#which would have been a really cool writing choice but i digress

[kurokoros]

As someone who admittedly doesn’t like st/ncy in the slightest, I’d say it’s less about character regression and more about it making the characters (Steve, mostly) feel stunted. It feels very unfair to have Steve still be hung-up on the high-school girlfriend that settled for him when the other guy didn’t ask her out, cheated on him emotionally for almost the entirety of their relationship (which is pretty obvious when you watch the end of S1, there’s definitely a longing look from Nancy directed at Jonathan), and then debatably physically cheated on him at the end (I say ��debatably” because supposedly the Duffers and actors have said st/ncy broke up during their argument so it wasn’t cheating, but that seems like them trying to save face in post). Steve feels stunted by st/ncy because you’d think at some point in the last 1.5 years his feelings would have dimmed, or he would have realized that he deserved better than being treated the way he was. 

The regression argument comes in because in S3 Steve tells Robin in a moment of emotional sincerity that he’s not in love with Nancy anymore. We the audience had no reason to believe he was lying in that scene, so to have Steve suddenly be interested in Nancy again (and to have all of these other characters telling Steve to make a move, including the two characters he’s closest to) feels almost like a step backwards in terms of writing. Like, the writers weren’t sure what to do with Steve in S4 so they just gave him a romantic plot-thread with the only viable character. It’s also fair to assume Steve and Nancy don’t hangout outside of Upside Down situations. And if they haven’t interacted much in the 1.5 years since their breakup, it does feel a little odd for them to be looking at each other the way they do.

Personally, I think S4 would have been a good way to properly wrap up the st/ncy breakup, instead of reignite feelings that imo were never really there on Nancy’s side to begin with (as of the end of S1), because the show had Steve take the breakup very very graciously, when there could have been more resentment. S4 would have been a good season for them to have to team-up and actually talk about what went wrong instead of just pinning it on steve being “a shitty boyfriend.”

I genuinely don't understand why is stancy universally seen as a regression of character development? Or Steve still having feelings for her? I can understand people not liking the ship, I just don't understand where is the whole regression thing coming from? I thought the whole point of stancy was that they have both had development, so in case they got back together their relationship would be different than it was. That's literally spelled out in the show with that speech Steve had in UD? So why is everyone acting like they would suddenly both become their season 1 selves if they started dating again?

people just consider it regression because they don’t like it lol.

i don’t see it as regression, mainly because i don’t think we ever actually saw steve or nancy move on. like, they’ve changed as people, yeah. but their relationship never really had closure or ended, so i think it makes sense they’d have lingering feelings. whether you ship them or not, i don’t think it should be impossible to admit that.

(i think it’s weird how vitriolic people are towards steve for still having feelings towards nancy. like people hate him for it, and i just can’t understand why)

anyway, yeah, i don’t even think their relationship was that bad in s1.

though i will say that i don’t think nancy has developed much since s1/stancy, so the relationships could be unhealthy. however, i do also think that stancy getting back together would force nancy to go through development and grow as a person. because stancy could never get back together without them acknowledging what tore them apart. steve’s done that, but nancy hasn’t yet.

[on-partiality]

Hi, I’ve been curious about Hercules Mulligan’s inclusion in the Rev Set ever since I have seen posts saying that one of the other aids like Meade and Tilgman or Tallmadge (if Herc was added solely for spy stuff) would have been a better choice. Id love to hear your thoughts on this.

Also, (terribly sorry if this insults any Mullette shippers) but do you know why people ship Mullette? (Correct me if I’m wrong) but these two have had zero historical relations. In addition, I don’t remember from the last time I saw musical but if you do, what was Laf and Herc’s relationship onstage?

So sorry about this super long ask. I just felt like you would be the best person to ask. Tysm and I hope you have a wonderful day!😊

Aw, this is such a cool question! And you're really nice, anon! I wish you the best! I would also like to make it very clear right now to anyone else who wants to send me a long ask. I love long asks. They give me more to ramble about!

When I was first getting into studying the real history behind the musical two years ago, this same thing confused me heaps. Mainly because we have no proof that Lafayette or Laurens ever even met Mulligan, let alone became good friends with him and he wasn't particularly close to Hamilton either for most of the war (I mean, in the continental army, he would've barely seen Hamilton, and the other aides would have been around him all day). Hamilton lived with him when he was in college, and they got along really well, had fun late-night conversations, just overall were great friends who influenced eachother in positive ways and Mulligan's chats with him definitely made young Hamilton more enthusiastic about the revolutionary cause. Additionally, Hercules Mulligan was part of his artillery company, The Hearts Of Oak or the Corsicans - Mulligan's the whole reason why we know the story of 18 year old Hamilton stealing British cannons with his volunteers is because of the recount of that night that Mulligan later wrote - however, for the rest of the war they just didn't interact with one another much.

They had their separate jobs, and they did them well. Hamilton was confined to his own quaters and the aide-de-camp tent, Mulligan was hanging around British camps and the battlefield doing exactly what Hamilton wanted to do. The relationship between the two was completely different from how Hamilton, Laurens, and Lafayette were through most of the war. Working together, seeing each other just about every other day, creating the same drafts and plans; Especially Laurens and Hamilton as Lafayette got some more 'exciting' jobs because of his rank as a Major General. But out of the bunch, Mulligan really sticks out like a sore thumb, historically the group was called the gay trio and for a good 3 quaters of the war it was just them all together. So why on earth would Lin Manuel Miranda add a fourth to the trio? It very well could be that like you said, he wanted everyone in the main group to have a different role that was integral to how the Continental army ran (Lafayette commanding, Hamilton writing, Laurens battling (?) and Mulligan spying) but I ended up reaching the conclusion that because the musical starts in 1776 while Hamilton was still in college - in the musical at least, presumably, but because of the way events are swapped around with eachother and happen at all the wrong times it's a bit difficult to tell what time things happened in the musical like I believe that when it starts Hamilton's meant to be in college and not yet a soldier however Hamilton left college to make his militia thing in 1775 and he stole the cannons in 1775 however the musical shows this happening after Aaron Burr, Sir and at the start if that song they make it very clear that it's meant to be 1776 which also means that Hamilton and Mulligan should've already known each other, I digress, I could ramble about how the way the musical timeline is makes no sense for years - , they wanted to show someone who was really important to him at that age, and they just kept him with the group for the rest of the show to avoid confusion as to why he disappeared or so that they wouldn't have to introduce another character (like why they used Jefferson instead of Monroe for the Reynolds pamphlet).

I don't know about using Tallmadge as a substitute though, given that I haven't read of any interactions between him and Hamilton or him and Laurens historically, I haven't read of any between him and Lafayette either, but it seems more likely that they would've spoken given Lafayette's position as a major general. It's entirely possible that the trio had heard of him but never actually met him given that I believe that I read somewhere that the whole trio knew of the Culper Spy Ring and a lot of what they would've heard to do with the Culper Spy Ring would have related to Benjamin Tallmadge in some way or other because he was the co-founder of the group. Meade and Tilghman would be good to swap Mulligan for, but then it doesn't make sense that he was talking to them in college (although Laurens and Lafayette didn't meet Hamilton when he was 19 either and like I mentioned earlier, Mulligan should have already known him so with the logic of the Hamilton musical they could be in the main group, yes). If my theory is correct then it would make sense why none of the more historically accurate quadrios were chosen, if they wanted someone who was close to Hamilton in his college years who still fought in the revolutionary war; then Mulligan would've been a great fit.

I'm going to guess that Mullette is one of those ships where people went, 'Hmm, I have ships for every other character but these too, and they seem close enough (in the musical that is), so I'll pair them together!'. Y'know, one of those pair-the-spares kind of things that people who are really into shipping do. Additionally. I believe you're correct; it has to have been an 100% musical fandom ship originally because if there was even just a little bit of historical evidence to back it up, then we'd know for a fact that Lafayette and Mulligan knew each other. Oh, and as someone who has seen the musical rather recently (late may last year) in the show, Lafayette and Mulligan didn't interact much, but they did come across as good friends and for some very creative people, those crumbs of interactions are enough to develop whole stories and relationships and I applaud those people, the way they create so much out of so little is amazing. Personally, I don't like any ships that don't have even a semblance of historical backing because I'm definitely an amrev fan before I'm a Hamilton musical fan (I still love the musical, I just value the real history more). People can like what they like though; I won't judge.

I'll always think Mullette's funny because here in Australia recently it's become a trend again for young boys and men to get mullets and I can't read the name without thinking of some crazy looking mullets that I've seen. Thanks for the ask, Anon! It was super fun to answer :D

Sincerely,

O-P/Milly

(I apologise if I come across as rude, I've struggled with tones my whole life)

[iaus]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ANYTHING YOU LIKE I WOULD LOVE THE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY ON ANYTHING!!!

oh. i know. i know. okay. this is gonna be kinda wild because i'm gonna reference a few of my other fics for this but i feel like it's important for how the scene got written but.

epilogue. my beloved.... chapter 9. let's get some magic going.

i feel like i mentioned in a reply to a comment once that the scene where jace steals the spell in chapter 9 that how i wrote the magic was greatly influenced how i wrote magic in my darkest dungeon fic (thinking about this because i reread the fic that inspired this). i remember, later, i was like. i forgot to mention how gale bg3 affected this whole thing. so bear with me. i'll bold the part where i start actually going over the scene if you wanna skip this talk <3

so to preface this scene. i put a lot of physicality into writing magic. this is partly influenced by damian (the flagellant) from darkest dungeon. damian is a fanatic of the light (the catholic church. it's literally the catholic church.) and uses his body and faith to cast magic. his entire kit is built around using blood, taking wounds from other characters, and sacrificing himself. if you have a flagellant die in darkest dungeon he will stun enemies so your other characters have an advantage against an enemy.

so, for context. that's where a lot of my gnarly magic descriptions come from. that's where the idea for my spell thief mechanic came from because, while i know it's hard to do in dnd, i think magic literally taking a toll on your body is so cool. especially if, like jace, you're pushing yourself to the limit.

but in addition to that gale bg3 is my favorite romance. and, uh, well, spoilers for gale if you haven't played the game, he literally has a piece of the karsite weave in his chest and has to consume magic items so he literally doesn't detonate. the game doesn't really play into this as much as i like. i think he should look haggard and unhealthy or at least have dialogue options about it because there are some dialogues that imply this takes a huge toll on his body. which i mean. makes sense. the karsite weave feeds on magic. there's also further gale meta where i think he's actually a sorcerer who was trained as a wizard BUT I DIGRESS. i wanted to mention this before i got to the scene because it really effected my approach to writing jace.

i love sorcerer as a class. i think it's so interesting and there's so many different ways to play it. we're. not going to get to my jace frustrations though.

BUT. now we can get to the scene from chapter 9 of epilogue.

so, we're now learning more about this power that jace has.

we've only had it kind of alluded to before now. we had the flashback of the bleeding tiefling in chapter 6 and now we're seeing the power in action. the thing that got jace blacklisted from adventuring. (or well. what he says is the big thing. not the. y'know. assaulting a party member with modify memory and then leaving him with brain damage.)

we're gonna start here:

It has been years since he’s attempted this—much less when he’s been pinioned by a god. Porter would have never. Even on his worst days.

i know i structured epilogue to be purposefully vague and a little confusing about what's going on with jace but i want to start with this line because it really shows how much he resents ankarna. and honestly? he is resenting her for something that his grief is causing. grief is such a powerful thing and jace refuses to look directly at his grief. ankarna has never "pinioned" him. she truly was offering jace a gift. she wanted him to have a full, whole life where he could make his own choices without porter's influence. she did not take his magic.

jace is stifling his own magic with the immense weight of the grief and longing he cannot imagine. but, of course, he is going to make this into an ankarna vs porter thing. ankarna will never be able to win as a goddess here. he's going to pick porter every time because jace truly, wholeheartedly believes porter is the only one there for him.

even if he is unsure if porter loves him.

He can feel the strange hollowness—that hungry, infinite well that’s sunk deeper and deeper into him since he reanimated—, but beyond that is the cold font of magic he’s always drawn upon. Familiar. He closes his eyes, focuses upon it, can see the shimmering, pale gold of it gathering just beneath the surface of his skin.

the idea of innate magic is so interesting to me. here's this thing that jace has always known, always connected to. it's familiar. even if he sees it as cruel (and... that also begs the thought. is his magic actually cruel or is it adapting to what jace feels it is). and it's there. it's still there, just hidden. by his grief.

Divinity has always been his favorite—he’s always known the taste and feel of it, intimately.

divine magic is all he knows. his own.... porter's own sort of divinity.... even if porter's divinity... is not all his... epilogue jace is a divine sorcerer... interesting that he's ascending someone. interesting that... maybe the divinity porter has isn't... ankarna's. things to think about for this universe....

NOW. we get into the actual magical casting. my intent with this scene was to really hammer home how much effort this takes jace. at this point he is still sick with resurrection sickness. mechanically resurrection sickness is honestly not that big of a deal. you're worse off with levels of exhaustion (which, honestly, i've been more looking at those rather than the disadvantages of raise dead.)

but we also have our first glimpse of jace earnestly casting something that isn't a cantrip and it's taxing.

He slits his eyes open, to watch the curl of his own fingers, the flex of veins and tendons beneath his skin. Evocation magic has always felt particularly uncreative to him. This feels no less brutish, but even he can make evocation magic something more. The weave around him bends—groaning like an old, cantankerous creature, but slowly it gives way. The air parts, ripping open at the seams. Crackling energy heats the air with a whistling whine. Jace can feel sweat soaking through his undershirt, can feel the way his body shrieks in protest, a new fever already beginning to burn through his body, he smells blood—can feel it dripping down his mouth from his nostrils. He continues, drawing strands of magic from beyond.

you also get to see some of jace's biases. he thinks evocation magic is brutish-- ironic considering what jace is doing right now could be considered brutish. but then he turns it. he says even he can make this brutish thing this brutish kind of magic more. he's better than other casters.

and he immediately feels the effects. he is sweating and bleeding. also, i see jace as a very electric caster. i know we all have our opinions on his preferred damage types but i see him loving electricity and psychic. especially epilogue jace who is... such a strange beast.

and now we get into my favorite part of this chapter. i really liked doing shorter lines for the end of this. jace is on the verge of passing out. he's expended himself for a chromatic orb. a first level spell. as a level 20 caster that's... quite a way to be brought low.

It always hurts the worst before it works. (His God taught him that, intimately.)

epilogue has jace growing-- becoming someone who takes. he doesn't have porter with him. so he'll take porter's teachings to heart to fill that hole.

With a screeching whine and a loud pop, a sizzling ball of vibrant lightning curls in his hand. A weight lifts from his chest. The crushing well of him feels less empty. Blood trickles down his nose, over the triumphant curl of his lips. He can almost hear Porter’s voice in his ear, warm and heavy with fondness, That’s it, sweetheart—there’s my Saint Stardiamond. Jace laughs. See, he thinks as he cradles the stolen, volatile spell in the cup of his shaking, bleeding hand, I could never be yours. And then he collapses.

and the culmination of his efforts.

jace steals a spell. something he should never have. his grief, for the first time, breaks. he pays for it with blood and sweat but he's rewarded. he gets his magic. he can picture porter's pride.

and then. he decides. that's not enough.

he uses this to show ankarna: you'll never be enough for me.

i'd argue this is the moment in epilogue when jace takes his final turn for the worst. he's going to take what he needs. by any means necessary.

[frickinsleepdeprived]

your writing is so cool!! how abt the hashira's + tanji, nezuko, inosuke and zenitsu's favorite boba drinks? 🧋🤍

Awww thank you love! This is such an interesting concept though... maybe we can expand this farther from boba!

...

Muichiro 100% seems like a person that would enjoy anything blue. He's a kid after all. However, most natural foods aren't blue 😅 Therefore, I think for a go to flavor he might branch out of the box a bit and go for something new. Perhaps maybe pineapple? He looks like someone that would enjoy tropical fruits, despite being a bit of a picky eater.

...

Mitsuri is by no means a picky eater. Yo girl will eat anything and everything in sight no hesitation. However, given that her favorite kind of mochi is sakura mochi, her boba wouldn't stray away from that ideology either. However I think she might go for the occasional matcha or strawberry boba every once in a while. Just so that way she doesn't get sick of the sakura flavor.

...

Obanai, well, he doesn't really eat much. But one things for sure; he drinks plenty of fluids. How else could he go three days without eating? He'd probably not get anything fancy, and stick with generic flavors or even no flavor at all. He likes the simplicity of black milk tea with the tapioca pearls. Though, I don't doubt that he's tried the sakura boba that Mitsuri likes at least once, just to get a feel for what it's like.

...

Gyomei is probably the type to like really floral flavors. Due to the fact that he's blind, he relies on his other senses to really get a feel for things. Therefore i think he'd have quite the expanded pallet when it comes to food. So not only does he indulge in boba (his favorite flavor being, get this, lavender), he also enjoys aloe drinks. He likes the orange and raspberry ones. But he will get the original aloe drinks if he's really in the mood for one.

...

Rengoku is definitely a spicy man, both in breathing style and personality. And his drinks of choice always reflect that. But I'd imagine he does have a bit of a sweet tooth. So his go to would be caramel milk tea with mocha popping pearls. Ah yes, the flame hashira never fails to amaze it seems. However, he might indulge in a mango boba every once in a while.

...

Tengen Uzui, omfg the pallet this man has is 1000000% EXPENSIVE- but I digress. For a flashy man, he's got flashy taste... except when it comes to his boba. He's like a kid with it, although he'd probably just get some tea with the popping pearls for flavor. He likes iced black tea with raspberry popping pearls. Or he'd just stick to matcha boba. Like, yes he likes flashy things and wouldn't usually settle for less, but with some things he just enjoys them simple and easy. And boba is definitely something that he keeps simple.

...

Shinobu, like Gyomei, has a knack for floral flavors. However I don't think she'd go for something as exotic like lavender. She likes oranges, mainly because of the vitamin C and when its in milk tea it tastes like a dreamcicle! Although if she really wanted to branch out she'd go for something like dragon fruit or star fruit.

...

Giyuu has never been one for anything sweet, but one time Shinobu finally bugged him enough to the point where he gave in and got himself some boba. He got the taro flavor and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it was. However he didn't really like the tapioca pearls and vowed that next time, and every time after that, he wouldn't get the pearls lol. But if he's not getting taro, he's getting melon milk tea. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

...

Sanemi is a force to be reckoned with, especially when it comes to boba. Like Muichiro, he's a child when it comes to food. Always a little picky and particular in what he likes. So yes, this man loves strawberry boba with strawberry popping pearls. No I won't elaborate, because thats simply the way he likes it. And if he doesn't get strawberry, he gets the next best thing. Which in his eyes is just regular black milk tea with caramel popping boba.

...

Tanjiro is definitely a tea fanatic. Having grown up in the mountains it's helped keep both him and his sister warm. Therefore I think he's developed an appreciation for all kinds of tea. But his kryptonite is Thai tea, it's sweet and spicy, kinda like cinnamon tea that has a bit of cardamom in it. And when its mixed with the milk and the pearls he just slips into a state of bliss. He just finds it very comforting.

...

Though Nezuko is a demon, that doesn't mean that she can't indulge in human food. I mean come on, she sleeps for sustenance, the girl is practically invincible. But with that said, she'd definitely appreciate human food whenever she gets the chance to have it. She doesn't really like boba or milk tea, so she prefers iced tea with the popping boba so it doesn't leave residue on her teeth or a sticky feeling from the boba pearls. She likes iced green tea with lemon or ginger popping boba. It helps her rehabilitate her throat after all of the grunting and growling she does all day.

...

Zenitsu has always indulged in expensive foods like eel and whatnot. But like Tengen, he likes his boba simple. And half the time it's not milk tea, it's actually lemonade! He likes the classic lemonade with either strawberry or blackberry popping boba. He can't help himself, its his guilty pleasure. He'll usually reward himself with it after a long day of training, or after a major mission was accomplished.

...

Inosuke is, uh, unhinged to say the least. But when he gets his hands on boba of any kind, he goes feral. You know what this dude likes? I'll tell you, but you gotta promise me you won't have a heart attack. This boy likes iced cold brew with caramel and mocha popping boba. There. I said it. It's nothing but pure, unbridled caffeine and sugar. But I think it's quite befitting for him, because before you know it, he'll crash and get so worn out after training is over. So it's kind of a win-win situation lmao.

...

Aaaannnndddd another headcanon done! How is it possible that I can get my asks done in less than an hour but when I plan my headcanons they take a whole ass day? Lol either way I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to send in any other requests you might have!

[tap3werm]

Hellboy The Golden Army 2008 7/10

Hellboy the golden army, is a movie about an outcast demon man with relationship issues who kills magical creatures and has to stop a magical prince from killing the humans with an unstoppable mech army.

Exposition 

Despite being the second movie, it seems like they wanted to explain Hellboy's origin one more time. This time, they did a much better job I think. They explained as much as they needed to, and actually conveyed more information about Hellboy’s upbringing and his relationship with his father in this brief, redone introduction. This introduction is smoothly transitioned into the exposition of the antagonist. The antagonist is the prince.

 The prince hates the humans because they are endlessly greedy and cover nature in concrete. Not the most original idea, but this is acceptable. This is something you can empathize with or at the very least sympathize. It also explains his feud with his own family and kingdom. They are fine with fading away and letting the humans consume them. The prince wants to fight for the sake of his people. 

It’s explained that the prince plans to use the golden army that was once made for his father, to fight the humans. He must collect the pieces to do so. He gets the first piece, the one given to the humans, from an art auction. The second piece he obtains by killing his father, and the third is missing when his sister runs off with it.

You’re also introduced to the relationship issues that Hellboy and Liz are having. You’re able to see that it consists of his irresponsibility, and something that Liz doesn’t understand and is troubling her. 

Confrontation 

The tension builds with the prince’s search for the piece his sister holds. The protagonists are in a race with him to find it. They find it before him, they fight him. He tracks them down, they fight him. This is another introduction to yet another source of tension. This is because, the prince puts a piece of the blade in Hellboy’s chest, and it slowly burrows in his chest. 

At this point, you have the tension of, how are they going to save hellboy? What do they do about the remaining piece? How do they navigate these while also stopping the Prince? What is Abe’s plan with the final piece? With the addition of Liz being pregnant. This is not the biggest worry, but it does exactly what it needs to, and it’s necessary to have different tension points at different levels, from different directions.

The tension is, I think, kind of inadequately resolved, regarding saving Hellboy with the random troll dude just leading them to the one person who can remove it, just to keep the blade. And for whatever reason he really wanted the blade. Another is, one of those cheap moments where they happen to just meet someone who just happens to know everything. The character was cool, but it could've been achieved better. 

Climax

The climax is the final battle against the prince. It’s revealed that Abe’s plan was literally to just give him the piece for the princess. I’m not sure why that was his plan, being the smart one; This was a poor choice of writing I think. I’m not sure what the prince is even supposed to do to her considering he’ll receive any wound she takes. The prince really had no leverage there; I digress. Pretty weird plot mistake there though.

The prince awakens the army with all the pieces, and a battle with them starts. They fight the robot army, and they see just how impossible it is to fight them, because unlike the last movie, they’re actually immortal. Then, Hellboy gets a pretty good idea. That would be the right to challenge the prince to a duel. He beats the prince without killing him, so that the princess doesn’t die for Abe’s sake mostly. The prince tries to get a cheap stab on Hellboy, the princess then ends up stabbing herself in the chest which kills the prince as well, saving Hellboy in return.

Summary

They improved immensely in just about every single way from the first movie. I’m not sure what it was that held them back? But maybe they just did a really good job learning from their mistakes. I’m not sure; But in this movie they had amazing choreography for fights, they had great shots, great editing, acting, the villains had a very cool design, and most importantly the writing was actually great this time. There were real tension points and they were something you could empathize with. These combinations of tension points were great. I think this is necessary for a viewer to be able to connect to a character. Very rarely are we dealing with one issue at a time. And very rarely is there a clear answer on what to do. 

On top of all that, the CGI was very impressive. They really really improved it in those four years or so. 

The only issues I would have with it are scenes like how Hellboy got the spear tip removed, Abe tossing over the remaining piece, and this one scene where the prince was in the agency looking for the piece but there was literally like 20 agents with their guns out just watching him beat the fuck out of drunk Hellboy. A lot of movies forget that guns exist for the sake of an exciting fight. If that was what they wanted, they should’ve found a way to separate guns from these types of scenes. Why didn’t hellboy ever use his gun against the prince? Same thing. I also believe they should’ve expanded more on the internal struggle that Hellboy was having with killing the forest god. Missed opportunity. There are the worldbuilding logic holes I could bring up, but that’s kinda redundant. I personally don’t like overlooking those things though.

Overall it was a great exciting movie with great characters and great writing.

[jessiescock]

Some sort of unspeakable crime has been committed here

Personally i think having the soundtrack of the little mermaid reflect the new cast by including black music styles sounds like a great idea!

I wouldn't have thought of like. Rap music as my first choice for an adaption that's trying to stay faithful to the original, bc it doesn't really blend in well with the rest of the soundtrack? Idk maybe something afro-caribbean, there's already some influences from that in the 89 soundtrack. And while you're at it why not change the setting to a Caribbean inspired fantasy kingdom! What with the live action things all trying to be more 'realistic' it would actually make much more sense for the coral reefs and colourful fish and shit to be located in some sort of tropical ocean instead of fantasy denmark? (Idk for sure on this im not an expert on marine biology). Also if they weren't cowards they could've cast a non-white guy as eric too. But i digress

Maybe the rap music thing could've actually been a fun cool new twist to the old movie, which theoretically i would love to see more of in those soulless remakes! Could've been really cool too yea. Still sounds like a good idea on paper!

If they had hired literally anyone else to write the songs. instead of LMM

Like someone who. Idk knows how to write good rap songs

I fucking hate it here

Great job on making such diverse movies guys. Btw would you mind telling me how many non-white ppl are on the writing team? Or the the producers? The Director? Costume designers maybe? Oh yea i see. Mmh yea ok. lin manuel miranda huh. Ok

[ichayalovesyou]

Oh!! I would love your thoughts on some things that confuse me re: Vulcans. In Immunity Syndrome- Spock obviously feels the “death screams” of 400 Vulcans who are suddenly killed. He’s basically incapacitated temporarily and collapsed. But then in AOS Spock feels the death of 6 billion Vulcans and?? I mean he’s sad and emotionally compromised but there is nothing to indicate that he’s in physical pain. I mean some of it is plot (if he had passed out, Kirk would have taken over wo being sent to delta Vega and meeting Spock prime). But do you think there is a reason it didn’t effect him? ALSO can we talk about the fact that Spock used MIND CONTROL in a taste of Armageddon and they just….? Forget he can do that? Sir. What exactly ARE your telepathic abilities? (In the Devil in the Dark they kinda imply that all Spock really needs to do to read minds is lower his mental shields- which…? Isn’t he a touch telepath? But he can feel the horta’s pain by just being around?) is Spock just unusually gifted?

The simple answer to the first question is ‘JJ Abrams sucks at allowing men (Spock especially) to feel emotions other than anger or desire because blah blah he doesn’t even like Star Trek blah blah blah used Spock as self insert cuz he thought Zoe Saldana was hot blah fucking blah toxic masculinity’. I love AOS Star Trek Beyond and I don’t have the same issues with AOS every one does, but I do loathe JJ Abrams with a burning passion. While Vulcan getting destroyed was a really fascinating choice, it didn’t get the magnitude it deserved. Any emotional processing Spock did that conveyed sadness I credit Zachary Quinto for, because his other reactions (via, the most aggravating of writing) were mostly anger. Which I Did Not Like At All because while it makes sense for Kirk to have fundementally changed via events of the Kelvin timeline, Spock’s life had no divergence from canon up until meeting “my dad is dead and now I’m trauma cubed instead of trauma squared” James T Kirk. But I digress. TL:DR, there was no reason Spock shouldn’t have been completely incapacitated at that shockwave of Vulcan death, JJ Abrams is just an idiot, so let’s assume there’s no K’war’ma’khon in the AOS timeline or something idk.

The reason Vulcans can feel each other’s deaths is the psychic network that connects Vulcans to their familes, and those individuals to their families, spreading so far that all Vulcans are connected, it’s called k’war’ma’khon and it’s one of my favorite things about Vulcans ever, periodt, so full of love I can’t even get into how cool I think that is with just words. Those bonds being formed through being touched and held so often by one’s family that you don’t have to touch them to necessarily reach them because you’re already familiar with their patterns. Kind of like how children are naturally hypersensitive to the emotional state of their primary caretaker. Bonded Vulcans can read each other’s thoughts at occasionally incredible range without touch, like Spock sensing Kirk at the edge of the galaxy while he was on Vulcan in the TMP novelization.

Spock actually uses his ability to temporarily puppet someone holding him prisoner twice! A Taste of Armageddon and By Any Other Name. It seems to be an uncommon Vulcan genetic trait that Spock has minor access to. There is background lore to Vulcans having had “psionic warlords” in the past, skilled Vulcan telepaths who could stretch their mental influence into massive amounts of people. It’s essentially, I assume, the k’war’ma’khon and the skills that come with it, being used for ‘evil’. Sybok, Spock’s half-brother actually uses this ability to build his cult and brainwash the Enterprise crew in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

I figure this has something to do with a combination of the following:

Some Vulcan’s “mental static” range around themselves are larger than others. Like Sybok being able to create a sizable cult. Or That One Time Sarek set the emotional balance of the Enterprise crew way off balance just by having Vulcan Alzheimer’s.

Maybe the aliens brains being of similar or compatible structure to Vulcans to allow ranged vulcan telepathy. Where as Humans, Horta, and most other species do not.

For Spock, as shown especially in By Any Other Name, the effort to do so is extremely taxing and thus rarely used. Maybe it doesn’t always have super immediate side effects which is why he doesn’t react too extremely in A Taste of Armageddon. Sybok is significantly more trained, powerful, and fully Vulcan genetically than Spock, which might explain why he doesn’t suffer in the way Spock does.

So yes, Vulcans are primarily touch telepaths, but there are exceptions to that rule throughout canon that can be explained away the way I just did.

[mallowstep]

Hi, so I am a former pro shipper turned anti turned possible pro shipper again. Originally, I was a pro shipper bc I was shipping irl people (basically they were non famous adults I actually knew and I was publishing fanfic abt them without changing names and stuff). Then I kind of got a clue and stopped. I was getting made fun of a lot bc of that so I kind of became an anti (jumped on the RPF hate train, cancelled anyone people told me to, hated on ppl for problematic ships etc). 1/2

i'm gonna answer this all in one ask, but i'm going to respond part-by-part, to help my information-processing-challenged brain.

i do want to say: i'm sorry you got made fun of. i do think that publishing things about people you know irl without changing names is not okay, but i am sorry you got made fun of. that's not a helpful way to help someone understand that they're doing something wrong, and i'm sorry you went through that.

Anyways, I recently got into a fandom that a lot of people have tried to cancel/shame people for liking, and I’ve been re-examining a lot of my views. It’s tbh a little sad bc most of my friends (while not active in fandoms) have a super anti mindset and would definitely shamed me especially bc of my past if I mentioned this stuff. However, becoming a pro shipper again has been a long, tiring mental process of learning to accept people again and I really appreciate your account for being so 2/3

yeah, problematic fandoms. urgh. i don't want to get into discourse, because like. not trying to do that. but ever since steven universe got called a problematic fandom (what the FUCK guys), i haven't taken that sort of shit seriously. with like, two or three exceptions which i won't list here, because the whole point is to deplatform them so no one talks about them and listing them defeats the point (which is why problematic fandom arguments are so dumb and counterproductive holy shit i wouldn't have known XYZ even EXISTED if people weren't constantly trying to tell me it was bad), and even then it's more of a "i personally do not engage with that."

i try really hard not to judge other people on their interests. i'm a proud homestuck fan. i write warrior cats fanfiction, often about very adult topics. i get it.

when it comes to friends...i don't know if you want advice, so ignore this paragraph if you don't, but it might be worth putting feelers out. people can surprise you. it's up to you what you want to do about that, but frankly, i don't care what your ship opinions are. if you're against harassment, you can be my friend. (you might not want me to be your friend, but hey, that's your prerogative.)

anyway, yeah. i've gotten embroiled in online circles before and had to unpick beliefs from them. it's hard work, and my heart goes out to you. remember that the most important part is that you don't harass other people. i'm a firm believer in "i don't need you to accept me, i just need you to respect me." in other words, i'd rather deal with a homophobe who kept their mouth shut around gay people than an LGBT+ person who told me i couldn't call myself queer.

but i digress. it's hard work, and i hope it goes well for you.

Open to people who don’t label/people trying to become proshippers and stuff bc no matter how people irl treat me, I’ve always felt welcome here. Anyways, absolutely love your warriors stuff and thanks for having such a cool blog. 3/3

i'm glad you feel welcome here! i hope everyone does. i don't care what people call themselves. i'm here to have a good time, and anyone who wants to have a good time with me can.

this is my corner and i say ship discourse is dumb as hell. like sld;fksd;ajfk it's so dumb and not worth my time i've made an active choice to not bother arguing about it anymore. i was tempted to explain why it's dumb, but i'm not going to do that. it's not worth it.

wishing you the best.

<3

[inkmyname]

The Ember Island Players: performing toxic masculinity and narrative complicity in propagating misogyny

Initially I wasn’t going to respond to concerns about Katara’s racist/misogynistic portrayal in the Ember Island Players with anything more than snarky tags, but apparently I can’t keep my mouth shut, so I’m posting my response as a standalone meta about how the writers’ insistence on creating drama for drama’s sake leads them to--in lieu of actual character development--fall back on lazy narrative shortcuts whereby a performance of toxic masculinity against a gendered heternormative background is used to create tension in a romantic relationship, presumably with the goal of keeping the audience invested.

The Ember Island Players is problematic for a lot of reasons, not least of which is the pervasive tone-deaf misogyny, including racialized misogyny, directed at Katara. There’s a lot of meta on this, so I’d like to focus on something different: Aang’s relationship with gender and romantic attachments.

Aang seems so uncharacteristically chagrined the whole episode: “I’m not a woman!” Based on his previous characterization up to this point:

The Fortuneteller. This is the same Aang who makes a necklace for Katara when she loses her mother’s. Observe how he responds to Sokka’s jibe about jewelry-making, which can be seen as a feminine pursuit: Sokka: Great, Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world, you can go into the jewelry-making business. Aang: I don’t see why I can’t do both. Femininity isn’t presented as being mutually exclusive with narrative pursuits like saving the world which have traditionally centered male protagonists (especially if we take the entire canon of anything every written in any genre that’s not specifically, say, something like shoujo or jounen which are directed and young girls and women, the narrative focus on male personalities is overwhelming).

The Warriors of Kyoshi. Oh, and this is the same Aang that dressed up in full Kyoshi gear, kabuki makeup and all, without complaint. Why would he? After all, she was him in a past life. (There’s a whole meta here about gender-critical analysis of kabuki productions where male actors typically assumed female roles and how Avatar both takes inspiration from this real-life kernel and subverts it in Rise of Kyoshi where Kyoshi’s signature look is not only an homage to her parental heritage but also a reimagining of who can inhabit what roles. Her legacy, though imperfect, is also notably feminist, taking face paint worn typically by men IRL and expanding it into war paint for women warriors.) (There’s also great headcanon-adjacent meta here about gender non-conformity and non-binary identities in Avatar. Avatar was not overtly explicit about its feminist or gender-progressive mindset outside of episodes like The Warriors of Kyoshi or The Waterbending Master, but it was still way ahead of its time. If anyone was to be presented or headcanoned in such a way, it would be the Avatar who’s lived a thousand lives, inhabiting a thousand skins and a thousand identities, including gender identities. There’s also cool crossover meta here about the Legend of Korra depicting a female Avatar in Korra with masculine tendencies and visible muscle vs Aang as a male Avatar with a gentler pacifistic spirit and gender nonconforming tendencies.)

The Cave of Two Lovers. Aang wears a freaking flower crown and is generally wholesome and adorable, even leading up to the “let’s kiss lest we die” scene with Katara. He’s not pushy or overly concerned with appearing masculine and it is in fact Katara who suggests the kiss and Aang makes a fool of himself. From the transcript: Katara [Shyly, blushing.] Well, what if we … kissed? Aang [Very surprised.] Us … kissing‌? Katara See? It was a crazy idea. Aang [Dreamily.] Us … kissing … Katara [Fake-jokingly.] Us kissing. What was I thinking? Can you imagine that‌? Aang [Fake-jokingly.] Yeah. [Awkwardly laughs.] I definitely wouldn’t want to kiss you! [Beat.] Katara [Insulted.] Oh, well! I didn’t realize it was such a horrible option. [Angrily.] Sorry I suggested it! Aang [Realizing his mistake.] No, no, I mean �� if there was a choice between kissing you and dying … Katara [Disgusted.] Ugh! Aang [Desperately.] What? I’m saying is I would rather kiss you than die - that’s a compliment. Katara [Enraged.] Well, I’m not sure which I’d rather do! [Slams the torch into his hand and storms away.] Aang [Miserably.] What is wrong with me … Aang, sweetie, this is not what you say to a girl you want to kiss, but generally, this is Wholesome™ and narratively, this is Good™. Eventually, they do kiss and that’s perfectly acceptable because there’s a whole conversation beforehand with humorous romantic framing. There’s consent and communication and initiative by the female protagonist. So solid A on the sensitive writing.

General Air Nomad culture. We don’t get a lot of Air Nomad culture in the show (and what little we do get what presented in such a misguided way, especially the whole commitment to forgiveness/pacifism which was handled in such an amateur black-and-white way from a writing perspective in season 3). But I digress. I really, really don’t think that Air Nomads who were so concerned with the spiritual side of bending and general existence had stringent notions of gender and romantic relationships–at the very least, they had very different notions of these issues compared to, say, the Northern Water Tribe. Canonically, even though AN philosophy emphasized detachment, Air Nomads practiced free love. Same-gender romance was freely accepted unlike in the homophobic Earth Kingdom (which even Kyoshi, a bisexual woman, wasn’t able to change) and the militant Fire Nation (Sozin outlawed homosexuality after declaring world war, essentially). And though the temples were gender-segregated, it seems that the burden of raising children fell to the entire community instead of just the women. Both male and female Air Nomads are revered. In the case of the former, Guru Laghima who unlocked the power of flight through achieving complete detachment from the material world. And in the case of the latter, Avatar Yangchen, who has statues everywhere because she came to be revered as a deity not just among Air Nomads but in the physical world in general. Nowhere in Air Nomad philosophy is the concept of gender, romance, love, sexuality, relationships etc. etc. tainted with jealousy and possessiveness (especially towards women) or rigid binary heternormativity.

So this was Aang for the better part of the first half of the series. Not overly concerned with gender roles. Pretty much fumbling his way through his first crush like a lovesick puppy and it’s all very wholesome. Supposedly a classic product of Air Nomad upbringing.

Meanwhile, Aang in EIP:

Checks out Katara’s butt as she’s sitting down.

Gets mad at being portrayed by a woman.

Accuses Katara of being the racialized misogynistic version of herself depicted on stage ([sarcastically]“Yeah, that’s not you at all.”).

Nods in agreement when the misogynistic stage production of Katara presents her as the “Avatar’s girl.”

Unable to differentiate between fiction and reality and puts the onus on Katara to do the emotional labor to justify something she never said (”Katara, did you really mean what you said in there? On stage, when you said I was just like a … brother to you, and you didn’t have feelings for me.”)

Assumes they would just… fall into a relationship… just because he forcibly kissed her at the invasion and again pressures Katara to do the emotional labor to justify why their relationship is not how he wants it (“But it’s true, isn’t it? We kissed at the Invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we’re not.” / “Aang, I don’t know.” / “Why don’t you know?”)

Forces a non-consensual kiss on her even though “I just said I was confused!”

So, there’s so many things wrong with this, most of which are a laundry list of behaviors typical of toxic masculinity:

Ogling

Outdated misogynistic humor (what’s wrong with being a woman?)

Verbal abuse

Offloading emotional labor

Gaslighting

Pressuring a potential romantic partner

Lack of direct communication about romantic desires

Lack of sensitivity

Lack of active listening

Lack of emotional intelligence and empathy

Lack of consent and sexual assault

I could go on and on.

My question is Where and when did he learn these toxic behaviors? What happened to the wholesome boy making necklaces, wearing flower crowns, and generally being adorable in a kid with a first crush kind of way when it comes to romance?

Now, you can argue that EIP players Aang has been through a lot, including being shot by lightning and actually dying, and after the failed invasion, he’s stressed out with the weight of the world on his shoulders and maybe not expressing himself or his desires in the best way and taking out all of his frustrations on Katara.

Except… that is all just conjecture because the actual writing of the show doesn’t put in the hard work and make those connections. Instead, they fall back on misogynistic tropes and toxic heternormative romance tropes and a forced love triangle subtext and they just, to put it politely, fuck it up, two and a half seasons’ worth of work, gone, in the space of one episode. And even if it weren’t conjecture, it would still be wrong of Aang to act the way he did.

Let’s list Aang and Katara’s interaction in relation to each other in season 3:

The Headband. “Don’t worry about them. It’s just you and me right now,” Aang says as he pulls Katara into a dance. I have qualms about the writing of this episode: the creators wasted a golden opportunity to flesh out the Air Nomad genocide because they were too busy playing footloose in a cave, they wrote Katara–the same Katara would said fuck you to Pakku, freed enslaved earthbenders from a Fire Navy prison, and became a spirit goddess ecoterrorist to help a village in an enemy nation–as uncharacteristically shy just so Aang could sweep in and pull her into a dance. But like fine, whatever. It’s cute and really well-chreographed and there’s actually appropriate romantic framing here for once and at the end of the dance, look at Katara’s face–she’s happy! Positive Kataang interaction, and I don’t actually mind it. 7/10.

The Day of Black Sun Pt.1. He forces a kiss on her on the mouth, taking her completely by surprise. A chaste kiss on the cheek and a wistful pining last look and “Be safe” might have been acceptable, but given Katara’s shocked and uncomfortable body language, the kiss on the mouth was not. Worse yet, the show just… forgets… to follow up on it for several episodes and when it’s brought up again, it’s used as a sledgehammer to punish Katara for not magically being with Aang. 0/10.

The Painted Lady. Let’s look at the transcript: Katara [Using a disguised voice.] Well, hello Avatar. I wish I could talk, but I am very busy. Aang Yeah, me too. I hate that. [Looks at Katara’s face from behind the veil.] You know, you’re really pretty, for a spirit. I don’t meet too many spirits, but the ones I do meet, not very attractive. [Looks at Katara suspiciously. Tries to look under the hat.] Katara [Giggles nervously.] Thank you, but- Aang You seem familiar too. Katara A lot of people say that. Aang [Suspicious.] No, you really seem familiar. Katara Look, I really should get going. [Covers her face and runs, but Aang uses his airbending and blasts her hat up into the air, exposing her.] Aang Katara? Katara [Guiltily.] Hi, Aang. Aang [Shocked.] You’re the Painted Lady? [Pointing at Katara.] But how?Katara I wasn’t her at first, I was just trying to help the village. [Takes her hat off.] But since everyone thought that’s who I was anyway, I guess I just kinda became her. [Drops her hat on the ground.] Aang So you’ve been sneaking out at night? Wait, is Appa even sick?Katara He might be sick of the purple berries I’ve been feeding him, but other than that he’s fine! Aang I can’t believe you lied to everyone, so you could help these people. Katara I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have … Aang [Happily.] No, I think it’s great! You’re like a secret hero! Katara Well, if you wanna help, there’s one more thing I have to do. Aang gives her a curious look. Cut to the Fire Nation factory. Aang and Katara run along the river’s edge toward it. Aang looks at the polluted water. Aang You wanna destroy this factory? Katara Yes. Sokka was just kidding, but he was right. Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people permanently. He helps her blow up the Fire Nation smelting plant! Yes, he does call her pretty, but more importantly, this is one of the few times he acknowledges her faults (lying, deception, putting the mission at risk to help the enemy nation etc.) and still thinks she’s so fucking cool. He calls her a secret hero! There’s a lot of admiration and support here from Aang. He’s raising up Katara (instead of putting her down as in EIP) not because he sees her as a potential love interest but because he admires her and her compassion! This is great. Solid wholesome Kataang interaction. 10/10. But all good things must come to an end…

The Southern Raiders. I’m not going to spend too much time on this because there’s a million pieces of meta on this episode. He’s completely out of line asking Katara to be forgive her mother’s killer, the source of her greatest trauma as a victim of targeted ethnic cleansing. Given that he’s a victim of ethnic genocide himself, although he personally wasn’t there for it/didn’t actually witness it unlike Katara, he should have understood. He does say “You need to face this man,” which is good and supportive and he should have stopped there, because he continues on to say, “But when you do, please don’t choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him.” Stop. Stop stop stop. No one should tell a traumatized victim of ethnic cleansing how to deal with their trauma. By the end of the episode, Katara doesn’t kill him–but she crafts a third path as the conclusion to her hero’s journey and it is not the path of forgiveness that Aang preaches. Ironically, it is Zuko, who also confronts Ozai, the source of his greatest trauma, who never tells Katara what to do but follows her lead instead: even though he redirects lightning at Ozai and could have killed him, he doesn’t go through with it. He understands Katara and he understands that she needs to this. Kataang interaction rating: 0/10.

So that’s where we are with Aang and Katara in Ember Island Players. Some positive interactions that are appropriately romantically framed and some that are just wholesome and good… but all ruined by forced kissing and moralizing about Katara’s trauma instead of offering understanding. So that still doesn’t answer when Aang would have learned all of the toxic masculine/heternormative behaviors he displayed in The Ember Islands Players.

The only answer, I’m forced to conclude, is bad fucking writing, where the creators were not only tone-deaf in portraying Katara in a racist/misogynistic way or, you know, in writing solely for the male gaze because fuck half the audience, I guess, but they just wanted to create drama for drama’s sake. They completely disrespected their female lead and I would argue they disrespected Aang’s character too in making him a stereotypical self-insert Gary Stu who displays toxic masculine behavior without consequences because that’s what’s expected of a toxic heternormative romantic plot device.

And worse yet, they never follow up on this, just like with the kiss at the Invasion. In the last five minutes of the finale, Katara looks up at him with admiration for saving the world and then kisses him. This is not only a missed opportunity for character development for Aang, but also a big fuck you to the female audience because the message is clear: the guy gets the girl as a trophy for saving the world, and fuck input from the female half of the partnership because that’s just not important and is not worthy of screentime. But I guess screentime dedicated to displaying toxic masculine/heternormative behaviors without ever condemning such behavior as a follow-up is just fine! :)))

If the EIP was supposed to make an argument for Kataang, then it failed. but more important:

By the show’s own high standards, The Ember Island Players is a failed episode, full of bad writing and worse characterization. For a show that was so ahead of its time, this episode is a narrative black mark, a failure of progressive representation and a disservice to its main characters.

There’s some wholesome Sukka and Zuko/Toph interaction, but even that doesn’t manage to save this episode, especially given there’s no resolution to the central conflict: the relationship between Aang and Katara. The entire unnecessarily OOC and forced Kataang drama drags it down.

We know Aang is capable of lifting up Katara and being supportive of her, as he was in episodes prior. We could have had honest, supportive, and open dialogue between Aang and Katara that actually followed up on the Invasion kiss, with Aang clearly expressing what he wants, Katara expressing that maybe she didn’t want that right now, and Aang completely respecting that and them hugging at the end because their friendship/connection is much more profound than pre-teen romance. This is an instance where Aang could have chosen to center Katara’s feelings, for once, instead of his own out of selfless love. If this happened, I would have been okay with a Kataang ending. But that isn’t what we got, obviously.

Part of what appealed to me about Aang as a male protagonist in media aimed at young audiences is that he–at least initially–did not start out as a toxic self-insert Gary Stu lifted from every problematic heternormative romance film ever. In fact, given his playful trickster archetype, general kindness/gentleness, and his stance against violence (a typically masculine trait), he both subverted expectations of and expanded the boundaries of what a male protagonist in children’s media can look like. Unfortunately, the creators don’t go all the way with Aang. In fact, they took a step back with his portrayal in The Ember Island Players, where the creators not only rely on misogynistic tropes to create drama but also make him complicit in propagating said misogyny. And that’s just a damn shame because we could have had a wholesome Kataang storyline and a sensitive male protagonist who cares not about your outdated gender roles and respects his partner’s autonomy!

[zmediaoutlet]

Why do you dislike that scene of Sam and Dean hunting those soldiers? Because you believe they wouldn't be able to take specially trained army soldiers or? I'm sure we're supposed to think that they hunt monsters every day of their lives, humans are easy compare to.

oh, fam. what a hornet’s nest to walk into.

Okay.

So, first: First Blood & Lotus are complete failures of episodes. In writing, execution, believability, filmic decisions. Truly shocking that they got off the storyboard without someone fully laughing out loud and going “great joke!” and then, I don’t know, putting the draft ideas into the urinal in the office bathroom and letting everyone have a go at dissolving them into an ammoniac puddle.

But then they decided to do them. So, unlucky us. So, Lotus is just... risible. Whatever. I don’t have the energy or willpower to think about it. First Blood is so much worse. Aside from how completely fucking stupid the beginning is -- really, this boring-ass montage of who-cares is supposed to be this much of a mental strain to two guys who were in literal hell? -- ugh, I can’t even work up the energy to get as mad at it as it deserves. Blah. So -- stupid, stupid, unbearably stupid premise. Then they escape. Okay, fine. The Billie plot is-- again, unbearably stupid. But then they get out into the woods.

There’s a moment, a bare moment, where it’s the Sam and Dean I recognize. Standing out by that van, being competent in a way that feels grounded. Calling Cas, looking at a map, working together and triangulating their position and figuring stuff out. Grounded. That’s the key word. Sam and Dean were always, always, competent and together and I believed that they could be people because they made decisions and choices that pretty much made sense.

And then.

It’s hard even to put into words what’s so awful, so risible, so deeply embarrassing about the whole... Rambo sequence. First flaw is that they conceived of a Rambo sequence and entirely forgot what the actual movie First Blood is about. It’s not cool. It’s horrible. It’s brutal. Rambo’s hurt and freaked and this isn’t okay, not remotely, not at all. A First Blood reboot done by someone who kind of heard of it once on 4chan and thought “lol that sounds awesome” and never thought about it for more than the time it took me to type this sentence.

Then there’s the awful, awful, awful speech, which was the point of the gifset. Apparently lots of fans thought it was cool. I don’t know what show those fans have been watching. Dean’s liable to drop fake-cool sounding quotes and, you know, it’s not like it was wholly out of character. As my bud is keen to remind me, the double-reference of Cool Hand Luke and Rorschach is very dumb, and it is! It really is! But even the literal writing of it isn’t the main thing that’s wrong with it, even if the speech itself over the stupid walkie-talkie is cringe-worthy bad.

It’s the vibe. That’s what it comes down to. The vibe. An indefinable thing that nevertheless can be VERY wrong when it’s wrong. It was an accumulation of wrong notes, as we marched along through s12, going from okay to bad to what the fuck is going on. The British Men of Letters started neat but became overpowered comic book villains. The Asa Fox funeral where there’s a quirky little universe of hunters, like this is X-Men or something. Lucifer hopping into the President, when a writer with taste would understand that that’s a bridge too far for stakes, and pushes the story into a stupid corner where you have to pretend consequences don’t exist to move past it. And then, and then, and then, you get your two heroes, and you give one of them a gimmicky comic book speech that sounds like he rehearsed it to sound cool in the bathroom for weeks beforehand, and you set them on a fucking cat-and-mouse hunt with the Secret Service, and... what the fuck, was Dabb stoned? Was he eating cheetos off a puddle he’d left between his moobs and playing Spiderman on PS4 and went ‘lol this would sound cool, let’s do that?’  Honestly, I hope so. A thoughtless stupid little digression because ‘hur hur cool’ is better than him actually thinking this through and going, yes, that’s the place I want this story to go. That’s art.

Miserable. And, again, not OOC, not exactly. But there are things you can choose for your characters that feel thoughtful, difficult, adult, and remain in character. Then you can choose things for your characters that feel... like a child’s idea of what maturity is like. A coward’s idea of a brave man. A quivering nerd’s idea of a strong man. The Dean that I see in that scene is just... not the Dean I want, at all. It smacks of the thing that tanked the whole Dabb era. Doing something because for a second it looked kind of cool, until you thought about it at all. Doing something because it was a neat soundbite. Taste out the window; we’re gonna get Dean saying the lamest, most overused, most internet-nerd fake-cool line: you’re trapped out here with us, and I guess because Sam racks his gun and looks faux-grim in the background we’re supposed to take it seriously. I just wanted to turn off the TV.

And then he just kept doing that for three more years. Thank god he didn’t get to ruin the finale, too.

[fedonciadale]

Hi! After your ask about Ron, I would like to read your thoughts on Ginny as well. The ask about misogyny and the Not Like Other Girls trope in HP basically sums up my feelings about her, and I’m curious about yours!

(I obviously would LOVE to read an analysis about Romione as well, so unless the Ron anon asks you, I will)

Hi there,

so far the Ron anon did not ask me after Romione. 😁

Now, my thoughts on Ginny. And I am talking about BookGinny here.

As I said in the answer to the ask you named (which is here) Ginny is text book "not like other girls" trope, the cool girl, the girl who is into sports and yet she is also attractive and funny etc. She's a bit like your typical male fantasy, badass, but also pretty. And what is best - and I mean this ironic - she is absolutely head over heels for the hero, even though she tries her best to hide it. The only thing is that she is not like that from the beginning.

She is obviously written to be sympathetic, even her and Hermione making fun of Fleur, the girly girl, is meant to be funny. She is also shown as being 100% supportive of Harry even when he is in the wrong. I mean Ginny has no reason whatsoever to like Draco Malfoy, the son of the man who tricked her with the Horcrux Diary, but does she have to dress down Hermione for criticizing Harry when he had used sectumsempra, an unknown and harmful spell?

Ginny also inherited the somewhat vindictive nature of her mother. In contrast to Ron she can be vicious (bat bogey hex).

She can also be very nice. At the beginning of fifth year she seems to be the only friend Luna has and that she is completely accepting of Luna's weirdness is something I like about Ginny. She also is usually nice to Neville. So, although she is popular, there is a part of her that cares more about being nice to unpopular people than to look after her popularity.

To be quite honest, I'm often not sure, if she is written that well. JKR obviously had a personality in mind and most of the time she seems like a personality, but some parts of Ginny seem to be written just so that she fits for Harry - mind you, not all, but some.

Her character does develop over the books. In Harry's second year Ginny had the worst time of her life, when Voldmort took over her mind and body. This must have been a traumatizing experience and the fact that Ginny survived that and grew up to be a lively teenage girl says something about her resilience. But I am not entirely sure if this is real character development or if it is JKR writing Ginny as the fitting girlfriend for Harry. Because apart from one snarky remark of Ginny that she knows best how it feels to be possessed by Voldemort, we don't learn anything about her coping with that trauma. Apparently coping with her trauma made her become sassy instead of shy.

I mean, it is possible that she is one of the people who overcome their shyness, that she takes Hermione's advice (which begs the question why Hermione of all people would be the best person to give Ginny advice on how to be more open, but I digress....) and tries to overcome her crush for Harry. It could also be interpreted as overcompensation to her trauma or even a sort of healing. That a girl with six elder brothers can hold her own is not really a surprise. But we only see that girl in fifth and sixth year and to me this always begs the question where this girl comes from. It's not completely illogical, but at the same time it is not really explained. I always thought that Ginny in second and fourth year (I don't even remember if we see her in third year) is this shy persona and that she changes off screen so to say. Neville on the other hand gains self-confidence on screen when he joins Harry for the DA. In the movies they decided to stick to shy Ginny - a choice I don't really approve of because it means that she seems to be nothing more than Harry's love interest.

It could be explained by Harry's PoV because it is only in sixth year that Harry really notices Ginny as a girl he is attracted to. Still, I think it could have been done better.

So, in theory Ginny is a person I could like: She's pretty straightforward. When she's pissed at you, you know that. She's not someone who is sneaky. She is also someone who sticks to her friends. On the other hand she can be pretty opinionated and her disdain for girly girls is something I don't like at all.

We only see so little of her and Hermione's friendship and this is a pity. Because depending on what they see in each other (apart from the fact that they shared a bedroom when Hermione stayed at the Burrow) we could better judge the characters of both girls. Are they just close because of sharing much time at the Burrow? If you look closely, Hermione and Ginny are not that similar. Ginny loves sports, outside, going out, being sassy. And Hermione loves books, is ambitious and hates Quidditch. Hermione can be quick-witted as well, but she is not funny and she is not popular. And her anxiety about school is a strain on any friendship, let's be real.

I would hate it if they just bonded over their dislike of Fleur. But JKR might have wanted to hint at that.

I do think that Ginny is much more cardboard, not as well rounded as Ron and her personality and her flaws do not move the plot forward like Ron's flaws do.

With Ginny there is always that nagging feeling that she might just have been written to become Harry's wife. Badass, sassy, sexy and what is the best for Harry someone with a big family that can fulfill his wish to belong.

That is the reason why I have not yet tried to write from Ginny's PoV. I just don't vibe with her.

Thanks for the ask!

[prince-of-elsinore]

More reasons to enjoy Season 12

Part 2 to this post

These are just my (mostly) not too serious thoughts on things I enjoyed about season 12 (which believe me, I do have criticism of, but not for this post) now that I have finished my re-watch of it.

- they unfridged the original fridged woman. bold move, good course correction

- Mick as a foil to Sam, Ketch as a foil to Dean. That's all. 

- it's goddamn refreshing to have Sam and Dean on the same page most of the time! Like in 12x15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, Sam has been keeping the secret that he's working with the BMOL. But the secret only lasts one episode, and when Sam realizes he needs to come clean, Dean doesn't blow up at him. Sam being honest and Dean being accepting of Sam's decision: both evidence of growth! And in 15x20 The Future, they're on the same page about not wanting to let Cass go with Kelly. They both think he's been brainwashed (b/c that is definitely what it looks like). I just like seeing them agree on stuff, ok?

- Sam embracing his life and feeling comfortable with himself!! I see this season as a turning point, especially for Sam. I don't believe he's simply been brow-beaten into accepting a life he hates; I think he's consciously choosing to embrace the good of what he does and to take pride in it. His relationship with hunting will never be the same as Dean's, but, like I said: they're on the same page. As he tells Mary in 12x14 The Raid--"I chose this life." This is mostly due to choosing Dean, more than choosing hunting, but in any case, it is a conscious choice and Sam is making the one that is worth it to him, the choice that brings him fulfillment. And he even sees new worth in hunting itself, in a way that is very much in line with his character, as he expresses in 12x18 The Memory Remains (which I talk about more here).

- and that newfound confidence and comfort with who he is allows Sam to take a huge step in 12x22 Who We Are. I was so proud of him when he says "I called you here" instead of "We called you here." Sam has always had an independent streak, and he's stepping out from Dean's shadow in a healthy way here. He's allowing himself to be an individual agent. I always felt that in the end, he needed something of his own to be fulfilled, more than hunting with Dean--either a mentorship or leadership position (both of which he gets in the late seasons). This is his first step towards that, and he's so capable of it! He is a badass and he leads the hunters to victory over the BMOL on his own. 

- and Dean lets him!! This is a huge step for Dean too! Of course he's still worried about Sam (the "you come back" gets me every time), but he's not insisting on being there to protect him. He believes in Sam. He tells Sam he's ready for this, and when Sam hears it from Dean, he knows it's true. They need each other, but here we're seeing need of a healthier type--the way no one is an island, and we all need the love and support of our friends/family. They offer each other that, and it gives them the strength they need. I was so proud of Dean in that moment.

- ALSO so proud of Dean for, for once, acknowledging his own needs. Trying to save Mary is the right task for Dean--he'll never give up on family. But in the process, he speaks some truths that needed speaking. Admitting that he was set up to fail in raising Sam, that his whole life has been so unfair. Letting himself feel resentment towards the family whose hold is so tight on him. But, at the end of the day, still choosing love. "I hate you. And I love you. 'Cause I can't – I can't help it. You're my Mom. And I understand... 'cause I have made deals to save the ones I love more than once." Dean understands better than anyone that sometimes love causes harm, but it's still love and who can blame a person who acts out of love? And the thing is, love can also redeem. And here, Mary and Dean, both of whom have made some terrible choices in the name of love, find their way back to each other through love. Dean gives Mary the forgiveness he seeks for himself. This is Dean at his best.

- and even Sam gets in on the action. He, too, chooses love, and forgiveness. The family hug at the end of Who We Are is EVERYTHING.

- ok Who We Are isn't the only good episode so I'm gonna backtrack to talk about some others, like 12x11 Regarding Dean--it's funny! It's sad! Carrying on a great spn tradition of episodes like Mystery Spot and Yellow Fever. The sticky notes are wonderful. Sam knowing Dean well enough to leave them in the trunk of the Impala, with a big "NO" over the grenade launcher. Dean holding up "Witch Killing Bullets" without saying a word. Pointing his gun in confusion at Sam, who yells and points, "Brother! Witch!" :)

- 12x12 Stuck in the Middle (With You)—who doesn’t love a Tarantino tribute? (Having just watched Kill Bill, I can certainly say I love it). And the return of the Colt! Crowley's "It’s amazing what some people just leave laying about." Snark king.

- 12x13 Family Feud—I want to write a longer meta about the theme of family and love and sacrifice in this episode, so I won't go into it here. But another nice thing is how united the brothers are in their anger when Mary reveals she's been working with the BMOL. It's the closest we get to addressing Sam's torture and violation at the beginning of the season. I get the feeling Dean isn't so angry b/c of what Lady Bevell did to him, but b/c of what she did to Sam, which makes me think he knows it was bad, and Dean supported Sam in whatever he needed after that, whether it was talking about it or just giving some space, etc. Love some defensive big brother Dean.

- 12x14 The Raid—Actually a pretty tense action episode. And Mick is cool.

- 12x16 Ladies Drink Free—The Mick team-up is fun (I like changing up the dynamics), as is seeing them stay in a 3 star hotel lol. Dean has some good moments that highlight his growth, too. His "I used to think the same thing, too" to Mick, as if it weren't already obvious that he's taken "saving people" more to heart than "hunting things." He's done a lot of work to evolve beyond who he was with the Mark of Cain and even before. He also makes it perfectly clear what he thinks of guys skeeving on underage girls, and it's nice the writers finally emphasize that Dean does not like that behavior. He's past the point in his life where he'd make a joke about cheerleaders being legal (back in season 4. Quick digression: that's definitely a gross thing to say, but I always saw it as performative more than a declaration of intent. He puts on what he thinks macho guys would say. Not that Dean doesn't oggle what he likes, but one thing has always been very clear to me about Dean--he's a fan of enthusiastic consent. Anyway this should probably be a longer post b/c I could talk about Dean and performative masculinity and sexual attraction ad nauseam so I'll leave it there)

- 12x18 The Memory Remains—I've already gone over in my previous meta what this ep says about legacy, but there are other fun things about it. Like a Goat-headed monster! Man, how long has it been since the bros took on an urban legend like this? Like... any since freakin' Bloody Mary? Also Dean being cool with the kid smoking weed. You just know he likes to light up sometimes. Man, I need more weed-smoking Dean in my life

- 12x20 Twigs and Twine and Tasha Banes--this is a good fuckin ep. Finally, someone else on this goddamn show is allowed to be as codependent and unwise as Sam and Dean, and isn't punished for it. Let Max keep his wood-puppet sister! (Wow I KNOW it's really fucked up b/c I guess he can control her, too, but damn if it isn't fascinating. And sad. I hope they figure out some way to restore her autonomy) I stan two (2) codependent witch twins

- 12x21 Something About Mary--I'm a sucker for the silent communication and flawless telepathy as Sam and Dean find the bug and lay the trap for the BMOL. And that letter from Eileen :C (Even if her thing with Sam leaves me cold, I'm glad she got to come back to life b/c she sure didn't deserve to go like that)

- Ok one more thing about Who We Are--I'm a sucker for the angst of them thinking they're gonna die trapped in the bunker. And then Dean comes through with the grenade launcher, AND gets out the hole before it caves in. BAMF. I love that they saved themselves rather than some deus ex machina. No Supernatural interference necessary. Not even any deals with reapers, etc.

- I lied, one MORE thing about Who We Are--Sam doesn't take the bad deal Hess offers him (to help with Lucifer)! Once upon a time, I believe that Sam would have been so scared that he'd take the deal with the snake, masking his fear and foolishness as pragmatism. But he knows his own worth now. He knows he doesn't need the BMOL, terrified as he is.

- Finally, it was sad to say goodbye to Crowley in the finale, but it was a worthy end. You'll be missed, Fergus MacLeod.

[aestheticaxolotl]

Lets Talk About Mimebomb

I used two images here because both are priceless and I didn’t know which I wanted to use more.  Let me start with Mimebomb, using the Carmen Sandiego Wiki to break them (mimebomb is non binary fight me) down as a whole, starting with appearance and personality (Excluding the comments around his action in the show, please bear with me once more as I do this).

Mime Bomb is a thin, red-haired young man (*Cough*) who looks like a stereotypical mime. He (*They*) wears a grey and black striped shirt, black beret, white gloves, black spandex and black shoes. His (*Their*) makeup consists of white face paint, black face paint around the eyes and on the brows, and a light red shade of lipstick. 

So I wanna talk about Mimebomb without their makeup first. We see that they are not meant to be an attractive character, and I appreciate that Carmen Sandiego created characters like that. But I digress, red headed males are stereotypically either super hot or super not. And they really tried to go with super not. But failed because I love them anyway and so does most of the fandom. Now, the mime get up is a very strange choice to me, seeing as people are more scared of clowns than global warming, and mimes are very similar to clown, but I don’t think it’s a fear tactic. But more of a ‘hey even Mimes can be cool yall’. 

For personality we do not have a lot to go on as some of the other but we still have SOMETHING, I was forced to reference the books for this so please, if you have no read “Clue by Clue”, check it out.

Mime Bomb has been described as quiet by El Topo and weird by Tigress. Mime Bomb is seen as an opportunist, immediately tattling to V.I.L.E Faculty when witnessing Carmen stowing away on the graduate mission during her holdover year, and secretly hiding a rare stamp in Detective Chase Devineaux's coat when he was on to him. In the Clue by Clue novel, Mime Bomb is said to be skilled in symbiology and cryptanalysis according to Professor Maelstrom. He is also prone to avoiding fights or physical contact when possible. When fighting Sheena in the Who in the World is Carmen Sandiego novel, she easily beats him while he is distracted. When offered a helping hand to his feet by Black Sheep, he declines with a shrug and silent nod. In Clue by Clue, when Le Chèvre and Tigress are fighting Carmen, he stands off in the sidelines and shadowboxes rather than assisting.

Now, let us begin on what I have brought to the table.

Mime Bomb is seen as an opportunist

I have to begin by defining the term ‘Opportunistic’ using the Webster's Dictionary, Opportunistic meaning “exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle”. And dumbing it down for myself “They take what is best for theirself rather than the people around them.” Right, so. Mimebomb being opportunistic is CANON and shown MANY times. I will draw your attention to every time Mimebomb has turned Carmen or who ever into the Faculty for not following the rules. I would have loved to stated that this is a ‘teacher pet’ thing but I was surprised when I realized it wasn’t. The Faculty really doesn’t like Mimebomb and are very sarcastic towards them, constantly underestimating them and using them as the butt of the joke! And yet we see them completing missions successfully and with finesse, other messing up the mission they set up so carefully and thoughtfully.

Mime Bomb is said to be skilled in symbology and cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis is the art or process of deciphering coded messages without being told the key. While Symbology is  the study or use of symbols. This is very telling. Mimebomb studying codes and symbols can allude to selective mutism or even mutism. Personally, I prefer the former, Selective mutism is a childhood disorder in which a child does not speak in some social situations although he or she is able to talk normally at other times. And this can form in adults too. But the implications that they let if form how they preformed in school/college? Amazing, they made a choice and stuck to it for SUCH a LONG time. That commitment is amazing. This is also useful to more historical based mission or where it may lead into hieroglyph or other symbols. I’m willing to wager that these talents are why DOCTOR BELLUM brought Mimebomb on the hunt for an artifact. Because they would know some of the writing and symbols.

He is also prone to avoiding fights or physical contact when possible

Mimebomb being physically weak is not an accidental detail. Far from it! I think addressing that a male character who is more brains than brawn is a detail that needs to be pushed, and as off as Mimebomb is, they are the perfect example of this. They are not masculine and are easily taken down by Young Blacksheep, Chase, and other characters. Mind you it’s halariauous but PLEASE- You are KILLING their JOINTS. I have a feeling the avoiding physical contact is a very... Self protecting action that I feel would have to be more touched on in a headcanon post rather than an analysis post. The best I can come up with is the speculation that Mimebomb refuses to let people become close to them.

When offered a helping hand to his feet by Black Sheep, he declines with a shrug and silent nod

This, this the most telling thing EVER.  Mimebomb refuses a helping hand. They do not work well with others and when they are offered help, the refuse it. They have a self serving bias. A self-serving bias is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem, or the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner. It is the belief that individuals tend to ascribe success to their own abilities and efforts, but ascribe failure to external factors. When individuals reject the validity of negative feedback, focus on their strengths and achievements but overlook their faults and failures, or take more credit for their group's work than they give to other members, they are protecting their ego from threat and injury. Mimebomb protects themself at all cost, and that makes me wonder, why? Because they know that they can’t accept others help or their comforts. And they are fine with it. They are okay with being alone.

he stands off in the sidelines and shadowboxes rather than assisting.

I feel like this was originally supposed to be a one off joke rather than an actual trait or habit. But... If you know me by now, I can twist this on it’s head so fast, it’s not even funny. But I can’t here, I can’t except maybe they do this to encourage others? I think when they do work in a team, they do try their best to support who they are working with unless its an annoying slime ball like Neal the Eel (Not hating on Slimebomb, I just noticed they work better as comical enemies rather than a relationship, and i love that)

Now, there was no abilities category in the wiki, and I found this interesting, so i drew from the Trivia section of the page and found out... A lot really, that is interesting. But only one of them made and impression on me and it’s the one I want to focus on for a paragraph or two.

Mime Bomb is actually classified by A.C.M.E. as insane; given he is locked up with Maelstrom in a loony bin. considering he NEVER speaks (by choice), makes sense.

I’m going to take a second to define the term “Insane” using “Wikipedia” rather than a dictionary. “ Insanity, madness, and craziness are terms that describe a spectrum of individual and group behaviors that are characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns.” Hmm....What abnormal pattern are we looking at here. Selective Mutism. The mime outfit doesn’t help. I’ll make note that the official wiki says it’s choice that Mimebomb doesn’t speak, but doesn’t give us a reason why, speculation and theories are in store here and I will reference my V.I.L.E Operative headcanons.

In the end, Mimebomb was and still is one of my favorite characters in the whole freaking show. I enjoyed ever second of them on screen, every caper and ever wacky highjinx.  I’d watch the whole show again just to see them being the awesome character they are. As usual, requests are open and please! I love when requests come in! Stay tuned for the next one y’all!!

[prorevenge]

Shady boss lies about me to coworkers, I have her fired and in dept for several years after.

I have been lurking around here fore quite some time, and wishing I had a good story for you, until suddenly I realized I do! This happened back in 2011/12 when I was the ripe old age of 19 years old. This is a long one, so do strap in.

I got a part time job at a fast food place specializing in subs, not subway, but very similar, when I was 17. It was located in the towns mall, and was fairly busy. It’s a national chain where I’m from. When I started there the owner at the time was really nice, and she started that branch in my town. She was very strict on following all the cleaning requirements and took real pride in her shop. The way it was set up financially was that the franchise taker basically had to work from open to closing (9 am-7 pm) to even have a chance at making a decent living, and preferably only have one part timer helping for a few hours when it was at its busiest. It’s like the MLM of fast food. Why anyone would take on such a business wager is beyond me, but I digress. However, this owner actually managed to make money off it.

A year or so after I started, the owner decided she would move to a different part of the country and sell her branch and have someone else take over. That lucky individual was my co-worker who was three years older than me. (From now on Bosslady) She had worked there since it opened and was the natural choice to move up the ladder. Because she didn’t have the money to pay for the share in the franchise, about $5k, and nobody else was willing to pay that and have to work their ass off for minimal revenue, HQ allowed her to take over while they bought the old owner out, and HQ kept the share.

Now, Bosslady had no idea how to run a mile, much less a business, and small things started happening quite soon after she took over. I would normally work there after school, by myself, but she would often hang around the mall when she had finished work. Bosslady always complained about how little money she made, and would often come by when me or the other part timers were working and tell us to give her $20-100 right out of the register. Considering total daily sales never reached more than about $1200, that was a lot. I barely made $12/h, so my motivation was too low to care, and neither did the rest of the part timers, so we complied and gave her the money. My spider sense was tingling a bit, telling me it was fishy to grab money right out of the register, even if she was the owner, but if she wanted to dig her own grave that was fine by me.

I was friends with Bosslady and we would hang out and often hung out on the weekends, and we worked saturdays together. Which ment we would go out on Friday nights, get shit faced and work the next day hung over. Oh to be young. I would only go out during the weekends and never missed a day of work no matter how hung over I was, and saturdays were the only days I would be hung over. Besides school and work, I was in a dance company, and had dance classes everyday, mostly after 7pm, but a few days I had them earlier and couldn’t work no matter what. This is important.

Every night we would count the register, leave $100 dollars in change and small bills for the next day, and deposit the rest in a safe at the mall. I’m not entirely sure, because it’s been a long time, but I do believe Bosslady would tell us to take the difference out of the $100 for the register, somehow believing the money would magically show up the next day. After a while we started having problems with the distributers, we were not allowed to order on credit, and had to go to the bank to pay the bills in person etc. After that things started getting really weird, and Bosslady refused to let us make the cash deposits at night, insisting that we put the money bags in one of the cabinets inside the shop, which after a month or two culminated to a lot of cash. We had also had trouble a few months with getting paid on time. Since I worked the most out of all the part timers, I had the biggest salary, and the people who administered pay decided to pay the smaller checks first. This girl had bills to pay so that did not sit well with me. I was also the hardest worker out of all of us, Bosslady included.

Then one lovely Tuesday while I was at school, one of the other part timers asked me to cover her shift, to which I said I wasn’t able to because not only did I have back-to-back dance classes I also had a paper to write for school. Later that night I get a text from the girl saying “if you were hung over you could have just said so, you don’t have to lie..” and I’m like “excuse me? I don’t drink on school nights, and there’s no way I would have had the time to do so last night with dance class right after work and working on my paper” to which she just answered “yeah sure, Bosslady told me you were out last night”. The funny part is, this was a fairly small town, so there where nowhere to go on weeknights, so even if I wanted to break my own rules and party on a school night, I couldn’t. This really pissed me off, and figured I would stop playing nice and saving Bosslady’s ass.

Que the revenge: One day out of the blue, during summer, Bosslady declared she was going to go on a last minute, two week vacation to the states, and told me to take care of the shop while she was gone. I said fine, but would like more notice next time. I also asked her how she paid for it, considering she wasn’t able to take out any salary from the shop, and she just said “oh, I had some savings”. I just thought “Hmm, that’s weird considering you actually don’t make money”, but didn’t say anything.

The first day I was in charge HQ called, and the conversation went like this:

HQguy: “hey, is Bosslady around?”

Me: “No, she took a last minute vacation to the states and put me in charge, didn’t she tell you?”

HQguy: “No, she did not indulge that information. But maybe you can help me. Do you know what happened to all the cash deposits from the past few months?”

Me: “Yeah, they’re in one of the cabinets here. Bosslady told us not to deposit them, she even yelled at me when I was about to, because I felt really uncomfortable knowing we had what must have been more than $15k lying around in the shop, and gave me an excuse about having to look them over”

HQguy: “Are you serious?!”

Me: “Sure am. What should I do?”

HQguy: “I know the previous owner is in town, maybe you can call her and ask if she can come help you? She knows what’s what, and please deposit all the cash today!”

Me: “Sure, no problem. I will look over all the cash bags to see how much there actually is and make sure they’re all there and deposit them ASAP” and we hung up.

I called the old owner and told her what was up, and she sounded really surprised and was there within ten minutes. Together we quickly looked over all the cash, but didn’t count it. They where in these little pouches that had a form on the front where you filled in how many of each bill and coin was in it, so we figured the right amount would be in each bag. They weren’t sealed, because Bosslady had told us not to seal them before putting them in the cabinet. I then put them all in a bag and discretely made my way over to the safe where we deposited them. It was on the other side of the mall, and the mall was open so my heart was racing. I felt like everyone knew I was carrying a shitload of cash.

The old owner started asking me if we kept up with the cleaning requirements, and I answered truthfully that Bosslady never told us to do any of the time consuming stuff, like the ice-cube machine, saying that we would have to do that after closing and she didn’t have the money to pay us for the extra hours, so she said would do it on the weekends herself. Old owner just shrugged and told me she had to leave. Since I was all alone in the shop and it was fairly quiet, I started looking around for things to clean. This was around 4 pm. I quickly realized that she had never cleaned anything like she said she had. Under the fridges and workbenches there where LAYERS of dirt, the water tank in the ice cube machine was GREEN with algae, the cooling fans in the refrigerators where covered in mold. I started cleaning, but quickly realized this would require my full attention, so I closed the shop early. I called the old owner and she supported my decision and called the mall manager for me to let them know what was up.

I have never cleaned that much in my life. I scrubbed everything. I pulled all the refrigerators out and scrubbed thoroughly behind everything. What took the longest was the ice cube machine. I wasn’t done until 11 pm that night. Being the petty bitch I am, and being pissed Bosslady went on vacation with the shop in the state it was, I took pictures of everything before I started cleaning and sent them all to the food safety agency, telling them that nothing had been cleaned for over a year. I also got to clock all the hours I spent cleaning, getting an ok from HQguy. Looking back now and seeing how little I was paid, I would have just not cared, but at the time I was afraid people would get sick and die from eating the food.

The next day I called the old owner and all the part timers asking them to meet at my place saying we needed a staff meeting without Bosslady and now was the chance. They all came and we started talking, telling me what Bosslady had done when they were working together and other things they had observed her doing. I took notes, and later that night I wrote a seven(!!) page document listing all the things we knew she did wrong, and how we suspected she was stealing money from the shop etc., and I emailed it directly to HQguy. He emailed me back saying he would look into it.

HQguy called me a few days later thanking me for notifying him about all the things she was doing, and told me that when the cash was registered the amount listed on the form and the amount in the pouches wasn’t the same, and asked me if I knew where it had gone. A light went off, and I realized the “savings” Bosslady had used to pay for her trip was actually money she had taken from the pouches, and that’s why she wouldn’t let us seal them. I told him as much and he said he would dig a little.

When Bosslady came back from vacation, she seemed very stressed. I acted like nothing had happened when she was gone, but chuckled when she opened the cash cabinet and saw that all the money was gone, and her face turned so white she was almost see through, but she said nothing. She was in the back most of the day on her phone and came out asking me if I could cover for her the next few days as she had to go to HQ for a last minute meeting (HQ was 8 hours away). I agreed and went home.

Over the next few days I was seething with excitement to find out what happened. When she came back she tried to play it cool and said “I’ve decided to quit. I feel like doing something different, so I’m just working until the end of the month, and then I’m leaving”, and I just acted sorry and oblivious. I knew the old owner was kept in the loop by HQ, and she told me what really happened.

Bosslady had met with HQ who had questioned her about the missing money and lack of cleaning etc. (there was more, but this is already longer than the Bible). She had denied it all at first, trying to pin it on of us, and saying she had suspected someone was stealing the money and that’s why she didn’t deposit it etc, but eventually broke down and admitted it all. She was then given the option of quitting and paying them back all the missing money in installments or having charges pressed against her. She obviously chose the former. Personally I would have pressed charges no matter what, but they wanted to help her out because I guess they understood she was in a bit of a tough situation with not making any money on the shop, and also didn’t want it blow up in the media.

I kept working there for a few more months, but quit because i found a job that paid more. Word spread about what Bosslady had done, so she really struggled to find a new job to pay what she owed, since no one trusted her. She eventually did, but had to pay them back for several years later. We did not keep in touch.

Guess she shouldn’t have lied about me to my coworkers.

And I’m all out of breath

TL;DR: shady boss lies to my coworkers about me being too hungover to cover their shifts, I tell HQ about all the shady stuff she’s doing and she loses her job and has to pay them back the money she stole for several years, and lost her good reputation.

(source) story by (/u/Dachshundsandwhisky)

[stargazerdaisy]

Super late, I know. I like your stories on AO3, so I found your tumblr for some Skyeward content because I’m sad and deprived. Saw the post on “What if Skye didn’t know he was Hyrda in the 1x19-1x21 timeframe?” I am super interested. If you don’t want to look back and share, that’s cool. Just wanted to let you know a) I really like your writing and b) super interested in this meta.

Wow, thank you so much!  I’ve been sitting on this ask, because I’ve wanted to answer it, but it needed time and attention.  I guess I’m working on my inbox today, so here we go.

I’ll admit, I have more questions than an actually coherent concept of how this would play out, so you’ll have to bear with me on that.  But let’s say that Ward didn’t have Koenig’s blood on his neck, so when they’re making out on the couch, Skye never finds it.  (We’ll also just assume they kiss for a couple minutes, then stop and move on.)  Trying to keep with the story as it was shown, Ward would have made up some excuse for why they needed to leave, so Skye could open the drive.  Maybe using the same one, maybe not.  My personal opinion is that he would need a much more believable excuse than, “Oh I just talked to Coulson!”  Skye wouldn’t necessarily believe that, because she was so attached to Coulson and would have asked a bunch of follow up questions, if she had no reason to be suspicious of Ward.  (And honestly, that should have tipped Ward off that she knew, but I think he was just trying to get through each moment, so he accepted it.  But I digress.) So they take off and Ward’s all, “Where do we go to unlock it?” And she tells the truth, that it is altitude locked, so 35,000ft, wherever, and they’re good.  So...then what happens?  She’s unlocked the drive, Ward needs to get it to Garrett, and he Does. Not. Want. Her. Hurt.  There’s also Mike out there (allegedly) tailing Ward, just in case.  There are two ways I see this playing out, really.  I think Ward would be adamant about not taking Skye to Garrett, for a million different reasons, Raina not being the least of these.  So, I think he either takes her to a public place, where she’d be generally safe and could reconnect with Coulson & the team, and then he slips away back to Garrett, and kind of abandons her.  This is not great and she would be heartbroken and pissed about it, but I think it’s a pretty safe option.  The other option, which is much riskier for their relationship, is to hide her away somewhere, away from SHIELD, from Coulson, from Hydra, Garrett, and Raina.  The risk here is that he’ll have to tell her the truth in order to get her to cooperate, and if she doesn’t believe him and hates him for what’s happened, he’ll be stuck with her hating him to his face.  That’s MUCH harder than her hating him from afar, but he knows she’s safe with Coulson & co.  The reward is also greater, because if she does understand him or at least doesn’t hate him entirely, she’ll stay with him.  He’ll still have to leave to go back to Garrett, but he can keep her safe to some degree.   But how long can that last?  I like to imagine that his knowledge of her father would have come up soon after this too.  I can’t quite decide if Ward would try to keep her away from her father (who we only knew as that Bleeding Man at the end of Season 1) or if he would have tried to help her connect with him (thinking more of Cal).  I can see it both ways, but connecting her to Cal would still be a risk because of Raina.  I do think Ward would eventually reach a point where he would have to decide between Garrett and Skye.  If the rest of the story played out similarly, Garrett would be dead, so that would make the choice for him.  But if not, what would force that decision.  I do think the longer Ward spent with Skye, especially one-on-one and protecting her and their romantic relationship budding, the more likely he would choose her.  But I think that’s a function of time and his bond with her deepening.   There’s a lot of details I could walk through, but that’s the gist of my thoughts and musings.  I always wonder what Ward’s plan actually was, and I have a feeling he didn’t have a really big, detailed one.  He was figuring it out as he went, reacting to each new variable.  He had multiple strategies in play, but they were only a few steps out each and he was constantly adjusting.  It’s a fascinating thought exercise, at the very least.  Fantastic fic fodder at the most.

[jonathanrook]

legally i have to give you intern 2

em you have awoken an ungodly beast inside me so i need to warn everyone that this post is. incomprehensible. but so is mymusic so i guess we're all used to it.

How I feel about this character:

i watched mymusic as it was airing/running/coming out specifically bc i'm a jack stannie, and as a kid melvin was my second favorite character (w scene being in first, obvs) for mostly that reason. he basically hovered around this ranking until my most recent rewatch in the summer of 2020, which was actually spurred by some events in my personal life that vaguely reminded me of scene's season two arc w jeff, and i thought it'd been a funny/nostalgic way to get my mind off things.

(i want to side note here that -- i know you didn't ask, but -- i love jeff. i have since i was a kid. like, obviously not as a person but i think he's honestly the best written character in the series, w indie close in second. idk what it says about the f*nes that their most interesting and well rounded characters are the villains, but i digress. to this day i'm salty that jeff never got added to the theme song and wasn't really included in promotional merch.)

however, in said rewatch, certain things about how he was written started to really get under my skin, and certain moments in particular have really stuck out to me in a negative way. like, for the entirety of season one and a good chunk of season two he's one person, and then he leaves mymusic and we have an entirely different person, but not in a nuanced character building sort of way.

i've said a few of these points before but i'll repeat them here regardless. at the risk of sounding like i've put on a tin-foil hat, it's my sneaking suspicion that scindie was supposed to be endgame, but since fan reception to it was pretty neutral, and scenechart stans were, at the very least, more vocal, changes were made to the intended finale, which is why in the last scene he's basically just. indie. like, if everything about the show was exactly the same but indie was the one who had ended up w scene in the end that would have made so much more sense since a) scene had a crush on indie that he/everyone knew about and b) indie was kind of a dick despite the half-assed attempts at redemption, so both combined make it slightly less weird/out-of-nowhere that he kisses her w/o her consent (since, even though like. implied consent is not real at worst and a fuzzy subject at best but you could argue that scene would want indie to kiss her); and this isn't even taking into consideration that c) melvin is heavily queer-coded in both seasons, with his friendship with nerdcore being, dare i say, homoerotic at times, and his arc about leaving the company and changing his name mirroring nerdcore's almost perfectly (with nerdcore being a character who b*nny [at least] has all but confirmed is actually gay).

i've also been on the fence about melvin's behavior in that final scene making more sense for indie's character being an intentional decision as a way of shoe-horning in a theme about the lasting effects of abuse/cycles of abuse/the corruption of power but i also don't think the f*nes are smart enough for that. however, for the sake of defending my straw theory, i also point to the scene where indie comes to visit the acid factory after melvin told him to shut up, and we see melvin use reggie as a foot-stool, going as far as to say that it feels good to do so (which, in all honesty, i think is a bit that was entirely improvised, since the f*nes were "notorious for never saying cut" [paraphrased from a bts video], but work w me here). he's also given a seltzer mug that perfectly resembles indie's kombucha mug. in these moment melvin is directly emulating the behavior of his previous abuser, purposefully or not, literal moments after being promoted to an equal position of authority, which was totally just included as a joke, but could also be argued is meant to show that he's becoming indie; or, if we acknowledge that the f*nes have no fucking clue what they're doing and were just directing like chickens with their heads cut off, it at least shows that melvin's new position of power is leading him to understand where indie was coming from, which is supported by their conversation in the finale.

the following contains a couple brief mentions of irl sexual assault so if that's something you'd like to avoid skip to the next section!

HOWEVER, that alone isn't what i have a problem with, since i think melvin is completely justified in being a dick to indie (and also reggie enthusiastically consents to being used as an ottoman so good for him i guess). the issue comes completely in how he treats scene in the scenes where the f*nes clearly thought what they were writing was super romantic. like, the fact that the only thing he's got hung on his cubicle wall is a single picture of scene taken from the fucking opening credits (like. how hard would it have been to have. literally any other photo[s] esp since there's an abundance of cute bts pics of the cast in costume that could have been put there) and him scrolling through her twitter at work really creep me out (and at the risk of oversharing the weird, like, social media stalking angle really fucks w me bc that may or may not have been the exact fucking thing i was trying to escape in rewatching mymusic in the first place). also, having him sexually assault scene as a means of comforting her after she had just been sexually assaulted in the same way by someone else was... a choice (which is also, uh, personally familiar).

again, i recognize that demonizing melvin wasn't what the f*nes were trying to do here, and i perhaps seem hypocritical for opening liking jeff, but what makes jeff work is he's intentionally "the bad guy." having melvin do the same things as indie and jeff uncritically only proves further that the f*nes can't write for shit, and ruins his character which had, up until he quit mymusic, been unironically good. like, it's obviously not beneficial that the exact asshole things he does are personally triggering, but the character would still be a mess and i would still dislike him regardless.

i want to say though that jack delivers a surprisingly great performance despite how shoddily his character is constructed and how little experience he has as an actor. like, it's clear he was having a lot of fun on set and i would love to see him in something, like, good; i think he could pull off even like, guest television roles, which is a lot more than can be said for other youtubers.

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All the people I ship romantically with this character:

nerdchart should have been canon i'm sorry. i know that close, nonromantic male friendships are valuable, esp between queer men, but also gd wouldn't it have been baller to have a canon interracial mlm ship. like. c'mon. and they could have been such a good friends to lovers story! we already got to see how melvin was the only person nerdcore could really be himself around so it would have been so cool if melvin's self-advocacy arc/flowchart arc had revolved more around nerdcore with a little role-reversal! and then they kiss! like god intended!

also i ship him and indie bc i'm a grubby little gremlin man ohoho. enemies w weird sexual tension? sign me up. not even enemies to lovers i'm not saying this one should have been canon i just love the vibes. do you think melvin and indie ever explored each other's bod-- *gunshot*

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My non-romantic OTP for this character:

i wish him and scene had just been bros. god remember in season one when they were just bros that was the life.

alternatively, i wish we'd seen more bonding w him and metal, as a means of reconciling that. uh. moment from season one. along similar lines i would have loved to see him get closer w rayna in a similar way to how she bonded w nerdcore in season two. i think that could have also worked to show how she'd grown between the two seasons.

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My unpopular opinion about this character:

HIM. AND. SCENE. SHOULD. HAVE. JUST. BEEN. BROS. (though i think my general dislike of him is pretty unpopular, lmao).

when the show was coming out i don't think it's unfair to say that scenechart/scenetern 2 was the most popular ship (aside from potentially techstep whatever) but luckily we're all gay and have better taste now. unfortunately i totally fell into this camp and scenechart was even my otp for years (until it was arguably more unfortunately usurped by reddie in 2019) and i didn't even realise that it's a hot mess until, again, the summer of 2020.

when actually watching the show the choices the f*nes made in regards to how the ship actually became canon are so odd and out of place, too? okay, so, on one hand everyone just shipped scenechart bc it was the whitest hettiest ship in the show (esp in season two when idol left) aside from scindie (and we already discussed what's wrong w that). but, on the other hand, lainey and jack clearly also just got along? and i suspect that lainey probably also admired jack's work and was happy to be working with him bc we have so many shots throughout even the first season when the ship wasn't the intended endgame of lainey scene looking really fondly at jack melvin at times when it doesn't make much sense at all, esp since she's smitten w indie? this trend continues into the second season which arguably works but it still seems really out of place for him to be the one to ultimately make the first move on her since it's clear she was the one crushing this whole time and also he's gay! this bitch is gay what the fuck!!

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One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

at this point i'm struggling to think of anything i haven't covered yet. oops.

i've talked at length before about how he should have been a woman/lesbian, but the tl;dr is that it would have solved a lot of the queer-coding "problems" that just didn't get resolved in the show. if he'd been a lesbian then not only would the friendship w nerdcore still made sense, but scenechart would have as well (not even mentioning that both of scene's other relationships w men make a lot of sense as comphet anyway).