#they just really nailed the character intro here

[behaemoth]

God I wish I could experience the first day in disco elysium for the first time again. Meeting Kim and being like ok, so this guy is like, super competent and here to help me, serious but he has a little funny streak too I see I get it. Then talking on the balcony & finding out he only allows himself one cigarette a day for like no real reason other than to prove he has the self control & realizing like, oh, no, this guy’s a freak freak. And then just being irreversibly obsessed with this dude forever.

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

Not so Fake

Masterlist

Tim stationed himself in the third sitting room in the Manor. It was the closest to the kitchen, and furthest from the bedrooms and entrance of the manor. In other words, the perfect hiding spot from his overactive family that have united to try and make Tim rest. The only member that would find him right away would be Alfred, who already left him a cup of tea with a few of his cookies along with one of his laptops.

A note left on top stating that Alfred expected him to actually relax, and spotting the stickers Tim could tell this was his personal laptop. Taking Alfred seriously, Tim booted up YouTube and decided to watch his new favorite, GalacticPhantom, or Danny. He had found the channel a few months ago when one of his search engines caught a mention of Tim Drake and Red Robin being the same person.

The video in question had started off with a very well made video of the camera zooming down from a space view of the Earth to Danny’s home town, through his window and coming to a screeching halt in front of Danny and his friend Wes. The opening was highly impressive to Tim and the twenty-five minute video that followed had Tim wanting to pull his hair out.

Everything Wes said was true, completely true.

Tim was absolutely stunned and terrified because the other teen had managed to fully pull together who Red Robin was without even being in Gotham. The only thing that stopped Tim from calling a meeting about it, was that no one in the comments believed him. Instead Wes was mocked with the tried and true, ‘what do the butts match?’. He ended up watching every video under the playlist, ‘Wes the Detective’ and every single video hit right on the money but absolutely no one believed him. 

Well, no one but his friends it seemed. Tim had a couple theories about it and if it wasn’t for the fact that Wes has his identity clock he’d be staking out the town now. So he chose to stick to the theory that Wes was incredibly smart, but cursed in some way.

However today Danny had posted a new video and Tim could barely wait to watch it. The title was called ‘This thing wont leave me alone.’ and the thumbnail showed a screaming Danny holding a broom with a humanism but clearly not human girl spiderman to his ceiling seemingly hissing at him.

Tim grinned as he pressed play and settled back into the couch to watch. As the intro came to an end it found Danny in the closet of his bedroom speaking into the camera as if he was documenting his last moments.

“Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel.” He whispered softly only stopping at a noise outside the door that sounded like nails scratching against something. “What the—” the chittering of a badger interrupted him to cover his curse. “Today I’m hiding in my closet because this demon thing showed up and won’t leave me alone.” Something being knocked over in the background was heard causing Danny to freeze again. “I am taking my stand though, I have my makeshift weapon and-and I’m gonna face it. In the event that I don’t come out of this alive, Tucker you can have my Doomed character, Sam just ask them out already, Val you can sell all my stuff, and Wes I’m sorry I gaslight everyone in school that one time into thinking you weren’t real.” 

“That was—you Danny, oh you better hope you don’t survive after this!” Wes snapped from behind the camera, his curse being covered by bird chirps, and a second later Tucker’s head popped up from the bottom right screen. 

“You’re focusing on that rather than the fact Danny said that all to the screen like we weren’t even here.” Danny shushed them all dramatically holding his broom in front of him like a weapon.

“It is time. Remember me views, remember me.”

“So—dramatic.” Sam is heard but not shown on camera, soon after Danny is shown bursting out of the closet startling the humanoid creature with white hair and bright neon green eyes. 

Tim assumes the creature is one of their little siblings decked out in a creepy cosplay, a really creepy one that Sam definitely had to have a hand in making.

The girl immediately starts screeching and hissing at Danny who starts screaming back before starting to swat at her with the broom. Only for her to drop on all four and start crawling around to dodge him.

“Why won’t you stay still!!” Danny cried out as he panted slightly out of breath. The girl let out an evil cackle starting to crawl toward him and the others fast as he head began to turn to the point that it was upside down. Everything was silent before Danny began screaming hysterically while hitting the girl with the broom before she managed to jump on him and they began to fight. The video cut off right as the girl got a good hit on his nose, only to come back to Danny back in the closet with a bloody nose.

“You okay man?” Wes asked from behind the camera as Danny just stared dazed ahead. Danny turned to him, eyes unfocused as he stared at the camera.

“Do-do I call an exorcist? Do we have exorcists around us? Bro I have a demon in my house, and my parents who are ghost hunters can’t even detect it. What do I do?”

“Danny, I think she might have broken your Lego space shuttle.” Val was heard and seconds later Danny was shown back outside the closet in a screaming match with her while fist fighting and rolling all over the ground. 

“THAT LEGO SET COST ME FOUR MONTHS ALLOWANCE!!”

“I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET BREAKING IT!”

“ALL I DID WAS HIT YOU WITH A BROOM!”

The girl seemed to be responding to him in either gibberish, or a language they created. Which only seemed to anger Danny more.

“ENGLISH! SPEAK ENGLISH!!” The girl paused, stopping herself from landing a solid punch to his cheek before grinning at the confused teen.

“No.” Danny seemed stunned before anger took over again and the fight continued.

“You can_____speaking english! You____daughter of a______!!” The feed cut off before returning to Danny who was sitting on the bed of his wrecked room. The girl in question nowhere to be seen as Val cleaned some blood off Danny's cheek with a grin.

“I don’t know where she went, but I know she is still in my house. Tune in next time I find her because she better have some money to pay me back for my lego set. Thanks for stopping to watch this episode of mine and until next time, don’t let the ghosts get ya.”

“That was pretty interesting.” Dick said as he stole a cookie from Tim’s plate. “Are all his videos like that?” Tim didn’t even blink at his brother's sudden appearance as he moved to type out a comment.

“For the most part, ya. He’s a shit poster, his content is just a tun of stuff that is so outrageous and realistic but clearly not real.”

‘That fight gave off peak sibling energy. It’s giving, I’m gonna fight my sibling to the death because of one slight inconvenience.’

Jason hummed as he picked his book back up, dropping down in front of the couch to reread Pride and Prejudice. “Ya he was definitely fighting his little sister. He held back too much and she wasn’t pulling her punches.” 

“Only Drake would spend his time watching pointless videos.” Damien huffed, causing Tim to roll his eyes.

“Awe Dami, you know Tim is on mandatory rest. No work of any kind.” Dick grinned before jumping up, wrapping his arms around Damien and dragging him down onto the couch.

“Richard!! Let me go this instant!!” Damien screamed struggling to get away from his octopus of an older brother.

“No! I need my little brother cuddles and I need them from my Dami! No escape for you now.” Damian kept fighting Dick’s hold for the next twenty-five minutes while Tim put another of Danny’s videos on and rewatched it with Jason and Dick watching as well. The video in question was one where Danny went through a locker with his friends and went back in time to when his school first opened. Jason snorted, commenting on them making everything black and white. Danny meets a seemingly see-through kid named Sidney Poindexter and it ends with the two of them having a dance off.

“Bruce, why the fuck are your kids watching a video of a kid dancing with an Infinite Relams ghost?” Tim paused, staring blankly at his computer screen before turning to look at Bruce and John Constantine. “Wow holy shit, the Infinite Realms rarely interact with us since Luthor let the Anti-Ecto Acts pass. Yet that kid is interacting with one like their friends.”

“You’re saying this shits real?” Jason asked, closing his book looking at the screen more interested.

“Language Master Jason.” Alfred said as he walked in from a tray of tea for everyone.

“Sorry Alfred.” John nodded as he moved closer, eyes trained on Poindexter.

“If it is not real it is still more similar than could be possible. They’ve definitely had interactions with the Realms.”

“Wait, what are the Anti-Ecto Acts?” Tim asked his attention zeroing in on John.

“Well fuck, you don’t know? It affects like all of you, thought for sure you’d know. Shit this is gonna take so long to explain. We’re gonna have to call a JL meeting for this explanation because I’m not doing it twice.”

Of Meetings and Musings

[planetallure]

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ fic recs

CW: these works contain explicit content intended for those 18+. make sure to read the rules of the writers before interacting.

@peterthepark : coming back to this blog made me realize when exactly i started back reading fanfic fr. the moment that was eddie mf munson, touched something in me. reign was one of my first intros that really stuck with me. it kinda blew my mind and scared me at the same time because i was like…how do i move on…what’s better than this??? brilliance. creative genius. like what more do you want from me? reign, i miss you. <3

i rec literally anything she’s written about eddie or tasm!peter parker.

@ohcaptains : i really don’t know what to tell you man. leah. is. HER. she simply does not miss. funny story: when i first started my old blog, it was ageless so i ended up getting blocked. so i pm’d her basically begging to come back home because i knew what i had lost. i’m not ashamed.

"dealers choice" - if you happened to miss the moment that was eddie munson or you miss his character or you were never really into him, this lil universe is for you. <3

"learning in public" - carmy x fem!reader. he needs it. he wants it. he has to have it. a man on his knees. enjoy.

"don't you dare fall in love" - heads up this one was discontinued and will not be continued (so don’t go harassing her about it) but the last part has an open ending so don’t let that stop you. college student/dealer!ellie x fem!reader. it’s beautiful and perfect. enjoy.

also ALL of her frank castle, abby anderson, tasm!peter parker fics. thank youuu

@inknopewetrust : this woman is a W R I T E R. the beautiful angsty things that come from her brain need to be cherished. thank you for your service.

“hoping i’ll find [a glimpse of us]” - when i tell you this shit was so fricking good!!!!!?! another piece of LITERATURE that i couldn’t believe i got to read for free on tumblr. i am such a sucker for a angsty slow burn and this still lives in me head rent free to this day. the tension had me giggling and laughing and biting my nail and crying. i need to spin back. i need to feel something!!

“secret” : now this one was a sexy forbidden romance. eddie’s our man who isn’t our man but is and oh m gee the angst in this one got me too, though it wasn’t as much. preppy!reader x eddie munson iykyk.

@etherealising : the absolute sweetest person i’ve met on here. every interaction i have with her just makes me smile. on TOP of that she’s a beautiful writer and storyteller. vee you have my heart.

“all i ever knew only you” - the best carmy x oc fic i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading on here. i’m so emotionally attached to this series, its characters and i think it has such re-readablity . the characterization is also so well done carmy x baby 4life. it’s currently discontinued but she is currently doing a rewrite and it’s going really well! in the meantime, please don’t let that stop you from reading the original while it’s still up. you won’t regret it.

“a buried and a burning flame” - vee single-handedly has me looking a richie different now. like…wait a minute :)) the bickering and banter is so fun. tension? check. spice?? check.

“flew like a moth to you” - a continuation of the one above. babyyyy!!! yes, yes, uh huh 🙂‍↕️ these two? LOVE EM. he’s officially in my heart.

@totheblood : star is so kind and super creative. she has created some of my favorite ellie williams smau’s on here.

"the hard way" - rockstar!ellie williams x ex-gf!reader smau. you guys are brought together again to solve the mystery that is the anonymous account blackmailing the two of you. mmm, nothing like the takedown of a shady mf to bring the girls together again :)

@cherriesxinthespring : another sweetheart with a beautiful mind. ik people get the characterization/true nature of ellie so wrong, but not rosie. she gets it.

“wasteland, baby!” - the wlw true enemies to lovers slow burn i’ve been dreaming of. tap in. right now.

@elliesbelle

“nobody compares to you” : a deliciously angsty slow burn second chance romance (ex!ellie x f!reader)

all the text convos for abby and ellie.

@newasskid : this blog makes me so nostalgic. THE first fic series that i read and rebloged when i started my first ff blog, came from this writer. i honestly feel it was my first time reading fanfic that wasn’t a silly little wattpad story or imagine and i was honestly gagged. i was like, “this…this is literature.” what can i say? i love good ass characterization! and this one was no exception.

“hard knock life” - like i said i was gagged with how good it was. i read the first two chapters back in 2022 and i still remember the feeling i felt reading them. this new blog i’m making is a fresh start for me and a chance for me to get back into old fandoms. will be revisiting this one soon.

@lovelettersfromluna

"one of your girls" - biker!ellie/roommate!ellie/camgirl!ellie x f!reader ALL rolled into to this ridiculously sexy little universe!! i love these two so much :’(

"compass" - vampire!ellie !!!! my new favorite thing. the way luna writes her feeding on reader ALONE is the most erotic and intimate thing. my god this was hot.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

sending all of this beautiful writers my love and respect y’all are amazing and so important. <3

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 9

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

I feel so weird sitting here in the morning reading this, this has been my night-time routine for 8 chapters!

In all honesty the fic I was reading this morning just wasn't it/my brain kept coming back to my boy Shen Qingqiu, so here I am 8am on a Sunday heading into the Borderlands.

My teas are for evening- so this morning, hazelnut coffee!

ah, okay, intro to this chapter. I have been wondering how the afterlife works in this series. I hope we find out more than "the border of human and demons realms" p167

JK lol this is a physical place and not an afterlife p168

oh gosh, this is quite a mess! (Re: the political upheaval within the Cang Qiong Mountain sect as well as vs others) I kind of want to know what the side quest Shang Qinghua went on in the demon realm. p169

Oh baby Luo Binghe keeping Shen Qingqiu's corpse :( p169

okay but he also took Mo Qingfang with him so maybe they were trying to figure out a way to bring Shen Qngqiu back? p170

I would have loved to be privy to the Tea that Lu Liu was about to spill about his theories of Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu ahaha but instead we got a knock on the door interrupting p171

who is this newcomer??? Wait who's the second one?? The anticipation!! pp172-173

wait. "what year is it?" New character or??? p174

I fucking cant. Yes it is Shen Qinqgiu. but also the dramatic flair is too much RE: "faking your death is overdone, I must therefore actually die :)" p174

omg SQQ had a backup body made from the mushrooms! This is so wild. This was definitely Shang Qinghua's side quest for sure. p175

omg I can't stop laughing. What is with MXTX killing the leads and then twinkifying their new bodies. p176

it's been FIVE YEARS?!?!?!?!? p177. Oh damn, bless that he has an abundance of spiritual energy now!

He really told them his name was peerless cucumber- oh my. p178. Can we talk about how they then immediately stated he was a bottom with the Peerless "chrysanthemum, crown, flower.."p178

The hypocrite lol "It is wrong for you to profit from their misfortune" after he literally stole all the clothes on his back and a fancy fan for fun (and cultivating, but let's be real mostly fun). p180

why does everything just come back to SQQ just fantasizing about Luo Binghe's dick? We went from SQQ ranting about demon naming conventions to what he would call Luo Binghe's actual dick LOL p181

HEAVENLY PILLAR-JUN - pls end me XD stooop. p182

Meanwhile we have these demons sweating because they think this man is incredibly powerful and very unstable as SQQ laughs maniacally then slaps himself. p182 I really don't think they are wrong TBH.

oh no! I need to now what Liu Mingyan has been doing in the badlands! p184

but also SQQ assuming that Liu Mingyan is Luo BInghe's wife.

OOOOOO Sha Hualing is back! p185 I like love her as a villain, but hate her as a character. She's in a weird place for me, but I appreciate her LOL

Who the heck is this youth? p186

Jesus christ. the fact that in this moment SQQ hates Sha Hualing's nails- not because there is a kid about to get slice and diced, but because in the novel she uses them to tear up Luo BInghe's back when they fuck. I cannot with this man *face palm* p187

okay we have a name for this young master- Yang Yixuan, and this little baby is Liu Qingge's disciple! p188

learning about how Luo Binghe's cultivation works with his need to basically dual cultivate to level himself out has me officially believing that the system basically allowed SQQ to build the ideal body for Luo Binghe. he definitely has the excess spiritual power LOL p190

This interaction with Sha Hualing and Liu Mingyan tho...I really love Liu Mingyan! Wait- oh no! Not her clawing her face!!! p194

okay she did not get her face clawed

Well, my theory about SQQ building the perfect bod has more merit with the nuns now out of the picture. p197

Holy shit. he actually is strong enough to break through immortal binding cables!! p199

NOW he notices the script change LOL p201 "Shen Qingqiu had certainly never planned to fill in the gap they left behind himself. He had that old feeling of having accidentally picked up the wrong script- it made him vaguely suspicious that the scam of a System was still around"

Dang! he broke the net too! p201

and we have a small appearance by Luo Binghe!!!

Yay! I am so excited i've missed the system, glad it's back. even though it seems kind of broken lol p203

Well "peerless xiangsheng" and "senior peerless" are certainly better than peerless cucumber LOL p205

oh my. Well I mean, he's not entirely wrong is he? Re: Lu Liu's epic tale of the tragic one-sided love between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu. (and this is the Tea I wanted at the beginning of the chapter, I am so happy about it). pp206-207

oh my sweet summer child "Those details aren't the slightest bit reliable, okay? 'The Truth' your sister! Even if I had no girl to fondle for twenty years, no matter how wretched I became, I wouldn't get so desperate that I'd get gay with a guy! Let alone get gay with the male lead!" p212

This Chapter LOL

This was definitely a needed pick up after we had that wretched death. But now I am so curious! I need to know how this turns into their weird but epic love story. When do these two collide??? What happens next???? (do not answer any of these questions LOL no spoilers, but I am very excited to read on).

[asha-mage]

DELICIOUS LEWS THERIN AND ISHY SCENE

"I know how much you hate being alive. But I don't want to do this again." WOOF

Fascinating that this was apparently a targeted strike at the different Forsaken, probably picking them off before the strike against The Pit of Doom.

INTRO RETURNS AW YEAH

A part of me was kinda hoping for a new season 2 one with the Heroes of the Horn, but Spoilers probably meant it couldn;t be. Maybe next time. (Also the Aes Sedai one slaps anyways)

I will NEVER be able to forgive them for making so many hateable men so god damn hot, Bornhold topping the list. And by 'never be able to forgive' I mean 'never be able to thank enough'. (see also: Masema)

28 feels like to small a number of damane for the Seanchan to have in Falme, but I suppose it's a rough estimate and also not including those still in 'training'

The Watches Over the Waves have always been one of those loose threads that never really got touched on. Glad their getting a glancing shot here.

"Prophecies are just the lies of long dead witches" intereeeesting. Not a shocking take for the Whitecloaks to have.

AW YEAH THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE ROAD TRIP EVER

Dang Lanfear cold blooded still.

Perrin and Avi! Aw yeah again!

......Interesting. What is that mist I wonder?

I continue to be so happy they nailed the Aiel so right.

Man Lanfear and Ishamael really sound like they ARE trying to seduce Rand to be their third.

FUCK that's clever (re: The Whitecloak smoke trick)

Their changing the framing of the Egwene rescue a bit, but their keeping Nynaeve's half of it pretty the same, so I'm hoping it will play out like in the books. Still one of my favorite scenes in the series.

Of course Ishamael steps out of that room and IMMEDIATELY knows that Lanfear is trying to play him

Mat! And Padan Fain! Surprised we aren't getting more of a reaction to Padan Fain is A Darkfriend from Mat, but that is a reveal that's pretty old to the audience at this point.

Moiraine and Lan! Platonic marriage re-established!

I like that they gave this speech to Loial re: heroes of a new age. It's very fitting for his character.

Offff. At least it's white cloaks so Egwene isn't going to have nearly as much guilt for slaughtering them.

FUCK

RANDA AL'THOR YOU ARE THE FUNnIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET

on the one hand i've always loved the Turak vs Rand duel, on the other....yeah probably does not have the sword trainining needed to do that this time round.

By Turak! At least you got to take Suroth down a peg this time!

Glad they kept the ritual suicide of the So'jhin re: Turak's death. It's one of those moments for hitting home just how fucked the Seanchan culture is.

.....Interesting choice to cut Ingtar's confession, especially after making a point to show the Shienar falcon early in the season. By Ingtar!

Oh hey Domon! You took Moiraine's advice I see.

'Take them to the deepest part of the ocean and dump them' Pffffffft. Peak Lanfear

MAY MAKING A NAGINTA WITH THE DAGGER IS SO A?UAHGAUSDUGHASUDGHASDGAUHSDGASUHFADSUHFASDFUH?ASDFASDFASDFAS

[It was at this point that I lost all coherence and stopped being able to liveblog effectively so here are some of my assorted post credits thoughts]

MOIRAINE AND LAN KILLING IT ONCE MORE

I have conflicted feelings about Egwene actually killing Renna, related mostly to the scene from the books being so important to the under laying themes of justice and fate, but I also can't deny that with it's shifted framing, it makes complete sense for the characters, and it heightens the ongoing theme of 'The Forsaken where to Lews what the EF5 where to Rand'.

I also have conflicted feelings about Nynaeve not being the one to heal Rand's wound, but I understand the logic of the choice, even if I don't agree with it.

On the other hand it is BRILLIANT AND INCREDIBLY SMART CHOICE to have Bornhold Senior be the one to kill Hopper, and Perrin to kill him in revenge. It's going to make the Two Rivers stuff A Lot More. It will also make Perrin's conviction to give himself up to the Whitecloaks make a lot more sense.

MAT BEING A HERO OF THE HORN IS INTERESTING BECAUSE MAT SPECIFICALLY WASN'T IN THE BOOKS- HE REFUSED REPEATEDLY THROUGH MANY LIVES. This lends credence to the 'future turning of the wheel' credence of the show which I've always favored anyways.

The scene where all these pivotal character moments are happening while Mat blows the horn, all these different arcs turning on their head, is SO FUCKING BRILLIANT

ALSO CONGRATS ON THE PROMOTION TO HERO OF THE HORN UNO

They don't specifically name drop any heroes in the scene, and I'll have to go back with X Ray to see if any are named, but THEIR SURE IS A BLONDE ARCHER LADY IN THAT SHOW SO FOR NOW HIGH BIRGITTE

ALSO HIGH ARTUR HAWKWING I ASSUME on the one hand it feels weird for your line to be directed at Mat instead of Rand. On the other your part in this scene originally was really just to drive home beyond any shadow of doubt, any ability of Rand to deny it to himself for a reason beyond stubbornness, that he was the Dragon. Rand's already accepted that here so you're not strictly speaking necessary for that, but still.

The shot where everyone is standing united against Ishamael is SO FUCKING GOOD.

Also by Ishamael! We'll see you in a few seasons in your newer, hotter, twinkier body!

(I don't envy the actor that has to live up to Fares Fares, it's going to be no easy task).

ALSO ENTER: THE OTHER FORSAKEN, dun dun dun!

Moggy fucking with Lanfear is so fucking good. FEED IT TO ME SLOWLY WITH GRAPES

GIRL SET HER TRAP AND WAITED FOR LANFEAR TO WALK INTO IT JUST SO SHE COULD GET THE UPPER HAND AND GLOAT IN AN OVERWHELMINGLY LESBIAN WAY WHAT AN ICON

Oh man I am going to rewatch and binge this entire season like FORTY TIMES.

[destinygoldenstar]

Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

That’s a tough one.

I see quite a few arguments about some shows I’ve watched that ‘oh, this character is bad because they have too much screen time’. Or ‘I wish this character had more screen time to be interesting.’

Basically, too much screen time is now a valid critique to describe why a character is bad or doesn’t work for you. And to that I say…

Uh… no?

I’ll give some examples where I see this critique, but for now I want to state a case of examples where I expected to see this critique online, but didn’t, and I wondered why.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE SPIDERVERSE SEQUEL:

The main character of the Spiderverse movies is Miles Morales. Clear as day if you see ANY promotional concept art. The movies nail that home and give you a solid POV character among the Multiverse chaos.

The sequel begins with an over twenty minute backstory sequence involving Gwen Stacy, a side character in the first movie.

(Fun fact: When me and my dad went to see it in theaters together, he said that backstory was over twenty minutes long and that he thought they could've trimmed it down. Animated-phobia gives you weird opinions. He didn't watch Arcane with me and thought nothing of it because 'it was an animated show'. Not kidding.) (Both of my parents are like this, sadly.)

Now, in the context of the movie, it makes sense to include this to understand the full POV of her character going forward. As she is pretty vital to the story.

I tried imagining a version of the movie where we DIDN'T get this intro, went straight to Miles, and we just had to put the pieces together involving Gwen and her actions. And I don't think the movie would've worked nearly as well.

This brings me to another point involving Gwen Stacy in this movie: She's kind of become a protagonist as well, next to Miles.

Is this screen time theft? Under the screen time critique, it probably would seem that way.

And yet nobody I've seen complains. If anything, this solidified her as one of the best movie adaptations of Gwen Stacy out there. In my opinion.

Unlike the first movie, this one is not driven by the narrative of the main character, but rather multiple.

This is not uncommon. And it's an even bigger case with Arcane.

Yeah, this show is phenomenal everyone who says so is right Jinx is an icon Vi is my cartoon crush next to Petra I was crying so hard at the ending and for that alone this show deserves every ounce of praise it gets and I'm kind of an Arcane stan-

*Inhales*

I think I just have a thing for dystopian stories where characters walk through hell.

(Yes I consider TD a dystopian setting, that'd be a nice hot take to tackle one day.)

The Hunger Games is my favorite dystopian setting that I've seen, just because it's very memorable and inspiring. But Arcane is objectively the best dystopian story out there. If I fade out of my Total Drama obsession, this show might be my next target.

Cupcakes. El fin.

I could stop there, but lets talk about why we're here.

Arcane does not focus on the two main characters only as the driving force of its narrative.

Advertisement tell you that our main characters are the two growing war machines who go around calling each other sisters, Vi and Powder (Jinx. Idk how mad people get for which name I use for her. Sorry if I offend you). In fact, there's evidence to back that up. Other than they're the people with dyed hair, that's instant main character. They're the first characters we meet in the entire show. They're the characters with the final scene that closes off the season. EVERY ending to an act is with them. They're the main characters. Boom.

But wait. Nearly TWO THIRDS of this show doesn't even focus on them!

We have all the Piltover characters we keep switching back to. Jayce, Viktor, Mel, Caitlyn for Act 2 pretty much, Silco kind of becomes his own protagonist in Act 3. Really, the only people who remain consistent side characters are Ekko, and the two boys that get blown to pieces by Powder. And... some other people I'm forgetting the names of. (Sorry, I only had two watch throughs of this show so far and I know nothing about League other than the sisters become enemies.)

Now, why?

Why is this the case? I'm not saying characters other than our mains don't get fleshed out at all, but to the point where they're basically major enough to carry their own show? That SOUNDS like a detriment to the story if anything, especially how unfocused it kind of all gets until the end where everyone's in the same room.

Had Vi or Jinx interact with these characters, their fleshing out makes sense, and you definitely see that with characters like Caitlyn and Silco, who kind of need them to function.

But the Piltover gang? Jinx doesn't meet them at all, neither of the sisters meet Viktor, and Vi does meet Jayce, but in Episode 8 of 9.

Why does nobody complain about this? If anything, these guys are stealing screen time.

Well, it turns out, this is all done in Arcane's benefit, rather than fault. We are all the protagonist of our own story, and there are multiple POVs regarding the world.

It's basically if Hunger Games was third person instead of first, and we actually got a chance to flesh out the other rebels/children.

Me personally, and I know I'm not the only one out there, but the sisters were the most interesting thing about the show, and other characters that talk to them were how they caught my attention. That in no way means I don't care for anyone though, and it's COMPLETELY a PERSONAL thing.

So whenever we DO focus on the sisters and their story, not only do we get these other POVS on the scene that could clash with our view of them, but it makes it so that EVERY. SCENE. MATTERS.

No scene is wasted in fleshing out the sister's story. Everything has a purpose and drives it all to one heartbreaking simulation. There's no wasted space, there's no lack of attention to a certain detail, darn it, it's just right.

(I mean, I guess I would've liked to see what they went through in that time skip, like how Jinx was raised by Silco and processed her new identity, or better yet how tf Vi survived prison when it's heavily implied she beat people to a pulp and got solitary multiple times. But I think Season 2 is gonna cover it.)

Seriously, imagine a version of this show real quick.

Imagine a version of the show that took the Hunger Games approach, and used first person POV on one of the two sisters, doesn't matter which one, they'd both work. Cut out scenes not involving that sister. The other characters that appear revolve around scenes they're in with that sister.

Would that work nearly as well?

I don't think so.

Now First Person POV isn't necessarily a bad thing. Danganronpa is first person. Minecraft Story Mode is first person. Those are probably not great examples, but it can work. (TDDRI, a fic of mine, is first person, and I had to work around that to flesh out everyone else. It can work.)

This show is very hot topic and weirdly paced than what I'm used to. So take everything with a grain of salt as I am nowhere near an expert with this show. The show's story doesn't even get started until Episode 4, as the first three episodes are all flashback to explain where our characters are and why they're motivated to do what they do.

Again, I tried imagining a version of this show where we DIDN'T get those first three episodes, we started with Episode 4, and we just had to ASSUME all the backstory involving the sisters and the titular arcane and put the pieces together through Vi's words and Jinx's hallucinations. I don't think we would have been nearly as invested.

So with these two examples, WHY does nobody complain about screen time involving a character?

Is it because they're just really good pieces of media? Or is there a reason for this?

After all, Spiderverse and Arcane fall under the category of an 'ensemble cast'. A cast of characters in a story where there is no titular main character to drive the narrative, and everyone does instead. It's like if Harry Potter was 'Hogwarts' instead, or some title like that.

But lets take a look at some examples of ensemble casts where there's been a complaint of some sort with screen time:

Total Drama and RWBY.

Now I only like one of these two shows, so I'm gonna put that aside for now.

Total Drama. It has an ensemble cast. The show is about teenagers suffering-I mean competing for a prize, eliminating each other bit by bit as it goes along. Naturally with that setup, early boots are left to dry. But that doesn't stop people from complaining.

Ezekiel gets the most flack for too little screen time, and major fanboys say he should've had more focus. Personally I don't get that based on what role he's deigned to play. Caleb is a more recent example. I thought he was gonna have a bigger role and character than he ended up having, and him being a first boot gag makes even less sense than Zeke. Dawn is a fan favorite who isn't even in that many episodes. Axel is a ripoff of Shawn because of her lack of screen time. Scary Girl is... Scary Girl, who I don't see the fuss about her little screen time as she's comic relief, but the complaint is there. There is SO MUCH bashing about Noah's lack of screen time it is not even funny. So much so that he's sharing screen time with another person.

And who is to blame for this: Well, the characters who make it really far into the game, or course! How dare they steal screen time away from these guys!

I feel like Ripper is the most recent example of this. His character arc was about him breaking a world record. He broke it. It's Episode 5. Now he can leave the show, right-

Nope. He's around till Episode 8. Out of 13. And even then, in Episode 13, he's Millie's partner, which means screen time.

It sounds unjustified because it is. I'm not the biggest Ripper hater, but I definitely see the complaints. (Ripper and Damien swapping places are the only part of the elimination order I would change. Everything else is pretty spot on.)

We already have MK as a pre-merge antagonist and Julia as a post merge antagonist, we don't need this rando bully character as well as it adds nothing. Maybe Ripper would've been better liked if he wasn't a bully and just some morally average comic relief guy, but also... probably not.

But he's not the only fart based character in this show that gets complaints about screen time. Here's where I talk about the first gen.

For what I have seen, the ones with the biggest screen time complaints are Owen, Duncan, and Beth. I don't count Heather cause it's on purpose. I count Sierra because it's a personal gripe I have.

Owen was the original winner of TDI, came back on the show in the second season for a mole subplot nobody likes, and merged season three. He and Noah also got a spinoff.

Beth was the finalist of TDA.

And everyone hates it, including myself.

Then there's Duncan. Easily the character the show focuses on the most. Season 1? 4th place. Season 2? Winner. Season 3? Gone half the season so he's only in 8 episodes not counting what he didn't compete in, but he scored 5th overall. Season 5? Weakest performance, but he still merged. That's 8th place by the way.

By far, THIS is the character in this show that gets the MOST horrendous flack for his screen time. And from what I've learned, if you think this, you probably hate Duncan as a character.

Like, I haven't watched Winx, but I saw videos on YouTube that made fun of Bloom for getting too much screen time.

Somebody do those but with Duncan! I'm not a Duncan hater, but I would like to get a laugh!

So it'd just be easy to say the writers played favorites, it was an issue, and be done with it, right?

Except no.

My GF watched World Tour just recently. (And she was mixed on it.) Her comments regarding Duncan and Gwen were that she wished they had more interactions to sell them (she was routing AGAINST Duncney, basically) and it didn't help that Duncan was gone half the season. She said that it would've helped all the characters involved if he stayed to flesh that out.

To that I went: "Huh. That's interesting how you take no issue with this character's screen time."

But why though? She's not a stan of him, she's a casual viewer, so that can't be it.

And that's when it hit me.

Beth and Sierra. These two make it through an entire season each. And we both collectively hate them as characters. And we hate seeing them on screen.

That's because it's what the characters DO with their screen time.

See what I'm talking about:

Season 1: Duncan is an established character that develops relationships and friendships and learns to open up to people outside of his comfort bad boy zone.

Trent spends 16 episodes sitting still and looking pretty with a guitar. (Okay that's probably not a great example, and I don't hate Trent, but you kinda get it)

Season 2: Duncan is dealing with revenge on Harold for his spoiled relationship with Courtney where he gets abused by her, fights to hold his own, and dumps her.

Beth spends the entire season talking about a fake boyfriend and cheating on it.

Season 3: Duncan, again, is only competing in 8 episodes out of 26, but what does he do? He establishes a new relationship with Gwen, gets her cancelled, forms a friendship with Alejandro, and gets played.

Sierra is there the entire season sexually harassing Cody and passing it off as quirky. We hate to see it. (Seriously, you guys think the love triangle is worse than this? My GF and I agreed we would rather watch the love triangle ten times again, over Sierra being on screen at all.)

What's the difference here? STORY.

Certain characters have story to follow, that NEEDS that screen time to work. Ironically, the plotline of Duncan's that comes across the least genuine, is the season where he's on screen the least. (Not counting All Stars, but they're kind of equal in episodes Duncan's in.)

Again, imagine if we never had that backstory sequence of Gwen Stacy. Yes it eats up screen time, but without it? She would come across as an ingenuine traitor who supposedly ditched her dad for some cool spider society. We NEEDED that sequence.

Duncan is always doing something when the screen is focused on him.

The reason Beth and Sierra don't work despite having all the screen time in the world is that they do NOTHING with the screen time they get. Nothing of value at least. We could've learned a lot about their origins, Beth's underdog status, or Sierra's fanclub, flesh them out as dynamic characters to route for, with different sides of them that slip through time to time that gets the audience thinking.

Nope. Sexual harassment makes up for all of that. (I question why I put up with this show sometimes.)

That would be the case and that's the answer, just do something with your screen time and you're free to have as much as you want.

Except there's ANOTHER key to the puzzle here.

Duncan is in the top 4 of the TD cast for a reason.

He's a main character.

Something Jaune Arc is not.

Hello nemesis my old friend.

Look, I respect people who like RWBY. People can feel any way they want to about a show. Opinions are valid.

If you think Arcane is the worst show ever made, that's valid.

If you think Velma is the best show ever made, that's valid.

It's all VALID.

With that said I think this show is an absolute trainwreck when it comes to writing characters.

Now hold on before you say I hate everything about it, I don't. This show does have SOME merits to it. The music is stellar and I actually listen to the soundtrack from time to time. For a limited budget animation, it's impressive. The choreo is neat. I want these weapons. I actually like quite a few of the side characters. Keep in mind I said side.

But what I look for in a good show is a compelling story and interesting characters to follow.

Something this show just does not have in my opinion.

I keep saying I'll do an analysis post on why Team RWBY are awful protagonists, but I've been busy and my plate has not emptied. But one of my main points regarding them is screen time.

Keep in mind, I've only seen fully up to Season 8. I've only seen clips of Season 9, so whatever I say about 9 may not be accurate.

Team RWBY are the main characters of the show, and yet they have not done a single main character thing throughout EIGHT SEASONS. It's kind of incredible.

If I didn't know the name of the show but saw a clip, I'd assume the main character was Jaune, or Oscar, more on them later.

What have these girls contributed in the battle of Salem's forces?

Season 1: Blake helped stop a robbery. Not even all four of them, just Blake. (So did Sun and Penny.)

Season 2: They broke into the White Fang's secret operation and busted a train into the city to fight off some Grim, in time for Team CFVY to wipe them out. (Those characters appear TWICE in the ENTIRE show, this is the first time. Just to speak my point.)

Season 3: Yang got framed for assault which helped the bad guys. Ruby watched Pyyra die and she blasted an eyeball off Cinder.

Season 4: UH...

Season 5: They housed Oscar, they met Raven, and they took place in the battle of Haven where Yang got the relic. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 6: They took the relic to Atlas. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 7: They lied to the general about vital information that could've helped them get one on Salem, and doomed all of Atlas.

Season 8: They caused the death of a kingdom and fell through a hole.

Season 9: UH... (That's not me not knowing what happened in 9, they just climbed out of the hole, basically, as the season has nothing to do with Salem's forces.)

Now, because the main characters are not involved with the main plot very much, does that make them bad?

No. There ARE ways to utilize them outside of driving the external plot.

Some stories are Character vs Self, Internal Conflict. The basis of this show's story is that these kids who grew up to be military soldiers are learning that their lives and the world is not a fairy tale, and they're not the good guys. That SOUNDS like the show is all about internal conflict, right?

Well it's not.

I mean, they DO realize this and make a morally questionable choice with consequences they regret.

In Season SEVEN.

And even THEN, they're treated by gods themselves like they've done nothing wrong!

If you ask me, it should have happened a LONG time ago.

What internal conflicts do these girls have?

Ruby is a naive prodigy who wants to be a huntress and live out a fairy tale reality. And she lives out that dream. Then Pyyra dies and she loses that home. And then she's back to fairy tale land, just doing more crimes and hating authority. And I GUESS she learned a lesson in 9...? I just saw her as depressed.

Weiss is an heiress of a rich company trying to overthrow rule of her father, who hates her. She hates Faunus. She learns not to hate Faunus. And she gains a lot of powers.

Blake is part of a civil rights movement with Faunus and she likes assaulting her own kind and burning their homes. She also has an abusive boyfriend and kills him with a girlfriend by her side.

Yang lost her mommy and wants to find her. She loses her arm. She finds her mommy but doesn't give a s**t because plot. She also gets a girlfriend.

That's like Vi and Jinx's reunion, only they didn't care about seeing each other again after years, they just pointed fists and guns at each other and said, "Where's the arcane?! Where's Silco?! I'm not here for you, I have a police GF now!" "I'm not here for you, I just wanted an easy route to blast Piltover to pieces! Mwahaha!"

See where I'm going with that?

Internal conflict is a key to making characters screen time worth while.

But lets face it, Team RWBY not having very well established internal/relevance to the external conflict is not the full reason why this is a problem with their screen time.

It's their lack thereof.

Three quarters of every season, they're just sitting at some random place that's not even pretty to look at, and the SIDE CHARACTERS do all the plot relevant stuff.

See why I like the side characters better?

Lets look at that chart again:

Season 1: Sun and Penny stopped that robbery.

Season 2: Team CFVY stopped the Grim invasion.

Season 3: Pyyra's story and downward spiral to her death.

Season 4: Nora and Ren the season.

Season 5: Oscar. The tribe.

Season 6: Oscar again as he's responsible for the exposition involved in that season.

Season 7: Ironwood's descent into insanity AND Penny's descent into accidental heroism.

Season 8: Both those characters die. Everyone dies.

Season 9: ...okay, good point, there was no one else.

Okay so maybe Season 9 gets a pass, but the others? Can you really put Team RWBY in a plot summary?

And that's just external conflict talking, let's talk the MAIN CHARACTER with the INTERNAL conflicts throughout the ENTIRE show.

Jaune Arc.

A SIDE character, voiced by one of the writers, has some of the most plotlines to follow due to his internal struggle and conflict in this new war throughout the entire show.

He has something to do in MOST of the seasons of this show. Not unlike Duncan. The only time I think he didn't have anything going on was Season 7.

In the very first season, Jaune has an entire character arc surrounding him trying to find his inner strength with a one off bully character as an antagonist. That sounds fine, so what's the issue?

This character arc takes up FOUR episodes out of 16. A WHOLE QUARTER OF THE SEASON.

"Well, maybe those episodes cut away to other people at some points-"

No. They don't. It's all Jaune in all these episodes.

Season two is less so Jaune focused, but he has a little subplot surrounding letting go of his feelings for Weiss and finding another girl who would gladly take him. I guess it's priority respect because Neptune was into Weiss at the time? But those two wound up never being a thing, so...

The whole time I thought Weiss was just asexual, but then 9 came in to screw that idea.

Season three focuses on Pyyra, Jaune's love interest, and therefore he's vital to her story and her thought process, so much so that the big angst moment in the season is with him and their death kiss.

Season four and five are focused on Jaune's thirst for revenge on Cinder, a member of Salem's forces, for killing Pyyra. He learns about Salem's forces along the way, makes his own opinion about all this lore, and decides to help out due to his personal necessity.

Wow. He has an internal conflict going on, AND he's active with the external conflict. HMM...

Season six is him letting go of his grief after his moral failure from the Battle of Haven nearly getting Weiss killed. And also he pins Oscar to the wall because why not. It's brief but it's also a full on character arc.

Season eight, he kills Penny, a girl he has never interacted with before this point, and he's a grieving mess. So much so that season nine also includes Jaune dealing with MULTIPLE grieving instances and personal failures.

Everyone else got a seasonal break from the story, and yet Jaune could not.

Now, is this a screen time issue?

Yes.

But NOT for the reasons you might think.

Let's go off of Duncan again, a character with a major status in the show's story and conflict from day one. He was designed that way.

Jaune was not designed that way. BUT I don't actually hate his story for the screen time he gets. In fact, he's probably one of the most interesting characters in the show because there's so much time dedicated to his struggle and his story.

The elephant in the room isn't because Jaune has a story.

It's because the main characters don't have a story.

Again, Arcane, that show focuses on a LOT of characters that aren't Vi and Jinx. You could argue Jayce is the Jaune in their universe. But why does it work? Because there is NOT a neglect of characterization of the leads.

In RWBY, there's a serious neglect issue.

And it's not just Jaune. There are other side characters who've been stealing time away from the leads.

Oscar, ever since he debuted Season 4, has been devoted to screen time stealing, and stealing the main character status with a Chosen One narrative and a pretty offensive way of portraying Multiple Personality Disorder. He's the one with the chosen one story, he's the one who interacts with the bad guys, he's toe to toe with Ironwood, he's the one related to Salem, and he does all of it with the personality of a hollow pine tree.

I mean I guess he also has a crush on Ruby, but... I don't want to get into that.

Hell, CINDER, an ANTAGONIST of the show, has more conflict and screen time than the leads. And she's one of my least favorite characters in the entire show, isn't that sweet?!

On top of that, she's a VILLAIN. We shouldn't be routing for her!

Then there's the rest of JNPR. Nora and Ren have a season focused on them, that being season 4. Pyyra is the same case with season 3. Pyyra dies in that season, so she's obviously not getting screen time any further. But Ren and Nora are alive, AND they have a subplot in the Atlas arc. Having a subplot isn't a problem, it just becomes jarring when the main characters don't have an arc and they do.

Penny gets revived and dies in the Atlas arc. That's also a thing.

The fix here should be really simple! Swap roles! Have the side characters sit in the houses with their little arcs, and have Team RWBY on the fields reacting to everything. It wouldn't excuse their lack of inner struggle, but at least they'd be involved with the plot.

There are many ways you could fix this. Like Oscar's role of being related to Salem. Ruby's mom is dead, but like, what if her mom was Salem and was taken out in war and revived/corrupted into this monster figure? That'd be an interesting narrative.

And RWBY is not the only show, the previous season of Pretty Cure, Delicious Party, ALSO has this issue. And arguably they did it worse because I don't even care for the side characters there either. I'd be repeating myself with criticism there:

Yui, the supposed main character, has no character trait other than be a glutton and a stand in for her grandmother, the other Cures are also irrelevant to the plot and just spend their time eating. The boys of this magical girl show are the focus and have all the wishy washy plotlines, and none of them are even that interesting.

I will give RWBY this over Delicious Party to prove I can see its merits:

At least they only have ONE forth wall narration and do know boundaries to that stuff, as opposed to Delicious Party that thinks their viewers are IDIOTS, and needs a narrator to explain EVERYTHING. CONSTANTLY.

(What a new low for that franchise, am I right? At least we have Hirogaru Sky.)

So what have we learned here?

To answer the question: Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

No. It's not that simple.

It's what the character DOES with that screen time that matters. And their role in the story that warrants this screen time.

They need to have all the details of their story laid out for you to care about them.

They need every scene involving their story to matter.

They need to have a plotline that justifies the screen time, small role or big role.

They need to be involved with the main story if they are a major character.

They need an internal conflict to keep the time on them engaging.

They need to be doing something.

If they are a minor character, additional screen time is not a bad thing.

A minor character with a lot of screen time could be there to advance the world building, they could be heavily connected to major character, relationship or otherwise.

But the minor characters don't become favorites and neglect focus on the people the story is revolving around.

First Person POV is a difficult storytelling technique when it comes to screen time, but it's not a bad tool. It can be used as a certain perspective for every character involved if done properly.

And just... screen time alone isn't a valid criticism in my opinion. It's WAY more complicated than that.

What's your opinion? Reblog your thoughts, I'm very curious, especially with media with this issue I did not cover.

[lesbinewren]

I’ve learned too much about the Ahsoka show against my will (haven’t watched it and fighting the urge to) and the more I learn about Sabine’s plot there the more I wish they’d never touched on Rebels characters in live action. What are your thoughts on Sabine through the Ahsoka show, having seen it?

i think what stands out for me is that i didn’t hate it as much as a lot of other sabine fans i know, my gripes are more just the way that her story sometimes scrapes so close to being really really good, but never quite makes it all the way there. a big part of this i think is how they strayed away from a lot of overly-specific references and spending too much time on things that would need to be explained to non-rebels fans, which i appreciate from the perspective of making the show accessible (esp bc i have met a few people now who watched rebels for the first time BECAUSE of ahsoka), but i do think weakens certain aspects as far as being a spiritual successor to rebels

i think the broad strokes of what’s there could be really good, they just need more fleshing out. a lot of this is something that could be “fixed” for me in future seasons/stories assuming a certain amount of care is taken.

i’ll start with what i liked: i did warm up to natasha’s performance a lot quicker than i thought i would. the intro she has in the show had me captured pretty quickly, both because i think it’s a well-written character intro and how natasha sells it. i still prefer tiya’s iteration of the character, but natasha was really great at capturing the mix of soft kindness and attitude, plus sabines specific blend of insecurity and confidence. i think some of her best moments also come from how well she nails the chemistry between her and other ghost crew members (as sparing as those scenes are, which is a major gripe of mine). her and eman’s ezra are so electric to watch, and her one scene with hera hit it on the head (that scene also did a ton of heavy lifting as far as selling me on LA hera). you can FEEL the love she has for both characters and immediately get a sense of what their relationship is like, even if you don’t know all of their history. i genuinely think all of the LA rebels were at their best when they were interacting with each other, because those relationships all hit the nail on the head and i hope to see more of that in the future, especially with her and hera (and PLEASE bring zeb in, i miss him so much you can’t show me that you can make him look good in live action for a cameo in a different show and then not let him see his family!!!)

i liked the attention to detail the set design team had when it came to her apartment on lothal, i liked that they gave her a cat, i liked that they outright stated her sibling relationship with ezra. i liked her back and forth with huyang, i liked that they let her keep her more masculine style armor vs re-casting bo-katan armor, i liked that the show did not hold back on seeing how she’s been struggling with the loss of ezra and her birth family (though i don’t really like how the off-screen killing of the wrens was handled). i liked her rivalry with shin, i liked the scenes with her howler, i liked that she got a poncho for a bit, i liked the way she treated the first noti that she met. i liked the way she got to be selfish and messy and yet still we see that she’s a good person, that she learns from her mistakes and makes the right choices in the end even when it’s hard. i like that she cares, she cares so much it gets her in trouble and despite this she still gets to be sassy and snarky and have all of these pluralities that make her who she is.

genuinely, though everything below is way more long winded than what’s up here, my feelings towards sabine in this show do lean more positive, my criticisms are just more complicated and wordy than my likes lol. i think there’s a lot that’s done right (which i think majorly has to do with natasha’s performance), and so, so much potential. there’s a nonzero chance that season 2 could address most of my issues in a way that satisfies me and turns around my feelings on this, even if ultimately i think i will still always prefer and wish for more animated sabine

criticisms under a cut bc this is longer than i thought

the two big issues i have are the way her mandalorian heritage is handled and the way her jedi arc is handled.

when i say the way her mandalorian heritage is handled, i guess the better answer is the way it ISN’T handled. sabine being a mandalorian is so nonessential to her character in this show, that if you took her armor off you wouldn’t even know she was mandalorian. hell, keep her armor and just don’t have her helmet (which i also think she should have worn more without CONSTANTLY GETTING KNOCKED OFF ARE YOU KIDDING ME) and i bet you a lot of casual viewers wouldn’t have even picked up on it! compare that to her in rebels- being a mandalorian is so integral to her identity, even when she isn’t on good terms with any other mandalorians. she references it herself, other characters reference it about her. this is a character that wielded THE DARKSABER for crying out loud, and her mandalorian identity is erased? in an era where a show called “the mandalorian” is a disney+ flagship that this show itself is essentially a spin-off of, it boggles my mind as both a storytelling and a marketing decision.

any criticisms about mando s3 you may have aside, the last live action show before this one was about the reunification of mandalore. one of your leads in this new show is a mandalorian with a personal connection to the co-lead of that show who once possessed the macguffin you revolved a subplot around there (and is actually the one who handed it over to said co-lead in the first place, kicking off the shows whole backstory). and you just… don’t think about at least letting mandalorian heritage be a bigger part of this character? and not even that, but actively ignoring how important it was before? i understand wanting this show to stand on its own, but it feels like such a waste. sabine loving her mandalorian heritage while also rejecting certain parts of it is a huge part of what makes her character so cool and interesting, and i actually think could have worked really well in tandem with the jedi arc they have for her.

my hope is that now that they feel they’ve done the legwork to establish her as a jedi they won’t have to put quite as much focus on that and in season 2 and wherever else she shows up we’ll be able to see more mandalorian-focused aspects of her, but we’ll see how that goes.

which does bring me to the whole jedi thing. i don’t hate it- i completely understand why people do, but i did warm up to it by the end of the show. i also am not opposed to the idea of anyone being able to connect with the force, it just being a lot harder for those who aren’t naturally force-sensitive, to the point that it’s a non-issue for me. while it wouldn’t have been my preferred direction for her story to go, i actually do like the idea of sabine being a nontraditional jedi, blaster in hand yet following their teachings in her own way because they resonate with her as someone with a desire to help others and do good, and as an extension of how she loves and honors kanan and ezra as her family. we do see inklings of this in rebels, where she rejects certain violent parts of mandalorian culture in favor of “sounding like a jedi” based on what she’s learning from kanan (again a reason to focus more on her as a mandalorian, but whatever).

the problem is, it doesn’t really feel like the show’s jedi arc for her is actually following up on those things. the show doesn’t really address why sabine wants to be a jedi, outside of maybe it being a way for her to find ezra with ahsoka. but now she found ezra. so why does she care about being a jedi? is it because she believes in the code? because she wants to connect with the jedi in her life? because after all she’s been through, she’s searching for peace and balance within herself the jedi path can provide? the show doesn’t really bother to bring this up. i can fill in the gaps with my own fanon, but it feels odd to essentially be told “this character, who showed no interest before, wants to be a jedi now.” this is again something that can be explored in season 2 to satisfy me, but as it stands right now i struggle with it. because right now, the answer feels like “why does sabine want to be a jedi? so ahsoka can have a padawan”

especially because the closest we get to an answer isn’t actually a jedi thing at all- if anything, it’s dark side mindset. the most consistent thing we see with sabine wanting to be a jedi in the show is actually wanting to yield the power of the force. especially when it comes to her attachments (specifically ezra here)! nothing to do with selflessness, with inner peace, any of the core tenets of the jedi philosophy- it’s just about that power. i don’t think it was the intention, and if it was i think sabine struggling with the dark side is entirely natural to her character after all she’s lost at this point, if it was portrayed that way. but her triumphant moment of finally unlocking that power is not one where she realizes she has to find calm within herself to feel the force around her, but one where she is able to access it purely out of fear for her own life in a panicked moment, and then again out of fear for ezras life.

and maybe this is part of the story! the season does end with her rejecting her attachment and instead of going home with ezra, going back to help ahsoka because it’s the right thing to do. so it’s headed in the right direction in that regard. another hope i have for season 2 is that we’ll see sabine struggle still with using the force when she’s at peace and not in a life or death situation, and the frustrations that come with that. maybe she starts relying on strong emotions like anger or fear to wield the force, and ahsoka has to guide her now on not just finding her connection, but on finding it without relying on emotions that could lead her to slip towards the dark side, even though it’s much harder. i think it would create some really great tension considering how sabine’s initial apprenticeship with ahsoka ended, and we then get to see how “ahsoka the white” handles these problems differently than she did before. but who knows?

i also think i said pretty recently i would instantly be 100% more on board with this arc for her if she was allowed to at least talk about kanan. she was close to him, she loved him, he was a huge part of her life and her arc in rebels- and her relationship to him is ignored. are hera and ezra’s relationships to him (which do get acknowledged) bigger parts of rebels? absolutely. but there are several entire episodes revolving around the relationship between sabine and kanan, and other moments between the two of them throughout. i understand the show wants to be accessible to people who haven’t seen rebels, but it feels odd to have the entire scene where ezra builds his lightsaber dedicated to his relationship with kanan, while sabine’s relationship gets ignored. sabine gets to have a nonverbal reaction to huyang bringing him up, (which natasha plays well) but then… that’s it? the shift is then immediately focused again to her relationship with ahsoka.

and even that connection isnt explored to its full potential. like, how does sabines relationship to kanan affect her one without ahsoka? and not just “kanan and ezra were master and padawan and now me and ahsoka are.” like, kanan was, in a way, her first jedi master. and she witnessed him die tragically, saving the life of her and two of the people she’s closest to. has she built kanan up in her head as an ideal ahsoka doesn’t live up to? is she guilty that she didn’t have as much an interest in being a jedi while he was still alive? does she compare the way she saw kanan teach ezra to the way ahsoka teaches her? do things she learned from kanan ever conflict with what ahsoka teaches her? i don’t necessarily need the show to spell out answers for these questions for me- i like getting to write my own headcanons in the margins of the series. but i feel like it’s such a missed opportunity to not even acknowledge it.

and my final smaller issue is that a lot of the trademark elements of her character no longer exist in this show. while the set dressing does a great job of showing her artsy side, we don’t really get to see her draw or paint or even talk about art. we dont get to see her knowledge of or affinity with explosives. i say it’s smaller because i dont have as much to say on it, but tbh i missed these parts of her as much as i did her as a mandalorian. while sabine in this show has a lot of her personality, relationships and style from rebels, which i appreciate, the interests and background that not only make her unique but make her who she is are missing, and it is honestly sad.

in a way, i love when a lot of these things are left open. i love getting to fill in gaps like this and create some of those emotional connections in my head, that’s a huge part of the fun of fandom for me. it’s also why i don’t mind that we haven’t (yet, i’m sure it’s coming eventually in some form lol) seen all of the details of sabine and ahsoka’s initial attempt to find ezra, and them parting ways because of ahsoka fearing sabine is veering to close towards the dark side. i like getting to write it in my head a little bit, i think that particular info is enough to build on for the shows purposes for me.

and frankly, i don’t need every single one of my questions here directly answered. in fact, i would say i DONT want the show to outright answer all of these. rebels didn’t feel the need to hold our hand through every single character arc and relationship dynamic, and this show shouldn’t have to either. i like my room for headcanons! but there’s a point where they all build up to a point where it feels a little bit careless, like the writing sabines arc in this show often prioritized ahsoka’s arc and what needed to happen there before her own, even if it meant leaving out major parts of sabines character.

a lot of it i genuinely think couldve been fixed with just a couple more episodes of this show (8 episode season my beloathed) and perhaps things will be explored and fleshed out in season 2 to satisfy me- we are technically looking at an incomplete story with this show, so things could happen next season that make a lot of my points moot.

again, i think that this show had a lot of legwork to do regarding sabine as a jedi and catching us up on her relationship to ahsoka, to the point that it didn’t necessarily have time to fully dive into a lot of issues with this first season- and maybe now that that’s established, they will be able to do a lot of these things! i think the show is headed in the right direction based on the ending, with both sabines choice to help ahsoka and also how the show does make a point to show sabine picking up her mandalorian helmet and when she could have left it behind. that last bit especially felt very pointed considering how little her mandalorian heritage was brought up in season 1, that maybe it will play a bigger role in season 2. we now have a sabine that they don’t have to show being out of practice, so maybe we’ll get to see her be the incredibly competent fighter/pilot we know she is! maybe now we’ll have time to explore exactly why she wants to be a jedi, how being a mandalorian is important to her and interacts with her jedi beliefs. we’ll have time for her to do art, maybe she’ll get some opportunities to blow things up again! maybe now that she knows huyang knew kanan, she’ll get to talk about him. maybe she’ll get to reunite again with hera, chopper, zeb and ezra and we’ll see those relationships shine.

but until we have a season 2 in our hands, these are my current thoughts

[sarnai4]

Underrated Musical

A musical I think it criminally underrated is Death Note the Musical (spoilers ahead).

It's just so good. If we're considering the singers, they're amazing. Jeremy Jordan really makes Light sound like this young guy who could easily be a typical protagonist with his pleasant, youthful voice, but the power behind it and the edge he can use reminds you that he becomes the real villain. Jarrod Spector as L is so uniquely great for the character. His tone stands out just as L stands out from those around him and he can hit some nice high notes. Eric Anderson as Ryuk is awesome. He just breathes life into the character, filling the shinigami with the mischievous/almost menacing nature we know he has. Carrie Manolakos as Rem really sells the transition of being indifferent to humans, to not comprehending why someone would put so much on the line for unrequited love, and ending with sacrificing herself because of her newfound understanding of this. Adrienne Warren as Misa Misa is very believable as a pop singer because she sounds great and can bring the emotion of loving someone so much that she doesn't even care what happens to her. Finally, Michael Lanning (who I know from another great and underrated musical, Jekyll and Hyde) absolutely NAILS the role as a father who wants to see the best in his kid, but he's gradually coming to terms with that not being reality.

Then we come to the music itself. Here are my top five (in no particular order). They're Only Human. This sets up the entire story. It gives you Ryuk and Rem who at this point just want to have some fun and see what those odd mortals are up to. It's a look into their minds to show how they perceive mankind. They see people as living such meaningless lives that dropping down a death note is just a source of entertainment. it also sets up the shift in character for Rem later on. Hurricane. This is a solo for Light, giving us his ideas and laying the groundwork for how his heroism will quickly turn to self-righteousness. He is this storm that can kill anyone he chooses and leave immeasurable damage in his wake. His God complex is on full display here, but it's still early enough that he could be a hero if he gains humility soon. The Game Begins. This is an L solo and his intro to the audience. Something I love here is how it connects to a later song. This one sets him up as the antagonist for Kira and he's even happy that he can use the killer's first mistake against him. Later, Light is bragging about how he won't make any mistakes at all, but the audience already knows he has. The idea of using data also really fits with L's character and is a lot of fun to see how his sleuthing works. Mortals and Fools. This is such a fun song to hear because it shows how Rem doesn't really understand why Misa loves Kira, but she's also starting to fall in love too. There's this line being straddled where one half of her can't comprehend why Misa would do something so reckless for love whereas the other half is sad that the love is for Kira instead. Stalemate is the last one. The name implies it'll demonstrate a good rivalry between L and Light and it's not wrong at all. These two truly have a stalemate and are coming at each other with all they have. It's the core of this musical and amazing to hear.

There is another major reason that I love this musical. The ending. It. Is. Amazing! It's so much better than the anime. I think a general consensus with the show is that it began to decline in quality after L was killed. My issue was that he died, then it's his work that allows these dull characters to win. It doesn't feel earned when Near takes down Light because it's L who we saw fighting tooth and nail to stop him. It's L whose data is used, and it's L who we've grown an attachment to. Having the victory be snatched from him hurts. Here, that's not what happens. He still is killed, but it's after Light confesses in front of him. Their rivalry is being upheld. L wins because he gets Light to confess and knows he's been right this whole time. Light wins because he got Rem to put L in the death note and he dies. Light is killed by Ryuk who decides the game is over and writes his name in the book. This all happens in a warehouse where it seems like both people have killed each other. In a way, they have. By having his name written, Light kills L and by being such a threat that he had to die, L kills Light since his death removed that thrill/excitement that Ryuk has been wanting. With L gone, there's no reason to continue the game. So, it comes to its logical conclusion. Their lives have begun to revolve around each other so much that naturally, they have to end together too.

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

Nightmare Nightmore Highlights.

I'm not gonna recap or analyze the episode too much I just wanna share a few of my favorite things! Not really any spoilers, if you've already seen the leaks of Abbey and her mom floating around then you're all caught up.

Draculaura is throwing a party for the holiday of Nightmore, but I couldn't possibly care less. I'm here for Abbey!

Heath has the same reaction to seeing Abbey for the first time as a lot of us did. in Awe of her beauty. same dude, same.

She towers over everyone! even the boys! I am in love!

Draculaura is like a smurf compared to tall powerful Abbey.

Abbey's eyes aren't purple anymore, they are brown! and so pretty! breaks up the abundance of purple in her hair and outfit I am super into it!

Abbey's hair blend is the colors of the Bi flag and I have no choice but to stan.

Mama Bominable threatening to bring forth a cold harsh merciless winter upon Bloodgoods head if she doesn't produce Abbey is such a mood. I love me a good mama bear.

WHERE IS NIGHTMARE!? why is this messenger dragon hanging out in Bloodgood's office but her horse isn't!? The episode even has nightmare in the title but I see no Nightmare the horse. I don't like it. A headless horse person without their horse is just a zombie... why are you booing me? I'm right!

Draculaura already has her license in this gen? I'm here for it! Also Clawd chose to sit next to her. Also Clawd said "nailed it like a coffin" which was only ever said in G1 by Clawdeen and that makes me happy.

This is the second or third episode where Lagoona inexplicably has flat teeth, the music video for her doll did this too. I'm not exactly a professional animator but I've studied it enough to know that rendering characters off model is a fire-able offense. Fix it Nickelodeon.

Heath encouraging Abbey to use her ice powers telling her she is strong, charismatic and beautiful. ahhhh! my heart!... I've mentioned on here I'm not much of a shipper per-se. But that was a lie, Habbey was one of my OG ships and it brings me such joy to see them again! I needed this since the only Heath we got during G2 was this:

*Long suffering G2 sigh*

Yeti's in this universe seem to basically be water benders and I am okay with that! Mama Bominable is fuckin pissed! LOL Bye Bloodgood it's been nice knowing you!

Damn, Abbey's dad didn't contribute any genetics to that her at all. Mama Bominables genes were like "this is MY child!" I do love that she has horns and a more pronounced underbite, perhaps Abbey will get these traits as she grows? Or maybe her buns are hiding her horns? IDK but it's fun to imagine! I wonder where they got the idea to give their yeti Horns... HMMMMMMM

it's a mystery, we'll never know.

This isn't even a highlight I'm just taking pictures of Mama Bominabe at this point, I love a strong woman willing to murder the school principle for her daughters safety.

SHE CALLED ABBEY SNOW ANGEL AHHHHHH- I'm sorry I just had to get that out.

The boy is in love! .... And he actually says something really profound. I'm so impressed G3 is giving Heath some depth and not just making him a one note idiot... Don't get me wrong, I liked one note idiot Heath but there was more to him than that.

Heath trying to kiss Abbey on the first day of meeting her is absolutely a G1 call back.

in her intro episode he kissed her hand and his lips froze off.

I love everything about this episode! I love that Abbey is Nepali! it's way more accurate to her Monster type and before some nerd tries to get in the replies and go "Actually Russia occupied Nepal at one point" that's true, they did BUT! the myth of the Yeti originated in 1937, Russia didn't occupy the Himalayas until the 1960's.

This episode is my new favorite! I heard a rumor that we won't get any new Monster High episodes until after the new year, but if they are anything like this? they will be worth the wait!

[noodle-anime]

just! finished saiyuki og series!!! discovered the first resurrected edition volume recently and it has been. well. it's been a journey lol

oooooooooh boy there sure was some Anatomy and Proportions happening in the first volume but it was super fun to see the art style progress actually. it encouraged me to notice more complex poses and things in the later volumes, and when there was an occasional repeat panel like Sanzo and Goku's first look it was very cool to see the difference in quality.

i have a coupla favorite panels/spreads and generally tried to pay a little more attention to how things are precisely laid out and it was a fun aspect of reading. i want to do some actual breakdowns now, maybe compare early and later layouts.

also! i discovered and watched zeroin! my first intro to saiyuki was discovering reload blast forever ago. the art style in zeroin and the fact that there's a whole set of characters i'd never heard of before made it feel like an au or semi-canonical anime movie, sorta, but i enjoyed it So much and there are some specific notes on sanzo characterization that i want to dig into

sanzo is my fave and the kami-sama arc was So Very Good in that respect but it also grew my love for gojyo three sizes.

the way that they all react when gojyo leaves cracks me up so much. they're So Offended. something so funny and also so tasty that they will not under any circumstances admit out loud that they care about gojyo and miss him so instead they're like we are going to Hurt Him (because he hurt us) for Disrupting Our Daily Routine (he's a fundamental part of our lives) and FORCING us to turn this car around (he left with the full knowledge and expectation that they would follow through with actually continuing to pursue this Very Important job like they always said they would)

mmmmm gojyo's savior complex mmmm it's good.

got blasted by the idea of gojyo and hakkai starting an orphanage when they're done with the mission. hakkai was a teacher and still models himself as a "childcare professional"/co-parent to goku and gojyo wants to save somebody So Badly. also good luck resocializing goku to not be killing people/fighting for his life every other day for Two Entire Formative Teenage Years, helping kids and not having it backfire spectacularly in his face would be good for him

i just read the fourth volume so that's most of what i've got on my mind, i know i have More thoughts from the other volumes

besides the fact that sanzo's joints are gonna/have gotta be So Fucked Up. he really is a grandpa. poor guy.

feels good to nail some characterization aspects like genjyo "i'm a coldhearted bastard and you'd better stay out of my way" (developed coping mechanisms to deal with the traumatic loss of a parent and people repeatedly Attacking Him at an early age) sanzo, cho "yes i'm the wife/mother, please excuse these skeletons, the cleaver is only for special occasions" hakkai, sha "i'm the only one here who understands how to be a normal person" (he does not but he does have the highest emotional intelligence) gojyo, and son "i'm a teenager" (he's a teenager, also growing up with the aforementioned trio as parental/familial figures and starting to come into his own!!) goku

not a single one of these men has had a normal relationship or even prolonged interaction with a woman

i had no idea there was a whole brainwashing segment with kougaiji?? and i really want to see more of lirin, there are fun parallels there to explore that i really wanna dig into

i had no idea to what level sanzo was a bastard gremlin with a gun who just Happens to also be the highest of high priests before and now that i do it delights me. the very hypocrisy of his acceptance in his position disgusts him because He Is Not Priest Material but also it's what his dad wanted for him so fuck everybody who tries to take that from him. in any other situation he'd be the shady penniless vagabond gun for hire but koumyou happened. and now we all get to enjoy it.

[vivianwrite]

WIP (Re-)Intro: The Mysteries of the Apricot Sun 🌇

Summary

The world of Harenocus is very old. The Sun’s radiance has become overwhelming, to the point where the people of the last city conduct most of their business at night. Yet even under the blazing light, there are places where secrets can hide. After a disastrous night at the casino, Darbicor “Darby” Chedanta has spent the last year evading her family as much as possible. Things are going smoothly, really. If you don’t count her father’s increasingly desperate attempts to get her back. Or her friend (singular) being too busy to even text her half the time. Or the pain she’s in every night. Or the disturbing recurring vision she’s been having. Consicor Chedanta is an up-and-coming fashion designer, her name known across the city. Between design commissions, her father Cevare periodically sends her out to meet with Darby. Unbeknownst to him, she has her suspicions about why Darby doesn’t want to come back — and is sabotaging his efforts, if only in little ways. When Darby’s birth-night gift to herself, a locket with a painting of an otherworldly landscape, gets her attacked by a demigoddess, she and Consicor learn of a group that wants to defy the make of the heavens. This incident ripples the stream of fates, unsettling the steady night-by-night lives the sisters have made for themselves — and possibly bringing all their secrets right to the surface.

General info

Genre: High fantasy, Dying “Earth”, fantasy-mystery

Age group: Adult

POV / Narration: Double (alternating chapters, uneven), third-person past-tense

Romance?: None (unless you count side characters), but has some suggestive talk

Aesthetics:

Cities and beaches at night

Celestial motifs (Sun, stars, aurorae)

Huge sprawling cityscapes…

…And all the little places tucked away inside them

Symbols of luxury (precious metals, high fashion, casinos)

Nail art

Old weathered stone

The heat at the height of midsummer

Tropes:

“Everyone here is hiding something”

Family drama

Eldritch gods and monsters

Secondary-world fantasy with modern tech (…is this a trope?)

Content warnings:

Violence

Very questionable parenting

Description of trauma flashbacks

The Cast

Darbicor “Darby” Chedanta: A psychic (precog). For the past Harenocan year, she’s been living in a beachside apartment far away from the rest of her family. Her happy-go-luckiness is sometimes genuine and sometimes not. Likes swimming and nail art. Has a connective tissue disorder, but doesn’t know it’s A Thing. Do not talk to her about gambling.

Consicor Chedanta: Lives and breathes fashion. Caring, but takes no nonsense from anyone (especially gossipy coworkers). Likes street art and often takes inspiration from it.

Hespar Dahiiny: Darby’s best and only friend. (They met in the equivalent of high school.) Busybody, often takes on more than she can handle. Cultivates a je ne sais quoi around herself.

The Hellhound / Divine Sighthound: Demigoddess (former mortal turned errand girl for the gods). Borzoi-esque shapeshifter, retains doglike head in both forms. Bloodthirsty. Can rip open the veils between dimensions as if they were tissue paper. Absolutely terrifying creature.

The Heavenhawk / Divine Raptor: Another demigoddess. Shapeshifter similar to the Hellhound, but a hawk / dromaeosaur thing instead of a dog. Very serious. No space-warping abilities, but can fly at 250 mph so that’s something. Often sent after the Hellhound to keep her in check.

Cevare Chedanta: Darby and Consicor’s father. Sorely misses the edge he used to have in the district’s casinos. Can never admit when he’s wrong.

[Pasted image descriptions:

Four digital art pieces.

Image 1: Underneath two palm trees on a pale beach, Darby (young white woman, dusty pink shag haircut, wearing a red pyjama tank-top) looks out at the ocean. She is leaning forward slightly, having just stopped running. The sky is deep blue, with a brilliant white-and-yellow star visible between the two trees. The palm on the left is mostly offscreen, and the palm of the right is mostly onscreen; underneath its leaves are five large pods, each one a different shade of brown and with a lettuce leaf-like structure protruding from it.

Image 2: Consicor, a fat white woman with a black bob cut and brown eyes, stands on a high-rise balcony (sort of leaning against part of it). She is wearing a light grey sun hat, a white dress with two gold concentric circle designs around the neckline, and a thin silver necklace. Her head is turned to the right, and she is looking at the viewer with a smile. The balcony is made of pale pink material, and behind her are several buildings (shown as gold silhouettes). The sky is pale orangey-yellow, and the white Sun is quite large. Her name is written in the Bodoni Ornaments font (resembling floral designs) at the top of the picture.

Image 3: A digital art piece. In a darkened room with the curtains drawn over the window, a doglike monster steps through a gash in reality. She resembles a borzoi or saluki in build and face shape, and has bright blue eyes, long thin fangs, and purple teeth, claws and ear insides. Her body has pale skin and is mostly hairless, aside from a “mane” of shaggy bright yellow fur starting at her head and going down her spine. She has her snout tilted upwards and is smiling. In the background is a framed picture of two young women, partially cut off by the dimensional warping.

Image 4: Darby is sitting and about to eat a bowl of dumplings. She holds a fork in one hand and looks down at the bowl with a neutral expression. She is wearing a loose orange shirt and green pants, and her nails are painted in shades of blue. Behind her is an early sunrise sky in shades of blue, white, and orange, overlooking the ocean with a trail of light on the water.

End ID.]

Tagging: @halfbit @ashen-crest @emwhyarentyouwriting @agirlandherquill @floweryprosegarden @thelittlestspider

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

legend of ruby sunday let's gooo

TWO SHADES OF RED

ruby is so overhwelmed bless her lol

hOWS YOUR UNCLE. YOU SEXY BITCH SDKLFJ HOW YOU THINK!!!!??

they are making unit too quirky for them not to become a spin off lol

15 WILL flirt with your staff kate and you WILL endure it

screaming the clip was just the first clip. whats gonna happen

"Even I got that" SDKJ THE META

IS THAT SIGNIFICANT"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ya'll are so self-conceited. millions of people are called susana. / i say this while vibrating at the rate of a neutrino star

"susan IS the name of my grandaughter" NOT WAS. IS !!!!

"we'll get him" is that a musk ref. rtd, musk is not a genius lol

"but what for" asking the tough questions

(also regeneration as a disguise…. what a good idea)

JUST DONT GO CHANGING YOURS OOK

"cant we just pipe in a bit of applause " the meta……..

mel pulling a 73!yards ruby

"we have another mystery woman" "ruby sundayyyyyyyyyyy" "you could've warned me" wtf i love tem. i love this. absolute bonkers vibes for a finale. (the horrors will start at any second)

ruby/rose flirting…….. ?? :eyes emoji:

doctor who wasMEANT to have a bunch of middle aged / old

women characters

stsly i love this energy "I love devina" amazing.

"you love to break the rules" she knows her uncle so well

WE CAN SHARPEN THE IMAGE. ENHANCE!!!

im enjoying how the fantasy / scifi plot mystery is tied to this very real personal thing for ruby.

ruby rose holding hands………………. im seeing.

"they never give me proper work" gee i wonder why rose!!! you think your mom wants you out there doing torchwood style suicide missions. cmon.

"he was a postman. she was a dinner lady" hmm

MEL IN HER LIL' ORANGE SCOOTER. OBSESSED!!!!!!!!

CARLA ON ACTION!!!!!!!!! GO GO GO

go get miss flood??????? A???????????

IM ALWAYS HIDING MYSELF AWAY

dont leave it to her oh my god. rip cherry.

(btw god bless. the hallway crack from the christmas special is still there lol)

ms flood nailing the old relative backhanded compliment

IT'S ABOUT TIME I CAUSE TROUBLE FOR MYSELF

HE WAITS NO MORE!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT QUITE. NOT YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im vibrating so much

oof this is so good. this is so TRUE. "you need roots of your own not a senile old man" updated to "i bring disaster"" aggg

15 is so healthy guys. so healthy

"what if you just said hello to her face?" i cant believe this is happening ya'll. russel really said "the five doctors was BULLSHIT. im gonna fix-it fix this shit" and went and did it. icon

ill have some of that <3 !!!! (lol thats right kate. he'll never trust u like them!!! deal with it)

a phoenix is just a bird until it burns… awesome. what the fuck does that mean

thats right stammer. you're barred from unit. motherfucker 15 is so rude. love him

MANCHESTER MOMENT

MASSIVE INFORMATION FROM THE VHS. I LOVE THIS ABSOLUTE NONESENSE.

ooo the music did a little thing. hold on to your butts babes we about to get DRAMA

unit has better toys. but are they competentent? LOL

clara and the leaf energy tbh (complimentary)

(oh is ruby susan's daughter therefore 15' daughter????) love the snow thing tbh . rtd was like im about to give dw fanartists an easy motif to add to their art for years. thanks king "time has tides and hollows and secrets"

(this transition effect………. very pertwee era intro….. :eyes emoji:) memory is time!!!!

"you cant move" omg impossible mission moment. fathers day moment. 15/ruby dont know how to step moment!!!!!!!!!!!

this is rtd's thought process lol "time … memory… ah shit.. MEMORY TIME MACHINE THERE WE GO"

damn carla and ruby got me here.

"my memory of this keeps changing"

rip chipzode probably

T.T rubes

what the actual fuclk

Close the window!!!!

when is that thing, inspector spacetime???????

it's the beast!! (carla dont name the undefined thing on the "everything becomes what you name it season" o h my gOD)

I AM IN HELL

im loving the coloring/lighting in this episode. everyone looks very sharp and nice

"i bring disaster" hehe

finally some good fucking [kate vs doctor antagonism]

15 frustrated because he finally has to come back from buying the cigarattes/ bread

"FINISHED? STOP GRIZZLING AND FIX IT". mel!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats

mel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love you mel!!!!!!!!!!!!

rtd said im gonna write a season that is SO self referential. thank u

for writting this show for the weirdos only. (We might run out of disney money tomorrow but TODAY we relish)

brigadier picture!!!

missing episodes restoration commentary? lol (if i was rtd i would have named harriet ms. bachel color)

"i'd remember a handsome chap like you" um. let's no go there!!! thanks

i told u doc u absolute anxious nerd. there's millions of susans!!! (not convinced this isnt anything yet)

the music is doing things

"being an ambulance?" mel u have always been in doccy who. catch up!!!

reverse the polarity of the VHS

(ALSO very 00's/90's "therre's something hiding in the music if u play it backwards Zeitgeist ("Blink"'s dvd easter egg realness))

donna this is all ebcause you had to go and spill that damn coffee. chodizee's blood is on YOUR hands

leave the tardis alone… "then they get wise, and they try to destroy it"

"thank you, and i love you, and good bye" aaaaaaaaa

our tecnology spreads lies and fraud!!! im gonna count that as aBINGO. taking my prize in cash beebs. thank!!!

"you do not question, you move" ummmmm

master? rogue? valeyyard? rassilon? omega? suttek? omega??? rani?? ???

harriet arbingers. rip.

A DREAM OF A WORLD WITH ORANGE SKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol love this. going over the theories

THE MARA MENTION!!! TEGAN NATIO N WE R I S E

suketh!!!!!! well there it is lol (damn wish i had rewatch Pyramids so i could be more excited about this dklfjsdklfjdskldfs) (also def saw ppl on reddit calling that "second anagram" ou t sdklfjsd)

"did you think i was family, doctor?" rude.

CONCLUSIONS!!!

tbh this had a looooot of good character moments but i think it was mostly a "putting the chessboard pieces in place" episode. still tho damn, those characters moments. highlighting carla/ruby giving me emotions, sutekh/doctor taunting, doctor/kate antagonism MY BELOVED, ruby/rose (best ship name?????), doctor/mel!!!!!!!!!!!!!! being everything!!!!, doctor finally dealing with the susan of it all!!!! (ilu for this rtd). doctor/ruby being super cute and queer before experiencing THE HORRORS, idk how i feel about the reveal since tbh i didnt care much for that serial sdlfkjsdfds but hey. anyway excited for next week. tv show reveal def coming for the second-act-reversal !!!!!/is a hopeless case ALSO enjoyed the filming of this as well (snow! vhs effect!!!) and this is def the most interesting UNIT has ever been lol

[ruinmegently]

WIP INTRO — These Barren Wilds

A mysterious figure spat up from the sand journeys with a fortune seeking cutthroat looking to sell him to the highest bidder.

- GENRES - dystopian • magical realism • lgbtq+

- THEMES - friends to enemies • enemies to lovers • post-environmental-apocalypse • classism • oppressive government regime • disability representation • dark themes • redemption arc • found family • unrepentantly queer • journey through foreign lands

- VIBES - your wheelchair has crab legs and it's still a bitch to handle • i'm not a cowboy i'm a cowperson tyvm • eat sand and die trying • cooing at your serrated blade because it's the only child you'll ever have • loving the unlovable • not quite a western but eh close enough • byoa (bring your own anarchy)

oh shit that's me. hey writeblr! you can call me ruin. i'm a 32 year old college dropout, unpublished, who was on track for a B.A in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, like, back when dinosaurs rode men. i'm a nerd for The Process (even if The Process often corners me in a dark alley and beats me up for funsies).

#these barren wilds has been living in my head for months now, and ya'll inspired me to finally try to write it. mostly gonna be posting world building, character development, and rough unedited snippets on here, under the tag above.

if you're writing something similar, or if this genre just vibes with you, you are always welcome to spam my ask box so we can geek out about our ideas together!

anyways, i never know how to end these things, ily k bai.

.oo1 — july 31st

Big man lays an old hag flat on her face. Roughs her up with a boot on her hand. Whole crowd hears the crunch, unappetizing, but that doesn’t stop their steady procession shuffling single file to cash in the day’s food vouchers. The lines stretch farther than eyes can see, occluded by a dusty afternoon haze. Vouch Shops close in a couple hours. Sad saps at the back won’t make it before they lock up.

The big guy twists his heel in the lady’s hand. Who knows why. She screams and no one in my line turns but me, like the sound digs actual nails through the back of my skull, so jarring I can’t help but watch.

Hope she shuts up soon.

Ain’t uncommon to see Bruisers at market anyways, but they’ve been showin up more and more. Enforcers sent from way out in Wave came last month to train the dustbloods lucky enough to get a Career Shift Card. To keep the peace, they said. Too much gang activity. Too many deserters.

Right.

The Enforcers are bad enough, but when they send the dregs of Wave to train the dirtiest of Dust, well. You don’t really get new Enforcers outta all that.

“Next!”

“Hey Pops,” I say, elbow on the cracked sandstone counter of the Vouch Shop my line leads to. Gotta bend in half just to plant myself down. Casual, easy, like me and Pops are old friends. Met the guy last week but sure, friends fits just as well as anything else.

“You have it?” Pops asks, beady black eyes squinted against the glare of the sun.

His shop’s west-facing. Most face north or south. I asked him why he wanted to go and stick out like a sore thumb, our first meetup. He told me out west’s where hope’s found, if you can drag yourself far enough onward to find it. He likes the view. He likes knowing there’s more out that way. I told him you gotta scale the walls first, or blunder through em, unless you’re lucky enough to get a new job with a fancy CSC. But then you’ll always be a dustblood, won’tcha?

You can leave the desert but the desert never really leaves you.

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Wordsville's Official Release -- Is It Really an Odd Squad Clone? (Part 1)

You can bet your fine ass I am, because, to put it nicely, the fuck is this?

All right. Anyway. So part of what I used to weaponize my YouTube channel for was doing Seren Reacts videos on new PBS Kids shows. Basically, I'd take the first episode they'd upload and react to it. Since I don't have the capacity to actually do that for this show, and since I did tell you all I'd do a Seren's Study on Wordsville when it came out and I had a chance to see it...here ya go. I watched the first episodes of this thing so you don't have to!

...Uh...well...if you don't want to, anyway.

In this essay, I'm going to put the final nail in the coffin as to the issue of whether Wordsville is truly an Odd Squad ripoff or not. I'll also be picking apart the first episode screencap by screencap, just like I used to do in the good old days of Odd News.

(At the very least, the America's Funniest Home Videos animation I'm not a fan of. At least with Tom Bergeron it was funny.)

Below the break we go!

(Just as a side note: this will be split into multiple parts because Tumblr apparently has a photo limit now. That's...gonna make these followup Seren's Studies just a bit trickier.)

Ohhhh they're really trying, bless their little hearts.

Look at that, they even threw in a goddamn university degree like these kids up and went to Harvard. Because Odd Squad agents didn't go to university and aw God man you gotta be shitting me.

Man, the theme even follows the same schtick of Odd Squad agents explaining who they are and what they do! I guess that's one for the Half-Ass list...

(And on a related note, because I don't think I brought this up: Gabby's actress sounds like she was on Odd Squad at one point, but hell if I know where. Guess I'll know when the credits come up.)

Hm. Hah. Just like, y'know, Olive and Otto, Orla and Omar at one point in ti- really, do I have to keep going?

You could tell me this was an Odd Squad sequel spinoff in disguise and I'd 100% believe you.

(Also is that...is that a rainbow bead design in the upper right there? Does Sly is gay or am I just going nuts because this episode was uploaded in Pride Month and Sinking Ship already has some LGBTQ+ rep under their belt?)

I will say that, unlike with Odd Squad, I appreciate them not making this out to be some stupidly thinly-veiled Zoom or Skype parody. It looks like a new fresh platform that isn't supposed to reference anything. I like that!

...Nah, not even I'm desperate enough to pry an Odd Squad jab out of this title.

I am, however, getting flashbacks to Wonderful Precure and people speculating about the colors in the title. If this were one of those seasons we'd have a group of five with a blue-green Cure as the leader, which would melt the Internet. Definitely. Maybe.

Also, unless they're working on Odd Squad UK and we don't know it yet, Christin Simms is not an Odd Squad name I recognize. Seems they've worked on pretty much every modern Sinking Ship series but Odd Squad, which I choose to take as intentional just due to the similarities between the two series alone. I mean let's be honest...if it were an Odd Squad writer, it would really only reinforce a few of my points.

So I've chosen to watch "The Case of the Disappearing Donuts", mainly because I believe that's the episode that was featured in the sample script I talked about in the previous Seren's Study. Just...y'know, as a heads-up. I tried to go for the first episode.

And needless to say...I'm not sure if this is it (TVO released five episodes in a bundle and your guess is as good as mine as to which one is the series premiere) but I can already see a striking difference with Odd Squad, in that yes, Wordsville does indeed launch us clear into the plot without any warning. Yeah yeah they explained it in the intro but I do not care. Let me get to know your characters first!

Once again, I will reiterate for you all: this show being purely digital instead of live-action completely hinders it. It is 2024. The pandemic is not an excuse anymore. I'd get more enjoyment out of this if it weren't two people communicating through mock Apple laptops.

And if you aren't getting what I'm picking at, imagine if, for the nearly ten years it's been on, Odd Squad was a purely-digital show. Would we get the worldbuilding? The lore? The character development? The funny interactions? No, no, no, and no. It's like the difference between talking to someone in video chat and talking to someone in real life. One boosts your health. The other one, not so much.

Clearly they didn't really try for this bit in the audio department, because this cookie is all about that bass with absolutely no fuckin' treble.

(To be fair, though, Odd Squad has soundbytes like this from time to time too. So I can't really complain all that much.)

Something I was shocked to find out about Wordsville: each episode is all of 8 minutes long. Which...doesn't really help the series' case because the pacing is utterly atrocious. For Odd Squad, which has mostly 11-minute episodes, the pacing is smoother for a lot of them. I can take my time, understand what's going on, and enjoy what I'm seeing. Hell, even Tiny Time Travel's pacing isn't awful for the short time it has, and I wasn't gonna even touch that show for this Seren's Study because it's not made by the same people outside of Tim...until people brought up similarities, and I felt at least obligated to mention it once.

This falls squarely into the category of "if I go on an acid trip, can I drag out this episode three times longer than it actually is?"

We.

Are 55 seconds in.

And we are already getting to the conflict.

...Hand me the bong. The BIG bong. If you see dogs in my front yard, just tell 'em to get inside and glow upstairs because I'm goin' hard.

BIG BONG.

...I'm not touching the timing of this call because convenience is in literally every piece of media with video chatting ever. It's not just a Wordsville thing.

The Town Baker walked so Baker Graham could work his hand at a whip.

No but seriously, I can't look at this character and not think of Chef O from Odd Squad UK. The brainrot set in once I viewed the trailer. It hasn't left.

Hey, it's a good marketing tactic.

And it makes a great gift for your SO if they happen to have a name that starts with any of the letters. Hell, get the U, the T and the I and you'd have a winner!

...

Waaaaaaait a second-

In this era of super-powerful processors and AI seeping into anything and everything, there is no scientifically possible way Gabby can pull up a computer dictionary within milliseconds.

And when Odd Squad, the show that has ironic low-tech stuff, is more realistic than your high-tech show, you got a problem.

Minute and a half into this thing and this is the only bit that got me close to smiling thus far.

But something I wanna point out is that I've gotten cookies from bakeries that look a lot better than that. Hell, the cookies at my local supermarket look better than that! Just as big, and far yummier!

I see they switched around the personalities for Sly and Gabby, and I can see why.

Gabby emotes the most.

So does Olive.

Gabby is Olive with a braid and a fedora.

Gabby is the serious o- guys, really, must I go on?

Something something substituting bagels like in "Soundcheck" for donuts instead.

This is what happens when you let your co-CEO binge-watch all the Shrek movies, Sly.

Careful, Gabby...please don't drop the title.

Odd Squad doesn't drop the title all that much, but the fact that the episodes are referred to as cases in-universe sells the comparison. Wordsville's cases are just...different. Copyright infringement and all that. When Oprah sues, she sues hard.

Thank you. I hate it. Off you will fuck from my lawn.

...Look, I know what the "Sly-mation" is and y'all are not being slick. You don't get to wave a fucking stylus in my face and say what you're doing is animation but with a fancy name. Animation is hard. Animating stuff halfway and slapping your client's head on their animated body instead of drawing a face resembling your client is a disservice and I will abso-fucking-lutely take that personally as a fan of animation.

I mean, hey, if I were an animator, I'd fully commit. You people remember that the studio who made this worked on a Spongebob movie. Lemme repeat: a Spongebob movie. And yet this is what they decide to do for animation.

When Odd Squad does animation, it's good in most instances. (I choose to forget "Olive and Otto in Shmumberland", TYVM.) Not anything stellar, but it certainly is passable. Here? Lol. Lmao, even. God no. This feels like a way to insert animation into the show but without employing the CGI that other shows, Odd Squad included, have. Like a "lol I'm so quirky" thing.

Get out.

This is like if Disney had Disneymation. Dreamworksation. Laikation. Netflixation. Huluation. So on and so forth.

Point being, it's dumb. Just say it's animation and stop plopping flowers onto it. When you get more of a time limit, then you can be quirky all you want.

We are now 2 minutes into an 8-minute episode. I know what's happening. Kids know what's happening. Unless you're banking on the research that kids' attention spans are the size of a pea, we do not need a recap.

...Is this really the same person who wrote for Endlings? Because apparently they can't handle something in an 8-minute timeframe.

You either get the Chad Blender/Flash/ToonBoom, or you get the Virgin Mock Scratch.

I just feel cheated. Disappointed. Like when your mom and dad drove by McDonald's when you were a kid after they promised you they would get you some. I've seen good animation. They had the chance to do better, and didn't. That's what pisses me off the most. It's that complete utter wasted potential.

I know Vet Wilder is a reference to some celebrity (the name is at least somewhat familiar), but I'm at a complete loss as to if they did the same thing for Athlete Glory or if they just confined a girl named Glory to one destiny in life.

So she'll become...a Faded Glory.

(I'm sorry, I had to.)

Okay, they're reiterating this for the young children, and I- guys, this hurts. It's like they're trying to differentiate themselves from Odd Squad but tripping over their own feet in the process.

Ten cookies Gene Vet Wilder gave it to an animal named Yummy and that this series will go down another Odd Squad route and defy biology.

Either that, or "Yummy" is his pet name for Not-So-Faded Glory, which I am banking absolutely nothing on because romance.

...No, not Baker Graham's cookies. I'm sure dude's good at what he does, but I know of a better bakery, thank you very much.

*aggressively takes out the ibuprofen for the headache this shit is giving me*

This reads like TVOkids font, and I'm not even mad.

I'm only sad I didn't get the "I know so much about fonts" autism.

(Also, this is really just called The Bakery? They have one bakery? That's it? Even Toronto has more than one!)

-----------------------------

Onward to Part 2!

[amayzingmayzie]

Sometimes I think about my Starlight Express song opinions so here they are:

(PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM AMERICAN SO I CAN ONLY WORK WITH SO MUCH)

Rolling Stock makes me feel manly- something about it makes me wanna pump some fucking iron

Call Me Rusty is adorable and is a better introduction to Rusty than Crazy. Call Me Rusty points out his stubbornness and willpower to win, while also showing that the coaches show genuine concern to his condition and don't just go "man this kid is fuckin insane"

If you think I Got Me is "too empowering," You're weird. I understand thinking it's a little odd for setting up Dinah's character, but there's a difference between that and "oh the women are too independent." I think my biggest problem with I Got Me is that there are not coach intros.

I like Lotta Locomotion for what its worth. It's just a cute lil intro song

Whole Lotta Locomotion- wheeeew- it's certainly... a song! It tries so hard to be girlboss-y but fails lyricwise and makes them even more dependent on men- but Im not gonna lie and say I hate it because Jesus it's catchy-

FREIGHT IS GOOD, YALL ARE JUST MEAN- I specifically like the one version from London 1992 where the coaches ARE BRUTAL FOR NO REASON- Also, versions without CB suck ass

AC/DC is at its best when Electra is an over-the-top diva and the components MUST eat it up.

Pumping Iron makes me feel so ungodly feminine (I wonder which part I sing) AND I LOVE IT. I LOVE FEELING FEMININE. I especially love when Greaseball is super snarky and flirtatious.

He'll Whistle At Me puts me to sleep. Make Up My Heart is beautiful. He Whistled At Me is terrible narrative-wise but MAN OH MAN DOES IT MAKE ME FEEL GIRLY

Coda of Freight is REALLY REALLY GOOD????

There's Me is adorbs and I. MISS. IT.

Poppa's Blues is a banger, yall are just haters. Also, hot take, but Poppa should NEVER be white.

Belle may not have much of a purpose in terms of the story, but jeez, her voice is beautiful. I love Belle so much.

I am a Rap enthusiast, so I have to give you my opinions on all of them. Hey You is a classic and it was my first Rap. It sounds so silly and Electra makes me giggle every time. Check It Out is so stupid but WOW IS ELECTRA GAY- I love the beat too. What Time Is It is so extremely CAMPY but I have a soft spot for it- The only version of Own It, Nail it that I have is the 2017 London workshop, and that one was almost a carbon copy of Check It Out. BORING.

UNCOUPLED is always such a sweet song. I HAVE A GRIPE WITH PEOPLE WHO MAKE DINAH SO MF SOUTHERN. Like, I get it, but don't give her a HUGE accent. See Jane Krakowski.

Girls Rolling Stock makes me feel so girlboss.

CB (or Wide Smile) is a mf bop and a masterpiece

Right Place, Right Time makes me jam out hard

The beginning of He Whistled At Me Reprise makes me so sad- DUSTIN QUIT CRYIN BOY!

Dinahs Disco is so slay and Electra is such a prissy princess-

"CB! CB! YOU GOTTA HELP ME IN THE FINAL SEEECTIOOOON"

One Rock N Roll Too Many makes me lowkey sad- but my god is it funny-

Only He is a masterpiece. BUT... NEXT TIME YOU FALL IN LOOOOOOOVE IT BETTER BE WITH ME THE WAY IT USED TO BE BACK THEN WAS WHEN WE TOUCHED THE STARLIIIIGHT-

Next Time You Fall In Love makes no sense to me lyric-wise but the song slaps

"I love it when romance occurs on the railroad"

The Megamix my beloved

So, tell me what you think! Do you agree? Disagree?

[lithium80writer]

Bad Things (Eddie Munson Short Story)

⚠️Warnings: Explicit sexual content. MINORS DNI. Toxic relationship. Drugs. Angst.⚠️

Modern AU. Rockstar Eddie. Short Story. Nova Gray is a pop star and the on again/off again girlfriend of rockstar Eddie Munson. Both of them are at the height of their career. Fame and trouble follow these two everywhere they go. They both know they are no good for each other but can they stay away? Just a heads up that this will not be typical sweet Eddie. He's kind of an asshole. But a hot one.

Characters and intro, Chapter one, Chapter two

Chapter three: Slut

****Nothing's that bad, if it feels good. So you come back. Like I knew you would..****

Nova's POV

"Where's Max?" Eddie smirks as he pretends to look around for him.

"Eddie stop." you whisper, feeling the guilt creeping in.

"One second, baby." he says to you before yelling back into the apartment.

"Trixie.. Tom will take you home. I have a not so unexpected visitor."

"This was a mistake." you go to turn and his hand grips your wrist. The slightest touch from him sending tingles throughout your body.

"It wasn't." he says as he threads his fingers in yours. You look down at his hand. His big rings adorn their usual fingers. You slowly trail your eyes up his body.

His pants are unbuttoned, his black boxer briefs peeking through. A silky black shirt buttoned unevenly, his chest completely exposed.

Trixie walks up and kisses Eddie's cheek before sliding past you.

Why am I here?

Eddie pulls you inside and shuts the door. "What are you doing here, Nova?" he steps back as you remove your big jacket. His eyes roam your white bodysuit underneath.

"Fuck, you look good." he says huskily. His eyes are dark, a small smirk remains on his lips. He slowly begins twisting one of his rings around his fingers as he continues looking you up and down lazily.

"I had a bad day, Eds." you pout as you walk closer to him.

"Yeah?" he breathes as you stop directly in front of him.

"Mhmm.. it was really stressful." you reach out and run your nail down his chest as a sly smile spreads across his face.

"You here to use me, sweetheart?" he hums as you begin to unbutton the last two buttons on his shirt.

"Do you mind?" you purr as his hands come to your waist.

"Never." he whispers before pulling against him. His grip is firm on your hips as you look up into his eyes.

"I missed you." you breathe.

"I know you did." he says before his lips slam into yours. He immediately presses you into the wall as you tangle your hands in his hair. His tongue meets yours forcefully as you moan desperately into his mouth.

You grab a fistful of his hair and give it a hard yank pulling a moan from him easily. He moves to your neck and begins to suck.

"No marks, Eddie." you mumble and he just chuckles before you feel his teeth sink into your skin.

"Fuck." you whimper as his tongue trails across the indents of his teeth.

"What's got you so stressed?" Eddie asks as he picks you up and carries you swiftly to the bed.

"Rebecca White.. she's just.. I hate her." you admit as Eddie begins to work on your bodysuit.

"She's a bitch." Eddie agrees as you slide your arms out and he pulls it down beneath your breasts.

"Mmm.. I missed these." he climbs on top of you and takes your hardened nipple in his mouth. Your eyes shut as he sucks and nips gently making you wetter by the second.

There's never been another man who has pleased you like Eddie. You know it and he knows it.

His hand works its way into your suit and you feel his fingers dip into you. A blissful moan leaves your lips as he guides his fingers deeper.

Eddie's POV

She's fucking soaked as you slide your fingers in her tight pussy. I've missed her. Missed this.

Her repeated moans grow more and more shaky as you bring her closer and closer.

You keep your eyes on her face, watching her carefully as she falls apart beneath your hand.

"Eddie! E-Eddie please don't stop. Please don't...st-stop.." she begs you as her back arches off the bed. You grin as she lets out a choked cry, your hand now soaked from her orgasm.

I have girls scream my name all the time. In the crowd at my concert and in the bedroom. Or the bathroom of a random bar, or backstage.. the back seat of my car or... well I think you get it. The point is.. none of them sound as sweet as her. None of them feel as good as her. I love her, I swear I do. I just have a really shitty way of showing it.

She's a complete mess as you decide you're gonna make her cum twice with your hand. Then we'll move on to the good stuff.

She craves me all the time. That's exactly what I want. I don't want her to ever forget Eddie Munson. She's mine even when she's not. I'm always on her mind. And if I'm being completely honest, she's always on mine too.

"Fuck baby..." she squirms under you as you bring your lips to her neck again, your fingers fucking her roughly.

"I said no marks.." she whimpers as you suck harshly.

"You're not in charge here, Nova." you scold in her ear and she gasps as you bring your fingers to her clit, rubbing quickly.

She mumbles something about you being a dick which just makes your cock harder.

You rub your fingers side to side swiping across her clit quickly and her body jerks involuntarily.

She's overstimulated and little whimpers and sudden screams pour from her lips and fill the room. But she doesn't want you to stop.

This is why she's here.

She cries out as she cums again, soaking the sheets beneath her.

You let out a low growl as you quickly move between her legs licking and sucking, tasting her all over your tongue.

"Holy shit... mmm.. baby...too much." she mumbles as she tries to push your head away.

Not a chance.

It's been too long since I've tasted her. You pull her close and make long strokes before swirling your tongue through her folds, exploring every part of her. Her legs are trembling wildly around your head and you moan into her pussy as she finally gives in, her body relaxing into the bed.

Her hand grips your hair tightly as you kiss along her warmth.

Nova's POV

Max who?

I know I'm awful but fucking hell.

Eddie comes up from between your legs with a giant grin. His face glistening. He takes his fingers shoving them in your mouth roughly and you immediately suck yourself off of him before he presses them a little deeper making you gag.

"I missed that sound, baby." he laughs wickedly before pulling his pants and boxers down enough for his cock to escape.

"Are you gonna be a good girl, Nova?"

"Yes, Eddie."

He grips your jaw tightly and looks down at you with a serious face.

"Y-yes Master." you correct yourself and he smiles.

Eddie kneels on the bed and you get on your hands and knees in front of him mentally preparing yourself for the fucking your throat is about to receive.

"Open wide, Princess." he demands and you look up at him as a smile spreads across your lips.

"Call me your little slut, Master."

His eyes darken even more before he reaches down and tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear.

"Open wide, slut." he burns, causing your pussy to throb intensely.

"Yes, Master." you sigh happily as you open your mouth and stick your tongue out.

Eddie takes his tip and runs it up and down your tongue lightly before he grips your hair.

"Ready?"

You nod and he moans deeply as he thrusts into your mouth. He's not gentle. Not today. His cock slams into the back of your throat causing your eyes to water immediately.

Do I know his dick was in someone else's mouth earlier? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm gonna show him he'll never have someone as good as me.

You let him be in control for a minute, his thrusts in your mouth are wild and rough. Your mascara runs down your cheeks as you gag on his cock. You pull your mouth off of him quickly and push him backwards to the bed.

You straddle him and kiss his lips hungrily. His hands find your ass immediately and he squeezes tightly before giving it a hard smack.

"I- I fucking missed your mouth, baby." Eddie pants into the kiss.

"What else did you miss, Eds?" you say as you slowly slide your warmth across his cock.

"I missed that sweet pussy.. you know I missed that pussy." he rasps.

"Do you want me? You wanna fuck my pussy baby?" you purr in his ear.

"Ride me, Nova. Please ride me." he begs and you kiss him one more time.

"Such a needy little thing aren't you?" you tease before you place him at your entrance lowering yourself down.

His head falls back as a string of curses leave his perfect lips. You moan with him as you feel him stretch you and enter you fully.

"Eddie.. Jesus Christ." you groan and he gives you a cocky smile.

You roll your hips slowly at first, quickly gaining speed. He's so big... he feels so fucking good. God, I missed him.

You begin to bounce wildly and he lets out a lustful chuckle as his eyes lock on your boobs. You slow down grinding your hips and he quickly flips you over so he's on top.

He slams into you forcefully and you cry out finally feeling the pleasure you've been craving.

"There it is, sweetheart.. I told you I was gonna make you scream." he growls as his hand comes to your throat.

Every thrust hits deep within you as he speeds up. His grip tightens around your throat and he leans down so his eyes are locked on yours.

"Does Max fuck you like this?" he hisses.

"Eddie.."

"Does. he." He gives you a rough thrust with each word.

Hoarse moans escape your lips as you refuse to answer.

Eddie squeezes your throat tightly as he fucks you senseless. Your nails claw into his back again and again.

"Fuck!" you shriek as he hits painfully deep. So fucking deep.. so fucking good.

"No! N-no he doesn't fuck me like this!" you practically shout.

"I know he doesn't, sweetheart. Eddie's gonna fuck you right." he hums lowly before flipping you over on your stomach.

His hand immediately slaps your ass leaving a sting and probably a bruise or two.

He's marking me in every way possible and I fucking love it.

Another smack, another welt across your skin. The pain so intense and so delicious. Your face is pressed down hard into the mattress, drool leaking from the corner of your mouth as he completely destroys you from behind.

There are no words for the way you're feeling. Complete pleasure takes over your body as well as your mind.

You can barely remember your own fucking name by the time he's finished with you. You collapse to the bed as Eddie falls next to you. He lights a cigarette and slowly releases the smoke.

"That was way fucking better than Trixie." he winks at you.

"Oh my god, I hate you." you mumble.

"Tell that to someone who actually believes it, baby." he smiles and offers you the cigarette.

Eddie's POV

You look at her flushed cheeks, sweat glistening on her perfect body. Her makeup is a mess, completely destroyed. I fucking love it. She takes the cigarette from your fingers and you watch her place it between her pretty lips.

Told you she'd come back. She always does.

Chapter four