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short-rain · 11 months ago

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15 Questions for 15 People

(this mad me get back into tumblr lololol i love this i replied in my head earlier but then soon realized you wouldn't be able to see that)

i was tagged by @fategoflatass

Are you named after anyone? personally i was named after my aunty but now the whole family doesn't like her so i guess i'm the only one now T.T

When was the last time you cried? when bts enlisted or when my laptop broke those were terrible times lmao

Do you have kids? let me be a young gangsta!

What sports do you play/have you played? i absolutely HATE moving my body so there is no way in hell that i will ever do a sport i've never even stepped foot in a gym all i do is cook and clean (i'm embarrassing)

Do you use sarcasm? people have JUST started getting mad at me for it and honestly they need to stop

What's the first thing you notice about people? their lips (i'm a bad person)

What's your eye color? VERY VERY dark brown that i thought it was black for half my lip but i'm just stupid

Scary movies or happy endings? i don't even remember the last time i watched a scary movie so i would just choose happy endings because when something doesn't have a happy ending i will quite literally flip

Any talents? i'm a good writer and i'm a good drawing but these days i haven't been doing that as much so i'm not sure if it counts but HEAVY on the writing part

Where were you born? senegalll!!! but i'm in america now specifically florida for obvious reasons, i can't get a good education with a good job there so i was forced to learn the english language at like 6 or something and move here but it's okay, i was quad lingual for a time, now i'm studying korean so that's a addition

What are your hobbies? reading.. writing... drawing... watching movies... anything involving paper... or and did i mention reading?

Do you have any pets? nope. i'm a simple gal who is not allowed to have pets cause my mother has the fear that i'm going to murder it? somehow idk lol

How tall are you? i'm 5'4 and i've been that since 4th grade since i was an early bloomer lol. 5'4 might be tall in some countries but when i tell you i've been the tallest in my grade since i was born... floridians need to grow

Favorite subject at school? i loveee english i'm just so amazing at it and it's so easy to me sometimes i wonder, how are these people failing english (83% of my school failed the big exams, i was one of 15 kids who somehow passed and i got the highest grade and yes, i'm bragging)

What is your dream job? why was this literally the hardest question of this so called survey LMAO but yeah... idk and please don't ask me this question as i am very confused on what i would like to be! in fact i have a few things in mind but they are kinda embarrassing so i'd rather not share but if those things don't work out i would definitely settle for being a pediatrician!

not tagging anybody because i physically cannot remember any of my mutuals for my dear life except for my dearest @fategoflatass thank you for the questions btw!!!

15 Questions for 15 People

(I was tagged on something, yay!)

I was tagged by @serekan

Are you named after anyone?

Kind of? My mom took the name from a model's daughter she saw on a magazine.

When was the last time you cried?

I think yesterday? When did Overtake end?

Do you have kids?

Bro, I'm twenty. Let me breath!

What sports do you play/have you played?

I did volley during secondary school, does that count?

Do you use sarcasm?

Quite a lot, and I trying to quit it.

What's the first thing you notice about people?

Their existence.

What's your eye color?

Brown, a dark-ish tone.

Scary movies or happy endings?

I don't really watch scary movies, and happy endings are cool depending on the series/movie. I prefer the angsty ones, though.

Any talents?

It seems I'm good at learning languages? If that doesn't count, them I'm pretty good at fucking things up.

Where were you born?

Argentina!

What are your hobbies?

Watching anime, playing Sims 2, anything that involves spending time with my best friend and learning languages.

Do you have any pets?

I have the oldest and most annoying red-haired poodle at home (I love him, even though he won't shut up right now).

How tall are you?

I'm 1.63cm (5'4''?). Have been for years and yes, I'm bitter about that.

Favorite subject at school?

English (such fun class and fav teacher EVER), Music (so much fun, teacher had big bro vibes), Literature (kudos to the teacher who allowed me to take my sweet time (three weeks instead of one) on that one creative writing asigment) and History (teacher was literally our second father wth).

What is your dream job?

At-home literary translator. 💖

Tagging @arataka-reigen, @keithmelance, @iwantflyingpigs and @short-rain (don't have many mutuals, sorry 🙏). Y'all are not forced to do it!

#ask game #coumbachitchats

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sassykittynoir · 5 years ago

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Miraculous Ladybug AU where everything is the same except Hawkmoth is Adrien’s sister: Butterfly (it’s Hawkmoth in French btw). Can you imagine the aesthetic:

Bad bitch vibes: glittery pouty lips, the side eyes, the poorly concealed judgement in her eyes. Butterfly tattoo right above her navel.

Acrilic nails taping on her phone in frustration, the mini pleated skirts (haute couture ofc), she takes a sip of her favorite iced latte as she sends away her purple Akuma to darken the hearts of her victims. Ugh the eybrows game on point, y’allllll ~

Her powers are fueled by her need of retribution and desire to lash out against the abuse, the neglect, the control. She feels smothered, trapped in a guilded cage. The anger is running cold through her veins. Quiet.

She senses the negative emotions of people who has been wronged, ego bruised, feelings unvalilayed and discarded. She gives them a chance to retaliate, an opportunity to do something against it.

She wants Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s miraculouses to rewind the hands of time and return to a time when everything was better. When her mother was alive and her father hadn't trapped them in a gilded cage.

Poor Nooroo is torn apart witnessing his wearer destroy herself along with Paris because of her sorrow.

She's protective of Adrien (She calls him Adrichou, just because he hates that nickname. He calls her a brat in retaliation, although she can't bring herself to care.) They always banter, doing things just to spite the other, but no one has the right to hurt her brother.

A private joke amongst Adrien's friends that everyone around him has fallen victim to an akumatized except him. Their only rational explaination is that Adrien is just too sweet to be akumatized.

Sass definitely runs in the Agreste family. Just imagine the razor-edged retorts, the witty comebacks dripping with sarcasm, Butterfly would yell through the mouth of her supervillains. The venom laced barbs she would trade with Ladybug.

Oh how they would hate each other with a passion. Ladybug is her nemesis, but there's a mutual respect acquired with the status: a badass woman recognizes another badass woman.

She lowkey ships Ladynoir: “Oh gross. Would you two kiss already, but for the love of god stop flirting!! You’re making me gag.”

During daytime when her Butterfly part-time job is over, she’s a boss girl, modeling like her brother, heiress to “Gabriel” TM, still controlled by her father but she’s older, she has emancipated a little.

She takes Adrien on shopping trips to clear his mind, dotting on him whenever she can. She picks him up from school in her blue convertible: “climb in loser I’m breaking you out of your guild cage”.

She’s a social butterfly (get it, get it), people actually LOVE her. Adrien’s friends thinks she’s cool and all. Bougee queen. Each of her IG posts are like reposted with “GOALS AF” as caption.

She loves Marinette designs, she recognize talent, if she can help boost her burgeoning career why not. She’s also not as oblivious as her brother, she knows he has a huuuuuge crush on her and tease him constantly about it. “I’m telling you she’s just a friend!” “You’ve just had a two minutes monologue about how soft and silky her hair looks, Adrichou, come on!”

Guyyyyyys, can you imagine the angst if she ever find out Chat noir is actually her baby brother??? Or better yet, the actual judgment when she realize how much of a dork he truly is... or Chat noir sasses a villain and she’s like: “hold up... I’ve heard that somewhere!!!”

Like clearly she had her doubts because they’re close and he can’t lie to save his life, but she had underestimated the level of dorkiness in her brother.

“You can’t tell me you’ve been roaming the streets of Paris in a full bodytight leather suit on, it has a bell on it. I saw your browsing history are you channeling your sub side?”

#adrien agreste #chat noir #hawkmoth #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #miraculous ladybug #ladynoir #adrinette #gabriel agreste #miraculous lb

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mandelene · 6 years ago

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Tag Game

Answer 15 questions and tag 15 mutuals

Thank you to @feyna-v for tagging me!

1. Are you named after someone? No, my mom picked my name just because she liked it and it was American/English and not Polish (she didn’t want to give me a Polish name). My dad agreed to it. (My name is not Mandelene, btw).

2. When was the last time you cried? While reading the ending of Small Country by Gael Faye a few days ago.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, not yet, haha, but I hope to have kids someday if I can. Two or three but no more than three :) Idk how to explain it, but at some point within the past two years, I started feeling more...maternal toward kids, if that’s the right word for it. I just see kids on the bus and think, huh, yeah, I could have one of those, I think I might like that, God knows why.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Oh, boy. Yes. It’s not as obvious when I’m online, but ask my mother or my close friends and they will confirm that 90% of my daily life is spent being sarcastic. My life is just one big sarcastic meme.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people? How they present themselves -- whether they’re smiling or frowning, standing up straight or slouching, etc. For men, I immediately notice how tall they are because I’m a tall woman so tall men are absolutely heavenly to look at. Any man that’s like 6′2 ft or taller and in their mid to late twenties makes my heart flutter instinctively. (This is how I know I’m definitely straight, bahahaha).

6. What’s your eye color?

Hazel. I joke that I must be adopted because my parents and sister have green eyes, but my great-grandmother had hazel eyes so I guess my parents are my parents.

7. Scary movie or happy ending? Happy ending for sure. Scary movies rarely have a storyline that I find interesting tbh.

8. Any special talents? I’ve been told I bake a fantastic coffee cake. I can recite the alphabet backwards, and I know some first-aid, but those are skills and not really talents.

9. Where were you born? I’m a Brooklyn baby. :D Brooklyn, NY.

10. What are your hobbies? Writing, reading, occasional video-making, playing with my cat, indoor cycler, casual gamer, novice yoga pupil.

11. Have you any pets? Of course. Most of you know my baby already:

Macchiato!

12. What sports do you play/have you played?

Oh, here we go. Brace yourselves for a tangent.

I was the sickly asthmatic kid who was too busy coughing up a lung to play sports, and I’m only half-joking. I played soccer a lot as a kid with my friends, but I was never on a team because my asthma was too severe and out of control for that. I’ve talked about this many times before, but I spent a good chunk of my childhood in the doctor’s office. I missed a lot of school. I got poked and prodded. I cried often about how much I hated being sick. I would be out playing with my friends and have an asthma attack in front of them and feel embarrassed. I would start wheezing and ignore it because I didn’t want everyone to make a big deal out of it. Don’t ever ignore your asthma, please. That never ends well. Sports were something I feared for years.

Midway through high school, my relationship with sports changed completely. I started seeing them as a method to improve my asthma rather than worsen it. My pulmonologist got my asthma under better control by coming up with a treatment regiment that he made sure I stuck to by lecturing my teenaged self at great length and wrote notes to my gym teachers at the start of every marking period. I slowly started regaining my confidence. My doctor made it clear that he was not excusing me from gym completely -- I had to exercise to the best of my ability without making myself sick, and if I kept getting attacks, it was back to the drawing board. If I couldn’t manage to exercise normally, then, in his view, my asthma was impeding my life too much and my medicine wasn’t working for me, which was totally true.

One of my high school gym teachers, Mr. B, was notorious for being the hardest P.E. teacher in the school. I was terrified of him. Whenever he made us run laps, I would pause when I started feeling unwell, rest for a minute, and then continue. He never said a word to me about it even though he was known for scolding students for stopping. Oddly enough, it took me a while to realize this, but he was always subtlely looking out for me. He always asked me if I had my inhaler with me at the start of class. Although I was often dead last in everything he made us do, he pretended not to notice and never commented on it. I never cheated him. If he said to do 30 laps, I would do 30 laps, even if I had to pause three times in between. Everyone else would have already moved on to other exercises while I was still doing my laps, lol, but I don’t think I ever had to reach for my inhaler. At the end of the term, he pulled me aside and told me, “I know you always tried your best, and I admire that.” He gave me an A. He was the only gym teacher I had who didn’t accuse me of making excuses or being lazy. Many previous teachers had convinced me I wasn’t trying hard enough, so I would push myself, and then I promptly proceeded to have attacks, be frustrated with myself, and end up in tears in the locker room. I needed Mr. B in my life to restore my faith in gym.

Nowadays I indoor cycle 3-4 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour to strengthen my lungs. Once a week, I have my “long tour” which is when I cycle for an hour and thirty minutes. After cycling, I lift weights for another 15-20 minutes. If I have a cold or any other upper respiratory infection, I stop all exercise until I’m well, and I hold myself to this. I have a better idea of my limits and what sports are best for me. I love swimming, but unfortunately, I don’t have a good indoor swimming pool around me, so it’s not something I can do regularly. Running/Track is still something I really struggle with, but brisk walking or hiking is fine. Last year, I was really into dance classes with my friend. Cycling is super kind to my lungs but leaves me exhausted in a good way, so that’s why it’s my favorite form of exercise. I’m sure if I did it outside though, I’d have asthma attacks. I’m generally okay with all sports/exercise as long as it doesn’t involve long stretches of running with few breaks in between, and I don’t do it outside when it’s cold. I won’t die from a light jog unless it’s the middle of January and there’s a meter of snow on the ground. You can invite me to play volleyball/basketball/tennis/whatever, and I promise I’ll be fine, haha.

I’ve also tried getting into yoga recently by following some YouTube instructors, but cycling is what I do most regularly and have stuck to. I take frequent exercise very seriously now, and I make it a priority.

13. How tall are you?

5′10 ft, so 177.8 cm. Super tall, I know. You should see my legs in yoga pants ;)

14. Favorite subject in school? In elementary school, I enjoyed English classes the most. In high school, AP comparative government in my senior year was my favorite because I love international politics. Then, there came a point in my life when I stopped liking English classes and started despising them (around my second year of university). College English consists of reading novels (which is a good start) and then writing unnecessarily long papers analyzing the novel, but if the professor doesn’t like your interpretation or analysis, they’ll deduct points. They’re not the classes you want to take if you want to actually learn how to be a better writer. They just teach you how to pander to the professor and not how to think for yourself. It’s annoying. Journalism classes get right down to the technical parts of writing and tear your sentences apart. I feel like I gain more from those classes than ones in which I have to write a ten-page essay on the symbolism of a key.

15. Dream job? A few years ago, I would have said “reporter for the New York Times,” and while that would be incredible, I have multiple dream jobs now.

I would still love to work at a media outlet. I’d want to either work at the international desk as a writer/reporter or work on digital content like podcasts or short documentaries. However, I can also picture myself working at an NGO or at a think tank. I might also be interested in doing something in government someday--anything that has a direct impact on getting involved in a community. Global politics and writing are my two biggest passions, so if I end up doing work in either of those areas, I’ll be happy.

Ideally, I can continue writing fiction on the side and publish it someday, but that’s still a dream I have to work my way up to.

I don’t want to leave anybody out, so if you’re reading this and you want to answer it, consider yourself tagged by me! :)

#tag game

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parachutingkitten · 7 years ago

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Season 1 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challanged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Mood for this season: Logic? Nahh...

I'm taking three film classes right now, I only rip it apart because I love it! (Sry, if I seem a little overly critical at times)

So, let's start with some background (you get to learn about me, yay! This is what you came here for. Right?). When the original series (seasons 1 and 2) came out in 2012, my little brother, at the age of six, was THE target audience for lego ninjas that you could battle and spin really really fast. I... am five years older than him. He collected sets, and he even bought me a spinner pack with the "girl character", the "blue one", and one of the skeletons so that I could play with him. To this day they are the only legos I own, but they sit in an altoids tin in my night stand. It was right before our family moved to Germany (we're a military family btw) that our parents purchased the disk episodes of seasons one and two. When you live in Europe, you tend to want to do a LOT of traveling. Every weekend, I kid you not, we went to another country. Which means road trips. And road trips mean movies. I would always let my brother choose what we watched, because he was the one who would get fussy and upset, so we watched a lot of Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar, and a LOT of Cars (as in plural movies. I quote Cars 2, regularly), but the thing we watched most often was those niniago DVDs. Because you could just auto play those episodes one after another for a seemingly endless movie that would last until you arrived. So, I've seen these episodes a few times. Like, A LOT of times. Drilling these episodes into my mind over and over is what made me obsessed with it later (but we'll talk about that when we get to season 3).

Upon rewatching... they are exactly as I remember. There were no real surprises, so I don't feel like I have too much to say shock value wise, but that doesn't mean I don't have anything to say.

Plot

I've made a joke post about this before, but season one does fall into the treasure hunt formula. Find a fang blade. Lose it. Look for next one. Repeat for the next few episodes. Same thing can be said for the true potential. Find what holds them back emotionally, overcome it by the end of the episode to save the person/people you needed to fix your relationship with, glowing orb/pillar to make you certifiably awesome. For four. Episodes. Straight. Even if you space out the episodes where the ninja get their true potential, or when they find the fang blades, it would keep you on your toes a bit more. This being said... it does greatly help to give every episode a PLOT purpose. Every one of those "previously on ninjago" recaps was shoving a bunch of stuff in there. Most ninjago episodes do serve a purpose (except of course the atrocity that is the first half of season two - we WILL get to that next time) at least character development wise, but it is nice to have meaningful plot development too and keep a consistent pace throughout the season. This season certainly keeps up the pace. There is not an episode you can just miss. Even with the recap, you would still probably be confused. One thing that NO OTHER SEASON has over this one, hands down (aside from season 9 maybe, idk yet) is flow from season to season. Planning benefits this season GREATLY. It carries over things from the pilot, and sets up more to come in the next season. Watch them all together and it flows more naturally than any other season bookends. (Although I will say all the ninjago season transitions are smoother than any of Chima's [I will not touch that rabbit hole EVER again])

Characters

Character interaction is AMAZING this season. You really get to know the characters and feel all their growth equally. Every. One. Of. Them.

Think about it, Wu has an arc with his brother, Lloyd has an arc with the green ninja, Nya has an arc as samurai x, and it goes without saying that all of our regulars have an arc. And... that's about it. Those are all the characters. And I think that's why this season works so well.

You have four main characters, a handful of side characters, and they all get time and focus. Everyone has something to do during this season. As the season's go on and we accumulate more and more characters there's less screentime to go around, and the characters can suffer for it. There's a reason by season 6 they were literally REMOVING characters from the show. They don't have time to get distracted by Kai and his petty problems and drama this season, cuz Jay needs some focus for once, and we'd like to give him a little development gosh darn it! But I'm getting ahead of myself. This season works really well. Just because I feel like I should, I'm going to give you a breakdown on my feelings on new characters as they pop up or change dramatically, and because this is the first season, that means we get to do it for... all the characters! So here we go.

Nya

She's good this season. She's the most responsible in the group. The samurai x reveal was handled really well. Making all the ninja jealous of her really worked to give her credibility. She's just the right amount of strong and independent while still retaining her femininity. It goes WAY down hill when season 3 hits, but as for season 1 Nya I actually really enjoy her.

I mean... what are you going to say? He's Wu? Anyone have a problem with Wu? No? Good, moving on.

Kai

So... this is where my bias comes out. Quick piece of info, my elemental personality is water... so like the opposite of fire. I see a little bit of myself in each of the ninja... except Kai. And I think that's why he's my least favorite. Don't get me wrong! I don't hate Kai or anything! He's got some good lines (episode 5 comes to mind) he's adorkable enough. It's not hard to play or to write a hot head, but it's hard to play or write a hot head that I personally enjoy. I think what Kai is missing for me personally is the tripping over himself because of his attitude, and sarcasm. Sarcasm and sass. It's there, it's just not as prevalent as I personally would like it. He has a lot of opportunities and theoretical development, I'm not sure too many of them were taken advantage of fully, or maybe they just didn't read the way I personally can grasp it, but none of it felt very completed or meaningful. Like I said, I'm a water gal, so maybe I just can't relate and that's why it's not as powerful. I'd be interested to see your rankings of the ninja and how they line up with your own elemental personality. There's got to be a correlation there, right?

Conclusion, just not for me

Cole

Cole and Jay are tied for second favorite in general. It fluctuates from season to season depending on what's going on, but for season 1 Jay has Cole beat. I think the only reason just being screen time. Goodness knows Cole has been a bit neglected in that category, but hey. He's still really good for what he's got. I think in real life I probably act the most like Cole. I try to be serious, responsible and a leader and then I just get goofy sometimes. I love his true potential episode! It's funny, and heartwarming, and the only episode actually about him, so it's fun to see!

Conclusion, just needs more love

Jay

Jay is then, my second favorite for the season. He's funny. What else can I say? Personal opinion; Jay freakouts are the best this season. Especially at the climax. He just has that pure goofball-ness to him this season that makes his humor not annoying and actually relatable and funny. I also love his family to death! He loves them, he knows it, we know it, and the interactions between them are precious! It really is the way he plays off of other people that makes him enjoyable. He has a lot more dry humor here than other season, which I am partial to. I've got some kinks to work out with this one in later seasons but for now, he's good.

Conclusion, No, I'm the real Jay!

Zane

...My baby! Especially this season he is so innocent, loving, caring, and mysterious that I can't help but love the heck out of this guy! I am a sucker for a good mystery! He has this whole other world he's a part of with his "sixth sense" and falcon and running away at night. It's unique and special to him and it's really cool! Plus, there is SO much ATMOPHERE that comes with this guy and MAN I LOVE it! It's all just so beautiful. I love interactions between him and Jay, I love his mutual respect with Cole, I love EVERYTHING. This season and the next have the most growth for him, and it shows.

Conclusion, there's a reason we call him the pure one

Romance

Kinda adding this one last minute, but I think it needs to be here. All we got this season is Jay and Nya but BOY has their relationship changed! This is the single one thing that caught me off guard. I forgot what their relationship, especially before Jay's true potential, is like. Honestly, I love it! They're so awkward and clumsy around each other at first, and then grow into this understanding couple of one another. There's not too much emphasis on it, but it's sprinkled in everywhere. I like it! Maya approved!

Villians

The devourer arc is one of my favorites. Maybe it's the nostalgia tingles at work again, but the snakes are ninjago's quintessential villains. Nothing can ever hope to replace them. It feels natural in the plot, they have their own culture and beliefs, and their motivation makes sense. You have your legitimately scary villains and bumbling comic villians in perfect balance. Scales starting as second in command was an amazing call. It proves he has power he's earned, is not easily put down and sets up his lust for power to be explored later. Pythor. Oh man oh man Pythor. I am a sucker for ATMOSPHERE and his introduction is BEAUTIFUL. Utilizes the rule of 3s and completely subverts your expectations with that eerie empty tomb. I love it! So manipulative! So sly! They aren't my all time favorite villians, but they're certainly among the best the show has to offer.

Garmadon is also there. He's half good half bad... sorta. Idk. He's not especially interesting, at least compared to the snakes and what they're up to. Let's be honest, he's just waiting around to get awesome in season 2 ;) I do like when he comes in with all the skeletons like, "yeah, no one likes you. Screw snakes!" Only to walk that COMPLETELY back next season, but you know. Whatever.

Lloyd... should I put him here? He's enjoyably annoying for a little bit... and then just annoyingly annoying. It's not too bad. He has some redeeming moments. Once he's the green ninja and has some responsibility on his shoulders, he gets a lot better.

Climax

... I love it. I don't know what else to say. It's tense, it has proper build up, the threat is real, they get desperate, they come up with a creative solution, they work together, there are stakes, there's good action, good drama, good humor. I don't have any complaints. I can't touch this one. There are minor things, but I don't think they're worth bringing up. Go watch it. It's freaking awesome. Enough said.

Humor

Pretty good this season. There are a few eye roll lines, but that's in all the seasons. Things can get kinda stupid, but for the most part, especially some of the more subtle humor really works.

Favorite line of the season, Cole's "I don't like metaphors" episode 11 - All of Nothing. You're welcome.

Drama

Not overly saturated this season, which is kinda nice. I mean, there's always "drama" but as far as heavy stuff, we have Zane's whole crisis thing, and then the Garmadon family reunion. I'll get to how I feel about the Zane stuff down below. As for the Garmadon stuff... it's fine. Gets a lot better next season, but for now... fine.

Spotlight Episode

So for every season I'll choose one episode that stood out to me to either praise or criticize in detail. There are a lot of episodes that come to mind for season 1 for one reason or another. The one about the power of rumors (also known as the pink ninja episode), lloyd rescuing the team, Cole's true potential is a classic episode with a good mix of heart and comedy, and of course THE FINALE, but because I am biased, and because I am a sucker for personal drama, season one's spotlight episode is episode 7, Tick tock, Zane's true potential. This was by far the episode me and my brother watched together the most. Aside from the movie Cars, it's probably the one piece of media we have scene the most times together. The episode begins by establishing Wu leaving, the ninja are at a loss of what to do and then... THE FALCON. Best character this season! XD seriously, the falcon theme is one of, if not my favorite piece of music in the show. Certainly the most memorable. And most importantly it kicks in the ATMOSPHERE! Have I mentioned ATMOSPHERE?

ATMOSPHERE

I am a sucker for some good ATMOSPHERE (no, I will not stop spelling it in all caps), and BOY the falcon chase scene! Zane is slowly taken away from his team members in order to reflect upon himself, and as he runs through the snow by himself to follow this bird you can see his determination, curiosity, desperation, and just that Zane factor that makes you go "awww, my child! He must be protected!" (Even though, you know, he was built to protect and all that) but just AGHH! I can't put into words for beautiful this whole sequences is! Go watch it right now! Look at that beautiful Zane! Listen to that music! That FREAKING MUSIC AGGHHHHHH! I LOVE IT SO AGGRESSIVELY! LISTEN TO IT! LIKE SERIOUSLY, LISTEN, HERE'S THE LINK!

https://youtu.be/2p07cgwwYws

It makes my heart SO happy! Idk if I'm the only one who feels that way about this scene but oh... oh how it gets me. Every. Time. Michael Kramer and Jay Vincent are freAKING GODS!

Okay. I'm done with the falcon chase. Now onto, like... the part of the episode people care about. The tree house, again, an amazing location. Unique, and mysterious, and as soon as he walks in, you just get this sense of memory. The flash back is ADORABLE and the others finding him... I think this was handled pretty well. Their reactions seem genuine (I mean, I would want to get out of there as soon as humanly possible too XD) and you can feel the genuine concern from all of the ninja, trying to help their buddy out in their own ways.

Zane's true potential feels really earned, and his thing that holds him back was established as soon as the series began. He was different and weird and he didn't know where he came from. Coming to accept what he is, accepting his past and finding an identity of his own is what gives him the power to unlock it.

Now, just for fun and because I know I'm going to hear it in the comments like "why is Zane's discovery of identity more valid than anyone else's? What about Kai! His true potential is entirely based on finding his purpose!" And yes. Theoretical commentor you make a valid point, but I think the key difference is in the identity they find when they unlock it.

Zane accepts his personality, his past, and his robotic nature as himself and can be proud of who he is as his own person. The thing that held him back was vague and sort of indefinable, and what he became afterwards was concrete, solid, and dependable. That's why you feel like the character has gotten stronger.

Kai goes in the opposite direction. The thing that holds him back is that he wants to be the green ninja. That's solid and concrete. The problem then becomes that you know exactly how the potential will play out. He's going to face something, discover he's not the green ninja, and come to terms with it. And his ending identity is much more vague. His purpose is to protect the green ninja... okay, what does that mean? What kind of a person does that make you? He didn't change as a person, his views about a certain topic where changed. Those are two very different levels of progress.

And I know you can argue that it wasn't the green ninja thing he needed to get past, he needed to get past his pride and all that, but even if you make that argument that conclusion is harder to reach and less apparent than Zane's progress as a character. Zane's progress is entirely centered on him. Kai's progress will never be separated from Lloyd. Just watch the episode. It feels like a Lloyd episode. I remember thinking the first time I watched it when he came out of the volcano "wait... what was his true potential? Why is this happening?"

Anyway, that's my little soap box rant. I hope I didn't offend too many Kai fans. Again, it's probably just my water bias coming into play. I know there's a frame work in place for development of all these characters, and every single one of them gets an arc and theoretically everything should work out and make sense and work beautifully and perfectly, but sometimes when you step back and look at it, it's just a matter of "but does it work?" And maybe it's a matter of opinion, but Kai's potential didn't work for me.

I've been on this way to long. I'm stopping now.

Misc

I really like the suits this season. They're all unique and the masks... compliment the Lego head shape nicely? Does that make sense? It makes them look a bit cuter. Anyone else see that? Idk, maybe I'm just going crazy.

Watch this season thinking about how the snakes become good in season 3...

I want more of the Pink ninja.

I love scales and his slight incompetence. Not total, just slight.

This exchange:

Pythor: I hardly have any friends

Lloyd: Woah! I hardly have any friends too!

Pythor: You don't say!

All together I really like this season. Light hearted, funny, good action and characters. Not super compelling or anything, but it doesn't need to be. Second best season for nostalgia tingles in general, third best for me personally. Most of this is a matter of opinion, so don't fret too much over anything I say. I'd love to see your thoughts/rankings/comments/disagreements in the notes! That's the point of this thing!

If there are any aspects of the season I skipped, let me know, I'm not perfect.

Thanks for reading! And if you got this far... I don't know. Work the word saxophone into your comment. Bonus points if it makes sense!

-Maya (a.k.a. parachutingkitten)

#ninjago #ninjago season one #rise of the snakes #analysis #parachuterants

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angrophobicscientist-a · 5 years ago

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Fifteen Questions, Fifteen Mutuals

① ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ? Nope, I choose my first name because I like it, the other two are family names with a twist that I’ve also chosen (though mum wanted me to take Karl Wilhelm, haha no, just no. Ezra Karl Wilhelm, hell no.)

② WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED ? I don’t know, I rarely cry.

③ DO YOU HAVE KIDS ? No.

④ DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT ? Me? Being sarcastic? I would never.

⑤ WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE ? There’s never one specific thing, it differs from person to person and it’s rarely just one thing. It’s hard to explain how my brain work, but I just kinda... take everything in.

⑥ WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR ? Light brown with golden green around the pupils (central heterochromia) ⑦ SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING ? Always horror xD Though not those that’s just unnecessary splatter and violence. They don’t disturb me, but they bore me. ⑧ ANY SPECIAL TALENTS ? I’m a walking encyclopedia, if that can count as a talent. Probably not since talent to me is a skill/trait you have, but has also trained up. I’ve always been a sponge when it comes to knowledge. Fairly useless actually, though I still enjoy it.

⑨ WHERE WERE YOU BORN ? Northern Sweden.

⑩ WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ? Roleplaying, obviously. Researching for fun, making technical drawings and 3D models, hiking, explore music, reading. A bit of this and that. ⑪ DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS ? No pets allowed here.

⑫ WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED ? Football (what Americans call soccer), floorball, foot orienteering, moutnainbiking and aikido. (Yeah, I’ve always had dyspraxia, underdeveloped lungs and been HoH, but that never stopped me, even when I’ve needed to pause to..eeh... cough up less pleasant stuff, tmi, but too many have not believed me in the past, but sport and fitness is possible, even with physical limits. Btw, if you wonder about the HoH part, you might not have considered how much you relay on hearing in team sports. Not that I’m good at team sports for various reasons.) ⑬ HOW TALL ARE YOU ? 5′8″

⑭ DREAM JOB ? Space explorer Set designer or “mad scientist” ;) ⑮ FAVORITE SUBJECT AT SCHOOL ? Science, environmental science and ecosophy.

Tagged by: @buchananbarnes1991

Tagging: Anyone who wants to do this. Idk who’s left. Tag me if you do.

#turnip stuff #tbd

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wingsoverbros · 8 years ago

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“Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets - I’ve got some reassurances” or “My thoughts on SPN 12.10″

For previous episodes: 12.01 - 12.02 - 12.03 - 12.04 - 12.05 - 12.06 - 12.07 - 12.08 - 12.09

Now, on to Supernatural 12.10 - " Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets"

(The above men are not one of her regrets, luckily. They wouldn’t be mine either.)

In the hiatus between season 11 and 12, we got news that many of our favorite writers from SPN, both established and new, were leaving to pursue other opportunities. Andrew Dabb, the new show-runner, began cherry-picking his new crop of writers and the fans that looked into them reported that they looked promising. That was helpful, but we still waited nervously to see how they would fair. We've now covered almost half the season and most of the writers have gotten around 2 episodes each, give or take, and I must say that Steve Yockey is in the front-running for my new favorite writer.

It's a tall order, as my favorites have been (in turn) Ben Edlund and Robbie Thompson, and both left some mighty big shoes to fill. However, Yockey is doing a phenomenal job at writing well-balanced episodes with plenty of story and an excellent grasp of both new and established characters. I look forward to any additional stories he writes with anticipation. He can share the “Oh, he’s writing it? Goody!” reaction I often get when I hear of Robert Berens writing an episode (he’s my other favorite).

I loved how much new and confirmed info we got in this episode. I'd wondered in the past why Cas automatically assumed Samandiriel was dead in season 8, and considering that Crowley was first shown using an Angel blade that season, wondered if perhaps the blades had some form of identifying mark on them. How do they ensure that each angel gets his own blade back after fights? Maybe their names written in enochian on the hilt? However it's marked, this episode confirmed that an angel can identify a blade's owner from the knife itself. I also enjoyed the fact that there at least 2 angels in the episode shown in vessels that ran counter to their stated pronoun. Any angel that's able to befriend a human and attempts to do anything in its power to protect that friend is n angel that goes on my "good guy" list, and I'm actually sad that we didn't get to see more of Benjamin than we saw in the episode. Considering how sad his death made Cas, he must have been at least a half-ways decent guy.

I liked that we got to see what an angel summoning entails. Frankly, I always just thought it was a simple matter of them just talking like normal, so the fact that they have to activate it via a ritual was interesting. It makes sense, though. You don't want to accidentally just start chattering over Angel Radio without meaning to. I also just figured a battalion of angels were simply called "a battalion", and angels in a group were simply called "a choir". So, how does it go, then? From lowest to highest: A Flight, A Garrison, A Choir, The Host? (Do you think we can someday get a graph? And for that matter, what titles are used for groups of Demons? I'd like to see both info-graphics.)

Some unanswered questions remain, though. For a highly-controlled, militaristic society, Heaven seems incredibly permissive and rather porous. Angels weren't supposed to be on Earth for 2000 years, but any old angel could come down to Earth and hang out without attracting attention? Besides Gabriel, we now have documented cases of Ishim, Akobel, Anna, and Uriel (in “The Song remains the Same”). The last one was quickly intercepted by Michael, but how many others came down and slummed around without the rest of them realizing it? And how many of them pair up with other beings in a friendly or romantic relationship? It seems to be a fair number. Besides Lily and her friend and Cas and the Winchesters, we've also seen Gabriel and Kali (romantic), Abner and his vessel's wife (although she didn't know, so this one is slightly dubious), and Jane's parents (at least sexual, if nothing else). Daniel and Adina in season 10 also gave me a "romantic involvement" vibe.

This does point towards Jane's parent possibly being an unknown lower-level angel, and considering that none of the 1900s group questioned the identification of the child in the episode as human, that angels can't automatically detect the creation of a lower-level angel nephilim.

When we first received spoilers that the episode would involve scenes of Castiel from the past, fans peculated on many various possibilities, from scenes that fit within past episodes involving long-gone angels (I'm still sad there wasn't any Gabriel in the scenes like a lot of people hoped for) to shots of Cas in previous vessels. What we got was not anything like what I expected in the early days, but I loved what we got. Most of the speculation was of Cas in a Novak ancestor that looked like Jimmy, but Yockey decided to give the viewers an unexpected surprise by having Cas in a female vessel. I have to admit it, I squealed. She looked perfect, down to the "sunday best" dress and trenchcoat-like jacket. And although he's been in Jimmy for far longer then any other vessel, duration-wise, now it's canon that Cas has been in female vessels more often then male ones. I can't wait to see the resulting fanfic.

Seeing how cold and focused 1900's Cas was really put a focus on how much Cas has changed in the last 8 years, too. Exposure the the Winchesters has worn off so much of his soldier exterior, his other-worldliness. Although I believe that to be (mostly) to his benefit, I can see why so many of the other angels would look at Cas as different, no longer completely an angel. For a species that lives for billions of years, unchanging and static, the sight of someone just like them changing so dramatically in such a short time is bound to be incredibly disturbing. And it's not just Cas, it's all the angels that come in long-term contact with humans (think about it. Anna? Gabe? Balthazar? Gadreel? Metatron? Daniel and Adina? Not to mention the rogues that we haven't been told about, since angels could apparently come to earth at will even before the Apocalypse started. All dramatically and irreversibly changed by contact with humanity that lasted even for only lasted a short time). No wonder they view humanity as incredibly corrosive. I wonder what Ishim was like before he came in contact with (and obsessed by) Lily. He had to have some sort of good point, unless "good soldier" Cas was just blind to all faults originally. (I wonder too if Naomi's monkeying with his mind ever caused him to overlook bad behavior in other angels?)

One change I did really appreciate a well was that Cas seems to have regained his ability to defend himself when Dean goes a bit overboard. I always prefer the Cas that has a bit of self-esteem to the Cas who is utterly depressed. Cas (usually) has good reasons for what he does, and he deserves the right and ability to defend himself from the sarcasm and arguments that usually ensue whenever Dean doesn't agree with what happened. I also found it amusing that he seems to now be using a nearly identical response to the situation as Dean does, all snarky sarcasm and the silent treatment. With Cas and Dean engaged in mutual "Sam, tell *fill in the blank here* to pass the coffee..." sessions and snark fights, I can only really feel sorry for poor Sam, caught in the middle of a fighting couple in tight quarters. We should probably start a fund to get Sam a survival pack: a stress ball, anti-heartburn meds, a good set of headphones, and a trip someplace beachy for a week. He looked like he needed it this episode.

I do love that even 1900 Cas was snarky, btw. Season 4 Cas being a smartass to Uriel in that deleted scene from "Heaven and Hell" is still one of my all-time favorite clips from Supernatural.

(Side note: Misha's been Cas for 8 years. Nearly a decade. He was initially hired for just 3 episodes. Let that sink in for a moment... ok, moving on.)

Dean has been a snarky passive-aggressive guy all season. Normally, this would annoy me, but as it seems to be how he reacts to both Mary and Cas both, I'm willing to go with it. He used a few funny lines, and I appreciate that he actually explained to Cas at the end of the episode why he was being so grumpy about what happened to Billie in "First Blood". I can take one of my favorites being snotty at my top favorite, as long as it's addressed and at least worked on in the episode. The fact that the snarky responses towards Cas went on the back burner as soon as someone else started being a twerp to Cas also helped. It gave Dean's responses in the episode a protective "no one can snark at him but me" vibe. Cas is clearly family to Dean, no matter what anyone around them says.

I was not expecting to find the supposed villain of the piece so relatable . Lily was stated in the press release as a woman who practiced black magic and was out to slaughter Cas, so I expected to find her to be a fairly stock villain character. That was so not what we got. (And who writes the press releases, anyway? The release and the episode barely resembled each other.)

In "In Memory of Asa Fox", Yockey's previous episode, he was able to write both established and brand-new female characters with skill. He handled Mary, Jody and Billie with an expert hand, each being quite recognizable and perfectly in character. Likewise, his new characters (of both genders) were lovely beings that I look forward to seeing again, especially the Twins. (I loved that they were in "First Blood". I wonder if they'll be anywhere in the rest of the season as well.) Lily is not one I wish to see again, but that's solely due to the whole "return if you decide you have to kill me" thing. If she would give up the revenge thing, a century-old expert in all things angel would be a welcome addition to the new chapter of the American Men of Letters.

I liked that Lily was part of a story-line featuring a human and angel partnership that was intentionally undefined. They never definitively stated (that I caught) whether she and her angel bodyguard were involved or not, just that a jealous angel was spreading the rumor that they were and had done things against the rules. Angels seem to have been a rather gossipy bunch for ages. I wonder what the commentary around the angel cooler was about Dean and Cas over the years. Considering the commentary about Sam and Dean by Zachariah in season 5 and the "You *always* choose the Winchesters" bit from the angels in "Form and Void" last year, you know the commentary by the rest of them had to run the gamut from "the mud-monkeys are using Castiel like a tool and the moron is dumb enough to not see it" to "Oh, they're just buddies" to "I think they may have started sleeping together the minute they met". We know there's stories, several angels have already said (like Ambriel in "Devil in the Details” of season 11.)

Random observations:

I laughed at the fact that Benji was playing Rampage. It makes sense that a 1000 foot tall being constructed to fight and destroy evil (or whatever they label evil) would enjoy a game featuring enormous monsters that destroy buildings. Bet he liked "Wreck-it Ralph", too.

Ishim played "teenage hunter trio" Krissy's dad a few seasons back. They're recycling actors faster then normal.

Letting a human live after slaughtering everyone they love is anything but a mercy. It was that, before anything Lily said, that told me who the true villain was in the episode.

I liked that even as a bad-ass pre-season 4 soldier angel, Cas still flinched when the human child was killed. Even as a robot, Cas favored humanity.

I enjoyed the mentions of Uriel and Balthazar. (I miss Bal.)

Dean refused to banish Ishim because it might hurt Cas if he got booted. This is a considerable improvement to the banishments in season 5 and season 7. Dean deserves a cookie for this character growth. (or a beer. Whatever works.)

For the final minute of the episode, and the Winchester Family Angel Pep Talk, Sam also deserves a cookie (Dean can have a second one. For the pep talk and the "Cas is our family" comment.)

With his second episode being of such high quality, Steve Yockey has managed to take the lead for my position of best writer on SPN. His ability to both create great new characters, manage the development of our favorite existing characters, and tell entertaining and fast-paced stories gives me hope in the continuation of SPN as a entertaining show to watch. I hope he stays a while, and I can't wait to see where he and the show goes from here.

#Supernatural #SPN 12.10

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