah, it's an A+ for sure.

“Once Upon a Swap”: "Ugh! It's the body swap episode! How cliche and-" SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, and listen: Something being cliche does not always make it bad. Only when the cliche fails to tell an entertaining story does it have the right to work as a complaint. "Once Upon a Swap" may have a cliche premise, but it's still an enjoyable story (or stories) with great laughs and even some ok lessons. I can understand if you hate the episode because its premise is something you've seen a dozen times to the point where your sick of it. My most hated story idea is the "Character A saves Character B, and Character B becomes a life slave." If you have seen this story once, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's the same case with a "body swap" episode. But guess what: The Owl House is a kids' show. Kids'. Show. You can complain all you want about predictability, but kids are the type of viewers who will be new to this experience, despite if it's one that is done to death. Which is why this is solid B of an episode if you ask me.

“Something Ventured, Someone Framed”: Can people please stop shipping Gus with Mattholomule? Because that slimy, greasy, weaselly little son of A BASTARD BITCH WEASEL DOES NOT DESERVE LOVE IN WAY POSSIBLE!

...

But enough about how Mattholomule is the worst character ever, because "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" is a B+ in my opinion. Sure it shows the worst side of Gus and lets Satan's little herpe win in the end, but there is still quality to be had. We get insight into who Gus is as a character, on top of Eda swallowing her pride and cleaning the school so Luz can get into Hexide. Also, Eda's permanent record was the first time this show brought me to tears due to laughing so hard. So while I have to take points off for the inclusion of Mattholomule (I don't make the rules. I just live by them), this is still an episode I wouldn't mind revisiting.

“Escape of the Palisman”: I subscribe to this theory that Luz will one day have Eda's staff as her own. And episodes like this that strengthen the bond between Luz and Owlbert help confirm that theory. Luz's dedication to trying to make things right could just be part of her kind nature, but I like to believe that this is Dana and the crew trying to set up this possible outcome. As for what I think about the episode itself...it's ok. Again, Luz's dedication is nice to see, and King's adventure with Owl Beast Eda is somehow insanely adorable, but there's not really much to say other than that. So it's another B episode for me.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s the end of part one! Part two has probably already been posted by the time you finish this, so you can go ahead and find that if you’re interested.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top 10 Worst episodes of ML

(Now this list is my personal opinion, and since I haven't been so active, might as well make a big list)

I will be making my top 10 best list later)

This list is my personal opinion, and I don't expect everyone to agree with all my picks (some are obviously bad, and some that may have been awful to you might have not been for me. and the reverse. Let me know your personal top 10 worst)

10. Gigatitan

The reason this episode got on the list is mostly because it is completely unnecessary to anything in ML. It was such a dull episode. However, there were two things I did enjoy in the episode. 1. The Girl squad, which I did find funny.

2. I did like that Gorilla will stop being mad as long as Adrien’s okay. 

Aside from that this episode was pretty dull.

9.Malediktator

This one is on the list because it is subpar in a LOT of ways. Chloé’s ‘Redemption’ was pretty much on life support and this did too little too late to make anyone think Chloé was redeemable. The akuma design was lame, Adrien’s attitude (While I do understand why he was upset, had no reason to say no one else should be unhappy) The lesson is more of a slap in the face now with season 3′s ending.

It did have some cool action shots, and Actual cat Chat noir was funny to me.

8. Animaestro

Or as I like to call it, “Thomas’ emotional HJ episode” 

The fight itself was the only somewhat entertaining thing about this episode. (Also Marinette and Kagami’s outfits were cool, but doesn't really save the episode)

It is a textbook case of how ‘Not’ to do a self insert. and how not to do a “Call out the critics” episode. 

Marinette got a lot of flack on this episode, and I think people were too hard on her, she was clearly regretful about he actions and swore not to do it again, besides it was chloé that did the stuff, not Marinette. 

But mainly just the episode was bleh.

7.Stormy weather 2.0

MAN, I HATE CLIPSHOWS.

this episode was a glorified recap, I am not even bothering with an image for this one, because it would just be recycled footage.

Also just drives in the nail that Chloé isn't getting a redemption. So, just more insult to injury.

I guess it does give a little insight on how characters think of each other, but really, it is a pretty weak episode. Aurore deserved better.

6. Antibug

Finally a season 1 episode makes the list.

I am someone that LOVES the evil opposite trope. But the way this episode is done is so... lacking in every sense of the word.

Antibug wasn't even the akuma for Half the episode. How she beats chat noir easily made no sense. Her design was lacking. It felt rushed and the action between Ladybug and Antibug could have been so much better.

I do like the ladynoir in it, but its not a good episode.

5. Copycat

I agree this was a more entertaining episode to watch then most of the episodes below it, but this has a few things wrong with it that I can't look past.

A. HOW OLD IS THEO?! (This is like 30% of my problem with this episode.) Cause potential pedo. I kind of hope @zoe-oneesama​ is right and he is actually Adrien and Marinette age. Or at least Luka Age. Because then I can like his character, Theo wasn't really that bad.

B. Chat noir is at his worst in this episode and doesn't apologize for acting like an absolute possessive prick, which if he did would have probably made this a great episode.

C. (Related to B) Ladybug takes the blame for not showing up. This isn't her fault and I feel like she should know that.

4. Captain Hardrock

This was the episode that made me quit ML for a while.

It was a poorly written and incredibly boring episode.

IT HAS A PIRATE BATTLE IN IT, BUT IT WAS BORING! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!

Luka’s intro was so... ehh. Comparing it to Kagami’s would be like a paper tiger to a category 3 hurricane. Kagami’s intro was so much stronger.

I found him so douche-y at the time I first watched this. Now my feelings on the guitarist have softened. But I feel he could have had a much better introduction.

also, Marinette’s character was not written well in this episode. (not that she was awful, but her interactions with Luka felt really off to me in this episode)

3. Miracle Queen (Spoilers below)

I loved Loveater, and seeing Miracle Queen was such a MONUMENTAL letdown.

It had a LOT of expectations to meet and Failed in meeting every single one.

The only thing I Found legit enjoyment out of was the fight with Dragonbug and Snake noir against team evil miraculous.

Fu’s departure was... I didn't care. I honestly could not care at this point.

Like I should have felt sadder, but I felt more bad for Marinette. Fu basically Yeeted his responsibility to her. Marinette thinks all of this is all her fault. Now she is the guardian, is giving up on Adrien, and is pretty much alone, because she is under the impression if her identity is ever known, THE WORLD WILL F***ING END.

So yea, I hate how hard Marinette gets hit.

Maybe if they did One of the things, it wouldn't have been so awful.

The show did give up the love square, now its just fucking love triangles. Whoop-dee f***ing do.

Honestly the worst part is how insufferable certain members of the fandom were when this came out. (you guys know what I am talking about.)

2.  The Chameleon

What? This isn't number 1? I bet you are all thinking. 

The truth is, its a bad episode. Objectively one of the worst written episodes, inspired the most salt, and pretty much set the tone of the salt Fandom last year.

Adrien’s lesson was bad, (which he does learn he was wrong, but damage still done)

Marinette had to deal with so much unnecessary crap.

Everyone had the IQ of goldfish.

The akuma was Lame.

The only funny part was Clam Lila (and that is really the only thing that saved it from being number one)

1. Frozen

This one is my personal least favorite episode.

It had Kagami, Adrien and Marinette at their relative worst in terms of personality.

The only decent character in this that didn't make me want to shoot myself was Luka. (and Plagg, but I actually like plagg a lot so he is always exempt unless stated otherwise)

The ice skating battle was sorta cool but I wish there was more to the ice designs, as well as the fight itself.

I was still not over the lame drama from earlier, that really set the tone for the ending of season 3.

And for that, I really can't forgive.

It established the whole love triangle bs.

It made Chat noir an asshole to Copycat levels of asshollery.

It also was the rise of the anti’s that shipped Lukanette. (Not the ones that ship Lukanette because they like the ship and just want happiness for both of them. Those peeps are chill and have great art)  The ones that want to rag on Adrien and use this ship as some sort of way to punish him, because Idk.

I think I hate what the episode started more then the actual episode itself. But that is the main reason why I put this at number ones.

[medea10]

Medea Plays Pokemon Sword: Part II

After a long week of work and watching idiots doing idiot things because they’re idiots (a.k.a. Impeachment Hearings), it’s time to sit back and spaz over cute Yampers doing cute Yamper things.

I know, I’m a Clefairy-line fan. And I cannot wait to get one so I can get my Missy the Clefable. But...

Look at this cute, wittle breadloaf.

Aw, I want to be with you forever too, Winston Corgles Ein Handbanana the Breadloaf.

Hey, no! No.

We’re not evolving you...yet.

On another subject I forgot to mention in the last shit-post. If you played Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, there’s a fella that gives you a Pikachu and Eevee. Downside is, NO you cannot evolve them. And on another another subject, check out the first sentence on Piki’s bio.

Piki is total bad-ass. She’s a lost member of Naughty by Nature and is down with O.P.P.

I will always be a child of early 90′s Hip Hop. Back to the shit-post.

Another run-in with this butt-wipe. Let’s see how far he’s past in my characters I hate list. Um, he is now at Trip levels!

Thinks he’s better than you and has this notice-me-senpai syndrome for an older gentleman. Let’s hope Bede stays at this level and doesn’t go any further than this.

I beat Nessa. And I now ship Nessa x Sonia. Now it’s time to...

What crawled out your vagina to make you so fucking crabby?

Yeah, as you can plainly see I still have severe distrust for Chairman Rose and bitchy-locks here.

Hey, a thought occurs. What pokemon am I eating at this seafood restaurant? I know I love calamari. Am I eating Octillery? Oh God, I’m a monster!

Oh my God, this game is making me question everything in life and it’s getting too real man. Show me some cute pokemon!

Close enough. This would probably be my mother’s house since Wooper is her favorite pokemon.

Oh, fuck me, guy! This turd again?

Okay, now we blast past hating you on the same level as Trip.

Bede is now at...

Motoyasu from Shield Hero. An asshole I’m hoping gets whammed in the nuts more than once.

So far this game is giving me Hau 2.0 and a rival I wish would develop cancer and die quickly. Is it so much to ask for that we get a rival that...

Oh shit, there’s Marnie. I know I haven’t seen her in a while, but I do like her.

*snorts* Her cheering crowd is funny sometimes. Just look at these tossers!

They’re so fucking stupid I just have to laugh whenever I see them. They’re so amusing.

Meanwhile...

Got my third badge. And now onto...YOU AGAIN?!

Okay, Motoyasu is starting to look good compared to you Bede-wipe. Even my co-worker called you a douchebag.

You are now at Dilandau from Escaflowne levels. Please Bede, stop frequently coming in my direction.

Okay, made it to Hammerlocke. Did some stuff here, like...

Help a young boy with saying goodbye to a possible crush.

And get me a Flapple.

Resisted the urge to laugh at this dude’s shorts.

And learned that Pokemon can still talk about poop.

Just like when Gary Oak found fossilized pokemon poop.

Season one will always amuse me.

Geez, Galar’s got some major pigeon problems too.

Well, I’m done here if I can’t fight the gym leader yet. Time to hit the road to the next town. But not before running into...

Swinging Belleville Rendez-vous

I will never tire of saying that.

Time for the next town.

Oh fuck, I think this kid’s about to learn what a “golden shower” is if he stands under Bronzong like that any longer.

Fought and beat Bea.

And as much as I give flack to Hop for being Hau’s doppelganger, what with the one-syllable name, the same animation movements, and a need to be as strong as *insert family member here*, I feel for the kid.

He ended up fighting Bede and losing badly. And I feel sorry for this guy.

*sighs* Yeah, it’s time I have to see this little asshole AGAIN. Like the fucking herpes, this kid doesn’t go away. What’s he doing now?

Fucking shit, kid!

Welcome to Shinji Matou levels!

I just pray that Bede gets punched like that in this game by Milo or Cinderace or Leon or anyone really.

That’s why I was actually caught off guard when THIS happened.

And he freakin’ strips Bede from being a challenger right in front of us. I’m just, wow. Okay, give a star to the potential bad guy.

Wait, what?

Fuck.

No. Not doing this. Nope. I’m sick of the sad backstory coming out of nowhere to make me feel sorry for a character who has been an absolute pile of shit since the moment you saw him. Hell, even during the PV stage of this game, you knew you were going to hate this kid. So, no. I still hate him. Now that may change as I progress. But for now, fuck him!

Next town!

Okay, officially found the place I would gladly live in the Pokemon world. Well, I’d still be in Pallet Town for certain stalking reasons. But vacation home here!

Time to challenge Opal...and also go through an audition.

I seriously got some severe deja vu here. I thought I time-traveled back to high school, it was that freaky.

Yeah, um, screw you. I like wearing all black. Clefable may be my favorite pokemon, but I dress like a goth-moth 24/7.

Leave me alone about not wearing pink. For fuck’s sake, you tripped me up with your stupid question about favorite colors. How was I supposed to know purple was your favorite color when you keep saying I should wear more pink?

Say it again. Say pink again. I dare you. I double dare you, mother fucker! Say pink one more time!

Okay, I thought I would go straight-up Sam Jackson here. But this is a pretty funny moment. Though this next moment does get a little too stranger danger-y for my liking.

HA!

Okay Bede, don’t come back until you’re back to a tolerable-Trip level.

Back on the journey and I saw...

Many inventive curries.

Another whack-ass, white boy rapper.

The love child of the cactus and centipede from the Mario games.

And...

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

MA! CALL THE FUCKING COPS!

THAT FUCKING CAT IS BACK! IT EVOLVED!

Okay, I’m done.

To be continued.

[leakinghate]

Legendarily Defensive: Editing the Gay Away in VLD

Disclaimer: This meta is a collaboration of the entirety of #TeamPurpleLion.  We understand while we do touch on narrative romance, we are intentionally trying to be as ship-neutral as possible, and provide that which we only have evidence for.  We encourage the experts in their respective ship-fandoms to meta as they do best on these topics, and we hope this can be a factual basis to springboard from.

In the most recent AfterBuzz interview March 4, 2019, Executive Producers Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim dos Santos revealed in no uncertain terms who, precisely, is responsible for the editing fiasco that resulted in the version of Season 8 presented to the fandom, including explaining to their viewers when the changes were called for, and a heretofore unknown why: the removal of a mlm relationship between two of the male Paladins.

Let’s break it down.

The interview itself is a little very difficult to stomach, especially the latter half.  But, the first portion is an unusually open and honest discussion of what went down behind the scenes, and what it meant to the producers.  It’s also the place where we’ll be lifting direct quotes from.  The hosts of AfterBuzz allow the Executive Producers to have the floor and speak with quite a bit of leeway, and some very curious facts come to light.  For anyone interested in the source, the interview can be found on Youtube.(3)

Voltron is a unique case.  While much of the fan base may not have been around for prior incarnations of this franchise, it has existed for quite a while.

It originally came from a Japanese show Beast King GoLion.  From this show, the robot we recognize from Voltron: Defender of the Universe, was created in 1984. There exists an interview with the Executive Producer of Defender of the Universe, Peter Keefe, as well as other cast and crew on the production of how BeastKing became Voltron.(4)

After Voltron: Defender of the Universe, several other iterations bloomed forth - some in the form of comics, some as sequels, some as reboots. The first series to follow Defender of the Universe was Voltron: The Third Dimension, a CGI-based sequel released in 1998.

While not nearly was popular as its predecessor, it managed to stir up some legal conflict:

“Worse, the Japanese creators of Beast King GoLion — Toei Animation — began saber-rattling. Toei believed World Events had overstepped the boundaries of their 1984 agreement and made the CGI series without buying those explicit rights.

To quash this dispute once and for all, Koplar and crew purchased GoLion outright in 2000. Now they had the freedom to adapt at will. But nothing was in the works.”(7)

As of 2000, Koplar and World Events Productions (WEP) owned all the rights to Voltron. Talk of a live action movie has been in the works since 2005, but with little traction. In 2010, WEP licensed rights for the Voltron franchise to Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) (7).   By 2011, the animated series Voltron Force was released.

In 2014 Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos approached DreamWorks Animation with the idea of producing a new Voltron show, with the license DreamWorks had recently come to own through their acquisition of Classics Media. In 2016, Voltron: Legendary Defender launched.

It’s worth noting World Events Productions licensed rights to produce Voltron content to DreamWorks Studios.  They did not hand over the entire franchise to do with as they saw fit.  DreamWorks only purchased the ability to play with the characters and the story in whatever capacity WEP believed would remain on-brand.

Amidst the protests and visceral reaction to the final season of Legendary Defender, many have felt confusion about where to direct their frustrations.

In another post, @crystal-rebellion theorized the symbolism in Season 7’s Episode 4 ‘The Feud’ was actually a very blatant representation of what was going on behind the scenes, and why. (2)

Since the most recent interview, statements from the Executive Producers as well as the host have confirmed this to be an accurate assessment of the situation.

Joaquim Dos Santos says it himself:

"This is not a vilifying of DreamWorks. Any exec we ever interacted with was like, 'Hey, we understand why you want to tell the story, we understand where you're coming from. It's a little bit bigger than that. There's other sort of controlling parties with Voltron, which makes it unique.’ It's not just a DreamWorks owned property, and I think it got logistically really really weird." (3)

Seven times, he specifically mentions the pushback didn’t come from DreamWorks, but from ‘other controlling parties.’  He alludes to some logistical weirdness, the implication being a difference in creative direction, or some dissention from higher up. In fact, the hosts and EPs discuss a controlling IP owner eight times in the course of one interview.

He also says, in regard to the issue of LGBTQ+ representation and Adam specifically:

“Here's where we arrived on this. And we were pointing to things like Overwatch. We were pointing to Steven Universe. They're different scenarios, we were in a slightly different position. We didn't have that position of being the creators of this IP. And we also weren't a video game that was marketed to teens and above. We for all intents and purposes were started as a show for boys like 6 to 11 to sell as many toys as possible. And that's just like a fact and that's business, and it is what it is.” (3)

DreamWorks is not a platform that markets ‘toys for boys’ (a talking point brought up no fewer than five times) - but World Events is. President Robert Koplar himself states his target demographic is boys and their dads in Episode 12 from the Let’s Voltron podcast not once, but twice. (5)

The EPs confirm as much with their recent statement in the March 4th ABTV Voltron interview(3) that the possibility of a male paladin’s replacement was greenlit until the IP holder learned the male paladin was to be replaced with Acxa, a woman. This kind of sexist hypocrisy goes as far back as 1984 with Allura being spanked in front of her own team in one episode(11) and tied to a chair by them to prevent her escape in another(11). The 2003 Devil’s Due comic shows Lotor, who looks to be no more than five, witness his mother’s murder via strangulation by his father (complete with an expression of horror on her dead face)(12). Lotor then suffers the same type of non-lethal strangulation in a scene where his father interrupts what the comic refers to as “recreation” with a scantily clad blonde resembling both Lotor’s mother and Allura in a different series(13). All of this takes place in a franchise whose target demographic has consistently been six to eleven year old boys and their fathers. Koplar’s company has made their hypocritical moral stance abundantly clear in Legendary Defender, even going so far as to order the destruction of the entire final season. According to Dos Santos:

“Specifically with Season 7 and 8 we basically held onto Season 7 so Season 8 was like done by the time S7 was dropping. We had like a month left when reaction for Season 7 started coming in, and that was day of the drop. We were in a weird position. To DreamWorks's credit, the tide started changing internally. They came back to us and said, okay we're open to explore this relationship between Adam and Shiro so we were in this weird position where we had all the animation done, we had $0.00 left in the budget in terms of like what we could do and it was like, all right, we know Adam's fate is what it is, do we do this and sort of like take this step knowing that we're going to take some flack? And we decided to do it so we revised the dialogue. You can probably see it in the animation. If you really pay attention it's like, it's literally our editor cutting out mouths and like puppeting different dialogue. The dialogue is pretty vague, it's sort of the best we could do, and that was a process of discussing what we could actually have them say.”(3)

Hold the phone. Taken in context, Dos Santos is explaining the process of DreamWorks giving the showrunners the green light to change the epilogue of Season 8 to give Shiro the unambiguously gay orientation they had written out of Season 7. The problem is, there is no dialogue in the epilogue. Even if we consider the epilogue to consist of everything from “one year later” onward, there is no dialogue for Shiro and another male character that would have to be reworked.

Here is what we think happened: Season 8 was finished in June. The IP owner hated it and ordered it changed at the beginning of July. Those changes included cutting a male/male romance. August came and the fandom melted down over Adam dying. Hoping to avoid a repeat of the Adam debacle, in mid-August DreamWorks came around and offered to let the showrunners put something into Season 8 for more gay representation. By this point the edits to Season 8 were almost complete, the budget was gone, and time was short, so they opted to give Shiro a wedding during the ending, in the epilogue. In an effort to brush off the clear edits to Season 8, Dos Santos mentions the lip movements during the interview but is confusing the making of the epilogue with the rest of the edits.

Indeed, it seems those edits resulted not only in the deaths of the series’ heroine and a childhood abuse victim, but also in the demolition of not just one but possibly two completed romantic arcs. When discussing Allura and Lance’s romance, Dos Santos and Emma Fyffe have this to say:

JDS: I could see the argument where it’s like, it's basic. It's what we've kindof come to expect from okay the guy sort of turned around and-- but I think Lance's arc aside from being with Allura was bigger than the Allura love story.

EF: And Lance's overall story arc I really enjoyed. But again, I think it's this whole idea that we were dealing with this IP that was like "okay, monster of the week, it was like dudes being in love with one hot girl and just macho men with fighting robots and whatever was happening with Pidge".

JDS: Right, yes, yes. (3)

The showrunner himself not only agrees Lance’s milquetoast romantic arc was due to pushback from the IP holder, in discussing the controversy surrounding the main characters’ sexual orientation, Dos Santos inadvertently reveals a major romance between two male paladins was cut.

EF: ...it is important to know that, again, you have this character who is very much your sort of quintessential, like, alpha male.

JDS: That-that was the trope that we were trying to, like, sort of step on was that, you know. I grew up with characters like Duke. To a much lesser degree, he’s a big, giant robot Optimus Prime. The idea of Optimus Prime being with another Optimus Prime was off the table. Like it was a no-go. (3)

If Allura and Lance’s IP-owner-influenced romantic arc is any indication, clearly two main paladins being together was fine. Dos Santos is referring to the inability to pair two male mains.

We don't know for sure, and won't until the original S8 is released. But, we have reasonable cause to believe Keith was intended to be gay and part of the romance that got tanked. When speaking about Keith’s sexuality Dos Santos says:

JDS: Because, I think we didn’t, we didn’t pair him with anybody, you know what I mean. I think we didn’t designate sort of where he stood. We don’t know. It’s-- It’s--

KC: We don’t know

JDS: Yeah, it-- It doesn’t really matter to be honest with you. I mean it would be great to confirm just to make people happy, but, like at the end of the day he is who he is, and leaving it open to interpretation. (3)

Do you hear that? “It would be great to confirm”. Not that it would be great if they could have done it, but if they could have confirmed it. It seems that JDS conceptualizes Keith as having an attraction to men, but he was forbidden from making that fact plain. Again, we have no concrete evidence of who Keith was slated to be with, just that the writers couldn't have two gay male paladins.

The wording of his statements is just clear enough to avoid dishonesty and just vague enough so as not to break contract. Even beyond NDAs, it’s not as if the Executive Producers can speak more directly to these points. We already have evidence of the IP owner’s character in the form of the Voltron Store’s Twitter presence outright lying about WEP and the store being separate entities:

(8) When only a few weeks earlier they had liked a tweet explicitly identifying them as one and the same, while confirming they have the final say over what can be done with the characters:

(1)

Before the fandom realized that WEP was behind the edits to S8 of VLD, the information that they owned the license was accepted fact. This excerpt from the Lets Voltron Podcast, Episode 134, is just one example:

(talking about a Voltron reference in Ready Player One)

Host 1: For those of you not in the know, if you think DreamWorks is the all in all for Voltron. Well, World Events Productions is the company that owns --

Host 2: The Voltron intellectual property.

Host 1: Many of you have heard of DreamWorks obviously. They make the show. Well, World Events Productions owns the property and has helped make this new show and all previous shows possible.

LV Podcast EP 134, 5:00-5:30 (6)

Now? Many official avenues are hastily attempting to downplay WEP’s involvement. When reached for comment in February 2019 the LV Podcast claimed that DreamWorks owned the licence.

The official phone number listed on WEP’s website no longer offers an option to connect a person to WEP, instead it offers three options: to directly input an extension, the accounting department, and The Voltron Store. (9)

In an effort to prevent fans from contacting them with complaints, WEP have inadvertently made their association with The Voltron Store explicit. Regardless of what the twitter account may claim, they are one and the same company. If these incidents weren’t damning enough, the store has further attempted to engage in a subtle smear campaign by liking tweets from users apologizing for harassment and death threats the store had received over Season 8, when all groups bringing the problems with its forced edits to WEP’s attention have specifically advocated for civil and nonviolent communication. (8)

As the story unfolds, one point is clear: Each new interview brings more information forth, repeatedly shining the spotlight on one little office in St. Louis.

WEP LLC is a private company. It has no shareholders, investors, or boards to answer to. It is the sole IP holder of the Voltron brand, and its President is the only person in the entire world who has final say over what can and cannot be done with the characters. When someone says “the IP holder” they are really talking about one man: Bob Koplar.

#TeamPurpleLion is a collective of analysts ( @crystal-rebellion, @dragonofyang​, @felixazrael, @leakinghate​, and @voltronisruiningmylife​ )intent on tracking down the who, what, where, how, and why of the destruction of VLDS8. We present sourced & cited commentary, relying on evidence so the VLD community can see what happened behind the scenes.

[ila9182]

What about CSI NY?

Thank you so much Erin @spindleofaspinningwheel​ for the ask! CSI NY, one of my favorite shows... let’s make that trip down to memory lane! This might be a long post, so you can find my answers after the cut!

The character I least understand

Probably Lindsay. I know she was one of the most loved characters of the show, but I never felt a connection with her... and despite the great and interesting background storyline she had, I just don’t seem to understand her and I’ve been pretty indifferent to her.

Interactions i enjoyed the most

There are a bunch of interactions I loved in the show...

- The family interactions: the team being a big family and having each other’s back, Jo and her children, Flack and his sister, Danny and his brother... the little glimpses we had of their personal lives were always very appreciated.

- Mac & Jo: they are my OTP and I just enjoy the banter, the teasing and the complicity/chemistry between them. I love how comfortable they are around each other and how Jo seems to be the only one to be able to make Mac smile.

- Danny & Flack: The BROTP of the show. I love those two together, the funny and silly moments they shared, the sadder ones... and through it all, they always had each other’s back.

- Jo and Sid: their friendship was one of the most beautiful thing of the show. Light, funny, real... in good and bad times (as the last season showed us).

The character who scares me the most

None, even if grieving Flack got pretty closed. His self-destructive and enraged behavior was kinda scary (but understandable), because I didn’t recognized my sweet Flack anymore.

The character who is mostly like me

Definitely Mac Taylor. I’m the one in the corner, silent, shy. No private life, workaholic. Not very sociable. That’s just me. 

Hottest looks character

Don Flack was definitely one of my first crushes since the beginning of the show and I was like 13 back then, it was that half Italian, half Irish look that won me over. Hahaha 

One thing I dislike about my fave character

That Jo arrived only in season 7 when I wanted her to be around from the start? Okay, more seriously, how can I dislike anything about Jo Danville? Maybe she’s sometimes a little too bubbly or get easily overwhelmed by her feelings, but I don’t really dislike that (not when it ends up with her confessing to Mac how much she adores him).

One thing I like about my hated character

One thing that I like about Stella Bonasera?! Uhm, really? The fact that she left at the end of season 6? She should have left sooner though Hahaha

A quote or scene that haunts me

Jessica Angell’s death and Don Flack holding her - his girlfriend - in his arms and driving her to the hospital. Flack killing the guy who killed her. The whole storyline destroyed me. Fuck, it still hurts.

Aiden Burn’s death: when the team finds out through the facial recognition system that the dead burnt body found in a car is Aiden’s. That wrecks me every time. And how fucking ironic is it that her last name was Burn, really?

Jo Danville being beaten up by John Curtis (even if this led to one of the most beautiful scenes for my OTP) and her personal storyline about her sister dying and Jo meeting the man who got her sister’s heart.

And for the quotes... one that keeps haunting me is this one “Promise me you’re not telling me goodbye” said by a sobbing Jo after she discovered that Sid has cancer. Sela Ward killed it in this scene, I’m still emotional about it. 

A death that left me indifferent

None, absolutely none. I’m still sobbing over Jessica Angell and Aiden Burn’s deaths.

A character I wish died but didn’t

Christine. Definitely Christine. The most useless character ever introduced, just to destroy the real OTP of the show (that last season was the worst, really). I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that Mac would want to marry such a whiny, annoying character. I still can’t believe they didn’t killed her off after she got kidnapped, it would have been just perfect. 

My ship that never sailed

More than never sailed, one that never got a chance to last. Don Flack and Jessica Angell, they were absolutely adorable together and their relationship lasted just a few episodes before Angell got killed. My Don Flack definitely deserved some happiness in his life. 

Aiden Burn and Danny Messer would definitely be the ship that never sailed though. Their banter, constant bickering and teasing was cute and I’ve always thought they were more than friends (and I might be the only one to believe that).

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 5x10 Into the Woods

aka Team Buffy all the way

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode does a fantastic job with its characters, and portraying conflicts in a way that’s understandable from all perspectives… But I’m still with my girl, Buffy on this one. Stop putting your issues on her.

You know, I always say that I’ll be quick and short with these posts, and then I end up trying to organize my thoughts about Buffy’s depression over two hours anyway… This time though, I really do got a time schedule, so if this post ends on a half-thought, just know that I’m probably running to catch my train for my vacation trip as you’re reading this.

So let’s talk the episode. I was actually sort of reminded of Dead Man’s Party with this one, as the poster child of blaming Buffy for dealing with her trauma by distancing herself. However, Into the Woods is a much needed improvement on that scenario, as Buffy’s rebuttals on Riley’s ultimatum are given the necessary weight, and she gets to go off and express her feelings about him putting the blame on her for his actions.

(Both episodes have also been written by Marti Noxon - you can always count on her for your ugly self-reflective arguments and dramas.)

When she tells Riley that this is all she can give to him, this is the whole package, and if that’s not enough for him, then that’s not on her and they got some serious problems… I felt that. Especially as this is a period in Buffy’s life where her depression is starting to affect her life more and more. There’s quite a large part of me that just wanted to give a big old fuck you to Riley right there and move on.

And yet I also get what Xander was trying to say when he convinced Buffy to try and give it another shot. Sure, we can talk about all the textual ways in which Xander relates to Riley, and what this scene might mean from that angle… But whatever else is going on there, Xander’s speech comes from a genuine love for Buffy. He wants her to be happy and not to make a decision she might later regret.

Because as much as Riley’s ultimatum is bullshit, as much as it’s not on Buffy to make that decision for him… Sometimes, we have to compromise for the people we love, and let go of our egos. We can’t always wait for the other to take the first step to mend our conflict.

The problem is that Buffy is especially wary about those compromises after Angel. To recap, season 2 and season 3 was basically one big lesson for her about not losing herself in another relationship. So yeah, it’s no wonder that Riley feels a distance from her.

But this is who Buffy is now. Someone who learned to rely on herself, to not make one person the center of her universe. Someone who is going to be struggling with depression for the rest of the series. I don’t think that she could be who Riley wants right now, and I kinda hate that we are making her feel bad about that.

Especially since Riley’s problems go well beyond Buffy. He made Buffy the center of his universe, because he’s lost his previous purpose in life with the Initiative, and he can’t handle that he is not Buffy’s whole world in return. There is some commentary here about ex-military and veterans too, who decide to go back to war because they can’t find their place back in society… But I do feel like most of that gets lost with all the relationship stuff.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing; this is some meaty relationship drama after all. But there was some potential for other angles too for sure.

Speaking of emotions, I’ll also be the first to admit, that the ending with Xander’s speech to Anya, and then Buffy walking home got to me. It’s a great speech, so much so, I don’t even take issue with the “you make me feel like a man” part. This is Buffy the show after all, and for Xander, being comfortable in his own type of masculinity is kind of a biggie. It also makes a nice full circle with the last scene in The Replacement between Xander and Riley.

Earlier in the episode, Buffy accuses Xander of treating Anya the same way she does Riley, but Xander is actually ready to take those first steps towards Anya. Both Xander and Anya are willing to compromise for each other, and that’s what makes their relationship work at this point in time.

Meanwhile, as far as Riley goes… He’s been a character that I always wanted to like. He gets a lot of flack just for being a love interest opposing other more popular ships, and that makes me automatically want to go into protective mode over him… But the truth is, much like all of Buffy’s love interests, he’s terrible in his own unique way.

He’s always been insecure about his masculinity with Buffy, and he never really got over that. There’s a whole lot of casual sexism and entitlement that comes with his package too, and worse, he rarely seems to be self-aware enough of those. I just also feel like he’s not in the right mindset right now to be in an adult relationship, and I wish that he expressed that more to Buffy, instead of putting her in the impossible position of making his life choices for him.

And while there’s a lot I was able to sympathize with in this episode, that whole shtick about Buffy “needing some monster in her men”? Give me a fucking break. It puts Riley into this Nice Guy light, and portrays Buffy as a Bad Boy magnet, and you know what, fuck that. There are plenty of reasons why this relationship is falling apart, and Riley not being “enough of a monster” or whatever the fuck he and Spike were going on, is not one of them.

I liked seeing a bit of a darker side to Buffy here though. Good old Marti knows how to bring out the ugly in the characters you love, and Buffy burning down the house, and then killing the girl that was feeding on Riley as she was running away… That was some quality repressed rage.

(Just don’t think about the sex work metaphor with those vampires…)

Oh yeah and the first 10 or so minutes with Buffy’s mom’s surgery? Once again, all the feelings. Buffy and Joyce’s wig talk was a delight as well.

We’ve also got a bit of an intro to the next episode, with Anya calling out Willow for mocking her weirdness. So that one should be fun.

See y’all in a week or so.

[lifeofnickripley]

Game of Thrones: Fav characters and characters I dislike

(Long post) Kay so, today is the premiere of the final season, guess I'll do my top Ten favorite characters(it is pretty much my favorite show of all time). Show only since I have yet to read the books. If you wonder my opinion on any character not mentioned I either forgot to mention them or I didn't think they really earned a spot on the lists. Yes I do censor things in this a bit buuut I want my web comic to have a wider audience so yea, deal with it. (SPOILER WARNING, at this point, if ur not caught up tho, you have only yourself to blame) Liked Honorable mentions: - Melisandre - before I found out bout the necklace, I had the HUGEST crush on her. She's evil, yes, but she adds a sense of wonder and magic to the show, so I still like her character (other than that necklace scene obviously). Plus Jon wouldn't be back if it weren't for her so haters gonna hate. - Bronn- if he doesn't get his damn castle...lol I doubt I need to say why this wise cracking sword for hire is a favorite, I think most people love him. - Yara Greyjoy - Badass pirate/Viking chick on the high seas? Hell yeah! Plus I love Greyjoy armor, I don't doubt Euron will probably kill her though. - Oberyn Martell - Awesome character, the Red Viper was fierce with a spear and even moreso with his attitude. Unfortunately his pride wound up being his undoing in the end, arguably one of the most effective deaths in the series. - Tormund Giantsbane - How can you not love this absolute bro? I don't even like Brienne and I ship them. Geniune badass. - Jorah Mormont - Lord of the Friend zone, his loyalty makes him one of my favs, not top ten tier though - Petyr Baelish: The events of Game of Thrones wouldn't have happened without this slimy bastard. He was smart and cunning (which made him fun to watch) and though his death was cool, the build up was kind of weak (weird Sansa/Arya storyline) Favorite characters: 10.) Ned Stark - Everyone's original favorite character, his death cemented that GOT wasn't f*ckin around. I mean, damn, still a brutal death scene to watch to this day. Props to Sean Bean for making his so awesome. He was honorable to a fault in a dishonorable world. 9.) Ramsey Bolton - Kay, so I might get some flack for this one, but he was a great bad guy. I mean he was legit terrifying and despicable! Made the Battle of the Bastards have an entirely different level of intensity than most of the battle scenes. Dude was an absolute monster, but unlike another widely disliked villain, this psycho got his own hands dirty instead of beckoning others to. His death scene was poetic but I kinda wanted it to be gorier. (I'm an edgelord though) 8.)Jon Snow - Awesome character, obviously I dig him, so why so low on the list? Honestly, there's characters I like more. But he's still really cool, definitely has the best fight scenes of any of the characters. WE BETTER SEE GHOST THIS SEASON THOUGH!! Lol things are gonna be hella awkward when he finds out Dany is his aunt, yet we still root for them as a couple...that's wincest for you hurr hurr hurr hurr (sorry) I could see him living in the end cus tbh killing him again would be repetitive BS. 7.)Tywin Lannister - Kay...so he died on the sh*tter (imo probably the worst place to die) AND he was an absolute d*ck to Tyrion...but dude, he was awesome. He literally has a song about him in the world of GOT that is used as a warning to others to not f*ck with him!! He took a house that was laughed at and turned it into one of the most feared houses in all of Westeros. That is pretty frickin cool. 6.) Cersei Lannister - Another one I'll get flack for but whatever lol She's cool! So what she shags her brother and is an awful human being? She's a badass! Did you SEE how she blew up all of her enemies in the court and solidified her queen status in one fell swoop? That was dope!! She's vile but very entertaining to watch. RIP the Tyrells. Probably gonna get choked out though by her brother like Maggie the frog predicted. (By my second favorite character no less) 5.) Daenerys Targaryen - Dany! One of my cats is named after her! I love this character. The dragons are amazing, she's cute, she's powerful, maybe a little insane cus of Targaryen madness, and she's overcome some amazing odds. Her storylines could be a little meh in the grand scheme of things but Emilia Clarke's portrayal has made a character that we really root for. I suspect she'll die personally by the Night King buuuuut we'll see. 4.)Tyrion Lannister -Tyrion's writing has gone down a bit in recent seasons but still, most people's favorite Lannister. His quick wit and resilience make him a solidified favorite. Still seems like the person you'd most wanna drink with. I'd be pretty damn surprised if he bit the dust. 3.) Arya Stark - My other cat is named after her and there's a good reason why, SHE'S BASICALLY BECOME A FREAKING FACE STEALING NINJA!!! She was always likeable and I think I've enjoyed almost every storyline she's been a part of (excluding her main one last season) Maisie Williams is a great actress and I hope to see more of her in the future. I doubt Arya will die, but based on that one trailer, things do seem rather bleak for her. Who knows...maybe GRRM wants a divorce... 2.) Jaime Lannister - Yes. This dude is my favorite Lannister. In case you couldn't tell, Lannister is my favorite house. He's really had the best redemption arc in the series. He went from a character I disliked to my second favorite. I predict he will be the one to kill his sister, what happens to him after that, idk. It'll be awkward when he meets Bran again though... 1.) The Hound (Sandor Clegane) - CLEGANEBOWL BETTER HAPPEN!! Kay so... admittedly I screamed like a little freaking girl when this character came back. He... HE'S JUST SO FREAKING COOL!! Admittedly being a 6 footer and a rather grumpy individual, I probably relate to him more than I'd like to admit. Probably will die, but as long as he fights his brother, I'll be a very happy edgelord. Characters I dislike: 10.) Sansa Stark - Kay so I just...I dislike her, I never liked her. I feel sorry for her, sure. She's gotten better over time, sure. I still see her as very entitled and kinda whiny/bratty. She'll probably die. If not I won't be disappointed, still though, not a fan of Sansa. It was cool how she killed Ramsey, tho again, do wish the scene was gorier. 9.) Robb Stark - Ned Stark 2.0 but way less cool. Nuff said. I was okay with his death in the Red Wedding. Shouldn't have made a promise you weren't gonna commit to. Even if Walder Frey is a d*ck. 8.) Catelyn Stark - She was just such a jerk to Jon Snow and Tyrion, seriously. Even moreso in the books from what I have read of them. She got on my nerves. Honestly, I don't feel like Lady Stoneheart would've added much in terms of storyline. 7.) Brienne of Tarth: I find her annoying. Sure, her fight with the hound was FREAKING COOL, but she's kinda too self righteous for her own good. Duty is her thing and all but she is really not good at holding up to her vows. Still ship her and Tormund though. 6.) Theon Greyjoy - hated this dude, then felt sorry for him, now I roll my eyes at him. Honestly, Greyjoys other than Yara are pretty meh characters. Good for him finally regaining figurative cajones. Doubt he'll save his sister though, or survive the White Walkers for that matter. 5.) Euron Greyjoy - this one is a shame cus I hear the book character is amazing. Feels like a pretty generic bad guy of the week type for a show with outstanding villains. Funny like here or there, but kinda a weak character overall. Theon will probably kill him, though I'd love to see a twist where he kills Theon. 4.) Walder Frey - Old dude that got what was coming to him, props to the guy who plays Filch, portrayed two characters who were absolutely despicable. I doubt I really have to list the ways this cowardly character was despicable. Awesome death scene though. Winter came for House Frey. 3.) Shae - Grrrr. The actual actress I feel very sorry for cus I've heard her story, but man this character. Dumb but smart enough to screw over Tyrion. For personal reasons, I really hate this character, reminds me of people I've known. 2.) Tommen and Myrcella Baratheon - Most. Useless. Lannisters. Ever. I'm a Lannister fan so you could see why I roll my eyes so hard with these two. Tommen rolled over so hard you might as well have called him a wheel. And Myrcella was just kinda there, admittedly sad to watch her death scene though (pretty much moreso because it was the only time Jaime was really able to connect with his daughter) 1.) Joffrey Baratheon - Everyone probably saw this coming. Joffrey is that kid on the playground that'd hit you, you'd hit back, they'd start crying and get you in trouble. Everybody knew that kid, I think that's why everyone hates this character so. But man, his death scene was soooo satisfying. Props to the Jack Gleason for making him so horrible. There ya have it. My opinions on GOT characters. Freaking excited for tonight's premiere!! WINTER IS HERE!!