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1-800-got-junk · 3 years ago

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Random Bam Margera H.C’s

description: random relationship (??) headcannons i thought of for bam… basically just the “reader” dealing with his weird non-jackass-related shit. no use of y/n, pronouns, or typically gendered things (if you don’t count painting your nails)

warnings: swearing if that bothers you??, very vague sexual reference, bam talks about the “reader” getting groped at a bar for half a second, talk of alcohol consumption, aftermath of bam getting his shit rocked

a/n: this is my first time writing literally anything and it was done in my notes app, so if you notice any spelling/ grammatical errors… ignore them LMAO,,, ALSO if this gets no notes i’m deleting it because that’s too embarrassing for me…————————————————————————

• plays with your hands a lot and will make fun of you for them always being sweaty.

“aweee i knew i made you nervous”

“shut the fuck up”

• gags when you wipe them on his face in retaliation

“feel my hands”

“no. i know you only want me to touch them because they’re dripping with sweat”

“do it or i’m sliding them across your cheeks.”

“I WILL FUCKING THROW UP STOP”

• his hate for you wiping him with your sweat does NOT stop him from sneaking up and trapping you in his arms while he’s sweaty as fuck from doing a stunt/ skating. ,,,he just likes feeling you squirm against him while trying to escape tbh..

(that was a very specific group of scenarios i’m sorry LMAO,,,)

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• likes to pick out your nail polish and sit with you as you do your nails (always picks out the fugliest color you own because he thinks it’s funny)

• WILL complain about how long it takes for them to dry just because that means he can’t fuck with your hands. (he definitely still tries and ends up with traffic cone orange smeared all over his face and arms from you pushing him away)

• steals your shampoo and conditioner. like literally takes it from your house and into his.

• he likes smelling like you… (you don’t really mind though because you can always steal them back and you’ll actually do ANYTHING if it means that he washes his greasy ass hair and let’s his curls come through)

• if you have curly hair he’ll let you try to do your routine on him :)

• acts like it’s too complicated for him to remember, but that’s just because he wants you to play with his hair… and maybe get into the shower with him oops

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• okay we all know that he’s lowkey shredded, but he’s still definitely not the biggest guy in the world… so he steals your clothes because even if you’re smaller he can still squeeze himself in

• listen you CANNOT tell me he doesn’t wear every article of fabric you own. no matter your size compared to him he WILL try to move all of your clothes into his closet.

• he acts like he just likes your clothes or that he just doesn’t notice it’s yours, but it’s actually because of how nice they smell to him… but he’ll never admit it

• it starts of normal y’know? like every once in a while you’ll catch him in a hoodie of yours and he acts like he thought it was his.. it’s cute

• then, when a new episode of the show airs you see him wearing one of your favorite band shirts that’s been missing for weeks. you’re slightly annoyed, but you can’t bring yourself to care because again.. it’s cute

• finally, one day when you’re trying to get ready you start freaking out because “WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY BLACK CARGO PANTS??? I LEFT THEM LITERALLY RIGHT HERE.”

• then he just strolls into your room giving you shit for taking so long to get ready. wearing your pants… you don’t really think it’s cute anymore

“bam what the fuck”

“huh? what?”

“GIVE ME MY PANTS???”

“but i left mine at my place :(“

“it’s actually crazy how little i care.”

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• it’s a true battle trying to get him to listen to your music over his.

• it’s like.. you enjoy h.i.m as much as the next guy but BAM, PLEASE CAN WE LISTEN TO SOMETHING ELSE. RAZORBLADE ROMANCE HAS LOOPED 3 TIMES ALREADY.

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• i don’t think he gets jealous of you hanging around with the other guys at all, (especially not ryan) but like… what is knoxville saying that’s got you laughing like that 🤨

• he definitely thinks it’s funny as fuck if guys try to hit on you while you’re out together. like he will fall to the floor with how hard he is laughing in that man’s face

• the second a guys gets to close for comfort or tries to touch you, however… shit fr hits the fan.

“Brandon, why on earth did you think you could take that guy in a fight??”

“he put is hand on your ass, am i supposed to just let him do that???”

“well now three of your teeth are on the floor, so maybe let’s try to talk it out first next time?…. or get pontius to handle it”

“you’re fucking with me, right?”

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• definitely encourages you to flirt with guys just so you can both drink for free.

“that guy at the bar just tried to buy me a drink..”

“…did you say yes?”

“no??? why would i??

“you’re telling me you passed up a free drink just ‘cause we’re dating? what kind of a guy would i be if i tried to hold you back like that?”

“you just want me to see if i can get you a free drink too. 😐”

“yes 100%. now get back over there and make me proud.”

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• despite the fact that he’s lived in pennsylvania all his life he’s never been able to get used to the cold and absolutely hates it.

• loves when you kiss his nose because he runs cold and it warms up his face

• if you’re both cold he refuses to take of his jacket to give to you. like he straight up tells you to go ask one of the other guys because he hates being cold that much.

• but tbh most of the time it’s him asking for your jacket because he either

• a.) forgets it, or b.) thinks that his faux leather duster is gonna keep him warm NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU TELL HIM FAKE LEATHER DOES NOT TRAP HEAT LIKE THAT. i mean at least he’s got all those tiny scarfs to help 💀

the end

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a/n: ANYWAYSSSSS never thought i’d actually be writing something, but here ya go… if this sucks and is embarrassing literally plz tell me,, don’t let me suffer like that.. i’m not opposed to writing something again if for some reason somebody wants me too but i SUCK at ideas so y’all are gonna have to give me some LMAOAO

thanks for reading :)

#jackass #bam margera #bam margera x reader #jackass fanfic #bam margera fanfic #viva la bam #mtv

247 notes · View notes

nightswithkookmin · 4 years ago

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Hye Goldy, I love your blog. I'm happy to find a jikooker who isn't afraid to address real and non-idealistic aspects of jikook relationship. My question has to do with Jungkook's reactions to jimin initiating any contact with him, be it physical or emotional. Jk reactions go between nervousness, annoyance, embarrassment, uncomfortableness and withdrawals in on himself.

Like when Jimin gets playful and he gets close or touchy, or when JK has a hard time and Jimin shows his worry for him and tries to comfort him, tries to reach out for him. For example during run 100 or 101 episode when JK got hit by ball and jimin went to check on him and kept insisting asking him if he was ok, jk kind of ignored him. Or during the voice acting run episode when he said he was cold and Jimin hugged him and his eyes bugged out of his head ans his body went all tense. There are so many instances like this.

Jk on the other hand is sometimes bold, setting course for some of the most questionable jikook moments. But often he's subdued and laid back. Again, another example, would be when Yoongi hit the ball directly at jimin. Compare to Jimin over worried self he just went over and looked at him once and when he saw Jimin was laughing he went back.

What do you think about this? How do you explain it?

How do I explain what?👀

Are his reactions a problem?👀

Do you want to free Jimin?👀

Chilee Anon, you are bold. Don't let JK hear you say these things. Lmho.

I think for the most part, you are just pointing out the differences in their personalities and their unique ways of expressing themselves in general not just towards eachother.

Jikook are two very distinct individuals and they express themselves differently. I feel a lot of people forget that sometimes but it's actually not that deep.

Jk is naturally reserved, introverted and not overly nurturing or affectionate. He has said this himself and Jimin has described him as not very good at expressing his emotions or communicating his feelings as well.

You can't expect him to express himself or his affections the same way an extroverted honorary hufflepuff and natural nurturer with no shame like Jimin would. That's asking for too much, I think. Lol.

I don't think there is anything wrong with JK or the way he expresses himself towards Jimin to be honest. As I keep saying, Jikook negotiate their needs most times to make for the differences in their personalities. Their relationship is not one sided. If there are aspects of JK's personality that impedes on the quality of love Jimin requires to feel satisfied in their dynamics Jimin would say so and I believe JK would work on it and vice versa. I mean we've seen them do that repeatedly over the years.

Jimin loves to be loved and he's said so himself and I believe he knows exactly what makes him feel loved and what doesn't. In the Grammy reaction video, he literally hopped over his soul mate and best friend to get a hug from JK bumping his head in the process. He was seeking emotional warmth from him. I don't think if JK's touches were cold he would keep turning to him for it.

At fan signs when Jk isn't next to him, he grabs the mic and tells Jungkook his place is beside him.

At awards when JK is having fun with his friends, he hugs his hyungs for comfort till JK comes running to him. When Hobi and JK are off in the corner playing kids, he glares at them till JK comes to stand behind him and blows on the back of his head to placate him.

On red carpets from the Grammys to Jingle bell when he can't stand next to JK because they have to stand in their official positions he literally breaks down- well almost breaks down.

There is something warm about JK that doesn't translate to the screens.

Jk does the same thing. When he needs Jimin's presence he grabs him by the neck and pulls him to himself. When he is feeling anxious and needs to calm down he rubs on Jimin's arms to soothe himself.

During performances when he's waited for JM to interact with him and JM isn't doing that, he walks to him to wrap his hands around him or sing with him. He cheats his way through games to be on the same team with JM, he literally teleports his ass to be next to JM. He throws tantrums when he can't be next to him.

Jimin didn't wake him up once and he whined about it in interviews. Jimin left him out of a VLive and he started a revolution on VLive.

There is something they both need from eachother's presence and they take it from eachother when they need it- as far as their need for affections and intimacy go. In my opinion.

They take up a lot of space in eachother's lives, riding together, spending time together outside of work, getting in eachother's personal space and groping eachother excessively- not that I'm complaining. I mean, I wanna see it all. Lol. But it would be counterintuitive for either of them, especially JK to do all of these things, be an accomplice of, participate in and initiate certain intimate moments with JM himself if Jimin made him in anyway uncomfortable, annoyed or embarrassed.

It also says a lot about BTS and BigHit if it is true, that JK is uncomfortable being intimate with Jimin, for having sat and watched this sordidity go on between Jikook for years without intervening, or standing up for JK, to protect him against Jimin imposing himself on jK in that way, by calling JM out for making the youngest among them feel uncomfortable with his skinship and gestures towards him. It would be a failure on their part not to uphold their common duty to protect and act in the interests of JK as the hyungs, agent and guardians of JK.

It would be a failure and a huge betrayal on JM's part too. Jimin is and portrays himself as a very considerate person with a high emotional intelligence quotient who cares about and loves JK. It would be insensitive and not so loving or intelligent of him to not know his actions, skinship and affections make another person uncomfortable or annoyed.

And for him to persist in these endeavors throughout the years knowing full well they are not welcomed, reciprocated or enjoyed by JK would not just be unconscionable on his part but would make him dumb, abusive and vile- a rhetoric anti Jimin, anti Jikook and most Tuktukkers peddle on these streets and I don't blame them. Ignorance and hatred will do that to a person.

This rhetoric implicates not just JM but JK himself, BTS and the company as they all have stock and owe a duty of care towards eachother and JK as the youngest amongst them, to create and foster a work environment where everyone's bodily integrity, mind and spirit is respected and upheld. One in which they all feel safe within.

Let's talk ships for a second. You think Tae or Suga will let Jimin make JK uncomfortable in that way and not stand up for JK or call JM out for that? Tae? Taehyung? Sis, there's a reason Yeontan doesn't like him. He is over protective. Lol. That dog just wanna walk down the streets with Min Holly on his arm.

Let me paint you a picture. When JK got injured on stage and he went to JM and JM comforted him but his part was coming up so he left to go sing, Taehyung stood by JK and followed him around the stage never taking his eyes off him- even though JK was just gravitating towards JM because he was feeling vulnerable and JM had no idea what was happening behind him.

In Run 116, another recent instance of JK's vulnerable moments, because to me he was dealing with a broken heart- because Jikook had broken up around that period in my opinion, JK was leaning into Tae for that comfort.

Feel free to disagree anyone but I'm afraid I have to stand by my opinion and observations and understanding of their dynamics. Lol.

Notice how the one time JM initiated skinship with JK in that episode, because JK had spent the entire episode closed off to him, Jimin kept stealing glances at the members? His eyes kept shifting and he looked almost nervous? Now why do you think that is?

The members will not allow Jimin to impose himself on JK like that.

It's the second time in years I've seen Jimin act like he needed permission to interact with JK. Did you see the blackswan shoot interview around that period? Tae and Kook around early January through to the On period?

Tae would not stand and watch Jimin play JK's feelings like that, take advantage of him or make him uncomfortable. Neither would Suga quite frankly. RM wouldn't stand for it nor will Jin or Hobi.

If you noticed any thing off with Jikook around the period you mentioned, it's probably because they were getting back together after a breakup and their interactions were in the aftermath of a hiccup in their relationship. Again, my opinion.

Compare that Run moment you mentioned where JM was hit in the eye to the recent Grammy reaction behind scenes when JM hit his head and was hurting or even to all the events post October... same vibe as On Era, different intensities. We will talk about the October timeline again soon. I think I've seen enough to form an opinion. Lol.

My point is, Jikook have unique love needs and love languages. Jimin speaks JK's love language even if that language is not JK's own way of expression.

When asked what JK liked about Jimin, JK said it was his shamelessness. Deep it. We find attractive in others qualities we admire or lack in ourselves.

JK harbors a lot of shame over a lot of things. He is not Jimin. He may panic when JM suddenly pounces on him because he knows JM is wild, shameless and reckless but that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy it.

That compliment he gave Jimin about his shameless to me was also a confession of his own shame and reservations around his expressions of self- something I feel he has been working to overcome through out the years. It's only in recent times that the members have said he's become a bit shameless himself.

JK describes Jimin's self expressions as sexy and shameless. He's said he's wanted to look sexy too and perform a sexy dance too. He may not have openly admitted this but I believe shamelessness is a quality he wants in himself.

To be shameless implies, on a certain level, JM lacks guilt, is impervious to judgment and doesn't give regard to his environment when he expresses himself.

Jimin may not have a lot of guilt about his sexuality but he has a lot of fear and JK may not have a lot of fear in him but he has a lot of guilt about his sexuality and both are not less gay.

All these beautiful moments of expressions from Jimin you seemly applaud were at one point viewed as disgraceful acts or acts of shame and worthy of condemnation that in JK's view perhaps shouldn't have been expressed so openly by Jimin or any gay man for that matter- the emphasis is mine.

I'm going off on a tangent but stick with me.

That shame he associates with JM's self expressions on the surface may just be as a result of his shyness and introvertedness but I also think his internalized homophobia brought on by his own past repressed homosexuality could be an underlying factor. In my opinion.

It's very unsettling, as a closeted person, to watch other queer people in close proximity to you perform sexuality and queerness so openly without fear or shame and be met with the level of ridicule JM was met with in those early days parading himself as the queer jest of the group. It was cringe merely watching those moments from the screen.

If he viewed his queerness as wrong in any way on a fundamental level, then we cannot reasonably expect him to suddenly have a complete 360 turn around or a hundred percent shift from this mentality. It doesn't work like. Being closeted can have lasting effects on a person even long after they have come out of the closet.

I believe JK is aware of this. Do I think he is happy with it? No. But I believe he is working on it. Like the members said, he has changed alot this past year and has a lot of self awareness now. In his Weverse interview, they pointed out how he is constantly working to improve himself.

It is why I think often when he panics and pulls away in such moments he tries to reestablish contact with Jimin to reassure him he is not rejecting him. I think I pointed it out in my video analysis on YT. He knows he has a lot to work through and I know JM is patient with him when it comes to that. I see them as working through a lot of baggage as queer men honestly. They're undoing the toxic narratives of queerness and masculinity, learning not to be afraid of being themselves openly etc. They are gonna get there- eventually.

JM talks about their relationship and uses the word love to describe it and JK shifts uncomfortably. An interviewer playfully asks if JM is not his style and he panics and stutters, causing JM to butt in and save his ass with 'don't answer that.' Jimin talks about JK hugging him to sleep at a fan sign and JK shuts it down telling JM he doesn't like such things said about him because to him it was weird for JM to say stuff like that.

And you'd often hear JM asking JK if it was ok for him to say certain things or do certain things in regards to him immediately after he'd said or done them- is it ok to say I like you? Is it ok to say you cuddle me to sleep. You don't like this? You don't like that?

Clearly, JM felt the need to ask these and had to ask because perhaps JK had expressed concerns about certain things JM said and did openly in regards to him that he didn't feel comfortable with.

Jimin over expresses himself which is equally problematic if we are being honest. And JK under expresses himself, we been knew.

Over the years, he's learned to be more brazen and less reserved but he still is the same person at his core: an introvert. His introvertedness doesn't answer for his actions and choices but it answers for his mannerisms and the things you've pointed out is one of them.

I have said I don't buy into this whole JM fell first, JK fell harder narrative. For Jimin to have fallen first he would have had to be queer in those early days but I argue he wasn't ergo that entire conjecture is bogus to me. Lol.

JM over expresses himself and part of those expressions to me are mere performances divorced from his sexuality. Most of JK's expressions flow from his sexuality and I feel he is not very good at compartmentalizing. But that's not his fault. That's the consequences of being queer in a space where performative queerness is applauded but actual gayness is frowned upon and Jikook are a reflection of this.

People are ok with Jimin being gay as long as he is not gay. They are ok making gay jokes about him untill we tell them he is actually gay in a gay relationship with another gay member- then it's don't assume his sexuality and project and heteronormativity. Smh.

And the more these upcoming Idols use Jikook as the blueprint to their success by imitating and performing the queerness of Jikook for entertainment purposes the more the lines blur on what is acceptable queerness and what is political queerness.

He's built a persona and a facade for himself over the years and this persona incorporates to some degree, what you can call queer aesthetics, just a dash of gayness to keep things interesting. But it's a facade nevertheless.

Jimin is not more gay than JK because he over expresses and JK is not less gay because he under expresses and one is not better than the other.

Jimin doesn't love JK more just because he over expresses and JK doesn't love JM less just because he under expresses- if that's what you were implying by your Ask.

I read a comment from months ago under a BinJin couple video analysis where people were saying the Lady was too stiff around the Man at awards hence she was uncomfortable being around him therefore they were not real- HUH!!! Jokes on them.

I think people need to expand their vocabulary beyond he is uncomfortable ergo he doesn't like Jimin. If anything being nervous around someone you like is the first indication you like them. Lmho.

Jikook make eachother nervous. Jimin had to drag JK out of the Kitchen when he was cooking because he didn't want JK to watch him cook. Lol.

In the New Jersey VLive, Jimin gulped looking at the screen trying to keep his cool but JK clocked it and that's why he looked up at him- omg these two. Jk got them in some deep shit that day. Lmho.

Sometimes Jimin intentionally puts JK on the spot, like he did in the Japan self interviews when he blurted out the best part of his day is waking up to see JK's face. JK was shooketh. Lmho.

Did you see JK's face when JM blew him an air kiss at the award? JK could never. Lmho.

In spite of all these reactions, JK keeps going back for more. In spite of his own reactions to these moments, JK keeps praising JM for it. Does he want Jimin to stop doing those. I wish I could say yes- but I'm scared of his frying pans. Lol.

Hope this helps.

Signed,

GOLDY

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coinofstone · 4 years ago

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5x12 The Diamond of the Day pt 1

Final two episodes! Big finale! Why am I making myself cry in the middle of the afternoon! Both eps in this post.

I do love that they made Arthur a sore loser

Enter treacherous white woman #2. Srsly it was lazy writing when they did it for Mordred, it's worse now with Gwaine.

I do love the actual Round Table war room discussion but a) why isn't Merlin seated at the round table and b) why does Leon have so much goddamn faith in Camelot's walls? Like??? You literally said the same thing last year and yet Camelot *did* fall when Agravaine brought an army through the tunnels!

Poor Aithusa. Kid's had a rough life.

I do love Arthur responding to Merlin presenting him with all his supplies ready - which he prepared without his magic mind you - with suspicion 😂

But then he calls Merlin a coward and it's sad

Katie has such a great voice. That entire thing in the cave from her taunting to her laughter to the spell, it just just beautifully played.

Whole ass battle to prepare for and Arthur is just walking around moping cuz Merlin isn't there

So, Merlin's father-vision telling him he's magic itself and he just needs to believe in himself to get his magic going again, does this mean he *didn't* need to go to the cave to get it back? Cuz it seems like he needed to recharge in the cave itself, his injuries were healed when he woke up. That seems like magic cave stuff to me.

Also that "always have been and always will be" - I'm taking to mean 'always have been' in the sense that since he's 'magic itself' even before he was born, his magic existed in other, intangible forms, like we are all stardust etc. But now that he is, he will always be, aka he will not die.

Arthur waking up with his wife in his arms and Merlin's name on his lips, jumping out of bed to act on dream-info.

Balinor telling Merlin to trust in what will be.... like bitch that is literally not how this ends.

5x13 The Diamond of the day pt 2

You know that gif of the cat knocking everything off the table? That's literally Merlin shooting lightning at everyone from his perch on the ridge.

I have a lot of snarky things to say about Merlin coming out of the cave in full Dragoon gear and riding a horse instead of teleporting like the other witches but I'ma keep that to myself.

Mordred is a bitch and Aithusa has terrible aim. At least Aithusa's loyalty to Morgana makes sense.

Arthur said oh shit I'm magic - oh wait no it's that old man again

He also straight up "No! Bad dragon!"-ed Aithusa

Y'know, for all I've watched this episode and screamed about Arthur's death, I don't think I've ever focused on the exact moment he gets stabbed before.

Mordred catches him from behind and he meets it, no fault there. But as soon as he realizes his assailant is the knight who turned on him and joined Morgana, what does he do? HE LOWERS HIS FUCKING SWORD

He leaves himself wide fucking open and vulnerable and Mordred seizes the opportunity. I understand wanting the moment of recognition for Arthur, but on what planet is a trained warrior going to drop his sword mid-attack because he recognizes his attacker as a dude who only just recently decided to forsake him? It's soooooo dumb

There was a whole sequence a few episodes back where Mordred and Arthur are sparring, the point of it was to show that Mordred has become a skilled swordsman. So what exactly was the point in having Mordred run Arthur through as soon as Arthur idiotically lets his guard down? This should've been a meticulously choreographed sword fight, with Mordred getting the upper hand and sticking Arthur properly. Not this nonsense. Look at Arthur's FACE! Oh, Mordred... 👉👈 do you maybe wanna be friends again- STAB ... guess not

Uther's been rolling in his grave but he's taking an extra tumble watching Arthur forget all his skills and training in that moment.

I do appreciate Arthur getting Mordred back though. Like that moment of merciless anger followed by the hurt and regret playing on Arthur's face, warring with surety and responsibility. It was good.

I've rewatched the big confession scene about 16 times just now.

I don't quite understand why Merlin took Arthur to the woods to begin with. Instead of bringing him to the med tent in the battlefield or back to Camelot. What was the reason?

Merlin saying it feels strange (to use magic freely in front of Arthur) and him just going 'yeah' completely deadpan makes me laugh every time.

I really feel like Arthur's head should be elevated at a further incline if he's going to be fed.

Gaius refusing to outright expose Merlin as the sorcerer but nonetheless letting Gwen figure it out on her own warms my heart.

My God Arthur is sitting there dying, feeling betrayed about his best friend 'lying' to him, and still he can't stop himself from looking at Merlin's mouth.

Percival summoned MUSCLE POWER

Hey um random but why does Gwaine even know where Merlin and Arthur are headed? Why would Gaius tell him?

Arthur looks at Merlin so lovingly after he's killed Morgana 😭😭

And now he's literally grabbing at the man's hand 😭 "just hold me, please"

That's gotta be the gayest death scene in television history. If you can watch that without thinking Arthur puts his hand on the back of Merlin's head because some part of him wants to bring him down for a kiss, or that "just hold me, please" is in any way shape or form a 'bros' thing, and certainly not at all an intentional mirror/callback to Isolde dying in Tristan's arms, then I'm afraid you are what we professionals refer to as a dumb-as-nails fucknugget, more commonly phrased as 'willfully ignorant'.

"All that you have dreamt of building has come to pass" yeah except for the whole, y'know, magic still being illegal thing.

I've said this before, but, while I'm sure there was a determined intention to have Arthur die in his armor, probably in some kind of attempt to make sure the audience knows he's died a warrior's death, I *really* think it was kinda stupid that Merlin never removed it, despite Arthur being weak, despite the fact that there was something like five days between him getting stabbed and him actually dying, despite that for the duration of that time they were traveling or hiding out. Merlin managed to produce a cloak to put on Arthur, why did he need the full armor on that whole time? Like even if they left the chainmail on, those plates on his shoulder were just getting in the way, and it looked quite uncomfortable.

Also not for nothing but Lancelot got like, every flower in the forest surrounding lush verdant greens in his death boat, Arthur gets a bunch of sticks.

It suddenly occurs to me, watching this now, that the reason Leon/Percival is such a common side pairing in Merthur fics, is because these two motherfuckers are the only original Knights of the Round Table to survive the series. 🤦‍♀️ I dunno how I failed to notice that before now. My stupidity amazes me.

I'm *really* glad they decided to do this scene with Gwen wearing the Pendragon red dress instead of the black mourning dress. Yes she looks fabulous in it but it's more the symbolism than the 'reality' - with Gwen wearing her house's colors it represents a continuation rather than a finality. Camelot will go on, Gwen will undoubtedly end the war on magic and with Morgana dead (and frankly, I think by now she already brought about the death of all the angry incel type rulers in Albion) there stands to reason her reign will begin with a period of peace, possibly longer than Arthur's. We kind of have to assume that the 'time the poets speak of' is, inevitably, Gwen's reign - which only came about through Arthur's death. It's a little bit toooo subtle in my opinion, but at the same time, I understand the need for the focus on Merlin and Arthur - after all, this show was their journey - not leaving much time to focus on Gwen and Camelot in the aftermath of Arthur's death.

I will just say, the first time I watched this that fucking truck scared the ever living shit out of me. I also just immediately, viscerally hated that scene and declared it invalid - but I think it was because the truck made me jump out of my skin. It has since grown on me, particularly once I started reading 'Arthur Returns' fic.

Everything beyond this point is post-series spec and headcanon, so if that's not your jam you can exit safe in the knowledge that as usual, if there's anything worth commenting on in the S5 extras, I will create a separate post!

For those interested, my go-to post-series fic is We Begin Again by katherynefromphilly I fully headcanon this series as the continuation of the series.

I have a lot of thoughts about Gwen and Merlin post-Camlann.

For one, poor fucking Gwen. She's lost her father, her brother, and her husband, all by what, age 30? That's rough. And who knows what happened to her mom, that was pre-series and I don't think it was ever mentioned.

Merlin, dear god poor Merlin. First of all, I just wanna say straight off that my instinctive headcanon about Merlin was that he never returned to Camelot. I couldn't really say why exactly. I just don't think he could stand being there after Arthur's death. But practically speaking, Merlin's still got Aithusa to deal with, that dragon needs some godsdamned house training asap. He's still the last Dragonlord, it's reasonable to assume he'd immediately take that on considering Aithusa is partially responsible for Arthur's death (the sword Mordred killed Arthur with, only succeeded in killing Arthur because it had been forged in Aithusa's fire-breath) so he's either going to attempt to train the bad behaviors out of Aithusa, or...well...

The only thing is, I do not believe Merlin would abandon Gwen, or Gaius. So my hc is inherently flawed. I do think Merlin probably spend a couple months with his mum, and I do think he ultimately settled near lake Avalon waiting for Arthur's return.

But I do wonder, what must their relationship have been like? Gwen, surely, would've sought his guidance in establishing laws governing the use of magic. And surely, peace cannot last indefinitely, so Merlin absolutely would've defended Camelot and protected Gwen. There's just no way he could've completely turned his back on them, but I doubt he could bear living in Camelot. And Gwen is both strong and practical enough to get on without him there 24/7, even though I'm sure she'd miss him.

I also think she would've found love again. Whether with Leon, as many people hc, or someone else not in the series.

ANYWAY.

Thanks to everyone who came on this journey with me. I will post comments on the extras if I have anything worth saying - and I think I'll do a master post linking all these episode posts after I clean them up once I get time to sit at a computer and do so. Until then! 💙💚

(Gif source) (h/t @shut-up-merlin)

#bbc merlin #bbc merlin spoilers #merlin #merlin spoilers #merthur #onceandfuturerewatch #5x12 #5x13 #5x12 the diamond of the day pt 1 #5x13 the diamond of the day pt 2 #bbc merlin 5x12 #bbc merlin 5x13 #merlin 5x12 #merlin 5x13 #the diamond of the day #the diamond of the day pt1 #the diamond of the day pt2 #for the love of Camelot

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throwingideasatthewall · 4 years ago

Text

Star Wars Episode 4;

Destroy malevolence

Didn’t we just do that?

I’m assuming this is going to be focusing on the aftermath of the destruction of the malevolence

And the preceding unraveling of general grievous’s net work

[And several acquaintances probably trying to break him out,]

Anyway...

On with It!

Quote;

“A Plan is only as good as those who see it out,”

Odd I’ve Stopped giving much stock into the quotes

Consider ing the last one had a relatively good one

And Is on the lower end of my expectations

My criticism of this Is a Short Plans can be good But People flawed

The narrator sounds a bit more enthusiastic

Weirdly drawn out pause

But it does get the point across

Allows enough time

“ Grievous in retreat,” Honestly Is this where we’re going to start

Like no disrespect- (I have the patience) But are we honestly going to spend the whole entire time watching Obi-Wan fuck up catching Grievous?

That would work with the theme of Jedi Masters

They make it seem a lot less stupid

[Recap

Also I really like the movement on the ship

Much more real istic

Continuing to Hold on it not so much

This is like someone continuously kicking someone when they’re already down

Or like a fire

After a while it just gets sort of boring

Or worrying

And you realize they could just take them into custody

Or that the fire is starting to envelope nearby forest With everyone having a bucket of water

Obi wan, why

Do you torment so?

He can’t even die

If so; He’d be dead

I love how Plo Koon and him are just watching the shit show like “Bitch”

You know they could both take him

But are just that dedicated to being sandry old man

“Commander, how much damage to the enemy ship?”

Have they suffered enough?

Also, geez dude’s been demoted it to commander

I mean I know he’s just Comms Guy But geez. (He probably deserved it)

Oh no, Random dude On The ground

Why?

“ She’s lost primary shields and stabilizers,”

So shooting at it is doing minimal damage

“ It can take all the fire our cannons can manage,”

Okay, time to get you two down there

“ we must summon reinforcements,”

Plo is slowly becoming that we “need reinforcements” guy

Like he can’t do anything by himself

(Except for last episode)

“ That’s why I’m here Master Plo,”

That’s not the right tone

And..... I was kind of hoping we’d get a Master Plo and Obi-Wan episode

This time around

Never mind the fact that Anakin can’t take on grievous

“ what are you able to contact Master (Liam Niara) (That’s how voice text spells it) (I have no idea)

“ Yes, master,”

That’s better

“She’s busy with a bunch of separatist reinforcement’s nearby,”

Bit too much eye movement but otherwise good

“ she won’t be able to give us support till she’s turn ing them away,”

Meanwhile you’ve already pretty much kill ed him

Guess just play poker?

Then we’ll have to do with what we have

Oh now with the teenager around you’re so brave

How’s that going to help?

Burning

On fire

Really, no mercy

Poor droid jerking around

Ex ploding

Perfect balance of kar mic pay back

“We’ve lost our primary weapon,”

Shit just continues to get worse and worse

General grievous is just there with his hands in his head

Not looking too great

“ The hyper drive is dis -abled,”

It’s been disabled since last episode but good repeating

Good to re-iterate

“Argh,”

“ General general,”

The forward engines are shutting down

“ im poss ible,”

Dude, look around

That’s pretty - heavy denial

You should just sur -render

More Sho -oting

This is going to be a sl -ow ep i sode

Ahsoka Managing systems

A not bad role for her

Certain-

“ Admiral Status- Re port,”

Shit’s fucked once again

They’re hyperdrive must be damaged

What you didn’t figure out the first time will Obi won must’ve checked

Compulsively For the 170th time in the last hour

“This our chance”

It wasn’t a few seconds ago?

“all ships target the bridge maximum fire power,”

Dude, what do you think that’ll do

Grievous is made out of pure titanium

It’s like.. a slightly long fall for him..

Generals.. really don’t wanna deal with Grievous’s shit today

Episode is 22:40 Long Left

All they’re doing is shooting at him

Grievous Called Dooku

“Dad I crashed the car,”

Sustained advanced damage

“ I know,”

Just dead panned

“ I have arranged a trap,”

Oohh! Interesting

But Also completely bullshit

Guess this is his punishment

Being used as bait

“To give you an advantage over the Jedi,”

“ I assure you,”

Please no

You’re not compound your failure this day,”

Ah, there’s the chewing out I was looking for

Perfect

Continue

“ war ship to fall,”

Oh so it wasn’t going to be a - get them sent to prison- thing

So how are you planning to unfuck the situation

Cause this looks pretty bad

They will never catch me or this ship

Bless him he’s trying

The expression just says ‘I have no idea how’

Like He knows what’s expected of him but has no idea

How?!

Heading towards you is a very important galactic senat or,”

In the middle of a war zone

Seriously not a good time for a photo op

“ With her as a hostage,”

“call off the attack,”

Ok no one is calling off an attack this important for a senator

Nor should be letting her get captured ....

*Bowing down*

*Assumed authority*

Blue

It looks remarkably better this episode 👍 Also of course it’s Padme Amidala Couldn’t be any of the 4000 other senators we know nothing about

Really getting into the love triangle stuff right away, aren’t we?

Like why couldn’t we slow burn it

(I know she was in the movie) But

I wouldn’t mind “Are you sure the infor mation from the chan cellor Palpatine is reliable?”

Fore shadowing!

Good job authors you get a cookie

“ it was secretly given to him by the leader of the Bank-he Clan, himself!”

Okay Amidala’s tone kinda works

Could use a little more monotone but it works

I gave Anakin like three tries so I’m not gonna be too harsh

There is still time for the minimal improve ment it needs

“ if they leave the separatist alliance it will go along way to shortening this war,”

Er- Okay it makes sense for her character

She’s sup posed to be around the same age as Anakin

“Beep, Beep,”

“ We’re approaching the system now,”

“Oh shit,”

Crud

“ my goodness,”

Best Droid

“This isn’t right,”

Then Move!

That’s a droid warship

“We’re in the middle of a battle!”

Hey, that’s a smart character

Hyper drive out of there

“ we’re scanning a small ship off our bow,”

Get out of there “ Good,”

Yeah, how are you going to get her?

Seeing as how like a million warships are belting your bow?

I know those must be like raindrops to him

But come on

Don’t go into the burn -ing wreckage

And towards enemy fire

Then again she was probably heading towards the Jedi ship

So (as a civilian) that makes sense

“Master I’m picking up a signal near the enemy vessel,”

Tone

Enemy reinforcements

That’s- A Good Call

Respectively

“ it looks like-”

“A Naboo ship”

“Gunners stand day,”

Hey everyone’s competent today!

(Not that there’s anything wrong with enablers being stupid)

This just requires more brain power

“ what in Blazers are they doing out here?”

A valid response

But weren’t they the ones that pledged transport ships?

Like oh yeah stupid going out into a war zone

But not completely out of the question

“ Ahsoka contact that ship,”

Bit too much energy

But still resp ect able

Literally coming from fiery hell

Identify yourself

“Padme what are you doing out here,”

Cringe

That line sounds like boomer. What boomers think high school jocks sound like

And we’re like no

“ I was sent on a special mission,”

Good job Writers

The ‘Bang he Klan Wanted to negotiate a treaty

Good reason

“Get out of there,”

Too Force ful

Better Idea; Have Obi-Wan try to calmly explain the situation to her

Possibly distracting her for general grievous to kidnap

“ Activate the tractor beam,”

Damn we’re going back to old old sci Fi- with tractor beams and shit

I was expecting like a hook and chain, a harpoon

Was not expecting that

That made me laugh

WTF

Tell them some nonsense is going on!

“i’m afraid it’s much worse than that,” Gunners Do Something?!

it’s a beam; it can be broken

“ Padme what’s happening?”

A go- decent response

“ i’m being pulled inside the droid cruiser by a tractor beam,”

Good Commun ication

Whelp, Done

So at 22: 40 Rest of the episode is hostage situ ation?

Inter es ting

Much Better Than Just Shooting at it for an hour

“I will not be made a separatist bargaining chip,”

Initiative

Though Less Emo -tion

Should be recited like something she had to read off a paper

Guessing I’m not Padme I’m Padme’s handmaiden thing only works once

Continue your attack

You must continue-

I hope she get some actual action

Nothing too intense because she’s still a kid

But like a surprise attack on General grievous

Destroy this monstrous ship

That’s kind of like-

How-

I saw the next frame

Wtf-

WTF

HIS FACE JUST-

CON-torts

You are not Romeo and Juliet movie

You are two kids reinacting Romeo and Juliet clumsy

Get it right

“Admiral, order our ships to stop firing,”

No one’s gonna stop this

No one‘s gonna comment...

Okay....

Obi-Wan And Plo Koon are just gone

Left when Anakin started acting unchild like

Never mind still there

Nothing suspicious *Rubs beard*

Whelp

It does not look safe out there my lady

Screw with the tractor beam and leave

No one can stop you

Droid Related

“I see now this whole thing was a trap,”

The Bang’he Clan Works With The-

I can’t even make that joke because the bang’he clan are working with the separatists

Good writers you out joked me

“ we walked right into it,”

Pressing buttons isn’t going to help lady

Sir the republic cruisers have halted their attack

Bit too much emotion for a droid but it works

“Jedi are so predictable,”

Hit him with a gun

Get the repair team up here

“ i’m going down to the main hanger,”

The arm motion was a little weird... for ‘I’m going down to the main hanger’

Street Railways?

Are we getting *tour the inside of the ship??

Nice

This ship must be returned to Count Dooku intact

Nice little interaction

Rail ways

There’s no room for failure

Hard Moral

One on fast speed ing train

Moves over to another pad

Don’t think that’s gonna help

“Come on I’ve over loaded the power system,”

THAT’S actually really clever

Good job whoever gave that order

General grievous goes boom

Fighter door opens

Find a Fighter

And fly out

* Anakin walks away*

You know this would be a good idea if Obi-Wan had ordered him to do so when feeling the emotion of ‘love’, miscommunicating the concept of love, and didn’t realize that’s what he was doing - what clues him in

“ where do you think you’re going,”

“ someone’s got to save her,”

Still too much emotion

“I thought you might say that,”

Did you give him that, did you give him an order relevant to that?

There he goes again

Yeah Someone should really check up on that

Or get Obi-Wan to lay off the suicidal orders

“Craving adventures and excitement,”

No, orders

“ You get used to it”

Could be just a response

But too much reaction And Person ality

Oh, Shit’s On Fire

“Come on 3PO hurry,”

Flaming wreck lady

“not sure this is such a good idea,”

Neither is being held captive

You’re made of like solid gold

Timing

[also the announce in the background like a train station - just cracks me up]

Time to get blown up

“ Mind the gap”

“Mind the gap”

Haha

You two come with me

Command

That droid’s-

No, wait- It’s Amidala

And C3PO

He’s trying to help

Looks Inside

Beeping

Timer

Look like the engine- Are Set To -

Timing

“Destroy themselves,”

He really needed them to say that

Get out of my way

“Ow,” You don’t want to die

That’s just rude

So is death

You should get out of there

He’s going to come back around

Geez

Fire squad is a train wreck

They’re Trying

Crud if this gets back to Skywalker and he thinks she’s dead

After That Speech

Who knows what toxic morals of love Obi-Wan taught him could activate

This could become a train wreck

Ahhh!

It got worse

Seriously who made the droids that have to with stand high water pressure Light weights

Oof

Even high water pressure cannot kill him

Even running away cannot save him

Wonder what that attack would’ve done

Sound the alarm

“We have stowaways,”

Or...

She was never on that ship

Seriously no one besides the republic saw her

I’d go with “she isn’t on board,”

Run

Back to the republic ships

Who are doing nothing while grievous rebuilds

Like, The medical station is right there

You might want to get back on moving them

Just Saying

“ i’ve trusted you already formulated a brilliant plan to rescue the Senator,”

“ as a matter of fact I have,”

Umm,

Weird How to Code that

“ what do you have a Plan B Every good plan has a back up,”

Stop forcing his dependence on you

“ I don’t have a back up yet,”

Too much emotion

Really

Questioning

Not really helping his self-esteem

Really “ we’ll sneak behind them and dock at the emergency air lock,”

So I’m guessing this is going to set up Padme going there

“ That’s your plan?” Discouraging

“Fly land,”

That’s literally what all maneuvers rely on

Also it sounds like something out of a fairy book

Which might explain Anakin toxic behavior

“ Walk in the door,”

“Basically,”

Too much emotion

“Oh Brilliant,”

Dick

Firey Wreck

“ Might I suggest we keep moving?”

Bit Loud There It

“ I think I hear battle droids approaching,”

Talking is not helping

“But we also need to contact the fleet,”

Getting out is the prerogative

They don’t know where you are

And you can’t stay in a constant location

If I can just keep this com panel working

Ahhh!

Well just disappeared

“The Damage to the hyper drive was not as bad as we first thought,”

How?!

It’s been damaged for about two episodes

Also, Good for Her

“ We’ll be able to get underway again shortly,”

With this mess of a ship

Hyperdrive would send half of it flying

It’s barely holding together by a string

You’re screwed

I must inform count Dooku

Seems oddly suspic.

Continue the search

Find the stowaway

How does that change anything in Amidala’s eyes

Getting to know the boss isn’t worth it

Just be more careful

Roger, roger

Commander

Intimidating

*Spark*

Oh She Was In A Cabinet

Thought she made it in

C3PO Looks creepy in one frame

Shit’s Constantly on fire

“If they spot us we’ll be pulverized,”

With what guns??

You’ve been doing all the hitting this entire time

They’ve been sitting Geese

“They’re too busy repairing the ship,”

Thank you

[also Obi-Wan complainers rules]

“ They don’t have time to notice us,”

Cocky

Subtlety has never been one of your strong points Anakin

Neither Yours Person who orders him!

“ Everything I know I learned from you master,”

Point Yes Attitude? No

Oh if only that was true

Should Be

Might be a side jab at how he took orders from the Chancellor

There we go

Only Obi-Wan was worried

“Didn’t You Hear It,”

Your circuits are loose

Or maybe you’ve lost your hearing

From the impact

“ No one’s crazy enough to do that,”

Cut

“Anakin”

Perfect

“You’re Crazy,”

You groomed him this way

“ spinning is not flying”

“But it’s a good trick,”

Too much emotion

Do not want to be spotted

Good job

You’re standing more in the doorway than he is

“I knew it it’s them,”

That droid is just having a day

Aww But his friend came down to check with him

That’s adorable

Oh no

They’re backing off peacefully

ASSHOLES!

Obi-wan specifically

You stay here R2

Again why did you bring him

Another bold strategy by -

Say Skywalker

‘Skywalker’

Ordered

“I presume,”

No, Obi-Wan’s

When it’s not Palpatine’s

“That’s my master”

Children don’t show preference for handlers

“ once they rescue the Senator we will need to reinforcement to finish off the enemy

Sounds nonsense but OK

Dude really Likes enforcement’s “ i’m on my way,”

“Master Plo”

“ We’re receiving a transmission,”

Padme

Weird distance to start a conversation at

Running for some reason

“ Master we found the senator,”

Good

“ We’re patching Her through,”

Helpful...?

What is it with Skywalker and becoming a Barking over- animated Puppet Every time senator Amidala gets involved ?

“Anakin where are you,”

Better; where are your coordinates

“ On lower levels,”

Better but where

“I don’t know,”

Give a better location

For how long

Problem with this whole plan

Give Landmarks

Get to the rendezvous point

“Obi won and I are on board too,”

Better; get to the ship on level ____ on your ___ side Optional; Closest landmark ____

We’ll meet you there

What what are you doing?

Not the best point to argue

Ahsoka, how can we get to the senator

Better how can we both get to the escape pad?

In case we both get separated

Taking longer to coordinate that complicated-

How long till they get separated?

Center of the ship

Half way between the two of you

Neither Ahsoka gave neither

Bad instructions

“ we’re on our way

To a very unspecified point on not specified level at a not specified time

Let the hijinks commence

“ Did you hear that Padme?”

You’re on the same com

“ i’ll be there,”

Some-how

The question to my answer was 22:40

When do the Hijinks begin?

Let’s See

Marching Intimidated

“we just detected An unauthorized communication Coming from within the ship,”

Shouldn’t he be making a phone call?

“ what did it say?”

Interesting

Well we don’t know

That’s how encoding works

We didn’t catch it in time

Off

Droid winces

Monitor all internal communications

Like they’ll do it again

I want that senator on this bridge

Good luck with that

You haven’t even saw her

Rail-ways

Nice

Busy

Should be a cakewalk

Is Not a cakewalk

All the way up there

“I do not see her,”

Yeah, that’s the problem-

She’s here master

I sent it

Or you got the wrong port

(So you heard her voice so she’s clearly somewhere on this ship)

He’s probably late again

But we do have company of another sort

Oh She has a gun

And somehow none of that hits her

And of course that gets the attention

I’m honestly glad they didn’t go with miscommunication Causes fake stand up scenario

Even if this is faux Romeo and Juliet

Good job

Lots of jumping

Look Jedi

Good job nice guy

No wait That one guy had common sense

“I knew that was a bad idea,”

Mercy

That you didn’t show on the other guys

Who were far more hesitant

And you took out that one guy

Who didn’t do anything

Just wasn’t as vocal

Dicks

Jump The peashooter isn’t doing the job?

Jump

He tried

Power Thrust

Ana kin

“ There. they are!”

Bull shit

No way

he saw those guys

On all those Packages

Also ‘the i knew It was a bad Idea Guy Got New Friends

“Fire!”

Fuck

The bridge is out

“Jump to me,”

Try it with a little bit more disinterest

“ I’ll use the force”

Even she realizes it’s not that intense

“ You have to trust me,”

Good Luck

OMG

It looks like she just falls

Also Obi-wan’s in the back like it’s none of my business

Like dude came on a rescue mission And has become completely useless never helped once Complained the whole way there

Manages

“Got you,”

“ NICE CATCH,” Obi -Wan from the sidelines

10/10 Hilarious

“ I’ll fetch the droid,”

What??

This isn’t cute

Disgusting

“Oh the things you do to get me alone,”

KIDS don’t-

Ack-

Please no more smoopy-

nope

I’m putting it in the “bad” corner Till it stops trying to ship children

Bad Movie

That’s Not Cute

Obi-wan Sucks

Can’t even levitate A Droid

“Stop me please”

Poor Droid

Blast You’re Weak

“ That’s not good”

Yeah you’re weak

“Anakin I got separated from your droid,” Thank God

I’ll take care of it

Better “ We’ll meet you back at the Twilight”?

“ I overheard grievous,”

Annnnnd

“ They’re hyper-drive is nearly fixed,”

Soooo, He better get you back to the ship so we can start blasting it with Cannon balls again?

“ i’m already headed in that direction,”

Soooooo, don’t do it, Obi-wan?

Or have Anakin and take the extremely important senator And come back for you later?

“ i’ll make sure the hyperdrive stays off line,”

By shooting it with more cannon-balls?

Ha ha Ha ha ha

We’ll see about that

What?! Person who can do nothing!

Like seriously if they just go back to the ship-

That Jedi

“I’m getting you out of here,”

Good decisions

“I need you to help me find 3PO,”

How?

“ I know I know he does,”

Padme’s expression

“And i’ll be there soon,”

That’s almost adorable

Oh like that

‘Someone stop this contraption,”

Careful Words

Yeet

There We Go

Into those boxes

“ I suppose I did ask for that,”

Ha-he

That got a small giggle out of me

Stomping

Bait

Murderous Intent

Get Fucked Obi Wan

Really rolling out all the stops

Hahaha

“ Hello there,”

[Took a pause. a long break]

General Kenobi

“ kill him,”

Straight. To. The. Point.

More in line with the characterization we’ve seen up so far, not that much for conversation

Dude’s just rolling

There went the others

Bowling pins they are

Oh grievous has a gun

And hiding behind the enemy

Thought he sent both those guys flying

Apparently I was wrong

Must’ve Been a Third

Didn’t Work

Yeet

That poor Droid...

Spark*

That was impressive

Nah he ran around things

It really set up your forces for a brawl among them selves

“Argh,”

Dude, how insecure

“ Guard the hyperdrive,”

Oh yeah he did shit to it

Also sending basic level mooks to deal with it

Shooting Things

Again how did Anakin and Padme end up in the situation?

They were at the train station last

Now they’re at??

And have agroed every enemy

Who should be focusing on Obi-Wan because

That was their last order

Grievous has just completely ignored Anakin

Hiding

You aggroed Them!

Why are you calling Obi -Wan

“Come in Obi-wan,”

Get her to the shuttle

“ i’m afraid grievous is onto us,”

“We noticed,”

Hey you guys Aggroed those guys completely on your own don’t blame Grievous for this

“Ack,”

Those are Tanks

You’re peashooter isn’t going to do much

Also, Anakin shouldn’t be able to take them either

This should be a properly terrifying moment

“ We’ll meet you back on the twilight,”

Good plan

“Obi- Wan!”

Writers don’t screw this up

“Come In,”

His communicuff clearly got damaged

What’s wrong?!

They’re jamming all communication

No again it’s far more likely that his communicuff Got Damaged (Especially with Grievous listening in,”

Not everything is jammed communi cations Yeet, yeet Yeet

That should not work Those are tanks

Anakin is a lightweight

His skill set is unspecified

But he shouldn’t be able to cut more than butter with that knife

Light wieght clankers should pose a challenge

Due to the amount of energy

“That might buy us some time

Unlikely

I suppose you have a plan Yeah, Get to the escape pad

Follow Me

...To the escape pod

C3PO I do believe I’m lost

Seriously you haven’t found this guy

Enemy Territory

And all alone

You’re a service droid

Probably wouldn’t notice anything

“Ah,”

Dude, they’d probably just adopt you into the clan

“ I surrender,”

Again I really want to see the C3PO and battle droids conversation

(When not aware of the other side)

It’s a projector... R2 D2

“ you are a sight for old eyes,”

A nice interaction

“ Master Anakin sent you to find me,”

“ what kept you then?”

He does have a point

Dude got thrown off the train about an hour ago

R2′s just been messing with him

“ follow me,”

“ The general is demanding a status report,”

Oh some driod on droid interactions (without the general)

Nice

Is the hyperdrive re-paired Yet

From there?

“ i’ll give him the good news,”

This isn’t the escape pad

Did you take a wrong detour?

Also no one guarding the super important one panel repair

Just Light weight clankers

Also that’s not good news

(Especially considering it’s one panel)

Surprised this goes so well

Also; now there’s tanks

Surprised you think that peashooter can do anything ma’am

Like seriously should’ve grabbed a bigger gun

The droids have some

And you can’t tell me there hasn’t been artillery laying around this entire time

Yeet

That almost- Turned into murder This is why not going to the escape pods immediately was a bad idea

Again this should be a stressful fight

But turning your child soldier Into an all powerful can never lose child soldier

Is bullshit movie

Opened Door

“Ever since I’ve known you you’ve been playing with droids,”

Ack

“I used to put them together,”

Alright...

Now I only take them apart Child soldiering...

It sucks

So, where do we start

GETTING TO THE ESCAPE PAD!

Obi-Wan supposed to be here any minute!

With whole lot of bullshit!

Move!

First we need to get one of these droids so they don’t know we were here

No destroy the thing and go

They’ll figure it out in like five seconds

When they go to start the thing up!

Running is a good option

“I’m gonna hot wire this ship,”

How does this make anything better?

He’s already down and in kicking position

Everyone’s waiting for Amidala

You’re not helping, good sir!

(In fact I’m pretty sure you’d have to fix something To make it go,”

Secondly, This is a HUGE -ass ship

As a reason it has an electrical team

Squeezing two little wires

Isn’t going to do much

It requires continuous effort to different parts of the ship To make a dent

And I truly doubt such a large ship is going to have such a non-complicated Start-up compared to hotwiring a car

Point being; this shouldn’t work

Give Grievous a little surprise

Again if it’s anything less Then a bomb

Dude isn’t gonna have much trouble

And this is a waste of time

I’ll guess I’ll clean up the droids then

LITERally im possible

That’s a tank!

You carry light weaponry!

Back to the fleet

Plo Koon Is doing nothing

Having tea and cookies with Ahsoka

Our ships are in attack position

So... nothings changed

“Master Skywalker,”

No one else either

“No,”

Deadpanned

“ The droids are jamming our transmissions,”

(More likely reason for that on a -damaged ship)

But Ergh-

“We need to give him more time,”

Opinion!

“ i’m sure we can,”

I’ve been sitting on my ass-

[Plo’s Head Moves -Railway]

We’re back here again?

Obi-Wan should be at the station by now

Everything is behind him

Yeet

Make it to the Coms center

Break Some Shit

Oof Those Poor Droids Good Pa rell els

Splat!

Obi won looking back-and-forth

Obi-Wan you are a Jedi master this shouldn’t be hard

Run

Tum ble

I was fully planning on him stacking it

Roof

Also, Obiwan

Stop fecking Around

Get to the place

Woof

How

Did you end up falling over?

Ironically Obi-Wan shows less emotion than Anakin

* Slashing the train*

Okay... what did I do

Snarky little shit

Could be snarkier

“That oughta do it,”

Ana -kin Doing Obi-wan’s Job

Also Oh shit is he plugging in the location of that supposed fight with master-

How’s the house cleaning going-

Im-

That dude made out of -metal

He is FIVE times your bodyweight!

HOW?

Done?

You MOVED a Tank??

HOW-

That’s-

What ever

* Guys coming in*

Oh yeah that’s a door

I guess repairs are finished

Or they went on lunch break

Prepared to charge up the hyperdrive

Right on it

“Roger, Roger,” -famous last words

Sparking

Driving

Are we seriously waiting on these two

“Are you quite sure the ship is in that direction?

He’s basically a GPS

That way looks potentially dangerous

All of them do

“Haz ardous,”

Better Example beeping irritatedly

“I know the whole place is dangerous,”

Thank you R2- D2

“ I suggest we stay here and let master Anakin find us,”

Bad idea

A better idea than anyone in the ‘let’s meet up in an undisclosed location’ came up with

Good idea

3PO

Fecking Irony

“Don’t just stand there,”

See?

“Let’s get back to the ship,”

Irony

Power up the engines R2

You know Obi-Wan’s likely going to screw up your shit right

*obi-Wan comes around the corner,*

Dude you have shit to screw up

Did you forget?

There shouldn’t be an escape pod for you

What

Hold the ship

No, you didn’t do anything...

Then again he could just cannonball it

How’s that-

Okay Very light bullshit

“ i’ll contact the fleet,”

It’s the most you’ve done this entire time

Focus On The chair

Do cking Clamp

There We Go

Off We Go

It’s still Burning

Grievous Off

Why?

He doesn’t know

Obi-Wan’s off the ship

Last saw him on the train...

(Not followed up on directly)

Flighters, Where I thought they all got destroyed?!

All batteries open fire

Again Plo Koon does not give a shit who dies

(Until sitting on his ass gets too boring)

Also this isn’t his fleet

They shouldn’t listen to him

(Especially after he got his last one killed)

More Shooting at the burning wreck

Turb ulence

And Obi-Wan still didn’t do his job

Guns

You can shoot back at any time

“ I wa-”

Obi-wan being completely useless

Anakin having too much emotion

“I got it,”

Shoo ting stuff

Somehow doesn’t go down immediately

Hit

“ She seems to know her way around,”

Gross

Hit Something

The Hyper Drive

-repaired

Also Obi-Wan didn’t fuck up shit

Dis appointed

Also it certainly as frick isn’t now

After they’ve been shooting

Should we retreat to friendly space?

If You can make there it with it in one piece (Which was the qualifications)

Engage the hyperdrive

With me not on it

“Secret base sector four,”

Interesting

“Prepare-”

Enthus iastic

“Yes, Sir,”

Fighters still chasing

Intense

“Nice Shoot,”

Gross

“Beginners luck,”

Beeping

“Pardin-”

“Hyperdrive is activating,”

Obi-Wan

“ Oh-shit Caught in a lie.”

“-what”

-They’re getting hit with cannonballs Anakin what did you do ?!

(What Did I order you to do?)

Coordinates are locked

“Hyperdrives engaging,”

Shit’s about to go-

Ar-

Sp- arking

Glitzy display Base

“ I think there’s a problem,”

“General I think there’s a problem with the hyperdrive,”

Yeah The ship got refired upon it’s probably re broken

Seriously

“ I thought the hyperdrive was fixed,”

And then it got shot again...

The navigate computer is heading a straight into the moon

What ??

Fools reset the Navi computer

“Quick,”

Tech Support

Dooku

Worst time to call

(Don’t think it could’ve gone more sideways)

Also good job Anakin You crash landed them on a planet with significantly larger surface area and resources that they can use to re-build

Aka you made things harder than they needed to be

Obi-Wan, what are you ordering this kid

Narrowed eyes

-No reset it

“General,”

Harsh

But I’m interested in where this is going

Since Grievous has had a lot of shit thrown at him

Doesn’t matter which side of enablers he still enabling

But I suppose over involved positivity Would be kind of a nice change for him

Over over involved negativity

Speeds off

“Trans -mission Has been cut,”

Intentionally

* also smart droid

“ We’re Gonna die

[Explosion]

How?!

Whelp Obi-Wan has to have a sit down talk with Anakin. about the ‘ Drive the ship into the moon,’ order

Also I realized (thanks to Obi-Wan) they know nothing about what just happened Grievous either decided to just end it

or they’re all dead

Obi-Wan

Dick move

“ I imagine you had something to do with that,”

WTF- orders

“ all part of the plan,”

Obi-Wan schooled Anakin in extraterrestrial terrorism

Cheering at least the ion cannon isn’t coming back

Nice shot

...So Destroy Malevolence

I have to say I really like this episode

Despite the plot stretched thin

There was a noticeable increase in the quality of animation

The child characters were good

The other characters were a lot more consistent And a lot smarter

0 notes

sharkfish · 5 years ago

Text

ps i loved this one

(rereading bookmarks edition part 2)

(part 1)

i’ve been rereading stories from my bookmarks as a comfort thing. i’m getting real deep in there to stuff i haven’t (re)read for years, and damn do i have good taste. the ones i’ve read recently that you should, too:

(under the cut so i’m not that asshole that makes you scroll past an endless post)

Best Laid Plans by Persephoneshadow

Things are going well for Dean: he's landed the biggest design job of his architectural career and is about to get final approval on the project despite how difficult the development company, personified by Castiel Novak, has made it. It's not bad for a moody omega...except things are also going terribly for Dean because he has to get in a plane and fly to a meeting, and course ends up in heat a few hours before. Luckily, Castiel is there to help and both men discover the good that can come when nothing goes quite as intended.

i don’t know why i’m such a ho for stories where dean thinks cas hates him, but cas secretly adores him and is just a little “rusty” on his “people skills.” i’m also a ho for stories where dean is a gd skilled genius but his dumb ass still thinks his work sucks and/or anything good is due to other people instead of himself. and also, heat boning.

Confessions of a Cam Boy by MsCaptainWinchester (rons_pigwidgeon)

Dean runs a cam show to pay his way through marketing school, but he's about to start an internship that he doesn't know will change his life. Watching Dean's show is Castiel's favorite way to wind down after a stressful day at Sandover Bridge & Iron. When Cas comes to work one day and finds his favorite cam boy setting coffee on his desk, he is completely thrown. Will Dean finish his internship without knowing his favorite viewer is his new boss, or will he be able to see through Cas' non-existent poker face and figure it out?

omg poor cas is soooo awkward and dean is weirded out about how much his new boss seems to dislike him and then it’s super sexy >:)

For Science by shiphitsthefan

“Think of it like an experiment," says Dean. "You’re testing a hypothesis as to whether or not a desirable response can be achieved through the stimulation of the anus via the application of a willing volunteer’s muscular hydrostat.”

Cas raises an eyebrow. “Are you actually trying to use the scientific method to talk me into letting you lick my asshole?”

everyone is such adorable nerds in this one. it’s a fic about rimming, but it’s also about love and discovering yourself and acceptance. it explores cas’s realization through his connection with dean that he’s not straight up ace but more grey/demi - and that doesn’t mean he was “faking” being ace up until he met dean.

Friends with Benefits with Tentacles by andimeantittosting (Saylee)

Dean's never been embarrassed about his porn collection before, but that was before he found Cas holding his prized copy of Sweet Princess Asuka and the Tentacles of Pleasure. Dean finds himself sweating bullets—because this is Cas, sweet, nerdy Cas. Cas, his friend. Cas, his roommate. Cas, his—only slightly out-of-control—crush.

Cas, with his big, blue eyes and muscular arms and perpetual sex hair.

Cas, with his tentacles.

The last thing he expects is for Cas to suggest they experiment together.

there are not enough tentacle fics out there and i 100000% approve of this addition to the tag. i love that dean is out there legitimately studying porn, and the tentacles are obviously super fun, and there were parts where my heart hurt so bad, all around a damn fine fic.

Grown-Ups Making Grown-Up Choices by Carrieosity

Dean is a grown-ass man - he can take perfectly good care of himself, thank you very much. Except that sometimes the easier or more fun choices aren't always the right or best ones, and, all right, maybe thinking ahead and working the long game isn't his strongest suit. It's fine! He's fine.

When he meets Castiel, he realizes that flying by the seat of his pants may not be the best way to attract the super-serious (gorgeous, funny, genius) Alpha. Dean's shrink has been telling him he needs to start making "grown-up choices," and if that's what he has to think about in order to make Cas fall for him, then he'll give it a whirl.

i LOVE this fic (series). i feel so hard for dean feeling like he’s too old for his life to still be a mess, but i also felt sad for him that he thought he had to make all these hardcore changes - basically turn himself into a different person - to be worthy of cas’s attentions. i fucking adore cas in this, and i nearly cried just thinking about all the damn peppers they eat, and i want to read it again right now.

If I Run by Anonymous

"Dean Winchester is a red-blooded American male. He lifts all the things. He aims for functional strength. He counts his macros and makes fun of curlbros. He is not a member of the Tarahumara tribe and he will not read Born to Run, no matter how many times Sam tells him to, because Starting Strength is the only book Dean will ever fucking need."

***

Wherein a friendly competition with the mysterious ThursdaysAngel turns into a sexy selfie-trading spree that motivates Dean Winchester to train for his first marathon.

i really really love this fic and reread it pretty often tbh. it only became “anonymous” pretty recently and i’m so curious about why!! regardless, this fic is a really great time!!!

It's Always More Than Once (Before It Takes) by squeemonster

The first time it happens, it's because of boredom. Or, at least that's what Dean tells himself to justify it. Boredom and Dean Winchester are a dangerous combination, especially when you factor in beer, a raging libido, and laziness.

dean: my dudes, is it gay to do sexy stuff with your male bff? cuz i’m totally straight. but also, having sex with my male bff.

I Wanna Get Outside (Of Me) by emwebb17

Dean is a novice in the dom/sub world asked by his employer as a desperate last resort to be a sub for his recluse of a brother, Castiel. Castiel is a diagnosed OCD suffering from PTSD and agoraphobia, mysophobia, and dystychiphobia. Needless to say—he’s a mess who hasn’t stepped out of his home in literally seven years. The only times Gabriel can see traces of the way his brother used to be is when he feels in control—specifically when he has control over a sub. However, due to his idiosyncrasies and paranoia, keeping a sub around has been impossible. Enter Dean, who’s not a very traditional submissive, to try his hand at subbing for the hermit.

you know how sometimes you read a fic, and it takes ages to get yourself out of that world? even though you’re finished, you’re still right there with him? this is one of those fics. i reread it a couple weeks ago and fell asleep thinking about it last night. i cry a lot reading this one.

Living in Agony by ChasingRabbits

Dean Winchester's life is... well, it's not great. He's a gym teacher, he's in his thirties, and he can't seem to keep any part of his life straight. When the aftermath of a one-night stand goes awry, Dean is dragged kicking and screaming out of his cozy little closet and into the harsh light of reality.

Enter: Castiel Novak, the new history teacher, who knows full well that life gets crappy when you don't allow yourself to live it in the way it needs to be lived.

there aren’t a lot of stories that deal with themes of mental illness, and a lot of them read like an episode of degrassi where everything wraps up in 30min to never be discussed again. this story is honest in that there’s no easy out. there’s medication and therapy and supportive people, but that’s not always enough. it’s a story about how you don’t have to be mentally ill to be fucked up, and while people can’t fix each other, they can help each other. content note: references to a pre-story suicide attempt.

Oddly Shaped Empty by jemariel

Dean grew up thinking -- knowing -- he'd be an alpha.

Until he failed to present. As a beta, he has no mating cycle, no noticeable pheromones, none of the physical markers that are so important in a world of alphas and omegas. He's out of place. How is he supposed to navigate his relationships and find love when he doesn't fit into the neatly-defined boxes he's used to?

By the time he meets his new roommate, Castiel, he's more or less given up on finding a mate. He wears his secondary gender like a chip on his shoulder. But you never know what the future holds, who will come into your life, and how they might change it forever.....

Queer themes, finding identity, reconciling the past, and a whole lot of smut.

y’all know @jemariel is a gd genius, but i’m particularly obsessed with their fics that use abo to explore queer identify & experiences. i hold my breath reading most of this fic and also cry.

Steal my Breath by Sincestiel

“Tighter, Dean, please,” Cas urges throwing his head back to rest on Dean’s shoulder. Dean squeezes. He doesn’t know why Cas wants this or even what the appeal is, but he always comes harder when he’s struggling to breathe.

what’s on the tin. a quick lil breathplay fic that is thoroughly enjoyable.

Unsolicited by Dangerousnotbroken

In which Dean Winchester gets an unsolicited dick pic from an unknown sender which is both totally not disappointing in that it's a really nice dick pic, and incredibly disappointing in that it's clearly a downloaded picture of his favorite porn star.

There's absolutely no way it's actually this porn star sending it to him, right?

Right?

this is a destiel classic and i feel like anyone who isn’t new here has probably read it. but here’s your reminder that this is a great fic and you should (re)read it.

Wordplay by Dangerousnotbroken @dangerousnotbroken

“I don’t understand why talking dirty is such a big deal for you humans,” Cas complains, apropos of nothing.

it’s a “cas learning about sex” and also dirty talk, which are both things i’m really into!! and DNB is a genius so that’s even better.

if you enjoy these fics (and you should), please give the writer some love via kudos and/or comments. <3

ps - as always, if i didn’t tag the writer and you know their tumblr, please tag in the comments. i don’t think there’s a writer alive who wouldn’t be happy to be on a rec list. :)

#sharklist #sharkrecs

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gemder · 5 years ago

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a bubbline wip, featuring a dissociative episode by our fave punk rock vamp. set shortly after Stakes.

She doesn't know how long she's been hovering over the couch like this, with her gaze trained on the bumps and dips on the ceiling and her bass planted in her arms. How many times has she sung that old song, so old and resilient it survived the death and rebirth of the world (and the both of hers twice over, now) just by hiding in the corner of her mind she doesn't like to visit? She can't see the sun or moon rise through the entrance to her hideaway from this part of the house, and the cave-imposed darkness tells her nothing of the time or how much of it has passed.

She doesn't dare budge from her spot. She's been turned twice now; she knows from experience that any sudden action, anything to startle her base thought process, could spark that bloodlust from last time. That was some ugly biz, if she remembers correctly. It's been a while, but something like an uncontrollable urge to drain the lifeforce of every living creature within 30 miles sticks to you. She's just going to have to wait it out, until the itch in the back of her throat dies down and she doesn't worry it'll become an insatiable burning for hot blood, no matter how long it takes.

Marceline has had an excessive amount of time to learn how to be alone; 1003 years, in fact. So why does it never get any easier? Why does being left never hurt any less? Why does she seem to be so completely destined for eternal loneliness? What asshat decided she deserved to spend the entirety of her neverending life without a single constant presence?

Mom went out with promises of keeping safe and finding food and I love you so much, sweetie, that alone is strong enough to bring me back to you. It took two weeks before little Marcy came to the conclusion that her mom wasn't coming back with food or supplies, or even returning empty handed. Simon let a stupid magical crown take over every single cell of his brain and wrote a bunch of scattered letters about it while it happened instead of, you know, telling the frightened 7 year old she was going to be left soon. Dad just up and left to go back to running the Nightosphere after a few weeks, with nary a parting word nor any notice. Her post-apocalyptic comrades had no choice but to flee from an otherwise inevitable extinction. Bonnie had to go and grow up, and in the process decide that her 900-something year old girlfriend wasn't mature enough.

(She checked that old, busted up camper as often as she could over the following months. There was never another life in that thing after she hopped down the little steps and let the screen door slam back with the carelessness of a 6 year old.)

(She found a decomposed corpse months later that just happened to be wearing some torn up rags that looked like her mom’s old sweater and jeans. It must have just been a coincidence, though; there were a lot of recently dead back then, and even more moth-eaten sweaters in the world.)

(“I’m trying to save you, but who's going to save me?” ‘I don't know, old man, maybe you could have saved yourself? You could have not purposely used the magical relic that was making you go bananas?’ If a 7 year old could make it through the apocalypse without magic then so could a fully grown man.)

(He left her to survive on her own in the name of being executive manager of hell and he still wonders why she wants nothing to do with him, why she used to have such a hard time so much as calling him ��dad” when he’s never been anything like what she was lead to believe dads were supposed to be like.)

(She’s 1000 years old, how in the name of the nightosphere could she not be mature enough?)

(Over the years she’s replaced the world “hell” with “Nightosphere” the same way the being once referred to as “God,” back when even she was young, is now called by their proper name of Glob. The Nightosphere really is hell, so it fits.)

(Sometimes she takes the time to think about how she's the heir apparent to the actual, literal, real life hell, and how she's one of the oldest beings around these days, maybe the oldest to still really be sane, but still a messed up teen.)

(She doesn't know how old she was when she was turned; years and months and all that are hard to keep track of when the species that invented it is all but extinct. Is she old enough to drive? Probably. She does and can regardless, because screw the old ways. Old enough to drink, smoke, vote? Debatable. The point is that she’s 1000 years old but actually, like, 18. What the fuck.)

She drifts, both mentally and physically. She's had plenty of time and isolation to ponder the Big Things about life and the world and why and how things happened the way they did, and what it means. She will have an abundance of opportunities in the future to think about these things, too. Some day she'll reflect on this part of her life in the far away, nostalgia-filtered sepia tones she currently thinks of her childhood and adolescence. She'll remember when Finn and Jake were the heroes of Ooo, when Simon used to chase after princesses who will have long since passed, when she couldn't get over her ex-girlfriend who happened to be sentient candy. It will be distant and she will miss it terribly, the same way she misses her mother, and Simon when he was Simon, and fries in a long-abandoned diner. But it will be a wound long since closed and numbed, like the deep scar she got on her calf sometime in her early teens that still exists today, preserved in her immortality and a sentimentality that prevented her from insta-healing it away, sting and blood long gone.

She has forever to reminisce, but only right now to live in the present. She makes mental patterns in the bumps on the ceiling, and slowly loses grip on her body. She is a million miles upwards, where the sky holds no oxygen and the stars are still pinpricks in a sea of indigo construction paper. Like a kid poking holes in the top of a jar of lightning bugs, equipped with a fork and enthusiasm at being able to destroy something for the sake of encapturing something else. She is, at the same time, hovering above her uncomfortably hard couch. One of her hands slips from its place atop her bass, and Shwabl licks it from his spot next to her on the dusty carpet.

She doesn't hear the knock at the door. She is right there, but she is centuries back and in a different part of the continent entirely. She doesn't hear Bonnie getting increasingly agitated, trying and failing not to raise her voice at her through the door. She doesn't notice when Bonnie lets herself in regardless of Marceline’s lack of response, or when Shwabl jumps up to attention at the guest.

It's the “Marceline, what -” that breaks her dissociative spell. That tone of exasperation in that particular voice is a very familiar one, especially within the last decade. She comes to to find that there are fresh tears in the corner of one eye and the words to a song as old as her youth on her lips.

“Oh, hey Bombòn. How goes it girl?” Marceline has had a millennium to convince the world that she's chill and totally not a big mess, and it shows in the lilt to her voice that screams ‘I'm just chillin’’ and not ‘I've been dissociating and crying and probably singing for who-knows-how-long and I'm really messed up’. She still doesn't dare move from her spot, because moving around could still trigger what she's trying to wait out.

“It's been three weeks, Marcy. Three weeks, and all that heavy biz, and no one's heard from you since. Doesn't that seem even a little bit irresponsible to you? Didn't you think people would worry? Or even wonder ‘hey, what happened to that girl who saved all our butts and got revampified?’”

“Dude, I've just been chilling. You know how it is; jams, games, pets, it keeps a girl busy. It’s cool. Ice cold, in fact.”

Bonnie sighs. Marceline has heard that sigh a million and three times over by now, and she's learned to like that particular sound from the pink girl; it's the one thing about herself that she can't manage to sweeten to the point of oversaturation, until it (like the rest of her) is practically dripping sugar. Marceline likes to deal with the authentic rather than the idealized versions of people, because the latter rarely ever means anything good is coming her way.

(She rationalizes that the Ice King component of Simon, while not idealized, is not authentic in the least; the products of full humans getting mixed up with magic seldom are. The authentic Simon Petrikov is the one who found a 6 year old girl in the ruins of a suburban New Mexico town and still had enough selflessness in the aftermath of the apocalypse to comfort her and take care of her.)

The sigh doesn't lead to the reprimanding the vampire expects. Instead, she watches as Bonnie leans down in her peripheral vision to pet Shwabl, expression focused intently on the dog. She's doing that same schooled neutrality shit she used to do during those globawful trade meetings - the ones Marcy used to steal her away from the go gallivanting through the rock candy mines.

“What kind of sweet tunes have you whipped up, then? Lay it on me girl.”

Marceline lets her face adopt a smirk - the expression has become a reflexive habit after centuries of being a bitter undead loner - even as something in her stomach drops. Bonnie rarely asks about her music because she knows so much of it is personal, and that which isn't is vulgar or morbid and prone to being shared regardless, not to mention the fact that Bonnie’s interests definitely don't lie in the arts, or punk rock music, or most of the uglier parts of Marceline.

“You know my latest album is the epitome of personal mush, Bons. It's so personal I'd have to kill you if you heard any of it. But, I do have a new demo about a fisherman.”

Bonnibel definitely wants something out of her; she has that smile she reserves for Cinnamon Bun and Finn when he's going on about dumb 13 year old boy things, the one that's polite and reservedly encouraging, the one that Marcy has always found to be condescending although it always looks as sweet as its wearer who is literally made out of candy, almost as sweet as the girl’s public persona.

The thing about being 1000 years old and also a teenage girl is that you spend forever being a socially-minded person on some level or another, because back in the day that's how girls were socialized to be - social-driven creatures who cared more about what Allyson wore on Tuesday or what Theresa said about Serena in math class than anything practical. So Marceline has had a long time to notice the tells and ticks of the select few she surrounds herself with often enough to care about. PB smiles like her kindergarten teacher used to on particularly trying days when she thinks the people she's with are idiots but can't call them out for it. Her eyebrows droop when she's so tired that sheer willpower will no longer keep them up. She plays with her hands when she's nervous. She used to chew on her hair when she was younger and in the process of creating her kingdom, when stress was a new feeling she hadn't yet made a feedback loop out of.

This is totally, completely because of the sexist socialization of the old world, and nothing else. Totally not because they dated for a good chunk of time, or because one or the other might, maybe be having rose-coloured thoughts about the other again.

“Everyone and their granny has heard that one, Marcy. If you've had all this time to do nothing but groove and game then I wanna hear some tunes! Don't be a butt about it.” She's trying to gode the older girl, but Marceline is itching to get out of this particular conversation. Somewhere in her cursed, mostly re-dried blood she knows this is a test.

“I don't bust into your lab and start interrogating you about your experiments - can you just lay off, man?” she says it more harshly than she had meant to, but being yanked back to reality and immediately questioned over every move will do that to a person. “Tell me what's been going on in Candyland. You finally get all the earwax off of your junk?”

“You know if you did ask about my science experiments I would be happy to tell you all about them - well, the ones that aren't classified. It's called caring, Marce, it's a thing that friends do.”

A tense silence follows as Marceline thinks of something biting (but not petty!) to throw back at her.

“And yeah, actually, I did. The dingus left a huge mess but there's nothing my purple cleaner can't get rid of.”

Bonnie can't leave a single box unticked, can she?

“Glob, that stuff is nasty. The fumes make me gag, and I don't even need to breathe!”

The princess raises a brow at her. The queen furrows both of hers in frustration and fixes her gaze back on the bumps on the ceiling. When she was younger she used to make images out of the dips and dots in the kindergarten room ceiling; the RV’s was smoothed and didn't allow that particular part of her imagination to play around.

“And I think the expression you're looking for is sharing is caring, Bubs. It's a thing they used to say waaaaaaaay back in the day whenever the old people got tired of little kids fighting over toys.”

*******

this was gonna be a longfic feat. mutual pining by our fave disaster gays and more references to marcy’s life pre- and during the apocalypse bc i have a lot of feelings about Stakes. might come back to it, who knows!!!

#ash talks #ash writes #bubbline #bubbline fanfic #writing wip

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tetrakys · 6 years ago

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Episode 11 – Aftermath (Castiel)

“I really like your tattoos Castiel!” said the girl next to me, with a chirp voice and a bright smile. What was her name… Mary? Kelly? Damn… I didn’t remember. The music at the Snake Room was loud and I could barely hear anyone else talking in my booth.

I should have stayed at home… I was writing a new song, but… I didn’t know, everything sounded shallow and couldn’t quite figure it out. It was slowly driving me crazy. My bandmates had insisted to go out tonight, saying that I needed inspiration and I had been locked in my apartment long enough. They were exaggerating, it had just been a few days. And a week ago we had been right here celebrating our new music video.

Still, I indulged them. It was important for our band to stick together. I had had my fair share of failed music projects due to bandmates leaving to do their own thing.

“I particularly like this wing here on your arm” she continued, trying timidly to touch my tattoo. I moved my arm before she could, not liking to be touched by strangers. At least unless I was the one initiating it.

“Does it mean anything?” Of course it did, but I wasn’t going to tell someone I had just met. My mind went back to that person again, who had inspired that particular tattoo. We hadn’t parted in the friendliest way. I didn’t understand his decision at the time, and I still thought it was crazy, but I may have reacted differently if he hadn’t decided to go back to his damn farm right when she had just left. I was a mess at the time, he knew it, still… he had walked away too, thinking only about himself. Like her, like my goddamn parents… like everyone else in my life. Luckily, I had learnt my lesson, caring is for idiots.

“Would you like to dance?” she said realising I wasn’t going to answer her question. This, however, was even worse. I hated dancing. I was hoping for a quiet night, just chatting with my bandmates, sitting in the darkest corner of the bar, unnoticed. I had to know it wasn’t going to last. A bunch of girls had spotted us not even 10 minutes after we had gotten here. The guys, of course, had invited them to join our table. This was the one aspect of my career and newfound fame I really couldn’t stand. Lack of privacy and freedom. Sometimes I wondered if it was worth it.

“No, thank you.” I replied, turning my head a little to drop the conversation. I was scanning the dancefloor just to keep busy when I saw her.

Right there in front of me, in the middle of the crowd, which like magic had parted giving me clear view. Her long, soft legs in plain sight thanks to the short dress she was wearing. I instantly remembered how those same legs had felt wrapped around me, while I was kissing and licking from her knee, along her inner thigh, towards her lips. Her moans while I brought her right to the peak of pleasure. I got hard just thinking about it.

I focused on the present… God she was sexy. Her round hips swinging at the rhythm of the music, that now sounded 10 times more sensual to my ears. Her long hair framing her face, down to her naked shoulders and back, almost reaching her small waist.

I stayed there, looking at her in the dark, like a perv. I couldn’t keep my eyes away, she was just so fucking beautiful. She had always been, since the first moment I had met her so many years ago. But she was also selfish and immature. I had never loved anyone so deeply and she had fucking left me. Tossing me away like yesterday’s leftovers.

When I saw her in the crowd at my concert, just a few months ago, I was dumbstruck, to the point of almost completely messing up the song I was playing. It felt like a switch had turned on in my chest the moment I had laid eyes on her. For five foolish seconds I almost thought she had come back for me. Of course she hadn’t. I tightened my fists at the memory. Thank God I didn’t care anymore.

While I was mentally debating about staying there and enjoying the view a little longer or just go home before doing something very stupid, someone grabbed her hips from behind. I instantly tensed. A guy I had never seen before was at her back, hands on her hips, rubbing himself all over her. I was two seconds away from jumping in there to punch him in the face when I saw her leaning her head against his chest, smiling.

What. The. Fuck.

Was she with him? Really? That guy? I was seething. I turned away before I really ended up doing something incredibly stupid, but of completely different nature respect to what I was contemplating of doing just a minute before. I wanted to kill him. How did he dare to touch her? She wasn’t his! She was…

Despite myself, I turned my head again and froze when I couldn’t spot her any longer on the dance floor. Where the hell had she gone? I found the creep at the bar, ordering drinks, so she must have gone to the restroom. I got up and made my way there, barely registering people at my table calling my name. I couldn’t care less, I made an elusive gesture and left.

Some part of me, the one percent that was still rational, knew that waiting for her outside the ladies’ room wasn’t exactly a great idea. However, the remaining 99% was in charge, and didn’t care how stalkerish it looked. Especially so when she finally stepped outside.

I grabbed her by the elbow and pushed her against the wall, in the dark corner behind the restrooms. The space was so small that we were tightly pressed against each other. I put my hands at the sides of her head, caging her, and stared down at her face.

“Castiel!” she yelped when she realised it was me.

“Hi Candy” I said calmly, coldly, successfully hiding my turmoil. “How are you?”

“Fine… and you?” she asked uncertain. I knew I was making her nervous, and that was exactly what I wanted. It was only fair, she was driving me crazy.

“Very good now” I said, scanning her from head to toe. “Wanna come home with me?”

That seemed to wake her from her stupor. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, let’s bounce. Nothing interesting is going on here tonight.” I smirked like a real asshole “I bet we can find something fun to do at my place.”

“So…” she said, her voice shaking with anger “we sleep together, after you make it very clear that was supposed to be a one time deal. I don’t hear from you the whole week, then as soon as I run into you, you decide you are in the mood to have sex again? What am I, your booty call now?”

“Please” I replied dismissively, “we are friends, you know it. We don’t have to label things.”

That seemed to be the wrong answer, she just looked at me with rage and said “Goodnight Castiel” and made to leave. I didn’t allow her though, keeping her trapped between my arms, pressed against the wall.

“Is it because of that creep you were rubbing yourself against?” I asked with venom in my voice “Nice little show by the way, are you going to fuck him? You weren’t far from it back there.”

She just stared at me, shocked. I had literally managed to shut her up. I took it as a good sign.

“You know I can do you better baby” I whispered, lowering my head, just an inch separating our lips. “Come home with me.”

A moment went by when I thought she would either kiss me or slap me, but she actually… laughed? She literally started laughing her but off. I took a step back and frowned.

“You are jealous!” she said, her eyes shining. “That’s why you are acting like such an asshole.”

Fuck.

“I mean, you are always an asshole, but that’s a whole new level.”

“Please…” I replied with fake nonchalance.

“No, you please.” She pushed against my chest until I was the one now leaning against the wall. “Play your little games with someone who doesn’t know you Castiel.” She said smirking, “You can’t fool me.”

Then she walked away, leaving me there like an idiot.

“Are you going to sleep with him?” I couldn’t stop asking before she got back to the main room.

She stopped and looked at me from over her shoulder. “Mmm… who knows? I mean… it’s nice to not make plans and see how the night goes, right? Your words. And anyway, it’s none of your business. I’m not your girlfriend, remember? Your words again.” She closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them again her voice was calmer “Figure out what you want Castiel.”

And just like that, she left.

I stayed there, staring for a while at the spot where she had been. I didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t my girlfriend, she hadn’t been for a while. I didn’t care who or what she did, I had made it very clear.

Except… I did care… and it was fucking eating me.

I punched the wall and felt a jolt of pain through my arm. Idiot. Stupid idiot, you need those hands to play. That’s what happens when you start to feel. I had to leave, right now!

I held my hurt hand with the good one. What a clusterfuck of a night, I should have just stayed at home. Walking through the exit, I left the bar without sparing another glance at the main room. I felt like a dagger was piercing my chest at the thought of what was maybe going on in there.

Figure out what you want, she had said. Easy, right?

The hell it was… I hadn’t felt such a mess in years. Hell… I hadn’t felt so much in years. Numbness was easier, all these feelings were too much for me to handle. Nothing good could come from them.

Except, maybe one thing… Now I knew exactly how to write my song.

#my candy love #amour sucré #mclul #sweet crush #amor doce #corazon de melon #episode 11 #my writing #mclul castiel #castiel #angst

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magic-and-moonlit-wings · 6 years ago

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Hi, how did you feel about Draal's arm being destroyed? Are there any movies you like, in spite of negative reviews? (For me, it's Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return.) Were there any moments in Trollhunters you hated?

In Seasons One and Two, I thought Draal losing his arm was, overall, a good narrative choice to create a sense of sacrifice and loss in the main cast without actually having to kill off a major character.

That scene where Jim falls to his knees in front of Draal’s unconscious body and reaches hesitantly towards his face and the stone arm crumbles next to him and Jim picks up the Amulet from the rubble and curls in on himself … that was powerful, and well-executed in the callback a couple of episodes later when Kanjigar was yelling at Jim for letting Draal get hurt (even if I do disagree with Kanjigar’s choice to cut his son out of his life ‘for his own safety’ because that particular trope is awful.)

I didn’t care for the ableist comments that various antagonists made about it, but ‘antagonists being mean to protagonists’ and ‘villains doing problematic things’ are not deal breakers for me in enjoying a story or a character.

Then Season Three happened and Draal died.

Literally every visibly disabled character in the series except for Dictatious died. (Unless Morgana’s just stuck in the Shadow Realm.)

That was not a cool decision on the part of the writers or directors.

Other than Strange Magic, I am not really aware of what reviews various movies I enjoy have been given? Like, I don’t go out of my way to read movie reviews. So I don’t have enough data to answer that question.

I do enjoy musicals, which commonly get reviewed by people who complain that there’s singing in them, and I enjoy animated movies, which sometimes get complained about for being animated.

The most accurate answer I can give is that I like a number of movies for which movie critics are not the target audience.

There were a number of moments in Trollhunters that I did not like:

Strickler approaching Barbara near the start of Season Three and not opening with “I’m sorry”; as a person literally trained to manipulate others into trusting and liking him, and as someone who regrets his past actions, those should have been the first words out of his mouth.

Draal’s death.

Angor Rot’s second death.

Claire accusing Jim of breaking his promise to rescue Enrique when he hadn’t completed said rescue mission within a month of her finding out about it.

Barbara getting mad at Jim, while he was in the hospital with mysterious injuries, for not telling her what really happened within like five seconds of her saying she knows he’s lying and demanding the truth, and her walking away from him as he pleadingly apologizes.

Barbara being upset with Jim at the end of the dinner episode. I neither have nor want kids, but if someone I was responsible for described a person I had left them alone with as ‘two-faced’ (read: acts differently when I’m not in the room) and asked me not to see them again, I would be worried and suspicious.

Jim punching Strickler for asking for a breath mint, because it was really not clear that this was supposed to be imaginary. The aftermath, where it cuts to ‘Strickler is back on his feet and no one is reacting to Jim punching the principal in the face’, was really jarring. I didn’t figure out it was supposed to be imaginary until I saw it described as the ‘Daydream Surprise’ trope (audience finds out character was imagining the previous scene) on TV Tropes.

The start of the Season Two finale, because the previous episode ended with Jim facing whatever was in the Deep and the finale opened with that confrontation already over and Jim escaping. (Unless the theory is true that it wasn’t really Jim that escaped …)

All the Changelings in the Janus Order getting killed, because we don’t have an in-story reason why, just audience speculation, and the meta reason that the writers didn’t want to deal with them anymore and might’ve wanted them out of the way so the rescue of the Familiars next season wouldn’t raise questions of “so what happened to the Changelings?” (Which people did ask anyway.)

Jim saying he missed rehearsal “yesterday” when he sees Claire at school in the episode after his fight with Draal, when it’s clearly been at least two days, because the previous episode ended after dark and this episode began just before sunset.

Jim suddenly knowing Angor Rot’s backstory when we never saw Jim learn it, because learning Angor’s backstory would have been a Big Deal that prompted Emotional Reactions and Serious Questions and therefore we should have seen the Trollhunter team finding it out.

Claire forgetting she has a teleporting staff when Jim locks the team on the other side of a door while doing something reckless. (Killahead and the bathroom scene.)

Toby not using his Warhammer to break down the bathroom door.

Strickler not transforming and using troll strength to break down the bathroom door.

Strickler making no attempt to steal the Staff of Avalon when he and Barbara were escaping Trollmarket even though he was literally holding it before they started running.

Claire telling Jim “they freed Morgana!” while trying to talk him out of using the potion, because Jim looks like he’s hesitating just then and when he hears that he gets more resolved, like this confirmed in his mind the odds are too much against him as a human and he does need to turn into a troll.

Basically everything with Merlin in that episode.

Jim kneeling before Merlin’s spirit in Unbecoming.

Nobody bringing up to the Tribunal that the rescue of Jim from the Darklands would never have happened if not for Usurna having the bridge destroyed when she did, and so if Gunmar is free, it’s her fault.

Nobody bringing up to the Tribunal that if Gunmar is free, it’s in their best interest to have the Eclipse Sword and the Trollhunter who can unlock it free and handy. Admittedly that was indirectly addressed when it was revealed Usurna is a traitor and that was why she wanted the Amulet destroyed - but the good guys should still have made the argument.

Nobody bringing up to the Tribunal that troll secrecy is potentially compromised by Jim being imprisoned in Trollmarket and possibly executed, because humans notice and investigate when children disappear.

For that matter, Jim never arguing against being the Trollhunter on the grounds that, if he dies fighting some monster, that could expose trolls to humans, which the trolls don’t want.

Everybody focusing on Jim leaving the team behind when he went into the Darklands alone and not addressing “how were you expecting us to cover for your disappearance?” and “what would’ve happened if Not Enrique was in public when you brought Enrique back and Not Enrique forcibly shifted into troll form?”

Jim not telling Barbara the truth at the end of Season One, when withholding information from her played a large part in her getting injured in the first place.

Toby and Claire not telling Barbara the truth between Seasons One and Two so she would know what happened to Jim if he didn’t come back and could help cover for his absence while they planned the rescue.

Claire never expressing guilt over pressuring Jim to go after Enrique, either while Jim was missing or in the aftermath of the rescue.

The companion novels as a whole (not the original novel, which inspired the show; I mean the series published in connection with the show), because they keep having “did the author even watch the show?” moments.

#ask me anything #Trollhunters #Draal #tw: loss of limb #meta #commentary #Disability Representation #ableism #death and grief #movies #Strange Magic #a musical without songs is like a spy movie without espionage #Tales of Arcadia #TOA novels and comics #that moment when #frustrating

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sheyffer · 6 years ago

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On Bradley (and the rest of this show’s glorified ableism)

Do I have your attention? Good. Because I have things to say.

This is the collective salt built up over the course of most of this entire season, so be warned. This will be long, and most of you aren’t gonna like this - so feel free to skip to the bottom line at the end of the post, I guess.

Without further ado:

So. If you’ve been following me or are a somewhat frequent visitor on the show’s tag(s), you might have noticed I like Bradley. With how much screentime he’s been getting lately, I should be happy, right? Well, I would be, but instead, it just made me feel terrible, week after week. People who’ve talked to me during those times will know. But let me explain.

- Bradley and me

Cheesy title, but what’re you gonna do. See, when MML first came around, I was pretty quick to declare Bradley my favorite character. The first few episodes were great, and I loved what they set Bradley up to be: A kid living in Milo’s shadow, dealing with the rightful bitterness coming out of that. His friendship (or whatever you wanna call it) with Mort and his crush on Melissa had great potential, and knowing these writers, I was expecting some great episodes in these directions. Not that we ever got any, but more on that later.

As the show went on, I noticed something else about Bradley. I know there are a bunch of “(character) is autistic” headcanons out there - and I’m not gonna say anything against those because they’re all valid -, and that Bradley’s also come up in these regards several times. I fully support that headcanon (partly because I’m autistic myself and he’s my favorite character so projection is bound to happen in one way or another), but there’s something specific I’d like to bring up: something I’ll call the switch, for lack of a better word. I will admit that I’m not spending time with other autistic people that often so I can only really speak for myself here... but man. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a (cartoon) character that so obviously has that very same issue (whether the writers intended that or not is another topic; again, see further down). I’m struggling with it a lot myself, as good as on the daily, and seeing actual representation of this in a show makes me feel incredibly validated - because, again, when does any character ever have this?

- A little tangent regarding that “switch”

I should explain what I mean in the first place, of course. Basically, I’ll only care about a topic if it actually affects me in some way, and if it doesn’t, my attention is basically zero. No matter how close we are, I probably won’t even attempt to fake interest when you’re talking about something that has no significance to me, because if I do, people tend to notice quite easily (and I prefer keeping things genuine because me being dishonest would arguably just complicate things further if people realized eventually). Better yet, with the stuff I am interested in, I often end up caring way too much - so it really is kind of a switch, per se. My emotional investment is either full on or full off, no inbetween. Makes me an awful person to be around when you want to talk about anything beyond the fandoms or characters I’m currently interested in, for the most part, but I’m glad about the people who, for years, have stuck with and supported me anyway :’) Maybe you can see by now how Bradley reminds me of this, but here’s some assorted aspects:

Him failing to somewhat relate to Milo no matter how similar they kind of are in various regards

Him actually being friends with and hanging out with plenty of people he gets along with great (compared to having none whatsoever, as could’ve easily been the case if he really was just a jerk), though he's almost never the one to initiate the conversation unless it's Milo related

Him being straight up rude to those people at times, resulting in everyone getting mad at him (which I can’t really blame them for, but still)

And him in turn being way too emotionally invested in certain topics, see Milo and what Bradley believes to be him stealing the show (and Carla, of course)

Melissa puts it really well in Milo's World when she says Milo is so great because he always cares deeply about other people - Bradley quite literally can't get on that level, so it's no surprise he's this bitter, really. What's he supposed to do? He'll never have it in him to apologize for his salt because there's absolutely no reason to in his eyes. He simply doesn't care if other people are sad or hurt by his words, and not even voluntarily so: He believes he's right and doesn't grasp why people don't get him, which may just be because he's so emotional - and less rational - about it... and when he’s generally the quiet-ish grump who's not too bad but also just never quite the friend that genuinely cares about you as a person because he's just this apathetic, any emotional reaction you get out of him is immediately rendered an uncalled-for outburst. Not saying everyone else is awful to get mad at him, because I can't really blame them at all with how much of a jerk he actually comes off as (and him trying to explain is probably awkward phrasing in the "sorry but I don't actually care about your feelings, no offense" direction that immediately makes people get mad at him again), but don’t paint him as inherently awful. This is likely as hard for him as it is for everyone else, I’ve been there myself... but yeah. So much for that.

- The crossover and its aftermath

Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed by most of the second half of season one when it came to Bradley’s screentime, especially since he’d been such a prominent character early on. So when the crossover came around and he got that plant arm, I was like - great! A physical difference to go along with his mental issues and to give him even more reasons to get a little character arc and a push towards morally darker gray areas! This isn’t something they can ignore anymore, right?

Ha. Sure.

It was bad enough that in those first few episodes after the crossover, he had that arm and it was never brought up by either him or anyone else. And then we did get people acknowledging it exists - but it was either treated as a joke or, worse, something to “get over”.

Where do I even begin.

- Yeah, how about no

It’s bad enough that the writers confirmed they only added the plant arm because “it’s funny” - not because “hey, let’s give our main antagonist kid a visible reason to have an arc” or anything in a remotely decent direction. It’s worse that most of the viewers apparently agree, because I’ve hardly heard a negative comment on the matter over the course of these last few episodes. But seriously - how am I supposed to enjoy this (honestly great amount of) screentime Bradley’s been getting lately when all he’s reduced to is the comedic relief? Make Chad and his supernatural antics the hilarious one for all I care, but don’t use the kid who very clearly has physical (and mental) issues whether you actually headcanon him as having anything specific or not. All I got to see in these last episodes is Bradley rightfully pointing out his arm (Milo’s World, Ride Along Little Doggie), him being legitimately upset (The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club), or him honestly just being in the episode altogether (First Impressions), only to have other - main - characters make fun of, or belittle, or get mad at him and have them be portrayed as “in the right” with not a single ounce of sympathy for Bradley whatsoever. As for First Impressions: I’ve been that (autistic) kid excited for the first day of school but not getting in in time. It’s horrible. (Though I’m willing to let this one slide because it reasonably builds up his strong dislike for Milo)

- On an episode in particular

For what it’s worth, The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club isn’t all bad. Hardly an episode is. But it’s easily the most painful to watch for me, for numerous reasons. And that includes certain fandom reactions I’ve witnessed.

Carla. However hilarious or weird (or both) you or the characters may find this, he clearly doesn’t. Even if the writers only added it as a joke to begin with - I’ve had similar experiences myself. I’ve been in Bradley’s position, and sure, I can’t blame the characters for, initially, belittling him for this stuff. But for the love of all the gods I believe in, don’t just completely ignore the distress he’s going through and change the topic like that (while he’s still in the middle of the breakdown, no less). I expected better at least from Milo or Mort.

Zack’s “character development”. In any other situation, I might have appreciated Zack’s talk about feeling like being in Milo’s shadow. But not only is this literally what Bradley was supposed to be about this whole time - Zack immediately gets reassurance and comfort by the other characters. The best Bradley ever got was rude comments on being uncalled for. Goes right along with:

Only the good guys deserve happiness, apparently. Whenever Murphy’s Law does its thing and someone has an issue with it, Melissa and the others are quick to comment on how it isn’t Milo’s fault and whoever has the issue is clearly just being rude and uncalled for. Whenever Bradley does something mildly unpleasant, the very same characters get mad at him and are portrayed as being in the right. As people have pointed out before, Milo and Bradley aren’t all that fundamentally different - but because Milo is the protagonist (tm) and, in-universe, nice to people and (as I’ve heard) adorable, people treat him well enough, while it’s apparently the right thing to be awful to Bradley, because he’s the antagonist(/comedic relief) and not the nicest person around. (For the record, I like Milo and appreciate how supportive people are of his issues. It’s just the jarring contrast with Bradley’s treatment that bothers me.)

Bradley’s “character development”. It’s been a thing I’ve read about regarding this episode and that’s apparently been getting quite a bit of acknowledgement. And sorry, but what? Randomly making Bradley a nice guy who doesn’t mind being around Milo & Co isn’t “character development”. More likely than anything, it’s “oh no, we have three episodes left and can’t have any relevant-ish character not like Milo before this is over, but we don’t have enough time to even half-ass Bradley’s “arc” so let’s just make him be nice for the sake of this montage”. It’s more of a disservice to the kid than anything, especially when in this season in particular, pretty much nobody was nice to him, ever.

- What I’m getting at (took a while, I know)

I’m basically Bradley, for what it’s worth. Whether he intentionally has to deal with the switch or not, his portrayal is incredibly similar to what I’m like, socially and otherwise. Seeing him treated like this for episodes on end is absolutely horrible for me. And I’m an adult who dares believe they figured out their mind for the most part - what about kids? Actual kids (like me ages ago, who only learned about autism to begin with because of really liking Ferb and finding an autism-related post about him) who can relate to Bradley as much as I do because they’ve been there themselves, only for the Good Guys to treat him like this? Even if you ignore all this semi-projection-based talk about mental disorders, his plant arm is still very real and as much of a handicap as anything. It doesn’t matter that the creators added it (and Carla, and probably Bradley’s other antics) as a joke, there are people out there for whom this is anything but that. They deserve happiness as much as anyone, no matter if they’re not the nicest people around (unless, of course, they have really problematic views, but Bradley is far from entering that territory). If anything, they deserve people at least attempting to understand where they’re coming from - and writers who treat even the protagonist’s foil as more than just a joke.

(Disclaimer: No, I’m not saying nobody should call Bradley out when he’s being rude. Even things like the switch only explain his behavior and don’t completely excuse it - he should have to feel the consequences of his actions as much as anyone. But right now, nobody is making any attempt to help him change for the better; they’re making everything far worse, if anything. An episode of Milo, or Mort, or anyone really, actually being willing to so much as listen to his side of the story... that’s all it takes. And can’t be that hard to pull off, can it?)

But since I’m already talking about this kind of stuff:

- And Elliot, too

If only Bradley was the only one. I’m not gonna say anything against Elliot being a jerk (World Without Milo did a good job portraying him in that regard), but even he deserves better than this. I’m talking, of course, about Safety First, in which Elliot has something I can only describe as PTSD, complete with a trigger word and everything. I will admit I haven’t seen the episode since it aired (and am not planning on doing so again), but man. It’s obvious enough how much the trigger word aspect was used as a joke, but then apparently we learn that you can just randomly be cured of your trauma in a few effortless minutes. How nice to know for a few people I know.

- The bottom line

I have plenty of issues with MML when it comes to plot, or pacing, or humor (which, maybe, deserve their own posts eventually). But this right here is by far my biggest problem of them all. Sure, it’s a show for kids, and sure, you aren’t supposed to take something with this kinda premise super seriously - but that doesn’t mean there aren’t aspects that should be. Whether the creators are aware of how their characters come across or not, there are parts even they should know not to be this disrespectful about. And maybe I could get over things like Carla on their own, but when so many little aspects are condensed into a single character, it really stops being something I can ignore. Especially when the characters interacting with him display such infuriating Protagonist-Centered Morality, and even more especially when it’s related to issues that could really use some proper representation in the media anyway, particularly in shows for this kind of audience.

I’m not saying this because I don’t care about the show (and could’ve stopped watching it easily if I have so many problems with it), it’s because I do. I know these people can produce fantastic content, P&F is a prime example. The first few episodes of MML are, too. But after that, it all kind of falls apart for me, with some gems here and there. And yet I still care about these characters (certain ones, anyway), and carry the hope that they will at some point get the treatment they deserve. Until then, I’ll be here writing fics to take care of that when the show fails to - you’re free to ask me about them if you’re interested, for that matter.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. Complain about my opinion all you want, I know it’s such a jarring wave of negativity in a fandom that’s hardly used to that - but hey. Someone’s gotta be the Bradley here. In more ways than most people with any relation to MML are comfortable with.

Take it or leave it.

#milo murphy's law #mml #Bradley Nicholson #elliot decker #the bradley tag #negative #too bad :ß

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pan-xichen · 6 years ago

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In Defense of Season Seven

This season has so many incredible things to offer; the animation, the voice acting, the writing, the character development, like... I think it's one of the best we've had so far. I love season six the most because of how heartwrenching the last few episodes are but this season was still phenomenal. This fandom likes to focus on the negative more than the positive, even if the negative is a minority, so I'm gonna give some opinions on these negative things.

- "forced relationships"

Whomst?? Do you mean Keith and Acxa? Because literally Acxa saved team voltron and Keith didn't want to leave her behind because he's honourable and he felt like they owed her. Ezor and Zethrid teased Acxa about liking Keith but neither of them responded, and in fact Keith had nothing to do with their shit. They were just trying to mess with them. Even if there is some kind of attraction there it's on Acxa's part and is definitely one-sided. I personally think they could even be related, like... I know heteronormativity has us all expecting that when a girl is teased about liking a guy the two will end up together because we've been trained to think that way but really, I know they won't do that. Keith isn't just gonna like... open up to this chick he's known for ten minutes and want to be in a relationship with her. And there's no amount of friendship bonding they could do in 13 episodes that wouldn't make their romance feel clunky and rushed in comparison to the deep and meaningful relationships I love this series for. They've been building Keith and Shiro as a relationship since season one and it's been established that they're stronger now after their battle in season six. The only logical and sensical choice for a Keith romance is Shiro and I know Acxa coming in isn't gonna change that, regardless of how she might feel. Even platonically Shiro basically owns Keith's heart, man. No one is gonna replace that.

If you mean allurance, allow me to point you to the entire fucking series because they've also been building up since season one. Lance has gone from this flirty entitled brat to a respectful and dedicated person and honestly it's one of the best character changes in the series. He's loved - not liked because she's pretty, but loved - and respected Allura since season three and Allura has been falling for him as well. She had that thing with Lotor but that doesn't mean her being with Lance would be forced. Lance didn't feel entitled to her at all, in fact he was more worried for her safety than her and Lotor getting together. He wanted her to be happy because he loves her, even if that meant not being with her. That's huge. It's a great way to have a relationship build instead of the guy getting the girl because he thinks she's hot that we always get with m/f romances.

- "we were queerbaited with sh@dam/ad@shi"

No, we weren't. Y'all if I see one more fucking person saying this season was bad solely because Adam died I'm gonna throw myself off a bridge. Lots of people died. That wall was fucking massive. That's what happens in war (real slick also @ the person who literally accused Bex of defending the decision to kill a gay character when she herself is LGBT+). We literally saw the man for like three minutes of screentime and I don't understand why people expected to see more than that. Shiro is our LGBT+ rep, not Adam. Adam was a plot device meant to deliver the reveal that Shiro is attracted to men. He was never meant to be an important character nor was he meant to get back together with Shiro. There was no queerbaiting of any sort this season.

- "Keith swooping in and saving Shiro was Keith stealing his agency, he should've killed Sendak himself"

This entire show is about togetherness; facing the abyss alongside those you love. Shiro had to face one of his biggest demons this season, and with the theme of the show I'm surprised people think he should've done it alone. He ran head first into that fight with Sendak; no holding back, no fear. That's what mattered. He fought bravely and fiercely against his greatest rival and honestly the confidence he radiated in that scene inversely paralleled season one in which he fought Sendak one on one and ultimately lost. This time he didn't lose-- he had help. A major theme of his arc is learning that he doesn't have to face his demons alone, and it's entirely poetic that it was Keith who killed Sendak, in my opinion. No one else could've done that and had it feel so right. He's always tried to look out for Shiro, and he literally brought him back from the dead. He didn't stop Shiro from going into the fight, he just came in to give him a hand when it was too much for Shiro to handle alone. It was done really well.

- "Shiro isn't the black paladin anymore"

Okay, to be fair before the season even aired I was upset as much as the next guy but my upsettedness dwindled because I knew they wouldn't be sidelining him. The directors love Shiro so much, okay? Like... yes he's suffered but everyone has. So much thought and care was poured into his character and his arc and I'm so grateful for that. Being the captain of the Atlas is an incredibly important role, and the sole reason she can even transform into a mecha is because of his arm. He's seen giving orders not only to the paladins but to literally everyone. He's still very much a leader, even without the black lion. That's what his arc is about; that he's more than just the black paladin. He's more than the burden that was placed on his shoulders. Yeah they solidified a lot that Shiro was the true black paladin but honestly passing the torch to Keith doesn't bother me one bit. Keith has grown into his position so well and he clearly excels, just like Shiro always knew he would. Shiro has outgrown the role of black paladin and has moved on to the role of Captain Shirogane. He's incredible this season and I'm so happy with what they've done with him.

- "they queerbaited k/ance"

Uh... no. They said months back that they never intended for it to be canon and the fact that people got that vibe actually surprised them. Yes Keith and Lance got along this season but that just is a testement to their growth as individuals. They've outgrown the rivalry and I'm glad to see that. Lance can be Keith's right hand man and is content in that position and Keith trusts him. That's huge. I'm so happy they ended up like that and I'd love to see more of them being friends next season.

- "the writing was bad"

Okay, that's an opinion. You're allowed to have those. Thing is though, that it really wasn't. Because we've had such short seasons getting a long one where a lot of stuff happens has overwhelmed everyone who watched it all at once. It might feel poorly written to some because the focus is heavily on plot development and not relationships between characters as in previous ones. Essentially, shit got real this season and there was no time for that kind of thing, even with 13 episodes. With the battle for Earth over, the only big bad we've got left is Honerva, who has fucked off to who knows where. They'll definitely end up fighting her in s8, but s7 really had a "final battle" feel in the finale. I feel like a lot of the last season will be dealing with the aftermath of this one, to be honest. Characters talking things out, Allura and Lance becoming official, Keith and Shiro possibly also becoming official, picking up the pieces and rebuilding Earth like we already saw them doing, etc. It's gonna be less plot heavy and more "chill", I think. An interesting choice for the final season to be sure but the battle for Earth was so fucking intense it's hard to top that. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like 7 is gonna be the most intense season of the show.

- "the sheith was OOC"

?? This one confuses me. Maybe it's because we had so much of it last season that the general lack of interaction between them got to some people but really? Pre-Kerberos backstory? Keith begging Shiro to fight and stay alive? Keith helping Shiro defeat Sendak? That moment where Keith is holding him and that look they give each other?? Like?? We were blessed and it was perfectly in character. Next season I think we'll see what Joaquim meant more that their bond is now stronger now that all the crazy shit on Earth has gone down.

Those are the only complaints I've really seen so far, but there are probably more. These are just my opinions on these subjects and of course not liking the season for any reason is your opinion if you don't. You don't have to like all of or even some of it. This is just my input.

#vld s7 spoilers #mullet speaks #sheith #allurance #dont mind me these are just my onions

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sunlitroom · 6 years ago

Text

Gotham – s5e03 – Penguin, Our Hero

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Selina can walk again. She’s also part cat, thanks to the whole ‘medication may release the darker angels of your true self’ side-effect. Big-eyed orphans flocked to Jim. Tabitha ran into Oswald’s knife. Lots of gangleaders want to kill Jim. Barbara rescued him because she needs his help killing Oswald, because no-one else in interested, because Tabitha was easily one of the most dislikeable people in town. Seriously, Barbara. Have you noticed that Sirens isn’t exactly swamped in floral tributes? Haven exists in soft focus. Ed and Tank got rough. Some very lazy graffiti implicated Oswald in the killing of several gang members.

As always, long post will be long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot might appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

Oswald opens what I’m assuming is his bedroom door, or a door to his private rooms. He hears a choir singing a song of praise and smiles beatifically.

(An aside. This is really dumb and I hate it - I'm not wasting wrist strength on it. Also - it's really offensive. Really really offensive)

In summary, Penn gives Oswald good news about production. The writers feel the need to really hammer home that totalitarian regimes are bad, like we may be somehow unaware of this. We also learn that people are ‘defecting’ to Haven, and that people love Jim Gordon. Oswald pitches a hissy fit that’s interrupted when a bunch of bikers break in, looking for revenge for Oswald’s apparent attack. He explains to the leader exactly how and why he’s stupid, and orders him to be interrogated.

In her hospital bed, Selina dreams about being shot by Jeremiah. This will be a recurring theme in this episode – Selina has flashbacks later - and I think it’s a good thing that we get to see someone actually dealing with the aftermath of trauma. I hope they don’t try to attribute this to the nasty seed thing later.

Waking with a start, she gets up and dressed and heads out onto the roof. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she leaps off the side, like she used to do.

At Haven, Harvey is warning about coping with the growth of new arrivals - word spreading like bad case of clap. He also warns that the gangs will come looking for the slave labour they’ve lost.

Jim seems unconcerned. Let 'em

Harvey says they hardly have any ammo or food to deal with either issue– but Jim still refuses to turn people away.

Harvey then eyes Jim, and asks him when he slept – he’s been going full-tilt for months. Jim tells him he’s OK – but does seem a little flat as he says this.

They enter a makeshift canteen, where Bruce is working. They ask him for some good news, and Bruce tells them something about a water purification system that’s small-scale, but still an improvement.

As they’re talking, a fight breaks out over rations. Jim breaks it up, and then realises people are staring expectantly, and delivers a speech. He tells the new arrivals that they’re all welcome, but they need to leave the fighting outside. The government thinks they don’t need help, and they need to prove otherwise. The gangs outside can tear each other apart – but they need to help each other survive.

Harvey is the voice of cynicism – pointing out that Jim’s speech worked now, but that it’s not going to be pretty when they find out that the government has abandoned them.

Bruce tells Jim that he’s holding this place together, and giving everyone hope – but he has more to add to his plate. Will, the big-eyed orphan, is having nightmares and broke his arm falling from his bed. Could Jim talk to him?

(An aside. I get that they’re building up Jim as a more uncomplicated protagonist and father figure. This is also to emphasise how emotionally invested Jim is in Haven, so that the explosion at the end will have added impact. However. It is treacly to the point of becoming sickening. Maybe it’s setting up another of Jim’s dark paths – where he’ll side with his old army pal over tried and tested allies in Gotham, and have a one night stand with Barbara – but even then, it’s just all felt a little heavy-handed)

In the dormitory, Jim sits down next to Will. Bruce tells him that they can’t imagine what he’s been through, but that he’s safe now. Jim underlines this by telling him that he’ll never let anyone hurt him again.

(An aside. Jim, no. You can’t promise that. You can promise to do your best – but you can’t promise to keep someone safe like that. Bruce is young enough to have an excuse. You know better.)

Jim offers the boy a treat before he leaves.

I’ve got something for you: pineapple from my rations. Hang in there – I’ll check on you later

He and Bruce walk away

(An aside – the obvious parallel here is between Jim and Oswald as leaders. Oswald – on an ego-trip, serving himself an elaborate breakfast, literally enjoying hearing his praises sung, slowly leaking followers. Jim – giving his rations away, working himself exhausted for his people, with people endlessly arriving at Haven.

And I suspect that’s how we’re supposed to view it – but, and I know I’m probably overcomplicating, it’s not quite so black and white. It’s not as nakedly motivated by ego as Oswald’s actions, but there’s no way that this isn’t gratifying for Jim)

Selina shows up in the dormitory. An alarmed Bruce tells her she’s supposed to be resting- but a cocky Selina asks him if she looks like she needs it. She’s never felt better, and she wants to find the freak who shot me.

Bruce says he’s been looking for Jeremiah, but never found anything. Selina points out that there’s been an influx of refugees from all over the city – someone must know something.

Bruce says he wants to find him as much as Selina – but he’s had months to fortify, and they need to be careful. Selina looks askance at him, and asks him if he’s scared. Bruce replies that of course he is, Jeremiah

Shot you to get to me

He tells her he can’t lose her

Selina tells him she’s not his to lose. He can’t stop her, but she does want his help. Bruce stares for a moment, and says that if they’re going to take him down, they’ll do it right. They’ll bring him back here and he’ll stand trial

(An aside. Honestly, Bruce? I don’t see any judges hanging around. A makeshift court consisting of you, Jim and Harvey isn’t exactly doing it right. On top of that, do you really want to bring Jeremiah into close proximity with defenceless civilians?)

Selina smiles fondly at Bruce’s naivete. Reaching up, she touches his face and kisses him.

I was hoping I could count on you

Further in the dormitory, a man sitting on a bed says he heard rumours in dark zone – which is apparently a place of chaos - ruled by those who lost their minds when the bridges went down

(An aside. Sigh, Gotham. So the mentally ill are scary again.)

Jeremiah is there, gathering followers. Selina makes to leave immediately, but the man remonstrates, telling her

You can’t go there: you’ll die! Jeremiah is the least of your worries. Everyone there is insane. Look what they did to my friend

He pulls the cover down, and we can see the man in the bed has had stuff carved into his torso.

Oswald opens his bedroom door, in a snit, clad in underwear this time. He’s wearing a tight black top and shorts under his white cotton garment. I’m guessing the white thing was possibly a little too see through, and they decided to just let the black underwear show rather than get a headache trying to hide it.

Penn! Where the f…..

His choir is gone, and there’s only Olga singing alone

(An aside – I know it’s not the biggest point in the world: but if people like Olga and Eyepatch Guy consistently come back to work for Oswald, then he’s not as uniformly loathsome as the show likes to paint him)

Oswald interrupts her – asking where his staff and Mr Penn are. She informs them that they all defected to Haven. He fulminates before panicking, looking for his dog.

He turns to Olga, teary-eyed

They took my dog?

She looks blandly at him

Rumour say pup went willingly

(An aside – I know Oswald’s scenes are more or less comic relief at points, but I still do get irritated when he takes more of a kicking than any other character in terms of sheer humiliation and being told he’s unlovable.)

He screams in rage and grabs the biker chained to the wall

You're in luck. Our interests are now aligned – and you may live

He tells him to contact the other deeply irritating petty gangs, and to gather men, vehicles and petrol. He has bullets. They’re going to pay a visit to Haven.

After he’s dressed, that is.

At GCPD/Haven, Harvey – accompanied by Alvarez - tells Jim Oswald has made it through the barricade with gangs.

Jim tells them to load up. Harvey points out they’re low on ammo. Jim sends him to someone he hopes with be friendly.

(An aside here. How much time has passed since last episode? Barbara made clear to Jim when she saved him that this was essentially conditional on him agreeing to plot Oswald’s death with her. Jim said he’d table that for later. Is she still waiting for this to happen? Has she just assumed he’s not going to do it? When are we, exactly? If he’s really just never got back in touch, why assume that she’s going to be willing to help – other than the fact that he has no other options, and Jim has a track record of expecting help from people – no matter whether he’s recently jerked them around.)

Down the tree-lined street where Ivy and Selina once wandered – and which is now the dark zone. Selina cracks a joke about calling it the dull zone, and Bruce gazes at her – telling her he’s glad she seems herself again

Selina says she’s been here before – it’s the posh part of town. Bruce says people with money got out. She points out that he didn’t, and he tells her seriously that he had a reason to stay.

(An aside. Oh Selina – and it wasn’t staying with you. Bruce wanted Alfred to evacuate with Selina. He was going to stay and hunt Jeremiah down. Does Selina know this?)

A man with a bomb strapped to him runs towards them, frantically asking for help, before the bomb explodes. We hear laughter and gunshot, as a band of God knows what approaches. Actually. There was a version of Phantom of the Opera set in a disco in the 70s - called Phantom of the Paradise. They remind me of this, crossed with the slightly naff cenobites from Hellraiser III

Anyway

They turn to run, and collide with a hulking guy who’s not exactly friendly

Selina says they’re looking for Jeremiah

Kill you. Kill Jeremiah

Selina decides the best course of action is to find the schoolyard’s biggest bully and take him down

They all start fighting.

Haven, where Mr Penn is still conducting the choir - who now do hymns instead. We hear the sound of bikes approaching. Penn nervously asks Jim what’s going on.

It’s Oswald. Jim tells his men to hold their fire

Oswald gets out of his car – lividly angry.

Well. If it isn’t my old friend Mr Penn, and the Gertrud Kapelput Memorial Choir. How nice to see some familiar faces!

Jim tells Oswald that he shouldn’t have come to Haven. Oswald responds angrily that he stole his people and his dog.

Jim says that the people came here of their own free will. Oswald ignores him to call on his dog, who doesn’t respond to him

Jim raises his eyebrows at him triumphantly when the dog refuses to come when called.

Oswald reiterates that Jim is to return his people and his dog – and also apologise.

Jim says no.

Oswald tells him he knows his ammo is used up – he’s bluffing.

On Jim’s signal – some of his men take down some of the bikers. Oswald pulls a face, and Jim says his men need some target practice.

Back with Selina and Bruce. The hulking guy tells her that she looks soft – while she tells him he looks 300lbs of ugly.

Selina gets the man on the ground and starts clawing at his face with her new metal claws – demanding that he tell her where Jeremiah is.

The man protests that they don't mess with him – but then tells her he’s at Hotel North.

Selina’s still going, though, clawing at his face. Bruce tells her he’s had enough. She says it’s enough when she says so, and he restrains her.

He looks at her, troubled, and tells her she won. It’s over.

Selina blithely replies that it was easy, and strolls off. Bruce stares after her unhappily.

Back at Haven, an irate Oswald tells the bikers that Jim is bluffing. The leader asks how he knows.

I know Jim Gordon

Oswald says if they require a demonstration – they should march forward. The biker says they have guns – Oswald retorts that he does too, and his are loaded.

They march. As they approach, Jim tells his men to make ‘em count.

They shoot – but run out of bullets, leaving one man standing.

Oswald gloats that Jim is out of ammo, and points out that he doesn’t want his men to die.

On the count of three, GCPD lower their weapons.

Bruce and Selina head to the church – Selina deftly climbing over cars. Bruce is not happy at how she handled the big guy earlier, but Selina disagrees – asking whose side he’s on?

Yours. Always

As they approach the church, they see a shrine to Jeremiah. Selina says she’ll tear his throat out. They follow some other people up the stairs to the church and enter the building.

A woman in a mask welcomes them to the Church of Jeremiah, where the faithful will become their best selves – after a demonstration of faith.

They’re very oddly dressed. Shirt and tie – and one guy in a kilt (which tends really to be formal wear)

They walk further in. The masked woman stops Selina – and points out she doesn’t look like a worshipper. Selina insincerely says she witnessed his work first hand, and she’ll never forget it.

She is permitted to pass, and follows the adherents upstairs. The masked woman whispers in the ear of another guard before removing her mask. It’s Ecco, in some dilapidated makeup.

Bruce slips away

(An aside - Where are the clean and well-dressed devotees coming from? I thought the Dark Zone was a terrifying bedlam? How did they get there without being attacked? Why are they so clean and well-presented?)

Oswald leads Jim to a cage/cell. Jim tells him he’s going to regret this. Oswald gloats that those are strong words for someone out of options. He’s going to have Jim watch while they destroy Haven, and then shoot him and leave him for dead like did to Oswald

(An aside – Oswald – no you’re not. We both know this. Jim knows this. That one-episode biker leader knows this. Tank knows this. Those weird English peasants at Ivy’s know this. Give. It. Up)

Jim tells him when the government finds out what he’s done, he’ll be at the top of the wanted list. Jim – Jeremiah created this whole crisis. Jonathan is crucifying people. The government will not share your pigtail-pulling fascination with Oswald.

Oswald tells Jim the only law in Gotham is power. Jim tells him they have children and families here. What will happen when the gangs take them back? Oswald blithely says they’ll go back to being slaves. His people will go back to their lives: bellies full of gruel, with him as their protector.

Jim tells him to take revenge on him – but leave the refugees alone. Oswald tells him it’s almost tempting – before leaving

(An aside – and here, again, we have the problem with this storyline. If you can tug on anyone’s heartstrings, it’s Oswald’s. It’s stupid enough that they have him genuinely believing his people enjoy their life. The additional notion that he wouldn’t actually care about children and families is stupid. Let’s not forget – when Oswald was piloting the blimp, the worst outcome he could imagine was the death of thousands of innocent citizens. It was Jim who felt the need to further incentivise him by appealing to his ambition. Seriously, now. It wasn’t that long ago. I’ve said it several times before – but if your plot demands that the characters are ooc in order to facilitate it, your plot isn’t good)

Outside, Penn is being chained up. Oswald’s not happy at this, and steps in

Stop - that one belongs to me

He manages to unchain Mr Penn – who smiles happily - at being rescued, but also maybe at the indication that Oswald actually appreciates him.

One of the annoying bikers grumbles that Oswald sacrificed one of his guys. While Oswald is untying Mr Penn, who’s thanking him all the while – the biker shoots Penn in the gut.

Penn drops to the floor. Oswald tries to stem the bleeding but it’s no good.

You should have stayed with me! Why did you leave?

Penn looks up at him and, without malice, simply tells him

Everyone hated you

Oswald looks down, his face blanched.

One of the bikers tells him they’ll take everything. An enraged Oswald says he’ll pay for this, before the biker wallops him hard in the face.

(An aside – sorry, but no. Oswald is cleverer than this. He’s adept at reading other people’s needs and wants. The notion that he honestly would have no idea of how he was perceived is just silly.

Also – I know there apparently wasn’t time to develop Penn as the Ventriloquist, but I don’t think they had to kill him off. It feels really unnecessary. Given that this ‘revelation’ was only needed because they made Oswald temporarily stupid, it’s particularly bitter. On top of that, if I feel he’s been jettisoned to help make room for the compulsory indigestible lump of Os/Ed interaction we’ve to dutifully swallow later this season, I am going to feel rather cross.)

Oswald is taken to the cage, struggling and protesting.

Let me go, we had a deal!

As he’s shoved in, Jim watches him calmly from the corner.

I take it that didn’t work out like you planned?

Harvey is at Sirens, calling for Barbara. She sneaks up behind him, puts a knife to his throat and tells him there no men in Sirens past midnight – making it surely a very inconvenient brothel.

She adds that perhaps it’s time golden boy learned to save himself. She asks Harvey if he’s tired of playing sidekick.

Harvey tells her he doesn’t see it that way. They’re friends fighting for same thing.

Barbara says she remembers when Jim was the idealistic rookie and Harvey was the cynical veteran. Harvey cuts in that she was sane back then. Barbara snidely says that now Harvey carries Jim’s laundry.

Don’t you wonder what your life would have been like if you never met Jim Gordon?

(An aside - Barbara. Yes – you have ample cause to deeply resent Jim. He compartmentalised the bejesus out of his life when he was engaged to you, he moved on indecently fast, and his default facial expression when he’s encountered you since has been a curled lip and a sneer. You turned to him after your release from Arkham and asked for him simply to recognise you as a person, and he wouldn’t do it.

However, laying the blame at everyone else’s door for your current situation has become tedious. You were placed in horrible situations, but you have also had agency. Decisions were made. Paths were taken. For the actual love of God, stop whining. I’m so bored.)

Harvey replies that he’d be dead, or wishing he was.

(Another aside. The spectre of Death has hung over Harvey since day one. I do hope he makes it to the end)

Barbara sneers that he’s delusional – like the saps who expect the government to help.

Harvey tries again – commenting that he knows they’ve had their differences, before mentioning that Oswald has turned up…

Barbara’s tune changes, and she tells him he should have opened with that.

Let’s move

Back in the cell, Jim is trying to cut his bindings. Oswald is ranting. Jim’s taken everything from him. Jim tells him to keep his voice down. Oswald keeps talking. His people should have loved him, he kept them safe. What so special about Haven?

Jim pulls a face at him, and says it’s special because it’s far away from him. Oswald pulls a face of his own

That's rich

People are coming, and Jim hisses at Oswald to be quiet. We see the head biker and a couple of children come in looking for supplies – one of whom is big-eyed orphan boy, who glances quickly at Jim. Jim tells Oswald to just act normal, adding

I know it's a stretch

The boy slides a piece of metal under the cage, which Oswald covers with his foot. The bikers find he booze they were looking for, and leave.

Oswald laughs manically. When they get out – he is going to tear this place to the ground. He starts to rant – but Jim interrupts him. That won’t solve the problem. They need to take the gangs out – right here, right now.

They look down at the piece of metal. Oswald asks how they pick it up.

They eye each other, and – honestly – the fact that they both wordlessly come to the same impractical solution points to how bizarrely close they are.

They turn back to back and – leaning against each other – lower themselves slowly to the floor, with Jim making some of the best facial expressions ever seen.

(An aside. OK. Fair enough, Oswald can’t really pick that up: I don’t think his leg would allow him. But Jim. Jimothy. JimJam. Jimbalaya. I ran a test. It’s easy to lower down to the ground with your hands behind your back, pick something up, and then stand again. You saw a chance for some body contact and you took it. Naughty.)

Bruce creeping about at Jeremiah's lair. He encounters a corridor strewn with the corpses of pilgrims, all with gunshot wounds to the head.

Meanwhile, Selina joins Ecco and the others in an empty swimming pool. Essentially, they play a group game of Russian roulette. Ecco is very theatrical and Harley Quinn-ish about all this. Selina scoffs – but, on Ecco implying she’s a coward, places the bullet in the chamber and spins the barrel.

Ecco counts them down – again, slightly aggravating on the quirky preciousness front. We go quickly back to Bruce, whose head turns sharply when he hears the gunshots.

Ecco strolls round, announcing that she’s disappointed in those who didn’t participate. Selina says she’s

Just not a mindless idiot willing to get shot in the head for nothing

Ecco glares. She comments that Curls is here to judge all of us. She goes on, though, indulging in some wittering about Jeremiah and his methods and how it looks like madness but it’s really liberation, blah blah blah

She then tells them all to leave now – she needs to have a word with Selina. They all got straight ‘As’ and can proceed and be reborn.

Elsewhere, Bruce follows two guards before beating them. He ascends further up the staircase.

Selina faces off with Ecco. Ecco says she doesn’t want to meet Jeremiah, but Selina insists she does – only she’s not willing to play that psychotic game

Ecco does some more quirky stuff

But baby – it’s so fun!

Selina asks why Ecco doesn’t play. Ecco tells her she doesn’t get it. Lifting her hair, she displays a scar at the base of her skull, near her ear.

The bullet’s still inside. I hear it. Ping ping ping. Boy do I feel it when the nights get cold

She pulls the trigger, but there’s no bullet. She seems to be getting off a little on it.

Selina tells her she’s insane – but she’s indignant at this, saying she was willing to look death in the face and allow the old her to die. This is the gift Jerome gave Jeremiah – and now it’s the gift he’s giving them

(An aside – interestingly, Jeremiah seems to have rather retconned his past with Jerome again. The gas wouldn’t have killed Jeremiah – there was no potentially fatal option, as with his gun method)

Ecco smiles

We want you to experience that gift….Selina

Selina’s eyes widen

You know me

Ecco smiles

There’s not a single part of Bruce's life we don’t know about. His joys, his fears, his desires

(An aside. Wow. That sounds a like a fun couple activity.)

She adds that Bruce wasn’t ready for Jeremiah’s gift, and nor was Selina.

Selina grimaces as Ecco points the gun at her face

One thing Jeremiah did teach me. I hate a gun pointed at my face.

She hisses angrily, and they start to fight.

Oh puddin’. Aren't you delicious?

(An aside. I suppose you can’t really blame Ecco for flirting with Selina. It sounds like most of her evenings with Jeremiah are spent working on the big Bruce scrapbook.)

Ecco says she knew she had it in her – all it took was a kick in the pants.

Bruce appears. Ecco sneers that her boyfriend is worried about her.

Selina flashes back to her shooting. She manages to turn the gun on Ecco – but Bruce yells stop, and Ecco escapes, stabbing Selina in the leg as she goes. Selina screams in rage and makes after her – but Bruce stops her, telling her that she’s bleeding.

Selina cuffs him to the gate. Bruce protests, but Selina says they’ve done things his way. Not it’s her turn. Bruce is left yelling after her as Selina drags herself off after Ecco.

Back at Haven, the bikers eyeing up cops and discussing who might be best for fights. Jim strolls up

How about this?

He points his gun

The biker says he’s bluffing

I’m afraid not

Oswald appears at the other end of the room

Neither am I

Oswald shoots the gang members. Jim calls on the cops to come out. Jim and Oswald face each other across the room. We hear a whimper, and Oswald’s dog approaches him. He fusses over him, and reassures him that he killed the bad men.

The crowd behind him overhear this and mutter agreement – he did shoot the bad men. They start to chant his name.

Oswald smiles gleefully. In many ways, he’s the world's simplest creature.

Back at Haven, people are arguing both with and about Jim

You promised safety!

He saved us!

Oh boy. Time for another speech.

It was a hard day - but we won.

He points out that they’ve got Oswald's guns and ammo now, and that they survived. Hope survived too – and he thinks that’s worth fighting for.

So do I

It’s the winsome orphan who rescued him

(An aside. Mercy, Gotham. I can’t take much more of this treacle.)

Jim blinks in response to this support. He goes on. Now there’s work to be done, wounded to be cared for.

Tomorrow's another day

Jim’s Scarlett O'Hara now.

A cop appears to tell Jim that Oswald is outside.

Before he heads out, Jim tells the winsome orphan that he did a brave thing, and that they wouldn’t have escaped if not for him. The boy replies that Jim helped him, so he wanted to reciprocate. He hands the boy his badge, and tells him he needs deputies. He smiles and thanks him – especially since he’s allergic to pineapple.

Jim walks towards Oswald, who is fussing over the dog. He straightens up as Jim approaches, and asks him if the cops are really necessary: after all, he just saved hundreds of people.

Jim adds that he endangered them to start with, so he can be forgiven for wanting to play it safe.

Oswald looks up at him, his face more sincere

Still - I do hope there’s no hard feelings?

Jim steps closer and looks at him like he’s recently been caught stealing apples, as opposed to putting a bounty on his head and then breaking through the barricade with a gang of bikers.

You did the right thing today, Oswald. You’re free to go. Don’t make me regret it.

They stand close and – even with my shipper glasses off, there’s really no other way to describe this – stare at each other fondly, smiles on their faces.

(An aside, before Barbara comes in waving the plot point no-one cares about.

I ship this like crazy. I like writing fic for it. One thing that’s blocked me for ages is how readily Oswald can forgive the worst of behaviour from Jim, and how Jim readily heads back to him for help each time no matter where their relationship has been. But actually seeing this helped me get it. Oswald thinks he’s capable of doing great things for the city and its people. Jim also believes this of himself: Jim Gordon, hero of Gotham. They also both know they are capable of terrible, terrible things.

To have someone who is not only seemingly willing to forgive you anything, but who also has a seemingly endless capacity to believe in you? That’s about as a big a deal as you can get. No wonder they keep gravitating towards each other. Who wouldn’t?)

Harvey hurries in, shouting a Jim in warning. He’s swiftly followed by Barbara.

Hi Pengy. Bye Pengy

Wide-eyed, Oswald holds his hands out in front of him, falling back on what he always falls back on in dire straits

Jim!

Jim hurriedly gets in front of him, and faces Barbara down

Barbara, no

Barbara tells him to get out of her way or he’ll get her first bullet.

Jim insists that he’s not moving

We don’t get to see what Barbara does next, because there’s an explosion that knocks everyone to the ground. Oswald, Barbara and Harvey are unconscious, but Jim stands and looks around to see Haven up in flames. There’s no scream of rage – just resignation, and weariness.

(An aside - So, I’m guessing that the explosion was Jeremiah’s doing – given that it just so happened to coincide with Bruce not being anywhere near the building?)

General Observations

A couple of themes here.

The obvious parallel is between Jim and Oswald as leaders. Jim is the ‘good’ leader, Oswald the ‘bad’ leader. I don’t think we’re supposed to read more into it – but, as I said, I think you can really dig into a little more. Barbara comments offhand that Jim wants to be a hero. They both get emotional gratification from what they’re doing.

Oswald has already been chastened by Mr Penn’s death. How Jim copes with what has happened remains to be seen.

There was a little bit of crossover between storylines, if you squint, in the notion of proving yourself under pressure. Oswald eventually did the right thing. Oswald and Jim came together when it counted. On the darker side, Ecco seemed insistent that Selina could step up to the challenge she posed after a kick in the pants.

Given that it lasted a whole two episodes – the Oswald as dictator thing was dumb. Oswald’s whole thing is his ability to read motivations and needs and exploit those. He can’t just fall back on a family name, or use brawn to succeed. But suddenly he actually hadn’t realised that people hated him? Really? Equally – the bit later about him not understanding why people would resent the situation he offered: safety and stability – Oswald’s whole first season is him rejecting the notion of ‘knowing his place’ in favour of clawing his way up, risking his neck repeatedly.

Sorry – but this storyline has been dependent on both ooc-ness and Flanderizing his character.

Hmmm. See – here’s the thing. I liked Jeremiah last season – pre and post-gas. He was different and had his own quirks and complexities. He simmered icily – a contrast to Jerome’s all-out mayhem. But I find the whole Cult of Joker thing tiresome – with all the witless, biddable acolytes wittering on about how he’ll open your mind. It feels even more marked with Jeremiah, who essentially displays almost total contempt to anyone who isn’t Bruce. I’m guessing part of the reason he stays secluded is that he can barely tolerate them.

I wonder if we’ll ever find out why Ecco was so devoted to Jeremiah. Because she was – back last season – before all the gas stuff. Fiercely devoted. It didn’t feel like a romantic thing – and I was curious to find out what it was. Had he helped her out of a bad situation? Did his working set-up meet her needs and personality in some particular way?

Thoughts?

#gotham commentary #gotham s5e03 #penguin our hero

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drink-n-watch · 6 years ago

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Welcome back one and all. Have you been looking forward to this week’s Demon Slayer? We were right in the middle of a deadly fight after all. Sort of an awkward place to leave things. I know I wanted to see the conclusion. How about you Crow?

Absolutely (I say in bold print)! And — I don’t think is a spoiler or anything — we even get a brief replay of the final moments of the battle. In case we forgot. True to form!

Where are my manners… As always, I will be having the pleasure of discussing this episode with my friend Crow of Crow’s World of Anime and of course all of you! Not that there’s all that much to spoil, but we’re going to go into the episode in some detail, so if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to be spoiled, I suggest you tab out for half an hour or so and go watch it, Crow and I will wait. Also, I’m in plain text this week!

Are you proud of me Crow? I finally learned how to put all the proper disclaimers at the beginning of posts!

You can’t hear, but I’m clapping in appreciation. I knew you could do it!

I can hear it in my heart

Episode 9 wasted no time, we were brought straight back to Tanjiro and Yahaba

desperately trying to murder each other. I thought Yahaba was an interesting character, or at least potentially interesting. You know — interesting design, interesting power the creepy calm cryptic type. Triple C! But well, it turns out he was already done for! Were you hoping to see more of him, Crow?

Perceptive question! Yes, I was. There were hints of character richness there, to the point where I expected him to not be dead. It was only when his skull began to actually disintegrate that I figured yep, he’s dying.

awww man, that’s gonna leave a mark

I’m not sure exactly how it works but I’m assuming the water that Tanjiro summons is considered an extension of his blade since it could kill a demon. Did we get an explanation?

Not that I saw, but I agree with your theory. His sword’s water effects must be an extension of the blade, at least insofar as it affects demons. Back in episode 7, we saw his water powers rip the two under water (well, under swamp) demons apart, and they stayed dead. So I guess it’s the same thing?

I thought it was because they were shades maybe?

Despite get summarily dispatched, Yahaba actually managed to put up quite a fight for the few seconds he was still standing (well, less standing and more lying about evaporating…). I quite liked the aftermath. Like isn’t the right word. Seeing Tanjiro barely able to move from exhaustion and injury after his fight, just laying on the ground wheezing, went a long way to drive the impact of the confrontation home. I could almost feel it along with Tanjiro and what I felt was a great deal of relief with a sprinkle of pity and melancholy.

Wasn’t that great? So often, heroes walk away from a battle with a cut or a scrape. Tanjiro got pummeled, and he looked it. Were you impressed by how dedicated he was to getting to the other side of the compound where his sister and new friends were fighting? He took the sword in his teeth because his arms were too tired. Kinda reminded me of Violet Evergarden!

ok!

But of course, that was just half the story. Over on the other side of the grounds, the rest of them were trying to deal with Susamaru. I was a bit confused as to why Tanjiro was so panicked about this. Sure, Susamaru is very strong, but hadn’t they determined that she was weaker than Yahaba? And these were 3 demons she was dealing with. Then I remembered that Neuko was seriously injured, Tamayo seems to be a non-combatant, and my favourite Yushiro just grew back his head. Yeah…there may be some trouble there.

As happy as I was to see Nezuko alive and kicking(ha!) again, I have to say completely healing her off camera like that felt like a cop-out. Not only does it seem that she instantly recovered, but she can now kick those tamari without losing a foot, for… reasons. That’s a bit convenient wouldn’t you say, Crow?

If I had to point to one serious disappointment in this episode, it was that moment. You’re right! And as evidence, remember how Yushiro freaked out in the previous episode when Nezuko even looked like she was going to try to kick the ball? Sure, Tamayo said her serum gave Nezuko a power boost without human blood, but it seemed pretty dang convenient.

Though you’re also right about something else: Their soccer footwork!

just try to get one past me!

I liked that lightening of the mood by turning a battle for survival into soccer practice, it was a cute scene.

It was interesting seeing Susamaru gaining respect for Nezuko’s footwork!

Despite the fact that things seemed to be going quite well, Tamayo was worried. We learned two important facts. 1) Nezuko is gaining strength at a prodigious rate, especially considering she’s never eaten human flesh (allegedly) and 2) Susamaru was quite literally toying with them and Neuko wouldn’t stand a chance against her real strength. And so it was time for a grown-up to step in.

that hir is so perfect

Tamayo has been playing it coy. Standing back and acting very delicate. But she hasn’t survived all this time in defiance of Kibutsuji because she’s anything resembling weak. Her poise, power and words ripped through the unfortunate demon before she could realize what was happening. And those words struck a chord with me as well. Crow, do you think Tamayo was just trying to get under her opponent’s skin or was there some truth to that story of Kibutsuji living in fear? If so, it makes the character even more interesting!

There’s a lot to decompress from that moment, isn’t there? First, Tamayo has really impressed me. What a tragic character who chooses not to wallow in that tragedy but decides instead of fight in her own way to rid the world of a terrible evil. That’s noble stuff! Yes, I think she was trying to get under Susamaru’s skin (and doing an admirable job of it!), but I think there’s some truth to what she was saying. Remember in episode 8 where Kibutsuji was able to shrug off plain rudeness, but lost his temper completely when the poor drunk dude quested his unhealthy appearance? There was something driving that reaction, and I think it might have been an almost paranoid level of fear.

Good point…he did hate being called sick… hhmmm…

he’s afraid of responsibility!

Turns out the blood spell Tamayo was casting activated the Kibutsuji demon cells in Susamaru’s body and essentially destroyed her from within. Visually it was a visceral scene and possibly the most gruesome to date. It’s going to stick with me. And Tamayo calmly explaining that she had never been one of the 12 demon moons because she didn’t have a number on her eyeball, while pointing to sais stray eyeball on the floor, certainly didn’t make it any less gruesome!

[ A question: Was it merely Tamayo’s spell, or was there actually a curse from Kibutuji, where if a demon speaks his name, his cells within them rip them apart? Wasn’t Tamayo’s goal to goad her into speaking the name? I think that’s what I got from Tamayo’s description…]

I do know Kibutsuji’s curse gives him control over those who have his blood ad his cells eventually kill them. Didn’t they mention something about him keeping his identity secret and therefore making it impossible for other demons to give him away. That’s why the teeth grinding guy was so panicked a few episodes ago. I’m guessing that basically extends to speaking his name out loud. That’s how I’m taking it… I guess he is very paranoid!

Crow thought we should take his questions out but it’s good

Was that horrifying and pitiable all at the same time or what? The two demons had been deluded into thinking they were powerful and on the inside with the demon they revered, but nope.

In the end, Susamaru went like all the major demons have gone so far. Small, scared and pathetic. A lost child who ended up and a very wrong path. I understand why they are setting up this moral dilemma, trying to build up sympathy for the demons, but can’t we just have one of them that’s an actual bad guy? At this rate, I’m going to end up having a really difficult time cheering for the Demon Slayer Army.

Tanjiro’s parting words here were the final nail in the coffin (um sorry, poor choice of expression). There is no salvation to be had for demons. Their sins are too great, the burdens upon their souls cannot be lifted. A tragic realization that is sure to make Tanjiro even more eager to find a cure for Nezuko.

how?

I continue to like Tanjiro’s reactions. His push to understand puts him at odds with most of the other demon slayers we’ve met. At odds with the demons, too. He’s doing his own thing and he’s trying to maintain his core humanity at the same time. Tough balancing act.

You’d think that with those intense battles out of the way and all the useful exposition we got, the episode would be basically over. Nothing left but a quick, sweet wrap up to tie everything together in a nice little bow and send the audience away with a smile on their faces, ready for episode 11. In a way, it did exactly that! But it also did much more.

It was my favourite part of the episode.

Oh! Oh! I’m looking forward to this, because it was my favorite part, too! Go on!

all the cuteness

My two favourite characters are Yoshiro (because I love comedy relief and a proper foil character) and Nezuko (because I’m predictable). They both played important roles in this part. Yoshiro’s various intensely exasperated faces at getting patted on the head by Neuko, or at the horror of potentially taking Nezuko with them, were so much fun to watch. By contrast, the mundanely painful sight of seeing him wasting away from disease brought all the death we’ve been seeing back down to a terrifyingly relatable level.

What Irina didn’t tell you is that Tanjiro joined the other three in the basement after he’d finished with his vigil to watch Susamaru finally turn to ash. As soon as he entered, Nezujo ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. A perfect “awwwww!” moment. Then, she ran back down the hall and did the same thing to Tamayo! Even better, she patted Yushiro on the head! There was almost too much adorable in the room at that point!

awwwww indeed

For her part, Nezuko seems to almost be taking advantage of the suggestion she’s under. Relishing in seeing her family again. Overflowing with love for everyone in the room. Of course, the interesting part is that Tamayo and Yoshiro are not in fact human at all. But she’s decided to see them as such and therefore as part of the family. Which begs the question, how much is imposed suggestion, how much is willful self-delusion?

I really liked that Tanjiro finally addressed the question directly and acknowledged that he was uncomfortable with the situation as well, but that he’s accepted it because it seems that Nezuko has retained her free will. Thank You! That makes me feel so much better for some reason. Now we can all move on!

That free will bit? That was everything. It seemed to me that Nezuko is capapulting her mind off delusion into a greater truth: that Tamayo and Yushiro, by virtue of their choices, are in fact part of her family. It makes them human in the sense of members of the human community. I love that message!

when the lies are so sweet….

Tamayo and Yoshiro will be leaving town out of precaution, and Tamayo invites Neuko to join them, as they will know how to take care of her. Yoshiro is the one to watch in this scene. Despite acknowledging the wisdom of the offer, the siblings decide to stick together and Neuko runs out the door. Just as Tanjiro s about to run after her, Yoshiro calls him back and staying with his back to Tanjiro the entire time, admits that his little sister is a real beauty.

How adorable was that moment?

Very, very adorable! And did you see who drove the decision for them to stay together? Tanjiro wavered. He wants her to be safe as desperately as he wants her to stay beside him! But Nezuko took his hand and gave him a look that spoke volumes. It’s as articulate as I’ve seen her be so far!

that face!

If I remember correctly, Zenitsu was your favourite right Crow? Want to tell us about the closing scene?

Cool — thanks! Zenitsu is among my favorite characters in this series — and the list is growing! But, poor Zenitsu! Tanjiro’s on his way to his next assignment — his Crow being a real pest like only we Crows can be — when both of them stop because they hear this tearful voice. It’s Zenitsu! He’s begging this bewildered and disgusted girl to marry him because he could die at any time!

Zenitsu needs to work on his communication skills…

Where was his birdy?

Few away in embarrassment?

good guess

And another great episode down. Demon slayer has been consistently entertaining and does not seem to be losing momentum at all. I wish Tamayo and Yushiro could have stuck around a bit longer but I bet we’ll see them again. Any closing thoughts?

Isn’t Tanjiro supposed to gather tissue samples for Tamayo? Shouldn’t he have her forwarded address or something? Other than that, I’m still thinking of Tamayo’s tears as Nezuko hugged her!

Previous episode reviews

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 01: Cruelty

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 02: Crow will protect me

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 03: Sabito and Makomo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 04: Final Selection

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 05: My Own Steel

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 06: A Friend fo All Humans

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 07: Muzan Kibutsuji

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 08: The Smell of Enchanting Blood

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 09: It’s a Whole New Ballgame

Hooray for more pictures!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 10 – A Friendly Game of Kickball Welcome back one and all. Have you been looking forward to this week’s Demon Slayer? We were right in the middle of a deadly fight after all.

#action #anime #Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba #Horror #shonen #supernatural

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years ago

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RWBY Musing #66: A Squiggle Meister’s Predictions for RWBY V6 C12

Alright Pineheads and fellow FNDM fan, today’s RWBY Rewind Day so you know what that means? I know some of you are most concerned for the fate of our precious freckled farm boy and the sassy pocket abuelita. Though there is a small possibility that Oscar could be conscious and fine for C12, here’s a sure fire way to kind of get a small hint to Oscar’s true fate for the next episode.

If the sneak peek clip for C12 is a cutscene from the Bumblebee vs Adam fight then that means something very serious happens to Oscar in the episode.

On the flipside, if the sneak peek for C12 features a clip from the airship crash of Oscar and Maria being saved from the crash by probably Weiss and her semblance then everything’s all good to go and Oscar will be conscious for the episode.

For this squiggle meister, my best guess is that the clip today might be from the Bumblebee vs Adam fight. I have a feeling that the aftermath of the airship crash might be kept hush hush since that will be the turning point of C12 to set up the final events of C13.

What would actually be interesting is if the airship ends up landing conveniently at the very same waterfall where Blake and Yang are fighting Adam. I mean Adam got bodied by a motorcycle and survived. I wonder how it would look if he got ran over by an airship. Like imagine Adam overpowering the Bumblebee pair with Blake standing bravely in front of Yang prepared to give her life to protect her while Adam gives a long, cocky, villainous monologue just like Roman Torchwick in V3 only to get his ass bodied by the airship while Maria tried to land it.

I mean they don’t have to completely kill him…yet. Just knock him off the waterfall where he’ll probably fallto his doom in the raging waters beneath. In the Beauty and the Beast animated film, Gaston fell to his death off the Beast’s Castle.

I feel like with the Bumblebee fight, we could have homage to the Beast vs Gaston dual with Adam and Yang. I recently rewatched the Gaston death scene from the Beauty and the Beast and some of the lines that Gaston said to the Beast in that scene definitely fits something that Adam would say to taunt Yang regarding her relationship with Blake. His lines were:

“…Come on out and fight! Were you in love with her Beast? Did you honestly think she’d want you when she had someone like me? It’s over Beast! Belle is mine!”

I can definitely picture Adam separating Yang and Blake during the fight. According to Blake, Adam’s strategy is that he likes to corner his foes when they’re alone and most vulnerable. I’m not a Bumblebee shipper but I can definitely see Adam mirroring Gaston while Yang plays the Beast.

At some point during the Rooftop scene, Beast has Gaston by the neck, suspending him over the edge of the Castle while a desperate Gaston begs for mercy. But the Beast doesn’t give in to his rage this time and decides to spare Gaston; instead choosing to threaten him to simply leave.

“Get out!” He says.

Belle then arrives to help Beast and the two have their tender moment of reconciliation. However the instant Beast turns his back to Gaston, he literally stabs him in the back. But as soon as Gaston does this, karma gives him the clap back as he slips up and falls straight to his death in the dark canyon directly below the castle.

I have a feeling that something like this could potentially happen for the Adam vs. Bumblebee fight. I noticed last episode that the fated rematch takes place directly over a waterfall with a deep crevice underneath. If this isn’t the set up to Adam Taurus falling to his death then I don’t know what is.

They literally made Adam Taurus persona a mixture of both the Beast and Gaston. Despite his key motif being inspired by the Beast, Adam’s overall personality and how he views Blake as more of his property to manipulate and be completely obedient to him is more fitting of Gaston.

And similar to what Gaston said to the Beast during their fight, I can see Adam cornering Yang and saying the exact same words:

“Come on out and fight! Were you in love with her, girl? Did you honestly think she’d want you when she had me! It’s over! Blake is mine!”

Seriously I can totally picture Adam saying this to Yang during their fight. I’m not sure about the question about Yang being in love with Blake being brought up in the canon but it’d be befitting if that line is added in since it will match up with the parallel from the source material.

I feel like the CRWBY might kill two birds with one stone in C12 but having the airship crash either happen near the waterfall where Blake and Yang are or directly on it.

I would laugh my butt off if Adam stabs Yang in the back as she turns away to see Blake or at least goes in for the kill as Yang looks away only for Maria’s airship to come out of nowhere and crash directly into the waterfall, the vibration of the crash knocking Adam straight to his doom, like a bitchslap from karma.

Not the climatic ending everyone might be expecting but…since Bumblebee the motorcycle is technically gone for good now, they’ll probably need a convenient way for Yang and Blake to meet back up with the team. So rather than have them walk all the way back to the ship, they’ll just have the airship come straight to them. By literally crashing in on their fight near the waterfall. I feel like that could happen but then again, this is just me speculating here.

Unless the CRWBY would want the Bees to have their moment of triumph over Adam. If so then if the airship doesn’t crash on the waterfall, then this is how things might go:

Similar to the Beast vs Gaston fight, at some point Yang and Adam are along. They will probably have some kickass battle of semblance versus semblance. I actually wonder what would happen if both of this similar semblances were to clash. If both Adam and Yang have abilities where they both absorb the damage they take in to dish it back out. What would be awesome is if we get a clash where we get to see whose power is more powerful: Yang’s or Adam’s.

If that happens, Yang’s resolve will obviously burn brighter than Adams and will break through his own semblance---destroying his sword and sending him barrelling straight towards the edge of the falls. Before Adam could fall in, Yang grabs him by the neck---her eyes burning red in rage. We get a similar scene where Yang has the choice of letting her anger get the better of her and allowing Adam to fall to his death. But rather than taking her revenge out on Adam and killing him, Yang looks to Blake before calming down and choosing to spare Adam.

She even saves him by bringing him up back onto the ledge. Looking Adam square in face, Yang glares at him repeats this line she told him in C11.

“Leave us alone!” mimicking Beast’s infamous “Get out!” quote.

Yang then makes her walk back to Blake. But of course, Adam doesn’t know how to quit. Just like Gaston, Adam goes in for the kill again as soon as Yang turns her back on him. At this point, one of three things could potentially happen to end this fight:

Either Blake ninja jumps in to protect Yang, being the one to lay the final blow to Adam which sends him to his death since Blake did say she and Yang would protect each other.

Or…Yang lays the smack down on Adam, not with her metal arm but with the hand that tremors every time she thinks of him. I think that could be more symbolic.

.Or…it’s a team effort where both Blake and Yang come together to lay one final smack down on Adam which sends him falling to his death. Then again, I personally don’t want neither Yang nor Blake to be responsible for killing Adam though. Like I can picture one or both of them dealing the final blow which unintentionally sends him to his doom.

However knowing Adam, he still manages to survive by catching the ledge. Who knows? Maybe my first hunch about Blake pushing Yang out of the way when Adam tries double crossing her will go down and both Blake and Adam will fall off the edge of the falls together. Of course, being Faunus manage to grab onto the ledge.

From here, I can see another pair of possibilities. On one end, if Blake falls with Adam then I can imagine Yang immediately catching her. Though he tried to kill her, I can also picture Blake still being the better person by offering the help Adam from falling too.

But when Adam takes one look at Yang and Blake together, instead of accepting his so-called former lover’s help, he finally decides to let go Blake go by literally letting go of the cliff and allowing himself to fall to his death. A bitter bastard till the very end.

Or there’s the flipside to that where what if…we got nice bittersweet end to Adam’s character where in his very last moments, he decides to stop being a dick---reverting back into the person that made Blake fall in love with him. Imagine…Adam saving Blake before passing her on to Yang so that Yang can pull Blake up before Adam falls to his death.

This is the non-bitter bastard version of Adam’s end. Again, these are both just speculations but they’re my best guesses for Adam’s curtain call.

Another prediction I have for C12 is that the episode will end on another cliff-hanger with the fate of what happened during airship crash closing off the episode. I feel like the episode will start off with the audience hearing the airship spiralling out of control while focusing solely on Maria trying to get things under control. We either don’t or barely see Oscar at all. The shot just focuses mainly on Maria the entire time before cutting to Weiss who quickly uses her glyphs to help Maria as best as she can to soften the impact, however the airship just keeps spiralling downward. Then before we can get to know what happens to the ship, we cut straight into the Adam vs Bumblebee fight.

I feel like since the title of last episode focused on the JNR_QROWM vs Mecha Cordo fight, the title of C12 will probably reference the Adam vs Bumblebee fight since I feel like C12 will probably be another 15-19 minute episode like C11 where the highlight and focus of the entire chapter is the Adam vs Bumblebee fight.

We probably might not even know what befalls Maria and Oscar until like the very last couple minutes after the main fight is done.

If I had to predict how RWBY V6 C12 will end, right now---it will probably be on a very sad note for the Pineheads. I feel like after the ship crashes, the group will rendezvous close to the waterfall. I wouldn’t be surprised if JNR_QROW arrive at the scene of the crash with Qrow flying in in bird form while Weiss carries the others---Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren (probably in that same order even) on the back of her Wasp Summon.

At the same time, Yang and Blake simultaneously show up at the crash site. While Jaune tends to a tired looking Blake and Yang, the others check in on Maria first.

Of course, our sassy pocket abuelita is still alive cause she’s Maria Calavera and giving the proverbial middle finger to death is her gag. However, at some point, someone will ask about how Oscar is after finding Maria still alive. I think it would hold more meaning if Qrow is the one to go in to salvage Oscar.

There is a moment of silence as the team waits to see what happens only for Qrow to step out of the remains of the airship carrying the limp, possibly bloodied body of one Oscar Pine. Though Oscar was found, things still aren’t looking good because the look on Qrow’s face says it all.

At some point, someone asks the question on everyone’s minds. ‘…Is Oscar okay?’

At first Qrow says nothing, only falling to his knees with Oscar’s delicate body in his arms. Finally Qrow answers.

“ He’s…dead.” He says and the screen just goes black. Not even letting us see or hear the other’s reactions to this announcement.

Now the episode could either end just there or it could give us a teaser to the finale. When we next see Oscar, he’s waking up in the Realm between Realms, similar to Ozma in V6 C3.

My guess is that if C12 ends this way, it’ll probably finish on Oscar meeting a very familiar face in the Realm.

It’s neither Ozpin (yet) nor the God of Light but someone else that the FNDM wouldn’t expect Oscar to meet but would very much love to see again.

Pyrhha Nikkos.

I wouldn’t even be making this theory is it weren’t for that tweet Jen Brown made to the RWBY FNDM on Twitter. I feel like Jen might tease something Pyrhha related that will come in the finale and if I had to guess, it’s probably a shot of Pyrhha rendered in the new Maya engine to highlight that her face will be shown in the finale. Either as a flashback or a ghost that meets Oscar in limbo.

Who knows? All I know is that that’s my best guess for now and we shall what’s in store for us coming soon this week.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #oscar pine #blake beladonna #yang xiao long #adam taurus #maria calavera #pyrhha nikkos #rwby theories #rwby volume 6 spoilers #rwby volume 6 theories #rwby musings

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

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The 100 rewatch: 2x13 Resurrection

This is one of my favorite episodes of season 2. It feels like the second part of a two-parter, continuing right where Rubicon left, and dealing with the fallout, both in the physical and emotional sense. The episode is very focused, and features just two storylines in two locations: the aftermath of the bombing of Tondc, and inside Mount Weather itself, where the Delinquents and Bellamy are continuing to fight and even finding new allies. Both storylines build up tension towards the apparently inevitable final showdown between the Grounder/Arker army and the Mount Weather leadership. But the storyline about the Delinquents is in Mount Weather is simpler, more straightforwardly heroic (as is Bellamy’s role in most of season 2), while the storyline centered around Clarke and the bombing of Tondc feels very dark and morally ambiguous. Some of the crucial quotes relevant to the themes of season 2 and the show as a whole are from this episode.

Rating: 10/10

The aftermath of the bombing of Tondc and the devastation are strongly portrayed, especially in the opening scene: Clarke seesa horse on fire and a woman holding her own arm that was ripped out, before collapsing. Clarke spends most of the episode obviously feeling horrible about what happened and about herself and her decisions (not even remotely the last time she’ll feel that way!) and trying to find a way to deal with her feelings of guilt and shame.

One of her early reactions, the easiest one, is anger at the Mountain Men and desire for revenge. “I want the Mountain Men dead. All of them.” I can see what you’re doing show: Bellamy and Monty have also said similar things in anger– Monty after seeing the Harvest chamber in 2x06 (Maya: “Look, without the treatments, we die. What were we supposed to do?” Monty: “Die”), Bellamy in the cage, after being tortured, in 2x11 (“I’m gonna kill everyone in this mountain”) –these things were said in anger and not literally meant which now feels like foreshadowing to what they will actually end up doing in the season finale, out of the lack of options, and which they will be very unhappy about, to put it mildly.

But after that, she becomes determined to find and kill the sniper, who is killing the survivors and making it impossible for anyone to engage in rescue missions. All she can do is try to something good to make up for what she failed to do. Lexa is meanwhile following her around, observing her with her apparently cool demeanor, and telling her that everything will be fine when they fight and beat the Mountain Men, and telling Clarke to focus on the future instead of dwelling on guilt about past actions, which seems to be Lexa’s MO in general. She says platitudes like “Victory stands on the back of sacrifice” and tries to give Clarke more of her leadership lessons, but Clarke is at this point pretty fed up with them (I can relate) and tells her to shut up.

Meanwhile, Abby and Nyko (working together), Octavia and Lincoln are all trying to save at least some of the wounded people, while Kane is trapped under the rubble - one of the several “Kane in danger” plotlines in the show. Abby tries to help him, but gets trapped herself as well, resulting on one of the longest and deepest Kabby conversations, and brings those two even closer together. Abby tells Kane the truth about Clarke, which she finds shocking. But Kane points out that they didn’t exactly give her great examples growing up on the Ark, with all the terrible things they did. He mentions the culling – which obviously still haunts him – and executions of people for “crimes” like stealing food or medicine, and Abby agrees with him and mentions herself betraying her husband. It’s the first time she describes it as “killing the man you love”. Back in season 1, when they still hated each other, Kane was saying he would do anything for the humanity to survive, and Abby insisted that she cared that they “deserved to survive”. Their current views are much more similar:

Kane: “We all have to answer for our sins.”

Abby: “After everything we’ve done, do we even deserve to survive?”

Lincoln decides to kill the sniper, but gets caught by him, and Clarke finally gets to save Lincoln and kill the sniper, Whitman, making it possible for the rescue mission to proceed. This is a really good scene – when Whitman uses Lincoln as a human shield, and Lincoln tells Clarke to kill him if necessary just to take out Whitman, so she could save her people, Clarke replies “You are my people”, making a point that what someone’s “people” are is not determined by origin or tribalism. This episode has several great lines.

But when Lexa asks her “Did that make you feel better”, Clarke replies “No”. Whatever good thing you go on to do, it doesn’t wash out the bad thing you did – it will always remain and you cannot undo it.

Indra gets a bit of character development throughout the episode and becomes less prejudiced: she was constantly shunning Lincoln and calling him a Reaper, and apparently that was the treatment he was getting from a lot of Grounders, but at the of the episode, she recognizes his help and heroism and hugs him.

On the less interesting (for me, at least) side, there’s also a mini-arc about Octavia, who’s now Indra’s chief second, managing to gain respect from the other seconds, who were all Grounders and were first not very happy to take orders from her. Which is not surprising – why would they, when she joined them a few days ago, and their mentor already gives her a higher position than them! That has to be annoying. But, as usual, because this is The 100, Grounder characters give stupid reasons instead of reasonable ones, and it’s usually something about like hating Sky people : one of the guys says they are “bringers of death”. Really? Because I was under the impression that the Grounders had been constantly at war and killing each other and that the Mountain Men have been killing them mercilessly.

Anyway, he probably changed his mind when a group of Sky people, including Sinclair and Jackson, arrived from Camp Jaha to the survivors, helping rescue Kane and Abby and others.

Clarke is very relieved to see Octavia alive, but their nice greeting is the last time they get along this season, because Octavia will figure out the truth and be very anti-Clarke in the next episode.

Lexa proves again that she has no problems using the deaths for propaganda, when her people start shouting “Heda” and she gives a rousing speech about getting revenge against Mount Weather for the dead. Clarke is standing silent and probably embarrassed, but Abby is so disgusted that she yells for everyone “That’s enough!” (I’ve never liked her more than in this moment), explaining that they have to focus on saving the other survivors.

While Lexa seems pumped up about winning the war (“With our two people together, we will win this war” – she’ll change that tune in 2x15), Clarke doesn’t seem happy at all. But her priority is the same – saving her friends from Mount Weather, which is why she refuses her mother’s suggestion to stay to help the wounded, and goes with the army to war with Mount Weather.. She’s realized that the treatment work, because the sniper wasn’t wearing a hazmat suit, and what this means “They are going to kill all of my friends”. While her relationship with Bellamy is in a *cough* special category, at t this point in season 2, if not before, I felt that Clarke’s feelings for the Delinquents were almost as if she was their mother figure, in spite of being about the same age. It’s that feeling of being responsible for protecting someone, which both she and Bellamy feel about the Delinquents.

Abby, concerned with Clarke’s apparent new acceptance of ‘ends justify the means’ methods, “Don’t forget we’re the good guys” – a line that will be referenced in the season finale.

I love the last scene of this episode – it has one of the best uses of a song on the show (“Couldn’t Stop Caring” by The Spiritual Machines), and it feels really epic, as we watch the army start its march towards Mount Weather – Lexa, Octavia, Indra etc. and with the close-up of Clarke, close-up of concerned Abby staying behind, and again Clarke’s solemn face, to the chorus of “It’s all for you/Take it to depths they never knew/I couldn’t stop, couldn’t stop caring” – which would be a fitting theme song for season 2.

……………

In Mount Weather, things start in a very dark way, as we see dead bodies of two drilled Delinquents that are still lying around. Since Monty is watching through the security camera, the Delinquents learn that the treatments are working, by seeing that some guards have no hazmat suits. The Delinquents have barricaded themselves in their form in Level 5, and are, for the time being, able to successfully defend themselves – which is made easier by the fact that the guards are not allowed to kill them – in order not to waste the bone marrow (as Tsing explained in one of the previous episodes, the window for bone extraction after death is quite short). However, the guards manage to take Fox, which devastates Jasper, because he promised her she would be fine (he is now playing the leader role that is usually reserved for Clarke and Bellamy), and reacts by killing a wounded guard – the second time in consecutive episodes that we see dark, vengeful, angry Jasper. The show had to put in danger one of the named Delinquents we kind of know, to try to raise the emotional stakes a little bit. Fox lives (for now – she still gets killed in the finale of season 2!), because Bellamy, still dressed as a guard, saves her. The reunions between the Delinquents and Bellamy are very sweet to see (before this, he only revealed himself to Jasper briefly to smuggle him the gun) – Fox recognizes him and happily hugs him.

Maya takes Fox to her father, Vincent, to hide her, and we find out that Maya’s mother refused treatments out of ethical reasons, and died as a result, when Maya was just 5. Her father shares the same beliefs, but, as he tells her, he needed to be alive so she would have at least one parent.

Cage finds a new bargaining chip – threatening Maya’s life to force Jasper and others to surrender (probably thinking all he needs is to make Jasper decide to do so), but instead Monty tries to find a way to save her. In the end, thanks to Bellamy, they manage to save her and all of them get away from the dorm through the trash chute, duping Cage and Emerson. The reunion between Bellamy and Jasper is marked by another hug, but also a rather awkward moment when Bellamy tells Jasper about Clarke coming with an army of Grounders, which leads to Jasper asking if Finn finally got his peace talks, with Bellamy replying “…Something like that”, as it’s obviously not the time to tell them that story.

Most importantly, Delinquents get help from other rebels, those of the Mount Weather residents who are secretly against Cage’s plan of killing them to get their bone marrow, and who are going to hide them at their homes. Bellamy tells them: “Stay alive and be ready to fight. War is coming.”

This all feels so hopeful and idealistic. This is a huge thing, the fact that, here in Mount Weather of all places, where we find the worst villains and the most evil society in the show, there are real rebels and revolutionaries ready to fight for what is right at the cost of their lives, rather than doing everything for their own survival, or caring only about their own “people”, even if their own are in the wrong and doing awful things to others. Maya tells Bellamy that she’s not a natural born revolutionaries as he calls her, she’s just trying to do the right thing, but this is what makes her one. She reminds me of Lincoln, who helped the Delinquents in season 1 so they wouldn’t be slaughtered by a Trikru army, explaining that he’s doing it because “what my people are doing to your people is wrong”.

But it’s all so sad to watch now, knowing how things will turn out, and that the cost of victory will be the deaths of Maya and all the other rebels who helped the Delinquents, which is one of the things that hurt the most, together with the deaths of children.

Timeline: This episode starts in Tondc pretty much immediately after 2x12, on the same night, right after the attack, and lasts about a day (since most of it takes place the day after, and the last scene is again at night).

Body count:

After the deaths of about 250 people (Grounders and Arkers) from the missile, a number of people are killed by Whitman by a sniper.

Whitman himself is eventually killed by Clarke

12 Mount Weather guards (10 killed by the Delinquents, 2 shot and killed by Bellamy while saving Fox). This means that 13 Mountain Men died in this episode, and 352 are still alive.

#the 100 #the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 2 #the 100 2x13 #resurrection #clarke griffin #bellamy blake #jasper jordan #monty green #maya vie #vincent vie #lincoln kom trikru #abby griffin #marcus kane #indra

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