#should have gone better

[purplemoonabove]

*inhale* *hold* *looong exhale*

Okay.

I saw the last episode of Our Flag Means Death Season 2.

I’m a writer.

I’m not being mean, I’m not being judgmental. I’m just stating my personal opinion here, nothing else.

…

The ending for the last episode… could have gone into a different direction. Mainly with Izzy, and the Prince.

First, the Prince. Now, from what I’ve gathered: he was knocked out after everyone was poisoned, then was taken hostage, and then as expected, immediately escaped and shot Izzy while doing so.

… Why was he still armed?

Why wasn’t the gun removed? Why didn’t anyone check over his body, removing all weaponry he still have? It’s one thing to show that he lost, it’s another to be careless when free. And it came with a cost…

Speaking of cost, let’s go to Izzy now!

Now, his death was… I mean…

Okay, so. Season 1, I hated his guts. Season 2 made me start to love him. His death was something I would loved to see first season, but now, it was sad. I did feel sad seeing him go, but… here’s the thing: why have him go now? When he was still in development?

Like, giving a shock moment for the audience is clever, if you do it right.

From what I gathered, Izzy was still healing. He lost his leg, lost his position as First Mate, lost a lot of dignity until, as far as I know, he shot Ed during that storm scene. Now, we get him with a unicorn wooden leg, singing and being open with the crew, actually happy for himself… His death?

Yeah, that was too early.

I read someone’s post that Izzy’s death was planned from the start – and the actor finds out in the middle of shooting (What the hell?!).

Personally for me, if I was a writer in the show in joining debate on who and how a death will happen from the crew, I’d choose Izzy, but I would give him more development beforehand.

He was still healing. He was still adjusting. He was still be happy with himself. It was a position where the audience wasn’t comfortable with the change yet. And by that, I mean they, we, you’re still getting use to this new concept that Izzy was having since the first episode with his breakdown.

It was so new to him that new creations of self-focused goals weren’t made yet. A new lifestyle to try, while still being a pirate. New interests, new ideas, new hobbies – or bringing back old hobbies (that singing threw me off. He. Was. Amazing 🥹).

The writers should have given him more time to really change and for us to change with him. Show us that self-love is just as loving as being in a relationship, mono or poly, straight or queer. And quoting from another post I saw, he would have been more of a symbol to not only the LGBTQ+, but for everyone, especially those who don’t really hold on to the concept of self love.

(Damn. Izzy got rep with me. Amazing… This was lost potential right here.)

The Prince shouldn’t have been armed. If anything he either should have been disarmed, or tortured and “returned” to someone they would let live to send back to his father. Which can also further the plot as we know he is a prince, but we don’t know any single thing about his family. As far as we know, anything could happen through this idea.

Izzy’s death in season 2 was unnecessary. Dying in the last episode of Season 3 would have worked.

We’d be more comfortable, he would have a new lifestyle, he’d be happy… and the death would have been more honorable than it was. And more epic, like in a battlefield, and probably add a few more from the crew to die, too. Giving us a Harry Potter feel, with the number of beloved characters killed during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Like I said, this is just personal opinion on how I saw the show.

Happy for Ed and Stede. Happy for the wedded Pete and Lucius.

It just could have gone better. And deep. And realistic.

Season 3, I will be patient for you until then.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Unsolved Mysteries.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[romatito]

belbel and her brothers !! 🕺🕺💃

[gece-misin-nesin]

i hate it when media portrays someone angry about what happened to them or loathing their abuser as someone who's 'letting anger control them' and 'not healing'. i don't see why unequivocally despising and hating the person who hurt you means you aren't/can't be healing. like, why does every character have to forgive and forget to heal? why can't characters just resent their abusive parents while still healing/having healed. why can't they be angry about their traumatic experiences without every other character telling them bullshit like 'you should forgive' or whatever? it's so fucking annoying AND entirely unoriginal.

[claypigeonpottery]

sold

this smirky bunny boy had some cracking issues. I figured out why though, and fixed it for my future little dudes. I hope

[extremely-judgemental]

People supporting Feyre's decision to lock Nesta up in HoW shows how much they choose to be ignorant.

Feyre says she loves Nesta and cares about her well-being. But honestly she still harbours deep resentment and internalised hatred towards Nesta.

She apparently forgives Nesta. Still, she sides with Rhysand to imprison her depressed sister when their reputation is on the line? She could have suggested she and Elain stay with Nesta the whole time. Or if it was that necessary, she could have imprisoned Nesta with Morrigan or Amren instead.

Instead she's fine with forcing Nesta to stay with Cassian. There's no exit. There's no other woman in the house except for the priestesses who never leave the library. Nesta has to stay with two men. It wouldn't matter if they are men of the best character because she doesn't know them, they are not even her friend.

Which woman would ever lock up another woman in a house with a man who clearly wants to have sex with her? Which woman would subject another woman to this, let alone her own sister? Unless she hates her so, so much. Most women wouldn't even then.

This is not romantic tension. This is not cute. This is not healing.

This is straight up torture.

BTW in traditional romance novels, if a guy suggests his partner lock up her sister because he is embarrassed by her, he'd be the manipulative ex who gets dumped by act two. But a lot of you are not ready for that talk yet.

[canonically47]

i cannot ever get over gi-hun actually. the fact that he chooses to believe in the good of humanity even after witnessing what he has, and that he joins the games AGAIN with (mathematically) even LESS chances of survival JUST because he wants to save people, people who DON'T CARE, people who are SELFISH and who continuously betray and hurt him just fucking KILLS ME. a very big critique from many people (and i've noticed, especially men) about the second season and gi-hun's character is that he is stupid. they find him to be stupid that he has this weak spot for an uncaring crowd, that he comes back to the games to save people who wouldn't think of him twice, instead of going to his daughter. they think that him caring and despising a system this deeply is a sign of weakness and stupidity.

but if anything, i find it admirable. maybe i can't bring myself to hate him because i think i'd do the same thing. i watch him on-screen and think, "yeah, i would do that too", every single mistake, every single thing, i get him. and he may look stupid to some but i think if anything, he's just too caught up in an ideal world in which people care, but i find it admirable that this is his personality even after witnessing the previous games. he still has hope, they haven't wiped it away from him. comparing him to in-ho is like night and day, because in-ho was broken by the games and came back to perpetuate that same hurtful system, while gi-hun was broken by the games and came back to break the people that created the system, and the system itself.

he speaks to me, as an individual who clings to hope until his very last breath, who can never seem to learn from his mistakes because he is so stubborn, he wants to prove that humanity could, and should, have hope and that it's worth to fight for it, not to just leave for a different continent and forget about it. that's what draws me to him, this endless fight in him, i can't find him stupid because he's so desperate to change things. and he never gives up even after his friends die before him.

idk i just am really unwell about gi-hun. i think people treat him too harshly. i'm unsure how well this is worded, but what i really want to say is that i don't think he should be perfect and immediately learn from every single mistake he has ever made. the fact that he is this broken given his past, even before the games he's set up as this really caring and traumatized individual, and that they double down on his same characteristics that make him so incredibly real... he's just really special to me. i really admire the way he is written and i think he's a really good representation of people who fight for a change even when it all seems lost. he's just that kind of guy that doesn't, couldn't, will never give up. and i really love that.

[quickfixinator]

ad astra per aspera

do do do do dooo doing the tumblr thing where I ramble about the thing that I made either in the tags or under the post. in this case I believe I will be doing both.

I find it a bit unfortunate with pieces like this that I've either workshopped for months or have thought about way too hard, how I end up having nothing to say about them at the end. someone explain that to me, or don't. that's cool too.

I made an alternate version where he's getting dragged down by bill hands because that's:

a) sick as hell

b) somewhat plot relevant

someone tell me if I should post that or not. is that cool or am I insane. I feel like I could've done more but what I've ended up with is satisfactory for me so I'll move on now. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[violettierre]

My haitani father Shio headcanon is just a bit too funny cuz of how well it works that it sounds like a waste of perfect canon idea and crossover for both of wakui's works.

Aside from the obvious physical features very very obvious, identical eyes, nose, blonde eyebrows, rindou's face form, ran's hair color palette and (arguably) bonten hair style, blah blah i mean just look a the pictures below, you can also bring up any fact from either manga and add it to the hc and it fits in just SO WELL, i'll give the first example, The Haitanis are very obviously rich spoiled kids like have you seen their apartment? They have a fucking dj set, only rich kids with neglective powerful parents will have no problem paying for that, just saying, and even though i love him let's be real Shio is the type to be that parent, i mean cmon he's rich like crazy rich (filthy yakuza money yum yum) he tots would give his children WAY more than enough allowance so they can leave him alone, also the way they act, i've always the Haitanis were the type of kids that think they own the school cuz their dad is rich .

Nvm if this never becomes canon or both universes don't collide, it's just so entertaining to keep connecting the dots that were likely never there, like how Rindou is a heavy drinker cuz his father drank alot with the rest of the Yotsurugis and he tried to imitate him from a young age that it became an unhealthy habit or if you want to add more drama he only drinks cuz he looks up to his father but Shio favors Ran cuz he can posssibly succeed him (canon power complex) so Rindou resorted to drinking cuz it's the only thing like his dad that he can do. Heck yeah i made it angsty!!!

You can also add great context to his fear of Yakuza, picture this, when he was a kid he got up in the middle of night after hearing a loud noise to search for his parents and witnessed Shio (canon Yakuza) pew pew-ing some poeple and surrounded with scary men, that probably scarred him for life that he was so terrified when Kakucho got them interfering with some, OH OH something just came to mind, if he's the son of a yakuza yeah he didn't wanna clash with other yakuza families cuz it can end in a blood shed and risk his and his family's lives.

And i'm gonna add this one not very small detail and i swear i'll shut up (for now), i know it's just a stupid headcanon that is very far from becoming reality and i don't have to take it this deep but hear me out, why their last name is Haitani and not Yotsurugi like their dad, Shio is powerful and have many enemies right ? So he simply decided to protect his children and their identity by giving them another last name likely their mother's (yk like minato with naruto style plan ?) So Haitani is actually their mom's family name. I rest my case. Thank you for coming to my useless ted talk.

[twisted-up-in-wonderland]

Okay… I could understand the staff getting cards before them. And I get that, since Rollo and Fellow/Gidel have events, they are featured more than the other school.

But I’m still mad that EVENT CHARACTERS are getting cards before reoccurring RSA characters get cards.

And since these characters aren’t going to NRC, or at least they shouldn’t be if twst wasn’t bending over backwards to get these characters there, there is nothing stopping the twst devs from making cards for characters outside of NRC.

In other words…

Where are my cards for Neige and, absolutely more importantly,

Che’nya?!

[magistralucis]

this is the first Space Marine I have ever painted Please Be Kind 😭🤣... during housecleaning I unearthed this old mini my fiancé had as a child and long story short I made him into a teacup, please welcome Brother Connoisseur of the ~*~*~Albertus Regius~*~*~ Chapter

[omppupiiras]

a graphic designer i am not but here's some super quick kä merch ideas for funsies lol

[pimento-playing-hopscotch]

I love this show and it means a lot to me,

and I feel disappointed and a little bit misled tbh by the choices they have made-

These are two thoughts that can coexist btw

[the-badger-mole]

In the debate between pro-aang-kill-ozai and anti-aang-kill-ozai. Which side are you on and why? If it's the anti then did you like how it was done or do you picture something else?

I think I've mentioned before, but I am not inherently against Aang not wanting to kill Ozai. Some of my favorite heroes have a no-kill policy. I don't even mind the lionturtle solution itself. What I didn't like was how it was handled. There was plenty of time to address Aang's reluctance to kill before the second to last episode. I can think of three points in particular where it would've been thematically appropriate and given Aang's bland, two-dimensional character some depth.

First, right after the siege at the Northern Tribe. Aang may not have technically been the one who killed all those Fire Nation soldiers, but it couldn't have happened without him. You would think that someone who is both committed to pacifism and also the one the entire world is relying on to end a war that people have been fighting and dying in for a century wouldn't just be able to shrug off what happened. Aang did, though. Didn't even cross his mind when he was whining about people expecting him to kill Ozai.

What should have happened was the next season should've opened with Aang grappling with what happened and his part in it. He should feel guilty about it, not because he was actually wrong, but because it should feel wrong to him. Then, Katara and Sokka should comfort him and tell him he did nothing wrong. Build it up that their word are comforting him a little, then drop the bomb when they start talking about how cool it was. How amazing it was to see all those soldiers running in fear for once. How relieved they are that so many of them died. Then have Aang snap on them about the sanctity of life. He needs to be angry and hurt, and this should be the point where he decries the powers of the Avatar. He'd call himself a monster, and maybe he would call Katara and Sokka monsters, too. Then they (probably mostly Sokka) would argue with him that they aren't monsters, they're just trying to survive, and the Fire Nation is a threat to be taken out. This would be the first time it's brought up that Katara, Sokka...the entire world expect Aang to kill Ozai. I think it would be perfect as a season 2 opener. Season 1 was light and goofy, and Zuko was their biggest immediate threat. The siege raised the stakes, and season 2 should continue on that rising. Aang should also have started looking for another solution here. In the library, Aang should've asked Wan Shi Tong if it was possible to end the war without more violence. We should've seen Aang coming to terms with the fact that the world is suffering and he is the one they are looking to to save them. One thing I think the Harry Potter movies in particular did well was that shift from goofy and whimsical to darker and more frightening (as far as kids movies go) as the story went on and the stakes got higher, and the danger felt more real to the characters. Aang never gets that realization. He has moments when the danger feels real, but he's goofy and whimsical for pretty much the entire series until the plot of an episode needs him not to be.

The second place they should have brought up his reluctance to kill was DoBS. This really should've been a no brainer. Aang was loosing sleep over facing Ozai. He had his anxiety about losing- though not really what losing would mean for his friends and the world- but he didn't even consider what winning would take. If DoBS had been successful, there's no way Ozai would've been able to be taken alive. Logistically, killing him would've been the easiest, safest option. You mean to tell me no one brought it up? No one asked Aang how he was planning to take Ozai out? No, instead we get Aang proving he knows what enthusiastic consent looks like and taking away his excuse for what happened later, but nothing about Aang weighing his personal beliefs against the needs of the world. That training montage and confrontation that he has with his friends in the second to last episode should've happened here. This should've been when his tendency to run away should've been challenged, too, because half a season before he was crying about how he abandoned the world again. Now his instinct would be to run, but his friends would challenge him, calling back to that moment. They could demand that he present an alternative to killing Ozai. I don't think any of them would object to him living to stand trial, but Ozai is a rabid dog, essentially. He needs to be put down. Aang's got nothing, but not for lack of trying. When he tells his friends about all his efforts to find a non-lethal way to defeat Ozai, they are unmoved. They are at the doors of the Fire Nation, and now is not the time to be indecisive. He has to go face Ozai. And he's probably relieved when the plan fails. This whole situation would have the added bonus of skipping that first Kataang kiss because no way would Aang want to kiss Katara after her insisting he terminate Ozai with extreme prejudice.

The third place Aang's no-kill policy should've come up is TSR when Zuko asks him what he's planning to do when he faces Ozai if he's so against killing. This should scare Aang, and it should be his focus for the rest of the season. He should be more withdrawn from his friends, because with all the training he's doing (and he would still be training on all the elements because he's not that good at any of them), talks about the most efficient way to kill would be unavoidable. Katara might actually try to teach him bloodbending. Toph would just tell him that a big rock is just as effective as some fancy bending move. Zuko would be warning him about his father's ruthlessness and cunning. This would be where Aang looses his patience with his friends and insists that he's a pacifist and Ozai doesn't deserve to die. This would piss Katara in particular off because by this point, Aang knows what happened to her mother. He would get an earful about how Ozai's plan is to do to the Earth Kingdom what his grandfather did to the Air Nomads and how he's going to let millions of people die because of his refusal to kill one. Now, Aang can take off, only instead of just running away from his friends because he doesn't want to hear them anymore, he could be making one desperate last ditch attempt to find a solution that both ends the war and keeps him from having to kill Ozai. EIP could still happen in this circumstance, but instead of getting mad that he's being played by a girl, he would focus more on how eager for his death the Fire Nation is. That would come up in the argument about killing Ozai.

Now, for the lionturtle. I'm about to blow some minds. I have been vocal about my hatred of the Lionturtle/Rock of Destiny desu-ex-double team, and I do still hate it with a passion. However, as a concept, I don't mind the lionturtle. This is a fantasy adventure. You expect a bit of magical intervention. What I wanted was Aang grappling with this problem for more than half an episode. I wanted him working on a solution the entire time, starting from right after the siege. I wanted to see him take initiative. To actually think about the problem. Maybe have him specifically looking for the lionturtle. Then when it shows it, it could be because it knew Aang was looking and decided he was worthy of a meeting. Aang could still have his meeting with his past lives, and that could still go the way it did. Then the lionturtle could speak up. Instead of poo-pooing the idea of killing Ozai, it could agree that it was the most effective way to make sure that the war would end. Then, when Aang is despairing that he'd wasted all that time trying to find a different solution, the lionturtle could offer the spirit bending. But it would have to come at a cost, and it might not work the way that Aang hoped. Now Aang has to make a choice. Sacrifice something for this spiritbending ability (I'm thinking he loses his airbending, because it seems poetic) that might not have the outcome he's hoping for, or give up his pacifism- one of his few connections to his heritage- and kill Ozai. He chooses the spiritbending. Instead of the conveniently placed rock, Aang would actually have to give up his attachment Katara. I think he would be half-way there, having finally realized how little he understood her. He "loved" her because she was pretty and took care of him, but he's come to realize there's a lot more facets to her that he hasn't gotten to see because they don't fit his narrow view of her. He also understands what Guru Pathik was trying to tell him about one person not being able to replace everything Aang has lost, and he realizes how unfair to her he had been. He still loves her, but as a friend and caretaker. This will actually lead to a deeper friendship between them. Aang defeats Ozai without killing him, but now he has to deal with the loss of his airbending, which only now does he realize was a much of a connection between him and his people as his beliefs. He still has spiritbending. He can still airbend in the Avatar State, but he's effectively cut off a limb to keep his integrity. He will go the rest of his life wondering if it was worth it, especially after Ozai goes to trial and is sentenced to execution anyway. The effects of that on his children could be explored in LoK.

TL;DR I don't have a problem with Aang not wanting to kill Ozai. I just wanted to see him deal with it before the last minute. I think the show would've been better for it, and Aang would've been a more interesting character.

[miodiodavinci]

i found one of my old middle school sketch books while cleaning up today and saw there was A Good Deal of ghost trick art in it, so i decided to spend some time paying tribute to the ghost detective that fundamentally changed my brain chemistry in 2011 w

old ghost trick art under the cut—minor spoilers in the dialogue whoops👇