#this season is 15 episodes instead of 16 for a REASON

[echos-gal]

y'all know that if they don't bring back Tech by episode 15 (premiering on may 1st) and the series concludes with him "dead", i WILL be fully expecting a surprise bonus episode 16 epilogue releasing on may 4th showing him alive and how he survived and reuniting with his family and Phee. i am fully willing to don the clown face paint for this.

name a better may the fourth surprise. you can't.

[charlotteoccasionally]

reasons why kyman is canon (TRIGGER WARNING: KY//MAN, JOKING!!)

1. kyle continuously choosing to get in arguments with cartman instead of just ignoring him (which they have proof works) bc he gets his kicks outta being righteous

2. cartman saving kyle at the end of smug alert despite saying he hates him

3. kyle coming to help cartman at the end of jewpacabra

4. “my little monster” in its a jersey thing

5. cartman showing no denial/response when ppl think he and kyle are a couple in tonsil trouble

6. cartman making everyone think kyman is canon in cartman finds love (when he coulda EASILY found a different way to stop kyle and nicole from getting together)

7. cartman’s canon yaoi obsession (tfbw character relations graph)

8. kyle saving cartman in manbearbig

9. imaginationland trilogy.

10. kyle crying after finding out cartman was innocent after breaking his electronics

11. kyle’s response during his fight with cartman after getting with heidi (“cartman, YOU weren’t happy” instead of just saying how badly he treated her)

12. kyman hand holding in multiple episodes

13. cartman saying he loves kyle and tryna kiss him(?) in le petite tourette

14. kyle’s jealousy of heiman (ppl say it’s kyle jealous of cartman for dating heidi but we never saw any evidence that kyle liked her until AFTER they started dating)

15. the way kyle always chooses cartman as his stand in BFF when stan is outta the picture instead of anyone else/their dynamicness as a duo (crack baby athletic association, you’re getting old, ass burgers, prehistoric ice man, etc.)

16. cartman and kyle’s softening relationship as the seasons go on (compare “passion of the jew” kyman to an episode like “help my teenager hates me”)

17. the deleted “cartman + kyle” writing on the wall of the boy’s bathroom in stick of truth

18. kyman is just an inherently funny ship that if it actually becomes canon would kinda sum up the attitude of the show (m&t just don’t gaf)

[charmac]

Cracked recently did an interview with Andrew Friedman (Uncle Jack):

It’s strange they didn’t ask (or did and didn’t reveal) whether he was in Season 17, but there was still some good Sunny info in the article that leads me into some thoughts for the upcoming season, particularly when he was asked how Sunny has changed over the years:

The co-directing mention is interesting, and I wonder if that might be related to Season 17 because there are a lot of first-time Sunny directors this year (and the episodes Andrew did in 16 were directed by long-time Sunny directors)… so perhaps Uncle Jack will be back.

And when he talked about working with Danny, mentioning that up until shooting, he’s off set:

I think we’ve kinda known this is how Danny works (and more-so as the years go on) but I can’t recall getting any harder confirmation than a statement like this that Danny’s double/stuntman is basically on set if Frank has scenes.

Why this is interesting to me is the fact that his double, Mario Munoz, announced that he wrapped Season 17 on November 22. This somewhat pretty heavily implies that Danny wrapped around that time too, and Frank was not in the final scenes they were shooting this week.

We kind of also suspect that Charlie had wrapped a week early as well, due to the lack of beard, so it seems that whatever scenes they shot in the last week, it didn’t involve Charlie or Frank

What does this mean? Well, if they were shooting in order (which is a toss-up, but I will note that both 15 and 16 shot their finales in order) that means the finale of S17 probably has Frank/Charlie fairly separate from Mac/Dennis/Dee (and potentially the Waitress in an old lady costume?)’s plot, and we know the finale is the white board episode from Rob’s Twitter challenge… which seemed Frank-heavy based on what we could make out. So, this potentially means there is a significant B plot there that just isn’t clear from Charlie’s chicken scratch

Or, it could have just been a scheduling thing for Charlie and/or Danny, so they decided to push an episode (or many scenes) that didn’t call for either of them to the end of production.. but it’s still interesting to think about the pairings here, regardless. Probably, more particularly, the fact that unless beardless Charlie Kelly is real, the Waitress’ plot is not with him this season (not that crazy, he didn’t have scenes with her in S15) but instead most likely something to do with Mac/Dennis/Dee

And my insane brain is for some reason beaming Mac’s Banging the Waitress into my head through all of this with this…. But probably just cos I would kill for a reprieve/parallel of that episode

[thatsmybook]

Cyberbullying in Heartstopper and Young Royals

In Heartstopper, the audience has sympathy for Charlie and Tara when they are verbally bullied or cyberbullied in the show. We understand the affect these things have on their wellbeing.

In Young Royals, Simon is verbally bullied and cyberbullied the whole show, escalating in season 3. Yet the audience has less sympathy for him and his wellbeing.

I think the reason is that we see Simon standing up for himself against the verbal bullying, so we think he can handle it. He is a strong person, so he should be able to handle it. He has a support system of a good mum and friends at home. However, when he uses this admired personality trait and stands up for himself against cyberbullying, the audience immediately decides that that's not appropriate.

The audience empathy for Simon's experience each episode of Season 3 declines even as the stress on him builds. Why? I think it's because in parallel, Wille's pressures increase. Many make the judgement call that Wille's pressures are more pressing than Simon's and that Wille is not strong enough to deal with them. He has no support. He needs Simon's and only Simon's support. (Even though he has good mental health support in Boris, who is a paid professional, understanding of his pressures through his work with Erik and could help him navigate his stress).

The audience sees Simon's stresses as minor and self-involved. Why is he affected by it? He doesn't give AF about stuff people say. Strong people can't be affected by daily relentless verbal and cyberbullying. Right?

We understand the enormity of these stresses in the Heartstopper environment. We understand why Charlie and Tara, as 15 and 16 year old kids are continuing to read comments and are affected by them. Simon is a 16 year old kid and his comments are coming from people in his town, his country even, not just his school. Is it because Charlie and Tara are not strong characters like Simon? I think they are strong. The point is, no one is strong enough for this onslaught.

Charlie and Tara both get real sympathy and support from their partners for what they are going through. Even as both Darcy and Nick are going through their own pressures. Wille is not able to do this for Simon, until Simon and his family are physically threatened. Support mostly goes one way in their relationship in Season 3.

For the audience, Simon's stress starts to become an obstacle to Wille being able to perform his role as Crown Prince and to relieve his sick mum. The audience is geared to Wille becoming the best CP he can be, and start to see Simon's 'selfish stressors' as an obstacle to that role.

Wille is also a victim of cyberbullying. Simon, in support of Wille, is concerned about that and is standing up for both of them in the comments and the perception of them as people and their relationship. When Wille tells Simon that this is how it always is, Simon is concerned with Wille resigning to that state of affairs. It's not acceptable in Simon's world view.

That, to me, is to be admired. I don't see it as naive, even as the boyfriend of a public person. All over the world, young people are challenging the status quo of the social contracts we have in society. "This is how it's always been" has been a refrain that we no longer accept. In Wille's Song, Simon sings to Wille and to the audience, "we do not have to follow the way of others and where it leads." Simon was the revolution for the show and the audience. When watching the show again with this perspective instead of Wille's goal to be the Crown Prince that his brother would have wanted him to be, empathy and balance are restored.

This is all a post to say: all bullying, specifically cyberbullying, is a very dangerous thing. It can not be minimised how damaging it is. People in every domain are greatly affected by it. No matter how strong or how old or how famous or how rich they are. Blaming the victims by saying they should ignore the onslaught, the defamation of character, all the isms innate in the bullying (every identity of Simon's is targeted: his race, his class, his nationality, his sexuality), is ridding the public of accountability when they post online about any person. It is saying that it is socially acceptable to bully online. Once one has a social media account, we are accepting the social contract that we will forever be open to this abuse. And that it is our fault if we can not manage it. (Like (in jest) shouting at Wille and Simon to close the curtains because they should always expect that someone is filming them having sex).

[sailingfireshipz]

My 13x12 download. I want to preface this by saying this was the best standalone Chicago Fire episode this entire season. Miranda Rae Mayo was exceptional, which is why the adoption aspect stings just a little bit harder. I really want them to let her shine more because not only can she do fierce badass lieutenant, but she also does raw, vulnerable trauma survivor really, really well!

1. Stellaride opening 10/10. Stella's frantic cleaning wanting everything to be perfect. Kelly quickly picking up on that anxiety. Perfection

2. That lady's indestructible. Get well soon, Trudy

3. Violet sliding down that 🪜 "oh like it's hard" haaa giving the 💡 to Capp? Girl, you knew better

4. Loved Stella's quick redirect on Ritter & Carver. Kylies back on E51 can we just make that permanent?

5. My literal flight or fight response kicking in when I heard Stella Bella. 😳

6. Was surprised to see Cruz in the episode. Carver helping Ritter more please!

8. When Cole accused Kelly of keeping Stella away, i literally was like, "Here we go, lmao. First, the Grant reference now the Tyler audacity" Unlike with those first two though this angst actually brought Stellaride closer together 🥹

8a. Kelly immediately telling Stella instead of sitting on it. Stella immediately clocking in & addressing it. Ooooh, the growth of it all

9. Pascal " as long as you weren't cutting the brakes" oook but let's talk about it

10. Accusing Stella of abandoning her "family" when none of yall picked up the phone when her life was hanging in the balance really is something.

10a. Miranda Rae Mayo, in this scene! Why am i crying!?? Bravo

11. Stella Kidd backstory reveal 🥹 wdym she took care of her aunt, & two cousins, one of which was a baby all at a young age & after dealing with losing both parents at the same time. Poor girl has been taking care of other people more than she's been taken care of 🫂

11a. Side note: I'm pretty sure we just witnessed Kelly fall even more in love with Stella if that's possible. Same Kelly same.

12. Ritter & Dwayne nooooo 🫣 can't lie Ritter can't catch a break right now can he?

13. Second Stellaride loft scene, ooooh, we're being spoiled! This scene was hilarious, Novak, Kelly & these damn tongs, his little smirk, Stella too stunned to speak. Definitely early season Severide coded 😂

14. A punch in the gut & a point in the right direction. Look at Carver doing the work. Was not expecting him to be in AA, but after the trip, Tori took him on, makes sense. 👏🏼

15. Violet,Ritter & Novak, the trio we deserve

16. Hermann bringing that hose into that event iktr!

17. ANOTHER STELLARIDE LOFT SCENE. We are not worthy 🥹😭 but like also keep them coming?

17a. Did anyone notice Stella's hand on her stomach as she walked towards the kitchen? Oh, I'm going to be sick, yall 🤧

18. Stella talking about Aunt Lavernes PPD. The slight reveal that that's part of the reason she put off having kids. This is REAL & it translates as such a vulnerable & brave conversation to have. Again, Miranda Rae Mayo ladies & gents. 🥹

19. "I am not sure that I want to get pregnant, but I am sure that I want a family with you, Kelly." The suspense the silence her putting her hand on her chest as she waited for his response. Why am I holding my breath, waiting for his response. The face hold the kisses, and how is it that they just keep getting betttttter with time. If S4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, hell 12, Stellaride could see them nooooow. This is insane!

20. Ok, so I'm not about to drain this because I've already done my adoption storyline spiral. What I'll say is it's already been done multiple times across the platforms. I'm just a little deflated in the implications that in the year 2025, we still are not seeing authentic storytelling when it comes to female main character leads having a planned pregnancy, carried to term & addressing the realities of how it impacts your life, career, marriage outlook on life etc.

20a. There's so many stories to tell & Stella, being a black female lieutenant, what better vessel to use to showcase them? 🤔 Maternal mortality rates in WOC, navigating PPD, and exploring different career opportunities while off active duty take us into another world of the job & life of first responders. Show me the politics show me the bureaucracy of being a female in a male dominated industry & how she challenges the status quo. Show me advocating for a lactation room at every facility or on-site childcare at HQ locations. Show me her starting or being a part of a support group for working/pregnant mothers. She me how they cope, how their marriages or relationships are impacted. Show me the sacrifices they make in comparison to their male counterparts. Don't show the 3rd adoption storyline in 2 years because you don't want to sideline Stella when, in reality, she's been sidelined the majority of the season so far. Get in the writers' room, conduct some research, do some interviews, and show me something DIFFERENT that hasn't been done 10x over.

Ok, off the soap box. I do have a question, though. Do we think they'll be met with some opposition during the adoption process because they're both first responders? Both running into the same fires? Just curious 🤔 We still have 10 more episodes to go, so let's buckle up for the rode ahead. 🤞🏼

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog: Wakfu Season 2 (episodes 13-16)

Episode 13 - The Night of the Thirsters

Proof Amalia and Joris are not close friends number 829342345: if she knew the alcohol he drinks and what he considers "a clean environment to live in" she'd get scared.

WoT twitter would kill Amalia.

I know it's more likely that both alcoholic and non-alcoholic bamboo milk exists, but the thought of everyone being a-ok with Yugo underage drinking makes me giggle for some reason. Ruel would fucking do that.

Are your villains 1. indestructible, 2. want to consume something that could theoretically fix them, 3. in the process, inflict a fate worse than death upon their victim, who 4. becomes one of them?

...Necromes were a missed opportunity. Shoulda called them Wakfu Thirsters instead.

Episode 14 - The Voice Thief

It's always sad to see the way the world has been devastated by Ogrest's Chaos.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...This says:

Her singing is so cute!

She is now fully bamboo milk-pilled. GOOD.

New Krosmoz music lore: We already know that vinyls and their players exist, as well as the fact that rock music exists (due to the fact that The Blues of a Hypermage (parody of the IRL song The Blues of a Buisinessman) exists).

Now we have the confirmation that metal bands are real.

Also, electric guitars are also real.

Mics are also real. (I am totally not noting all of this down because I want to write a "Joris, Kerubim, and Atcham go to karaoke" scene in one of my fics in the future, nuh-uh...)

Hummina hummina hummina bazooooooooing! eyes pop out AROOOOOOOOGA! jaw drops tongue rolls out WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF.

It's very rare to see, within the show, characters who differ from their usual class skin and hair colours, which is a shame. (I am 99% sure this is an iop due to his clothes and his hair pointing upwards)

Text behind Eva: rien ne sert de payer il faut en fuir / there is no point in paying, you have to run away

Text behind Amalia is too shielded to transcribe fully.

This is written in Brakmarian. It says:

This means that, metal music is stereotypically a Brakmarian form of music (big news: spoon found in kitchen)

I usually don't point this sort of stuff out but, man, this tavern is really well off. Not only is there a lot of food, there are also huge hot baths...

Also, once again, canalization and running water are real in this setting.

I choose to believe that this bubble thing is the Krosmoz equivalent of vaping because it's funny.

[blushing] Would!

Jpop is real in this setting, and someday, I will be able to prove to you, that Joris is a fan of it, using some proof besides "well ecaflips are kind of japanese-coded sometimes" and "it just makes sense."

Good rooms in taverns like these not only have hot baths but also fruit, candles, and drinks... [starts writing down "Joris, Kerubim and Atcham go to an expensive tavern and start talking about some convoluted topic, with vivid descriptions of delicious fruit-eating, how good the wine is, and how soft the bubbles in the bath are" in my fic self-indulgent scene ideas document. I can live my vacation fantasies vicariously through those three men]

Of course metal music from Brakmar is about the fact that the apocalypse caused inflation and that it's Good.

This says:

ourse

olle

m al

venu

Episode 15 - Wabbit Island

Hhh she is a very good artist.

[guy who is insane voice] This means that if I ever want to use the expression "canary in a coalmine" in a fic it'll be "tofu in a coalmine" instead.

The word Sayonara exists in Krosmoz which implies that some sort of fantasy Japanese is real. Big win.

Episode 16 - The Cursed Fountain

:(

While I usually talk a lot about character parallels between Yugo and Joris (these men who had to grow up far too fast will someday commit acts which no human being can be forgiven for in the name of goodness—-) there is a lot to be said about parallels betwen Eva and Joris.

They're both artistic, kind people who try to appear logic-driven (and sadly, they are both basically the wranglers/babysitters of their entire adventuring groups).

[wolfiethetimelord]

With time passing I have some ideas on why rose is currently the doctor/got regenerated into outside of the show itself.

All of this is basically Day of the doctor part 2.

When the 50th anniversary special was happening Moffat had to make three scripts. The one we got. The one with 9. And he had to make one with no doctors because they currently had no no doctors on contact.

With absolutely no information on season 3 three and my own personal belief that 15 left because of absolutely no inclination on when season 3 would even be debated on forcing this regeneration. I think it’s possible RTD is stuck in a position where nucti is gone and they need to film this regeneration while he’s still under contract so they don’t have to put the next actor in a wig and blackface(or more realistically they would probably just never show the doctor’s face or cgi it).

If RTD was clever he probably made sure a Christmas special was included in the contract. But with Disney showing no hints on season three (at this point we may have to wait for the end of legend of the sea devils I swear.) he can’t just go find a 16 doctor and say “hey so… we want you but I can’t tell you how many episodes, what time you’ll be filming, or what company we are even working with”. He’s probably doing the same thing as he did with the 60th anniversary. He got to talking with Billie,  he was able to get her on board to do the Christmas special or whatever this next thing is.

As much as I would like a full season of her as 16 personally. Quite a few signs are pointing to maybe not. This might just be a Christmas story, and RTD is making the best out of this mess.

Side topic below

A lot of people seem to be mad and really don’t want rose back because the story should be done by now. That’s fair but at the same time, please, for one second have it in your heart to stop being mad and just be curious. This is a show that lives on chaos. There is going to be a lore reason for her return.

It could be something to do with bad wolf or the emotions of the doctor truly coming to the front. 15 was emotional, but without rose as there face the doctor can’t lie to him/herself like he did to 15. “I'm fine because you fixed yourself. We're Time Lords. “We're doing rehab out of order.””

Out of order may be an understatement at this point.

So please I beg everyone. Let me actually find fan theories, posts about your rose fan fiction with her being a time lord and how your reeling on how it’s becoming cannon. I want more gif sets, with callbacks to episodes with roses old episodes. Please try to convince me on fan theories instead of convincing me RTD is a horrible person.

[dumblucksers]

II 15 SPOILERS

here is my taco recap + analysis that I wrote after someone mischaracterized her in front of me:

just a disclaimer I have no idea what I'm talking about half of the time so sorry if some bits don't rlly make sense :P

ok so starting with her in season 1, literally all we see her as is this insane little cray say thing who has an iq of 7, apparently speaks French, spits lemons, screams randomly and says things that make no sense LMAO

she gets close to pickle and they stick together for basically the entire season

obviously we know now that her motivation this time was to become the fan favorite and get to the end so she can win the million (for reasons we don't know honestly, maybe find out in 16)

there are also moments in s1 where she'll slip up the act (but they play off as comedic effect) example when she calculated her fall in ep 12 or in 11 where she revealed her arms and was speaking full sentences to pickle for a second and a half

but anyway right at the end when she loses is where she reveals her true self and tried to steal the million after losing (and also severing her relationship with pickle)

one thing to point out before moving on is that taco is an analyzer, her act of being dumb gave her time to observe all of the contestants and pick the right allies and whatevs

n e way moving on to s2

taco has been stalking the entirety of s2 up until she reveals herself in 9, where she still wants the million (or rather half of it, and for reasons we still don't know) and she takes interest in the grand slams team, particularly microphone, who ironically doesn't exactly have a strong voice in the game and is, in tacos eyes, an easy target. So she reveals herself to mic and offers to help her advance in the game in exchange for 50/50 of the million

at this point taco only rlly sees mic as a pawn, and easily controlled. mic is unsure as all she's hearing is how useless and sad she is from a tiny British taco KSJSJSK

however mic is lowkey desperate herself bc she feels as though she isn't pulling her weight on her team, doesn't have much of a voice in the competition, she just lost soap aswell. so she accepts tacos help in the maze challenge using her gain setting.

now in 11 we see more of tacos strategies play out, as she further analyzes the grand slams, as it's categorized as: the alliance (baseball, nickel, suitcase) the friendship (suitcase and balloon) and the other ppl (knife and mic). Taco is more focused on the alliance and their relation to balloon, and she urges mic to get more involved in the pushing away of balloon to get him eliminated (and to further progress mic in the game) but rather than using the approach of attempting to make allies with baseball and nickel, we learn of tacos more violent tendencies. she wants to use a temporary paralyzer (courtesy of test tubes lab) to decapitate balloon. this is where mic draws the line, and also the episode where she proves herself to taco by instead of using violence, she substitutes subtle verbal and emotional manipulation instead. Taco is greatly impressed by this, and it's at this point where taco realizes that mic may not be as helpless as she originally thought.

now taco and mic are starting to reach equal ground, as in 12 they are more casual with each other and just chilling. it's also where the TIME TRAVEL STUFFF HAPPENS WHWOAOOAOAOAOOWOWOWOWOWOW

basically when they're down in test tubes lab and lightbulb activates the Time Machine portal thing, mic sees taco reach towards the portal, before it closes. this is (I think) the first time mic and the audience has seen taco look built a k o my god how tf do you spell vulnerable. ok there we go anyway this is the first time we see taco look vulnerable, and *possibly* regret towards her past actions. she reaches while saying "another chance, perhaps." and while at the time it could have been taken as another chance at stealing the million, ii 15 adds more context that she wants another chance with her relationships in the past, particularly with pickle, and she clearly regrets what she did.

now after this point mic is now a bit sus of what just happened, seeing taco reach for the portal. we also get to see another silly side of taco (not the cray say silly, just normal silly) as she tries to distract mic from the portal And from the fact that test tube and lightbulb are now in the time stuff.

oh yeah also at the end the episode knife finds out about mic and taco oh nooooo well go into that in a second

in 13 yknow they're trying to get knife to join them cuz now he knows and yeah yeah whatever. also taco and mic are getting closer as equals and as friends too so yeah

mic also brings up the portal and taco ignores, as per usual.

now let's get to the interesting stuff. Taco and mic are following knife around in the minecarts, and taco says smth like "is this you holding a grudge over my true self? For why? Everyone knows who I am now!" And mic says "doooo we thooooo????" this is like. 99% attached to the whole portal thing, bc mic saw that vulnerability and now she knows there's a teeeeeny bit more to the evil lil British Mexican food than what meets the eye

also there's another instance of taco and mics violence is bad bit, where knife is about to fall off, and while taco is like YIPPEEEE mic is like erm. No. And then saves knife

now here's where it gets even MORE interesting, where knife calls out tacos first alliance with pickle. Taco obviously gets mad at this, but mic doesn't rlly have a huge reaction except to tell knife that "she's(tacos) changing", which shows that she prolly put two and two together about the portal thing (prolly isss bc she stops pestering about it at this point)

now at this moment in 14 it's clear that taco and mic are partners in crime (well crime might be stretching it. Or not considering what happens), taco goes to shut down mepad so she and mic can teleport freely (and, to the prime shimmer spaceship) where the last violence is bad instance comes up. mic says PROMISE NO VIOLENCE and taco teeechnically doesn't promise, but yaknoww

now cut to when taco uses violence, she kills test tube and paralyzes fan to mics horror. she won immunity but at the expense of others , and that wasn't smth she was comfortable with, and that was her breaking point. she drops taco AND the entire show and eliminates herself

this is also tacos breaking point, in a way. where she realizes how much the game has shaped her into doing heinous acts, and for what, a chance at a cash prize? And now that she's completely out of luck for that prize, her work was for nothing. and it was at the expense of her two closest friends.

she pinpoints where she screwed up, and it was at the finale of season 1, where she broke her ties completely with her best friend just for a chance to steal the prize money. It was the game that fucked up her mentality, that every horrible thing that is done is for the greater good, and to use the rules of the game and the people you meet to advance for a extremely low chance of winning it all. Realizing all of this, taco doesn't want a repeat of this cycle, since the competition is so close to completion. She requests the challenge information from Mepad, and uses him as an incentive to Mephone.

But before we go there time to talk about her BANGER MUSICAL NUMBER YESSSS MY LIL THEATRE KID

anyway in the song id like to point out the banger lines "and we choose, to feel this pain, and we lose, more than we gain" which is basically everything I mentioned before about using the rules of the game and pushing away friends and whatever, and then eventually losing more than you get

next part "if I can't win the prize, I'll play my last reprisal, just to bring their lies all to an end" and then mepad is all like welll you gotta regenerate and tacos like, yeah that's prolly not gonna happen. And mepad points out how she believes she can't start on a clean slate. taco is like bro. with my track record? dawg there's no slate to begin with LMAO

but seriously with everything tacos done she believes it's too late to restart and that everything she did is irreparable (which ngl, kinda true maybe? but also not cuz she hasn't even apologized just yet) and mepad tries to convince her that yes you can change!!! youuu can make a difference...you can make it right... but taco doesn't rlllly listen

ok long story short she takes over the next part of the challenge which is truth or flare, where platforms rise if the contestants tell the truth and falls if they lie, and their fire has to reach the top and burn their rope. Taco, using her extended stalker knowledge of s2, quizzes the contestants on their interpersonal relationships and ngl as Mephone put it it's just a twisted group therapy session lmao

fast forward to nearing the end and the last question taco asks is to suitcase about what she thought she saw when she was being a floating bow tie. suitcase brings up her hallucinations, to which everyone, including taco, is horrified by. Taco sees how the game has affected suitcase, by making her so anxious that she literally HALLUCINATES, and that is yet another breaking point for her. She urges the remaining 4 to leave the competition before they go in too deep. She admits to her not caring about the cash prize anymore, as she "saw the desire took her to extremes" (the violence thing between her and mic) and how the game changes people based on how deep they get into it. She calls out Mephone for getting too deep aswell, as she brings up his challenges that clean up his messes, using tactics such as surprise double eliminations to add drama that mentally fucks with everyone involved in it. Her lil spiel is interrupted by a bush shake, since lightbulbs lil pen she's been clicking actually calls out a signal, and that anyone nearby could answer the call. Taco starts cracking out of fear? nervousness? Pressure idk anxiety any of those, because as knife points out, anyone could meannnn pickleeeee orrrr miccccc oh nooooo. knife says that she has to face her truths too, And then taco cracks completely and dies. annnnd everyone is horrified and sad, except for Mephone obviously, who is now threatened by taco since everything she said was true ngl jdhdjs

but also goes to show how mentally fucked taco is aswell, which while yes it is her fault that her relationships ended the way they did, the common denominator AND motivator is and was always the game.

anyway mepad and the other contestants force Mephone into reviving taco, and mepad formally resigns from the show convinced by tacos speech about leaving the game before it fucks them up. Mepad teleports away and stays with taco, urging her to stop hiding away from her truths and face pickle and mic, if for the last time. Aaand taco agrees

OK THATS IT WOW so tldr taco did some no no things But her unhealthy obsession with Winning a constantly (and unrightfully) changing game was the main factor, and her realization of this is leading her to a redemption arc that she and the people she hurt will (hopefully) heal from

weeee

[marumafan]

I don't know if you've watched the anime but I swear season 3 is the most Yuuram season even after the animators decided to stray from some of the original storylines.

I have watched the anime, yes. It was the first type of maruma media I consumed. I have to disagree with your point of view. Saralegui is presented as an obstacle to the royal couple's relationship from the get go in season 3. Also, all the yuuram episodes are lifted from novel stories. My opinion: Here are my problems with season 3, other than the fact that 'the story is different'. Problem 1. The main sin of season 3 is that it's "Saralgui-focused", and I don't like him. The main reason I don't like him, is that Saralegui was presented as a 'contestant' for Yuuri's love in the anime (not the case in the novels, where he was always presented as a lil shit). If anything, it's when Yuuri and Wolf's relationship gets stronger, in the Seisakoku arc. Problem 2. Characters have no growth. No one changes. So it's all stagnant characters with no development in the anime. Biggest problem is Yuuri, because he's the FREAKING MC! (this is also a problem with seasons 1 and 2) Problem 3. The royal couple is taken as a joke. In the anime: Yuuri doesn't accept anything, Wolfram still gets jealous. There's no closeness. Any time there's a hint of anything moving forward, they take it back immediately. Boo! Give me novel yuuram or give me death. I just remembered they also TOOK the arrow scene from Wolf! Yuuri and Wolf's relationship is CHANGED forever with the arrow scene and they gave that to Saralegui! Problem 4. Magical Boy Sailor Yuuri reviving everyone with the power of love. Please, no. Things I liked about season 3:

Season 3, episode 4: Greta and Yuram. Cute episode adapted from "When I was lost a kuma.. ha .. chi?!", story. Original story by Takabayashi-sensei, gaiden 3 special edition. (one of the OVAs was also adapted from this SAME story)

Season 3, episode 15: "Wind's Lullaby" is inspired by "The Girl's a Witch", published in Beans Bunko, number 10. - Interestingly enough, this story was used to announce Season 3. This can very well mean that Takabayashi-sensei wrote the story to give the anime team something to work with. (Also, story: In Greta's Mirror, novel 16)

Season 3, episode 39, "Until we meet again". The last scene is beautiful. Yes, when Yuuri comes back, yes. But that's it. I watched the third season 11 years ago, so I may be forgetting something (I'm not including the OVAs here btw. But most stories there were lifted off the novels too, like that Kumahachi one with Gwendal, that's also inspired by "When I was lost a kumahachi!" They used it for 1 OVA and episode 4 of season3. The OVA where Yuuri and Wolf "kiss" could very well be inspired from"'It happens to everyone" and all that. I can imagine GEG trying to pitch ideas and the anime team trying to make it funny... yikes.)

Anyway, as said before, the anime in general, not for me. Season 3 is especially bad because nothing works. They had changed the main story of maruma in season 1 AND given the anime story an ENDING in season 2! In season 3, they were cutting and pasting random stuff from the novels (adding all the weird Berias and who knows what characters to it too), trying to piece together a story... but it doesn't make sense ! Don't get me started with the coffin scene with Sara instead of Conrad (the moment when Yuuri realizes Conrad is NOT his enemy in the novels!), or the Gunter/Conrad fight (s.3.ep10) being a stupid random thing instead of what it is in the novels! (vol.9, chpt.8) Freaking blasphemous! -> THE FREAKING ARROW SCENE! WOLF'S ARROW SCENE! They gave THE most important yuuram moment to Saralegui. FFS! The more I think about it, the angrier I get XD Lol . I'm going to stop now. Season 3 is gonna be a 'no' for me.

[tangledbea]

I found this interesting post talking about Varians' age and the general series timeline.

Link: https://www.tumblr.com/rachelbethhines/623037451732123648/tangled-timeline?source=share

There are some interesting tidbits, and I have questions about a few of them. The OP references Varians fanon birthday of March 24, which makes sense when discussing Varians' age, but they also reference Rapunzel having a fanon birthday of May 12th. I know about the Varian birthday headcanon, but is this a common birthday headcanon for Rapunzel? If not your headcanon of the summer solstice, I would've figured people would headcanon her birthday being in July or August because it is canonically in summer. If it is a common headcanon, why May? Isn't that a bit early?

It also talks about S3s timeline a lot, particularly Coronan holidays that happened more than once in the series. The post says the day of hearts is 6 months after Rapunzels birthday, yet it's just a few episodes after Rapunzels return (the S3 premiere may not have involved Rapunzels birthday, but it definitely happened arounf that time.) I can explain the S1 goodwill festival happening 6 months after Rapunzels 18th birthday and S2 goodwill festival happening a few weeks after her 19th because it wasn't the real Coronan event, it was something Rapunzel planned in Varados. But the other holiday discrepancies can't be explained this way. So this post says S3 takes place over 2 years instead of 1 like the other seasons. It also says "the series creators" said 4 seasons were originally planned instead of 3. This is why S3 is theorized to take place over 2 years. Thus, due to this extra year, Varian would be 17-18 at the end of S3, not 16-17, as many people think. It would end on Rapunzels 22nd birthday, not her 21st. But is this true? Were 4 seasons originally planned? Was S3 meant to be 2 years instead of 1 as a result?

Also, sorry again if this is really long.

(Lately, I've been finding myself apologizing a lot at the end of these long asks, ever since you said you were gonna turn off anon. I don't even know why I'm apologizing, I know you don't mind...)

Let's tackle this one question at a time.

If you Google Rapunzel's birthday, you'll get May 12th. This is because someone at some point read the star charts she painted on her ceiling in the movie to determine her birthday and decided it meant her birthday was May 12th (for some reason -- I can't read star charts, so I have no idea how they're getting that). I, frankly, like my headcanon for her birthday much more and completely ignore the May 12th thing. It's not her official birthday, though, any more than the summer solstice is.

No one who worked on the series ever said the series was going to be four seasons. No one. Ever. At some point, towards the end of season three, people started saying there would be a season four, partly because they really wanted one (even though it had only ever been planned to be three seasons), and likely partly because originally the series was announced to have more episodes than it ended up having. I more than covered in my FAQ why this is. And therefore, S3 was not meant to take place over the course of two years. S1 is six months, S2 is (approximately) one year, and S3 is (approximately) one year when you include the epilogue (even though we don't know how long after the end of the episode the epilogue takes place). Varian is 14-15 in S1, 15-16 in S2 and 16-17 in S3. Or, alternately, he might be 13-14 in S1, 14-15 in S2 and 15-16 in S3. After all, we don't know when his birthday is, and since the series begins six months after Rapunzel's return, we don't know if his birthday falls before or after hers in the calendar year.

As for the inconsistencies of the holidays, have people even seen the writing of that show? It's inconsistent. They literally do what they want when they want. Maybe the Day of Hearts is based on a lunar cycle, rather than on a day on the calendar, and so the date it falls on fluctuates. Maybe the episodes aired out of order (some of them definitely did). There is definitely an inconsistent amount of time between episodes. It's not like one episode takes place every two weeks.

Maybe the fans just put more thought into it than the writers did.

[numberonetacostan]

putting my comment into an ask so yeah, repeat I mean, I wouldn't put it past Mephone to make an island where time passes differently, where all those years happened in just a few weeks one day for the main island and years for the main island. They could easily assume that season 3 did an episode a day instead of one a month. I think at some point it's said season 2's episodes are a month apart (which i assume excludes the transition from ep 15 to the finale) TLDR, mephone used time magic or something

Hi Moldy!!^^ Welcome back, and thank you for sending your comment in as an ask!! :] My apologies, I was going to answer it when I finished asks, but you beat me to it!!^^

I suppose they could assume that, but seeing as season 1 and 2 both followed that episode-per-month format, they wouldn't have much of a reason to assume so.

I like to think that 15 and 16 are a month apart, not because it makes more sense but because I want with all my heart for Taco and Mepad to have had that one precious month together.

[im-out-of-it]

part 10 of season 2, episode 12 GIVE MAGNUS MORE SCREENTIME “you are not your own”

135. part of the last section

136. this is the difference between Magnus and valentine. and that’s why I did the three part miniseries on Magnus. to show his traits, his subtle ways, personality, how much he enjoys to drink, his reputation (also if anyone missed my mistake on the three part series, I accidentally added my cats name instead of Magnus but it was bound to happen)

137. “Magnus”: this was nice

138. Alexander season 2 count: 14

139. NO BIG DEAL JUST ALEC HELPING MAGNUS GET MURDERED ITS ALL A OKAY

140. Magnus is all “Alexander” LIKE IT FUCKING BREAKS MY HEART

and watch Matt’s face because he’s starting to notice more and more that this is Magnus but he doesn’t want to be fooled by valentine. I BLAME THE WRITERS CAUSE ALEC WOULD NEVER WAIT THIS LONG

141. ok I lied this scene is more heartbreaking (if you need a laugh, there is a blooper in one of the later parts of episode 11 I did)

142. Alexander count season 2: 15

143. okay but imagine your boyfriend helping to speed up the process of killing you. this has to hurt Magnus in so many ways. I’m sure in a way, Magnus does resent Alec a bit for this. perhaps he doesn’t blame Alec but it has to be painful dealing with all that trauma and being killed while the love of your life helped. they really didn’t need to do this to Malec

144. ALEC DONT LEAVE YOUR MAGNUS IN THERE ALL ALONE

145. IS THIS ALL IT NEEDED TO TAKE TO HAVE JACE SAY OOPS SORRY

Alexander count season 2: 16

146. Magnus is about to die and he is still calling for Alec and all of this breaks my heart. this whole storyline should have lasted more than a few minutes in one episode

147. alec: get away from my man!!!!!! I finally have confirmation because the writers think I need to worship jace first and listen to what he says even though I knew and had a feeling that Magnus was in valentines body this whole time but the writers love to put me and Magnus through hell for no fucking bloody reason

148. added a scene that doesn’t take place just so you can see the first side of the gif and yes it bothers me that much lmao and I will do it again when that scene comes up

149. you know what bothers me? how the writers handled this whole storyline. yeah go ahead give Alec more trauma and more shit to deal with but if he was going to question himself and Magnus, it should have been longer. I vote at least three episodes worth. Alec should have known immediately and as I said before, tried to help him and actually talk to Magnus in valentines body while imogen plans his death. they did Alec so dirty here. and then instead of Alec profusely apologizing to Magnus in valentines body or showing that moment more, they hop on by and make it about jace. because it’s not shadowhunters if it doesn’t center around jace

and Alan is so good at this whole scene where he thinks he’s going to die so he calls out Alexander and then breathes in relief when that doesn’t happen. ALEC ALMOST HELPED MAGNUS DIE. this is terrible for Magnus but what is this going to do to Alec? WE DONT KNOW BECAUSE ALEC CAN NEVER PROCESS SHIT. we should focus on Magnus’s pain and trauma but we also have to realize how much of a toll this would bring to alec. he knew something wasn’t right and he waited for jace to say shit. this storyline deserved more than maybe 7-10 ish minutes of a 40 some minute show. okay because 15 minutes but get rid of everyone else and just let it focus on Malec for once

why does he need jaces approval? before on top, I added episode 10 when jace almost gets Magnus killed and then he does it again. has alec not learned his lesson? HE CANNOT TRUST JACE. I don’t think jace gives a shit about Magnus. maybe as a he’s my friends boyfriend but there is no respect. the way he treats Magnus when Magnus lets him stay (I hope Magnus already kicked him out by now) and jace is the worst roommate ever, the way jace doesn’t think about anything but clary and gets the people who do anything for him almost killed. does anyone realize that alec has died almost once in season one, thrice in season two, and once again in season three. THAT IS FIVE TIMES IN ALMOST THREE MONTHS TO ALMOST DIE. THATS INSANE

why does Alec put so much effort and trust in jace? Jace doesn’t respect alec either. he only seems interested when Alec is almost dead and is hardly there for him. THIS IS THE ISSUE WITH PARABATAI BONDS. especially in cc world because one of them will go above and beyond and the other will act like they don’t exist until they need something. Alec and jace should not be parabatai. Alec should not be putting any trust into jace. it absolutely disgusts me how center of the world they make jace and clary as if everyone has to love and worship the ground they step on. NO THEY DONT. Alec has never intentionally hurt clary or put himself first while she almost died. like if I were Magnus, I would fucking hate jace and also clary. it’s always “save me” when they can go fend for their bloody selves already. they would be dead if it weren’t for alec Magnus and Izzy.

I hate that Alec is unsure this whole time but it’s not until he gets “approval” from jace that he was right. and I love show Alec but the show did Alec so dirty with this storyline. this reminds me of book Alec and how he serves to please jace. I DONT LIKE THIS ONE BIT

so I jus ranted for so long but I’ll be finishing up tomorrow whew 😅 but more bitchfests coming your way

[insufferable-protagonist-poll]

Round 2

Propaganda why Charlie Morningstar is insufferable:

"Her entire personality was rewritten to be insufferable. She behaved like an idiot who didn't understand anyone or the problems they had. Her ideas were shit and so were her dramas."

"She was insufferable in the the Masquerade episode. It infanticided her so much, it ruined any enjoyment I might have had in her. She is supposed to be an adult woman trying to safe sinners meanwhile she acts and is treated like a toddler??"

"I know her whole character is naive and innocent. I even liked her at first. But with every rewatch I find her more annoying. She is waaay too naive and doesn't listen to anyone else's concerns like Vaggie's or Lucifer's, instead just believing everyone will listen to her. I might be alone in this, I just hate this archetype of naivety and innocence to this degree."

"Rich girl who doesn't consider other people's needs and boundaries until it gets too far. Literally builds an entire hotel to get sinners to heaven WITHOUT first seeing if her theory is actually possible. She tells Heaven AFTER it was built if they could offer some help or support instead of before it. Toxic to her girlfriend. Literally complains about having daddy issues when there's no issues to be found. Her father is depressed and although he doesn't like her hotel concept he never shoots her down for it. She acts like the world revolves around her rainbow ideas when literally noone cares. You being a princess means nothing to most people. Get off your high horse and learn what it means to be anything but princess of hell. The narrative wants us to sympathize with Charlie but gives us no reason to beyond Quirky™ and 'oh she's so nice' SHUT UP you're literally lying to the audience about Charlie. For all she claims to be, Charlie sure is a self-centered brat trying to live out some heroic fantasy with unwilling co-stars she forces to bend to her will."

Propaganda why Dean Winchester is insufferable:

"This man is racist against anyone other than humans and abused the people he was supposed to love the most. He literally abandons Castiel at his most vulnerable and never lets Sam leave the whole hunting monsters thing. Worst part is that the fandom will get behind him and defend him because what, he’s pretty? Pretty much a terrible person, more like. I sympathize with his backstory but Dean has ZERO character development during the course of 15 whole seasons. When he DOES have development it involves abusing someone. Sam tries to be a normal person and always gets punished for it. The only hint we have that Dean might’ve been trying to change is a piece of paper in the final episode AFTER HE DIES. then guess what? Sam lives out his whole life and has a family 😭 that’s very, very telling."

"misogynistic scumbag. theres also a few different times that dean finds teenagers sexy with the most recent and prominent example that i can recall being the scooby doo crossover episode in season 13 where hes super into daphne who in the version they chose for the episode is 15-16 and is interacting with her as if shes a real person cause they got magicked into the episode. he treats everyone around him like shit and the only time the narrative agrees that thats a bad thing is when he has the mark of cain put on him and hes acting no differently than he does usually its just now acknowledged that hes treating others like shit. ive been rewatching the show for shits and giggles with a friend and wow he really does not treat anyone well but i wanna focus on how he treats sam for a second cause dude's hobby seems to be ignoring what his brother wants and lying to sam about doing stuff that directly concerns him the demon blood and souless things are reasonable cause those were both Bad for sam but theyre still part of a wider pattern and the most prominent example of this being when dean tricks sam into letting gadreel possess him and actually gaslights sam about it with the whole ordeal ending when its revealed gadreel lied about who he was and while possessing sam murders a friend of theirs. his voice is just also stupid as fuck im sorry this is just petty but he just sounds like hes trying so hard to be gruff n intimidating but he just sounds like a kid pretending to be batman"

"Dean’s list of sins is crazy long because of how long the show ran, but the key thing for me is that post-locking Sam in the bunker (season 4 I think?), I just can’t enjoy their relationship anymore. I normally love their sibling dynamic, but Dean’s ultimate worst past-the-point-of-no-return moment for me was demonizing (pun intended) his little brother for being “addicted” to demon blood, which only happened because of a series of events that were either Dean’s or someone else’s fault, not Sam’s. I also really dislike how the fandom treats Dean like this angel (pun intended) who has done no wrong and even tries to justify the MULTIPLE times he’s beaten up and otherwise abused his little brother. Canon Dean is like the polar opposite of fanon Dean: he’s homophobic and racist (jokes about a Black man being sexually assaulted in prison), misogynistic (take a shot every time he calls a woman a slur and you’ll die of alcohol poisoning), and abusive."

"Misogynistic asshole and too many of the things he does get treated as not actually bad or even good by both fans and the show when he violates peoples autonomy and is incredibly abusive to the people he loves the most. And it wouldn't be as annoying if people didn't justify so many of his behaviors or if he ever changed or even just was seen as a bad guy in the show more than he is."

">Was a misogynist (loved to call women skanks, bitches, hoes)

>Used gay as an insult multiple time during the show's run (idc if he's gay an homophobic, that's still insulting)

>Beat up his brother for being possessed

>Beat up his brother for losing his soul (not his brother's fault)

>Used dubious consent to get his brother possessed in a different unrelated possession incident after possession was being used (badly...this is supernatural after all) as a metaphor for SA

>Threatened to murder his brother when he was hallucinating (yay we aren't ableist)

>Locked a child up in a box

>Threatened to kill the child he locked up in a box

>Made a creepy, sexual comment about a barely-legal high school girl

>Got the woman and kid he was living with memory-wiped"

"Really mean to Cas (called him a child, zero respect for him, calls him family and casts him out when the angels are looking for him), and an absolute dick to Jack (threatening to kill him CONSTANTLY)"

[wh1ms]

Oh my god I know I just posted but wtf is going on with Pucca. BIG RANT SO YEA.

WHY ON EARTH ARE THEY SOME CRYPTO THING NOW?? HOW DID THEY GET BOUGHT?! WHHHHHHHY. Tbh Pucca might be cooked. Maybe they’ll make a new season tho!! If my parents had more money maybe they could buy it (instead of the little bakery they wanna buy from some random family 💔) AND THEY ONLY GOT IT FOR 10 MIL. THAT ISNT VERY MUCH MONEY BRO.

Also today I found out for some reason like half of the character’s ages were changed. Idk why tho 🤷‍♀️

So let me list what they were in the older seasons.

Tobe was 15, Garu and Abyo was 13, Pucca and Ching were either 11-12, and Ring ring was 12-13.

Now let me list what they are now!!

Tobe is 16, Garu and Abyo are 12, Pucca and Ching are 11 (so not much changed for them) and Ring Ring is the same.

NOW… Why on EARTH did they make Tobe so old. I guess it makes sense cuz according to the Wiki he was 14 in the first season so I guess he just aged. But it makes no sense for literally everyone else 🤷‍♀️ I think it’s kinda weird that Tobe is like, so much older. But he’s still my goat anyways!! I just don’t want him to be a super senior. ESPECIALLY with that episode where he flipping smooched Garu cuz now it’s like illegal 💔

In short; Pucca got bought by Crypto geeks and I just found out the ages changed for some reason so now Tobe seems like a super senior 💔

[karamina]

Horseland Age Headcanons

Time for me to show up out of the weeds with my completely unsolicited headcannons and theories for obscure television series that I should be way too old for again lol. Today's victim:

Horseland

There seems to be a general consensus on the ages of the various human characters in Horseland. That fanon conclusion being that the main characters are all around 15 yrs old, with the exception of Will, who is slightly older at 16-17 years old. I disagree with this assessment.

First let's look at some direct quotes from some of the episodes.

Episodic Evidence

1) Episode: "You Can't Judge A Girl By Her Limo" (S1E1)

"You calmed Button down better than I could and I've been riding her for five years!" - Alma Rodriguez

This quote provides some clues about Alma's age, or at least the minimum age that Alma can be. Most riding instructors will take students at the age of 9, with some taking as young as 6 years of age. Being's that Alma's dad is the manager at Horseland, I think that Alma would have began riding at a very young age. By that logic, Alma is somewhere between 11-14 years old, unless she rode a different horse before Button.

https://horsesafetytips.com/2020/06/04/whats-the-best-age-to-start-horseback-riding-lessons/

2) Episode: "Fire, Fire, Burning Bright" (S1E5)

This episode has some interesting quotes that may give clues to the main character's ages, or at least the Stilton girls ages and Will's age.

"Let me get this straight, you got all the way to middle school without learning to swim?" - Molly Washington

Wouldn't it be odd that Molly specifically mentions Chloe and Zoey making it to middle school (11-14 yrs old, in Canada from Wikipedia) without having learned how to swim if they were high school aged (14-18 yrs old)? If they were in high school, she probably would've said that instead. Beings that the series likes to remind us that Chloe is older than Zoey, that would mean that Chloe is about 12-14, and Zoey is around 11-13 years old. Either that or they are twins, but that doesn't seem to be the case (I myself have a sister that is 1 and 1/2 yrs older than me, and I also had a close relationship to her growing up). The only evidence I have seen that points to them being twins as opposed to being siblings close in age is the names rhyming with each other (Although my mom's friend's four grandchildren all have names ending with the -en sound and I went to school with twins that had non-ryhming names so that isn't a very strong argument imo)

"But I was in charge of the trip. I am responsible for everyone." - Will Taggert

This one's a bit less obvious, but as a volunteer that has worked with minors on weekend retreats before, I know that organizations and schools typically require (often by law) at least one faculty chaperone to be 18+ yrs old and to have clearances stating that they have never abused a child or commited a crime (usually, they also want more than one adult chaperone per group as well, but we'll let this slide based on the fact that there are only 5 minors going on this trip). From this line and his role in this episode's plot, we can deduce that Will is the staff member from Horseland facilitating this overnight event, and thus is at least 18-19 years old. This makes sense. Will has a rather unique role in the series compared to the other characters. He is a sort of groundsman and riding instructor at Horseland, rather than a student. His aunt and uncle (Bailey's parents) are also his employers. Reasonably, if I had to pinpoint a narrow age range for Will, I would say that he is 18-21 years old, although I wouldn't discredit him even being as old as his mid twenties (at least in season 3), almost solely based on his demeanor and almost laid-back relationships with the other main characters. His behavior in this episode even supports this. I went through a similar predicament, albeit on a smaller scale, while acting as a hiking guide at the age of 20 on one such aforementioned retreat. I blamed myself for potentially endangering these students, even though they were told to follow my lead and instead went off trail at one of the more dangerous parts of the trail. Likewise, Will blamed himself for the forest fire, even though it was really Chloe and Zoey's actions that caused the fire, for the sole reason that he was the adult responsible for the trip and all the students he took on it and thus is immediately liable for anything bad that happens (Well more like Horseland would be liable, and Will would be at risk of losing his job and/or facing fines or criminal charges). From this episode and how Will progresses throughout the series, I'd say Will is in his early stages of leadership and that is why I chose an age range closer to the ages of majority in Canada (which depends on which province Horseland supposedly exists in). I know some of y'all may be thinking about this, so I'll address it while I'm still on Will. In several of the episodes featuring competitions, while we never actually see him compete, Will is on Jimber and wearing typical dressage wear as opposed to his jeans and t-shirt (See "Changing Spots"). Some may say that this proves that he is actually a student as well. It may be possible that he is a student as well, and simply tutors more ameteur riders in his free time, but this says nothing about his age, only that he would be more advanced than the other main characters. He also could be dressed like that just for show for the competition. Additionally, while I know very little about equestrian competitions, while I was in HS winter colorguard, my instructor (a college student) usually would compete with a different club in a different age category at the same competition. It may not be disimilar.

3) Episode: "Pepper's Pain" (S1E7) "Zoey, you guys have been together for years. Your dressage proves how well you've grown as a team." - Chloe Stilton

The information provided in this line from Chloe is ambiguous. However, the emphasis she puts on years implies that Zoey has been riding Pepper for like a really long time, although she may just be emphasizing this word as she's trying to make a point to Zoey. Regardless, it is safe to say that Zoey has been riding Pepper for at least 5 years. That would put her in the same minimum age range as Alma, 11 to 14 years old.

4) Episode: "The Competition" (S1E9)

"Oh my gosh, what a huge let-down. First off, his girlfriend was there, and they were both old! He was at least thirty." - Chloe Stilton

This ones a bit of a reach, but what teenager thinks that 30 is old? I certainly didn't (then again, I did grow up surrounded by family members that are elderly, so take my words with a grain of salt). Regardless, this statement solidifies the argument that Chloe is probably middle school aged, rather than high school aged. As we progress from childhood to adolescence into adulthood, the perception of "oldness" changes. Have you ever seen the vine where this little girl (likely kindergarten aged) famously says "I'm 16! I'm a grandmother!". If you were a middle schooler, you probably would consider 30 to be old. There are many articles that document this phenomenon:

5) Episode: "Heritage Day" (S03E10)

"Zoey, they eat mosquitoes, not teenage girls." - Nani Cloud

This line takes place after the girls are frightened by a group of bats sharing the cave they took shelter in from a storm. This line clearly states that at this point of the series, most if not all of the main girls are teenagers (ages 13-19). We can conclude one of two things, depending on how one percieves this show's timeline, since the line is said towards the end of the show's final season. A) The girls have always been teenagers or B) There is a time skip between season's 2 and 3. For me, B is plausible if we try to explain Bailey and Will's voice changes cannonically. But B is also not plausible considering Will is already an adult and would have already undergone a voice change. Thus I will say that the ages of the girls are constant through the series at the lower range of the teens, perhaps even preteens.

Plots and Storylines

Next, let's look at the plots of the episodes. A lot of the episodic plots support most of the main cast being preteens or in their very early teens. Molly getting her first cellphone, Alma getting her first crush, Chloe lying about being able to do an advanced jump to impress her peers, Sarah getting her first taste of death through the loss of a beloved pet, etc. Not to mention, many of the episodes are driven by some drama being stirred up (middle schoolers are notorious for being awful to each other). These are all typical problems that preteens face during this stage of their life. You may be inclined to think that all of the MCs are in middle school from this, but there is some evidence for some of the characters being slightly older than others. In the episode "The Best Loss", Molly is out with her friends at a pizza parlor with no parents in sight and has been able to take the public bus to and from Horseland on her own for the entire duration of the series. In the episode "Talk, Talk", she's even talking to her friend Amber about what she should wear to a party. This leads me to believe that Molly is slightly older than the other girls. Bailey also falls under this category. In the season 1 episode "Boss Bailey", Bailey is left in charge of Horseland for a day when his parents and Will have to go facilitate a parade. Even with Bailey being the owner's son, I think that they would not want to leave a middle schooler in charge of an entire riding school. Bailey is also used as an example during a lot of Will's lessons to the other MCs, demonstrating jumps, meaning he's probably more advanced than the other riders. He also does a lot of the groundwork and maintenance with Will (such as in "Pepper's Pain", "Fire, Fire Burning Bright", and "Wild Horses"). For these reasons, I think Bailey is a bit older than the girls.

Conclusion

I could go on and on, analyzing each character's behaviors one by one, but I'd essentially just be rewriting the show's script interspersed with my own interpretation. That is most of what this conclusion is, my interpretation of the characters based on my own life experiences and the collective characterizations the show provides across its three seasons. So with that being said, here are my guesses as to the ages of the characters.

Sarah Whitney -        13 Molly Washington -  14 Alma Rodriguez -     13 Chloe Stilton -           14 Zoey Stilton -            13 Bailey Handler -        15 Nani Cloud -              13 Will Taggert -            20

I chose most of the main characters to be so close in age to each other as they are all in the same "practices" at Horseland, as well as how they interact with each other.

So, what do y'all think? Do you agree with the ages I chose for each character? Why or why not?

*Side note - I know there are a fair deal of Sarah x Will shippers out there. I know that most of them do not support minors being in relationships with adults. Remember, there are no official ages for these fictional characters and this post is just my personal interpretations. While I myself do not ship these two characters, my intent is not to say that this fan population is wrong for supporting this ship. My purpose for writing and posting this is to share my thoughts on the Horseland characters ages based on my own observations and life experiences. 

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S05E19 - The Cook, The Chief, The Cop, and His Lover - Part D

How dare you, sir, he comes from a good family.

lol I know it's a roll but when you freeze it it's like a move from The Matrix.

*offended that's-my-partner-you-threw-a-knife-at look*

Meat cleaver. Shit's getting real. Not on the face!

I really liked the choreography on this fight scene but it's not exactly for screenshots. Nicely directed, nicely shot, it's also clear that the guest actor, Curtis Lum, has martial arts training. We see a "clash of fighting styles", John Reardon is also good here and from what I've seen in his filmography (the titles that I know anyway) I believe that he has majorly missed on doing roles like these when he was younger (which in my opinion he should have gone more for instead of, say, Hallmark), aside from his role in Tron Legacy (which I've watched) and something called Son of the Dragon?

Their fight also has some comedic elements, which makes it suitable for this show. Filming a fight like we're on John Wick obviously wouldn't do (assuming they could even do something like that, which for many reasons I believe that they can't).

Do you think he'll let you put it on real quick?

I almost forgot I could put gifs in this. Anyway, tumblr makes it extremely hard to find what I want. But this is so funny.

"If you're done acting stupid, we're going to arrest you now."

Charlie is so used to Rex taking down the criminals that he told him good job when he was the one that did all the work this time.

One complaint. I needed Charlie to actually seem like he came out of a fight and not like he just caught a wild fist on accident.

Oof, do not tell Kurt how much money he would have earned if he could wait it out for 20 months. And without killing anyone. It's definitely not for everyone.

That's actually true.

Ancient history.

Now, that's just unreasonable.

Yes, you two will have to go through that very difficult conversation.

If they'd told me they'd whump the fuck out of Charlie next season, I wouldn't have whined for them giving us nothing in this one.

*crickets*

Oh, really, Joe Donovan?

Well, a year is too long.

Okay, Joe. You're the one who sends them undercover, though.

Episodes 18 and 19 are filled with comedic moments. I consider the last four episodes of the season pretty good. I'm truly glad that they seemed to have kept the order the episodes were originally put in (judging by John Reardon's facial hair or lack thereof, the only episodes that could have switched were 17 and 18, but I think that, given that Charlie's old case is set up in 15-16, it's logical that it would follow in 17, and there is no argument that 20 was supposed to be the season finale).

The reason that Joe and Vanessa stopped dating is the lamest excuse I've seen for two people who are supposedly truly interested in each other.

Anyway, now I want Thai food.