#there’s a lot of good storyline in there

[cafeleningrad]

Mel was so perfectly emblematic for Piltover's issues as well as it's potentials, that her storyline collapsed the moment the writers chose to abandon the central conflict of class warfare for... the militaristic a idea that the real comradery lies in beating up a common enemy.

Every character in season 1 was so well written since they were tied to the class conflict. From the trauma on the children growing up in Zaun getting brutalized by Piltover forces one way or another, Jayce's naivety and lack of understanding straying away from the utilitarian vision her shared with Viktor, etc. Mel herself presents a delightfully complex position: She's an outsider. Piltover his her exile ground to prove her mother wrong in every way: Diplomacy, information, negotiation, and human creation (which Zaun and Piltover both stand for as "city of progress" and what makes Piltover so unique and prosperous) are actually as good, if not better to built and keep a functional society intact. And as we see in her flashback, she's genuinely merciful, to some extend trusting in the captured princess to overcome conflict, and finding peaceful compromise. Mel might seem poised but she's also kind, and does believe in the potential of people working together towards a better future. (Hint, hint, Piltover and Zaun ideals into which she fits in, even as an outisder.) Her personality and values are directly opposed to Ambessa's mercilessness, her black and white thinking of victor towering over crushed opponent. Mel thinks there're more possibilities than Ambessa's very narrow, brutal methods.

After all, it's Mel who's one of the first who sees the positive potential in Hextec. Even though Piltover is a strategical ground for her, this place, it's growth, and peace being maintained are serious to her.

She's certainly not flawless. She instigates Heimerdinger's expulsion from the council in a long game. Progress at any cost, with no consideration of it's consequences. Why would Mel be this reckless? Because as Mel's background informs her biggest asset of political saviness and social capital to start in Piltover form a high political position, she was raised a princess, the next heir to Ambessa after Kino - it is also her biggest weakness. She neither knows not is is really interested in life in Zaun, as it's shown in her mostly ignoring Viktor when they converse. The material and social disparity between Zaun and Piltover are a massive blindspot of hers until the conflict becomes impossible to ignore. To a degree Mel is in the same position as she was in Noxus. Again she's part of the leader ship of a force that is oppressing another region with material and military means. But this time, along with the fact that she knows how to play the council into agreeing with her ideas, she is in the role of leadership to apply her methods. In a way, she can afford diplomacy as a method as she's wealthy, and -in case of need- secured by the Enforcers. She isn't under the same pressure of health, and daily worries as many Zaunites are. Granted there're a lot of factors she can't control like Silco's agenda, or vital information about Zaun have long been held under cover.

Mel's journey was to expand her views towards those she wants to make peace via her methods. Having her understand the plight of Zaun, navigating a conflict in which she would avoid using Piltover's military force at any cost in spite of escalating tension would've been so deeply interesting. Mel proving Ambessa wrong by presenting a leadership with mercy and value for the lives of others would've been a truly impressive achievement.

Heck, she even takes off her Noxus ring when voting for Zaun's independence as symbol how she wants to leave it's ideology and values behind. She doesn't care about the worthiness for the Medarda name anymore. Mel becoming a fighter in S02 (pardon, mage, but it's actually combat skills with golden laser beams), and being told to be a wolf is betraying all the best qualities and goals Mel presented.

My problem with Mel’s arc is that it focuses on defeating Ambessa (in combat) rather than politics. Ambessa was not who Mel needed to physically defeat, but someone she needed to ideologically defeat. And we don’t see any of that. By the time Ambessa calls Mel “the wolf” it’s hollow, because it’s about Mel being a more powerful combatant than a wise ruler. In this moment, her “foxness” is about how she figured out the “deception” of the Black Rose and not how she outmaneuvered her mother politically. Perhaps it would be epic if we knew what the fuck she meant by “I see your face deceiver!” and then super sayan-ing out of nowhere. Her not having mercy on her mother is about being a Medarda, a question that wasn’t the focus of season 1, merely a catalyst. Becoming a Medarda was the goal Mel had, not the need. She needed to learn how to rule. Instead, she learns how to kill. And then she’s off to her home in Noxus as more of a soldier and spy than a queen. 

Which likely means two things:

-S2 got bored of Mel and just gave her cool reflective powers to make up for it. Making every interesting development about her character happen off-screen, in the writers room, or on another show.

-S2 was deliberately trying to communicate that it sided with Ambessa. That violence and combat, war, is not merely a failure of state craft, but necessary or inevitable to political growth. That militarism is the only thing that can answer militarism. That the only way to ensure the progress you make is secure is arming yourself. Even though this topic has some grey areas, Arcane explicitly picks a side by narratively using Ambessa to justify Piltover’s weaponization of hextech.

i know fandom has a lot to say about Mel being a “strong-black woman” character, but as a black woman myself, I hated how they stripped her of what made her such a strong, enigmatic presence in S1. Her prowess, her wit and cleverness. Her sheer intellectual power made her so FORMIDABLE.

She’s just a lost, hurt uwu little puppy for most of S2 before she’s given her US government assigned Avengers superhero uniform.

I miss when Mel hated her mother and knew she couldn’t plead with her like an adult. Mel in Act I was already using Lest to spy and we almost got a good story then—POOF!—Black Rose.

If I was to give my entire review for Arcane in one sentence it would be this: What was the point?

[impactrueno]

i gotta keep my mind off the current political situation in my country so i've been thinking a lot about this stupid little timeskip au that keeps growing more and more in my head

i can only draw so many comics.......i might have to give prose a try

i want to keep working on the comic finale but i've been feeling kind of exhausted and saving my energy to chip away at my commissions. and these outfit designs i suppose. those are more of a stress reliever though, i really enjoy drawing those

so naturally i wanna come up with storylines and situations where i can put those designs to good use lol

it helps that lydia is a famous fashion designer and the deetzes are pretty well off to begin with, so these two things already make it so easy to run into situations where a fancy outfit is needed. i thought of lydia having to attend a fundraising event, and when she tells beetlejuice about it he immediately goes kaching dollar sign eyes, thinking of holding his own fundraiser event in the neitherworld. a la Smell-A-Thon. your typical beetlejuice episode formula lol

neitherworld met gala (melt gala?) or an event with a red carpet (dead carpet? blood red carpet?) prince vince hosting a depressing royal ball, going to the opera (to see the phantom of course)

all of this...because i want to draw cool dresses and suits lol

[will80sbyers]

hi!!💖 i am a mileven but im not here to attack. actually i have a question... why does it seem surreal to you that will can’t fall in love with anyone other than mike? i mean, the same could be for el or mike, but why do you think that will in his life can only love him? do you think thats impossible for him meet someone and learn to know them over time and fall in love with them?

well, if byler is endgame i’ll be happy anyway, cause it means that el deserves better and i accept that, but you can’t accept will going on?

i just want to understand :(

Hi, if you're truly curious the point is that it's not about what I want or don't want to accept... The point is that Stranger Things is a TV show

the TV show is being written by writers that have created storylines and put visual hints on the screen for people to interpret, what they have written into the show is in my opinion pointing towards Mike and Will being written as a slow burn love story rather than just an "unrequited love" storyline

The way they have written Will's love for Mike is as true love is written, and you can't dismiss it in a story, especially not in the last season at the last second by giving him a random boyfriend that hasn't had any real care put into their character either because it would be someone that appears for what 5 minutes? If they wanted to give him a boyfriend other than Mike they should have written him in season 4 and slowly built it up from there, but they didn't 🤷

What the people that want Will to have a last minute boyfriend or that want Will to just "get over Mike" are saying is that they are okay with bad writing for Will's storyline (because they simply don't care about Will!)

On the opposite side instead we have El with a character arc where her leaving Mike fits perfectly, so her story (hopefully they don't actually kill her like people are telling me) would be still good even if she wasn't in a relationship with Mike, actually it would be better because she would be a PROTAGONIST woman that doesn't need to end the story by being coupled up! For El, Byler would be equally positive... Instead how they have written Will's love for Mike makes it so that Will "moving on" is just not credible!

If you're interested in reading more about my reasons to ship them (outside of me finding them adorable obviously)

Have a nice day, I hope this was helpful to understand where we're coming from! 🫶

[thungerstorm]

i have to go with the mhach series from hw, personally. leofard, cait sith, radlia, the dread and wonder that seeing the void ark floating in the sea of clouds for the first time...damn. nothing since has surpassed that level of adventure and awe for me. i LOVED the storyline and all of the fights were fun if not also challenging (at the time. diabolos especially could be very demanding). void ark's pacing and fights are good. weeping city's boss fights are literally all bangers. ozma! calofistieri!! OZMA!!!! dun scaith is an absolute fucking delight visually. the eyeball roses just before scathach's room, and that room itself...holy fuck dude. and then diab's room and all the cool shit that goes along w that fight. and then you got to go to the redbills' floating base and walk around and talk to some of the crew! it's the best. did i mention caith sith is there.

2. ivalice probs. great fights, fun visuals, engaging. i did not know much abt ff tactics before entering but war of the lion is literally kyojin's/my partner's favourite ff property so i got the full rundown as we went through and i am so, so grateful for that. knowing who ramza and delita were made that whole raid so much more special for me. also thunder god cid's fight is fucking awesome. and agrias. and mustadio. and fran is there!! i need to finish ff12.

3. myths of the realm, i think. beautiful raid, fights were (for the most part) a lot of fun and engaging but approachable, but mostly tbh? the fucking music. in that raid. i'm obsessed w llymlaen's and nophica's songs, the most. also the plot is really fucking cool when you sit down and think abt what really happened and what that means for eorzea down the road.

4. crystal tower :P it's age shows so badly, which is a shame, because i still think the story holds up so well. it's still a visual treat- every wing in that raid is so colourful and has such a classic video game vibe. the fights are very meh, again owing to it's age. you can definitely tell it was their first raid series. still fun. i love angra mainyu and amon especially.

5. yorha, just because i don't know much about the nier story and it wasn't any kind of meaningful to me as a result. i know some basics because i have played a bit of automata and friends have given me the coles notes version of the narrative and themes, but wasn't enough to make me care. i enjoyed some of the visuals (running around in the space station was cool) and some of the fights are fun, but it's an easy last place for me so far

i have no idea what echoes of vana'diel will be like, but the first wing has been fun so far. i love the first fight. i hate the other two. (2nd boss is A Lot of movement as a melee who has some kind of interest in hitting positionals and 3rd boss is just. annoying. the floor aoes confuse and irritate me.) the story, for now, is a nothingburger because i did not play much of any of ff11 and have no emotional ties to any of it. none of this means anything to me. maybe if we go to bastok? idk. at least bakool ja ja is there :)

sorry for long post!

[thefirstknife]

I wasn't aware of the discussions around Eramis being that rancid, personally (although I tend not to look at online discussion around media in general, thanks to how skin-deep at best much of it tends to be).

But the way you've talked about it makes me wonder how much of the people complaining about Eramis's character development are coming at it from a dislike of the idea of that redemption being a thing at all- the perspective that Doing Bad Things makes someone A Bad Person who can no longer be A Good Person, essentially. Seems like that mentality has grown... if not more common, at least louder, over time.

(Although your comment about not seeing why they'd 'pull a shocking twist for the sake of pulling a shocking twist to spite the audience' is a little funny in a sad way, considering how many people seem to think "outwit the audience and surprise them" is more important than "tell a coherent story as well as possible", even changing things if a twist is leaked, even if whatever they change it to makes no damn sense.)

It's really bad out there and it's strange for the exact reason you listed, because the same communities have previously entertained redemption ideas about characters like Calus and even Clovis; characters who have never expressed any wish to change or any beliefs that they may be in the wrong, no regrets and no remorse for what they've done.

So I can't even figure out if this with Eramis is about not wanting redemption stories. I think it's more about Eramis herself; not only is she a female character, but she's very largely and easily misunderstood. A lot of people's interaction with Beyond Light was... not entirely invested (a lot of the community was at the time mad about vaulting and hated everything new on principle), and her other storylines are in seasonal content that's gone now and that was almost universally hated; she was brought back in Plunder and then reappeared briefly in Defiance. A lot of people approached her from the get-go as "just some villain we will kill in the campaign" and then that didn't happen and these people were confused because they never paid any attention to her story. And then by the end of it, it just kinda slipped them by.

I don't know honestly. I may be overthinking it, but I definitely think that a lack of understanding of her story plays a huge role. Whether that's because they missed her story or just didn't pay attention to it or just had no interest in it - and nobody online they interact with offered any insight into her character (lore youtube) - they just don't get what's the fuss and they don't care about her. Some might say this is because the game didn't make people want to care, but I simply disagree. While I enjoy Eliksni stories, they're by far not at the top of my list of favourite things in Destiny so I don't have any special attachment to Eliksni characters, I didn't know Eramis before BL and I was never a diehard fan of her, but I understood her story and what they wanted to do with her for the past 4 years.

And I was happy that she got her character arc completed as was intended. I saw where it was going and this solution is the only one that made sense to me. So I don't think the whole "the game didn't make me care enough because it was badly set up" really holds water. The game can't put thoughts into your brain, sometimes you have to actually think about characters for yourself. Like, we shouldn't have to be spoon-fed that hard. Her arc and the setup was clear and it was written into the game's story, a lot of it even outside of lore books ("It was just in the lore books!" is a major complaint a lot of the time, and one I personally find baffling. You're in the Lore Books The Game. If you don't like lore being in lore books, you're in the wrong place).

We could honestly discuss this to no end, and everyone who dislikes Eramis or the conclusion to her story would probably have a different reason for it, or there would at least be a couple of them, not wanting redemption included. Could also be a combination - not understanding her story will lead a lot of people to think that her being redeemed makes no sense and that it wasn't supposed to happen.

I think it's also a case of people having a really hard time understanding that a character can be our ally while still hating our guts. I've seen plenty of comments from people saying they're annoyed about Eramis constantly being antagonistic towards us. This is baffling to me, because again, it makes sense that she doesn't like us. And it would be bizarre if all Eliksni were now suddenly fans of humanity like a hivemind. Some will never like us. This is good. They will still help us because there's bigger fish to fry, but they don't have to like us.

Eramis was a delight this episode to me and she was a really interesting character. She wasn't a huge deal overall and some of her story was fairly on the sidelines, but she was a very unique "villain" and antagonist to us since she was introduced and I think that her character arc was very well done all things considered. This amount of resistance and dislike for her from the wider community is something I simply can't see as anything other than a lack of understanding of the story (personal reasons and stuff like "I get it, I just don't really care that much" not included).

[supervisormeero]

Syril Appreciation, Part 2: On Syril Karn & Redemption

It's still Syril Appreciation Day (SAD) over at @andorshitdaily, so I'm going to go ahead and create yet another lengthy text post about one of the saddest, most pathetic men in Star Wars. The reason for this is that my other lengthy text post about one of the saddest, most pathetic men in Star Wars would've been too long if I'd continued it, so now I'm posting two lengthy text posts. When they're combined, they'll create a whole novel. Anyway—

I've heard and been part of a lot of discussion over hiatus about the subject of Syril Karn getting a "redemption arc," and whether or not turning Rebel is his ultimate destiny in Season 2. As I said in my other post, I'm 50-50 on it. Over the years, Star Wars has conditioned many of us to believe that the "less evil" or "conflicted" Imperials have a shot at turning good. Frequently, they do. We've seen those storylines play out over and over again, perhaps most notably when placed in direct parallel to Syril, with Alexsandr Kallus. We aren't set up to believe Dedra might switch sides, because the writing paints her as unrepentantly devoted to the mission and everything it calls for. The writers call out, through Bix, that Dedra enjoys the darker aspects of her work. She revels in the torture, the arrogantly delivered threats, and the bleeding Rebels dry. In that way, we are told — without being told — that Dedra won't turn from her path. She's Imperial, through and through. Her sole mission is to save the Empire from itself, and she'll do so by any means necessary.

In contrast, because Season 1 spends so much time devoting itself to showing Syril's turmoil and pain in his home life, we don't get that with him. We know he's Imperial because, obviously, he's made it his life's mission to rise through the Imperial ranks. We see him desperate and striving for more, determined to get into the ISB, yearning to assist Dedra in her investigation into Axis and Cassian Andor. The writing makes no secret of the fact that Syril Karn is a man with ambitions, and those ambitions are Imperial. It also continually highlights his connection with Dedra, whatever direction that's destined to take; the first official image we got of him in Season 2 is him meeting with her in the ISB conference room. So, while Season 1 does unflinchingly frame Syril as Imperial, it holds back on framing him as devoted to everything the Empire stands for. It doesn't frame him as approving or supportive of Imperial violence or torture, as it does for Dedra.

What does this mean for his future, and his chances of redemption? It depends on which path the writers choose to take with his character, I think. On one hand, because Syril's not been exposed to the "darker" side of the Empire (at least that we know of), he might be in for a rude awakening over the next five years. We see him believing fully in the Empire because the Empire is law, and his central guiding principle seems to be that law and order are always true, that justice is always just, and that if everyone followed the rules, there would be no trouble in the galaxy. We, as viewers, know this is incorrect... but at this point, Syril doesn't seem to. Throughout the next five years in his story, either through gaining an understanding of what Dedra actually does for the Empire or through time spent on Ghorman before the massacre, it's possible he will come to question some of his beliefs. Is it really just to execute a crowd of peaceful protestors? Is the use of Gorst's recordings ever justifiable, from a moral sense? If Syril sat in on one of Dedra's interrogations and saw the agony and terror in that poor Rebel's eyes, would he still hold her up as his beacon of light and hope?

At this point, we don't know. The biggest tally in the "redemption arc" column is, in my opinion, that Syril's main motivation isn't necessarily getting promoted and rising to the top of the Imperial ladder: it's being loved. That's where he differs from Dedra. Where she only wants complete order and (potentially) power, he wants someone to believe in him and tell him he's done a good job — he never got that unconditional affection from Eedy, and he's still searching for it in the only way he knows how: by being good at his job. Will he eventually realize he can't find that within the Imperial structure and turn to join the Rebels? Potentially. It's also possible he keeps searching for it within the Empire to the point where that endless search dooms him, and he never understands that the Empire is indifferent to him until it's too late for him to do anything but die in its service. If his Imperial beliefs are too engrained in him, it's possible he really will think that what Dedra does is for the greater good, and that what we know will happen on Ghorman needed to happen.

If that's the case, though, and he's never meant to be conflicted, why bother sending him to Ghorman? The fact that he's seemingly being set up to spend significant time on the planet leads me to believe we'll at least see him grapple with his Imperial faith and devotion to Dedra — otherwise, he could've stayed on Coruscant. That said, I'm not necessarily a complete believer in him turning around and helping the Rebels, either; I don't know that I can see him following Kallus' route. Perhaps if he has a vaguely similar trajectory to Lieutenant Gorn and the Ghorman people show him kindness only for him to watch in horror as they're all killed in front of him, he could "lose his taste for the Empire." I've also wondered, based on a prediction of @hegodamask's, whether he might play a role in Lonni's execution only to then find that, whoopsie, Lonni had a family, and that sits heavily on Syril's conscience. Or both of those things happen. There's more than enough time in a 12-episode season.

My ultimate prediction is that if Syril lives to see the show's final arc and doesn't die on Ghorman, we might see him step back from all of it and side with neither the Empire nor the Rebellion. Just because he doesn't believe in the Empire doesn't mean he'll support the Rebels. I could see him losing faith in all of it to the point where, in his final episode, he comes face-to-face with Cassian again... and he lets him go. @hegodamask also had the thought that he might get promoted post-Ghorman to a supervisory role within the ISB, thus getting what he'd always wanted, only to find it hollow now after he's seen what the Empire stands for. I guess he could also die a last-minute redemptive death, although I'd really rather he didn't. I think Andor will treat him with more complexity than that.

So, do I think Syril will be 100% redeemed? I think it's more complicated than that. Star Wars has a habit of "redeeming" its villains, and if Syril descends farther and farther into the Empire as Cassian commits to the Rebellion, a no-redemption storyline could make sense. It could also be oddly fresh, considering the sheer number of redeemed Imperials in this franchise. Regardless, I trust Tony Gilroy and his writing team, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Syril's story ends.

I'd prefer it if he didn't die, though. The galaxy needs those pretty blue eyes.

[lovelizards]

Lizard's Whump Blog Masterlist

I am an adult lizard, and I write stories and draw things. 

Please call me Lizard, I use she/her pronouns, and I have a lot of anxieties. 

I'm not very good at socialising, so I haven’t introduced myself before, but here you’ll find links to all of my ongoing whump storylines to make it easy for you to get right into it. 

I mostly write medieval fantasy whump, with lesbians/queer folk and I do sketches to go with each story. I dabble in nsfwhump, but I always tag very thoroughly to try and make sure everyone is well warned in advance.

I tag asks and non-story text posts in #lovelizard tag, so if you dont like seeing them you know how to remove them.

Each of my story posts has a ‘Previous’ and ’Next’ link at the bottom so you can easily navigate them chronologically. I will link the first post of each story here for you to start out.

Sometimes I draw non-whump things, and sometimes I'll open art requests for your OCs. I also have plans to do free YCH art raffles and things like that in the future.

I'm always happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you for reading and enjoying my works, and thank you for welcoming me warmly into the whump community!

WHUMP STORYLINES

Waiting For You

This story is about Iska, an angry and abrasive young mage who is captured, tortured, and experimented on - and Meres, the weak-willed right-hand man of the whumper - who must work together to escape their situations, and search for freedom and happiness together.

Start Reading Here

A Long Way Home

This story focuses on Opal, a gentle dwarf woman, who is kidnapped to be sold on the non-human market, and her struggles and suffering as she desperately tries to return home.

Start Reading Here

Gone Rogue

This story is about Whynne, who gets caught and separated from her adventuring party, and then used as bait to lure them all to their doom and captivity, serving under an evil deity-like being.

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains noncon and nsfwhump themes

Start Reading Here

Learn to Love Again

This story is about Athena, a winged woman who was held captive in a tower for most of her existence, and Locke, the butch lesbian who rescued her, travelling together and learning how to live and love.

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains graphic noncon and nsfwhump themes

Start Reading here

Forlorn as the Flowers

This story focuses on Lady Iris, a young noblewoman and daughter of a baron and Mabel, her closest friend, the daughter of a knight. Iris' father is in heavy debt to the son of the ruling lord, and he makes both of their lives hell while they just try to survive. 

Start Reading Here

[teradul]

I don't feel like a show on Noxus/Ionia can't go back in the timeline, but I do feel like it will be assumed it does come next unless the show itself makes clear that it isn't.

And those option are kinda weird. The least invasive option would be to bring in either Kino or Ambessa, as they both are dead character that could appear there, but that brings in expectations that they'll be key players here, even if they're just there to establish a timeline. Great if you wanna use them, terrible if you think you already have a lot of plates going on.

The second one is to have characters discuss the rebellion we see on the flashback of Arcane and make sure that you make clear it is the past one, which could be somewhat clunky and it'll definitely be the kind of thing that people will say "I don't get that, I didn't see the other show." and maybe even bounce off of because it can feel like homework, but could be done.

And I don't really think that either of these options are worth the hassle when the payoff is to have a timeline that is crowded by virtue of things that you're no longer bound by (the comic-book-like approach of several artists working on "present day" concurrent storylines)

I just think it is much, much better if they allow themselves to expand the timeline of the events. We see the Black Rose being kinda backed into a corner, so we could see this as the reason they pushed Darkwill into invading in the first place, and that kind of carelessness is what tips off Swain to their existance and makes so they have to make a calculated sacrifice and everything in that plot structure just flows well.

I also think commiting to this longer timeline is good for the people in the know as well. On Noxus alone, working pre-invasion of Ionia means we could explore things that haven't been deeply explored, like Annie's and Rell's mothers and their relationship with the Black Rose, young Talon, Katarina and Cassiopeia. Urgot, before all of the shit happened to him. And that last one can be a way of setting us up to a return to Vi and Cait in Zaun, and all of that just sounds so, so, SO much better to be than to drop us off at the current timeline just because.

Holy fuck Welcome to Noxus is amazing.

And I do mean that. And part of the hype is for how it folds Arcane in, but it also kinda has me worried.

Like, with Arcane and its canon, the best approach to the timeline is to let all of the cuncurrent events that work in a comic-book like environment of connected but mostly self-contained stories (that necessitates that concurrentness given the scope of the stories and the number of artists working on different parts at any given moment) to be spread out into a much larger timeline. Where a strong narrative drive can be better explored.

And with the state of the Noxian invasion of Ionia, especially the Singed of it all, it would be, imo, the best interest of the story to make Arcane as early in this timeline as possible. Before the first invasion of Ionia, AT LEAST. Makes sense, right?

But we see Katarina going against the Black Rose. And we see them talk about the next move while teasing what seems like Riven's Blade. And all of that is very much post-invasion stuff. Like, Katarina has her daggers infused, which also means we're post J3's death and in the middle of the Mage rebellion in Demacia, which is something that with "The Arcane is waking up" from the show, would have fit much more easily into the Sylas is recruited by the mageseekers part of that plotline than being forced to be happening right now.

We're currently 1 step removed from Arcane and shit is already looking wobbly at the seams because it was never intended to work like this, and even though Welcome to Noxus was incredibly hype and might be dethroning RISE to me, it very much needs you not to think too much about the broader universe implications, despite its purpose being trying to sell me on that broader universe.

[creativity-deficient]

So I know there’s a pretty slim chance of this actually happening, but I think the show doing shorts in between seasons, alongside the specials, could be a good way to explore the kids outside of the show’s status quo, and in particular outside of being kids

I know a lot of people, myself included, have been wanting to see the adult versions of the kids explored more ever since the post covid specials had come out, but the kids never aging in the show kind of makes that a bit difficult. Sure they could always do another special, but even then it would probably have to follow a specific storyline. I think shorts are a fun compromise because they’re quick and easy and you can be pretty versatile with them.

It doesn’t even have to be the versions of them we’re introduced to in post covid, exploring going adult or even teen versions of them could be fun too!

Besides, let’s face it, I think a lot of us can agree that the specials aren’t enough to hold us over in between seasons lmaooo

Again I obviously know the chances of actually happening is pretty low, but I do think it’s a fun concept to think about

[breadraccoon]

Me when I’m trying to make a new Gwen storylines: “You know, Gwen’s the kind of person who would have trouble with police in and outside of the costume. What if she ends up going to jail because she punches a cop for harassing her friends or protestors. Which give our resident girl fail a felony. Adult Gwen is all moody and sad. She might crack a joke here or there, but they all have this darker undertone. She also has to have tattoos. How could adult Gwen not have tattoos. Wait!… God damn it, just made her Vi again!!!”

It’s kind of funny how many parallels these two characters have. They even have the same VA! Both their narrative focus around over policing, bad cops, and broken systems. I love both of these characters so much. It’s hard not for me to worried about the future of their stories when the push for copaganda is so strong.

I’ve know since the start Vi ends up an enforcer. I’ve made my peace with that. I can only hope Arcane s2 doesn’t destroy what made me like Vi in the first place.

But with Gwen, I worry they might try and push her into a more cop friendly stance. Sure, she nice to Miles’s Dad. But that’s Miles’s Dad. You know, the boy she likes. In every other instance of her in spider-verse, she actively avoids if not works against the police. It’s clear she doesn’t trust them. I want that distrust to remain. At the very least for the cops in her universe who have been shown to be bad.

I know this will probably won’t happen. But I like how Gwen goes to jail in the comics. It’s her holding herself accountable for what happened to Peter. She, in the comics, takes a more active role in his death. Pushing aside how broke the justice system is in her universe *cough* they go by guilty till proven innocent *cough*, I just appreciate how she doesn’t act like she’s above the law. She made bad calls and she let system dictate its punishment. She shows more accountability than 99% superheroes. I find it refreshing in this genre. (Plus I think there should be more character giving light to how fuck the justices system is. Especially the parole system. God damn it bad)

In a multiverse of spider-powered heroes, I think giving this character these kinds of storylines make her unique. She deserves to have storylines that don’t center that fridging trope. She is also in a lot of danger of becoming just Miles’s girlfriend. I want her to have storylines that don’t revolve around her love life. And in today’s climate, having a superhero let the justice system hold them accountable for their action would be very poignant.

It’s not the end of the world for Gwen if she does that. Sometimes life’s a bitch and you keep on living. It’s very spider-man to get knocked down and get back up again. Only this time it’s not a punch that knocks Gwen over.

[sweetcarolinejane]

👋 Hello!

My mom got me hooked on "The Rookie" in March of last year. I FLEW through all 6 seasons as fast as I could. This show is crazy addicting!

I quickly fell in love with Tim, and in the last episode of season 1 , I knew Chenford was going to be a thing. I mean the serious "You're going to make it" convo with the door between them? HELLO! I love how Lucy sees beyond Tim's stoic exterior and sees the funny, caring, soft soul inside. I also love how Tim lets Lucy in, and he slowly realizes that he is deserving of love. He looks at her like she hung the moon and stars just for him. Chenford is my favorite ship to write fanfiction about! The ideas just flow because they're so amazing.

This season, I'd love to see:

Tim to see that he is a good person and is worthy of someone who cares for him like Lucy does.

Celina/ Lucy friendship

Lots of Tim's "small doses"

I know A lot of people want Lucy to become detective, but I actually really like her T.O. storyline.

ROLL CALL!

Hey, Chenford fam! I can't believe we're finally at SEASON 7! I know a lot of fans are returning, some have moved on, and there are quite a few new ones. 👋

So, I'd love all of you to reply or reblog, and share a little tidbit. How you'll be watching, a hope for s7, what got you shipping Chenford, etc. Whatever you feel like. It's been a little quiet during hiatus, and I can't wait to see the tag buzzing. So call out!

Much ❤️ to you all and happy season 7!!

[tectco]

Some forehead kisses and a couple redraws for season four!

[harbingersecho]

sam ortez, excavated

Here's my present for @churchstopsurgeryscars for @redvsbluesecretsanta '24!!! Their prompt about Locus learning how to be a person again was amazing, and this might not be exactly what you were looking for, but I hope you like it anyways <3

[ikeepseeingghosts]

And he was ready to hold it the same way if he died a second time

[samwwise]

2x02 vs. 2x06

[lillotte17]

Also also, since I seem to be incapable of shutting up, and because I haven't actually seen anyone else saying it:

Crowely offering/tempting Aziraphale with the ox ribs...it's a direct parallel to Adam and the creation of Eve. Adam's ribs are used to create his counterpart/lover/partner, and Crowley is doing the same thing. Up until now, he's had his suspicions about Aziraphale not being like the other angels, but in the Job flashback, we really see him testing the waters.

'Will you just do as you're told and watch an innocent man lose everything?'

'Will you notice what I did to the goats?'

'Will you trust me not to hurt the children?'

And then finally with the ribs: 'Are you like me? Do you take pleasure from all the things that humans are capable of creating? Do you see their potential? Aren't we the same?'

And Aziraphale accepts.

Which of course eventually leads to him lying to the other angels and his own epiphany about not quite being like the rest of them.

Naturally, it's not an exact correlation. Aziraphale already had those inclinations, so Crowley isn't really 'creating' him as his counterpart, but he is creating the opportunity for understanding and a chance to see the ways they already resemble one another. He's creating the possibility of their eventual partnership (romantic and/or otherwise).