#truly though this episode is SO gay. i might write a whole thing on it later
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frankiebirds Ā· 5 months ago
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genuinely struggling to read emily's expression here as anything other than jealousy
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lovecolibri Ā· 2 months ago
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Am I a loser for fearing that this will be like BT 1.0 in that it is dragged out and remains stale and chemistry-less and harmful to Buck's character (for being with a not good person and not caring about said person's bad deeds) and the twist will be that it doesn't end šŸ˜­ Don't hate me for being negative...I was not negative until today, seeing that gremlin in the promotions and Tim showing favoritism to anti-Buddies yet again on FB.
And it's so funny that all my concern stems from social media activity and nothing about what I'm seeing on the show itself. Because the show has shown he is a non-entity - giving him and Buck no development, HIM no development, no evolution, no appeal, since last season. Yet maybe the writing and producing IS just that bad now.
Sorry to be a bit of a pessimist. I just feel like the vibe shifted dramatically over the past day and I'm in my feelings, I guess.
First of all, you're not a loser! There is a long history of TV shows NOT following through on things for fans of a popular fandom ship, including this one, back ins season 4, leading to that godawful BT 1.0 mess in the first place!
There is a lot of reasons this gets compared to the OG BT, because the show seems to be giving them no development and he's so clearly WRONG for Buck and seems to enjoy talking down to him and watching him deflate a little each time, and also it makes Buck look kinda shitty for dating someone who purposefully hurt, and delighted in hurting people Buck loves. I have said multiple times I wasn't ever worried about tay kay as a LI in s4 because she called him "needy" in that nasty voice on the heels of the audience seeing how absolutely shit his parents were and where all those issues came from, so I was sure that was the narrative telling us she wasn't going to work out. Only to get slapped in the face with an entire fucking season of Buck looking miserable with her, which was never addressed, him trying to talk about their issues and the firefam lecturing HIM about HIS failings instead of ever being allowed to talk about how they felt about her given their past (you can't tell me back in s4 Athena would EVER willingly let that woman in her and Bobby's home, much less feed her), and then watch her nearly get Chim and Hen killed and STILL get a fucking "amicable" breakup of the "oh no one was really to blame, it just didn't work out" variety. So like. Yeah, sometimes the writing is just That Bad šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø
What I will say about all of that though, is we now have information we didn't back in s4. Information like, we weren't seeing things and there WAS a set up planned, and discussed with Oliver (at least, likely Ryan too since the shooting was Like That and what the fuck other bi realization was Buck gonna have, or gay realization was Eddie gonna have after his breakup with Ana was Like That), but the network forced the changes. Tim fucked off to go smash other dolls together (and lost his mind a little bit over on LS, probably because he leveraged that shit into getting to do whatever he wanted, plus the whole RL effect), and the story got changed and, as Tim pointed out, it made the show markedly worse. I'm not putting all my faith and trust in a network, but I will say ABC knows what kind of accolades, awards, and hype this kind of story will bring them and that is something I DO trust.
8x01 might be fluke like the handful of watchable episodes in s5-6, but it truly felt like the Buck we know and love was back, the focus was on the core four and on the emergencies, there was *heart* in the emergency, we got dispatch properly involved, and even the Athena stuff took a turn for a more rescue-focused adventure than the Con-Air prison transport plane mishap I was expecting. The bees sounded ridiculous and like they could be one emergency, like freeway shark my beloved, or *maybe* hold a whole episode, but I was NOT expecting much for a disaster opening and was fully prepared for s5 levels of zoo animals promotion vs actual 3 episodes of creeper being creepy cop storyline. But they actually...kinda pulled it off?? It's no tsunami or earthquake by a LONG shot, and I'm still reserving judgment until the arc is over (I enjoyed the cruise ship disaster but it needed more core four on sight helping with rescues which make it drag a little being so separate from everything else), but it felt like a season 2 or 3 episode at heart!
All this to say, *EYE*, notorious salt gremlin and hater (because trying for low expectations is what works for me!), am feeling more hopeful about the show as a whole than I have in awhile. And I'm going to hold your hand so gently when I give this advice, you can take it or not (for some people, needing to know everything is what works for them, so you do you!), but do not listen to that middle-aged white man and what he does on facebook. Or anywhere. Do not listen to that man! He is a shit-stirrer, and he is a liar! They all are in interviews! Him and Oliver both said "hardly any time skip" and then they did the exact same 3 month time skip they have ALWAYS done between the spring season ending and the fall premier! He lies! He interacts with shit he probably doesn't even read, just promotes his show! He does not care about upsetting us because people shouting over each other about the show just reads to him, and the people above him to let him do things, as the show having enough impact to be talked about! I personally have good feelings because he likes to get his way and ABC gave him something in 4 episodes he'd been trying to do since s4. And they originally green-lit it being another character so it feels like there were plans for both and timing just got switched.
DO NOT LET THAT MAN STEAL YOUR JOY!
I'm not going to tell you that of course it's all going to work out and be perfect and everything we wanted, but I WILL say, we all saw how fucking miserable Oliver was in s5 and 6, how checked out and disengaged he was (he was SO CLOSE and they TOOK IT from him! Fuck FOX forever!), and we saw how he was/is in interviews with or about that man, vs how happy and excited he was/is when talking about Ryan/Eddie/Buddie right now, how much he's engaging and sharing, and WHAT he is sharing. We saw the shift from filming episodes 5-6 to the back half of s7 for both him and Ryan. It's very loud, and while some kinda similar vibes have come through before, we have knowledge now we didn't before about why we kept getting those vibes and then having them pulled back. We know WHO was standing in the way and it wasn't Tim and it sure as fuck wasn't Oliver or Ryan, and that doesn't appear to be an issue anymore. šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø
I hope my rambling incoherence was helpful, Nonnie!
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faillen Ā· 1 month ago
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just. peaceful property rambles. completely unconstructive, trying to make my brain quiet so I can sleep.
I canā€™t stop thinking about Peach turning around and expecting Home at his elbow, or inhaling to call his name, only to stop once he remembers.
Iā€™m assuming. What? A week went by between last ep and this ep?
Also just thinking about Pangpang sooo much like. She saw how Home got her brother out of his shell and sheā€™s very much encouraging Peach to reach out because sheā€™s trying to be constructive and positive about the whole situation. But at the same time I really just want to write the post-canon fic where she starts pulling away from Home a bit and eventually she blurts out that sheā€™s mad at him. Cause itā€™s a simmering thing, and sheā€™s always set her anger aside to make space for being ā€œthe positive supportive one!ā€ since Peach takes on so much responsibility and burden as the older brother. But at the end of the day, Home did hit her only brother with a fucking car, and when she thinks about how scared she was that night and how much their life spiraledā€”even though it was all okay in the endā€”she does still get incredibly upset.
Also Kan!!! Kan got barely any screen time this episode, and I really need the focus to swing back to her. I donā€™t know if it will next episode, given the preview, but I need to learn more about whatā€™s going on there. Clearly the fact that she asked to leave right after Home is supposed to make us a bit sus of her but Homeā€™s aunt and uncle and that lawyer are truly pinging so much higher for me lmao.
Also I swear to god, I will bet on itā€”Uncle Somkid is partly responsible for Homeā€™s parents dying (and it feels like that might be tied up w Kanā€™s story?). If Iā€™m wrong, fine, but if Iā€™m right, I will eat my shoe.
Thereā€™s something about how positively Home views his grandfather versus the neglect and pain caused by his familyā€™s holdings. And on one hand. Rich people bullshit. They love making excuses for negligence! On the other hand, if the show doesnā€™t want to make the grandfather a villain (and it seems like it doesnā€™t want to) then someone else has to be (the lawyer? Somkid doesnā€™t seem that master-mind-y. Though who knows. One of the theories for this week is that he put a hit on his fucking nephew lmao)
I will say. There is something very ā€œPat gets shot and Wai redeems himself by helping himā€ about Home getting into a car accident before he apologizes to Peach and Pangpang in person. While I am completely devastated by the trials and tribulations of this very hot, classist man who is actually quite Complicatedā„¢ā€”the impact of the apology we get is going to be severely undercut by Peachā€™s guilt over why Home was driving in the first place. Like the Bad Buddy situation itā€™s similar vibes of ā€œare you really going to be mad at your friend for outing you when he just helped your boyfriend after your boyfriend got SHOT?ā€
(The answer to both is: yes, yes you should. these are separate issues. the human emotions of guilt/gratefulness will not let you do that though.)
god. also. just. gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day. Hey. Hey Pā€™Dome, did you watch The CWā€™s long-running monster of the week, Supernatural (2005)? Cause I think itā€™s insane that you had the ForceBook ghosts be gay in an episode where you ALSO establish that suicidal ghosts loop through their final moments. You know. Kind of like a Death Echo. An entity/phenomenon which was first introduced in Supernatural season 3, episode 13, ā€œGhostfacersā€. And they got the death echo who happened to be gay to move on by having his crush confess to him. and they uttered the aforementioned famous line. Yknow. Like.
Pā€™DOME DID YOU WATCH SUPERNATURAL, YOU GOTTA TELL ME RIGHT NOW
if I had a nickel for every time a queercoded horror show did this shebang, Iā€™d have two nickels, etc. etc.
I canā€™t even think about the whole dancing scene and Home and Peach looking at each other while doing the gestures for love. If I do, I will simply explode. I also cannot think about how hurt Home looked when Peach mentioned him running away to the States (me, always: home looks so pathetic ;-; also me: stop. stop that. he basically killed peach, peach is allowed to be mean.)
Okay Iā€™m done.
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nonbinarylocalcryptid Ā· 10 months ago
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MAG11 - Dreamer, review and stuff
Diversity wins! The guy who dreamed about your death is gay!
I was hesitant to write this one because I didn't know where to start. Not because it isn't good, I love every single episode of The Magnus Archives, this whole exercise (reviews etc) brings up a few questions to me, what's the point of consuming horror media if I am not scared by it? Can I truly review it if I'm not scared?
And, in relation to MAG11, is death scary?
Well, personally I find the horror genre intriguing, and highly dramatic. It's a dark fantasy that you won't have the chance to experience in real life (or at least, I hope so xD). TMA plays with probability, rather than impossibility, even if there are some fantastic elements in the mix. Every episode is a promise, or a threat, horror and fear would find you anywhen and anywhere. Not even the Dreamer is safe from this promise.
Can I review the hell out it? Yep, yes I can. I can be objective, and I can analyze how well constructed everything is. Have you ever reached episode 200 and made a relisten? Do it, you won't regret it.
Death is scary, is the only certainty in life and at the same time, is paradoxically, uncertain. Everything ends, that much we know, and Antonio Blake doesn't seem to think there's nothing after.
I always think about this quote from Doctor Who when thinking about death, maybe it's useful for you
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(Transcript: Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor in The Return of Doctor Mysterio, "Things end. That's all. Everything ends and it's always sad. But everything begins again too and that's always happy. Be happy.)
And talking about quotes, let's comment some bits from the episode:
"Iā€™d broken up with Graham,Ā my boyfriend of six years (...)" - Antonio Blake, March 14th 2015
Yes, yes, weird thing to remark, but hear me out: Graham? Graham?? Is the same Graham as in Graham Folger????
"It was there, sleeping on my friend Anahitaā€™s sofa, in the depths of my misery, that I first started to have the dreams." - Also Mr Blake
Woah, take a seat misery etc, I'm this dramatic too
"I found myself standing atop the very peak of Canary Wharf and overlooking the Barclays building where I had spent so many hateful hours. Behind me I could feel the pulsing beat of the light that stands atop that looming tower; it thrummed through me and I could see the glow pass across my skin like oil but, try as I might, I could not turn around to look at it." - I don't know why it's so appealing.
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I tried to recreate it with a screenshot from Google Earth and Photoshop, the result doesn't convince me but it's pretty close xD
"Lucid dreaming has never been a skill Iā€™ve possessed, and I generally get swept along in the current of whatever runs though my sleeping consciousness." - I love it when horror characters get logical, like, uhm, this shouldn't be possible, sir, this is a Wendy's
"And by my estimation he had appeared about ten days before his death. I tell you this because I feel you have a right to know the sort of timescales that weā€™re dealing with here." - Antonio "may as well just roll with it" Blake
He is so chill about all of this, isn't he? Like, yeah, I have this weird ass powers, I figured out more or less how they work and hey, you're next
"Iā€™m well aware that I donā€™t even know your name, and I have no responsibility to try and prevent whatever fate is coming for you." - Antonio "I'm doing it anyway because I'm that chill and cool" Blake
"At the very least, you should look into appointing a successor." - LMAO
"Ā I have no idea if Gertrude got the chance to read this statement before she passed away, but if anyone comes in ranting about dreaming my death, then I very much want to hear about it." - Jon "anything is bs except Leitners and prophecies about my death" Sims, April 15th 2016
Sir, with all due respect, wtf
General overview:
Vibe: it's mysterious with a side of peace and quiet
Horror: spooky, just plain old good spooky
Audio: pretty ASMR in general
Humour: Jon, why are u like this
Score: 10/10
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booasaur Ā· 2 years ago
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avatrice is just so perfect so good. it makes so much sense that after all the cruelty she experienced ava would fall for bea who's so methodical and patient, bea who's so deliberately thoughtful and kind and compassionate. and after so many year of practicing control bea would fall for someone who lives so unrestrained with so much joy and curiosity. ugh just meant for each other. and a bit of a queen/knight thing going on too
Oof, anon, that's so well said! They match sooo perfectly, it really couldn't be anyone but Bea for Ava and Ava for Bea. The parts that contrast, the parts that complement, the way they like each other as people even outside all that.
It had to be Bea who first pointed out to Ava to think outside of herself, but so fairly and gently that then she was the one Ava turned to for comfort, earning her trust that quickly and keeping it. And it wasn't a one way thing, their relationship isn't just Bea being the cool, infallible one who helps Ava, when Bea was struggling with being gay and the perception of it, it was Ava who was so accepting it prompted that frankly super romantic "It was everyone but you."
What's more, even as they keep these core tenets of their personalities, you can see how each affects and slowly changes the other. Bea absolutely grounds Ava and has taught and trained her to be more mature and patient and a better leader, but also provides stability and a home base, a partner she knows she can count on, invaluable after everything she's gone through. Bea is more willing to try new things, more open to what might make her happy instead of living only for the church and accepting their harshest judgments.
This has been the culmination of decades of subtext f/f ships that seemed so perfect if only the writers would go there, best friends, enemies, rivals, partners, narrative foils of all kinds, and every time we'd say "if that were a man and a woman they'd go there" but they weren't and they didn't, not until now. Finally it feels like what we're seeing and that the writers are writing is on the same page.
I'd also like to give credit to the three things that for me were so necessary to this ship's success. First, it's main character/main character. I've always talked about this, right, the trajectory of canon f/f over time, starting with temporary sweeps stuff, then guest stars, then side characters, and even when including mains and leads, often the love interest was still a side character who might leave at any point. But this is as main/main as you can get! And doesn't it show? The amount of time, story, development? Whole plot decisions hinging on their feelings for each other? It's incomparable.
Second, the fact that they did a multi-season slow burn. I've talked about this before as well, the vanishly small number of shows where characters who were introduced in one season get together in another. Even smaller when both the characters were in the first episode, indicating their importance to the show, being a pivotal character from the start. It pays off in such a rewarding way when we get that anticipation and building of tension and speaks to the commitment and patience from the writers in doing it over such a long arc. Everything we know about these characters and their relationship we were allowed to observe over a significant amount of time and get truly invested in. Not to criticize those that write the full arc within a season, especially in these cancel-happy times, but y'all can't tell me this didn't feel AMAZING.
And lastly, for the most part this remains a very character-first kinda show, and I have not a single criticism for how they handled Ava, Bea, or Avatrice (though I'm not happy about certain other aspects). What we know about Ava and Bea, their traits that you can list so clearly, they're such fully formed characters and their actions feel so organic and rooted in what we already know about them. That's been so vital in appreciating their whole romance, it's always just made so much sense.
Oh, the queen/knight thing! I didn't even think about that but it's definitely there, and my favorite kind, where the knight character is awesome and protective, but the queen is fighting for the knight just as hard in her own way (see also: Dani/Grace >_>).
This turned out to be truly special, really hoping the show gets one more season at least to cap things off.
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c-is-for-circinate Ā· 3 years ago
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For a long, large part of my life, being queer in a media landscape--finding queerness in a media landscape--has meant theft.
I'm a Fandom Old, somehow, these days, older than most and younger than some, in that way that's grown associated with grumpy crotchetyness and shotguns on porches and back in my day, we had to wade through our Yahoo Groups mailing lists uphill both ways, boring and irrelevant anecdotes from Back In Those Days when homophobia clearly worked differently than it does now, probably because we weren't trying hard enough. I've seen a lot of stories through the years. I've read a lot of fanfic. (More days than not, for the past twenty years. I've read a lot of fanfic.)
When people my age start groaning and sighing at conversations about representation and queerbaiting, when we roll our eyes and drag all the old war stories out again in the face of AO3 is terrible and Not Good Enough, so often what we say is: you Young Folks Today have no idea how hard, how scary, how limiting it was to be queer anywhere Back In Those Days. Including online, maybe especially online, including in a media landscape that hated us so much more than any one you've ever known. And that is true. Always and everywhere, again and again, it's true, we remember, it's true.
We don't talk so much about the joy of it.
Online fan spaces were my very first queer communities, ever. I was thirteen, I was fourteen, I was fifteen--I was a lonely, over-precocious "gifted kid" two years too young for my grade level in an all-girls' Catholic school in the suburbs--I lived in a world where gay people were a rumor and an insult and a news story about murder. I was straight, of course, obviously, because real people were straight and anyway I was weird enough already--I couldn't be two things strange, couldn't be gay too, but--well, I could read the stories. I could feel things about that. I would have those stories to help me, a few years later, when I knew I couldn't call myself straight any more.
And those stories were theft. There was never any doubt about that. We wrote disclaimers at the top of every fic, with the specter of Anne Rice's lawyers around every corner. We hid in back-corners of the internet, places you could only find through a link from a link from a link on somebody else's recs page, being grateful for the tiny single-fandom archives when you found them, grateful for the webrings where they existed. It was theft, all of it, the stories about characters we did not own, the videotaped episodes on your best friend's VHS player, one single episode pulled off of Limewire over the course of three days.
It was theft, we knew, to even try and find ourselves in these stories to begin with. How many fics did I read in those days about two men who'd always been straight, except for each other, in this one case, when love was stronger than sexual orientation? We stole our characters away from the heterosexual lives they were destined to have. We stole them away from writers and producers and TV networks who work overtime to shower them in Babes of the Week, to pretend that queerness was never even an option. This wasn't given to us. This wasn't meant for us. This wasn't ours to have, ever, ever in the first place. But we took it anyway.
And oh, my friends, it was glorious.
We took it. We stole. And again and again, for years and years and years, we turned that theft into an art. We looked for every opening, every crack in every sidewalk where a little sprout of queerness might grow, and we claimed it for our own and we grew whole gardens. We grew so sly and so skilled with it, learning to spot the hints of oh, this could be slashy in every new show and movie to come our way. Do you see how they left these character dynamics here, unattended on the table? How ripe they are for the pocketing. Here, I'll help you carry them. We'll make off with these so-called straight boys, and we only have to look back if somebody sets out another scene we want for our own.
We were thieves, all of us, and that was fine and that was fair, because to exist as queer in the world was theft to begin with. Stolen time, stolen moments--grand larceny of the institution of marriage, breaking and entering to rob my mother's hopes for grandchildren. Every shoplifted glance at the wrong person in the locker room (and it didn't matter if we never peeked, never dared, they called us out on it anyway). Every character in every fic whose queerness became a crime against this ex-wife, that new love interest. Every time we dared steal ourselves away from the good straight partners we didn't want to date.
And: we built ourselves a den, we thieves, wallpapered in stolen images and filled to the brim with all the words we'd written ourselves. We built ourselves a home, and we filled it with joy. Every vid and art and fic, every ship, every squee. Over and over, every straight boy protagonist who abandoned all womankind for just this one exception with his straight boy protagonist partner found gay orgasms and true love at the end.
Over and over, we said: this isn't ours, this isn't meant to be ours, you did not give this to us--but we are taking it anyway. We will burglarize you for building blocks and build ourselves a palace. These stories and this place in the world is not for us, but we exist, and you can't stop us. It's ours now, full of color and noise, a thousand peoples' ideas mosaic'ed together in celebration. We made this, and it will never be just yours again. You won't ever truly get it back, no matter how many lawyers you send, not completely. We keep what we steal.
.
Things shifted over time, of course. That's good. That's to be celebrated. Nobody should have to steal to survive. It should not be a crime, should not feel like a crime, to find yourself and your space in the world.
There were always content creators who could slip a little wink in when they laid out their wares, oh what's this over here, silly me leaving this unattended where anybody could grab it, of course there might be more over by the side door if you come around the alleyway (but if anybody asks, you didn't get this from ME). We all watched Xena marry Gabrielle, in body language and between the lines. We sat around and traded theories and rumors about whether the people writing Due South knew what they were doing when they sent their buddy cops off into the frozen north alone together at the end of the show, if they'd done it on purpose, if they knew. But over the years, slowly, thankfully, the winks became less sly.
A teenage boy put his hand on another teenage boy's hand and said, you move me, and they kissed on network TV, in a prime-time show, on FOX, and the world didn't burn down. Here and there, where they wanted to, where they could without getting caught by their bosses and managers, content creators stopped subtly nudging people around the back door and started saying, "Here. This is on offer here too, on purpose. You get to have this, too."
And of course, of course that came with a whole host of problems too. Slide around to the back door but you didn't get this from me turned into it's an item on our special menu, totally legit, you've just got to ask because the boss throws a fit if we put it out front. Shopkeepers and content creators started advertising on the sly, come buy your fix here!, hiding the fine print that says you still have to take what you've purchased home and rebuild it with your semi-legal IKEA hacks. Maybe they'll consider listing that Destiel or Sterek as a full-service menu item next year. Is that Crowley/Aziraphale the real thing or is it lite?
And those problems are real and the conversations are worth having, and it's absolutely fair to be frustrated that you can't find the ship you want on sale in anything like your color and size in a vast media landscape packed full of discount hetships and fast-fashion m/f. It's fair to be angry. It's fair to be frustrated. Queerbait is a word that exists for a reason.
There's a part of me that hurts, though, every time the topic comes up. It's a confusing, bad-mannered part of me, but it's still very real. And it's not because I'm fawning for crumbs, trying to be the Good, Non-Threatening Gay. It's not that I'm scared and traumatized by the thought of what might happen if we dare raise our voices and ask for attention. (Well. Not mostly. I'll always remember being quiet and scared and fifteen, but it's been a long two decades since then. I know how to ask for a hell of a lot more now.)
It's because I remember that cozy, plush-wallpapered den of joyful thieves. I remember you keep what you steal.
Every single time--every time--when a story I love sets a couple of characters out on a low, unguarded table, perfectly placed to be pilfered on the sly and taken home and smushed together like a couple of dolls, my very first thought is always, always joy. Always, that instinct says, yay! Says, this is ours now. As soon as I go home and crawl into that pillow-fort den, my instincts say, I will surely find people already at work combing through spoils and finding new ways to combine them, new ways to make them our own. I know there's fic for that. I've already seen fic for that, and I wasn't really interested last time, but the new store display's got my brain churning, and I can't wait to see what the crew back at the hideout does with this.
Every time, that's where my brain goes. And oh, when I realize the display's put out on purpose, that somebody snuck in a legitimate special menu item, when the proprietor gives me the nod and wink and says, you don't have to come around the side, I know it's not much but here--there is so much joy and relief and hope in me from that! Oh, what we can make with these beautiful building blocks. Oh what a story we can craft from the pieces. Oh, the things we can cobble together. Look at that, this one's a little skimpy on parts but we can supplement it, this one's got a whole outline we can fill in however we want. This one technically comes semi-preassembled, and that's boring as shit and a pain to take back apart, but that's fine, we'll manage. We're artists and thieves. I bet someone's pulling out the AU saw to cut it to pieces already.
And then I get back to our den, which has moved addresses a dozen times over the years and mostly hangs out on Tumblr now (and the roof leaks and the landlord's sketchy as fuck but at least they don't charge rent, and we've made worse places our own). And I show up, ready for joy--ready for a dozen other people who saw that low-hanging fruit on that unguarded table, who got the nod and wink about the special menu item, who're ready to get so excited about this newest haul. Did you see what we picked up? The theft was so easy, practically begging to be stolen. The last owner was an idiot with no idea what to do with it. The last owner knew exactly what it could become, bless their heart, under a craftsman with more time on their hands, so they looked away on purpose at just the right time to let me take it home. I show up every time ready for our space, the place that fed me on joy and self-confidence when I was fifteen and starving. The place that taught me, yes, we are thieves, because it is RIGHT to take what we need, and the beautiful things we create are their own justification. We are thieves, and that's wonderful, because nothing is handed to us and that means we get to build our own palaces. We get to keep everything we steal.
I go home, and even knowing the world is different, my instincts and heart are waiting for that. And I walk in the door, and I look at my dash, and I glance over at twitter, and--
And people are angry, again. Angry at the slim pickings from the hidden special menu. So, so tired and angry, at once again having to steal.
And they're right to be! Sometimes (often, maybe) I think they're angry at the wrong people--more angry with the shopkeeper who offers the bite-sized sampler platter of side characters or sneaks their queer content in on the special menu than the ones who don't include it at all. But it's not wrong to be mad that Disney's once again advertising their First Gay Character only to find out it's a tiny sprinkle of a one-line extra on an otherwise straight sundae. It's not wrong to be furious at the world because you've spent your whole life needing to be a thief to survive. It's far from wrong. I'm angry about it too.
But this was my den of thieves, my chop shop, my makerspace. Growing up in fandom, I learned to pick the locks on stories and crack the safes of subtext at the very same time I learned to create. They were the same thing, the same art. We are thieves, my heart says, we are thieves, and that's what makes us better than the people we steal from. We deconstruct every time we create. We build better things out of the pieces.
And people are angry that the pre-fab materials are too hard to find, the pickings too slim, the items on sale too limited? Yes, of course they are, of course they should be--but my heart. Oh, my heart. Every single time, just a little bit, it breaks.
Of course the stories are terrible (they have always been terrible). Of course they are, but we are thieves. We steal the best parts and cobble them back together and what we make is better than it was before. The craftsman's eye that cases a story for weak points, for blank spaces, for anywhere we can fit a crowbar and pry apart this casing--that's skill and art and joy. Of course we shouldn't have to, of course we shouldn't have to, but I still love it. I still want it, crave it. I still thrill every time I see it, a story with hairline cracks that we can work open with clever hands to let the queer in.
That used to be cause for celebration, around here. I ask him to go back to the ruins of Aeor with me, two men together alone on an expedition in the frozen north, it feels like a gift. And I understand why some people take it as an insult. I understand not good enough. I understand how something can feel like a few drops of water to someone dying of thirst, like a slap in the face. If it was so easy to sneak it hidden onto the special menu, to place it on the unguarded side table for someone else to run off to, why not let it sit out front and center in the first place? I know it's frustrating. It should be. We should fight. We should always fight. I know why.
But my heart, oh, my heart. My heart only knows what it's been taught. My heart sees, this thing right here, the proprietor left it there for you with a nod and a wink because they Get It. It's not put together yet, but it's better that way anyway. It's so full of pieces to pull apart and reassemble. I bet they've got a whole mosaic wall going up at home already. We can bring it home and make it OURS, more than it was ever theirs, forget half of what it came from and grow a new garden in what remains.
And I go home to find anger, and my heart breaks instead.
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unlikely-course Ā· 2 years ago
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Dā€™you think the attempted tooth-pulling is the closest weā€™ll get to a sex scene? <-THIS is the dumbass sentence I was writing when it finally hit me. Itā€™s like pulling teeth. with them. To get them to admit what they feel for each other. Literally, Allison is having her teeth pulled rather than have an honest emotional conversation with Patty. Get it? Good. Letā€™s get into it.
Lord but the show does love its little metaphors. This weekā€™s even more so than usual. Pickup from last seasonā€™s Allison is fast food and this oneā€™s Allison is cigarettes, Allison is now liquor. In fact we get so direct that it seems less for us and more like the universe is trying its damnedest to spell it for her: you both drink the same amount, but Patty gets stuck with the hangover, Allison. You do not because ā€œKevin is rubbing offā€ on you.
And it works! We see real time she has a ā€œmy actionsā€¦affect Patty negativelyā€¦.especially if I leaveā€ realization complete with flashback montage. Beautiful! We love to see it. Now if only she could have another reflective flashback montage to realize a few other things! Including the fact that you maybe should not sic your terrible husband on Pattyā€™s girlfriend! Even if it would solve one problem it would create like three new ones at least. God but itā€™s wild that we only have two episodes left. Thereā€™s no time for anything! Especially everything happening with Neil and Diane and whatnot. Iā€™m not even sure what exactly is happening with Neil and Iā€™m in no mood to guess. Diane however Iā€™m much more concerned about. That convo in the diner with her and Allisonā€”ā€œI always felt like I had a girl.ā€ I had to go like stare into the back patio for a while. My heart.
Tammy was funnyā€”I truly think she was so hoping Allison would be able to give some dumb explanation for the footage, she just wants this to not be a thing so badly but sheā€™s also incapable of dropping it. Still, Allison almost certainly confirmed to Tammy that she was involved. And I thought the guilty little way Allison straightened up when Tammy came in was greatā€”sheā€™d been so oriented to Patty before. You ever think about how much more theyā€™d touch if Patty would allow it?
Anyway I do agree with Tammy that Pattyā€™s been weird lately. I think the end of 2x03, when Patty tells Allison to be Gertrude, it kind ofā€¦took all the fight out of her, almost? Thereā€™s such an air about her of ā€œthis might as well be happening.ā€ Sheā€™s resigned to losing her. I think itā€™s made her much more likely to openly be fond of Allison (why pretend she doesnā€™t enjoy her, at this point?) while at the same time made honest conversation about certain things much less likely. Iā€™ve also been mulling likeā€¦the haircut and that new coat she has in 2x05. Theyā€™re not very big changes but all I can think is ā€œsheā€™s moving from moxie-filled sitcom sidekick to police procedural girlfriend.ā€ Patricia do you know what happens to girlfriends on those shows?? Especially gay ones???
Anyway next ep looks dicey for sure. At least we know kitchen scene is in there? And likeā€¦itā€™ll probably work out for them because itā€™s the second to last episode? I must admit I never considered the bad ending route but the chance I suppose is never zero. It would be weird. The season as a whole is much more diffuse than the first, not as tight or preciseā€”makes sense, given there must have been some pivoting with the cancellation. Still good though, and definitely with many things to say and saying them well. Have no blessed idea what itā€™s going to do with two hours on the clock though.
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sortasirius Ā· 4 years ago
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What the Fuck Happened to the SPN Finale?
Okay so here it is, my Charlie Kelly style manifesto.
Before I get into it, I recognize that I will look like this to many of you, and thatā€™s okay, I understand:
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Secondly, your personal Takes about the writers donā€™t interest me, I donā€™t need to hear them. This, as Iā€™ll explain, is going to remain a writer positive blog, and thatā€™s the end of it.
Third, and most importantly: some of what Iā€™m going to talk about is fact, and some is highly educated speculation. I will notate what is speculation, just so thereā€™s no confusion or hot takes in my inbox that Iā€™m a conspiracy theorist or stirring shit up for no reason.
A list of what Iā€™ll be discussing
The episode in regards to the rest of the season
The episode issues: length, editing
Scene placement and speculation of scenes cut
The scrubbing of Jack, Cas, Eileen
Network involvement and general timeline of when things were cut
Misha: theories on where he was, official company line, why we canā€™t expect to hear anything directly
The silence of the cast post episode (in Mishaā€™s case, mid episode) and what this might mean
Jensen speaking with Kripke about the ending: why it doesnā€™t mean what you might think (also why kripke remained positive on the ending)
Walker, and why this episode had a major shift
Why the network would do this or get involved
Why the writers of the show simply arenā€™t the bad guys here, and what I ā€œwantā€ out of this post, since I know itā€™ll get asked
This is very long and under a cut, but I hope youā€™ll give it a read.
The Episode In Regards to the Rest of the Season
So, Iā€™ve discussed this already here, but itā€™s the most obvious thing to me, and thatā€™s the way this episode simply doesnā€™t fit with the rest of the season.
These people in this room have, truly, been nothing but consistent when it comes to their arcs, especially this season, and the marked dropoff in quality for the finale episode is just too sus to discount to me.Ā  Dabbā€™s whole focus has been character-based.Ā  In his seasons, weā€™ve moved far away from MOTW and bro-codependency, the found family taking itā€™s place.Ā  Does it really sit right to anyone that that was all thrown away in literally the last episode of the entire show?
This is speculation on my part, but as a writer myself, there is no way I would be happy or willing to stamp my name on something that I didnā€™t think would, at the very least, wrap up the season+ character arcs that I and my team had been crafting.
And before anyone comes in here saying, ā€œwell GOT did that!ā€Ā  Bruh.Ā  The writing was on the wall for GOT long before the final episode.Ā  You could tell that the showrunners just wanted to be done (not only from the plot, but from the fact that they lobbied for a shorter season).Ā  Miss me with that, it doesnā€™t apply here.Ā  Andrew has, besides Singer and J2, been with the show longer than anyone.Ā  He cares, he is meticulous and detailed, and this ending feels worse than anything Bucklemming has ever written, let alone Dabb.
Additionally, Iā€™ve seen a lot of people say that Dabb was never behind Destiel, that it was all Bobo and Meredith and no one else.Ā  That is reductive to the point of insult of the work Dabb has done to get this greenlit.Ā  This man did not write the s13 Dean grief arc to be slandered like this.Ā  That being said, YES, Bobo and Meredith were the leads on the DeanCas arc this season, but ANDREW IS THE SHOWRUNNER, TO GET EVEN THE CONFESSION APPROVED BY THE NETWORK HE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THEIR BACKS.Ā  AND HE DID.
Finale Issues
So, now that weā€™ve gotten the fact that this episode doesnā€™t hit on any of the major themes the show was barrelling towards all season, letā€™s discuss the fact that the episode is just...weird.
Not only is it shorter than any other episode (I think with the intro and the credits/crew thing at the end, it was around 38 mins), but it was also...idk, 90% filler?
One of the lovely humans in the POLOL server did the legwork here, and broke it down:
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This is weird, yā€™all.Ā  Most series finales are LONGER than normal (Lost, SOA, Longmire are the ones I can think of off the top of my head), and for the final episode to be this?Ā  I saw more than one person point out that we only really needed 19 episodes, what was the point of 20?Ā  AND THATā€™S EXACTLY IT?Ā  WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS FINAL EPISODE IF THIS WAS ALL WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET?
It simply doesnā€™t make any sense, the first half of the episode was rushed, a final monster hunt gone wrong, but in the second half?Ā  Nothing really happened?Ā  Sam lived his entire life and Dean just drove around.Ā  It doesnā€™t make sense to have all the emotional arcs left unaddressed in an episode that definitely needed some kind of spark.
Hereā€™s the speculation I have: the episode seemingly went through a lot of changes between the initial inception of the final season and when we actually got it, but I think it would have been passable (as in, we wouldnā€™t be sitting here asking each other why each arc feels incomplete) until the editing room got ahold of it.Ā  The only think that makes this episode make sense is network fuckery.Ā  Truly, that is the only thing.Ā  It explains the weird, cuts, the rushed pacing of the first half followed by nothing in the second half, the double montages of ā€œWayward Sonā€ back to back, and Dean just...driving around for the last half of the episode.
Scene Placement and Speculation of Scenes Cut
Before I get into this section, the info of the shots in the episode I have come from a source that @occamshipperā€‹ got a week or so before the finale.Ā  Sheā€™s talked about this here.
So hereā€™s what Min was given:
1-5: 1 INT MEN OF LETTERS ā€“ DEANā€™S ROOM Dean is greeted by Miracle
6-10: 6 INT MEN OF LETTERS ā€“ HALLWAY/SAMā€™S ROOM Sam has his routine
D1 1 11-15: 15 EXT FARM HOUSE Establishing
N1 1/8 16-20: 19 Dadā€™s journal, marker, drawing of masked man in journal.
21-25: 23 INT IMPALA ā€“ PMP Driver picks the music
N2 1 3/8 1,2 26-30: 28pt2 INT BARN: A face from the past
28pt3 Sam and Dean say goodbye
28pt4 Shot early for technical reasons, presumably the overhead shot
N2 31-45: 41 INT MEN OF LETTERS ā€“ SAMā€™S ROOM Samā€™s alarm goes off D4 1/8 1 46-60: 56 INT N7glasses for Sam, laptop.
So...it all fits right?Ā  It all tracks with the actual episode, where it lands, etc.Ā  The issue is between shots 29-40 which were apparently ā€œtoo big to spoil.ā€Ā  Uh.Ā  Where are they?Ā  And whereā€™s 28 pt4?
After Dean dies, the next scene is Sam burning him, then shot 31, the shot of his alarm going off.
So.Ā  Where are those 11ish shots?
PLUS we have the boards, which are scenes we KNOW were actually shot:
As well as scenes for 20 that were shot in 19.
Itā€™s just...weird, itā€™s weird and again hits on the fact that the episode is so short and like 80% montage.
The Scrubbing of Jack, Cas, and Eileen
So now we have to reckon with the fact that Eileen was last mentioned by Sam after she got snapped by Chuck, Jackā€™s last mention is that heā€™s off being God somewhere, and Casā€™ last mention is a ~knowing look~ between Dean and Bobby.
Iā€™m sorry, make it make sense:
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????????Ā  Thatā€™s the end if it?Ā  They donā€™t need to be discussed after this???Ā  Itā€™s just simply not something a writer would do, they would not introduce these characters, these arcs, without thinking thereā€™s going to be some kind of follow through here.
So not only were three major characters (including two leads and both of the original charactersā€™ love interests) completely wiped from the finale episode, it was as though Sam and Dean never even needed them, which just...ainā€™t it.
So why Eileen and Jack too?Ā  Why not just take Cas out of it if they were afraid of the gay?Ā  Because, ultimately, the episode went back to Kripkeā€™s original story: just the bros, they only need each other and no one else.Ā  They donā€™t want anyone else, they donā€™t need anyone else.Ā  Easier to go back to something they knew was successful than trust the writers and their audience and take a big leap.
Alex even said he shot for 20 with ā€œsome of the guysā€ here.Ā  What happened to that footage?
The complete 180 of it all still shocks me, I still cannot believe that we were essentially at the finish line, and the network just stopped short, and decided to go run another race, at the expense of the arc of this fifteen year legacy show.
Network Involvement and When Things Were Cut
Okay, now into the juicy stuff.
So Iā€™ve pretty well established that network fuckery is clear, but how much did they get involved, what was the original intent?
Well again, we may never actually know what Andrewā€™s original script was, but I think, at the least, it would involve Dean speaking his truth to Cas and Sam living a life with Eileen.
Now, it seems today, that Misha said that Jimmy Novak was supposed to be in the finale in one iteration of the script, and while initially my brain was like ā€œthat truly makes no sense and heā€™s either straight up lying or telling a half truth,ā€ I think what may be happening is Misha talking about as much as he can right now.
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So Jimmy right.Ā  Weird as fuck.Ā  Why would he been in the Roadhouse and not Cas?Ā  My current thought (this is about as reachy as Iā€™ll get) is that Jimmy had no lines, could he have been in the Roadhouse as a red herring, like it said ā€œJimmyā€ in the script but it was just Cas in human clothes, a way to get around the network saying Cas couldnā€™t be in the final scene.Ā  Also, youā€™ll notice that Misha didnā€™t say that Cas wasnā€™t supposed to be in the ep at all, just Jimmy in the last scene.
All this to say, there have clearly been multiple versions of the script, getting lighter and lighter with Cas and Eileen as the network pulled further and further back.Ā  Remember, Dabb has to get things approved before they get shot, and if the network kept asking and asking and asking to cut Cas and Eileen, he had to find a way to work around it.Ā  Granted, I still think that if we had been able to get a Dabb script that wasnā€™t torn to shreds in editing, it wouldnā€™t be so bad.Ā  It may not be what a lot of us wanted (Dean speaking his truth to Cas and a reciprocation), but doing everything he could to give it to us in subtext or visual clues.
Plus, in all honesty, my man canā€™t keep his story straight anyway.Ā  He said twice in his panel that the Empty and offscreen Heaven ending werenā€™t his original ending either.
In addition, remember that Jensen did ADR post episode 18, AND said in a meet and greet last weekend that Deanā€™s reaction to Casā€™ confession was ā€œcut down.ā€ (Source here).Ā  Many of us clowns got excited when we first heard about ADR, because we thought it would be upping the ante on Deanā€™s reaction, but I remember being a little sus when it was just crying.Ā  My speculation on that is that they cut out Dean actually SAYING something, @winchestersingerautorepairā€‹ spoke about that here.
The biggest sins were, in my opinion, committed during editing, where the network got too gun shy and sliced the episode until it was nothing but a heartless bro-fest of a finale, not mentioning anything about the other major characters that we all love, and letting the boys just suffer in separation until Sam died and finally joined Dean in Heaven.Ā  The editing came by cutting all the major emotional beats between anyone other than Dean and Sam, leaving the skeleton of the story intact, just shorter and less...poignant than it was ever supposed to be.
Misha
We know Misha was in Vancouver, we know he quarantined, but we also know he wasnā€™t in the final scene, when he spoke about being in the last moment of the show months ago.Ā  We were not crazy, he was there, he quarantined, and, in all likelihood (speculation but fitting with the timeline), he actually may have shot something (not much, but something).
I have sources here, here, here, and here showing where Misha was at that time.
Remember, the man was completely open about coming back until they finished shooting (look at this thread).Ā  The switch happened, just like everything else, halfway through them shooting.
Please also remember Jake Abel posting his ā€œWhereā€™s Mishaā€ video here.Ā  Jake isnā€™t malicious, he isnā€™t being nasty here.Ā  Misha was there, and everyone thatā€™s trying to convince people heā€™s wasnā€™t just...isnā€™t telling the truth about it.
This is one of the things that makes me really mad, because theyā€™re literally attempting to gaslight people into thinking, ā€œoh we were totally wrong he was never supposed to be thereā€ WHEN HE WAS THERE, WE KNOW HE WAS THERE.
So weā€™ve already heard from several people (Meghan Fitzmartin, Jay, a PA on the set of 19 (WHO WAS NOT WORKING FOR 20), Misha himself) that this was all down to Covid restrictions.Ā  Ultimately, as this post says, weā€™ve heard FIVE versions of where Misha was.Ā  None of it makes sense, but the Covid protocol seems to be the company line that others are repeating.
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You may ask: why?Ā  Why lie to all of us when we have questions?Ā  Why, in Jayā€™s case, say that weā€™re all spreading false lies to stir up trouble, when we just have questions and things that do not make sense.Ā  Simply?Ā  Warner Brothers is absolutely massive.Ā  These people have their careers to protect and are likely all under NDAs.Ā  They want to work for WB again and donā€™t want to burn bridges, including Misha.Ā  It sucks, but thatā€™s why itā€™s unlikely that weā€™ll hear someone come out and say, ā€œyeah weā€™re lying to you.ā€
Silence of the Cast Post Episode
So this is...probably the worst part of all this, at least in my opinion.
The guys had all been pretty excited about the end of the show (especially Jared, but Jensenā€™s panel last week was Jensen as happy and jokey and positive as Iā€™ve ever seen him.Ā  He was so excited about episode 18, about what it meant for Dean and for Cas, and I just cannot buy that he would have been that excited unless he thought there was something more in the episode.
Misha live-tweeted the episode, and was watching it with his kids.Ā  Itā€™s well known that Misha and the kids donā€™t watch the show because itā€™s too scary, and letā€™s ask ourselves, why would he have them watch an episode that heā€™s barely even mentioned in?
He also stopped live-tweeting at a very specific point in the episode (Deanā€™s death) and has not mentioned Supernatural since then.Ā 
None of them, not Jared, Jensen, Misha, or even Alex, said anything about the episode for nearly 36 hours, when Jensen posted a salty photo on instagram.Ā  Itā€™s just...not what youā€™d expect for the end of a 15 year show, when the cast and crew are so close to the fans, so close to each other.Ā 
My theory?Ā  They didnā€™t know.Ā  They thought Misha was, at least, going to be in the episode in some way, and when he wasnā€™t, they decided not to say anything.
You really think that Jensen ā€œHellerā€ Ackles would have been so excited about the end of the show last week if he thought Cas wasnā€™t going to be in it at all?Ā  Nah son, doesnā€™t make any sense.
Even today, in Jared and Mishaā€™s panels, they seemed sad and...more than a little careful, both saying that there were things they couldnā€™t say, both talking around things that we all have questions on.
Jensen Speaking with Kripke
So this is where a lot of people are getting fodder to take shots at the writers, saying that Jensen hated it from the beginning, but I donā€™t think so.Ā  I actually think I know what Jensen went to him about, and it wasnā€™t the lack of Cas or the weird pacing or the montages (which I donā€™t think were there when Jensen got the script); I think it was the manner of Deanā€™s death.
I know a lot of people were upset about that, upset with how...normal it was, coming off an episode where they literally beat God.Ā  I actually didnā€™t mind it, I thought it was an interesting thematic take to be like: you can be a hero all your life, but sometimes shit happens, and you just die.
But imagine how hard that was for Jensen to read.Ā  He would run to Kripke for that, because for him, Dean dying by being impaled by a piece of rebar had to be tough to swallow.
So, why didnā€™t Kripke say that?Ā  Why didnā€™t he say, ā€œoh well he had a problem with Deanā€™s death, none of that other stuff was in the script.ā€
Guys.Ā  Why would he get involved?Ā  Heā€™s not going to burn bridges any more than anyone else is.Ā  He said the ending was good because itā€™s the easy thing to do, itā€™s simple, will cause him no problems in his career, and he can just ignore the people trying to engage with him on it.
Walker
Something else to talk about is the major shift this episode had from the rest of the season: the shift from Dean to Sam.Ā  I am NOT saying that Sam isnā€™t important, he definitely, absolutely is, but it was DEAN who really needed to wrap up his arc, Sam just needed to move on, get married to Eileen, become the leader he was always meant to.Ā  So what changed?Ā  What was with the shirtless scene, the Austin number and random case there, most of the episode being heavily Sam focused, going through his entire life in a montage?
Anyone else notice the 375 Walker promos, or Jaredā€™s little spiel about Walker and how he hoped SPN fans would ā€œcome along for the ride.ā€
Itā€™s...kinda obvious?Ā  CW wanted to appeal to who they think the key demographic of SPN and Walker is: rural areas in the South.Ā  It would explain a lot, why so much editing, why so Sam focused, the Austin number, the number of Walker promos, all of it.
Iā€™m not saying this is fact, I donā€™t know that it is, but it is a little suspicious that even in Jaredā€™s panel today, he talked A LOT about Walker and how he hopes SPN fans will watch it.
Why Would the Network Get Involved?
Simply put: $$$
If they think Walker can be the new SPN, and that those crazy SPN fans liked it originally, itā€™s a lot safer to go with the ā€œoriginal intentā€ of the show than do something risky (like making one of your two original leads queer).
And?Ā  They donā€™t care.Ā  They donā€™t care that the episode didnā€™t make sense, they donā€™t care that all the emotional arcs were left hanging, they donā€™t care by (potentially) smashing together two of Deanā€™s monologues (one to Sam, one to Cas) that it came of as...gross. ( @curioussubjectsā€‹ wrote a beautiful post showing how part of that death speech was likely meant for Dean here).Ā  They donā€™t care, they never have, they just want to make their money and move on from the too-loud fandom that fought for representation too hard for too long.
It canā€™t help but feel insidious, which, honestly, it might be, but it really all comes down to the next cash cow, which, they think, is Walker, even at the cost of the fifteen year legacy show.
The Writers and What I Want
So here it is, all this weird, sus shit laid out on the line.Ā  And you know what?Ā  To me, there is no way to blame the writers, because they didnā€™t want this.
I donā€™t think Dabb and Bobo would have gone ahead with the confession in 18 without thinking that there would be some closure to that arc, they wouldnā€™t have done that not only to the fans, but for the sake of their own story as well: no writer wants to start something that they canā€™t finish. (And this applies to both Cas and Eileen).
Hereā€™s a basic rundown of what I think happened: they had a clear arc from 18-20, ending in reciprocation at some level from Dean, Sam marrying Eileen, Hunter Sam as the new Bobby, Dean in heaven with Cas and big roadhouse reunion at the end. Covid prevented a good amount of that. Network had to stare at big gay 18 for six months, got cold feet. Thought about Walker, target audience and alienation of the rural areas if it went full gay. Misha quarantined and likely shot something (not much), he was then cut by execs and went home. They likely added in lines referencing Eileen and Cas to make it clear but more subtextual. They wrap, editing gets it and hacks it to pieces, so we get a shorter episode thatā€™s mostly montages and jarringly bro-centric with nothing else. Arcs are left hanging. Dabb gets episode but itā€™s too late, thereā€™s nothing he can do. Actors arenā€™t told so they can continue to do positive PR for the ending, they all found out at the same time we did: hence almost complete silence about the finale.
And you know what?Ā  They warned us.Ā  I talked about it here, but theyā€™ve been telling us all season that Chuck wasnā€™t the writer, heā€™s the network.Ā  I donā€™t think, still, that they thought it would be cut up like this, into something so unsalvageable that itā€™s been panned by almost everyone, even people who didnā€™t care much about Dean and Cas.
Finally, a masterpiece can be ruined by editing, and while Iā€™m not sure even the script they ended up shooting on was a masterpiece (due to the network meddling already), but to me itā€™s blatantly obvious that itā€™s no one but the network that caused this, that took away closure for Dean, Cas, and even Sam.
So what do I want? Ā Nothing really, thereā€™s nothing we can do, but I wrote this mostly to show people that the writers are not your enemy. Ā  In fact, to the people trashing them? Ā Youā€™re doing exactly what the CW wants you to: blame the obvious targets, blame Misha, blame Jensen and Jared, blame Dabb. Ā Scream and yell at them on Twitter and about how the show is ruined because of them. Ā The network keeps their engagement levels high, they donā€™t get as targeted for their behavior, and just keep moving along.
Just, please, think about who did this,Ā  Mourn the show, be angry, but not at the people who fought tooth and nail for this for literal years, not the people who wanted it more than we did, not the people who cannot say anything because of their careers and the NDAs theyā€™re bound by.
Someone is going to spill eventually, but until then, we just have to wait, and continue to be loud.
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yjwhatif Ā· 3 years ago
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With the semi/cryptic confirmation of Ed and Barts relationship in the series I have a question:
Do you think everyone knows about them (in world) or do you think theyā€™re keeping it secret from some?
Itā€™s just a thought thatā€™s been in my head recently. It is most likely fuelled by the whole drama of G&B not being able to depict a ā€œspecific characterā€ (itā€™s definitely Bart) as gay. Theyā€™ve had to hide the relationship from their audience - because of ridiculous reasons - but there are still moments that bring up the question - Are they? Before the reveals from AskGreg, I kinda thought- well they are clearly not together yet, but perhaps they both have feelings for one another and are just waiting for the other to make the next move because theyā€™re nervous idiots who donā€™t want to have read the situation wrong ā€” all while their friends are like - seriously guys? just get together already. Kinda like they did in s1 with Wally and Artemis - and I guess early Supermartian as well - which I would have been okay with... though with the likelihood of there being at least another two year time skip youā€™d probably have missed the getting together moment - which would kinda suck. Anyway. With the information about the chances being they were supposed to clearly be in a relationship throughout S3 ā€” which makes the whole structuring of ILLUSIONS just make sense ā€” itā€™s got me viewing their moments with a whole new energy. Also, I saw this post by Greg ā€”
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And let me just clarify, I have no idea if this is actually referencing the Ed and Bart stuff, it might not be (probably isn't). This is purely me speculating.
My reading of this is they got told they couldnā€™t depict Bart as gay pretty late on and that specifically affected ILLUSIONS where they likely intended to confirm the relationship with that first shot - the kiss on the cheek moment. Even now that moment is just odd - because itā€™s there but itā€™s not - because technically there is no actual kissā€¦ which I think is absolutely the point. It plants the seed without actually breaking any rules - all by keeping the momentum but removing the specific kiss frame. Itā€™s the only moment that I feel is explicit in saying they are in a relationship - everything else you can just read into and imply thereā€™s something - but they technically donā€™t confirm anything.
The whole thing is actually quite interesting - despite the reasoning for it being totally ridiculous. By keeping/showing what they did... People notice it. People talk about it. People reflect on it. More people talk about it. People writing. Make. Create. Discuss it. An entire audience is formed who want and support it. Itā€™s a whole thing now because people noticed it and generated a positive response to it - and that was before all the AskGreg information. The whole reason YJ got a season 3 is because the fans fought to get it back. Enough people talked about it - and kept talking about it - to convince TPTB that the show should come back. Greg and Brandon know this. They know the power the fans have and maybe they hoped that power would help them again in freeing Bart from these ridiculous restrictions. #letbartoutofthecloset
Obviously, we can't know until S4 is released whether G&B got the permission to confirm Bart's sexuality the way they envisioned - but maybe the responses that came during the release of 3b were enough to convince TPTB that they were fighting a losing battle. But who knows, people in power can be very stubborn at times, so we will just have to see what we get. Fingers crossed they eased up though - and not just because of the Ed/Bart relationship (which I am obviously a fan of -- it's fine if not everyone is) - but because these restrictions on LGBTQ+ content shouldn't be a thing and need to stop -- there is just no validity in them.
Anyhow. despite their not being allowed to officially confirm the relationship, Greg's comment about Ed's having a boyfriend they can't name basically confirms the fact without technically breaking any rules again. Masterfully done Wiesman. With this, it implies the pair are in fact dating during S3 which brings us back to the original question... but who knows??
With the comments of Virgil during ILLUSIONS, it's easy to assume their friends do in fact know. They also seem to have no problem being close and interacting with one another whilst in the presence of others -- that is, except for one moment...
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Ever since the first time I saw this episode (ELDER WISDOM) I have always found this moment strange - because Ed seems to get kinda awkward when Barry comes to check on Bart. (Or that's how I see it at least.) He realises Flash is standing there and immediately pulls his head down averting his gaze -- almost like he doesn't want to be seen by the elder. But why? Does Barry not know about the pair -- or maybe he doesn't know about Bart and Ed thinks their current closeness is too revealing -- who's to say Bart's even fully out to the world yet -- who's to say either of them are? We certainly don't since we weren't allowed to be shown. We can't know until we know - so until then we can play the speculation game while we wait.
Bart is certainly a bit of a secret keeper when it comes to being himself. I'm still convinced the Bart we see onscreen is merely his interpretation of what he thinks people expect from a speedster in this time. We saw 'real' Bart, he was snarky and cynical and nothing like the Bart we've had for the past two seasons. He said it himself - he's playing a character - and I don't think he knows how to break out of it - not while the possibility exists that it might hurt those he's grown to care about. Bart wants to be seen a certain way to avoid acknowledging the truth of the past - if people see him as happy and smiley, then no one will question him on things he doesn't want to talk about. The problem with that is you can't hide yourself forever - cracks begin to form and eventually, the truth comes out whether you want it to or not. So who knows how comfortable Bart is revealing any of his true self to those he cares about. Maybe his relationship with Ed will be the thing that finally helps him find comfort in being himself, whilst also trusting others to still accept him as himself... and maybe getting him that bit of therapy he really needs.
This brings us to Eduardoā€¦ First, can I just say it made me so happy to see Gregā€™s confirmation of Ed being gay - though it is slightly annoying that he was robbed of his explicit onscreen reveal in S3 thanks to the drama with Bart. His whole relationship to his powers in S2 to S3 fits the representation of coming to terms with your sexuality/identity from a very negative point of view. Feeling like itā€™s something that needs fixing or needs to be ā€œcuredā€ - to then finding the light and freedom in accepting yourself for you. His growth between seasons is brilliant. He understands the hate and insecurity the teens are feeling because he felt it himself. He does all he can to help them because he never felt he got that help when he needed it - and no one deserves to feel worse for being who they are. Obviously, the things he talks about are framed in the context of dealing with/accepting the meta-gene - yet there are certain moments where it seems heā€™s saying more than thatā€¦
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All of which got me wondering - why did Ed originally runaway? It certainly wasnā€™t because of the meta-abilities he did not yet have. All heā€™s ever said on the subject was he thought he wanted to be with his father - the man it seems he barely had a relationship with. No, I think Ed has been running from himself for a long time and his dad just happened to be an actual direction for him to aim for. The way he speaks about his wanting to be ā€œcuredā€ and ā€œpraying to get rid of his powersā€ suggests an upbringing around religion and traditional ideas of there being a ā€˜normal/properā€™ way to be ā€” while anything that doesnā€™t fit that way is treated as other or something that needs to be changed or 'fixed'. Maybe he ran to avoid being found out and run the risk of being ostracised by those he loved. Or maybe he was found out and leaving wasnā€™t entirely his choice*. If this was the case, I can certainly imagine him not wanting to come out to his dad for fear of his reaction and completely losing all chance of that father-son relationship theyā€™re both trying so hard to keep. It can seem easier to live in secret than risk the reality of loss. So while the meta-gene likely wasnā€™t the main thing he was angry about in S2, it was able to become a physical thing he could blame and focus his anger on - without having to think about where his issues truly liedā€¦ Though with a bit of time it also became the thing he was comfortable conveying his feelings through...
ā€œIā€™ve learned to accept, even love my meta-abilitiesā€
I love this line so much and itā€™s all because of the delivery by Freddy Rodrigues. There is the slightest hint of a pause before he says ā€œmeta-abilitiesā€, which gives the impression he was about to say something else before then remembering himself and who he was talking to. Then thereā€™s the small inflecion he put on ā€œloveā€, which makes it sound like itā€™s the first time heā€™s heard himself say the words out loud. I donā€™t hear him talking about the gene - I hear him talking about finally accepting himself - all of himself - for the first time in maybe ever and finally feeling happy because of it. I hear growth... From being the angry 14-year-old skater who just wanted to run away and escape any way he could. To the 16-year-old councillor/Outsider jumping straight into the danger to protect and inspire those who need it. Both he and Bart are such strong characters with so much more to be seen - especially when it comes to the insecurities which lie behind their masks. They both compliment each other pretty perfectly - both powers-wise and personality-wise - meaning while they try to hide themself from others, I don't think it'll take long for them to realise they can't hide from each other.
Anywho, thatā€™s all the speculatary nonsense Iā€™ve got for today. This turned into such a patchwork of vaguely linkable thoughts Iā€™ve had which barely relate to the one I started with - but that is usually how it goes. Take it as you willā€¦
Also, completely unrelated to YJ, but Bi Tim Drake now exists in dc canon which is really cool - seeing all of the joy itā€™s sparked has really given me something to smile about this weekā€¦ There is hope after all. šŸŒˆ
ā€” LB āš”ļøā˜€ļø
* OK so hereā€™s a little random snapshot into the chaos of my mindā€” as I was writing the Ed stuff I had a scene pop into my head of Ed finally -for whatever reason- having to tell his dad that he didnā€™t leave his abueloā€™s home - he got kicked out. His dads confused about this and asks Why? What did you do? And Edā€™s like Nothingā€¦ I didnā€™t do anything wrongā€¦ he justā€¦ found out something. So Seniors like Found out what Eduardo? And Edā€™s getting really nervous now because he doesnā€™t want to say it - That I, umā€¦ Iā€™mā€¦ Senior step a fraction closer as he picks up on Edā€™s anxiety but remains an appropriate distance - Son? Then after a tensening silence he finally says it - sounding the most vulnerable he has ever been - Iā€™m gayā€¦ The silence is there again, heavy and unnerving, neither saying a word. Ed canā€™t move as heā€™s lock in his elders unreadable glare. Expecting the worse his head drops to take in the floor - anything that isnā€™t the disappointment ahead - he feels the urge to disappear burning up inside him - consuming him. Then just as heā€™s about to escape heā€™s suddenly grounded by a steadying hand rooting itself on his shoulder. Tentatively he lifts his gaze to witness his father, there, with nothing but love and support in his eyes - Mijo. The clamping in his chest dissipates as all the tension escapes at once, along with the breath he hadnā€™t realised he was holding. Ed embraces his dad and the elder embraces his son. Together. A family.
Anyway. Thatā€™s probably a load of rubbish but hey my minds full of itā€¦ but basically I really want to see a tender moment between Ed and his dad. For whatever reason. Something where Edā€™s in a vulnerable state and in need of some emotional support from his father - and without hesitation his father steps up - because thatā€™s what we havenā€™t seen from them yet. It would perfectly portray the strength of their relationship as father and son - despite their previous struggles - and prove that Senior is willing to support his son no matter the situation as the father - not just the scientist. Its the final step in their healing journey and I wanna see it so bad!!
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wistfulrat Ā· 4 years ago
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a 4-part rec list of my fave drarry fics - the thrillers, dramas, soft bois, and wankbanks getting me through 2020ā€²s shitstorm
[the soft boi list is here and truly iā€™m not surprised this rec is going to be the longest bc if thereā€™s one thing a bitch is going to do, itā€™s yearn.
as always! if you love a fic, follow the authors, leave kudos & comments, send them nice msgs bc free art is still labor xoxo]
part 3: soft bois
mood: for when I need respite, a balm to the all-consuming shittiness of life
includes: fluff, comfort, low-stakes, slow-burn fics. a wistful look, a rainy morning, an unexpected grace, a stupidly disarming joke. i could live inside these fics. the smallness of human lives removed from the site of that which hurts & irreparably changes. the story-equivalent of a deep breath after a long day. pregnant silences & pensive mundanity & shy smiles. banter with bite but without the cruelty. the color lavender. weirdly whimsical. soft fics are not necessarily conflict-averse (no drarry fic rly can be, considering the context) but, they offer the reader a generous distance from the initial harm. theyā€™re the quiet cleaning up after a storm. sometimes healing is an exacting surgical knife and other times itā€™s a slow scabbing. you read these fics to be reassured that the way forward is not always ruthless. and honestly?? they deserve a semblance of peace godDAMmit.
The Way Down by @letteredlettered - 65k - T ā€œand I thought that if someone talked to you as though you were a human being you mightā€”maybe you could act like oneā€ --the way i think about this line daily. the characterization of draco in this fic is one my favorites bc heā€™s earnest and neurotic and tired of harryā€™s shit. which is to say, he cares so so much. and harry doesnā€™t know what to do with that bc heā€™s got a monster in his chest andĀ lives as a recluse. but they both humanize each other in ways no one else can.Ā ā€œyouā€™re just a personā€ has to be some kind of drarry ethics of belonging and it makes me CRY. -
Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them by @greaseonmymouth and dustmouth - 96k - T ā€œMaybe itā€™s not about deserving it? Maybe you just get to have it anyway. . .Iā€™m allowing myself to want something and to let myself have it and to fight for it.ā€ --harry runs a daycare and also works at a library. draco spends a lot of time in said library. they bond over sci-fi books and therapy anecdotes and quiet philosophical conversations held over cafeteria soup. and harryā€™s struggling to understand his asexuality. dracoā€™s learning how to live with anxiety and depression. they both want to be deserving of love. incredible fic with beautiful art by dustmouth. -Ā 
Open for RepairsĀ by @drarrytrash - 35k - T ā€œA few leaves rustle in the gutter and the muggle world pays no mind to them, to two lost boys holding on for dear life.ā€ --all of their fics feel exactly like this. like youā€™ve been allowed to look at something private, tender, unexpected. draco, known abba fan, is a repairman in the muggle world & harry canā€™t stop breaking thrifted things in order to see him? say less, i'm thERE. alsoĀ ā€œI think I have a crush on youā€ godddddĀ  - other faves by them: Counting DownĀ By TenĀ -Ā 2k - T: dracoā€™s stepped outside of the party for a smoke. harry follows him bc of course he does. i could read this 100 times and not get tired of it. - Clouds That Veil the Midnight MoonĀ - 36k - E: FUCKING HILARIOUS I CACKLED THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. dracoā€™s wolfy problemĀ and harry helping him and harry being flustered by how much he likes draco and dracoā€™s hot heroic moment. shutup itā€™s perfect.Ā ā€œHe almost asks if Draco ever gets tired of being a miserable complaining shit all the time, but he knows that he, personally, never ever gets tired of being a miserable complaining shit.ā€ andĀ ā€œItā€™s the traumas,ā€ Harry says gravelyā€ --lines that live rent free in my head -
Harry Potter and the Future He Doesn't Really Want, Thanks byĀ seefinĀ - 70k - E ā€œThat was the only logical thing to do here, wasnā€™t it? It was the next step, it was the end of hurting each other and the beginning of the exact opposite.ā€ --harry lives with luna and neville and also he dreams about the future sometimes? and he keeps running into draco. draco thinks this is sus as hell, until he doesnā€™t. feat. taxi rides, museums, cinemas, rooftop conversations beneath a lunar eclipse, mid-sex innocuous banter, draco and harry discussing nicki minaj. this fic charmed my ass off. seefin writes the most effortlessly hilarious dialogues.Ā i smiled at my phone like an idiot at least 7 times. -Ā  other faves by them: Wild - 93k - E:Ā ā€œhe liked feeling needed, for the things that he was needed for back at the house in Ireland. For cooking and gardening and driving. Easy things.ā€ --this shit makes me cry itā€™s so good.Ā harry lives in Ireland with these three brilliant, hilarious, wandless witches and dracoā€™s a potions student who's come to study under one of the housemates and the boys have so much shit to work through but their love becomes so tender and honest. draco yells at harry a lot and harry lets him and they both keep each other grounded in something real and fuCK.Ā  - Divination for Dickheads - 7k - G:Ā ā€œIā€™m terrible at having crushes. Iā€™ve never played anything cool a day in my life.ā€ -- oh harry, we knOW. a bus ride, a fortune teller, an aquarium birthday party. god i love this fic. -
Modern LoveĀ by @tackytigerficā€‹ - 61k - E ā€œBut weā€™ve worked so hard at this, havenā€™t we? Yeah, I know itā€™s a horror to have to talk about it, but fuck it. Weā€™re friends now, but it took so long to get here. Have you ever had to work so hard at something before?" --the steady blossoming of their friendship in this fic is so goddamn beautiful i want to yell. itā€™sĀ draco and harry learning to trust each other and the whole thingĀ unfolds so slowly, in this whimsical mix of london streets, wizarding politics, church halls feat. a Hot vicar, and a magical antique shop owner whoā€™s married to literal poseidon?? goD the environment of this fic. immaculate. [also thereā€™s a tender shower scene that makes me cry every single fucking time so if you read this fic pls dm me so we can be embarrassing about it together tbh] -
Nice Things by aideomai - 22k - M ā€œHe kept waiting for the weird shock of touch to not knock him clean out of his head, leave him quiet and warm and happy.ā€ --8th year. harry forms an unlikely friendship with draco that begins with smoking weed on a windowsill. harry is touch-starved and draco touches him like he touches all his close friends - like itā€™s easy. the quiet affection in this fic, the way harry burrows himself into touch bc heā€™s been without it for his entire life. reading this is like being held. -
Running On Air by @tinyhistoryā€‹ - 74k - T ā€œdo you remember when we were eleven?ā€Ā --alexa play coldplayā€™s the scientist itā€™s sad girl hours and weā€™re about to fucking yearn. youā€™ve seen this fic rec on every drarry list under the sun and i'm here to be redundant. the hype is so goddamn real. this story isĀ a lyrical masterpiece held together by lines that act as refrains that will rattle around your brain until you die, probably. dracoā€™s been missing for 3yrs. harry goes to find him. itā€™s their odyssey of homecoming. -
Title of Their Sex TapeĀ by @cibeewastaken - 12k - T ā€œBut Draco, Draco was everything but boring. Draco made sitting in the rain watching an empty house fun.ā€ --auror partners pining and draco being eccentric andĀ harry being very earnestly gay about dracoā€™s eccentricities!! god this fic is so genuinely fun skskd feat. undercover missions, murderous faeries, a book heist, a stunning navy dress, harryā€™s eyelashes. -
How We Throw Our Shadows DownĀ by @thistle-verse - 14k - T ā€œDraco is about to say something elseā€” to thank Potter for what heā€™d done, however poorlyā€” but Harry is smiling at him again, and itā€™s so soft and perfect that Draco holds in any inadequate words, lest he spoil it.ā€ --draco collects tea cozies and of course harry has the one he wants. the sad and tender gays are at it againĀ feat. conversations in the rain at a train station, melancholy Blaise, muggle photos, wizarding e-bay, the Dursleys.Ā  -
Helix by Saras_GirlĀ - 92k - E ā€œDraco sighs in his sleep and Harry clings on to consciousness, needing to hold on, to give this tiny, insignificant moment the attention it deservesā€ --I think maybe you can describe every soft Saras_Girl story as giving tiny, insignificant moments the attention they deserve. like, this is an 8th year fic about snails and itā€™s full of whimsy, grief, compassion, and easy humor. an absolute must-read author in this genre if you want languorous, episodic fics full of distinct OCs and affectionate creatures. - other faves by them: Light up the Night SkyĀ - 98k - M ā€œDraco, sometimes you make my head feel like soupā€ --the one where harry is a fireworks artist and has a pet chameleon named ken. draco is on the wizarding arts council. they both pine like hell. - Headlights in the Snow - 71k - M ā€œthey stare at each other in silence, Harryā€™s heart beating so loud in his chest that he thinks the biddies must be able to hear it over the sound of their card game.ā€ --the one where draco drives the knight bus and carts around the biddy club, a group of rambunctious old ladies who knit and drink tea and gossip. harry canā€™t help but fall in love with the everything about this. -
Follow the WaterĀ by @xanthippe74 - 38k - T ā€œHarryā€™s heavy thoughts lift at the sight, like dark clouds blown away from the sun by the wind. The tent doesnā€™t feel so cramped and stifling now. It feels cozy. And safe. Itā€™s the same feeling that Harry gets when heā€™s at the Burrow for Sunday roasts, when a group of people who care for each other deeply are crammed into too-small a space.ā€ --harry wanders to the lovegood house on a sunday afternoon. heā€™s baffled to see thatĀ lunaā€™s taken pansy, greg, and draco under her wing. what follows is a summer of forest walks, scavenger hunts, gardening, water fights, odd cakes, faerie rings, and picnics. so many picnics. i love the pace of this fic, the innocent return to childhood things, the way luna brings out the best in all her friends. reluctantly soft slytherins are just *chefs kiss*!! -
Going Postal (A 125pg comic) by dustmouth - T what. a. beautiful. ass. comic. the wizarding fashion, the textures, the character design!!Ā harry travels a lot for his job as a resourcer. draco works in the regulations dept. they pine like a bunch of lovesick idiots via field report notes. god i love dustmouthā€™s art. -
All the Earnest Young Men by @tepreā€‹ - 29k - E ā€œDraco is twenty-seven layers of personality wrapped up in drama and humour, and a wit so sharp it still stings when he doesnā€™t see it coming. But there is something below that, too. Something that makes Harry ache just looking at him.ā€ --the way i would lay down my little life forĀ tepreā€™s characterization of draco, whom invented the word earnest. heā€™s a magical art theory expert and portraits are disappearing all over London and harryā€™s the auror assigned to this case. and well. theyā€™re both so very avoidant about how gay they are for each other and itā€™s like!! shutup and kiss!! which they do in fact, shutup and kiss.Ā  -
Trenches by sara_holmes - 3k - M ā€œSomewhere in the distant part of his mind that hasn't frozen solid, he thinks that maybe he and Draco are about to become more than auror partners, smoking buddies, wine-mates and co-inhabitants of a snow filled trench somewhere in western Scotland.ā€ --the plot line here is literallyĀ ā€œitā€™s cold and i need a fucking cigaretteā€ but let me tell you how I never tire of the shared loaded-silences of two emotionally repressed gays. -
The Years Before Love by lomonaaeren - 13k - M ā€œThatā€™s one of the meanings of peace, he thinks, as Hermione hugs him...That he can do things slowly, softly, without worrying that they wonā€™t be there tomorrow.ā€ --andromeda taking harry under her wing and harry finding solace in teddy. narcissa and draco showing up and the tentative relationships that slowly develop in the quiet calm of andromedaā€™s house. found families and kisses in the snow and special xmas gifts ugh whatā€™s not to love -
The Moon Looks Lovely Tonight by Omi_OhmyĀ - 35k - M ā€œI want this to be a house where people are welcome, where they donā€™t have to be any one way or anotherā€ --in whichĀ harry collects lost things--owls, best friends, inept bakers, potions experimenters--and turns the mausoleum that is grimmauld place into a home. feat. your fave drarry tropes like shared-beds and reluctant waltzing partners. -
[part 1: thrillers | part 2: dramas | part 3: soft bois | part 4: wankbanks]
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lifewithdavefarts Ā· 3 years ago
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DaveFarts - Episode 13 ā€œWhen She Finally Leavesā€Ā [Episode List] Dana spends the whole day at Daveā€™s place. When the girl leaves, Tim, whoā€™s now Daveā€™s roommate, finds out how much gas a man can hold in just to not look gross in front of a girl.
When She Finally Leaves
In the last few weeks Iā€™ve been spending more and more nights at Daveā€™s place, whether because I needed a place to work, write my essays, or simply to spend some quality time watching bad films and drinking beer. It was Dave himself to ask me to ā€œmarry himā€ (as he jokingly put it), basically becoming official roommates, which also meant dividing our tasks and obviously splitting the rent.
And honestly we were having a great time. We both had jobs, fortunately, which were not much but they did pay taxes for now and it was overall a great experience. Friend or not, Dave is an excellent roommate, being pretty good at cooking and organising chores; the same could be said for me actually, though in some cases we have our own preferences; for example Dave prefers cooking (the fact that Iā€™m bad at it itā€™s purely coincidental) so we agreed Iā€™ll be the one doing the dishes.
We also had our buds crashing over what is now *our* place a couple of times, which resulted in more bad films and beer, or even nerd stuff such as gaming together. Of course however, the person who most often came over is obviously Dana, Daveā€™s girlfriend. Sheā€™s pretty cool though we donā€™t really hang out with her when Daveā€™s not around, though as I said sheā€™s pretty easy-going.
Tonight weā€™ve been watching a trash movie. Yes, the three of us. Donā€™t worry, I was a welcome addition today. Dave would usually just tell me to leave for a few hours if sex was on the table (sometimes literally on the table, the one where we eat our foodā€¦) as we respect each others enough to just be straightforward whenever we needed some privacy. Tonight however it was just chilling like three friends hanging out together (knowing however that Dave would just give me a signal should things get more heated up you know).
We were in the living room. I was on an armchair, working on my laptop, despite the poor wi-fi. On the long wide couch beside me, Dave and Dana chilling and watching the movie with more attention than me, my budā€™s left arm around his girlfriend, sometimes making remarks on how bad it was. We all had a can of beer, because of course we did.
The couple brought some takeouts for dinner, some fast-food a few blocks from here (Danaā€™s idea, actually, which we were both thankful for). Dave, chilling next to Dana, was wearing his signature casual outfit: a grey shirt and pair of dark blue loose jeans, details that my gay-ass eyes immediately noticed and more than once stared at.
ā€œOh wow the helicopter just blew up Iā€™m speechless.ā€ Dave said, sarcastically.
ā€œA Subversive Masterpiece: thatā€™s what they were going for when they wrote this.ā€ Dana added, and they both chuckled.
I also did my fair share of sarcastic remarks though work got most of my attention, even though it was nothing urgent, just me trying to get some stuff done as fast as possible.
ā€œDid the shark just wink at him?ā€ my bro commented.
ā€œTheyā€™re best friends now.ā€ his girlfriend explained. What a great film.
After 15 more minutes the movie ended with the three of us clapping at a shot of a man and a shark exchanging a look of gratitude to each other, as the Sun set into the never-ending ocean. Drugs played a big role into the making of this move Iā€™m 100% sure.
ā€œWell, that was enlightening, but I gotta head back home. The Uberā€™s almost here.ā€ Dana said, as she got up and reached for her purse and some other stuff.
ā€œYouā€™re really sure about that? Come on, stay here for the night.ā€ Dave suggested. ā€œI taught Tim to play dead. We can throw food at him.ā€ he then joked.
ā€œI can also bring you the newspaper upstairs, tomorrow morning.ā€ I played along.
Dana chuckled in response. ā€œIā€™m sure youā€™ll win the next contest you two, but I gotta wake up super early tomorrow.ā€
The couple walked towards the front door. The entrance was next to the living room, a few steps behind the couch. Dave and I sometimes darkly joked that any assassin could easily ambush us because whenever weā€™re on the couch anyone could sneak into the house behind us, with enough care (we then prefer to drink about it).
ā€œCall me when you get home.ā€ Dave said and the two shared a quick kiss.
In the meantime I moved on the bigger (and more comfortable) couch, more or less in Danaā€™s spot, as I also have better wi-fi reception there. I left my laptop on the small table in front of me because apparently all of my laptops have to be shitty and take some time to even the most basic stuff. As I inspected the wi-fi icon flashing on the screen, I heard Dave shutting the door and walking back to the couch. After a few steps his tall figure was already towering over me.
ā€œYeah the reception is pretty bad lately.ā€ he commented, and then collapsed next to me.
Only a few seconds and he already had that well-known smirk drawn on his face; he then quickly adjusted his position. He completely laid down, extended his demin-clad legs, with his left one resting on the back of the couch, ending right behind my neck. In a moment, Dave ended up showing off his loose, almost-sagging jeans-clad ass directly next to me, as his legs trapped me into a gentle yet strong grip. Seeing both that ā€œwallā€ made of jeans and my broā€™s smirk at the same time was a sight I never truly got used to. He was just lying there, next to me, with his ass pointed at me, as if it was one big prank, even though he knew exactly how much I enjoyed that.
ā€œBro youā€™re ready?ā€ he asked, still sporting that smirk.
When even Dave goes as far as asking me if Iā€™m ready, then I knew that the fart was going to be gargantuan. And I realized why: Dana has been with us and my bro the entire day, so itā€™s possible that Dave just held all of his gas in for hours. We all experienced this, then when the girl leaves, men get to ā€œrelaxā€. Other than that, Dave had tons of beer and junk food. I stared at that denim butt, for the first time almost scared of what my bud was capable of; I knew a fart was coming, and I knew it was going to be big.
But what Dave said next really once again confirmed how chill he is around me.
ā€œBelieve me: you might want to get closer for this one.ā€ he said, laughing a bit.
He sported weirdly reassuring smile, Daveā€™s millionth attempt at saying ā€œItā€™s ok, Tim.ā€ as he probably noticed now nervous I became when he assumed that pose.
The teasing bastard then went full bully on me and simply reached for my head with his long right arm and gently pulled me down, as if I was bowing to that still silent denim-clad ass. I just heard him laugh like an idiot, as it usually happens. Despite my head being down and in front of that ass, I could still see Daveā€™s face and that smirk. He raised his eyebrows and half-closed his eyes as he started pushing, but he didnā€™t need to put all that effort into ripping that blast.
Itā€™s like the fart was barely contained in the first place: it immediately exploded with a loud sound right into my face. Dave closed his eyes and kept his smirk as the blast probably surprised him as well. It was low-pitched and dry, a completely natural gas-eruption that sounded like an engine. The stench was unbearable, a mixture of beer and junk food, surprise to no one.
While farting, Dave adjusted his position as bit, spreading his legs bit more, with my face getting almost planted into that denim-clad butt as he effortlessly kept ripping that immense flatulence. Hours and hours of gas being erupted as if I was in front of a dormant volcano that just woke up. And I feared that ā€œhoursā€ was what he was going for ā€˜cause after 20 seconds the fart didnā€™t even lose power.
Dave still had this smirk drawn on his face and occasionally stared down at me as he completely destroyed my face and nose with his incredible farting skills, skills that constantly let me speechless, fetish or not. He was the fart master, a showoff with a manly talent that I could only bow to and endure in the hop-
ā€œSorry, I forgot my house keys.ā€
The fart immediately stopped and it all went silent: It was Dana.
Dave turned his head to his girlfriend, greeting her with the stupidest smile you can think of.
ā€œOh stay there no worries, theyā€™re right here.ā€ I heard Dana say as she reached for keys, probably hanging right next to the door, my face still almost planted in my friendā€™s denim ass. That felt surreal.
I completely froze (not that I could move) but I knew that she couldnā€™t see me (just like I couldnā€™t see her) as I was lying down. All she could see from where she was standing was Daveā€™s head and his right leg resting on the back of the couch, since the entrance was behind our couch.
I was terrified, while Dave was doing his best not laugh like an idiot.
ā€œWhatā€™s so funny?ā€ Dana asked, laughing a bit herself, definitely noticing her boyfriend being weird.
My teasing bro quickly glanced down at me, almost losing it (and still holding holding the fart in, which didnā€™t stop the smell from burning my nostrils).
ā€œN-nothingā€™ā€ he stuttered. Thatā€™s it, he was gonna laugh like an idiot.
ā€œOkayā€ I heard Dana, not really convinced of the boyfriendā€™s answer though.
There was a moment of awkward silence and then we heard a car honk, thank goodness.
ā€œOhā€¦ itā€™s my Uber. Bye!ā€ the girl said, quickly leaving the house and shutting the door behind her.
Another moment of silence followed, Dave still staring at the entrance. I was shaking, I was legitimately scared that someone was gonna find out, which was weird given the hotness I was experiencing in that moment, even without the fart being ripped.
ā€œOkā€¦ where were we?ā€ Dave asked, turning back to me, with a smirk. ā€œOh yeah!ā€
And he effortlessly resumed farting, just as loud, proud and powerful as it was before the interruption, directly into my face. The terror I experienced moments before was blown away by that incredibly blast and me being rock-hard, as it usually happens when Dave showoffs his gassy talent around me, or on me.
Dozens of seconds passed and at this point Dave just played along. He nodded at me, faking a serious expression, as if he was listening to something actually interesting instead of his own loud fart still going on strong; after about ten more seconds he checked the time on his wrist-watch and acted surprised, then stared down at me as if he wanted to say ā€œdamn that is long!ā€. We both however actually lost the track of time and he simply relaxed as if I wasnā€™t even in front of his ass, all while the fart was still being blasted in my face.
Dave then reached for my head again and gently pushed it inches closer to his roaring ass, and I felt the vibrations of his rip all over my face: it was literally an earthquake.
How long was it lasting? More than 1 minute perhaps? How much gas can a man hold in? Dave certainly was pushing for a record. All I knew is that I felt privileged witnessing that, even though I was beyond being a mere witness since no particle of gas missed my eyes and nostrils.
However (finally, actually), the fart seemingly started to lose power, the once-continuous sound starting to ā€œstutterā€ and turning more into a fast series of loud farts, fired back-to-back. The show (because thatā€™s what it was: a show) ended with a loud, 5 seconds blast, and Daveā€™s laughter.
I slowly got up, sweaty, my nose burning, with a startled look to which my bro reacted with another immature cackle. I was now sitting next to him as I was before, and looked back at my bud, who in the meantime re-adjusted his pose. He was still lying down, still kind of showing off his loose-sagging ass, but in a less ā€œmenacingā€ way: now he was just chilling.
ā€œWhenā€™s Dana coming over again?ā€ I joked. I mustered all the courage I had left to say that. I was impressed by the fact that I could still speak considering that all of my blood probably flooded my boner at that point.
Dave laughed at that lame joke, thank goodness. ā€œAs if I need Dana to blast you like this.ā€
He raised one leg, again showing off his sagging denim ass in my direction. He quickly sucked some air in and after a few moments and weird noises a loud 6 seconds fart erupted. For his standards, thatā€™s basically a weak one.
My friend just casually joking and bragging about facefarting me and then farting on command to prove it made me lose it, as I felt my bonerā€¦ dampening. He didnā€™t notice it but he knew that I had a hard-on, thatā€™s for sure.
I didnā€™t want to just rush into the bathroom so I just stared at my laptop, still on the table, in front of me: the wi-fi signal was stronger than ever. I jokingly like to think that Daveā€™s blast was so powerful it actually influenced the signal somehow and improved it.
I turned to my bud, still lying on his side of the couch, just checking his phone and beingā€¦ casually hot.
ā€œThanks man.ā€ I said, not for the wi-fi though.
He lowered his phone, revealing a blank reaction ā€œReally?ā€ he said, rolling his eyes, with a bored expression. ā€œStop being cringe and do the dishes.ā€
Fuck, I totally forgot about those. We had takeout food but we still used some of our dishes. I immediately got up and rushed to the kitchen, hoping that Dave was distracted by his phone enough to not notice by boner through my sweatpants.
Once in the kitchen, a place that wasnā€™t tainted by Daveā€™s gas, my nostrils could still feel my broā€™s fart-stench. Thatā€™s how soaked up in his gas I was. Even my ears needed some time to adjust to the silence, now that I didnā€™t have a deafening fart being ripped right into my skull.Ā 
And I just knew that this wasnā€™t the last time this was gonna happen. Iā€™m Daveā€™s roommate, and being roomies means we have to divide our tasks: heā€™s the farter, Iā€™m the sniffer.
End of Episode 13
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gay-otlc Ā· 4 years ago
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Keepers Of The Chaos (Chapter 1)
The first chapter of the Tumblr KOTLC Fandom Fandom story is here!
Summary: Tam, Linh, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz are part of the tiny fandom for Keeper of the Chaos, and Tam and Linh's podcast convinces some of their other friends to watch it as well. The group finds themselves strangely invested in this show, where students at Tumblr High School who work together to write about an elf named Sophia, cause incomprehensible chaos, and fight their rival Pinterest High School.
Content warnings: Cursing
Word count: 1204
Read on AO3
Linh leans into the microphone. "Welcome to the Twins of the Chaos podcast," she says.
"Where some chaotic twins discuss our favorite show, Keepers of the Chaos," adds Tam. He tugs at his silver tipped bangs. "I'm Tam, and my sister's Linh, and today, we're going to be talking about why you should watch KOTC. Now, if you're one of our five regular listeners, you've probably already seen it, but feel free to share this with a friend or relative to convince them to watch this show!"
Smiling, Linh takes the microphone back and continues. "In this show, there's a group of very, very chaotic friends who all go to Tumblr High School together. As soon as they return after New Year's, their principal informs the school of a writing competition taking place between high schools, with other opportunities for extras like drawing or animation. Every member of the winning team gets a free scholarship to an arts school the characters all want to go to, but don't like their chances of getting in normally or paying, so they sign up. Through the nine episode season, taking place over the month of January, the characters in the writing competition start on the premise, get sidetracked, come up with some truly horrifying ideas, write some gay short stories, and, as the title promises, act very chaotic."
"Now, the writing prompt that the group has to build on is kind of... fuckin' weird," Tam says, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "They have to write about a girl named Sophia, who's twelve years old and can read minds, who meets a teal- yes, teal- eyed boy named Finn, who tells her she's an elf. Then, she travels to the elf world, where she struggles a bit at elf school, makes friends with some other elves, learns that she is an illegal creation of a rebel group called the Dark Duck, and another rebel group- the Rarelynoticed- tries to kidnap and kill Sophia and her friend Deck. And yes, we're aware that the names are shitty but the characters in the show really get into mocking them, so that's an upside."
Linh laughs a little at the names. "There are a lot of rebels, you might have noticed," she adds.
Tam nods. "Yeah, I noticed. There are a lot of rebels because their government sucks. There's a council of twelve really old elves, and only two of them are alright, then one of those two dies, and then one of the previously bad ones turns good."
"The characters in the show were given a very detailed list of worldbuilding, plot, and character details. We don't have to read the whole thing, though- they just consult it when it's relevant."
"But writing about Sophia and the Dark Duck isn't the only plot of KOTC, thankfully. We also get to see the competitors writing Dark Duck interact with one another and have fun. It makes connections to real life events- mainly through Bernie Sanders memes, but whatever. Bernie Sanders memes are funny."
"Bernie Sanders memes are funny," says Linh, nodding seriously. "And yes. There are some romantic ships in there- like Amelia and Akki, or Shai/Lynn/Tater, but there are also close friendships, and you get to see the group bond over their shared desire to get the scholarship, and their collective love of chaos, so the more platonic aspect is definitely given screen time as well."
"Which, given how often shows center only on romance, is really great," Tam agrees.
"The show also does really incredibly with including diverse characters. Pretty much none of them are both straight and cis, and most of them are neither."
Tam grins. "Right, and no one really makes a big deal about it. They mention it when relevant, of course, and some have homophobic parents, but they have depth beyond getting the authors ally cookies or whatever. Everyone uses correct pronouns, or apologizes when they screw up, and everyone's pronouns are validated no matter how 'weird' or 'confusing' it might be."
"The show also has a lot of good religious diversity, with quite a few Jewish characters, who make sure it's very clear that they're Jewish."
"Yeah, one of the characters- Shai- starts a movement to turn all the Sophia and the Dark Duck characters Jewish as well."
"It doesn't succeed, but good job to aer for trying," Linh says, sighing sadly.
They fall silent for a little while as Tam checks their episode outline, scribbled in Linh's rather illegible handwriting. "Linh, what the fuck does this say?"
Brow furrowing, Linh asks "You can't read my handwriting?"
"No, I can't!"
She sighs. "It very clearly says 'great characters- discuss,'" she huffs.
"Yeah, no one can read your handwriting. Also, we should probably cut this out when we edit."
Linh nods. "Probably, yeah."
Tam leans in closer to the microphone and starts speaking into it again. "The competition has fifty something participants- fifty two, was it?" He looks to Linh for confirmation, who nods again. "Fifty two. But somehow, all of the characters have their own distinct personalities and stories and interests, and they're shown as complex human beings."
"Yeah, that's always been my favorite part of the show. The characters are just so interesting. Canon manages to focus on them a lot more than I would have thought possible, but it still doesn't give us all the details- since it has to balance so many people, it can't spend a long time focusing on just one- so there's a lot of room for speculation in the fandom. Some get noticeably more or less focus than others. Like, Lynn and her fiancees get kind of a lot, while I wish some of my favorite characters like Specs or Charlene got a bit more screen time. But everyone gets some, no one gets too many, and the fandom is there to fill in the gaps!"
"Yeah, and the fandom is fantastic," says Tam. "There aren't a whole lot of us, which we wish would change because the show is really great, but we're a good fandom to be in. There's not usually a lot of discourse, and there are so many talented people making content. lordofthesnuggles's theories for season two are always so detailed and logical that I lowkey suspect he writes for the show, and thehunkiestofhunkyhair makes fantastic fanart."
Snapping her fingers, Linh exclaims. "Oh, and les-biana has the best fanfictions."
Tam coughs, and mutters "Yeah, you like Biana's fanfictions."
"Oh, like you're any different with Keefe," Linh huffs.
There aren't any visuals, so no listeners of the podcast can prove Tam was blushing. "Anyway, the first- and currently only- season starts with everyone signing up for the competition, no idea what they're in for, and ended with half of them wearing sleeping masks with teal eyes painted on and the other half watching the chaos with mild amusement. It's entertaining as fuck, and very well written, so do go check it, recommend it to your friends, let Keepers of the Chaos take over the world, whatever you like."
"Thanks for listening to the Twins of the Chaos podcast, and have an amazing day!" Linh finishes, and she stops recording.
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finaledenialist Ā· 4 years ago
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so in one of your asks you said you dont think cas was in love with dean since the beginning and idk its interesting to me because everyone seem to think he was from the start so what is your take on that? idk im just curious haha
ohhh I wanted to make a post about this so thanks for asking!
disclaimer: I donā€™t want to rain on anyoneā€™s parade I just have a different take on this whole thing!!!Ā 
So. I see people are like: OMG he was in love ALL THIS TIME SINCE 4x01 and I am like: no.Ā 
Was he lost since he laid his hand on Dean in hell? Yes. Was he instantly in love? Nah.
See, Cas in season 4 and 5 is starting to feel. He is conflicted, he is questioning, he doesnā€™t haveĀ ā€˜people skillsā€™, he is confused by what he feels, he knows there is aĀ ā€˜profound bondā€™ between him and Dean and he is rebelling for Dean, because Dean has a point and Cas feels Dean is right and apocalypse and destruction are wrong, and this human is so humanĀ and he never had that connection before. Add the sexual innuendos, the eye fucking and the tension between those two and this is what i callĀ ā€˜classic destielā€™. I do have a strong feeling this is partly Jensenā€™s and Mishaā€™s fault though haha but I am also convinced that the jokes likeĀ ā€˜Cas, get out of my ass!ā€™/ā€™Blow me Casā€™ are purely forĀ ā€˜comedic purposesā€™ because haha gayĀ so funny (keep in mind itā€™s still 2008/2009 and things were so different then BUT we still got Endverse which had not only sexual stuff implied but romantic as well -Ā ā€˜all we have left, Dean and I, is each other, if Dean says itā€™s time to go in a blaze of glory, so be itā€™ (I am writing this from memory so these might not have been exact lines but you know what I am talking about).
And then in season 6 and 7 is where things start to get romantic.Ā ā€˜I watched you rake leavesā€™, Deanā€™s blind faith that no, Cas canā€™t be working with Crowley behind their backs because come on itā€™s CasĀ and the whole 6x20 episode is *chiefā€™s kiss* and then season 7 and Cas dies to make things right and Dean keeps his trenchcoat and moves it from every car they have been using that season to always have it with him because part of me always believed youā€™d come back. OK, but I was meant to be talking mostly about Casā€™ point of view. Which takes me back to 7x23 and Iā€™d rather have you, cursed or not. I think these words had a major impact on Cas. Something just clicked. Because he realized that he could say these exact same words to Dean and they still would be true.Ā 
And then we got season 8 which was a major shift and it really moved stuff fromĀ ā€˜sexual tensionā€™ toĀ ā€˜romantic tensionā€™ and itā€™s still calledĀ ā€˜season fanfictionā€™ because I wanted to keep them away from you in purgatory and Cas generally not feeling worthy of anything but I think this is when he started to realize that what he feels is not likeĀ ā€˜brotherly friendshipā€™ but something much deeper but he had his issues (I donā€™t deserve to be saved from purgatory thing) so he kind of kept it buried. But this was when the Real Love really started. But did he admit it to himself? Well I am not in Casā€™ head but something must have been on his mind - Naomi had access too his mind and she immediately recognized that there is a certain Feeling that is dangerous and Cas needs to be fucking lobotomized (I still have shivers thinking about it). Did Naomi knew it was love? Idk, but she felt something was going on - that is why she tried to mess things up between Dean and Cas (I only wish he felt the same way ouch my heart....) and Metatron also recognized it, quicker and better (maybe because he spent much more time on earth and was generally a little more powerful and knowing as the scribe of God) and he immediately used Casā€™ grace to banish angels from heaven because Cas was feeling love for a human. But did he, himself recognized it as love? Did he admit it to himself? I still have a feeling that no. I still think that hisĀ ā€˜I donā€™t knowā€™ after Deanā€™sĀ ā€˜What broke the connection?ā€™ was honest.
Now let me fast forward to season 12, because this post is getting too long already and while seasons 9-11 had some good episodes and even good destiel scenes I feel this was the time many people - rightly so - were starting to lose faith in canon destiel, starting with Dean not letting Cas stay in the bunker in season 9 and bros acting like they only call Cas when they need him. I repeat - there were still some good episodes, even great ones. And we were shown Cas worried about Dean and being there for him anytime Dean called, there was so much pining but once again let me raise The Question: did Cas know what he was feeling was love? Or was he still confused, not letting himself believe, not being able to name his own feelings and emotions? And this is merely my opinion but this is also time where many people started to be bitter and negative by how writers treated Cas (and other characters in general but I am not gonna dive into that dumpster now, especially the Cas-having-sex-with-a-reaper thing which was awful, but in retrospect is even more awful because if it was Chuckā€™s writing this seems like some kind of sick attempt to do a conversion therapy and I want to throw up; plus he thought? he was into his boss at gasā€™nā€™sip and he thought she was into him and what even was it if not a. bad writing; b. Cas being confused; c. Cas being confused about this bad writing).
So season 12. First of all 12x12, when Cas thought he is gonna die and the infamous lineĀ ā€˜I love you. I love all of youā€™ happened. IĀ  am 100% sure this is when Cas realized. This must have prompted questions for him. Why did I say what I said?Ā He blurted those words out but why like that? Aaaand after some thinking I think he realized why. He mustā€™ve been likeĀ ā€˜oooopsā€™. But then Jack was about to be born and he had to protect Kelly and then he died.
And then he is in the Empty who says - I know who you love, I know what you fear, there is nothing for you out there. She doesnā€™t know shit, she just has access to Casā€™ mind and apparently those were his thoughts, already at that time, he thought there was nothing for him out there (again, his depression issues) BUT THEN CAS, MY SWEET CAS, THIS BAD ASS MOTHERFUCKER says fuck you Empty in one of his best monologues (before 15x18 Iā€™d say it was his best but here we are) and she yeets him out, because HE decided HE is already saved and he doesnā€™t need a permission and you can preen and you can scream and yell and remind me of my failings but somehow, I'm awake. And I will stay awake and I will keep you awake until we both go insane. I will fight you. Fight you and fight you for... ever. For eternity.Ā 
And then Jack dies and he takes the humiliating deal.Ā  And now weā€™re at 15x18 and he says:Ā ā€˜I have always wondered.... ever since I took that burden.... What my true happiness can even look like... Because the one thing I want is the one thing I canā€™t haveā€™. SEE THESE WORDS HERE ARE WHY I CANā€™T SLEEP AT NIGHT. BECAUSE THEY IMPLY at least to me THAT:
1. He was aware of his feelings, he knew what he felt was love at the time he took the deal. and after that he was likeĀ ā€˜I guess I am immortal nowā€™ because the one thing I want is the one thing I canā€™t have so nothing else is going to make him truly happy; this also implies that there is only one thing he truly wants and the rest is just not that important, whatever else happens wonā€™t make him happy which is heartbreaking;
2. He knew what he wanted, so this means that at some point he wondered, he imagined, he took his time to picture the ā€˜thingā€™ he wanted. Which is life with Dean. Because he is in love. LIKE HE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, HE REALLY DID AND HE CONCLUDED THAT THIS IS OUT OF HIS REACH (now people argue if that is because he thinks itā€™s unrequited or because he thinks that something something hunter life-fighting all the time-no attachments lifestyle wonā€™t allow them to have this sort of life - and frankly, knowing that he learned everything, or almost everything about emotions from Dean, who isnā€™t really good at them, I am not surprised if he is sure that this feeling is one-sided, because maybe he conquered his fears in the Empty the first time around but taking the deal must have made him anxious and Chuck still calls him self-hating so he probably thinks this is one-sided and he is unworthy of love anyway);
3. He tried to imagine different scenarios that would make him happy but eventually it all came down to That One True Scenario, out of his reach, that couldnā€™t compare with anything else, and he tells Jack - you know about that deal, itā€™s ok, I donā€™t see myself becoming happy anytime soon AND IT HURTSSS
so to conclude and tl;dr - I think Cas realized that what he was feeling was love after 12x12 although he felt it before but might have been confused by it. I do not think he was ~in love~ since 4x01. There was tension and there was pining but no. This feeling evolved, it didnā€™t *just* happen in the barn.Ā 
also i am so sorry this took so long but i have thoughts and feelings and canā€™t form a coherent sentence since november 5th anyway thanks for asking nonny, ily!!!!
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white-queen-lacus Ā· 3 years ago
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Frederica and Homura as potential love interests?
Ok, before writing this post, I must admit that this thought has been wandering in my mind for some time and I will do my best to be as analytical as I can in the explanation. First of all, I've truly and wholeheartedly supported Shinkane since season 1 and I am sure that before or after, they will be endgame (in Psycho Pass' meaning, well... offscreen if we're lucky enough), so this post is just an attempt to see what is happening.
Let's make a premise: PP3, among all the seasons of PP, is the one that addressed romance in a more evident way, somehow. Not that it is a priority and it's fair as it is, since the focus of the series is basically human nature and its reaction to a world dominated by AI, but among the three seasons, PP3 caressed the topic. Not that it wasn't already addressed in the previous installments (Shion and Yayoi, Kaori's wedding, Akane's growing fascination, and not-so-well-hidden attraction and love for Kougami, Mika and her schoolmate, just to say), but starting with Sinners of the System, something else happened. Masaoka and Sae, Sugo and his friend's wife (tell me whatever, but he seemed to care a little bit too much and I found something similar in Arata's behavior towards Maiko)... and in season 3, the already mentioned Arata, both with Maiko (the hospital scene) and Karina, but also with Irie and Mao (I loved the whole music box scene) and Mao *not-so-well-hidden* fancying Kei. Did I mention the brief and glorious Shinkane's scenes? The cherry blossoms in First Inspector screamed "LOVE" in caps lock.
Well, ladies first, so let's talk about the mysterious and glamorous agent of the SAD: Hanashiro Frederica. When her character was revealed, all of us (or at least, the majority) thought that she could be a potential threat or a possible enemy. So far, it seems that apart from bigger fanservice than all the girls in PP, a still-secret agenda, and the fact that she managed to recruit Kougami, Gino and Sugo in her team (as well as granting them some privileges), there isn't any evidence that she could be an enemy. Yes, the whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs/SAD goals and mission aren't clear, that's why I hope we might get PP4 or a dedicated special, in order to understand more about them and her apparently personal motivations too. Now... thanks to the lovely @kumapillow who kindly translated the SAD extra chapter, something made me wonder. I already said in another post that Frederica seems to have a soft spot for Kougami. Just a few words about Kougami. So far, with the exception of the novels, where his feelings are clearer, he's never shown particular interest in women (or relationships in general). In the profiling book, it's said that he doesn't remember his first love, but it's also said that he would let Sybil choose for him once the time comes, until the movie updated version when it's said that his favorite type of girl is a companion who can keep up a conversation. Considering that in season 1 he was revenge-driven and Makishima-absorbed, romance was practically out of question (also, if we consider that he's been a workaholic since he was an Inspector, I'm not this impressed if he never had a proper relationship). Complete silence in season 2, then in the movies he said that wherever he goes, he's punctually involved in some conflict, aka... no time for romance again (for ghost!Makishima's joy). I read sometimes that the fact that he declined Shion's advances in episode 18 with the sentence "I don't think we are each others' type" was eloquent about his sexuality, since he probably is gay or bi, at least. I don't think he is, but simply, being the kind person he is, Kougami just found a colloquial way to remember Shion where her heart truly laid (and in the novel, it's more obvious). No surprise, during the fight against Rutaganda, when the mercenary said that listening to Kougami made him happy like he was listening to some Wagner's piƩce, Kougami promptly answers that he could have rather listened to those words from a glamorous beauty than from him (he used the word "bijin" there). I won't mention all the Shinkane subtle of the movie, but it was truly obvious how things had changed for Akane and Kougami and what could have been happened if the mercenaries hadn't come. Case 3 shows that his relationship with the fair sex still hasn't progressed this much... though I LOVED Kougami's interactions with Tenzing and the teasing of the little girl who said that he reminded her of her dad (ok, that's progress, since in a radio drama both he and Gino made a small child crying because of their idiocy) and I headcanon that in the years past Case 3 Kou had some chances to hear back from Tenzing (because of MoFA and Frederica's care), when it comes to the blonde colleague... I guess that things haven't changed this much. Now, so far, Kougami has NEVER shown any sign of reciprocating Frederica's possible feelings, but it seems that he's the only one who knows how to cheer her up or to understand her. Coming back to Frederica, after this digression, that's the core: she technically has all the qualities Kougami would possibly need. She's a glamorous beauty (hello there, reference to the gekijouban). She's a companion who could keep up a conversation. This point is trickier, because the conversation under the moonlight (now that it comes to my mind, it was also said that if he ever had to set a date, he would probably talk about work or taking somebody to stargaze), which largely reminds me of his conversation with Akane in the movie (I'm talking about the structure of the scene in general), shows that
Frederica too is perfectly able to lecture Kougami and pull the shits out of him about his true motives for keeping on traveling, she's been interested in him since the lessons with professor Saiga, but also... the fact that she mentioned his mother, I think was some kind of a rehash of the novel version of the conversation between Akane and Kou. I was under the impression that Ubukata and Shiotani were trying to test the waters... Also, Frederica is a skilled fighter, she has a no-nonsense attitude and she's pretty harsh in what she says, but she's also friendly, humorous, and caring (the days they spent together with Tenzing). Then the renowned scene of the two of them making the deal... ok, I need to admit that in the beginning, I didn't see it as malicious, neither I do it now, but... mhhh... sharing the same bottle of water to make a deal... well... kinda intimate, right? Not that Kougami made a fuss, but Frederica was... pleased? After all, she didn't do any of this with Sugo (also, her approach to him was more formal) and we still don't know how she recruited Gino (I think it happened because of Kougami, after Akane's demotion)... I don't know, but it seems to me that her approach toward Kougami (at least in Case 3 and in the manga extras) is more personal... after all, when she approached him the first time, she was quite intrigued, since she wanted to take a look at the face of a celebrity like him (all said while pleasantly smiling). The extra chapter shows that while Gino and Sugo's efforts to help their chief were wasted (not for us who read), only Kougami's proposal was well received by her. Shooting like in a guerrilla field... after all, Frederica is a tough one (just like Akane) and Kougami knows it very well... like Gino adds at the end, she's definitely a female version of him, but she also is somebody able to kick Kou's glorious ass (just like Akane). Now, time will say where the truth is, but I feel like that if Ubukata and Shiotani keep on following the route "there's a deep respect and a bond which goes beyond love and romance between Shinkane... and also Kougami doesn't see Akane in that way", and instead they choose to spice things up (but I don't think so) Frederica might be the one chosen. Luckily enough, our dear former Enforcer seems to have chosen the celibate warrior monk route, but I'm still sure that things can change and in the end, the most natural outcome will be Shinkane. Well... since the post has become longer than I expected, I'll write another time of Shizuka and Akane, but thanks for reading until now!
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veeranger Ā· 5 years ago
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So you want to watch Precure!
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(Google Docs VersĀ & Changelog)
Maybe you follow people who like it, maybe you just love magical girls and never got into Precure, but there are over a dozen seasons and you donā€™t know how to jump in. Never fear, this masterpost is here to give you a rundown of Precure, and hopefully by the end youā€™ll have an idea of where you want to start.Ā 
What Is Precure?
Precure (short for Pretty Cure) is a Toei Animation franchise started in 2004 and has been on the air nonstop since then. Itā€™s a magical girl franchise, yā€™know like sailor moon or ojamajo doremi or other such shows. The main demographic is children so you donā€™t have to worry about any weird ā€œfanserviceā€ or panty shots or anything nasty like that, itā€™s very G rated.Ā 
What Are The Shows About?
In a general sense, Precure is about a team of 2-6 middle school age magical girls fighting bad guys and giant monsters and saving the world on a weekly basis with pretty outfits and big flashy finishers and the power of love and friendship. Each season follows a pretty standard formula (toku fans should be pretty familiar with it for the most part), and each season is around 48-50 episodes long.Ā 
In keeping with this toku-esque formula, most seasons will feature mid season additions to the cast, in the form of new precure heroes. For the sake of not spoiling these shows, these mid season cures will not be mentioned in our plot overviews unless they appear extremely early or something like that. Just know that almost every season will feature an additional cure joining the team later in the show.Ā 
Additionally, every season has at least one movie, these days thereā€™s usually two per season. Usually youā€™ll find the movies are a standalone self-contained romp, and a crossover movie with the preceding seasons, with a focus on the most recent 2-3 teams. These movies might as well exist in a continuity of their own, and have absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, save for one except which Iā€™ll mention when we get to that season.Ā 
Why Should I Watch Precure?
Because itā€™s good. Itā€™s a really stellar franchise with a ton of content and genuinely engaging characters and stories. Also this isnā€™t your momā€™s magical girl show, these girls throw punches, and kicks, and big lasers. Precure is pretty well known for being extremely hands on with its combat compared to other magical girl shows, though donā€™t expect the same kind of fights youā€™d find in kamen rider or anything. Also a main draw for a lot of people is the amount of gay subtext in, frankly, every season. While thereā€™s only one season with an explicitly confirmed gay relationship between two cures, every season has varying levels of subtext between cures, itā€™s pretty cool. We wonā€™t discuss the subtext in every season overview but trust us, itā€™s in there.Ā 
What Show Should I Start With?
It doesnā€™t actually matter which season you watch, every season is a new setting and with new characters and set in a new world (except for two sequel seasons iā€™ll explain later), so youā€™re free to watch whatever you want in any order! Weā€™re going to spend the rest of this post talking about each season to give you, the beloved reader, a glimpse at what each season has to uniquely offer. Donā€™t worry, thereā€™s no spoilers down there.Ā 
Futari Wa Precure (We Are Pretty Cure) & Futari Wa Precure Max Heart
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The original precure show that aired in 2004, and even received an english dub. Misumi Nagisa is a star lacrosse player living a normal life until one day a shooting star she wishes on turns out to be a fairy that careens right into her room, or rather, smacks her right in the face. The fairy, named Mepple, explains he comes from the Garden of Light, another world thatā€™s been taken over by the evil Dark King and his Dark Zone in order to capture the Prism Stones, a number of heart shaped crystals that, if collected, could give Dark King the power to destroy not only the Garden of Light but also the Garden of Rainbows, Earth itself. Meanwhile, Yukishiro Honoka finds a box in her grandmotherā€™s shed containing an item just like the one that smacked Nagisa in the face, and inside is the fairy Mipple, who explains the situation to Honoka. The two fairies, seeking to be reunited, drag Nagisa and Honoka along and the four of them end up meeting up, but are attacked by an emissary of the Dark Zone. Mepple and Mipple grant the confused duo the power to transform into the warriors of legend, Precure. As Cure Black and Cure White, Nagisa and Honoka manage to fight off their attacker and protect their new fairy partners. The girls are then more or less dragged into the battle against the Dark Zone, as the only hope for both Gardens, they fulfill their duty as legendary warriors despite their hesitations and desires to go back to being normal teenagers.
Futari Wa doesnā€™t exactly have any major themes to speak of, itā€™s just your standard magical girl vs evil bad guys kind of thing, forgive it for being the first season. What it does have to offer is the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, as well as the action in fight scenes. The girls donā€™t start the season as best friends, in fact they barely even know each otherā€™s names when theyā€™re first flung together. It takes a few episodes and a major fight between the girls for them to really start opening up to each other, but soon enough they become inseparable and support each other in everything they do. Itā€™s clear, especially near the end, that the girls cling to each other for support and strength in the face of the increasingly overwhelming odds they face as the Dark Zone gains strength. Itā€™s very compelling to see their relationship deepen in the early season and see how deep their bonds truly go near the end.Ā 
Futari Wa received a sequel show, Futari Wa Precure Max Heart, picking up the story where it left off in the first seasonā€™s finale. Honoka and Nagisa are still the main characters, and theyā€™re still fighting the Dark Zone, but this time theyā€™re joined by a mysterious girl named Hikari, who can transform into Shiny Luminous, not a precure but precure-ish. This time the girls are trying to recover the heart and soul of the Queen of the Garden of Light, before the Dark Zone can recover and destroy the queen in her weakened state. Also their precure costumes have changed slightly.Ā 
The first season (that is to say, not max heart) is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll
Futari Wa Precure Splash Star
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Hyuuga Saki (Cure Bloom), a tomboy who loves playing softball, and Mishou Mai (Cure Egret), a quiet transfer student and aspiring artist, meet each other by chance one day under the Sky Tree, where they discover two creatures from the Land of Fountains named Flappy and Choppy. The two girls transform into the legendary Precure and are tasked with restoring Princess Filia and the Seven Holy Fountains, which were sapped of their power by the evil forces of Dark Fall.
Splash Star's main theme is the appreciation of nature. The main focus is on the girls rediscovering their relationships with their town and the nature and people in it. You get to meet a whole cast of characters in their community, who have a lot of heart and charm behind their writing and the show does a good job of getting you genuinely invested in their stories.
Unfortunately the romance in Splash Star isnā€™t much better than Futari Wa's (sorry to any Fujimura/Kazuya fans), but the main girls themselves are so engaging that it's easy to ignore. The villains are pretty goofy, but entertaining if you can accept that the show doesnā€™t take itself very seriously. There are two villains in the latter half of the season that really stand out, though. Without spoiling too much, I can promise you their character arcs will tear at your heartstrings in the best way.
If you've watched Futari wa Precure, Splash Star will probably feel familiar. Although it's the first "reboot" series in the franchise with completely new characters, Toei overall played it safe and Saki and Mai in many ways still feel like "Nagisa and Honoka 2.0". Splash Star is different in enough other ways to make the show stand on its own merits, but if you watch it immediately after Futari wa you might find yourself feeling some deja vu. Personally, I think it's interesting to see what Splash Star builds on and explores when compared to Futari wa, since it has many of the same themes and character archetypes but they play out quite differently.
Yes! Precure 5 & Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!
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Nozomi is a cheerful, carefree girl, but she doesnā€™t have a dream. One day she meets a hot guy and finds a mysterious item called the Dream Collet, capable of granting any wish once all the fairies known as Pinkies are gathered inside it, in the school library. She discovers that the hot guy is actually a tanuki from Palmier Kingdom named Coco, and that the Kingdom has been destroyed by the Nightmare. Cocoā€™s dream is to restore his kingdom using the Dream Collet, and Nozomi decides to make it hers as well.Ā 
Sheā€™s joined by her jock friend Rin, Urara, an aspiring actress, Komachi, a writer, and the rich student council president Karen. Together they form Yes Sentai Fiveranger Yes Precure 5 and work together to prevent Nightmare from obtaining the Dream Collet before they can gather all the Pinkies. They also save Cocoā€™s ā€œā€ā€ā€ā€ā€friendā€ā€ā€ā€ā€ā€ā€ and fellow hot guy squirrel, Nuts, and he joins them as the second mascot/handsome love interest.
The theme of Yes is dreams and heterosexual furry romance. It pulls off the dreams part very nicely. The het furry romance is bad, mostly because Coco is Nozomiā€™s teacher at school and also her love interest. However, Coco and Nuts are fairly gay and if you look past the romance part they have very good dadly relationships with the rest of the team.Ā 
Yespre, like Futari Wa, received a sequel show, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!. After the defeat of Nightmare some time ago, a new faction called Eternal rises up and starts stealing treasures from various dimensions. When Eternal targets the Rose Pact belonging to the Cure Rose Garden, the precure are called back into action to fight against Eternal, with new cure outfits, a new fairy named Syrup, and a new cure-like teammate named Milky Rose.
Fresh Precure!
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Fresh is sort of the defining series for modern Precure, introducing a lot of plot and thematic elements to the franchise that would be used repeatedly later on.Ā 
A concert Momozono Love attends is attacked by a monster called a Nakewameke. When Love stands up to it, she is nearly killed, but is saved when she is chosen by a mysterious power to become Cure Peach. She is joined by Inori and Miki as Cure Pine and Cure Berry, and, together with the talking ferret from the Kingdom of Sweets, Tarte, they have to prevent Labyrinth, a grey world led by Mobius, from taking over the Parallel Worlds and transforming them into identical, machine-like dictatorships, and also figure out the secret behind the Magic Baby, Chiffon, that Tarte is entrusted with.Ā 
Freshā€™s themes are happiness and nature/technology and donuts. The donuts are important. Labyrinth operates by gathering misery; the Nakewameke are created from it and their function is to create more of it and fill the Sorrow Gauge. All the girls (and the mascot) have love interests and their familial relationships are explored a lot to bring out the general stakes and emphasise what theyā€™re fighting for.
While Fresh is very strong in characters, plot, and thematics, its lack of budget is very apparent. It looks terrible. Fortunately, it isnā€™t that difficult to get used to the bad animation once you get into the show, although the lack of means tends to show up at inopportune moments, like new powerups.
Heartcatch Precure!
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Featuring character designs and art direction from Ojamajo Doremiā€™s character designer Umakoshi Yoshihiko, and written by Ojamajo Doremi and Onegai My Melody writer Yamada Takashi, Heartcatch should look and feel familiar to fans of either franchise, especially Doremi.
After having a reoccurring dream about someone called Cure Moonlight being defeated trying to defend the ā€œGreat Heart Treeā€, the shy and reserved Hanasaki Tsubomi moves in with her grandmother and ends up inheriting the will of Cure Moonlight and becomes the newest precure, Cure Blossom. Finding out her grandmother used to be the legendary Cure Flower, Tsubomi vows to protect the world as a precure and learn to change herself for the better. Sheā€™s joined by her new friend and the first person she saved as a precure, Kurumi Erika, a loud girl with a big heart who means well, but doesnā€™t hesitate to speak her mind. Erika becomes Cure Marine and the two become Heartcatch Precure, the newest precure in the long legacy of those who have stood up to the evil Dune, a mysterious invader who destroys planets and turns them into lifeless deserts. Heartcatch Precure fights against Duneā€™s minions: the mask wearing Professor Sabaku, his Desert Apostles, and the mysterious Dark Precure. Along the way they meet the former Cure Moonlight, now stripped of her power, and try to help her cope with her defeat.
Heartcatch Precureā€™s main theme is flowers and flower language. Everyone has a ā€œheart flowerā€ that the Desert Apostles take and use to create their monsters every week. As an interesting result of this, the monster of the week will be the main character in the plot of the week and often their big monster form will vent about their issues which will usually lead to a resolution when the precure return them to their regular bodies. Heartcatch also has a very nice backstory and lore to it. Unlike most iterations of precure, the Heartcatch girls are not the first precure to exist in their world, there are dozens maybe hundreds of precure that came before them, fighting against Dune and his forces for hundreds of years. It adds a lot to the narrative in small ways, especially later on in the season. Also the fight scenes are extremely excellent, especially when Moonlight is involved.Ā 
Suite Precureā™Ŗ
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The musical paradise of Major Land falls under siege by the forces of Minor Land, led by King Mephisto. His goal is to steal the living notes of the ā€œMelody of Happinessā€ and remake them into the ā€œMelody of Sorrowā€, throwing the world into a permanent depressive state. As a last resort, Queen Aphrodite scatters the notes into the human world and tasks Hummy, the cat-like fairy, and the Fairy Tones, to find the notes before the forces of Minor Lands can capture them. In the human world, Hummy meets Hojo Hibiki and Minamino Kanade, two girls who were best friends as children, but drifted apart as teenagers because of their tendency to bicker with each other. The two find themselves thrown together again by fate and transform into Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm to protect the things they hold dear. Not long after, the two rekindle their relationship and become closer than before, despite their bickering. Soon the girls run into the mysterious Cure Muse, a girl who appears to be a precure like them, but hides her face with a mask and refuses to join in their fight, claiming to be neither friend nor enemy. Melody and Rhythm battle against Minor Land and the giant Negatones they create from the notes they gather, as well as Siren, another cat-like fairy who used to be Hummyā€™s best friend before turning to evil and joining Minor Land.Ā 
Suite Precureā€™s main theme is music, and it is a very encompassing theme. Hibiki and Kanade bond over their piano practice, the town they live in celebrates music frequently and is aesthetically music themed, and their powers take the form of musical instruments. Harmony is also a large theme for the two girls. Their precure power increases as they harmonize with each other, and the early season is very much about them learning to harmonize with each other. Suite also features several extremely well done mystery arcs, about the identity of Cure Muse, and various other things that I canā€™t very well talk about without risking spoiling things myself. If you manage to go into Suite not knowing anything consider yourself extremely lucky and be super sure not to get spoiled. The show staff went to great lengths to hide certain things, including leaking fake cure designs, and creating a second version of the second dance ending to further mask the identity of Cure Muse until her true reveal.Ā 
Also something to note, usually precure movies have nothing to do with the plot of the show itself and can be watched whenever but the Suite movie is best enjoyed right after the arc revealing Cure Museā€™s identity is concluded, it has a nice resolution to plot elements in that arc and sets the stage for the last few arcs of the show, so be sure to watch it then.
Smile Precure!
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Written by Kamen Rider Kabuto head writer Yonemura Shoji, Smile Precure is the second season to feature a 5 girl team after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!. Running late to her first day of school, resident happy-go-lucky klutz Hoshizora Miyuki runs face first into a small creature called Candy, a fairy from a place called MƤrchenland. The two are attacked by an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolfrun, and Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy to fight against Wolfrun and the big clown faced monster he summons called an Akanbe. After Candy explains that the legends say there are five precure, Miyuki recruits four new friends: the hot blooded Akane (Cure Sunny), shy artist Yayoi (Cure Peace), responsible older sister Nao (Cure March), and refined student council vice-president Reika (Cure Beauty). The five of them become Smile Precure and fight against Wolfrun and his allies in the Bad End Kingdom, who attempt to revive the slumbering Pierrot by trying to put the world in a ā€œBad Endā€.Ā 
Smile Precureā€™s main theme is fairy tales, in a general sense. The Bad End trio are based off of the big bad wolf (Wolfrun), the oni from Momotaro (Akaoni), and the witch from Snow White (Majorina), and Miyuki herself is utterly captivated by fairy tales. The secondary theme is happiness, and the happy go lucky tone of the series often turns on its head during serious arcs to deliver extremely powerful emotional moments. Smile Precure is light on plot, and most episodes are an ultra happy experience, but the show knows how to get serious when it needs to and Smile is exceedingly competent at pulling off drama when the time comes. Smile knows how to get you invested in its characters and use that to pull on your heartstrings during the big moments. The last 10 episodes of the show are the absolute pinnacle of the showā€™s emotional drama, and each cure gets her own episode for closure before the finale sets in and emotionally destroys you. Also you get to play rock paper scissors with Cure Peace during her roll call so thatā€™s always fun.
Doki Doki! Precure
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Doki opens with Trump Kingdomā€™s destruction by the Selfishness as Cure Sword looks on, helpless. Switching to our world and brighter topics, we meet Aida Mana, Student Council President of Oogai Middle School, whose dream is to become the Prime Minister of Japan. Whenever Mana sees someone in trouble, sheā€™ll help them out, so when a monster attacks the city, Mana does the obvious and tries to stop it. And when, chosen by the fairy Charuru (Charles? Cheryle? Cherry?) to become a Precure and defend the world, she meets Cure Sword, she has to befriend her and help her restore Trump Kingdom and find her happiness.Ā 
Mana (Cure Heart) is joined by Rikka (Cure Diamond), her studious companion and supporter, and also the immeasurably powerful and rich (in that order) Alice (Cure Rosetta). Together they have to unravel the mystery of the man who gave them their transformation items, the missing princess of Trump Kingdom, the strange, evil girl called Regina, and Ai, the chaotic neutral baby who hatches out of an egg.Ā 
Dokipreā€™s theme is love and selflessness. It also has Deep Lore, a lot of which is established in extra-series material. The show does try to explore concepts like past cures and manages a very nice repeating pattern effect with the plot, in terms of past and future happenings. Thereā€™s a lot of foreshadowing. Compared to most Precure seasons itā€™s very plot-heavy and even the filler usually ends up being plot-relevant.Ā 
Happiness Charge Precure!
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The 10th anniversary of Precure! The Phantom Empire is spreading across the world, and Precure are rising up all over the globe to fight them off. In Japan there are two active cures, Cure Fortune, strong and capable, and Cure Princess, scared and unsure of herself. As Cure Princess, Shirayuki Hime, struggles desperately to do her duty as precure, Cure Fortune refuses to work with her for reasons Hime doesnā€™t fully understand. Realizing her only hope is to find a partner to work with, Hime bumps into Aino Megumi, a super friendly girl who has a tendency to drop everything and help others any time she sees someone in need. Megumi becomes Cure Lovely, and bolstering Himeā€™s confidence, the two of them become Happiness Charge Precure, tasked with protecting Japan from Queen Mirage and her Phantom Empire. The two are joined by Cure Honey, and eventually Cure Fortune, and the four of them receive support from Blue, the God of Planet Earth. As the girls continue to fight and defend Japan, they are assaulted by Phantom, the ruthless Precure Hunter who has defeated and trapped countless Precure in his Precure Graveyard, and the Oresky Trio, the Phantom Empire generals who oversee the invasion of Japan.Ā 
Happiness Charge Precureā€™s themes are romance and happiness. There are several arcs dedicated to the budding romances of the cures, and the backstory of the show is heavily tied to romance. Happiness might as well be Megumiā€™s middle name, she makes it her business to spread happiness to as many people as she can, and takes every chance she can to help others. Happiness Charge is also the first season to have form changes for the precure, each cure has a small selection of forms they can change to for different big attacks, and this concept would later be expanded and used as a core concept in Maho Girls Precure. Like Heartcatch before it, Happiness Charge exists in a world where multiple precure exist, but unlike Heartcatch all those precure exist at the same time in the present day. Other precure teams make cameos every so often and the concept creates a great world in which the whole planet is being protected by teenage girls with superpowers, creating a wonderful sense of scale that really makes the big victories of Happiness Charge Precure feel even bigger.Ā 
Go! Princess Precure
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The first precure series to take place at a boarding school! Years ago, a young girl named Haruno Haruka meets a very royal looking person named Kanata who gives her a Dress-Up Key, a big key shaped like a dress. A teenager now, Haruka starts attending Noble Academy, a prestigious boarding school, all the while holding tight to her dream of becoming a true princess, in a quasi-literal sense. Not long after starting the school year, Haruka meets Pafu and Aroma, two fairies from the Hope Kingdom desperate to revive the legendary precure to fight back against Dyspear and her minions who steal dreams to create their giant Zetsuborgs. Realizing what her Dress-Up Key is meant for, Haruka uses it and the Princess Perfume to become Cure Flora. Together with student council president Kaido Minami (Cure Mermaid), and Amanogawa Kirara (Cure Twinkle) a fashion model with huge aspirations, they become the new Princess Precure, tasked with learning to become true princesses along with protecting the Dress-Up Keys from Dyspearā€™s forces.Ā 
Go! Princess Precureā€™s main themes are princesses (duh) and dreams. Dreams are a driving force behind all of the cures, and most of the plot of the week characters. Dyspear steals dreams to make monsters, and the precure fight to return those dreams. Characters follow their dreams with conviction, pride, and full commitment. This is also where the princess theme intersects, since itā€™s Harukaā€™s dream to become a true princess. One should note that princess is used sort of liberally in this series, itā€™s not that Haruka wants to somehow become someone of noble birth or have political power, she just wants to be strong, kind, and beautiful, the traits of a true princess in Princess Precureā€™s own terms. Also she wants to wear pretty dresses and such but who can blame her really.Ā 
Mahou Tsukai Precure! (Maho Girls Precure!)
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Quite literally putting the magic in magical girls for the first time in the franchise, Mahou Tsukai Precure was the first season to have its cures be actual magicians. Izumi Riko lives in the magical world, a world where magic is real and she attends a magical academy to hone her craft. She leaves the magical world to travel to the ā€œnon-magicā€ world, to search for a legendary item called the Linkle Stone Emerald. In the non-magic world she ends up catching the attention of another girl, Asahina Mirai, who sees her using magic. After trying to show off some magic and messing it up, Riko is attacked by Batty, a servant of the dark wizard Dokurokushe, who is seeking the Linkle Stone Emerald as well. As fate would have it, both Mirai and Riko carry stones that turn out to be the Linkle Stones Diamond, and the two of them use them to become Cure Miracle and Cure Magical, the legendary Mahou Tsukai Precure. Additionally, the power of the Linkle Stones grants life to Miraiā€™s lifelong companion, a teddy bear named Mofurun. Having discovered the world of magic and become a precure, Mirai is invited to spend time in the magical world learning magic alongside Riko, before the two, joined by Mofurun and a baby fairy named Ha, return to the non-magical world to search for the Emerald and protect it from Dokurokushe and his minions.
Mahou Tsukai Precureā€™s main themes are bonds and separation. Itā€™s strengths lie in how it shows the relationship between Mirai and Riko. The show takes its time building their relationship in the first dozen or so episodes of their adventures in the magic world, highlighting their similarities and differences as they grow closer and learn to live with each other and fight as precure together. Well before the halfway mark itā€™s clear how strong their bond is and how deeply they care for each other, and the lengths they would go to for one another. Mahou Tsukai is an emotional ride in so many ways, every emotional moment hits its mark and the more you get attached to the characters the more the show will hit harder and harder with its moments, both sad and happy. Even side characters get satisfying and emotional conclusions to their storylines outside of the episodes theyā€™re introduced in, itā€™s all wonderfully crafted.
KiraKiraā˜†Precure A La Mode
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Another return to the five cure format, Kirapre is also the second season to feature a sixth team member after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!, as well as the second season to feature high school age precure after Heartcatch Precure. Usami Ichika is in her second year of middle school and loves sweets, especially making sweets. One day a hungry fairy named Pekorin finds her way into Ichikaā€™s kitchen, and after being fed teaches Ichika about Kirakiraru, an energy source that exists in all sweets, and something that can be stolen and used for evil, leaving the sweets gray and tasteless. Utilizing the power of kirakraru in the shortcake she baked for her mother, Ichika becomes Cure Whip, one of the legendary patissiers, Precure. One by one other precure appear, the smart but shy Arisugawa Himari (Cure Custard), the rock band headliner Tategami Aoi (Cure Gelato), the fickle catlike Kotozume Yukari (Cure Macaron), and the responsible and helpful Kenjou Akira (Cure Chocolat). The five of them fight against the evils of Noir and those he has influenced: Julio, the mysterious masked boy who runs ā€œexperiments'' using kirakiraru, and Bibury, a mean spirited girl who uses her talking doll to steal kirakiraru and create monsters.
Kirapreā€™s main motifs are sweets and animals, and it has a pretty general togetherness and happiness theme going on, the standard precure stuff, mostly viewed through the lense of sweets and sweets-making. All the precure work as patissiers for one reason or another and itā€™s the main way the team bonds early on. The team, as well as the people of their small town, love sweets as a part of their culture and sweets maintain an important role as the emotional tie that binds most things together in the story. Overall Kirapre is a wonderful show with a great cast on both sides of the conflict, and a lot of care has been put into the show to make sure characters have their moments to interact with each other as well as have their own stories , even on a team of six every precure gets more than enough time to shine on her own. Kirapre is at itā€™s best when it takes two girls and puts them together for an episode, letting each unique dynamic play out in a fun and satisfying way. Kirapre is also noteworthy for the almost inarguably canonical relationship between two of the cures. It's not exactly explicit and it does leave something to be desired, since this is a Toei children's show, but thereā€™s not really any other way to read the evolution of their relationship or their duet song, so Iā€™m more than satisfied calling it canon.
This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform CrunchyrollĀ 
HUGtto! Precure
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Precureā€™s 15th anniversary! This season is in many ways a celebration of all things Precure, bringing together a lot of familiar elements from past shows into one. Hugtto! is another five cure season whose main themes are destiny and future. Nono Hana (Cure Yell) is a thirteen-year-old girl whose dream is to be a "cool and stylish woman," although she worries that others see her as childish. One day, a hamster named Harryham Harry and a magical baby named Hugtan fall out of the sky into Hana's house. They're being chased from the future by an evil organization called Criasu Corporation, who are trying to use Hugtan's power to freeze time forever. Hana makes friends with two of her classmates: the responsible class representative Yakushiji Saaya (Cure Ange) and the reclusive ex-figure skater Kagayaki Homare (Cure Etoile), and together they fight Criasu while taking care of Hugtan and figuring out the many mysteries surrounding her. Expect some light sc-fi elements and an emphasis on modern technology/social media.
Hugtto! explores its themes primarily through the lenses of childcare and the workplace, giving us a look at how each girl comes to terms with the transition from childhood to adulthood. This season does a good job of letting each member of the team shine; you spend several episodes with each girl (or duo of girls) and there's a real sense of a complete character arc for all of them. The romance aspect is, unfortunately, pretty bad: thereā€™s a return of hetero furry romance between Harry and Homare, and Hanaā€™s love interest exhibits some really creepy behavior towards her. Thereā€™s uncomfortable age gaps in both of these relationships too so itā€™s a just a bitā€¦. Yikes. Thankfully, itā€™s fairly easy to ignore like past seasons, but a warning for it nonetheless.
Something that makes this season stand out is its LGBT subtext; there's a TON of it even compared to the normal amount that Precure is known for. Without giving away too much, two of the cures this season are heavily coded as lesbians (though not with each other per se), and there's a subplot concerning a side character who is pretty explicitly (well, as explicit as Toei dares to be) a gender non-conforming man/nonbinary person in love with another man, and it's all very wholesome and presented in a positive light. Again, this is Toei, so don't expect anything too radical, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with how Hugpre handles it.
Finally I'll just say that while Hugpre is a fantastic season on its own, I would personally recommend waiting to watch it after you've seen some other seasons (notably Futari wa). It's not required, but since Hugpre is an anniversary season, there are a few episodes (especially near the end) that will really hit different if you have an emotional connection to the franchise already. Ultimately though this is a fairly minor part of the show, so watching this season first wonā€™t ruin it or anything like that, itā€™s just something to keep in mind.
Starā˜†Twinkle Precure
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Precureā€¦ in space! Our protagonist, Hoshina Hikaru (Cure Star) loves space and cryptids, to the point of drawing her own constellations. One of her constellations is an adorable alien puffball, who warps into Hikaruā€™s room almost immediately after she draws it. The puffball quickly befriends Hikaru, who names her Fuwa. They are later joined by Prunce, the team dad friend/alien mascot, and Lala (Cure Milky), a humanoid alien who is an adult in her own culture. After our initial duo gets off to a bit of a rocky start, they are joined by the student council president, Kaguya MadokaĀ  (Cure Selene) and a biracial upperclassman who is considered to be the ā€œsunā€ of the school, Amamiya Elena (Cure Soleil). Together, they explore the universe and befriend all sorts of aliens, while also defending them from the Notraiders, who want to rid the universe of all imagination. On top of that, the universe is dying and the cures need to find the 12 astrologically themed Star Pens to save it and the 12 Star Princesses. This series is notable for attempting to break the ā€œmonster of the weekā€ format, instead making it a ā€œfight of the weekā€.
The major themes of Star Twinkle are space, imagination, and maturity. The cures have to explore the universe to find the Star Pens, and in doing so, visit a bunch of different planets. About half the series is spent on Earth, but the world still feels developed! Honestly speaking, the theme of imagination is forgotten pretty quickly and Iā€™d refer to it more as free will. The theme of maturity is where Star Twinkle really shines. All of the cures have had to grow up too fast in some way, and the series is partially about just allowing them to goof off. Lala is considered an adult on her planet, and this plot point is treated realistically. Well, as realistically as it can be. This is one series Iā€™d recommend avoiding spoilers like the plague for, because part of the fun is in how the plot twists are pulled off. Also Star Twinkle is notable for featuring the first ever dark skinned precure, as Elena is half-hispanic.Ā 
Healinā€™ Good Precure
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The currently airing Precure season, as of this writing. The Byogens seek to revive their king by inflicting viruses on Earth, the Healing Garden sends three medical interns to combat them. These interns, fairies named Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran, along with a baby fairy princess named Latte, journey to Earth to find partners to become Precure. They end up meeting Hanadera Nodoka, a kindhearted girl who was hospitalized for most of her young childhood. After Nodoka risks her life to protect Latte, Rabirin chooses her to become Cure Grace. Joined by older sister type Sawaizumi Chiyu (Cure Fontaine) and the outgoing Hiramitsu Hinata (Cure Sparkle), they form Healinā€™ Good Precure, and defend their friends and the Earth from the Byogenā€™s newest wave of attacks.Ā 
This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll.
Where To Watch Precure Online
Unfortunately for us, Precure isnā€™t really a thing in the west. There was a dub of Futari Wa back in the early 2000ā€™s and Smile and Doki both got ā€œadaptedā€ into Glitter Force over on netflix (I donā€™t really recommend checking those out), but really Precure just doesnā€™t exist over here.
However, as mentioned above, there are currently three seasons avalible for streaming on crunchyroll. The original Futari Wa Precure, Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, and the current season, Healinā€™ Good Precure.
Beyond these isolated examples of official releases, you can really only watch precure online on streaming sites or through torrents. You can find precure pretty much on any major anime streaming site, kissanime, gogoanime, the works. You can also try your luck torrenting the seasons, iā€™ve found that pretty much every season has a working torrent you can find on sites like nyaa.si or the like. For more recent seasons you should have little difficulty getting torrents, and last time i checked every season was on one of the aforementioned streaming sites. What Iā€™m saying really is thereā€™s no single place to find precure, but itā€™s not impossible to find for sure.
Thanks for reading this post, I hope you decide to check out precure and I really hope you end up loving it.Thanks to my wonderful friendĀ @meltorightsā€‹ for writing the sections on Yespre, Fresh, and Dokipre, to @wonderlilaneā€‹ for writing the sections on Splash Star and Huggto, and @cure-cosmoā€‹ for writing the segment on Starpre.Ā 
If you have questions feel free to drop me an ask Iā€™d be happy to help. I will literally go out of my way to help you if it means getting someone new into precure so please do not hesitate by any means.Ā 
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vaguely-concerned Ā· 4 years ago
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X-men Evolution; the great 2021 rewatch liveblog
exactly what it says on the tin, about halfway through the show I had TOO MANY FEELINGS and had to start writing some of them out haha (gets quite gambit & rogue/gambit heavy in the latter half, Because of Who I Am as a Person)
- this is my childhoodā€™s x-men, my formative experience with them, and Iā€™m happy to report that still seems like a good thing. the little eleven year old within me gets to geek out and have a good time with the characters and the surprisingly good animation and writing, adult me gets to CACKLE at regular intervals at the fashion/technology/absolute bonkers hot garbage comic book nonsense they use to justify a storyline every now and then, itā€™s been a good timeĀ 
- I was likeĀ ā€˜ah well it is super dated it probably wonā€™t be quite the same nowā€™ and then rogueā€™s HAIR did the THING in the opening andĀ ā€˜itā€™s all coming back to me nowā€™ started playing in the background... the little baby queer in me swooning across time and space
- such a good beast, both his design and the writing, my heart aches for him all the time. heā€™s just so passionate! about being a teacher! helping young humans learn the stuff theyā€™ll need in life! the most wonderful nerd man, just let good things happen for him
- Iā€™m going to go ahead and assume that rogueā€™s ā€˜crushā€™ on scott is more of a deeply complex psychological process about desiring normalcy and intimacy and trying to figure out if sheā€™s queer and dealing with her emerging sexuality and latching on to the first and best safely unavailable and nonthreatening older boy to project these issues onto rather than actually being a real thing, because I respect her so much as a person and I cannot bring myself to imagine sheā€™s honestly attracted to a man who has POSTERS OF CARS on his bedroom wall. (Iā€™ll give jean a break just because she seems to have a longer deeper history with him that might counteract some of that libido-kill, and also sheā€™s a jock so lol)
like I am very sorry but can u imagine being a teenage girl with any interest in a boy with model cars in his bedroom when gambitā€™s swanning around being a much, much, much worse choice on almost every possible level but in a teen girl kryptonite kind of way? inconceivable Ā 
(I drag scott quite a few times in this and itā€™s not because I donā€™t love him, itā€™s just his tragedy to be the most draggable man in the world)
to be fair by the time gambit shows up that whole Situation has mostly played itself out I suppose but stillĀ Ā 
- toadā€™s design is so ineffably brilliant, I canā€™t quite tell you why but that ugly cute charm has really stuck with me, heā€™s one of the characters I remembered the best to this day just visually
- poor evan... he truly never had a chance, did he, they just saddled him with the most 90s teen bullshit they could come up with like heā€™s some kind ofĀ ā€˜what adult writers think teens likeā€™ frankensteinā€™s monster ;______; itā€™s not your fault honey
- poor poor POOR storm, she gets one focus episode and they were likeĀ ā€˜weā€™re going to make an episode so racist --Ā ā€˜
Iā€™m still STUNNED at how bad it was, but undeniably I laughed hysterically to the point that my neighbours were probably worried when that dude was earnestly likeĀ ā€˜He [stunningly breathlessly racist caricature of a ā€˜witch doctorā€™ guy] has stolen her powers, and heā€™s going to use them to take over Africa!!!ā€™ fhajsdlfhsakjldfh oh really? tell me more, like how the fUCK this could be on television within my life time fasdlfhsdkjfhsad fĀ  just... fahjksdfh
- itā€™s a testament to gambitā€™s appeal as a character that his charm can survive what theyā€™ve done with his hair and beard choices in this one fajskfhs regrettable but true I still fuckn LOVE him and in my highly biased yet Correct opinion he should have been around much more. get you a man who manages to stay hot through sheer Vibes even with a bowl cut
- aw scott/jean is kind of sweet in this show even if itā€™s taking them forEVER to get there, I like itĀ 
- itā€™s very nice of rogue to not mention magnetoā€™s romantic daydreams and nostalgic memories about charles xavier after touching his face that one time... or maybe her brain did her a service and repressed it, thereā€™s some stuff you shouldnā€™t have to know about your father figureĀ  Ā 
- the danger room is the very definition ofĀ ā€˜why do we even have that leverā€™ and I wonder what the fuck prof x does to have enough money to replace everything that gets busted all the time
- Iā€™d say that a lot of the writing holds up surprisingly well! (but some of it is also incredibly inexcusably racist in ways that beggar belief, so... not full marks here) the characters have distinct voices and their arcs are set up and delivered on solidly for the most part, and thereā€™s a lot of love showing through in small moments that are just there to have a funny/interesting thing to say about the characters and how their powers work separately and in combination. listen, sometimes I get so thirsty for like. basic goddamn competency in storytelling, let me have this
- ugggggh why is there captain america in my x-men have I not suffered enough... very very funny when prof x goesĀ ā€˜sounds like you knew rogers personallyā€™ and logan is likeĀ ā€˜I did ;)ā€™ *all the students ganging up on steve rogers*Ā ā€œdid you fuck our teacher, captain america?!ā€
- fskadfhas WHY are you showing me hot young-ified magnetoā€™s ass fksjahfskj charles is not even here to see it, what a tragic waste erikĀ 
- ...I was sort of kidding before but uh I think logan genuinely did fuck captain america (or at least wishes very much that he did lol)
- wanda can have a little watching the world burn. as a treat for the way every single adult in her life has fucking failed her (ā€™arenā€™t they treating you well hereā€™ professor x sheā€™s in a straightjacket)Ā Ā 
- poor rogue tho can you imagine finding out after your biggest crush on a girl yet that sheā€™s your fucking MOM in disguise... I would break out in cold sweat every time I thought about a boob forever after
- well seems like they really just had all that homoerotic rivalry stuff between quicksilver and spyke in their first ep only to never do anything with that again ever?? I mean even without the gay undertone that seems like a dynamic you spent most of an episode setting up writers what the hell haha
- dslhfkasjlh GAMBITĀ THERE HE IS MY BOY IS ON THE SCENE THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! I donā€™t even care about his awful hair situation or the fact that his eyes are wrong here (coloured contact lenses, maybe, for a watsonian explanation? though heā€™d probably have to get them made special, considering he needs the sclera and the iris covered up in different ways, Iā€™ve seen some comic panels indicating he has been known to?)
(cute little detail: when he shuffles the cards the first time we see him he ends with removing the top card to show the ace of hearts beneath <3 foreshadowing baBEY heā€™s a... good-ish boy deep down. hey he tries okay shit gets complicated sometimes lol)Ā 
- cracking UP at gambit perched cheerily on the edge of a crate dispensing cards in the middle of the battle... heā€™s likeĀ ā€˜eh itā€™s a livinā€™ sfsajkhf remy stop working for supervillains just because you had nothing to do on a thursday afternoon and they said theyā€™d pay you
- Iā€™m guessing magneto must have imposed a strict order of silence on these guys or something because I cannot imagine any other reason for him to shut up, especially once he notices rogue is a QTE (or, far more likely, they hadnā€™t settled on any voice actors for the new characters until next season haha. it is kind of odd that theyā€™re all keeping up near monastic silence, though, even sabertooth lol)Ā 
- WHAT an epic first meeting for us rogue/gambit fans here... first his shadow like thereā€™s fireworks going off behind him lighting him up and then he gives her the fuckn king of hearts and sheā€™s so enchanted by his dumb handsome face she doesnā€™t even notice itā€™s about to blow up in her hands and it all happens in heavily meaningful silence afjsdfjashjk no wonder this ship ingrained itself in my hindbrainĀ Ā 
yeah look smug while you can remy sheā€™s gonna have you on your knees one day and youā€™ll be happy about it lol
- god storm is so COOL, everything just fading out of focus when she really gets going... give her more screen time, show!!
- mystique is every person... this person... that person... that bird... that cat... that wolf... Iā€™m not even sure sheā€™s not also me... are you sure sheā€™s not you?Ā 
- holy fuck I respect the hell out of the decision to just... blow up the entire status quo in a season ender, I only vaguely remembered that (actually in general I appreciate how good the continuity is -- buildings and places that get damaged in battles need to be repaired or rebuilt, it makes the consequences feel more real even when no one gets seriously hurt. where they get the money to restore scottā€™s car and loganā€™s motorbikes every time they go cablooie is still an open question tho lol is it credit card fraud, professor? is it telepathically acquired blackmail???)Ā 
- I first watched this when I was nine or so, so itā€™s a real experience to go from my starry eyed intrigued ā€˜oh my god... theyā€™re teenagersā€™ to my horrified adult perspective ofĀ ā€˜oh my god... theyā€™re TEENAGERSĀ D:ā€™
that goes double for the brotherhood boys honestly, Iā€™m here with tears in my eyes likeĀ ā€˜Iā€™m sorry the system has failed you so badly youā€™re all just a bunch of dumb kids whose caretakers clearly fucked up spectacularlyā€™Ā Ā 
like lance is always waiting for mystique to come back because sheā€™s the closest thing he has to a safe parental figure, may we speak about how crushingly depressing that isĀ 
- rogue is so ready to throw hands at literally any moment and for that I love and treasure her immensely (I think getting to see her be so surly and unreasonable and sometimes difficult and jealous, like any teenager, meant a lot to me as a kid who was not really allowed to be any of these things, this version of the character has stayed with me so deeply. she holds on so fiercely to her right to feel what she feels and be what she is even when itā€™s ā€˜uglyā€™ or unreasonable, which I think plays in really interestingly with how her powers involve getting invaded by other peopleā€™s thoughts and memories to the point of overwhelming her own sense of self and the fact that she clearly has a lot of self-loathing and self-consciousness and confusion about her identity as well. I love her so much)Ā Ā 
-Ā oooof this is theĀ ā€˜the gang experience a microaggressionā€™ episode huh (well more like macroagressions really)
hits a bit different with adult eyes and perspective huh
- hearing jean sound almost like a child when she saysĀ ā€˜thatā€™s so unfair!ā€™ somehow has me like ;______; -- she has to be so adult and responsible all the time, and having her be reduced to the kid she stillĀ is and should get to be in front of this awful awful man she could squash like a bug with the flick of a thought... ugh Iā€™m Big Sad (it is funny that jean seemingly plays Every Sport tho djfhaskj)
- MY BOY IS BACK!!! this time with the duster coat and his eyes the right colour, im so happy (too bad about the subdued colour scheme tho; I adore his dumb bright pink getup with my whole heart)
itā€™s kind of adorable that he takes the time to take the bullies aside and goĀ ā€˜I know these guys canā€™t wreck you without getting expelled, but I think youā€™ll find no law set down by god or man would stop me from doing so whenever I wanted to. so piss off and leave them aloneā€™ lol heā€™s looking out for them, in his own way
- in this episode: remy lebeau wrangles some kids while looking bored yet mildly amused the whole time. what the fuck does magneto have on you for you to agree to this level of babysitting duty buddy
- fun detail I noticed b/c when I get a fave I hyperfixate: he gave rogue the king of hearts before, but heĀ ā€˜introducesā€™ himself to the brotherhood here (lol) with the jack of hearts, probably to symbolize heā€™s here as someone who works for magneto in this setting and not as his own man? itā€™s a demotion heā€™s given himself there, anyway, might be heā€™s not very pleased about his current position huhĀ 
- I like it when rogue and kitty team up, theyā€™re not very effective together but their squabbling is so cute and non-aggressiveĀ 
- pietro is what draco malfoy would be if I ever found malfoy interesting to watch for even one moment, every time quicksilver talks Iā€™m likeĀ ā€˜what wonderfully insufferable thing is going to come out of your mouth this time you little shit :ā€™)ā€™
- a) why are scott and logan shirtless for this scene? I am not complaining on the logan side of things at least but why and b) I laughed so hard I almost fell off my couch when scott asked logan if heā€™d ever been in love and he was likeĀ ā€˜once. she was the most beautiful bike I ever sawā€™ falsdfhaskjfhsakjlfhasklhjfd THE BEST VERSION OF WOLVERINE EVER, ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTESĀ 
- mystiqueā€™s sheer dedication to being a petty bitch is kind of inspirational tbh, almost makes me want to go on a completely bonkers and extra crusade of personal revenge myselfĀ Ā 
- oooh theyā€™re doing some genuinely cool things with vision/lack of vision in this one (itā€™s the scott left on his own in the desert without glasses one btw) even visually, dang! Iā€™m so sad this show didnā€™t get more seasons than it did, honestly, it deserved it
- hell yeah jean wreck her, go get your man with the suspiciously specific clothing damage normally done to female charactersĀ 
awww :ā€™) okay yeah theyā€™re super sweet, I love the tiny loving animation details like how he leans his head against her and her stroking his hair away from his eyes
- nooo donā€™t bully evan leave my t0tally r4dical sk8er boy alone :(
- I love the running joke of people fleeing in blind panic only to reveal that what theyā€™re running from is kittyā€™s cheerful well meaning little face fskfaskhĀ 
- scott and jean are already peak married after officially being together for one episode and itā€™s adorable, and they just stone cold threw logan under the bus, rip wolverine we hardly knew ya
fjasdlfasldfhslajdkfhsadkjlfhsdkjalfhsdakfh h jean establishing herself as the alphabitch of this relationship by throwing her man to the wolves right after dsjfhaskjfhaskjhfsakjdhfaskjhfaskdhfskjahfskdajhf get smarter or get volunteered scottĀ 
- ...eyepatch lady is so hot ngl
oh evan went to the place hank used to go to calm down ;________; (honestly heā€™s kind of won a place in my heart just by being a pretty normal teenage boy haha)
- jesus fucking CHRIST can you imagine being storm having to look her sister in the eye as she tells herĀ ā€˜I lost your only child, heā€™s *vague gesture* somewhere in the sewers we thinkā€™ this poor woman
- amanda the self admitted monster fucker you are so VALID (I love her and her familyā€™s design so much tho!)
- itā€™s so cool that even in his humanĀ ā€˜disguiseā€™ kurtā€™s fingers follow the shape of his actual hand beneath it rather than moving like a five fingered hand, itā€™s such a lovingly consistent little detailĀ 
- magneto and mystique in a breathless race to see who can be the shittiest parent... tune in next week for yet another parental nadir (also some low-poly gambit appearances in this one, for those at home keeping score (me), heā€™s in the background looking like someone drew him with their eyes closed fakjldfhasd look how they massacred my boy)
- someone please teach the brotherhood boys about consent huh
- jeanĀ ā€˜soccer mom before her timeā€™ grey and her SUV dfhakjlhds :ā€™)
- im sobbing rogue baby girl iā€™m so sorryyyyyy, this voice actress is so good, my parental instincts suddenly kicked into overdrive hearing the crack in her voice :( (bb me was right tho rogue centric episodes ARE the best episodes. that tension between ā€˜do I identify witn this character or am I crushing on her?? both???ā€™ now has the fun new addition of ā€˜oh god oh no you are a baby I want to shield you with my body from everything trying to hurt youā€™)
- mystique is likeĀ ā€˜so you see despite you telling me you never wanted to see me again I completely disrespected that and posed as a friend your age, manipulated you by offering you the mirage of direly needed emotional intimacy and belonging and added some sprinkles of homoerotic tension to it just to massively worsen your already existing grievous psychosexual trauma and identity issues... out of loveā€™
god go jump in a black hole you fucking monsterĀ 
- thereā€™s some very interesting and quite subtle subtext about the people sheā€™s morphing into and what that says about her mental state/how it shows off some of her emotional baggage with the rest of the team. itā€™s like sheā€™s switching between people/powers that fit the purpose as if sheā€™s going through cycles of fight/flight (and then bursts of freeze where sheā€™s herself, which is... so sad)
- this whole episode is hurting my heart but rogue at full power is undeniably epicĀ Ā 
Ā - ā€˜professor x get your goddamn act together and get this poor girl some fucking tHERAPYā€™ challenge
- SAFE PAPA LOGAN ;_____;
- EYYYYYY opening straight on My Lad, I cannot stop winning!!!!!Ā 
fasdfhsad disintegrating the window with a smiley face... remy I do love you more than my heart can bear honestly, hello may we speak about the fact that his urge to be a little shit is so deep and strong it survives mind control (that little breathed outĀ ā€˜hiah!ā€™ as he vaults the fence too dsakfjsd)
hahaha and he does up the coat fhsalfdsajĀ 
- magneto dismissing other telepaths likeĀ ā€˜puh-lease, your Meaningful Looks have got nothing on my ex-husbandā€™sā€™Ā 
- :ā€™) rogue and kurt sibling timeees
- say what you want but this pyro guyā€™s got job satisfaction in being a creepy arsonist with a weird recurring horse theme (well at least twice but still weird)
- I love how beast is the kindest man to ever walk the earth but also straight up savage, this man drags people so hard their ancestors wince in their graves
- gambit taking the time to complete the guardā€™s game of solitaire -- this episode is giving me everything I want. u little disgrace mr lebeau
and THEN he takes the spider out in the most hilariously bonkers way my heart is so FULL
(I love that when magneto moves by he looks startled and has to quickly move his head out of the way to avoid getting kicked in the temple too thatā€™s a fun detail)
Iā€™m so INTO how this sequence shows off that his greatest strength isnā€™t even his powers (which are pretty straightforward, really, he makes go boom, longer time and bigger thing bigger boom) but that heā€™s clever and creative and always extremely ready to be the most harebrained-bananapants-extra-in-a-deceptively-laidback-sort-of-way person in the room (I actually have some genuinely Deep Thoughts about how his whole character does a really interesting thing with having the straightforwardly destructive nature of his powers yield to what his nature as a personĀ is, and how using the playing cardsĀ play (heh) into it, maybe Iā€™ll write it out some day. just the fact that he could use anything, but he deliberately chose something that adds style and playfulness and corny charm to it and that also limits the damage of the explosions compared to if he habitually used something with more mass... I find it fascinating how much heā€™s made a story around himself with it and how deeply it shows he does have a good heart, at the end of the day, in almost a metatextual way. he doesnā€™t want to destroy things or people, heā€™s at worst (and best lol) a thief.)
- I honestly have literally no memory of white nick fury (which seems so weird now isnā€™t it funny) in this series from when I was a kid, he clearly did not make an impression on me lol
- mr wolverineĀ ā€˜assigned canadian at birthā€™ x-menĀ 
- oh man I dig the androgynity of x-23ā€²s outfit (even tho they had to compensate with the long hair, which... kind of doesnā€™t make sense in-universe but does on a design level because itā€™s a crucial thing that sheā€™s a female clone of logan so yeah okay fine whatever have your arbitrary gender markers if you must haha)
ooooooh thatā€™s actually really clever, they make her gender gradually more obvious as she unravels through the episode and her outfit changes -- first the mask coming off, and then her jacket opening to show her silhouette more clearly, thatā€™s cool!Ā Ā 
- my god what really sets this show apart is how much it invests in little character and relationship moments, itā€™s just so fucking GOOD! it gives laura looking in on those moments such depth and weight because itā€™s new to her but established to us as an audience, this is how you make found family devastating people (storm growing bonsai trees is so charming too haha)Ā 
- ooof this is honestly quite harrowingĀ 
SHEā€™S SO SMALL COMPARED TO HIM Iā€™M CRYING (at least that part of his genes translated over faslkfsjdh short king, I say this with all the love and support of a fellow short monarch)Ā Ā 
- tabitha seems to just be running around doing precisely whatever the fuck she wants and you know what I support her even if she is an asshole her father left her a bunch of trauma and no fucks left to giveĀ 
- still thrilled about professor x explaining the spider key fuckup to magneto after the fact likeĀ ā€˜magnus you dumb bitch this is why we split upā€™Ā 
- awww kitty has anime and movie posters on her wall and sleeps with a stuffed toy :ā€™)
-Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  remyĀ  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā rogue
Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  šŸ¤
doing completely unnecessary parkour around the brotherhood living room seemingly just for the hell of it... Iā€™m not saying soulmates but fuckingĀ soulmatesĀ 
- fhsadkjlfhsakjldfhsadjkfhsdajkfh just as gambitā€™s soul-level need to be a little shit survived his bout of mind control, rogueā€™s deep and urgent desire to kiss gambit full on the mouth survived hers I canā€™t breathe
she looks so pleased with herself too GOOD FOR YOU GIRL at least get something out of this other than more traumaĀ 
also not only the fact that heā€™s smart enough to figure out whatā€™s going on (though heā€™s only partially right about whoā€™s behind it. I do so enjoy gambit/mystique deep and sincere antipathy as a constant across all universes tho lmao pure wlw/mlm hostility) but also that he keeps fending her off like heā€™s not trying to hurt her even though sheā€™s in nigh on unstoppable and invulnerable terminator mode... awwwĀ 
- gambit having absolutely no patience for wolverine and sabertoothā€™s bullshit macho-off and consistently being this little biker trioā€™s one brain cell is adding years to my life with every passing moment
his voice is a little different in these scenes too, a bit softer and less like heā€™s trying to impress someone, itā€™s nice
- hank: well I barely recognize any of these (completely made up)Ā ā€˜ancient egyptian hieroglyphsā€™ but from what I can make out -- *proceeds to infodump a perfect coherent narrative* fjdhfakĀ Ā 
listen this whole thing is such nonsense on so many levels, Iā€™m just turning my brain off so I wonā€™t have to think about it okay, the compulsion to put ancient aliens in egypt haunts us as a cultureĀ 
- I am CACKLING about gambit in the snow after having to listen to these two chucklefucks ooze testosterone at each other for hours
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he started out taking it in good cheer and is now reduced toĀ ā€˜dieu would both of you just jump off this fUCKING mountain pleaseā€™
- ah. a little oops-a-daisy there, we seem to have unleashed the apocalypse. please stand by (they really donā€™t pull their punches with the season cliffhangers in this show haha)
- opening the season on gambitā€™s merrily grinning face is the easiest way to gain my favour. yes good this season may commenceĀ 
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baby u r my
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Ā ANGELLLLLLLL
(heā€™s so cute here tho haha I think it shows the design isnā€™t unsalvagable, just get him better hair and stubble more like logan has and youā€™ve basically got it)Ā 
love his exasperated eyeroll when the dude gets spooked (by his eyes? or just the general weirdness?) too
heā€™s just trying to keep this crazy family of evil mutants together and unmurdered by one another until theyā€™ve managed to avert the end of the world, bless himĀ Ā 
- oh NO rogueā€™s LIP wobbles my hhhhhheart ;____; such a good animation detail to put in
- like... I know kurt is just a sad scared teenager with a lot of shit going on and all the adults are too busy averting the end of the world to help him... but buddy maybe donā€™t ask your sister to wake her abuser (who forced her to kickstart the end of the world!!!!!) when she feels utterly unsafe even with her statue version around huh
- ...wanda is good and I want only good things for her. and for her dad to be disemboweled for what he did to her both the first time around and when he forced her to forgetĀ I mean whatĀ 
- magneto throwing an epic satelite-slinging tantrum b/cĀ ā€˜no I am the biggest sexiest strongest mutant of the pack :(ā€™... erik fucking get over yourselfĀ 
- yes boys absolutely go along with a plan suggested by a dude who looks at you like thisĀ 
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nothing bad can come of this surely asdfkhsa
- lanceā€™s quarter of a braincell always trying to goĀ ā€˜hey wait, maybe... not do this???ā€™ and it never helps lol
- in this episode: Logan Has A Bad DayĀ 
...some very specific bondage positions heā€™s held in here, I am sure this episode awakened something in someone once upon a time lolĀ 
- logan shielding x-23 with his body... im fine itā€™s okay Iā€™m not crying donā€™t look at me
- afsdhlsdfjasdlk those sure are someĀ ā€˜scottishā€™ accents flsadkjhkdsjahfsd
- scott relieved to finally be able to cede the position ofĀ ā€˜charles xavierā€™s least favourite sonā€™ to someone else fjsaklfhsajd (poor scott itā€™s not your fault honey)
supremely cowardly to suggest there is an ex-wife involved rather than charles slutting his way around the british isles back in the day but okay
- kurt with a cold is the cutest thing Iā€™ve ever seen. itā€™s okay kid itā€™ll get better soon
- ...is there an implication here that professor x is naturally blond. because I am losing my entire little mind about it (i mean he at least has to carry the gene, as does this lady?)
ETA: upon doing some research into this I can indeed confirm that charles xavier does seem to be naturally blond, and after this knowledge I will never be the sameĀ 
-Ā ā€œlisten, draculaā€ fskdafghasd oh scott you sweet baby angel I love you
- I know jeanā€™s abilities are a bitĀ ā€˜as strong or as weak as the plot needs right nowā€™ at this point (so you can have the setup for whatā€™s going to happen with them eventually and sheā€™s basically invincible ;____;), and normally Iā€™m cool with it but god I want her to just squash lucas like a little bug
- ewwwww please donā€™t ever sayĀ ā€˜daddyā€™ like that again
- ...what the fuck is even going on this episodeā€™s a messĀ 
like okay the split personality thing could be something but the way itā€™s done... what just happened lol
- MY BOY EVAN IS BACK! with a real glowup too (...though kind of weird how he suddenly looks like a grown man)
- augh scottā€™s eyes are so pretty oh my god ;__________________________;
- that episode in the first season where evan makes theĀ ā€˜this is my new family!!ā€™ video is so sad now (also, again, his poor poor parents)Ā 
- time for: life affirming road trip with gambit (involuntary) faskljdfhaskjd
stunt therapist remy lebeauĀ 
- I mean the way he goes about it is batshit insane and itā€™s very much secondary to what heā€™s actually up to but this is the first time rogueā€™s sounded genuinely hopeful and confident and like herself in like a season <3Ā 
- he is disconcertingly pleased about her nearly throwing him off the train, and may I just say I agree itā€™s so nice to see rogue with her old fire backĀ 
- the first time I watched this it was of course dubbed into norwegian, so I had no idea either of these characters were southern lol (though to be fair I probably wouldnā€™t have had much context for what it meant exactly either, I was like ten at the time and not too interested in america) I seem to dimly remember the norwegian voice actor did a little more of aĀ ā€˜frenchā€™-tinged accent for gambit all over tho hahaĀ Ā 
- you know what respect where itā€™s due, pyro dude knows to live his life for the lols and one has to admire his sociopathic dedication to it
interesting that he, too, seems to have fucking hated magneto -- I wonder if the implication here is that he kept all the acolytes in line with blackmail or by keeping something/one hostage? (except sabertooth maybe heā€™d just have to sayĀ ā€˜you get to fuck shit up and fight wolverineā€™ and thatā€™d be enough)
- fsdakfhsd heā€™s so focused on her he doesnā€™t notice that guy about to hit him fkafhsaĀ 
- fuck everything else except whatever the hell these twoā€™ve got going on
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- itā€™s weirdly cathartic to have rogue have a conversation with someone who was not happily adopted as well, I donā€™t think kurt like. gets it because his parents loved him unconditionally and still doĀ 
birds of a feather motherfuckerĀ Ā 
- fun detail: when the x-men team are on the shore and logan is sniffing around scott is stepping in something and trying to wipe it off his boots in the background
- when he wakes up after passing out from the touch heā€™s smiling even though sheā€™s standing over him looking like the rage of god outlined by the moon fsajfsa well the last time he passed out like that it was from a kiss, maybe he still has some hopes and dreams in that direction lol (also he recovers from the tumble down the hill first and is checking on her before accidentally brushing her cheek with his hand, which I thought was sweet)Ā 
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and it was in that moment he knew he fucked up *passes out*
-Ā ā€˜I can explainā€™ can u remy. can uĀ Ā 
- did it ever even occur to you to just. ask her. to help you. I mean I know it didnā€™t but like rogueā€™s always one second away from throwing hands with some bully and is stupidly ride or die, if youā€™d given her the puppydog eyes she would have crumbled immediately (fair enough I guess this entire episode is telling us heā€™s not from a background where he has much experience with people just helping him without a price haha)Ā 
- his eyes glowing when heā€™s angry or upset or using a lot of his powerĀ is undeniably cool as all hell. Iā€™m just saying it would be Big Sexy if they sort of flickered with light in moments of genuine vulnerability okayĀ Ā 
- his coat... his coat is what makes the Silhouette tm and I could not be happier about itĀ 
- another parent of the year contestant enters the running lolĀ ā€œhey remy have you ever considered that youā€™re more of a walking bomb factory than a person? thatā€™s certainly how I think of you hahaha cā€™mon kid letā€™s goā€Ā 
- the running joke of jean luc getting dollar signs in his eyes seeing the other mutant powers and gambit being likeĀ ā€˜nO!!!!ā€™ and pulling him along is amazing haha
- from the way he looks when he touches rogue accidentally and the way he talks to his dad Iā€™m sort of getting the feeling this gambit might actually be a bit younger than he looks?
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here too -- idk why but itā€™s making theĀ ā€˜wait is he baby???ā€™ alarms go off in my head haha. very early twenties at most.Ā 
- and weā€™ve officially seen him with all the face cards in the heart suit folks! (yes this is the sort of thing my brain notices no I donā€™t know either)
- poor logan running his ass off this whole episode in a panic and then sheā€™s likeĀ ā€˜nah heā€™s fine (in several meanings of the word ( Ķ”Ā° ĶœŹ– Ķ”Ā°) ) please put him downā€™ hfaskfsda
- rogue without makeup!!! her eyes look so naked like this haha <3
- oooh hereā€™s a really interesting thing that tickles my brain a bit in this specific part of the scene where gambit frees his dad -- the part where heā€™s leaning against the door frame waiting for jean luc, whoā€™s about to suggest using the opportunity to ruin the rival gang from the inside rather than slipping away while they still can
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from his expression here he knows whatā€™s about to happen, what jean luc is about to say, and itā€™s clearly aĀ ā€˜man who thought heā€™d lost all hope loses last additional bit of hope he didnā€™t even know he still hadā€™ sort of situation. he KNOWS what jean luc is like, and it still hurts that he really, honestly canā€™t give him even this, canā€™t appreciate that remyā€™s already done all this shit for him when he extremely didnā€™t have to, without immediately (no really, it took him less than ten seconds to go there? jesus) demanding more.Ā Ā 
remy tells himĀ ā€œIā€™m just here for youā€ and jean luc does not understand it. remy seems to be sincere in this motivation -- rogue certainly thinks so, having experienced it second hand and found enough at least emotional merit in it to decide he was worth saving even after all his bullshit (lol a bit of a running theme maybe. I think itā€™s very telling that after she absorbed mystique she was like ā€˜what the FUCK youā€™re a fucking monsterā€™, and after she absorbed gambit she went ā€˜you did the wrong thing for the right reasonsā€™ after she got over the first wave of outrage)Ā 
thereā€™s also what he says as he stands there: ā€œYou donā€™t need me for thatā€, with the distinct implication that jean luc would only keep him around because he has a use for him and for no other reason -- and then jean luc shamelessly doubles down on that by specifying that itā€™s not even him heā€™s got a use for as such, just his powers. thatā€™s some kicking puppies level of deliberately missing the point, itā€™s almost impressive in how cheerfully mean it is haha
this idea of using people is really important in this episode because remyā€™s doing basically exactly the same thing to rogue to begin with; it doesnā€™t really matter to his plan that itā€™s her thatā€™s with him through this, just what her powers are. (I think itā€™sĀ  p r e t t yĀ  solidly implied that he does actually like her a lot outside of that too and maybe there is some comfort in having her around for this, but mostly heā€™s behind a smokescreen of lies through the whole thing sooo I doubt heā€™s even aware of it, honestly)Ā Ā  Ā Ā 
but then it does matter that itā€™s her when she comes back for him, even after what he did. and unlike jean luc he understands what that means, that she did that for him, and that she didnā€™t have to. and instead of asking her for more, in return he gives her the thing itā€™s been established is what he considers the most valuable thing he has; hisĀ ā€˜last cardā€™, the thing heā€™s credited with keeping him alive many a time, basically. itā€™s gone from using to mutuality, a tentative place of friendship, and at the end of the day he is a different man than his adoptive father, with a capacity for selflessness and love he lacks. which is of course some of the same stuff going on with rogue and mystique too, except rogue acted from a more fragile and unstable place and did something she regrets, or at least has a LOT of doubts about now, and she found some catharsis in helping someone make a different choice in a similar situation. man thereā€™s some Stuff going on under the surface here haha
(by the way itā€™s a weirdly... meaningless yet intensely meaningful thing, the gifting of a symbol? of an idea? but heā€™s putting something very crucial of himself into her hands, is the subtext, and he expects her to understand, which she also does seem to do. at the beginning of the episode heā€™s proving that heā€™s seen something true about her --Ā ā€œYouā€™re such an unhappy girlā€, knowing where she comes from, the way sheā€™s mourning her lost confidence and autonomy with her abilities -- and here sheā€™s proving sheā€™s seen something true about him. :ā€™) I wish this show had gone on long enough for this dynamic to progress, itā€™s really interesting and touching)Ā  Ā 
- gambit dragging himself up onto dry land seeing someone approaching (to help?!): :D
gambit seeing that itā€™s logan and the look on his face: D:Ā 
- rogue using her powers so confidently and fearlessly in this episode tho!!!!Ā 
- *me crying* and then her FAMBILY comes to take her home and he says heā€™s looking out for her too and kurt still loves her even though theyā€™re having a conflict thing between them and sheā€™s finally able to use her powers without so much fear again and --
- ...did I just watch some baby lesbian love at first sight shit right now???Ā Ā 
- okay last two episodes letā€™s go
- HELL YEAH STORM (I love that sheā€™s likeĀ ā€˜donā€™t give me a dumb order like that and I wonā€™t have to disobey itā€™ too sdfjsaj) her voice has such commandĀ Iā€™m usually very much not theĀ ā€˜step on meā€™ type butttt
- yā€™know I feel like apocalypseā€™s main fault across all versions Iā€™ve seen of him is that heā€™s like an immortal superpowered god king and heā€™s not even sexy. like at least make him hot if heā€™s going to be insufferable in every other wayĀ 
- also callout post for apocalypse: one time he made gambit into the Horseman of Death... and didnā€™t even make him sexy!!! you were handed remy lebeau, supreme bi disaster slut of the x men universe, and you couldnā€™t even make his brainwashed superpowered evil side hot?? a beautiful stubbled twunk with glowing red eyes and extremely charming :> face practically delivers himself into your hands and you do that to him???? I mean Iā€™m sure apocalypse did some other bad stuff too but that was the worst one
(comics are so dumb yā€™all)Ā 
- having to watch jean cry is emotional terrorism!! ;___; she has such older sister/mom energy, whenever she gets sad and helpless it hurtsĀ 
- oh, OH so PROFESSOR X youā€™ll make into a hunk and ~*strategically*~ rip his clothes to show off a nipple and a flawless pec in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable because heā€™s like The Dad??? apocalypse you are rotten to the core this is unforgivableĀ 
- so wait wanda never actually gets her real memories back. what the FuCk I hope that was a dropped storyline because they ended the show tragically prematurely rather than like. the plan
- why is spyke calling stormĀ ā€˜stormā€™ show thatā€™s his auntie o!! >:(
- as a society we need to acknowledge that apocalypse looks like a fucking clown
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- ooooh yeah I have been thinking that this showā€™s greatest visual weakness so far has been not having a visual way to show telepathy/battles of the minds, but this is a pretty cool way to do it! better late than never
- Iā€™m so happy rogue gets to end this herself, since she was forced into starting it against her will, itā€™s just nice and neat storytelling
- YEAH FUCKING TELL HER KURT AND ROGUE I AM SO PROUD OF YOU and she has the temerity to look pissed off oh my god
the only valid thing mystique has done in her entire life is be in love with destiny. literally everything else she gets up to is a travesty. like I know objectively sheā€™s hot but my loathing for her stops me from even appreciating it. I do enjoy loathing her tho so please donā€™t change her haha
(a bit odd to have kurtā€™s attitude to her swing so much but Iā€™m just going to assume he and rogue had a good long conversation afterĀ ā€˜cajun spiceā€™ and that he understands whatā€™s going on better now)
- this last part is such a cruel tease faskdfhsdajĀ ā€˜here are all the cool-ass things we had planned. sucks you never get to see it huhā€™ im devastatedĀ 
- magneto without his helmet and playing charmingly with children like charles is goingĀ ā€˜well at least I saved my marriage finallyā€™ fsadkhfjsd (honestly tho I would be super interested in seeing how theyā€™d redeem this magneto because heā€™s been a real bitch the whole time lol)Ā 
thereā€™s an interesting thing here where magneto looks down at wanda as the last thing he does on screen before this epilogue part (yeah I hope it fucking haunts you foreverĀ what you did to herĀ erik you absolute piece of hot garbage) and the last thing charles does is look at jean b/c he knows whatā€™s going to happen to her and it breaks his heart... Dramatic ParallellsĀ Ā 
- just the hint of jean as the phoenix has me in full D:D:D: mode tho maybe I wouldnā€™t have survived it
- gambit in the last groupshot with his arm around rogue ;^) I mean Iā€™m sure theyā€™re headed for some turns and roundabouts along the way but whatā€™s that thing she says as her wedding vow, that sheā€™ll always find her way back? anyway that got me in my heart
- man I really wish this show had been given more seasons, we were barely even getting warmed up here :ā€™(
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