#then i get back on tumblr in the middle of rewatching a kids' show.

[stripedtabbycat]

gravity falls thoughts of the week: i've been joking about ford not knowing what's okay or safe to let children do in the past few episodes but that kind of becomes less funny in the show in "dipper and mabel vs. the future", when we see that these missions he's taking dipper along on are actually putting this kid in danger. sure he manages to survive and get them out of the danger but it's kind of concerning that ford's takeaway from this is "see, you can handle it!" and not "maybe i shouldn't invite this 12-going-on-13-year-old to be my apprentice in highly dangerous field research"

but dipper, of course, doesn't realize this because he's a kid getting to do cool stuff with an adult who respects his intelligence and doesn't treat him like a kid, even though that's the problem. this final string of episodes does a good job highlighting the theme of dipper wanting to grow up too fast and mabel wanting to stay a kid forever and how neither of those are realistic approaches, even though most of the time this isn't a show terribly concerned with realism.

(kind of wild to me thinking about it now that there were a lot of fans at the time who genuinely thought dipper was giving up a great opportunity by choosing not to take ford up on his apprenticeship offer by the end. i guess that's the difference between watching kids' shows when you're closer to the age of the main characters and watching them when you're a lot older than the characters. on most shows i wouldn't worry too much over questions like "are these kids who go on fun adventures that appeal to the target demographic who like to imagine getting to do cool things Literal Child Soldiers?" but here the point clearly is that kids shouldn't have a full-time job instead of going to school and having a normal childhood and adolescence, and also more broadly that the adult in this situation is projecting his own issues onto the kids and does not actually know what's best for them. idk i think it's pretty obvious!)

on mabel's side of (not) coping with things, there's a lot to say about mabeland and what it represents. when i first watched this i was a little disappointed that they didn't make the inside of the bubble a perfect recreation of gravity falls with mabel living out her endless summer by pretending nothing's changed, complete with eerie fake replicas of her friends and family, and instead went full fantasy land...but i did ultimately like where they ended up going with it. i like the implication that mabel doesn't actually have fake versions of the other characters there because she's waiting for the real ones to show up so they can be together (or at least that's my headcanon. dippy fresh might count but he's just the "backup" there to agree with mabel when the real dipper inevitably goes against her plans.) i like that bill isn't too concerned about the others getting inside the bubble because it's designed to keep you trapped there by giving you whatever you want, plus it's an obvious "safe" place in the middle of all the chaos outside. i should probably make a separate post for this because i realized while thinking about this episode that i have a lot of thoughts on mabeland and how the bubble works. (originally the title for part 2 was going to be "escape from mabeland" but the crew thought it was too spoilery or would set up a different expectation from the fans, so it became "escape from reality" instead. which is technically the opposite of what the original title meant but it's still accurate because that's what mabeland is! she's trying to escape from reality!)

final thoughts were that a lot of people thought the conflicts were resolved too quickly in these last few episodes but i'm forgiving of it because they are working with limited time for these episodes here and it is still a kids' show. also the long hiatuses between episodes kind of messed with the fandom's sense of time back when they were first airing. i feel like there was so much fanart of the characters becoming hardened post-apocalyptic warriors during this era but the actual apocalypse in the show's time lasts for like, a week. maybe less.

anyway, watching the finale tonight and then i'll reread my copy of journal 3, and finally read the lost legends comics which just came in from the library, and then hopefully get on the long waitlist for the book of bill, aaaaaand then i'll be done and can go back to watching shows that aren't for kids. well i'll do that after running through over the garden wall one last time, it is the tenth anniversary after all.

[siesporamor]

Hi, telenovelas side of Tumblr! I'm Rose, a queer Italian 20yo who loves Latin American shows. I've been lurking around the DCLA tag and finally decided to actually join the community.

I watched Violetta as a kid, but never finished season 3 (I was in that "I'm too old for this" middle schooler phase), then last year I started Soy Luna ironically as a way to improve my Spanish comprehension. But man... it's not a joke anymore. Then I got into Violetta ironically, and you can guess what happened lmao.

For now, I'm only into Violetta and Soy Luna, but I want to watch Bia and other Disney LA shows. I also mean to get back into some telenovelas I used to watch back then, so stay tuned! And, of course, I'd lose my Italian points if I didn't rewatch Alex & Co.

I'm very socially anxious, but so excited to chat with other fans, so if you want, come and say hi!

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

I'm honestly so glad there is so much more Violetta content on tumblr now than before. People who searched the tag now get blessed with so much posts.

I remember back in 2019, when I searched for Violetta here. The results were:

OCs named Violetta, had nothing to do with the show

People being like "Oh btw Violetta sucks so much you should watch the other shows instead"

Also a lot of people on that saying "by the way, Diecesca is the only good part of that show" and to me, who never really cared that much for Diecesca as a kid, I was very confused. Is that what the general thought? (I have nothing against Diecesca, it was just that I personally never found it the MOST interesting part, so when people treated it as such I was confused cause I completely missed the popularity around them)

There were like. 2% actually positive posts and then you had to scroll down a while.

Basically, if Violetta was discussed, it was in a negative light. And for someone like me, who had that show as her middle school obsession show, the show that helped me get through tough school years... just being picked on?

Of course, it's not a perfect show, but I also felt like? Isn't there any glow? Any love?

And then, around quarantine, people started rewatching the show or watching it for the first time - us who had grown up with it could now see it with older eyes, analyse the show more, our views had changed, we came to realizations - mainly "oh my god, this show is gayer than I remembered". And new people joined in. People who wanted to give it a shot, or got convinced through us other's rambles about it.

And finally, Violetta got the love it deserved back.

So now, when new people who maybe grew up with the show like me, hang around on tumblr and think "hey, I wonder what they write about Violetta", they won't find a bunch of posts picking on it, calling it "the worst one", and just being very harsh towards it. They will find our posts. Our chaotic, loveable posts about it.

[what-gs-watching]

This week on...

Ok gang. Here we go, I'm gonna start this thing in earnest.

I’m G. I'm a grown ass woman. With a house, and a dog and a husband, and a (difficult) job.

But I fucking love content. TV shows, movies, a good spotify playlist. Maybe my emotions are broken, but for the past few years, content has been the best way to feel something other than the everyday minutiae. And maybe we can thank COVID for a lot of that.

Because yo, once we went on lockdown, I just started binging. Basically, everything. While my husband was off doing his own thing (tiktok, amiright) I was watching literally EVERYTHING. And I wanted to talk about it.

So I started doing a thing. I'd rush into whatever room my husband was in and start talking at him about what I was streaming at the time. Spewing out these ridiculously terrible synopses of episodes with intricate plots, trying to boil it down so he could follow whatever it was I was ranting about because I had to express why the show was gnawing at me or making me feel shit. And most of the time he'd stare at me blankly and then chuckle.

Eventually I decided to start my rant by announcing "THIS WEEK, ON WHAT G'S WATCHING - " and bless his soul, he'd mostly tolerate my diatribes. (Around this time I was watching Fringe, and he'd know I was coming because he'd hear me scream "PREVIOUSLY ON FRINGE" about 45 minutes prior.)

At some point, I started doing it at my sister as well - this poor woman has two small babies all up in her house and I'd just be texting her about WTF was going on with my show, always announcing "this week, on what g's watching..." and every time she'd simply send back "unsubscribe."

So clearly, I hadn't found my audience. But honestly y'all, I think it's funny. And it's a way to get all of this, whatever this is, out. So I've decided maybe the best course of action is to just scream it into this dark and endless void. Maybe internet strangers will appreciate it. And maybe not. Either way, my sister will appreciate being removed from the mailing list.

All that to say: this week on what g's watching - Good Omens.

On repeat.

Am I literally in the middle of my third rewatch of the entire thing in only like, 2 weeks time? Yes. Should I be ashamed of that? Probably.

But fuck it. Season two punched me in the face and the butt and the heart and I went down a fucking rabbit hole. It may or may not be how I ended up on Tumblr (I guess I thought I was a grown ass woman). It may or may not be eating me alive.

Liking completely inappropriate memes? Check. Stumbled into some fanfiction? That's neither here nor there. Reading long-winded posts about whether it was Aziraphale's fault or Crowley's fault, wherein everyone has their own tinfoil-hat theory? Oh yeah. I'm in deep, folks.

I'm not gonna lie, it usually doesn't get this bad. I watched the entirety of Supernatural (all the while yelling "why are they so obsessed with each other? I don't understand why I'm still watching this!" through FIFTEEN goddamn seasons) and even still, I didn't get pulled in like this. And that fandom is so crazy.

At the time I finished Supernatural, I thought it'd be my comfort show, and I restarted it. But, just kidding.

Good Omens has taken over literally everything.

So to the actual point. A ridiculous synopsis of season 2 because I can't get it out of my goddamn brain:

A sweet looking, chubby tow-headed (kind of former? retired?) angel that owns a bookshop wherein no books are ever sold, Aziraphale, and his gorgeous, hip-swiveling (retired? disgraced?) demon companion (friend? best friend? partner?) Crowley stalk around their London neighborhood hiding a dick-faced archangel who can't remember why he is such a dick-face, from both heaven and hell, while meddling in the love lives of other shop owners and talking PAST each other about what the eff is ACTUALLY going on, and ALSO flashing back to 6,000 years worth of their own ridiculously adorable and infuriating interactions.

It's a fucking love story, kids. In the worst and most beautiful ways possible. And I just. can't.

And so. I guess, here we are? This may or may not turn into anything. But for now. Shouting into the void…

[covenofthearticulate]

Currents

current time: 11:09pm

current mood: fucking stressed and EXHAUSTED but so so so excited and accomplished. these past 3 weeks I’ve been working a summer camp for middle school kids (the first of FOUR camp sessions throughout the summer hahahaha i’m gonna be dead come august) and tomorrow is our FINAL day of camp with our final performance for friends and family. I’ve spent all week making props and costumes for these little buggers and they look so good, I’m so stoked for tomorrow— we perform on the same stage that LTROI finished on, and it’s MASSIVE so it’s really fun seeing the kids experience ~professional theatre~ for the first time

current activity: whoops I just said this in the last question but LOL i spent the last hour making a cardboard cartoon lightbulb prop and now i have to read an entire 120 page Real Adult Theatre play before a big important grown up meeting tomorrow :/

currently thinking about: i’ll be completely, totally, 100% honest with you: there is not a single goddamn thought in my head right now LOL these last few weeks have left me braindead, i’m just vibing tbh.

current favorite song: disloyal order of water buffaloes by fall out boy LISTEN i’m seeing FOB in 5 fucking days and their tour setlist is so WILD it’s full of random deep cuts which is AMAZING but also i’m kinda freaking out because i feel like a fake fan because even though I do love their early discography I don’t know every single lyric by heart and anyway I’m terrified of them playing a song that I won’t be able to sing along to so I’ve been listening to every album back to front on my commute to work LOL and I just totally forgot what a fucking banger album folie a deux is like jesus christ man. i love fob i don’t care if it’s cringe patrick stump owns my fucking heart.

currently reading:

POTUS: or, behind every great dumbass is seven women trying to keep him alive (for work)

Dracula: A Revenge Tragedy (for funsies)

currently watching: rewatching s1 of The Bear before I can dive into s2! goddamn, the dialogue in that show is so good

current favorite character: ONCE AGAIN i’m in a weird world where i spend my days straddling two fandoms with two characters that are absolute polar opposites. The Louis brainrot is real, but I’m also trying to be consistent in keeping up my Klaus Hargreeves rp blog. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tumblr roleplay is such a great writing exercise for me because I can write little bite-sized chunks of 3-5 paragraphs and still feel accomplished, so I try to write at least one reply on my Klaus OR my Louis blog every day! Klaus tends to take over my brain in the spring/summer months because he’s extroverted and sunny, whereas my Louis muse tends to peak in autumn/winter months since he’s my cozy introvert boy. 

current WIPs:

Louis/Armand kinkweek bondage/edging session :)

Rue Royale Family Era fluff piece around Bath Time in the Pointe du Lac household

Loustat mirror sex :) 

I’m using this bullet point to formally apologize to folks who sent me prompts that never got filled LOL I do want to try to get to some of them eventually I just have so little spoons it’s tragic lol

tagged by: @hekateinhell hehe ty <3 tagging: @uncivilcivilservice @wicked-felina and anyone else who wants to hop in!!

[vynsvision]

Hi Evan! I'd like to know a little more about your interests! Judging by your blogs, you have many! Who/What is your favorite:

MCU character?

DCEU character?

LOTR character?

Movie?

TV Show?

Book?

Musical Artist?

Give as much or as little detail as you want! :)

Aaah oh gosh hi!!! Sorry, my notifications are weird, (I exclusively use the tumblr mobile app) so I am JUST now seeing this!!

I do have a lot of blogs, haha. I like sorting things.

Fave mcu character is probably at the moment Yelena Belova. Florence Pugh as a person and her performance as Yelena are just. Yeah. <33333 Marvel overall I will always love Gwenpool (bbg for the WIN)

DCEU would be Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince. Or Bruce Wayne/Batman, but only Bruce as Bale!Bat or Battinson. Barry Allen's Flash (specifically Grant Gustin's Flash show) is the character that got me into DC in general- I was one of those kids who was MCU OR DC??? MCU all the way!!! Bleh!!! Which is kinda pathetic but cute now because I've grown :)

Lotr, well, Lee Pace's Thar... Thranduil. I have to admit. I thought his name was Tharanduil for YEARS until I followed you and then I regularly see it as just one A and I... Blush. Embarressed. But yeah him or honestly Sam Gamgee. I dont think a lot about LOTR though (and Middle Earth/Tolkienverse) very often because both the Hobbit trilogy and LOTR trilogy have endings that break my heart. I knew the endings before watching, I knew what it was going to be, but watching the performances and reading them again is bittersweet beauty that I can't often handle emotionally.

Movie????? Oh pal! Well. My Letterboxd favorites currently are: Clue, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Gray Man, and The Batman. The Scarlet Pimpernel... I'm thinking of getting a pimpernel flower tattoo because I love that movie so much. And the flowers are pretty :) Before I changed them this year to The Gray Man and The Batman, I had Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Batman Begins as the action movies. Honestly I would change out The Scarlet Pimpernel with Where Eagles Dare if I didnt just NEED people to know how important Sir Percival Blakeney is to me. My original standard. He is THE most man of all men. God, I love him so much. You're either Percival or you're no one, if you're interested in pursuing romance with me. Tony Stark or Steve Rogers or any other superhero/vigilante came years after Percy. They could never measure up. But I digress. (And its not like anyone is pursuing me romantically. That im aware of.)

TV show, well, I dont think I have a favorite. I struggle to rewatch tv shows since, for instance in Criminal Minds (which i have seen the entirety of), I can't rewatch because I know what each character goes through. And I can remember the plot of the episode from the first scene, before the title sequence. Although I do love Criminal Minds and Peaky Blinders a lot :)

I dont read a lot but I do love Dune and Shadow and Bone series!

I usually listen to pop-ish music, and artists I usually circle back to are Hozier, One Direction, Owl City, Jon Bellion. I just had a pretty good and long The Neighbourhood phase and I do return to them frequently as well. Also For King & Country and MercyMe, which are Christian groups :)

[writers-ex]

🦦 in the house, how’s everyone doing?

ohoho anons taller than you get hugs I hear?

Prepare yourself to face me with your arms open hannie >:)

Kidding, this goes out to everyone that sees this. It’s all love here, I had a tough week myself screwing myself over with university applications. I also look too intimidating irl for anyone to be touchy with me except for my dog but best believe I’ll hand out hugs if I’m asked to, or may get touchy with others when I’m drunk.

Hannie, any book recs? Any genre would do, I’d like to see what you enjoy reading. Movie/show recs would do too :D (open to all anons too)

I’d love to insert a picture of my goldfish here but I’d have to reveal myself as I can’t post it while on anon. Maybe I’d do it one day when I have the confidence to. I also just applied to the top university in my country in hopes to get into the supposedly strong sociology department, crossing my fingers I get in considering I topped my school 🐸 . I’m also trying to pick up a new language, and have some volunteering at soup kitchens planned, excited to volunteer w my friends.

Here’s a short little digestible playlist for you to show you that you’re appreciated, greatly so. (Yes, you, hannie.)

You’ve honestly only been the only tumblr author I’ve been comfy enough with to interact with

Jakob- Next to Me

Matt Maltese- Everyone Adores You ( at least I do)

Sir Chloe- Walk You Home

Crumb- Ghostride

The Strokes- Call it Fate, Call it Karma

I don’t know what the weathers like, so bring an extra jacket out if it’s cold, wear sunscreen, drink enough water, get your dietary fiber, and don’t drink too much cold drinks. I’ll always take time to look at your updates, so will many of us, so if you need someone to lean on, we’re here 🥳

Go have the best week ahead

you're welcome to answer 🦦 here in the comments or in the ask box bc they're very cool B) and i'll murder anyone who says otherwise <3 and yes free hugs to anyone taller than 5", 4'9 below gets headpats hehe

i felt that- school has been just brain dead like…i'm too tired to type this out T^T and BET you probably look like a cinnamon roll, 100/10 would hug you if we met IRL

BOOK RECS READ THE WHOLE UNIVERSE OF LEIGH BARDUGO SO GOOD, also i love the selection series by kiera cass my girl it was my comfort books in high school, might you be interested in the whole percy jackson series bc i read everything in over month…ish

and as for shows/movies…. currently here are my top you must watch or leave my blog shows <3 -the untamed found on youtube (i have reseen this series over eight time completed and the special episodes and manhwa….i might rewatch it tonight lol) -bbc sherlock idk where to see this (i have memorized the line of every episode minus s4 and…this show was my middle school angst dreams i love it plz see) -OMG THE ENTIRE TOMB RAIDING SERIES WITH WUXIE AND THE IRON TRIANGLE YES OMG PLEASE WATCH THIS I KNOW ITS LONG BUT OMG I WILL LITERALLY MARRY ANYONE THAT HAS SEEN OR KNOWS WHAT THIS IS TT I LOVE THIS SO FLIPPING MUCH NEXT TO THE UNTAMED ASJFLKJDKJKDSJFLKADJLKFJDL (i HIGHLY recommend the ultimate note and sound of providence both on youtube, OR WATCH THE TIME RAIDERS MOVIE i will explain everything u're confused abt) -secret crush on you youtube bish (let me tell u if you can make it past the first three epsiodes you will be GREATLY surprised… just saying) OR my school president also on youtube (it made me want to go back to high school so flipping cute) -the castle in the sky studio ghilibi movie (i've seen it four times and love the entire thing, so comforting and unique <3) -big hero6 or cars 2 (they made my childhood like 10x better idk) -THE LAST OF US BROOOOOOOOOOOOOO (i am DEAD this show is CRAZY, i am terrified of zombies and cried for three days straight when i saw the first 15 minutes of the train to busan and have never finished it sincee BUT the amount of zombies lessens per epsiode and it focuses on the characters…just don't watch at night if you're a chicken like me) -animes…i loved kuroko no baske (a basketball anime that motivated me to play every single day in highschool…by myself bc no one wanted to play outside with me not even the guys that played in the court next door offered to let me join in bc i was a girl BISH FIGHT ME-) OR the promised neverland but the manga not s2…we don't talk abt that…

oooh i love goldfish if you feel comfortable you can dm the photo or send it on asks and i'll save the photo and upload it to the blog tagging your anon handle <3 i hope you get into the uni of your choice, that's a cool career path i wish you the best and hit me up if you need dental advice XD i'm trying to learn italian and ASL and that so wonderful you volunteer with your friends sends you a high five through my screen

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW THANK U I FEEL SO HONORED TT nah thank YOU for lighting up my ask box, not just you but ALL of you thank you soooo soo sooo sooo sooo soooo sooo soo MUCH <3 it means the world to me and beyond bc you take some time in your day to read or send an ask bows politely i hope to keep your thoughts safe and judgement free plus put a smile on your face if i'm able, each and every one of you deserves it

i loved the last playlist you told me abt this monster school and i vibe to it sm i made a spotify playlist for when any anons sends in an ask so i will gladly add these to it thank you :3

yeah its so hot here…i will drink water and love cold drinks so… haha ^-^);; back to you, please get sufficient rest or at least go to sleep at midnight NO LATER >:l, stretch b4 doing any activites, GO LOOK UP AT THE CLOUDS seriously my whole camera roll is of clouds bc they're so pretty, always carry a bandaid just in case, wash your hands for 20 seconds, and buy that thing you wanted this month <3 awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww thank you i will update you guys if anything but i'm just pooped rn T-T

wishing you the best week ever >3<

[wiser-girl]

Omg thanks so much Toy! Totally didn’t freak out when you followed me back ANYWAY

3 ships: I mean Byler of course, the grip they’ve had on me the past few months is genuinely insane. Always gotta rep my all time favs Percabeth, they continue to be the blueprint. And I’m gonna go with Newtmas bc I’ve had a little Maze Runner revival phase and I adore them. There’s one time travel fix-it fic I found last year that I think I’ve read 4 times at this point bc it’s just that good.

First ship: Gotta be Percabeth, they’re the reason I even have Tumblr, I am just beyond excited to see them in the show (baby besties ofc save the tension for at least S3 thanks)

Last song: I had my giant Taylor playlist on shuffle while I drove down to the beach so it was Breathe! Such an underrated song, it’s 2am feeling like I just lost a friend has no right to make me sob like it does

Last movie: the Matilda musical adaptation on Netflix! So good, those kids are absurdly talented, but also reminded me why I never listen to Matilda bc I was crying the entire time

Currently reading: a whole bunch of fics BUT I’m planning on starting The Starless Sea some time this week, curtesy of @cursedmybedroom (bc we bought books for each other when we met bc we’re adorable like that)

Currently watching: Literally not watching any shows at the moment, but I’ve made it somewhat of a tradition to watch Pride and Prejudice (2005) and About Time whenever I stay at this beach house so I’m sure it’ll be both of them very soon. Next show will either be WWDITS or I might actually follow through on the Merlin rewatch I’ve been wanting to do

Currently consuming: last thing I ate was some rocky road leftover from Christmas, it was great

Currently craving: it’s the middle of the night so not literally right now BUT I’m for sure gonna get an ice mocha and raspberry muffin at the cafe here some time tomorrow

Tagging: @official-spidey @starcourtmallhawkins @spiralhorrors @mar7tha @teapottimelord @by-the-lakes 💖

tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better

thank you @louwhose for the tag!!

3 ships: zelink (who else), victuuri, midzel specifically twilight princess

first ever ship: me and link tbh i was like 9 and just discovered twilight princess

last song: orgy for one by ninja sex party

last movie: not sure if this counts as a movie but the documentary “fantastic fungi” on netflix

currently reading: various fanfictions, but just started rereading Alone With You by the lovely @deiliamedlini

currently watching: whatever game grumps compilations come up in my recommended on youtube

currently consuming: idk if this means food or media so i’ll answer both. for food i just got a sausage and egg breakfast burrito (no cheese i dont like cheddar cheese) that i’m about to demolish. for media i’ve been playing minecraft like it’s 2012 and they just added ocelots

currently craving: breakfast burrito so like good thing i just went and got one

tags: i don’t know 9 people so @cityofperpetualgloom @feralratkid @niobiummm and anyone else who wants to participate!! <3

[backhurtyy]

penny for your thoughts on stranger things season 4 (specifically volume 2)?

alright i wrote out an entire essay last night and tumblr deleted it, so i’m going to try this again and hope it actually works 😭

spoilers and rambling under the cut!

so for the most part i really enjoyed volume two. i loved the cinematography, particularly the part when nancy was shooting vecna and hop was fighting the demogorgon while the remix of running up that hill played. i also loved how it showed the three groups managing to come together, even as spread out as they all were. like! theres my bad ass crew of characters that i love so much, finding ways to win even from three different places!!! and of course we FINALLY got the jopper kiss…. i have been thinking about ‘use your imagination’ ‘who needs imagination?’ for two days straight. no one is doing it like them. just so many little interactions and moments that i loved— el and hopper reunion, lucas and max talking on their pads, lucas holding maxs body 😭, dustin and eddie’s relationship, eddie’s guitar solo, all the robin and steve bestie moments, the way the threads of the story all came together, the little jokes and beats of humor, el piggybacking and saving max… there was a lot i liked.

however. the things that i didn’t like were kind of big sticking points to me, and made it so that i didn’t enjoy it as much as i’d hoped to.

first of all, the episodes were simply too long. like for a complicated storyline, with so many moving parts, the episodes were just…. really dense. during episode nine i kept going ‘is it done yet? is it done yet? is it done yet?’ because i got overstimulated and tired. and i suppose i could have just paused it, but i find stopping in the middle of an episode very difficult. id have rather them be shorter episodes that i could pause at the end of and come back to when i was ready. and that’s kind of sad because like. i KNOW i missed things, but it’s such a big task to go back and rewatch it all that idk if i will anytime soon.

second of all…. eddie. stranger things has such a problem with introducing side characters just to kill then off, and eddie is just another in a long line (robin, murray, and erica being the main exceptions). which is interesting to me, because everyone was talking about how there was going to be this huge emotional character death this season, and like… i sobbed like a baby when he died, because i loved him, but it was almost expected. it would have been much more shocking and devastating if it was nancy or steve (who i thought was going to die). the fact that they did kill of eddie was also just so painful because 1) he was so loveable and i would have loved to see him grow and become part of the group, looking after the kids with nancy and steve and robin and jonathan, and also getting to have that sense of family when he’d only ever had his dad before. 2) the dialogue with dustin…. god that was heart wrenching. that was the one part of his death that i liked. i was sobbing i was shaking i was a fucking mess over it. 3) i can’t help but see eddie as a gay man— his entire story with being a freak, an outsider, unwelcome, and unknown by anyone but hated by everyone was very reminiscent of the gay experience to me. and so the fact that he died…. it was like okay yeah of course the queer coded side character died. of course he did.

and finally… will. i don’t even know where to start. they did him so dirty. this main character, around whom the entire over arching plot of the show has revolved, was treated like a side character. will, who has a connection to the upside down unlike anyone else, barely had any screen time that wasn’t him just setting up mike and el. literally without him there wouldn’t BE stranger things, and yet they just. tossed him aside. the only times he was around was when his own pain and suffering and feelings were used to deepen mike and el’s relationship— which had already had three prior seasons to develop!!! it just felt awful to have this character— who is clearly gay, clearly in love with his best friend, clearly already feeling like an outsider— tossed aside and disregarded. like not a single person except jonathan seemed to notice or care about him the entire season, and it’s like…. it’s just frustrating. like i wish they weren’t using his pain and love and feelings to elevate the heterosexual ship. idk.

so overall, it was good, but those are really big things that i didn’t like and so i don’t feel like i enjoyed it as much as i wanted to.

[dangermousie]

A love letter to telenovelas

Starting to rewatch Pasion de Gavilanes feels so comfortable - like a childhood blanket or warm bath.

While this tumblr is basically dramas/web novels 95% of the time, I did not grow up with either. But I did have telenovelas and I have so many lovely memories.

My first telenovela was the 1970s Brazilian classic Escrava Isaura. It was bought in the waning days of the Soviet Union when I was a little girl. It was EVERYONE’S first telenovela. The country went nuts. People wanted to change their names to Ester and Isaura (not Russian names in any sense) and the word “fazenda” entered Russian slang as a joking word for dacha.

I remember watching every episode multiple times a day (they reran it) with my mother, being fascinated by all these exotic passionate people, whose life was as far from my Soviet childhood as the moon.

I had to go to the hospital for treatment for a month in the middle of its run and the sole question I had was “do they have TV there where they show Isaura?” They did, and all the kids and all the nurses on duty used to gather every evening it was shown and watch it religiously. It’s one of the most warm, wonderful, fun memories of my childhood (probably because I had a great time in the hospital in general - not having to do schoolwork, reading books, sharing a room with a dozen other girls like an endless sleepover and playing soccer in the halls. It wasn’t a serious illness division so none of us were horrifically ill - I was there for an experimental treatment that gave me six shots a day for a month to fix my hearing after one of my ears stopped working when a viral infection killed a nerve and the rest of the girls were for similar non-life ruining illnesses. The hearing never came back but I had a great time and I got rid of any needle phobia I may ever have had.)

And the telenovela fun continued throughout my life. Both my grandmothers used to love them. I remember visiting my father’s mother in her apartment and she always had one dubbed in Russian running on TV. I remember watching some random episode with my father and uncle and enjoying ourselves hugely making affectionate fun and grandmother joining in. I remember everyone laughing like lunatics even if not why. (I don’t think my grandfather ever watched them but he was amused at the rest of us lunatics.)

My other grandmother was equally fond of them. She and my grandfather used to watch theirs religiously and so did all their friends. I remember them videotaping episodes and swapping with all their friends - people kept going in and out of their apartments doing that. 

They are all long gone, and I miss them a lot, and when I watch one I think of them and feel so warm - I can almost imagine sitting with them and discussing the latest crazy twist and bashing the villain and worrying about the hapless protagonists.

And there is the fact that I am fond of the drama and the passion and the fact that unlike the American soaps, they freaking end.

But anyway, this is way more personal than I usually get on a fandom tumblr so I am gonna stop...

[oddlydrawnscissors]

can i ask for your Wild Kratts opinions/headcanons? i wanna know what you think of the show :3c

oh time to get creative!! well i gotta say as for hc's im pretty much projecting, most, if not all of them, come from my own experiences

-chris is sensitive to touch and texture, and while for the most part hes gotten over this it was a bit of an inconvenience when the team first started their adventuring. sometimes some animals just fucked with his senses really bad, either smell or how they felt. (same king) but hes loved them all the same and tries his best not to let it get in the way of his adventuring and is (mostly) successful but has the one off day sometimes

-martin is super expressive! he stims a lot for really strong emotions like excitement or anxiety. they show up externally including but not limited to, flapping his hands jumping up and down kickin his feet and rocking or bouncing in his seat. he also can get really loud when hes super excited and when hes overwhelmed he gets either super silent or if hes talking hes kinda shouty.

-(my friend and i came up w this one) they all knew each other one way or another as kids, and while the bros mostly stuck together as kids, they met koki aviva and jimmy along the way and eventually they kinda melded their groups together and began going on adventures together!

-in "Octopus Wildkratticus" aviva and chris are 'fighting' over discovering a new species or saving the creature powersuits and when they ask martin he says "i agree with both of you?" my man doesnt like confict and hates coming between people (hey like me!) so he tends to usually be a middle ground in arguments or disagreements, and the team have learned this over the years. chris pokes fun at him for it but they all know he will pick a side when he needs to.

-chris likes to draw the animals. no explanation other than he was my favorite when i was a kid and i grew up loving to draw so now i decided he loves to draw. ever adventure they go on he always tries to take time to at least sketch them, and hes put his favorites up around his room (do they have bedrooms in the tortuga?)

i think this is all i have for now but wow this was longer than i thought it would be! thanks so much for asking!! i really like making hcs for a show that means so much to me.  (edit: i was gonna do opinions in a different post bc i thought you could answer the same ask twice but apparently you cant?) as for opinions!!  the show is a lot more chaotic than i remember!! and i forgot just how much i adored it. there are tons of shows that i loved as a kid but going back to now, they were certainly meant for a specific audience which isnt bad! just not the same rewatching it right? wild kratts cannot get old ever like, the aspects that really give away that its made for kids dont take away from the show at all. its enjoyable even now and as someone who thrives in media with huge fandoms its definitely fun to come back to something i loved as a kid and poke around its fandom now that i have The Internet.

i hope that didnt sound too weird im forgetting that im writing a tumblr post not an english paper, and that i dont really have to seem like i know what the fuck im saying its just gotta be coherent.

with that said id like to shake them around in a pickle jar like lilo does and study them like im a scientist discovering genetics or something.

this is long okay i promise im finally done thank u for the ask anon<3

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.

Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.

Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).

Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!

Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story.  [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).

In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.

I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p

I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!

(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)

[holyhellpod]

4. Fambily

In this episode, we skim the surface of the fambily dynamics in Supernatural, which are--ah. Dicey at best. 

Apple | Spotify | Google

Transcript under the cut!

Content warnings: domestic violence and family abuse

[Growl]

Ah, the Winchesters. Where do we even start. Unhinged, deranged, and continually traumatised in every way, Sam and Dean complete each other. At least, that’s what the show wants us to think. Despite the ways they betray each other, lie to each other, and  piss each other off, they are fambily. And fambily is the most important thing. The concept of Fambily in the show Supernatural (2005-2020) takes many twists and turns throughout its run. In the first five minutes of episode one, the heteronormative, nuclear family of John, Mary, Sam and Dean is ripped apart by an unknown, antagonistic force that represents all the evil in the world. It creeps into a nursery and eviscerates a white, blonde mother while preying upon a 👶, I mean, how much more evil can you get? It’s fantastic that, in the later seasons especially, Supernatural embraces this idea that fambily doesn’t end in blood, but blood doesn’t always mean fambily. By the end of the series, the fambily concept has expanded to include two dads, an aunt and uncle, and a thirty-year old infant. I’m going to talk about the finale in its own episode, so that my ire will have its proper outlet. 

When the show starts, Sam, Dean and John have each other, and only each other. By the time season 2 really kicks off, Sam and Dean don’t have John anymore, but they do have Bobby Singer. The concept of the triumvirate follows them throughout the series as though they’re in a less sexy Italo Calvino novel—first Sam, Dean and John, then Sam, Dean and Bobby, then Sam, Dean and Ruby, then Sam, Dean and Cas, then Sam, Dean and Mary, then Sam, Dean and Jack. It’s broken in seasons 13-15 when Cas comes back and they have a family of four, and then five when Mary can stand to see her boys.  

But the Winchesters are not the only fambily in Supernatural who matter. In season two, we’re introduced to the Harvelles, mother Ellen and daughter Jo, who are a hunting fambily who run a hunter pub in the middle of whoop whoop. A pub that Eric Kripke famously hated, and rejoiced when he burnt it down at the end of season 2, because the Winchesters and by extension everyone they know aren’t allowed to have anything good ever. It’s revealed in season two episode “No Exit” that John got Jo’s father killed on a hunt, which obviously affects Jo more than it does Sam and Dean. 

[Editing note:] Okay I’m editing this episode, and I’m not happy with it. I’m not going to scrap it completely because I think I do have good points to say, but the general analysis of this episode is so surface level. It is basically contributing nothing to the conversation. And I started this podcast in order to actually contribute something to the culture. I could make a bunch of text posts on tumblr or I could spend hours and hours and hours and hours of my life to something that — I don’t know. Is it bringing me joy? Not at the moment. But, yeah. So I’m not going to scrap this episode completely but this is my way of saying from now on the episodes are going to take as much as they will take and I will commit myself to having deeper and more thoughtful analysis. And if I have to spend an entire episode on one aspect of one thing, I will. I could be at university right now studying a masters or a PhD in fucking literary analysis but instead I’m sitting on my bed making a Supernatural podcast because it brings me joy. It does. It really makes me happy and I don’t want to abandon this project, because people are listening to it. I don’t know why, I don’t know what you like it about it, but you’re listening. And I just think I owe it to myself to make things that I support 100%. So I’ll continue this episode and hopefully this rambling hasn’t put you off it completely. But from now on, I’m going to really, really talk about things that matter in regards to Supernatural… Kind of an oxymoron. Kind of a contradiction. But things that contribute to the cultural consciousness instead of just rehashing the road so far. That’s all I want to do. I want to contribute. I want to say good…ful things. Okay this is making me happy. It’s already working, it’s already making me happy. I’m just going to keep rambling and laughing. Okay so, more thoughtful analysis, deeper analysis. Things that make you think. Things that make me think. Instead of just a bunch of words that mean nothing. Okay, continuing on.

Okay to figure out which episode this was I had to watch a little bit of season two, and I’m still on my season 13 rewatch. The difference between the two seasons. I don’t know if I can even put into words the growth this show has gone through, and the characters have gone through, over the last 15 years. It would be like summarising my own growth by combing through my extensive diary collection and the years of societally- and governmentally-enforced heterosexuality that has plagued my entire life. Those boys are babies in season two. The bootcut jeans alone. Sam is literally 23 years old. I don’t even talk to 23 year olds. I block them on social media.  

The Harvelles are a blip in the Winchester map. While the actors Samantha Ferris and Chad Lindberg did attempt to resuscitate their cultural currency months after the show ended by participating in an event — okay I can’t. I can’t even go into it. Like, clearly Samantha Ferris heard back from her representation as soon as she started posting those tweets and realised she wouldn’t continue to get money if she endorsed, well, the gays. And Chad Lindberg was just using the clout to push his Etsy wares like a 14th century merchant, so I gotta respect the hustle. But Jo and Ellen die in season 5 episode “Abandon All Hope” and are barely mentioned again except the episode Ash appears in, season 5 “Dark side of the moon,” Jo in season 7, “Defending Your Life,” and Ellen in the season 6 episode “My heart will go on.” They didn’t exactly leave what you would call a lasting impact for the next, you know, ten seasons. 

To be honest, I’m not sure when it’s revealed that Bobby’s wife died after being possessed by a demon. It’s made clear in season 5 “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” and I did not have to look that up, because season four and five are burned into my retinas like a particularly nasty sun flare. Bobby outlines the horrific way he killed his wife, because why not throw some spousal violence into the mix, and later in season 7 “Death’s Door,” it elaborates on their life together. I saw this sentiment expressed on TikTok, which we all know as the foundation of cultural knowledge, which was that fambilies don’t need to be two parents and children. Fambilies can be spouses or partners. You don’t need to have children in order to be a fambily. I think that’s a very nice sentiment and I’ve chosen to adopt it for these purposes. Bobby and his wife Karen are a fambily. While Karen wants kids, Bobby chooses not to have them for fear of becoming like his father and repeating the trauma he inflicted on Bobby. Bobby and Karen’s fambily dynamic is ruptured in the same way that John and Mary’s is—by an intrusive, demonic force that brings Bobby into the hunting world and ends Karen’s life. But by the time we see him at the end of season 1, Bobby is already ingratiated into Sam and Dean’s lives as their surrogate father, and this bond only deepens as the show progresses. Bobby expresses the sentiment to Dean to not be like John, that Dean is already a better man that his father ever was. Isn’t that what we all want to hear? That we have superseded our parents and outgrown them in ways they could never comprehend? Don’t we just want to be better than the generations that came before us, in order to mould a better world for the generations that come after us? Don’t we want to make things easier for our children, and our friends’ children, and our siblings’ children? Dean is a better man than John, and Bobby is better man than his father ever was. It’s about breaking the cycles of intergenerational trauma. I have to believe that Sam, Dean and Bobby did this, because then it’s possible for me to do the same thing. Include here that speech about representation in media that I didn’t bother writing for the last episode. Bobby is the surrogate father to Sam and Dean, a better father than John was, a better hunter even. He crafts an entire network of hunters who report to him, as seen in the season 6 episode “Weekend at Bobby’s,” and he continues to act as Sam and Dean’s mentor until his death in season 7 “How to win friends and influence monsters”. An alternate universe version of Bobby is introduced in season 13, which I have my reservations about, and he and Mary get together, which again, why. Season 13 is so hard to sit through. 

A fambily that is introduced late into the series and is simply NOT given enough screen time is the Banes fambily. In season 12, “Celebrating the life of Asa Fox,” we are introduced to the Banes twins, Max and Alicia, who are by far the most gorgeous hunters we’ve seen in the series. They are hunters raised by a witch, Tasha Banes, who doesn’t appear yet, and they manage to survive the trial by fire that is overcoming the demon Jael. Later in this season, in the episode “Twigs and Twane and Tasha Banes,” both of which are written by the late great Steve Yockey, we are introduced to Tasha in a way that seems awfully familiar: Alicia calls Sam to say their mother has gone missing on a hunt, and hasn’t checked in in a few days. By the end of the episode, Alicia and Tasha are dead, and Max has ostensibly sold his soul for the power to bring Alicia back. The Banes twins’ storyline directly parallels Sam and Dean’s from the pilot, but it’s a tragedy from the outset. We already know Tasha is dead and they can’t save her, however, like Dean does for Sam at the end of season 2, Max chooses to save Alicia at the expense of his own soul. Spin off when. Banes twins series when. I’m waiting. They were in two episodes and I’m still thinking about them. The Harvelles are dust. 

In season 7, “Reading is Fundamental,” a waifish 17 year old honour’s student Kevin Tran breaks into a rehabilitation facility to steal a tablet. This starts a chain of events that ingratiates Kevin Tran in the apocalyptic, death-succumbing world of the Winchesters, starting with Dick Roman, head leviathan, and continuing, but not culminating, with his death at the hands of Gadreel, who was possessing Sam, it’s a whole thing. Any time you attempt to summarise anything on Supernatural, you sound like a lunatic. And I say that as someone who has a supernatural podcast, with an audience of only supernatural fans. We are lunatics, but we’re lunatics together. Kevin’s arc was cut way too short, but we at least got to see him with his momma Linda in the beginnings of season 8 with the unfortunately named episode “What’s up, Tiger Mommy?” It introduces Linda Tran as a capable and worldly woman, hell bent on protecting her son. She offers up her soul among other things in exchange for Kevin and the tablet with him. During the episode, she is possessed by Crowley, and Dean attempts to kill him, which would mean killing Linda as well. Kevin considers this the ultimate betrayal and leaves with his mum. Later in season 9 episode “Captives,” Linda is reintroduced as a captive of Crowley, who escapes with Sam’s help. Back at the bunker, she reunites with Kevin, who is now, thanks to the Winchesters’ incompetence, a ghost 👻. My macbook keeps suggesting little emojis in the smart bar so I just gotta put ‘em in. That’s the last we see of Linda, so I’m drawing my own conclusions about whether she gets to live a long and happy life. Kevin is a fan favourite and despite my reservations about Osric Chau which I will not get into like ever I really like Kevin too. He outsmarts Crowley many times and shows remarkable tenacity to get an impossible job done. His desire to see his mum again, the driving force behind his actions, mirrors Dean’s desperation to have his fambily together again like they used to be. I would call this a parallel but I don’t believe they purposefully did this, I just think they accidentally rehashed the same tired storyline they’ve been peddling since 2005. But yeah, if I was Kevin and all I had was my mum, seeing her again would be the driving force for my actions as well. Kevin’s father is never mentioned, and it honestly isn’t a big deal, which is great. Sometimes fathers are just absent, and you don’t need throw a hissy fit about it or make it your entire personality, Dean.

Missouri Moseley, played by the inimitable Loretta Devine, is introduced in the first season, episode “Home,” in which she helps out on a case involving Sam and Dean’s childhood house. We find out that Missouri is a long-time friend of John’s and helped him to understand that supernatural forces were behind Mary’s death. She is Sam and Dean’s first point of entry into the world of the Supernatural, and they didn’t know it until they meet her in “Home”. In season 13 episode “Patience,” another layer to Missouri’s character is added with the advent of her family: estranged son James and granddaughter Patience Turner, who is also a psychic. We get a lot of backstory for Missouri in this episode, even if it is sloppily written and contradictory to the way they initially set her up. If Missouri and James had been travelling when he was a child, why was she stationed in Lawrence in both 1983 and 2005? What did he mean that Missouri was hunting? I can’t be bothered unpacking the confusing bits of information presented in this episode. It’s not a good episode and I really don’t see why everyone goes apeshit for Bobo Berens. He kills Missouri in this episode, in a really horrible way. Like the history of Supernatural’s racism and misogyny should not be dumped on one man, but nor should it be perpetuated and it is continually throughout the entire show. Confusing, contradictory and badly written backstory aside, she is an interesting character, and her willingness to sacrifice herself to save her family echoes that of Mary in “Home”. I’m actually really mad that Patience never gets to have a relationship with Missouri, and later in season 13 episode “The Bad Place,” Patience’s father tells her that if she leaves to help The Winchesters and uses her psychic abilities, she’s not welcome back in his house. To me that’s just unnecessary. We have a family that has already been ruptured by the death of Patience’s mother, further ruptured by Patience’s father cutting off contact with Missouri, and then to go a step further he disintegrates their family unit by kicking Patience out. Like how much loss do the Moseley-Turners have to endure? It’s really just cruel at this point. But Patience does find family with Jodie, Donna, Claire, Alex and eventually Kaia, and while I love the concept of found family and this found family in particular, it comes at the expense of biological family, which is something that the show has pushed from the very first episode. So that’s evolution in itself. Going from “fambily is the most important thing to these characters” to “found fambily is where we find love” is great, but ripping apart a biological fambily like the Moseley-Turners, and indeed starting the episode by saying Missouri has been shunted out of her son and granddaughter’s lives for trying to bring her son comfort, is just fucked. Like, I couldn’t name a single Bobo episode that I actually like without having to comb through them. I’m trying really hard not to shit all over him because as a writer I know how much that sucks and I know how hard is it for any marginalised writers to get a start, but I’m allowed to have my vendettas. 

If you’ve watched the “Runs In The Family” angels MV from 2010, and only if you’ve watched the “Runs In The Family” angels MV from 2010, you will understand just how jacked up the angel family really is. The angelic counterpoint to Sam and Dean are the archangels Lucifer and Michael. We are introduced to two different versions of Michael—one in season 5, who possesses their dad in 1979 and their brother Adam in 2010—my god that was literally over a decade ago—and Apocalypse World Michael, played by four different actors: Felisha Terrell, Christian Keyes, Jensen Ackles, and Ruth Connell, who plays Rowena. I don’t know what in the hell Jensen Ackles was doing performance-wise when playing Michael, but I consider it a federal crime akin to drug trafficking or money laundering. As for Christian Keyes playing Michael, Andrew Dabb, you know what you did and you’re going to have to live with that.  

In season 5, during the apocalypse, Michael and Lucifer only interact in the last episode, “Swan Song,” but the entire season is built around their conflict. Lucifer disobeyed their father, and Michael as God’s most powerful weapon must defeat him. It’s meant to mirror Sam’s descent into, uhhhh, badness or something, disobeying John to run away to Stanford, or, like, drinking demon blood? It’s unclear. Lucifer and Apocalypse World Michael interact in season 13, and Michael kills Lucifer only to take over Dean’s body and start a season-long arc of, like, bad acting and barely thought-out plots. I would say to Jensen Ackles “don’t quit your day job,” but this is literally his day job. 

The angels as they’re introduced in season 4 are warriors of god, and all they know is obedience and killing. Even Cas can’t break out of the cycle of killing his angel siblings, and often justifies it by saying that it’s for the greater good, that he needs to do it to take down a stronger force like Raphael or Metatron. Anna manages to break free of her family by falling and becoming human, but when Cas betrays her and the angels capture her, she is lobotomised, tortured and sent back out to kill Sam. Then she’s burned to a crisp by Michael possessing John, not the last time a woman would burn to death on this show. The angels are dysfunctional at best, and actively hostile to each other, especially Castiel, the infamous spanner in the works. I could write an entire academic paper about how the angels think of Castiel as this rebel slut who murdered his way to the top and is going to be the downfall of angel kind, but Dean thinks of him as this little nerdy guy with a harp he carries around in his back pocket. Which honestly Cas would love because he’s obsessed with Dean and wants to touch his butt. I don’t know what else I can say about the angels without turning this into a dissertation, so I’ll continue on.

While all seasons of the show are about family, season six is especially about matrilineal family. It introduces the concept of the mother of monsters—Eve—and focuses on Mary as a solution to the loneliness the characters feel after her death. Samuel Campbell, Mary’s father, is brought back to life and manipulated by the promise of seeing his daughter again. He asks Sam and Dean what they wouldn’t do to see Mary again, which is kind of the general thesis of the show. What wouldn’t John, Dean and Sam do for each other? Dean sells his soul. John makes a deal with the demon who killed Mary. Sam teams up with Ruby to kill Lilith in revenge, which begins as a suicide mission because he doesn’t know how to handle his grief for Dean. The difference is that Samuel betrays Sam and Dean, his own grandchildren, for the promise of seeing Mary again. This cardinal sin alienates him from being a good guy, because good guys never betray Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean are our protagonists! Our heroes! The bringers of the light! The knights in shining armour! The white on rice. The cherry in cherry pie. They are the ones we’re meant to align ourselves with, because it’s their story the narrative is telling. And anyone who doesn’t align themselves with the Winchesters is an enemy who needs to be defeated.   

We’re introduced to the character of Gwen in the first episode of season 6, “Exile on Main Street”, and she says in the episode “Family Matters” that Samuel, the patriarch, doesn’t like her very much because she reminds him of Mary. While Samuel, Christian, Gwen and co are technically family, Dean has no connection to them past bloodlines. And as I said before, while family doesn’t end in blood, we learn throughout this season that blood doesn’t always mean family. Gwen dies in the episode “And Then There Were None,” because of course she does, and Mary doesn’t come back, at least not in this season. 

In “Family Matters,” the alpha vampire, played by the irreplaceable Rick Worthy, mentions that “we all have our mothers,” referring to Eve, the mother of monsters, the one who spawned every other monster and who has been trapped in purgatory ever since. Eve is pulled from Purgatory to wage war against the hunters and Crowley because they have been preying on her first borns, the alphas. I love Eve. I love her. She’s my favourite villain after Metatron. Mainly because I think she is like… sexy as hell. Like wow I am just so attracted to Julia Maxwell and this, like, bored smokey affect thing she does where she barely moves her mouth when she speaks and her strong brow makes her seem so intimidating. I don’t know anything about her personally, but I feel like she would’ve bullied me in high school, and I’m into it. It’s really hard to judge just from this one role whether she’s a good actor because Eve has such limited range and few things to do, but I really wish she’d gotten more screen time. Yeah, she’s doing the bare minimum and I’m completely obsessed. But Eve isn’t just a monster, she’s literally THEE milf. The original milf. And I really think she should’ve stayed around, but since they kept Lisa alive they had to kill at least one high profile woman. 

Continuing with the family storylines in season 6, Dean tries to establish a family with Lisa and Ben, and for the most part succeeds. He gets a job, plays the role of the doting boyfriend and stepfather, and protects them as best he can. I’m going to spare you the rant perched at the tip of my tongue about how this is at best a lavender marriage or staying together for the kid, and that Lisa only exists to be an ideal for Dean, not an actual partner he can grow with throughout the rest of the show. It’s his first attempt at a fambily outside of Sam, Bobby and John, and it fails miserably because Lisa isn’t a good match. The fact is, she will never be able to fit into the hunting world because of the way the writers wrote her—as mother and girlfriend archetype, and we’ve seen how well they do with those—in fact they actively paralleled it in “Exile on Main Street” where they had Dean hallucinate Azazel coming back and pinning Lisa to the ceiling. It couldn’t be more obvious that they don’t respect her. At least they didn’t fridge her for Dean’s man pain. It’s honestly horrible because Dean put so much effort into believing this was his one chance at happiness, and when it crumbles like a tim tam in hot tea he beats himself up for it and uses it as an excuse to never be happy. 

He does seem to be happy for the most part with Lisa, but because Sera Gamble doesn’t know how to write interesting or complex female characters, when Sam reenters the picture it once again becomes about the original premise: two brothers on the road, fighting the forces of evil. There’s no room for any women in that sphere. Up until this point I think—correct me if I’m wrong—there has been one female hunter who survived, and she was in one episode. The hunter Tamara in season 3 “The Magnificent Seven,” whose husband died in maybe the most sadistic way anyone has died on this show. Don’t rewatch it, just google it. All women die, including Mary, their mother, who is brought back in season 12 and killed in season 14. AND FOR WHAT? For WHAT Andrew Dabb.

Often, the loss of a parent, child or significant other is used to excuse bad behaviour and terrible choices. The hunting life causes Mary’s whole family to die before she can escape it, and because she makes a deal with Azazel for John’s life, the same demon John makes a deal with, Azazel kills her anyway. John abused his kids and brought them into the hunting life, because he was obsessed with getting revenge for Mary’s death. Sam does the same thing when Jess dies in the first season, and it starts a 15-season long arc of pain and misery. He sets Lucifer free in the season four because he is obsessed with getting revenge for Dean’s death and obsessed with the power drinking demon blood gives him. Then again, Sam is actually right for saving people by exorcising demons, which is literally the first part of the family business motto,  instead of just gutting them with the demon knife, but because Dean doesn’t agree with it, it’s bad. Sam always wants to do the right thing, he just gets a little caught up in the details. But you know what? Bloodfreak rights. 

When Cas dies in season 13, Dean is so overcome with grief, a grief that echoes John and Sam’s, that he mistreats Jack and threatens to kill him. In season 14, Nick, Lucifer’s vessel, boo snore hiss, kills everyone involved with the murder of his wife and child before he finds out that it’s actually Lucifer’s doing, and then he tries to raise Lucifer from the empty because he’s addicted to killing? Whatever, stop employing Mark Pellegrino. Stop writing men as obsessed with getting revenge 

The biological fambilies in Supernatural suck shit. Honestly every time I watch an episode about fambily I’m even more glad I don’t talk to mine. Dean and Sam need to spend some time away from each other, while they’re both still alive. Their fambily dynamic gets better as the show progresses, and I was pleased to see in season 12 that they do away with the codependency, constantly sacrificing themselves for each other, isolating themselves, betraying everyone they know for each other—they started to act like, you know, normal people. And that’s good. Sure, the show would not be anywhere without John sacrificing himself for Dean, and Dean sacrificing himself for Sam, and honestly that’s what made those first few seasons amazing. But after a while it becomes lazy writing, not parallels. A parallel that Supernatural pulled off is Sam comforting Magda in season 12 episode “The Survivor” in the way he needed to be comforted in season 1 and 2 as a psychic child. A parallel is Dean preparing Cas’s body for cremation in season 13  in counterpoint to the way Cas remade Dean’s body in season 4. This show can absolutely do parallels, some of the most beautiful parallels ever put on screen, but the last season was such lazy writing that I cannot forgive it. 

This has been an overall negative episode of Holy Hell, and that sucks. I don’t want to be so negative. I want to talk about the good things that Supernatural did, and share in joy with you all, so now I’m going to talk about the only positive I see with fambily in the entire show. 

For Dean, everyone older than him is a parent to disappoint, and everyone younger than him is a little sibling to protect. Cas is the exception, as there’s no way to define Dean and Cas’s relationship without acknowledging the reciprocal romantic ways they care about each other. Dean says on multiple occasions that Cas is like a brother to him, and that he’s Sam and Dean’s best friend. He actually drops the line, “After Sam and Bobby, you are the closest thing I have to family,” on Cas in season 6, and he acts like it’s nothing, but you can see in the expression on Cas’s face that Dean just recontextualised the entirety of Cas’s being in one sentence. Cas falls for Dean, gives up his family for Dean, and decides to follow him in the first act of free will we see on screen. And Dean, who has never known love without pain, says to Cas, you are fambily to me, I actively choose you, you belong in my life. But to belong in Dean’s life is to follow his plan, and when Cas doesn’t, he is punished for his hubris. Dean loves him, and he never even admits it.

Charlie becomes like a little sister to Dean, as does Jo. Jack is unequivocally Cas’s son, but becomes something of Dean’s son as well and some would argue Sam’s son. Claire becomes Cas’s daughter, but imprints so much on Dean that many, myself included, have come to consider Dean her father as well. If you subscribe to the idea that Dean and Cas are old marrieds, Dean would be Claire and Jack’s stepfather, and they would be a nuclear fambily all on their own. In season 14 “Lebanon,” when John says to Dean that he thought Dean would have settled down with a fambily, Dean says, “I have a fambily.” Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

Cas chooses to be a part of Claire’s life in season 10 “The Things We Left Behind” because he feels guilty about what happened to her after he possessed Jimmy, but after getting to know Claire he cares for her. The crime that is Claire and Cas not interacting after season 10, my god. That’s his daughter, you ghouls. But Claire and Dean do get more moments together. Dean, Sam and some British guy save Claire from turning into a werewolf, and Claire and the rest of the Wayward Sisters save Sam and Dean from the Bad Place. The Wayward Sisters are a found fambily all on their own, and since I could devote an entire episode to Jody’s little brood, I have chosen not to talk about them much, because this episode is at least half an hour, 34 minutes, and it would take up too much of my time. Claire is one of my favourite characters and I’ll be talking about her in the next ep, so stay tuned for that. 

Even before Jack is born, Cas becomes his protector. He goes from trying to convince Kelly to end her and Jack’s life, to being her pseudo-husband and the surrogate father to her child. To me personally, it’s the best thing this show has ever done. Cas, Kelly and Jack love each other in a way that is so wholly uncomplicated, that is so pure and so good. Once Cas becomes Jack’s protector, there’s never any question of whether they would hurt or betray each other. He is Cas’s son, his baby boy, and he loves Cas so much that he resurrects Cas from the empty. When they meet for the first time in season 13 “Tombstone” after Cas comes back, they fit into each other’s lives so easily. This is the part in writing this where I was absolutely sobbing my dick off. There are so many moments between them that show the kind of love that each of these characters deserved. Sam and Dean deserve to have that love from their father, and so does Cas. And together they build a family unit around caring for Jack that does indeed end the intergenerational trauma that plagues the Winchester fambily.

And that’s why season 16 is so important to me. I can make things better. Dean sorts his shit out, all of his shit: his alcoholism, depression, ADHD, borderline personality disorder, suicidal ideation, sexuality, gender, the fact that Cas is literally the love of his life and he gets to save him from the Empty the way Cas saved him from Hell. They plant flowers in the field where Dean spread Cas’s ashes in season 13, and they get married at Jody’s cabin with all their loved ones left alive. Claire walks Cas down the aisle and Jack is the flower girl, because he’s literally a three year old baby. Sam and Eileen raise a bunch of rugrats and the Wayward fambily continue the hunting legacy and have a Sunday afternoon roast every week. Dean and Cas raise Jack right, they cut up oranges for soccer practice and watch all his school plays. He and his cousins grow up knowing what it’s like not only to be loved, but to be looked after, to have all their needs met. They grow up normal, and the trauma that plagued their family is a thing of the past. It’s good, you know? It’s just fucking good.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

When'd you get into Adventure Time the first time, and how'd it happen? Been thinking of giving it a watch (especially after all the good stuff that's been said of Obsidian and, admittedly, all the stuff I've seen you post and reblog), and it got me curious

This is like my favourite story, and it is the only good one I remember from being a teenager (life from back then has been super foggy since I moved out of my mum's but it is all good now):

When I was 15 I made a new friend who wanted to write a comic about Teen Titans with me as the artist, TT being my second-favourite childhood show after DBZ.

I started bingewatching Teen Titans because I now had a computer and was able to do so. I learnt about the voice actors.

Starfire was played by Hynden Walch. I learnt that Hynden's latest role was Princess Bubblegum on Adventure Time. I checked it out on wikipedia. It seemed kind of cartoony for me.

One thing that caught my eye is when the wikipedia page said PB "may have had a past relationship" with Marceline, the vampire girl with the really pretty hair. I was confused by this, and rationalised it to myself as they must have had a history as friends or enemies. It didn't say what kind of relationship and I thought there was no chance of it meaning "romantic".

For the time being, I didn't look into AT further.

A couple months pass. After several months of tension, I get a text while in school telling me that my dad was breaking up with his fiance, and I would need to move back into my mother's place immediately. This was smack bang when I was about to start my GCSE exams - the timing couldn't be worse. My mother's house is a shit hive and I went between having a tiny box room to myself or sharing a messy bedroom with my sister and mother. There were no standards for hygeine and there wasn't a stable supply of food.

I decide to finish my binge watch of Teen Titans. I spend all day doing this every day. I rewatched it once I was done. It was what I did to cope.

At the same time, my Teen Titans comic friend confides in me. She tells me she thinks she might be a lesbian, and she is scared her parents will reject her. I sympathise deeply. At the time, I was waist deep in the closet to the point I couldnt accept certain things about myself either, but having a friend come out to me made me reconsider LGBT matters.

I looked on deviantart and saw some art for "RaeStar". I thought it was wrong to ship them (I shipped RobStar hardcore) but, well, the art was so cute. Their interactions were healthy and sweet. It was nice. This became my low key first gay ship.

Then, I start bingeing RebelTaxi's Teen Titans video reviews.

Once I am dry on Teen Titans content, I see RebelTaxi did a review on Fionna and Cake, and on Ryan North's Issue #2 of the Adventure Time comic.

The first video, Fionna and Cake, was appealing to me. The show had an amazing art style, and a decent sense of humor. I loved that they did something for the fans, making a genderbent fanfic episode based on popular fan characters. It was unprecedented and very post modern.

....But it was the SECOND video that made me take a very sudden interest in the show.

RebelTaxi was referring to a scene with PB and Marcy in the bottom of the Lich's bag. There is a joke where Marcy turns into a tentacle monster. RebelTaxi always makes hentai jokes when tentacle monsters are involved, but he interpreted this scene as referencing the characters' "lesbian undertones".

...Wait, WHAT? Hynden Walch's character and the pretty vampire have Lesbian Undertones?!?! Haven't I heard this somewhere before?!?!

A quick google search of "Adventure Time Lesbian Undertones" later, I discover the Mathematical! Controversy - how an episode with some incredible songwriting seemed to imply they had been girlfriends in the past who have residual feelings for each other. A podcast had been made by the producers fangirling about this possibility, but it was taken down, and the director fired. Nobody had outright said the subtext was not there, but they said they didn't want the podcast to sound like word of god. There had been a lot of upset in the gay community over this. Oh, by the way, there's a gay community of cartoon fans who really ship PB/Marcy.

With a combination of everything, from how my friend had just come out to me and was struggling with homophobia, to how I was a Hynden Walch fan, to how the show had already impressed me with what little I'd seen, I became IMMEDIATELY invested in finding out as much as possible about these potential LGBT characters and their relationship.

So I checked out a ton of Adventure Time videos on youtube. I checked the vids that had Marceline's backstory in, vids with funny moments from PB and all the other characters, I checked Deviantart for fanart where I made my first engagements with the fandom's gay community, I checked the Wiki talk pages to get ALL of the discourse. It changed who I was basically overnight.

I decided Adventure Time was a fun show with clever writing, and absolutely worth my attention. During the break for exams, I binge watched it all day, and then I would cram for my GCSEs between midnight and 3am on the day of the exam. I was addicted!

When I caught up, Goliad aired. This was the first ep to come out with me being in the fandom.

At the time, even though Hynden had drawn me to the show, Marceline was the character I was most invested in. She had the amazing backstory and music and character design. PB was fun, but there was relatively nothing to her character.

Oh boy, that ALL CHANGED with Goliad! People were intensely debating what the episode was saying about her. Is she a good person, a bad person? Why was she so troubled in the episode's opening, and why was Goliad corrupted?

Discourse only escalated with Princess Cookie. The top post on the wikia was "Is Princess Bubblegum evil?"

Thinking about her character was so interesting for me. These two episodes made me realise PB was a character with her own internal battles, who was struggling with the responsibility to do what was right for her people vs what is the Right Thing, with her own psychological wellbeing caught in the middle. My interpretation of Goliad was that PB was a naturally neutral person who had decided to be good, whereas Goliad had been corrupted by Jake's anger, and this contrasted with Finn who was a pure good person. The Princess Cookie episode reinforced my ideas, because she was doing something that was neither objectively good or bad but was a result of her own morality, and it went against Jake's morality. The idea of the "good guys" having such different values was so engaging, and they managed to come around at the end, with baby-snaps being submitted to rehabilitation.

Princess Cookie was also the first episode where PB was shown to be an adult while a currently adult character was a child. Either candy people age quickly, or - more likely - Pb is keeping her age a mystery. After thinking about this, I opened up a page on the wiki forums saying "Is Princess Bubblegum Old?"

This is what sealed my position in the fandom. I became a well known regular of the community after that, on Wikia and then Tumblr. It was my first fandom. So many good memories of theories, debates, analysis and fanart, the satisfaction of my theories being confirmed in season 5 onwards.

The most important thing to me, about engaging with the AT community, was how those initial interactions around the LGBT content were the groundwork for me being comfortable coming out of the closet. If it wasn’t for that, if it wasn’t for speaking specifically to Thisfreemind and Illeity about how gay relationships are perfectly fine and healthy for kids to see, and no less clean than straight relationships, I might be a person with far more conservative views today, and I might have fallen out with several of my closeted friends over internalized homophobia.  

I would have also probably failed high school. My grades improved drastically over the next year, because my online community life had made me happier.  It was comfort and stability during a difficult couple of years. 

[tundrainafrica]

Why the recent chapters of Attack on Titan are still good

This is probably an unpopular opinion but I just need to rant because I saw a tumblr answer here where someone actually compared the current Attack on Titan Chapters to GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8? REALLY. 

As a victim of Game of Thrones season 8, I am so offended for Attack on Titan and for Isayama who is still doing a good job on delivering the story.

And a lot of my timeline really is a bubble of complaints with every new chapter released. They’re shitting on everyone dying and they’re shitting on the whole Eren killing everyone thing and so many female characters sidelined unfairly and Armin being tongued.

The Game of Thrones ending was an insult to its fans. It was lazy writing. Yams latest chapters were far GOT lazy and not a lot of what he is building up to here in the final chapters is unfounded or as illogical as Tyrion Lannister deciding that hiding people in a crypt is a good idea or Daenyrys deciding to burn down King’s Landing or Jamie Lannister going back to Circe and getting killed by rocks. 

To be honest, the only thing I still have issues with is Hange dying in such a fashion (which hasn’t even been completely confirmed yet because the Beast Titan thing can still happen.)

But anyway, I’m gonna go through the complaints I see everyone on my timeline make every time a new chapter comes out and why they were pretty logical developments to the story as painful as they were.

Eren being Crazy and Everyone dying in the Rumbling

I just recently finished a rewatch of Season 3 Attack on Titan and the rumbling has been set up since then. There was one quote where “If the walls are disturbed, Karl Fritz threatens to release the titans inside the walls and flatten the world” and this was mentioned so early into the show as Season 3. And what happened at the start of the show? Colossal titan smashes walls, Eren’s mother dies, Eren goes crazy, 9 years later he starts the rumbling. Very Logical. Not at all unfounded. In fact, hinting at the rumbling so early into the story is pretty genius story writing. Making Eren responsible for the rumbling, masterful writing and masterful progression too.

Armin being Tongued

I brought this up in a previous post already but tongueing Armin like that when they wanted to kidnap him was the most logical choice. You know what’s lazy writing? Or a plothole? Not tongueing Armin because that brings up the question of “Why didn’t Armin just bite his tongue to turn into the colossal titan?” 

Levi being Useless and Injured

Okay, We understand Levi was supposed to be built up to some big character. But Yo, he survived an explosion less than a week ago. Of course he wouldn’t be able to fight. And of course he’d start coughing blood and almost dying in the middle of the battle. Wouldn’t it be more of a plothole if Levi just started going beyblade against them? Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion but the fact that Yams still put a spotlight on the gravity of Levi’s injury felt far better for me than if Yams just set it aside and made Levi fight like normal. Because Levi shouldn’t be fighting like normal? Especially after being bed ridden the past 7 chapters.

 “I feel like he’s just being dragged around.” The manga isn’t over, Yams will let something play out. I have no idea what it is but Yams has plans for Levi and I’m pretty sure the plans will still be better than what happened to Jon Snow. 

Hange being dead

I’m probably just being a Beast Titan Theory Simp now but...  The manga isn’t over, Yams will let something play out. If Hange’s death isn’t further explained, this will definitely be a flaw in my book. 

Hisu being Pregnant

As painful as this was, it had been set up since before. Eren mentioned it multiple times that he did not want to tell anyone about the royal blood because he knew they were going to turn Historia into a baby mill which was exactly what happened. Eren Kruger said the same thing when they turned Dina Fritz into a titan.  The “unfair tratment” of Historia’s character is just the mastery of a Chekhov’s gun being shot and a beloved character being the victim.

Falco and Gabi being Overpowered?

Mikasa and Eren were pretty overpowered too in the first season as kids. This is probably an Anime only flaw but Eren should not have been able to beat Annie or Reiner with the limited training he had yet we still accept that as fact because yo why not. 

 And Falco and Gabi swooping in to take over a lot for them is setting up to be a bigger thing. Yams will not introduce kids as important characters if he did not have plans for them. Falco being the first flying titan has been set up since chapter 90 and really, what would be the point of it if he didn’t save their ass at least once right. 

The Final Battle is Being Dragged on for Too Long

So, I’m assuming you want a Game of Thrones-esque final battle where Gabi just swoops in and stabs him in the back and he dissipates into pieces like the NIght King which only lasts two episodes? And they decide to go back for the rest of the chapters and play Quidditch? The pacing is not at all bad. So far, I don’t see Isayama doing some asspull with what’s been happening. The ending will not be the happiest but we kinda should have expected that when the story started with a massacre in Shiganshina.

Why are people so surprised and offended that Yams is hurting their favorite characters? Why is what happens to our favorite characters the measure of whether or not something is trash. While I’m at it, why is how Isayama treats his characters a measure of whether or not Isayama is “messed up” or “trash” too? (Like seriously, can we put personal insults at the author out of this?)

The writing is flawed but it’s far from a mess. It’s still very tight. The progression is still very logical.  They literally introduced the show to us with a massacre in Shiganshina district and people have been dying left and right since the show started. Why are people so bothered about the blood and the gore in the finale and where their favorite characters are. Fine, we’re all attached. I’m bothered too. But why is what’s happening to the characters, a measure of whether a chapter is good or not? In fact, shouldn’t the final battle be that gory anyway? It would have just been a crazy disappointment if they tuned it down right?

It’s painful to watch our characters go through this but to be honest, at this rate, I honestly admire Isayama for having the courage to kill off and destroy characters like this left and right. In fact, the fact that Isayama is so willing to do these to his characters knowing they are fan favorites is a true testament to someone who writes for themselves more than anything and are completely faithful to their story. This is something which should actually be admired. 

The characters were not at all Game of Thrones levels of butchered. The characters developed like expected and they were set up in very ingenious ways. They all just became a victim to the circumstances laid out before them which have been set up a hundred chapters ago already.

So are the people who are complaining angry about the circumstances? But the current circumstances don’t necessarily mean the chapters and the quality of the story are trash right? 

So are they latest chapters trash? No they’re not. IN FACT THEY ARE SO FAR FROM GAME OF THRONES ENDING LEVEL TRASH. 

Are their circumstances trash? Yes. Their circumstances are trash. 

Is Isayama being lazy? To a degree.

 But mind you, it has not been confirmed yet how many more chapters there will be. Isayama admitted that he hadn’t even completely storyboarded the ending. The director of the anime and the editor still have no idea when Yams plans on ending it.

I have my own qualms and complaints about the ending too and where this is going but so far, I’m seeing a net positive quality wise. A lot of the complaints IMO are unfounded. 

The claim that AOT is reaching GOT levels of trash? Unfounded IMO

The claims that Isayama is fucked up, messed up an asshole over how he chooses to end his story. Completely unfounded. Why the hell are we attacking the creator over what and how he chooses to end his story? 

I know a lot of people probably won’t agree with me on this but genuinely I have been enjoying the latest chapters even with my favorite characters getting hurt left and right. The quality of the story is still good, Isayama still manages to tie up a lot of the loose ends. He still manages to keep a lot of his characters in character. 

Like all of you though, I’m praying the ending won’t disappoint. 

[peachchanvidel]

Tumblr is back on showing me Kyaliners to follow. NO. Leave. Me. Alone. So I go back to blocking them.

I don't want to see these shippers, esp. as so many are constantly screaming about 'being canon' (no, Kya is canonly gay, THAT'S IT) 'make them canon' (you have no idea what you are whining about, how restrictive it will become, what canon DOES to your ship to make it suddenly less appealing... stop crying for it. Bryke WILL fuck it up badly) 'they are wifes' (=________=" I'm too old for this shit) and then even mistagging whatever post possible (leave my Lin art alone, there is no Kya, even less Kyalin, so stop tagging it like that).

HERE is Linzin area. NO Kyalin, NO Pemzin.

Area FOR young Linzin, middle-aged Linzin, old Linzin. With kids, without kids. - They don't break up, they break up but get back together, whatever, I don't care, I ship them. Drama, no drama, floof, angst with happy ending, tropes, ALL THE TROPES.

I'm not sorry for not caring how Pema ends up 'dumped'; the kids will be fine; let Pemzin divorce properly. Why is it always Pema being tired of Tenzin first anyway or Pema dying. Imo Tenzin needed AIRBENDING kids and still had feelings for Lin and had to push them to the back for his duties against his actual wishes. Pema can find ways to handle her life afterwards just fine as well and they can co-parent and still be on good terms. I don't need her to be miserable, but her soulmate crap and in general how she was written was just so... ugh. Damn, I love housewife/mom characters, but they did her dirty and so no.. I can't ship that. That chemistry I see for Linzin I don't see for Pemzin and while I just go 'whatever' while rewatching canon... for fanworks I want smth else.

And does it always have to be back-up wife Lin for Tenzin as Pema wants smth new? Lin deserves better. So I rather ship Tenzin chosing Lin first. Pema can find her way after being dumped. Tenzin knows how to dump his women. Canon showed. I rather go with stories without Pema at all anyway.

That's it, that's the post.

In AtlA I multiship to hell and back when I see cute posts, but for LoK I'm so tired. At this point I think I only need the canon ships so Linzin can exist, for the rest I don't even care anymore.

I even hit the point to think what if Tenzin was Zuko's kid so there was no airbender mumbo jumbo trouble and he and Lin could just be together without the damn breeding issue. There are pros and cons about it and in general it's just a dumb idea. I feel like in FE•A and 'if' where the kids depend on one parent and change a small bit depending on the other one.

And some of my 'but this is not Linzin, WTH' ideas when my Linzin feels are a bit low because I saw too many miserable Lin contents (What is the appeal in her getting tortured like that all the time.. canon already sucks...?! Don't you want to fix things, why make it always WORSE, esp. with no happy end or one that's... not really happy at all... YOU JUST LOVE PAIN, DON'T YOU)

- Lin got dumped, says 'FUCK RC, I have nobody left here, Mom doesn't care about me being in the police either anyway', and joins the UF and ends up in Bumi's unit and also with him at some point. Whatever. And they end up getting married on the ship, and they have a (accident) kid before Tenzin and the kid will be an airbender. IN YOUR FACE TENZIN. (Bumi still has to suffer a lot for 'doing THAT to her' but they are... not.. unhappy... at all uwu)

- Or how the Krew timetravels back in time and to get back to the future via the portals they have to leave one of them behind. Mako stays, as he is the least attached to anybody and promises to find a way back (WELL.... they also can try the other way around)... and he stays undercover but joins the RCPD again.. and he ends up in Lin's team and has to watch her relationship with Tenzin and knows what will happen and he really wants save her from the heartbreak in a few years, also falling for her etc. He kind of manages that Lin realizes that it's either her ending it or Tenzin, so this time Lin ends it first. And she can move on a whole lot better. Also Mako has to realize.. he can safe his parents.. and Asami's mom.. but has no idea about consequences. Doesn't even know about THIS consequence with Linzin etc. But yeah.. pretty much Linko and once Lin is happy and could move on first. (If they get together and Mako starts revealing who he is, how his timeline was, what changed, depending on how much he could share... they could also have kids - and they just would have kids because Lin also WANTS kids, no pressure, no neglect, no worry about the wrong kind of bender etc etc. - the firebender and earth bender kombo would totally make Mako cry, because damn, he really misses his brother and nope, he hasn't found a way back. the past has no damn PORTAL YET)

Really, I multiship and I'm dumb and I hope you are all happy i'm not a writer, but I don't want to deal with annoying crap over and over in my TL. And I don't want to deal with negativity and feel the need to vent this often. I just want the positive input so I can draw my fanart and share it with the 5 people who like it.