#there were a few more moments but i'm mostly just erasing the episodes from my mind as i go

[eg515]

an unexpected development on s4 of The Umbrella Academy: someone watched a few too many episodes of The Boys

[variousqueerthings]

They were both Zygon and human at the same time / I spend an awful lot of time being kidnapped, tortured, shot at and exterminated, doesn't mean I like it

The Zygon Invasion/Inversion -- the Zygons are back and it's a direct continuation to the last Zygon episode, which I'm always a fan of. I think I'm probably slightly affected by not being a big fan of UNIT and this story is very UNIT heavy. I do like Osgood though, I think Osgood and to an extent Kate Stewart are indicators of different kinds of writing women that came around bit by bit in this era. I do think Osgood should be too smart not to doubt UNIT at this point, considering how flipping ineffectual at best they are! Anyway!

I continue down the lane of "not having taken notes for s9 RIP me"

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 6/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 9/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

I think these episodes are quite good -- they're not really for me and the things I enjoy about Doctor Who, but in order to have Osgood I have to watch big spy nonsense unfortunately. EDIT: I do enjoy them more now I've written a bit about them

OBJECTIFICATION: there is, once again, nothing that sticks out. in fact I'm not sure if anything sticks out for the rest of the season? genuinely think we're just good here?? correct me if I'm wrong, again, I really should've taken note RIP

PLOT-POINT: I think there's some interesting back and forth between Clara and her Zygon double, however I do notice that Clara is mostly there to forward her (their?) development, and isn't herself going through an emotional journey in this. there's this bit at the end where she's interacting with the Doctor and she's asking if there was a moment when he thought she was dead, and he says "longest month of my life" and again it's... it's good, but it's not Clara's feelings, it's Clara being there affecting someone else

Osgood, Kate, Zygella, they've all got some trajectory in this, some form of change or confirmation -- Osgood as someone who fundamentally resists violence and who bonded with her other self and continues to have these foundations making her able to work with the Doctor based around his way of doing things, Kate who initially doesn't do that/is very violence based just like in the previous Zygon episode, but is convinced to step away from the box, and Zygella who goes from wanting to destroy humanity to becoming the second Osgood

Clara does a few neat things in the plot, but it doesn't really revolve around her emotional complexity

COMPLEXITY: it's quite a simple plot on the whoooole, but I think there was some needless "now we're in America" stuff in it that I... I just don't enjoy Doctor Who in America, because it always uses America-as-place to piggyback off of genre-type TV that just doesn't feel like Doctor Who to me. the exception to this is Daleks in Manhatten to me, and no, I can't tell you why either. I'm sure if I thought about it I'd have a compelling reasoning, but it's a sleepy day on the whole

but yeah, otherwise. Zygons. they look like humans. they're trying to start a war by making humans lash out against the idea of aliens in their midst and the Doctor talks them out of it. actually I'm not 100% clear on how the Doctor talks them out of it, but the Doctor does talk very eloquently + I appreciate a plot that ultimately isn't solved with violence. I have some questions that may come up in the politics section around Zygon oppression and how the Doctor interacts with that as a scifi concept with very real life underpinnings, but that's not for this section

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: Zygons are still here. uh, UNIT still kinda sucks and a whole bunch of its soldiers got zapped, but also sometimes you come across characters too stupid to live, and honestly at this point that's every soldier in UNIT

the Doctor had a teaser of the idea of Clara dying and wasn't happy about it

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara does more in this episode! this despite being in a pod for a lot of it! (she also has some great outfits, but that's an aside) (I have clearly got a whole bee in my bonnet about how Clara is dressed as a character, maybe I should make a separate post about it at some point) (but this was great)

Clara inapod! VS Zygon Clara! I quite enjoyed all of that, I enjoyed Clara saving the Doctor's life by using her own smarts, I enjoyed her finding ways to communicate with the Doctor that she was alive, I enjoyed her getting Zygon!Clara to the base. I wish she maybe had a bit more to do after that, but this is a whooole lot more than Clara usually gets in an episode

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor gets shit wrong in this episode, Osgood notices things (like Clara being alive) that the Doctor doesn't, there's a whole bit of trial and error, I enjoyed that. it gets a bit more high and mighty at the end with the speech -- full disclosure I'm reading transcripts of the episodes as I go along, because I was silly enough to not take notes in the moment! (always take notes!)

and I do remember watching and going "oh is there something I missed" because the Doctor gets them there, declares that this is wrong, and the Zygon!Clara goes "oh yeah, you're right" and steps back <- it's more complicated speeching than that, but I'm not sure I quite understand the shift that happens in this moment. as a sleight of hand it doesn't quuiiiite work for me, even though I enjoy it

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's a whole bunch of references, as is standard with UNIT episodes -- lotta things I don't know yet, because I haven't reached it on my classic!who watch. that's the thing about UNIT. I may not like them much in the writing, but they are a great way to get a treasure trove of past lore references into a story. now make them villains cowards!

“SEXINESS”: again, I cannot recall anything on this front in this episode, and indeed, for the rest of the season. we may. be cured.

INTERNAL WORLD: I know, I know, the Doctor is "president of the world" so they can just fly a jet to New Mexico and then back to London in a jiffy, but I often think DW stretches itself waaay too thin when it tries these "big" spy drama type setups (I feel, btw, similarly unconvinced by that big UNIT avengers tower in the new special, but at least the action isn't actually led by them)

DW just doesn't do this kind of idk. American Action Drama type thing well, nor is that what I watch it for anyway. my suspension of disbelief is ohhhh so close to snapping!

POLITICS: okok so there's a few contrasting thoughts I have here. first of course, we love a story about non-violence, and we love a DW that's about peoplehood, in fact those are amongst some of my favourite. everyone is People. howeeever, this is where we get to the parts of the speechifying I'm not quite onboard with, which is that Zygon!Clara says "we've been treated like cattle"

and the Doctor basically says "so what" not because the episode is saying they should be second-class citizens, but because the Zygons currently have the power to start a war and have a revolution and it'll be bloody and awful and beget more violence, this is something I agree with. where I think there's a bit of a blip, is that I don't think the episode fully deals with the fact that Zygons are second-class citizens in the first place

I mean, firstly, it's not something I actually had much of a sense of was the driving force behind this want for war, but then I'd question the ideas of "Zygons need to stay undercover for the sake of peace" as a sort of "as long as you pass you're welcome" type situation and that is... I mean it's not quite so deep in this episode, but that's the thing, I think it should be that deep or else it comes off a bit weak

if you're dealing with a story about a people who have been oppressed, then the focus of that story can be "Do Not Try To Oppress Others In Turn," but I personally think it also needs to be more cognizant of the oppression in the first place

I think Osgood once again is a great addition to the story, in that she represents a future of co-existence that appears to be based in equality and non-violence -- if it were someone like Kate I would be waaay more wary of what this episode were trying to say at the end, but Kate gets her memory wiped, so we know what the Doctor -- at the end of the day -- thinks about her way of thinking and handling situations (Kate Stewart villain arc When)

but this is still a relatively highly rated point, I think a lot of its heart is in the right place, and although I don't like how UNIT is portrayed, it does seem to be saying "yeah they got it wrong" -- the fact that they continuously choose violence and it's continuously wrong throughout nu!who and the Doctor still works with them, is why I'm scratching my head

FULL RATING: 71/100 (if I can count….)

we're over halfway through the season now and it has been a consistently quite highly rated season. Clara still fails to take a centre stage, which as you know is my main Thing that I'll probably continue to gripe about, but while it did occasionally go a bit too hard on the soldiers and American Location Where We Can Conveniently Situate The Violence at the end of the day UNIT were not in the right

is it just me or is Osgood way more of a Companion type than Clara a lot of the time? I mean I get that she's not a Companion, because she seems to prefer being on earth and helping out there and she's very well-grounded in herself, but she's just so efficient. maybe a bit too fanboy and meta for me to ever have wanted to see her as a full-on Companion, but certainly enjoyable to me every time she's there

[princess-of-the-corner]

Oh, what are your headcanons/ideas for Caballeron?

Okay so it was like. A lot? A chunk of them were written before 'Daring Done?' I think but I kinda rolled with changing that episode to fit.

ANYWAY

So!

Caballeron and Daring first met in the archaeology department at college(both of them have a doctorate in the field). She was a year older and the two weren't really close but they were aware of each other's existence.

While Daring went straight into adventuring, Caballeron tried more usual archaeology and ended up as a professor himself.

However...

Archaeology is a bit unpopular and underfunded due to certain things. Namely that just. A chunk of history has been rewritten. Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony got the /best/ treatment of being just legend. Discord, Chrysalis and the Changelings, Sombra and the entire Crystal Empire, plus a lot of other stuff I'm adding to the Lore like other Immortals? All erased. No one's heard of any of it.

The Royal Family is aware, Celestia having lived through all that and her nieces and nephews learning family secrets. But at this point there's been so much rewritten and at the time Celestia thought it was better for the Kingdom if left forgotten, but now it's gone too far to turn back.

Except archaeologists dig that up. Because ancient artifacts would show that those things existed or mentioned them. But it goes so against the history and trying to say "hey this ancient carving indicates that there were several Immortals" when everyone /knows/ there's only Celestia and surely Celestia would've said something if she had a bunch of siblings, right?

haha....

So yeah very few Ponies have a genuine interest in archaeology and those that do usually become a bit disillusioned after a while.

This is what happened with Caballeron. He would find something on a dig, and then get it ignored. So why not do something with it and make some money for himself?

But he's not entirely disillusioned which is why he still teaches. But still.

Caballeron also doesn't.... He doesn't quite realize that some of the stuff he's selling are powerful and dangerous artifacts. Again, the Ponies have far too much faith in Celestia being able to keep track of and lock up any doomsday device. And he leaves after he gets paid for getting the thing, so he never sticks around to see Daring deal with the aftermath.

He does run into Daring again and while he offers to partner up, she thinks he's a villain and is also determined to work alone so she turns him down. They do keep up the Rivalmance though whenever they meet.

Caballeron finds out about Daring's books. A few of his students ask him about it since the character in the books match him directly. He's amused by Daring including him, even as a villain, but assumes that a majority of it is a work of fiction and Daring just used him for a few scenes. So he's like 'yeah I know the author and she put me in the book don't worry there's no doomsday artifacts haha'.

Eventually he gets roped into the rest of one of Daring's adventures and has a whole crisis of finding out the rest of the books are full real and also that he kinda had a hand in near world-destruction a few times. Daring's like 'My dude.... really??' but that does make a lot of his actions over the years make sense.

That shit kinda realigns your moral compass so he's not down for stealing in favor of random shady motherfuckers. But he does do regular stuff like Daring does now and if they happen to run into each other they actually mostly joke on the rivalry and work together more. The rivalry more comes into play at the end of 'who manages to run off with the treasure first?'.

Okay stepping away from direct archaeology for a moment:

At some point I decided that Caballeron and Filthy Rich were cousins. They're pretty close actually. Not as much as when they were kids because life got in the way, but he'll still pop around for birthdays and Hearth's Warming.

He is absolutely the 'fun uncle' to Diamond. Nice gifts and teaching the kid some badass skills behind her mom's back.

Speaking of. Caballeron definitely does not like Spoiled. He's never around often to really put his hoof on why she bothers him, plus she's nice because he brings great gifts at Hearth's Warming. But he is not surprised when Rich gets full custody in the divorce.

Since he's been to Ponyville, he's met Pinkie. And Pinkie is down to make friends with everyone so while he thinks she's a bit weird, he rolls with it. I think he's probably met AJ and Rarity in town before, but not in any capacity where they would recognize each other.

Caballeron was surprised to see her during the adventure in 'Daring Don't', but didn't really think much of it because. Well. It's. It's Pinkie. You don't question Pinkie.

This does lead to a bit of fun at some point when he's in town and Rainbow just sees him and fuckin tackles his ass.

Rainbow: "What the hell are you doing here???"

Caballeron: "Well happy Hearth's Warming to you too but what the fuck?"

Man is not the most observant when it comes to Ponies. So he totally never connected 'the rainbow-maned mare that helped Daring those few times' to 'Rainbow Dash the Wonderbolt and Element of Loyalty'. So that throws him for a fuckin loop.

But hey Daring says he's cool now and Dash has befriended worse so she's like 'okay it's chill."

He actually shows up at a great time because Twilight is actually kinda looking for an archaeologist pony to help her deal with everything in the old castle in Everfree.

She offers that and he's a little sus about it because that place is definitely full of historical things most ponies love to dismiss in his line of work. But that is exactly why Twilight wants to dig through the place. She confirms his suspicions about things being hidden purposely, and the Major Events happening have made even common ponies notice that fact. So they're gonna catalogue everything.

Caballeron actually loves the castle and its' traps. He makes part of the deal with Twilight be that he can bring his students there to practice dodging more dangerous ones in other places, because as of right now he just has a very home-alone-esque setup obstacle course but this is fantastic!

Also that one kid Petunia Paleo ends up his TA when she's older.

[mlrb9911]

MY ROMAN EMPIRE! I'm OK with quoting the answer.

1. Did you ponder the themes of the story as you listened? If the answer is yes, what would you say they were?

YES, after every episode. I knew they somehow would find each other, but near the ending. I thought Zed would had a fight with Guardian (about them not being able to give him more power) when both discover about Makarro's plan. For the other side of the story, I thought Darling will be forced to kill Makarro because he became a threat (and they were the only one that could be near him). Another one is that Makarro would erase Darling's memory, so they can have a new life without being tied to his crimes. Also, Zed would wake up anime protagonist powers at the end lol. But honestly, my favorite part was the moment everyone started to do theories for the next episode.

2. What did you think of the story unfolding through two separate perspectives?

I ADORE this kind of narratives when you know how to do it well. It shows how everything has more than one perspective and, even with this information, not always justifies the actions. Slowly dropping hints of their world being the same is brilliant when you want to create theories. The only problem is that it can be confusing at first who listener are you, but then you learn the difference in speech each listener receives from the other characters.

3. Did the series defy or subvert your expectations at any point? If yes, what were those moments, and how did you react to the subversion of your expectations?

Since the beginning because this was my first audio role play and I wasn't expecting a lot. The first moment was when Guardian was captured, because I thought they'll break free the next few chapters. Unexpectedly, they stay there until the end. But I understand it's because Guardian had to fight inner battles than outside battle. (I wasn't expecting Guardian to almost kill Makarro when they got free). The second one was when Makarro and Darling fight. Mostly because until that moment, we didn't see Darling being THAT opposed to the whole plan. They were on board with killing the Snake Titan but now they regret it. Another is everything related to the vampires. But what completely caught me off guard, is that Mak and Darling actually got to live together and away from all that mess.

I reacted with surprise, at that point I learned about GB's writing style and I was just hoping everyone being alive at the end lol. But I didn't reacted badly, I believe in the difference between looking for a story just to calm yourself (where everything is nice) and looking for a good story (where characters are allowed to make mistakes and grow from them). I had fully trust that even if everyone died, it would've been an amazing story.

The only downside I see (IN MY OPINION), it's that Darling didn't get as much growth as the others. With Guardian, it was easy to understand their inner demons and be forced into actually feeling what they've been running for years. Darling had many things it could be discussed (their feelings about family, betrayed, are they actually fit for the crown, they wanted the crown?, Makarro changing, being the "responsible" for his imprisonment, were they okay with this whole plan since the beginning, etc). Maybe I just didn't get it, but for me, Darling stayed almost the same throughout all the story, besides the moment they had their fight with Mak. But I still love Darling. Someone needed to stay somewhat calm despite everything.

I can say a lot more, but this is just to answer your questions.

Hi guys! I'm working on my first video essay, and it's going to be an in-depth analysis of Magic of the Heart seasons one and two by Good Boy Audios. I'm still in the research stage, but I want some insight from the audience! I want to include some commentary on the impact it had on listeners of the series. I want something a little more comprehensive than what's available in the comments, and don't want to just project my personal opinions. I have a few questions!

1. Did you ponder the themes of the story as you listened? If the answer is yes, what would you say they were?

2. What did you think of the story unfolding through two separate perspectives?

3. Did the series defy or subvert your expectations at any point? If yes, what were those moments, and how did you react to the subversion of your expectations?

Answer in comments/reblogs/dms/whatever. Let me know if you're OK with me quoting your answers in the video!

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[best-enemies]

ok. you know what. ill bite. what are your thoughts on the master

Oh anon I have neverending thoughts about the Master. Took me a few days to write but I'm having a day off work, thank god. Sorry this is a long one but you asked for it lol here we go:

One, I have this personal meta that there were multiple factors that made the Master evil, all due to a) things that happened to him, be that trauma, betrayal, etc. b) the environment he grew up in, as in the Time Lord society in general. A society that dismissed feelings as weaknesses and treated mistakes as if they made one unworthy of dignity and at the same time turned a blind eye when necessary and swoop their dirt under the rug with corruption and murder, something they didn't seem that bothered by.

By the way, what I'm saying doesn't erase the Master's actions, he's fully responsible by what he does (and he owns it proudly!) and I'm not condoning those things (I shouldn't have to clarify that but you know how it is with fandom lol). But I mention this because, if you need an example, just take a look at the first Doctor, especially during his first serials, and how he was willing to kill a caveman with a rock (oh if that rings a bell lol) and has made some pretty selfish/poor decisions. But he changed, and he was willing to change. I don't think he was a bad person within his core, but those traces were a reflection of his upbringing and his culture. He kept choosing to be a good person, and that's what drives him, while the Master keeps choosing to be a bad person.

What drives the Master to be like this? Why does death and chaos and destruction give him so much bliss, even though he knows he'll suffer the consequences and they're mostly negative? Did he find comfort in those things or did it become so addicting that, as per the scene in the Timeless Children episode, it is a way to calm all the rage he can't/doesn't want to deal with (and not even those things work anymore)?

By the way, Verayne - aka one of my all time favorite authors - wrote a scene in this fic where the Master and the Doctor talk about it in bed and it's my favorite moment of them in this story (and one of the best scenes I've ever read in fanfiction). By the way I recommend all of Verayne's stories, they're fantastic and give some great insight on their relationship, especially Tensimm.

The topic of the nature of the Master is something I LOVE to discuss about. I've been a fan of the show for a decade and it's like I keep unfolding this character more and more. He's that interesting.

Two, there was an interesting moment from the War Master's first boxset that still lives in my mind rent-free. I can't remember exactly which audio, but he says that he's an observer, someone who sees the universe the way it is, a realist. That line just gets me. It actually says a lot about the Master as a survivor. For me it's actually a better description of him than someone who's just 'evil'. He knows the universe can be a terrible place, has lived through the worst, and thinks that the Doctor is living an illusion, that he doesn't see reality the way it is. That the good he sees in people is fake. That may be a reflection of his own experiences (not what his approaches might have helped). Or maybe the Doctor isn't deluded - he's just trying to prove a point to himself. That he's good. I mean, he is trying to be good every day and that that is what matters, but I'm trying to see it through the Master's eyes here so don't give up on me lol.

He knows the Doctor is lying to himself. Here's my whole point: the reason the Master exists is because he's here to make the Doctor confront himself. He's been in the Doctor's life ever since they were kids, he knows the Doctor better than anyone else. He's seen his best and his worst.

By his worst, I mean the side that the Doctor doesn't show anyone else, like his companions and friends in general. All they've got is glimpses of it. And they won't like or approve that side of him. And the Doctor knows that.

And that's why he hides it. But the Master is here to expose that side and to tell him that he likes it. He wants the Doctor to accept that side of himself because it's the one that's most like the Master. The reason why the Doctor is different from anyone else in the universe, the reason why he's special, is because out of everybody, he's the one that's most like the Master. As the Twelfth Doctor puts it: "She’s the only person I’ve ever met who’s even remotely like me."

Identity is important. Seeing yourself in someone is important. Because the Master needs to be understood, and to be seen, and as the Lumiat put it, like every beast, he just wants to be loved. He doesn't think he's wrong in his ways. He doesn't want the Doctor to heal him, he wants to be loved the way he is, a monster, because he loves the monster in the Doctor as well. And the Doctor loves the good person inside the Master, the one he knows that's still there. I mean... there was good in Missy. But a huge part of that was her love for the Doctor. That's why she tried at all.

So we see how the Timeless Child thing hurt the Master. That was one aspect of it. One, was because the Master is proud, and that's his biggest capital sin. He believes that now, the Doctor is greater than him. Two, he thought that he had someone in the universe who was just like him, whom he shared a history with, so that there was something in his life that mattered. Their history mattered. But now he thinks it doesn't anymore, because the Doctor has had a history before him, and therefore he's just a spec of dust in the Doctor's life now, just like the humans, a passenger.

He throws that anger at the Doctor because the Doctor always thought of themselves as special (and in the Master's vision, he'd always thought he was more special than the Master too), and now it was true, and the Master feels like nothing. It hurts him deeply that, in his mind, he no longer holds the importance in the Doctor's life that the Doctor has in his. And I think that he's angry at his own feelings for the Doctor, perhaps blaming himself, but he can't help but try to attract the Doctor's attention at all costs, because he needs it, he's addicted and maybe she'll give it to him and he'll have some importance in her life. Maybe if he does something grand enough, if he's the one to kill the Doctor, it'll be worth it. He'll be the one to have killed the Timeless Child, the Doctor. Now imagine how much it hurt so that he asked her to kill him too, to die with him. Maybe that's how he figures they can finally be together. Who knows.

I added some tags to this post, which I very much agree with, with my words about how the Doctor can be very controlling about their relationship, trying to make the Master something he isn't so he can feel not guilty about loving him.

Aaand here's my thoughts about The Doctor Falls and the scene I believe to be the most important Thoschei moment.

I also wrote this about the Master and how his jealousy plays out in his feelings for the Doctor, and I mean not only by wanting him but wanting what he has.

Long story short: the Master is a romantic he just takes bad flirting to a whole different level (destroying galaxies to get his crush's attention)

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 1 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Miraculous Jewels

Alright! I promised you meta and now I deliver!

I feel like people mostly watch Miraculous for the romance these days. Shipping is all everyone cares about. I wonder why? Probably because writers themselves don't take their worldbuilding very seriously and because they don't put much effort into making the audience care about something other than Love Square, like the mythology behind the Miraculous, or motivations of the main villain, or some pretty heavy topics for a kid's show that they bring up and then refuse to touch again. You know, all the good things. And this is coming from someone who is a passionate multishipper. I have lived through several shipping wars in different fandoms and came out victorious after all.

I am probably the only person out there who cares about the big picture, the overall storyline and the worldbuilding of Miraculous in addition to all details and implications that could develop into fascinating plotlines relevant to the main story. It is a rather lonely fandom experience, I must confess. But, hey? Who cares? I am here to have fun and bring to the table discussions no one wants to have.

So, let's talk about the basics.

If you, as the writing team, are capable of keeping only 1 thing consistent, then please, I beg you, let it be the basic concepts of your universe. Because in this case, one has to actively put effort into writing characters and conflict resolutions badly. And also because nothing can save bad worldbuilding.

I don't have high worldbuilding standards for Miraculous. They certainly aren't as high as the ones I had for Legend of Korra (which was a badly written trainwreck, that ATLA doesn't deserve as a sequel) or the ones I currently have for Dragon Prince. Therefore I won't be too harsh in my criticisms. Granted, I think that Miraculous has better worldbuilding and lore consistency than Winx Club for example (I haven't seen the reboot yet, so writers might have fixed their worldbuilding at least a little bit). Even though I enjoyed Winx when I was younger and some elements of this story still attract me.

Both serialised and episodic shows as well as movies to the lesser extent must have some flexibility in worldbuilding and plot because you can never be 100% sure where your story is going. Maybe, you'll get money for more seasons, maybe not. However, you must never lose sight of your basic concepts. They have to stay the same no matter what, because rewriting lore and retconning major developments every new season is not and never will be called good writing.

Forgive me for using architectural metaphors, but you need a solid foundation to build any kind of structure. Otherwise, everything falls apart.

I like to apply this logic to writing as well. When designing a world where your story takes place, you must lay a few ground rules. It's especially important if you have a magic system. What kind of ideas absolutely must exist? What kind of conclusion do you want your story to have? Does your magic system has limitations? Where is the grey area? Could you introduce new elements later on?

And I feel like the writing team of Miraculous Ladybug did not ask these questions. This may feel like I am nit-picking canon material and looking for problems that simply aren't there, but I promise that I am not. You see, things that I am about to point out only seem small at first glance. But these details are actually the source of the largest plotholes in the series. And their presence negatively affects character development, conflicts and resolutions of said conflicts.

That doesn't mean that I have nothing good to say about the magic system of the show and its elements. There are a lot of great ideas and concepts. And some of them have the potential to contribute to the delightful story.

Let's dive right into it, shall we?

Camouflage

I have to give credit where it's due because the idea of camouflage and shapeshifting for Miraculouses is brilliant. It seems like Miraculous can't fundamentally change its type of jewellery or accessory. The ring will always be the ring but with a different ornament, colour or shape. This is true most of the time (Monkey Miraculous is an exception since it transformed into earplugs/headphones/headband/circlet) It makes sense and avoids plotholes. Grimoire doesn't have the pictures of each Miraculous in disguise for identity protection. That was very neat too. I have no comments. This concept was very good.

Also, since Marinette wore a nose ring of the Ox in "Kwamibuster" without any problem and Adrien wore Ladybug's earrings in "Reflekdoll", we can assume that you don't need to have piercings to wear a Miraculous. Miraculous just magically passes through your skin.

I'm interested to know the following. Can Kwamis recognise a camouflaged Miraculous on a person? Can the holder order them to confess the identity of this person? This shouldn't be possible for identity protection just like with Kwamis sensing each other. But more on that in later posts.

Power Levels

For a long time, we assume that there are only 7 Miraculouses. Turtle belongs to Master Fu, Gabriel has Butterfly and Peacock, Marinette and Adrien have Ladybug and Black Cat. Everything is pretty straightforward. Then it's revealed that there are more jewels and more boxes. It makes the worldbuilding interesting, but it also majorly complicates things, making them inconsistent.

Their position in the Miracle Box implies their power levels. Creation and destruction are the most powerful forces in existence, therefore they are at the top. Moreover, it makes this Box the most important, the most powerful out of all others. Su Han in "Furious Fu" calls it "Mother Miracle Box". Fox, Turtle, Bee, Butterfly and Peacock have less power than the main pair, but more than the Miraculous of the lower Zodiac tier (since they correspond with animals of the Chinese Zodiac).

1. Ladybug can create anything out of nothing (Lucky Charm, which gives what you need the most at the moment). This Miraculous can resurrect the dead, reverse the effects of the Cataclysm. The power of Miraculous Cure or Miraculous Ladybug can work in several ways:

it simply repairs the damage (puts stuff back together, heals injuries and so on)

it reverses time for the matter, restoring things back to the state they were before the destruction occurred (however, the Cure doesn't erase people's memories of everything that happened unless they were mind-controlled, frozen in place or transformed by Akuma into something else - this is an important point that I'll discuss some other time)

How does Miraculous Cure work when there are no supervillians? In NY Special Marinette just says this.

Excuse me, what? What was that? You can't do anything when the villain is gone? What the hell?

*insert here every scene where Ladybug fixed Paris after destroying akumatized/amokized object (this action causes the Akuma victim to detransform/sentimonster to disappear - villain is gone) and purifying butterfly and feather*

It was such cheap angst. I couldn't even be upset when Adrien gave up his Miraculous, because that whole situation is just stupid. But, never mind. We aren't talking about that today.

Apparently, Lucky Charm and Miraculous Cure only work when summoned to battle a specific villain. What is the point then? Huh? You can't tell me that Ladybug has the power of unlimited creation and then say that she can't repair the damage without a special Lucky Charm that was magically synchronised with specific big bad of the week.

Ladybug also can purify Akumas. It makes sense for Ladybug to have the ability to reverse the magic of less powerful Miraculous. But this power can't be applied universally. How does this power of reversal apply to different situations where there is no evil Butterfly holder? Can Ladybug reverse the magic of any Miraculous?

The unlimited power of creation introduced in season 4 ("Mr. Pidgeon 72") is another fascinating thing. On one hand, it's logical and proves the status of this Miraculous as the most powerful. On the other hand, by introducing this power, you have created a plothole. Look, Marinette can create the charm which repels Akumas. If Ladybug can create anything then what stops her from creating a tool for finding Hawkmoth (like special glasses for discovering identities or a compass)? I mean, the show says that the power of creation is unlimited, it means that the creation of such tool is possible.

2. Black Cat can destroy anything with Cataclysm, even other Miraculous. He can kill living things and turn them into ash, but not himself. This Miraculous is supposed to have other special abilities that we don't see. And they should be equal to powers of Ladybug, both in number and in potency. Unfortunately, after 3 seasons writers didn't give us anything. It makes laughable the idea of balance between Ladybug and Black Cat.

Now, to the second tier. These Miraculouses have a singular ability, but they need a second one to keep the power balanced between Zodiac and the main pair.

3. Butterfly creates champions with different superpowers. But how does the time limit of children work for Butterfly? In theory, the countdown should start right after the creation of the Akuma since for Ladybug and Chat Noir countdown starts after activation of their powers even if they don't use them. However, if the countdown of the Butterfly begins after Akuma creation then there's no point because the holder has to stay transformed to guide their champion. The charged butterfly won't have time to even grant powers before the transformation of the child-holder drops. This issue is never explored because Gabriel doesn't have a time limit. However, I feel like it should be addressed in flashbacks of past Butterfly holders for example.

This Miraculous should be less powerful than Ladybug and Black Cat. It's often not. Some Akumas are too overpowered. Stormy Weather can move the Earth away from the Sun, Timetagger can send people through time and jump through time as well, Chat Blanc destroyed the world with a single energy blast, Miraculer could steal powers of those more powerful than her by default. These are the most notable examples. One could argue that Chat Blanc was a different case. Hawkmoth simply gave the most powerful Miraculous a boost. However, we know that even without a holder (the wildest and the most powerful form of uncontrolled Miraculous magic) Plagg's Cataclysm can't destroy the universe just like that (he presumably wiped out dinosaurs and sunk Atlantis on his own without a holder). I think that the less powerful Miraculous (Butterfly) shouldn't be able to increase the power of destruction to such a degree and give Black Cat the power to destroy celestial bodies and galaxies.

Writers want us to see Hawkmoth as the formidable villain. But it's not easy because he is less powerful than your main heroes by default of your worldbuilding. Sometimes writers make the Butterfly more powerful than creation and destruction to raise the stakes, breaking the laws of their magic system. So, how do you solve this? Let Ladybug and Black Cat keep their status as the most powerful and instead of giving Hawkmoth more magical power, make him smarter, more cunning, inventive. Gabriel is a fashion designer, whose creativity makes him a very good Butterfly holder. He has a life full of experience, he knows much more about things than the main teenage characters. Catalyst was very interesting for this very reason. Gabriel sort of discovered a cheat code to boost his powers. Show us how he experiments with his powers, how he analyses his past Akumas and tries to find the most effective ones. Maybe Gabriel tries to design Akumas that can specifically neutralise Ladybug and Chat Noir. This exploration could also give writers an opportunity to explain how the powers of Butterfly work. Can he control the type of powers he grants? Can he control the appearance of Akumas? There are many things to be explored.

4. Peacock creates sentimonsters. I remember that fans were very disappointed when the power of the Peacock was revealed at the end of season 2. I was one of them. The concept of Amoks is far too similar to akumatized butterflies. Other Miraculouses have unique abilities and keywords for their powers, while Peacock just looks like Butterfly 2.0. That glowing mask effect just adds insult to injury.

You have to start by figuring out the powers of the Peacock in a normal situation. If a holder is a good person, then how does their power work? For example, make them related to sight (because of the "eye" pattern on feathers). Maybe, Peacock grants the ability to see the several possibilities of the future, but only a few minutes ahead. Maybe, this Miraculous gives you the ability to see through someone's eyes for a few minutes (and the victim is completely unaware of the intrusion). Perhaps, Peacock allows the holder to use feathers (or tiny peacocks) as cameras one at a time and be all-seeing. These feather-spies can be destroyed by the holder or disappear on their own after some time. Such power could be devastating when used against heroes in canon.

5. Bee can paralyze. This power is pretty straightforward. Once I read a fanfiction focused on very vell done Chloe Redemption, where she fights alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. Eventually, she grows and becomes a better person. This fic ends with an Akuma battle, where LB and CN are trapped and Akuma is ready to kill them. But Chloe uses a second power of the Bee on the villain - Miraculous Stinger. It's deadly both for the holder and for the victim (because bees die when they sting someone). Chloe kills the Akuma with a Stinger before it can get LB and CN, but she too dies making the ultimate irreversible sacrifice. I will add a link if I find it again.

6. Turtle can create a shield. I don't have much to say on this either. It feels underpowered compared to others in the second tier. Maybe Turtle can also slow down opponents (because turtles aren't the fasters animals out there).

7. Fox creates illusions and acts as their puppeteer. In order to create a balance between other powers, these illusions must hold for as long as the holder needs them to. I propose this mostly because we see that Venom of the Bee lasts very long, the shield of the Turtle lasts either until it's destroyed or the holder wants to remove it, same goes for Akumas and sentimonsters who disappear only when the holder wants them to or their affected object is destroyed.

Let's talk about Zodiac tier. Miraculous of the third tier shouldn't have the second ability like more powerful ones. These powers are the most inconsistent. Even if we haven't seen all of them yet.

8. Mouse can create many small clones of the holder. It is unclear how these clones communicate with each other and how many of them this Miraculous can create. The holder can control the number of clones. This power was very convenient in "Kwamibuster" and it makes sense symbolically for the mouse. What activates the time-limit for children? Marinette didn't have any problems with it when she became Multimouse.

9. Snake can create a 5-minute time loop and has the ability to come back in time. This Miraculous feels a bit overpowered for the Miraculous of the Zodiac Tier. The holder can reset the time as many times as he/she needs to. It's was a good source of drama and trauma in "Desperada". I was honestly surprised that Adrien was capable of fighting after spending months in a loop. But this doesn't change the fact that Snake is overpowered. You can give this Miraculous the power to hypnotise or keep the time ability but place a limit on the number of resets. How does the lyre work as a weapon? Who knows? No one!

10. Dragon can shapeshift into elements: water, wind and lightning. It has the coolest transformation words hands down (Bring the Storm and Open Sky). Apparently this Miraculous doesn't have the time limit.

11. Rabbit can time travel or jump through alternative realities, even writers aren't sure. Time-travel in this show is so badly written it gives me a headache. This Miraculous shouldn't exist just like its powers. Snake belongs to the same tier, but 5 minutes and whole centuries of time jumps aren't comparable in power levels. They are not and this is the hill I will die on. Give the Rabbit powers related to its symbolism in China like an ability to de-age people, heal them or give them a speed boost in contrast with Turtle who might have the ability to slow down.

This Miraculous is so special that its Kwami - Fluff can live separately from his Miraculous in a Miracle Box for millennia (Fluff lives in the Box in "Sandboy", but his Miraculous, pocket watch, was passed down for generations in Alix's family). This is a discussion for a separate post, however. There's a lot to unpack. We'll do that some other time. You will suffer with me but at a later date.

12. Horse can create portals. They could lead anywhere, which is pretty cool. On the other hand, this power is not very useful in direct combat, especially when it's used by a child since we can have only one portal per transformation.

13. Monkey can cause a malfunction in powers of other people. What is the point of this? This power was specifically created by writers to defeat Akuma in "Party Crasher". That's it. What if your target is not magical? How does this Miraculous work in different circumstances?

14. Pig shows people their greatest desire. Both the holder and the recipient of this power can see this desire. Chat Noir wasn't impressed in "Guiltrip" and neither was I. It's underpowered compared to other Miraculous in this tier. Also, why does the tambourine can shoot energy beams? Why?

That's all I have to say on the matter. I'll update the power analysis as needed.

[tomb-bloom-noctem]

Were there any episodes in season 3 where you felt they could've been written better? I'm only asking because I had some ideas I wanted to share with people about fixing them since, to me, the season started becoming a mess around The Phantom and the Sorceress. And the episodes don't need to be outright bad, there could just be parts in it you didn't like.

Oof. I've been a bit loud and obnoxious about certain episodes for sure 😅 I'll try to briefly sum up a few.

Also I'm just gonna say, some of these are just I don't like what they did rather than any huge fundamental problems like the finale.

Also disclaimer. This is not an attack on anyone who likes these episodes! Nobody has to agree with me! If you like these episodes cool! Glad you got something out of it! This is just Tombs being a nit pick loud mouth.

Rumble for Ragnarok

I can't complain too much about this one as it was still entertaining. Norse is part of my heritage and I'm a fan of the mythology which was on full display this episode. My only real issue this episode is that the message gets a little lost at least on me. And then two is I think out of all the episodes this one is the one that could absolutely be thrown out without losing anything really important. Trade this episode for something different. Something more important.

The Forbidden Fountain of the Forever Glades

Scrooge's behavior and leaving Webby in the jungle was painful to watch. (Much as I don't like the finale twist, the twist actually makes this episode worse.) [Also so much for Goldie's "fresh start" when in Split Sword of Swanstitine later showed she once again attempted to double cross Scrooge. Yeah. Fresh start. Totallyyyy.] Goldie is a fun character and I can't hate her too much. The episode has its merits and definitely still think this episode should be around but Scrooge's behavior here really kills me. Thankfully at the end he does better but ugh. It's low on the overall ranking for me based on how he behaves and treats Webby.

New Gods on the Block

I actually really love this episode but Storkules was pissing me off too much 😂 Nit pick for sure. I love this himbo but got dangit he was making me so mad. I get it was kinda important for the overall plot but come on we got so little Donsy content that it was frustrating that he was so intrusive.

The First Adventure

Nit picking again. I think it's kinda random how in the span of a few hours a hard ass like Scrooge went from "my obnoxious niece and nephew" to "my heirs and beloved family." I guess it's possible but not a fan of that kind of writing. For me it would make more sense that they had several adventures or at least more time with them before they became "his heirs" in his eyes. Extreme nit picking on my part though, the episode isn't bad at all really. Also no Hortense and Quackmore. Yes they were named. (Or she was) No we never got to see them. Rude! This was actually a really good episode though overall again I just have some minor nit picks.

The Fight for Castle McDuck

Okay this one is also kind of a nit pick but it's more like based on the episode's timing. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that Webby "Knower of all things Clan McDuck" has no idea that a family of Scots fights a lot. I can somewhat forgive it though as she's young and isn't as familiar with this side of the family in the flesh. But it's so weird how this late into the show we're seeing this?? I think I would have liked this episode more if it had popped up earlier into season 3 rather than so late? It just was a kinda weird episode and not the most enjoyable but the timing I think made it worse. Also the no mention of Hortense again. Referring to Matilda as the youngest when that's supposed to be Hortense? It's really not the worst episode. It just feels a bit off to me and again to me mostly the timing of it. Could have been better, could have been worse.

How Santa Stole Christmas

THROW THIS EPISODE INTO THE FUCKING GARBAGE. HATE HATE HATE IT. THIS ONE ACTUALLY MAKES ME RAGE.

This episode is actually worse for me than the finale. Literally I consider this episode the worst in the series. I just hate it!!!

I hate that this episode was about Scrooge and Santa. I really don't give a fuck why Scrooge hates Santa and this story in no way compelled me. (Also why was Scrooge and Santa's dialog weirdly shippy??? Thanks to this episode got another huge NOtp, "scranta" is gross, sorry, hate it. Absolutely cannot board that ship at all, I have the tag blocked.) I see absolutely no reason why this was the story we got when there was literally an option to follow up The Last Christmas now that Della was finally home????? MISSED OPPORTUNITY!!! I hate the weird crazy ass capitalist message going on throughout the episode, I get Scrooge is a capitalist himself but he didn't change from this episode? He walked away from Jennifer's obvious poverty life and went "ah as long as she's happy" instead of I don't know, maybe a message about helping the less fortunate??

Look maybe I'm just bitter from my own life. I've lived in extreme poverty my whole life. My parents home has literally looked so much liked the ruined place Jennifer lived in during the episode. And I live in Alaska so I KNOW COLD. I know how it feels to go cold for days on end, no food, no water, nothing. Extreme poverty. Scrooge could have done something. He wasn't like Donald who doesn't have much either. He's a freaking billionaire. He could have helped. And instead the message he walked away with is "if you're happy life is fine" or something. Whatever the message that was supposed to be from this episode is completely lost on me because all I see is a miserable rich old miser who hates letting kids have fun and won't help someone in need. Absolute garbage episode. I really wish they had instead just followed up on The Last Christmas. Or had some kind of family centric episode at least! I seriously fucking hate this episode so much. I would legit erase this episode if I could it is the WORST.

The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker

Nit pick again. Didn't love what they did with Kit. Okay I get the idea he grew up to idolize Baloo so he turned out more like him. It...wasn't great. Didn't like that much at all. Felt like they just tried to shove Kit into a DT87/DWD Launchpad mold. I didn't love that Baloo and Kit's relationship was mentioned weirdly casually? Like Kit called himself Baloo's sidekick??? Except in Talespin Kit calls him Papa Bear??? Also great, got another tag to block from this episode, the delkit ship. Not a fan, thanks.

Kinda weird for me with this episode I didn't really catch the meaning of it. To me it felt like the message was "defy expectations...by meeting them." It didn't really click and I kinda hated it for that plus the weird characterization of Kit. Actually I was on Twitter and someone was complaining about this episode and I responded in agreement and then FRANK REPLIED TO US 😅😅😅. Frank explained that the point was more of "if you're good at something, don't give it up" rather than "you can do anything you set your mind to" type message that appears a lot in kids media. (Also Frank please don't look at me when I'm criticizing the show 😂😂😂😂😭 I promise overall I do love it I'm just a loud mouth when I don't like something some times 😅)

After Frank explained that it did click a little better and I can see the message a bit more clearly. But I'm still not really in love with this episode like I wanted to be. I freaking love Talespin so that was a bummer. But as I've said a dozen times. I'm mostly nit picking my personal opinion.

The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck

Another one I wanted to like more than I actually did. And mostly this boils down to Louie having to apologize to Doofus when Doofus is the one who's like some wild sociopath or something. I get it Louie hasn't been completely innocent towards Doofus. He did try to use him and con him but Doofus flat out has tried to hold him captive and torture and even kill him. Doofus' sins outweigh Louie's. Louie having to apologize to prevent the tension and all just...feels like victim blaming? This one is harder for me to describe why I don't like it and I think others have explained it better than me. I think it could have been better if Louie AND Doofus both apologized and agreed to start over and let what happened between them before be water under the bridge. At least this way they're equals? Maybe it wouldn't have been the best fix but I feel it would have been better than Canon. This one I don't want to call a nit pick. This one feels like there is something fundamentally wrong with it but I struggle to explain. Mostly other than that though I think the episode was fine. A little weird that the karma court scale needed to be told the villains hearts rather than able to just know them (mostly looking at the Ma Beagle one here) but that part is more nit pick.

And finally...The Last Adventure

I have things I love about it. The individual character moments. The references and call backs. The music. This finale was clearly made with love and care.

But that damn Webby clone daughter thing twist changes things. I know some people say it doesn't but to me it does! I feel it messed with the family dynamic and the characters in a needless way. I feel it didn't add anything to but rather did take away from. I don't wanna say too much on it as there's already been so much talk on it so in keeping it brief- not a fan, didn't like, why the hell, no.

The thing with Bradford kinda threw me off too. His logic and insistence on not being a villain made him so interesting. He was truly a villain to rival Scrooge. Then in my opinion he was pushed into a weird middle ground. He didn't feel like he completely abandoned what he previously stood on but also didn't go full villain either? I get a villain like Bradford isn't easy. The writers have to truly bring their all for someone like him. But Bradford suddenly getting armor and the Split Sword and becoming a battling giant was kinda ????? inducing. Threw me for a bit of a loop. I probably need to watch this episode a few more times before I finally settle on where I sit with the Bradford thing but at least at this time I just feel kinda mixed on it. Maybe I missed something there.

Other nit picks from the finale. Donald's writing was a little weird, he sounded like he was going on vacation but then Della said he was moving out and Donald talked like "well you have the boys and Uncle Scrooge..." it just really sounds like he's leaving the family?????????? Especially at a time like this? Rude! I mean yes somebody please get this man a vacation but the writing here left me kinda confused and there is no reason Donald would ever just leave and act like "oh well their mom is back so my work here is done." Nope. DADnald for life.

Lena and Webby never getting shown to have made up after their fight. I imagine the giving June and May the friendship bracelets kinda implies it but come on. Even just a hug would have been good. Also...why are they giving up their friendship bracelets??? Confused, not a fan.

And also...in addition to the Clone twist, I really don't love that April, May, and June were all clones instead of Daisy's nieces. I really wanted to get to see them in the show and now I just feel like thanks I hate it! I admire the guts to make a twist like this and all but I really hate it.

Overall please let me say I LOVE Ducktales. The show as a whole to me is a huge important thing I love. This isn't an attack on anyone who likes these episodes. I am just once again being loud and obnoxious with my own opinions and nit picks and things I just would have liked to see or not see.

no idea if any of this rambling answers your question Anon but here you go. Hope it works.

[thesadchicken]

Can I ask what you don't like about the Voyager finale? Voyager is my favorite series and I don't Endgame is bad at all, but actually concludes the series and Janeway's Borg arc quite nicely. I mean, Seven/Chakotay came out of nowhere but that's about the one thing I find "wrong" about it. Your explanation can be brief! I'm just curious about your opinion.

Hello there! This is a very good question, thanks for asking 😄

But before I start I just want to say that I really don’t like being negative, especially because you told me you like the episode. I know how upsetting it can be when people talk trash about something you like, I personally am very sensitive when it comes to that, so I wouldn’t want to do it to other people. Everything I’m going to say is only my personal opinion and I sincerely hope I won’t upset anyone.

Okay, so there are a few reasons why I don’t like Endgame:

The plot. I think they spent too much time in the alternate universe, which ended up being erased. That felt a little useless to me. Why show us all the details of this universe if by the end of the episode you’re gonna tell us that it all literally never happened? (not that I’m ungrateful, that universe sucked imo lol) And from the moment Admiral Janeway sets foot on Voyager, she has basically already won. She brings everything with her. She holds Voyager’s salvation in the palm of her hand. Even the complications and problems that arise aren’t that difficult to overcome: she and Prime Universe Janeway quickly agree to sacrifice the Admiral and that’s that. (I do think the Janeway introspection scenes are beautiful, but there aren’t enough of them! We should have seen more of that, explored it a bit more!) Even with the Borg, it felt way too easy. This is the Borg we’re talking about. The most terrifying Star Trek villains and Janeway’s biggest enemy. She got rid of them just like that. Sure, her plan was clever and the Admiral had to sacrifice herself and all that, but the entire thing was not nearly as well-written as other episodes. Just think of Scorpion or Dark Frontier. That shit was EPIC. It just felt like the stakes weren’t as high, when in reality this is the climax of the entire show. They spent way too much time on world-building for a universe that was eventually erased.

The characters. We didn’t really get to see anyone do anything important. Even Prime Universe Janeway felt absent in this episode. Let’s be real, the Admiral did all the work. And what about the crew? They mostly just waited around. I wish they’d done something. They went through so much; they deserved to be the heroes of their own finale. Don’t get me wrong, I love Admiral Janeway, she’s badass but she’s not OUR Janeway. I wanted her and the crew to do more.

Everything was rushed. Everything happened way too quickly: the Janeway introspection scenes, the Admiral convincing her younger self, Miral’s birth, the moment they finally reach home… None of it is satisfying. The Borg are defeated quickly and silently. We barely get one shot of Voyager flying towards Earth. The only person showing any kind of emotion when they arrive is Harry. We don’t even get to see the character’s faces! We have no idea what their reaction is! We don’t get that grand “we made it!” scene, the crew (with the exception of Harry) don’t even look that happy to be home. Or maybe it’s just because we literally didn’t get to see any of them except for a few wide shots in low lighting.

The absolute nonsense that is Seven/Chakotay. And I’m not just saying this because I dislike the ship. Yeah they have 0 chemistry and have probably only spoken like twice during the entire show but there’s more to it than that. I’m not 100% sure about this but from what I understand it was the producers’ last attempt at “making Seven more human” (I heard they were actually planning on killing her off because she wasn’t “human enough”? But a lot of people--including the actors--complained so they ended up doing this instead). This implies she needs a love interest to make her “complete”. And both Seven and Chakotay are very out of character in this episode. I didn’t recognize them, it was like watching one of those episodes where aliens take control of their bodies or whatever. I can’t help but feel like the decision was less of an artistic choice and more of a The Attractive Female Character Needs Romance thing. And even if that weren’t the case, it’s still very bad writing.

Conclusion: the entire episode feels to me like everyone suddenly stopped caring. So many things don’t make sense, everything happens too quickly, and the plot is disappointing. We waited 7 seasons to see Janeway kick ass and get her crew home, to see the looks on their faces when they finally arrive, the satisfaction of seeing them work together as a team and then finally the reward, green green Earth, waiting for them, beautiful as ever. 

What we got instead was dry and unemotional. We were robbed of seeing the crew earn their return home. We weren’t shown their reactions. Every important plot point was rushed. 

On a more personal note, I would’ve loved it if the show had come full circle, with the female Caretaker coming back to finally send them home. I feel like the Caretaker arc had so much more to offer, there was so much mystery surrounding them. It would’ve made an interesting, satisfying finale. But this is really a question of personal taste.

So yeah. Those are the reasons why I don’t like Endgame.