#which sucks because its interesting to see him learn about what being an android means!

[homewrecking-lore]

The thing about the fandom’s interpretation of Data and Pulaski is that it makes both characters extremely flat and boring while also erasing their whole relationship. Data’s made into this flawless, naive baby that can’t defend himself (when he does - when Pulaski mispronounces his name, he tells her exactly why she should pronounce it correctly), while Pulaski is an ugly bitch-hag who is morally reprehensible. Most fanfics portray Data as being uncomfortable or scared of her, while Pulaski’s chomping at the bit to break him into parts. Their whole relationship in season two is based around the fact they both have flaws, and that Data is still learning about what exactly he is capable of as an android.

In “Elementary, My Dear Data”, the big question of the episode is if Data can solve a narrative mystery without it being based on his knowledge of the original stories. Geordi doesn’t know the answer. Pulaski doesn’t. Data doesn’t. From what they know of Data, Pulaski outright dismisses the possibility that Data can, which sparks the episode’s plot.

So when Geordi goes back later and prompts the computer to alter the program to be more challenging, both Data and Pulaski are excited! They want to see where this goes! They are openly having fun with this.

In her first episode, Pulaski dismissed Data when he tried to stay during Troi’s labour, and only relented when Troi said she wanted him there. But by “Penpals”, she assures Sarjenka that Data will be at her side the whole time. When Data expresses doubts, she assures him that this is what’s best for Sarjenka, but that his memories of her will still be important. This is also the same episode where Pulaski defends both her and Data’s personal involvement in the situation to Worf.

In “Measure of A Man”, the game opens with some of the crew playing a poker game. Data and Pulaski are obviously friendly and comfortable enough to socialize together outside of professional circumstances. And again, the scene shows Data calling the game simplistic and assuming he will win, but he turns out to be wrong.

Later in “Peak Performance”, Pulaski sets up Data to compete in Strategema, only for him to end up losing, to everyone’s surprise. The reason why Data’s confidence falls is because he had the exact same assumption about his computational abilities as Pulaski. They were both wrong! When she sees how much losing has affected him, she apologizes:

Data says that he must be malfunctioning. It’s not until Picard tells him that failure can happen even when you do everything right that Data accepts he can make mistakes - and that making mistakes is okay! By the end of the episode, they both know that Data is not infallible, and that he can be affected by failure as much as any human.

Pulaski makes assumptions and mistakes, and so does Data. They learn and grow from them, and their relationship is overall a very positive one despite their very different personalities. It’s an interesting dynamic that gets rewritten by fans entirely, despite the fact that it’s weirdly one of the more developed dynamics in the show.

[honey-beann]

Okay this might be kind of weird, but could I request some Nines headcannons about how he is with an s/o with long hair? Idk I just feel like he might have particular interactions or things to say about it and I was curious what your take on something likke this might be?

Nines with an S/O who has long hair

Note: Hi Anon! Thanks so much for the request, I had a ton of fun with this! (and as someone with incredibly long hair, it is absolutely not self-serving in the slightest, nuh uh, no way, no how.)

(it definitely is lol).

I hope that you enjoy!

Okay so here's the thing, I know that people might assume that being in a relationship with someone who has long hair is no different than being in a relationship with someone with short/medium length hair, and in a lot of ways, they're absolutely right.

That said, being in a relationship with an android like Nines, who is far more observant than the average man, and a lot more curious about the human body and all of its particular intricacies, would definitely mean that he's more interested in/aware of the subtle impacts that hair lengths and the ways they are managed can have on life style.

For example, I think he would find it interesting how much more upkeep longer hair can require (though this also depends on texture), the increased frequency with which it seems to shed or fall out, and of course, the vast number of styling techniques and designs that can be used on longer hair.

He definitely likes to touch it a lot, and may even offer to brush it for you or help you to style it in some particular way (though there is a 90% chance that you'll have to ask him to so he doesn't risk letting you know how much he likes the feeling of it beneath his fingertips).

Absolutely will braid your hair though, and he always gets the sectioning even, so that's a huge plus.

That said, he will never cease to tease you about how inconvenient your hair can be at times.

If he ever sees you pull a hair out of your food, or find one essentially threaded into a garment of yours (or his), he will immediately remind you of your choice to wear your hair as long as you do (and you can't even argue that it isn't yours with him, because he's already scanned it to prove otherwise).

If you have any form of hair care routine outside of showering, he loves to watch you go through it, eyes both curious and amused at the same time as he takes in your techniques and learns why you utilize them.

If you don't do anything outside of the shower though, don't fret, because he is a big fan of shampooing your hair if you'll let him, and he will never fail to let you know if you should still be rinsing anything out.

"There's still shampoo on your roots" as you walk out of the bathroom, prompting you to simply turn around and start the shower up again with a sigh.

Can and will scan your hair products for bad ingredients and let you know how unwise it is to use them (though he sucks at giving positive feedback in that area, so if you want to know what might be good, you would probably have to ask him directly).

"That is going to dry out your hair."

"That isn't for your hair type."

"Reviews state that this makes consumers' hair fall out after a few weeks of use."

"There is a known carcinogen in that hair mask."

Bro is relentless in his product complaints (but it's only because he cares about the health of both you and your hair lol).

He definitely doesn't quite understand why anyone would choose to keep their hair so long if it can make caring for it so much more complex, but he certainly doesn't mind it as long as you keep letting him entertain himself by playing with it or helping you to try out new/different styles.

Oh, but regardless of whether or not you're in a relationship with him, if you work together, he absolutely loathes your long hair (at least some of the time).

Definitely thinks that it gets in the way far too often and that it's annoying that you have to take the time to put it up just to keep it away from your face during the work day.

Has absolutely been smacked with your hair before while standing behind you without you realizing.

Cannot stand it when you wine about the heat while choosing to have so much hair trapping warmth in against the back of your neck.

Has absolutely contemplated cutting it off himself before.

Becomes rather amused at watching you attempt to de-tangle it after a particularly rigorous chase or anything similar, and thinks of it as karma for you choosing to have longer hair in a field like law enforcement.

(Secretly likes finding your hairs on his work chair after you've sat in it though, and was weirdly endured when he found a hair of yours stuck to his jacket for the first time).

masterlist

AO3

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy II Review

Year: 1988

Original Platform: Famicom

Also Available on: GameBoy Advance (Final Fantasy I &II: Dawn of Souls), PlayStation One (Final Fantasy Origins), PSP (Anniversary Edition), Android, iOS. Wii/3DS/Wii U Virtual Consoles and WonderSwan Color releases are only in Japan.

Version I Played: PSP

Synopsis:

Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon are recent orphans from Emperor Palamecia’s attack on the city of Fynn. They are picked up by Minwu, an agent of the rebellion against the Emperor led by Princess Hilda. The orphans wish to join the fight against the Emperor, and so Minwu helps them on missions to foil the Emperor’s plans.

Background:

So, here's where the history of Final Fantasy games gets a little choppy. Final Fantasy II was not initially released in the US, nor outside Japan for that matter. The reason was because the US localization was taking too long and the Super Nintendo was already being developed and on the verge of released. The same thing happened with Final Fantasy III. The US localization for both games were trashed in favor of working on Final Fantasy IV. Square released Final Fantasy IV as Final Fantasy II for Western audiences, so they wouldn't get confused. Final Fantasy V was also unreleased outside of Japan for other reasons, and so Final Fantasy VI became known to Western audiences as Final Fantasy III.

Then when Final Fantasy VII came around they said "Fuck it" and left it numbered like that for Western audiences too.

The real Final Fantasy II wasn't released to Western audiences until 2003 with Final Fantasy Origins for the Playstation One. The real Final Fantasy III wasn't released to Western audiences until the 2006 remake for the Nintendo DS. Final Fantasy V was first released outside Japan as part of the collection in Final Fantasy Anthology for Playstation One in 1999.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy II is the black sheep of the series. Even though it sold well on its first release, it’s the lowest selling Final Fantasy game to date. This is in part to the gameplay, which sounds great on paper but doesn’t work out well in execution.

Instead of conventional leveling up - meaning you gain experience points (XP) and your stats rise - you raise your skills and stats based on how often you use them. Everybody has the ability to use any weapon or magic spell. But the more you use one certain weapon or certain spell, the more you level it up. For example, I could have Firion use a sword. The more often I make him use a sword, the greater his skill with a sword. If I give him an axe, he will start with a Level 1 axe ability, and not deal as much damage as he would with a sword.

The problems arise in matters of defense and HP. By that logic, the more you get hit, the more your HP grows. This is pretty infuriating because if you want to grind to raise your HP, you fall in danger of dying. To raise defense, you have to equip a shield and get hit. It also really sucks late in the game if you neglect one particular stat that becomes important.

By the time I reached the third act of this game, I was frankly fed up. I just had the sole purpose in mind of finishing the game. The frequent random encounters near the end infuriated me. Not that they were hard, but they used up my resources and I really wanted to end it once and for all.

 However, the game has a nice feature where you can learn key terms and words when talking with people. This helps you remember what to do and where to go next. That part was cool.

Graphics:

Very little had changed between the first and second Final Fantasy games, as you can see.

The same is true for the PSP Anniversary Edition.

The graphics are exactly the same as that of Final Fantasy PSP Anniversary Edition. As such, they feel homogeneous and somewhat uninspired. Once again, they rip the opening FMV sequence from the Playstation One version. Why do they do that? Just give a little extra effort to make it unique. Just a little.

Story:

Final Fantasy II was the first story-driven RPG for the series. It introduced a lot of the trademark elements that the series is known for, like Cid and Chocobos, and so it’s a shame that it wasn't memorable.

Critics bash the story because they compare it to Star Wars from 1977. The plot is similar in that there is a rebellion against an empire and a princess who gets imprisoned inside the empire’s secret weapon of mass destruction. The Emperor even has a right-hand man clad head to toe in armor with a SECRET IDENTITY. While there is no Death Star in Final Fantasy II, there is a massive airship that the Emperor builds to crush the rebellion - the Dreadnought - and Princess Hilda, just like Leia, is taken prisoner there.

But in my opinion, plot parallels should really be the least of your worries. I think the story is a tad bit underrated. Just a tad. Well, the main characters are bland. Firion is a cool name. Other than that, there's nothing to say about them. They are less fleshed out than the secondary characters, which is ironic. I was more interested in any other character than the main cast. Guy (or Gus in some versions) is a stereotypical friendly giant, only saying short phrases or one-word answers. Firion and Maria don't really do much except want to fight for the rebellion. Leon has a story arc that's too quick and convenient.

The secondary characters that you run into are much more interesting – Josef, Minwu, Gordon, Ricard, Leila and Scott. They come and go during certain events and they all have even the slightest ounce of backstory more than the main characters.

The story tapers off after you rescue Princess Hilda. While I won’t spoil anything (though I doubt you’d care but still), there are stupid moments when the Emperor could have easily crushed the rebellion but instead chose a different route. Ultima, the ultimate spell, becomes an important plot device that the heroes seek – and yet it doesn’t end up being effective for the final battle nor is it mentioned again in the story. Overall, Final Fantasy II appears to be the Final Fantasy game with the most plotholes. The strongest part of the story lies in its secondary characters. The game left me wanting more of them instead of playing a group of stereotypical orphans without any personality.

Even though Final Fantasy II has an actual storyline, its predecessor feels much more original despite the fact that it’s more like a series of episodic events. Whether Star Wars was an intentional inspiration or not, it makes sense as a first jab at creating a storyline. It’s simple and tropey.

Music:

Despite Final Fantasy II lurking in the shadows for years, it has good music. The Rebel Army theme is great, especially when you hear it orchestrated in Final Fantasy medleys and the Distant Worlds concert. The final battle with the Emperor has the first true final battle music in the series, and it’s awesome. You can tell Uematsu had fun expanding his repertoire.

Like before, the PSP version adds more tracks and gives a more orchestrated feel.

Notable Theme:

As the chocobos debuted in this game, so did their theme song, which was quite repetitive here. In later games, Uematsu added another stanza of music.

Verdict:

Most likely the worst of the Final Fantasy games. You’re really not missing much if you never play it. It strikes a jarring note in both gameplay and story, like when you play the piano and keep hitting the wrong key.

The PSP version is probably slightly more interesting. Still, I wish they buffed up the story somehow. Why not remake the entire game? There is potential with the characters. Keep your basic elements but just make the story, you know, not boring and stupid.  

Direct Sequel?

Yes. Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls introduced a second part to the story called Soul of Rebirth. The PSP version also has it. It's dumb. I tried it and for whatever reason it’s very difficult right away and so I lost interest entirely.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Spoilers.

Okay I can’t hold it in anymore, I need to yell about Star Trek. 

SO.

In light of the revelations we got from Picard ep8 and ep9, I have come to the conclusion that the plot is a giant fucking mess. Lemme explain.  (Buckle up, it’s long and VERY spoilery).  First, a recap: 300 000 years ago, synthetic lifeforms from another galaxy dragged eight suns together (or maybe created them) and put a sign on the planet in the middle, saying “hey synth pals, when the organics decide to destroy you, give us a call, we’ll destroy them.” The Romulans stumbled upon it, understood only the “synth, organics, destroy” part and decided to hunt and kill robots before they evolved. So far, the robotic higher beings have only succeeded in making the organics hate the synths, so good job. Using the Romulan rescue, Oh makes synths illegal through the attack on Mars, causing the death of most of her people (and incidentally, of the entire Vulcan race in another timeline. Thanks, Oh!). I’ll give her points for dedication, at least this isn’t a “save my people and screw the rest of the Federation” scenario. She’s actually willing to sacrifice her planet to save the whole galaxy. (Doesn’t make it moral, but still, pretty selfless, in a dark a twisted way.) Again, this is the robotic higher beings’ fault. 

Moving on, The surviving synths try to make first contact with Starfleet, resulting in the death of Jana, Beautiful Flower and Vandermeer, which has overall very little consequence on the bigger plot. AGAIN, this is indirectly the robotic higher beings’ fault. (Maybe losing her sister is what makes Sutra such a bitch? Don’t think so though, we’ll get to that.) Maddox, learning nothing from the Ibn Majid, decides to learn the truth about the ban and sends two synthetic girls that look exactly like Jana to investigate (my god is he stupid), while not actually telling them what it is they’re supposed to find (oh, Bruce. Oh my god). It leads to the Romulans realizing that there’s an entire planet of synths. Outstanding work, dumbass. 

Picard does his thing and decides to save the synths and advocate for their lives, Sutra realizes what the Admonition actually meant, and decides that killing all the organics sounds like a great idea. She doesn’t hesitate to let Narek kill one of her sisters to unite her people, showing that she’s exactly the same kind of psycho bitch as Oh. The problem is: SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES. The robotic higher beings are fucking IDIOTS!! They’re supposed to have seen many civilisations rise and fall, so they should know what to do and what not to do, and their rational still is “organics will kill us anyway, so let’s kill them,” leading to the organics being like “oh shit, the synths want to kill us, let’s stop making them,” leading to Sutra being like “welp they’ve already started hating us, our robot overlords were right, let’s kill organics.”  OH. MY. GOD!!!

I get that the lesson is that fear is the great enemy, and in this case it’s really well demonstrated (gotta give credit where it’s due), but still! It’s so frustrating!! 

My biggest problem with that convoluted plot is that we (the viewers) are supposed to see the synths as the organics’ equals. Their plight is supposed to be equal to the Federation’s. Except NO. I’m sorry, NO. 

(More on in-universe morality and out-of-universe viewer experience under the cut, because I took pity on your dashboards.)

I get wanting to survive from the Romulan attack, okay. (There is la Sirena for that, just as a reminder.) But Sutra saying that the Federation banning them was essentially genocide? NO. They are made. They aren’t born naturally. A government telling its people to stop making procreating isn’t the same thing as a government killing every kid younger that ten! Parents refusing to conceive isn’t the same as murdering their children (I won’t open the can of worms that is the abortion debate, the point stands). 

We as an audience are still supposed to see the Zhat Vash as the bad guys, because Oh, Narissa and Narek are villains, and because they have caused untold suffering. (By the way, linking Cris’ personal tragedy to the synth crisis is a massive plot contrivance to make us hate the Zhat Vash more, which I found frustrating watching ep8. Losing people in a horrible way happens even without grand global conspiracies, and Cris had already been established as going out of his way to help people even when there was nothing in it for him. We didn’t need the connection to empathise with his pain, and he didn’t need the added incentive. Seriously, how small is that galaxy? Are everybody’s demons linked to Picard’s heroic quest? How convenient.)

But are the Zhat Vash really the bad guys? (Even Cris questions that despite arguably being the Sirena crewmember who as per ep8 had lost the most because of them, along with Elnor.) I’m sorry, if Sutra does try to call the robotic overlords, I say burn Cappelius to the ground. Lemme continue to explain. There are what, 50 synths? 50 robots. And the show tries to make me (again, the viewer) accept that risking the survival of the entire Federation (trillions of people) to save them is actually a question worth asking? From an in-universe moral standpoint, perhaps. 

From an outsider’s perspective (the audience), not even close. Robots having souls and being equal to humans isn’t even a discussion we’re having in real life. I don’t believe androids will ever be self-aware, and capable of emotion and love. Sure, in the Star Trek universe they apparently are. So what? Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. The show can’t expect me to accept that many IFs. I get the very one-the-nose “fear of the Other,” “make love not war,” “different races have equal rights to life” analogy. The message is very much worthy, the show’s depiction of it really pisses me off. The show isn’t asking me to decide whether or not it would be moral to kill the last survivors of a human (or even alien) tribe to save the world, it’s asking “but what if we were basically God and we fucked up, how would we fix it? What if the stuff we made eventually had feelings? Then it’d be bad to destroy it, right?” 

Aside from the sheer hubris of that premise, I don’t know that the robots have feelings. I know it looks like they do, and that they believe that they do, but again, how am I to know? From a biological viewpoint, they’re certainly not alive:

“Life” (biological def taken from the web) Definition. noun, plural: lives. noun, plural: lives. (1) A distinctive characteristic of a living organism from dead organism or non-living thing, as specifically distinguished by the capacity to grow, metabolize, respond (to stimuli), adapt, and reproduce. 

Do the synths grow? Nah. Do they metabolize? Yes. Respond to stimuli? Yes but debatable as it’s programmed. Adapt? Yes. Reproduce? NOPE. 2.5/5 on the living scale lol. That’s not that great. (From an in-universe moral perspective, this time. I know, TNG did an ep on that, sorry.)

Still the show tries reaaaally hard to sell their sentience, and the one time that really didn’t sit well with me was that “robotic finger touching the human finger” image. WOW, last place where I expected to find religious imagery, a show that questions what it means to be human and what creating beings in our image would entail *sarcasm*. 

Except they twist the imagery. In the Bible, human lives are sacred because they are in the image of the perfect God, and He values us (=> so human worth come directly from God attributing worth to us because we’re meant to reflect His goodness). Humans being imperfect due to their fall, creating something in their own image is called an idol - it’s a false god, it’s not sentient, it’s even more imperfect, and it’s wrong. And if humans don’t value it and and it doesn’t reflect who they are anymore, well, it would make the idol even more worthless, right? (clearer explanation because my arguing skills suck => drawing on the Bible’s imagery, either humans are not gods and the images they created are worthless, or the series means for them to have God’s place, in which case refusing to attribute worth to their images makes those worthless. That invalidates the question that I previously said the show was asking.) So all in all, reminding us of the Christian take on the issue right in the middle of the Admonition claiming that synths are perfect is thus completely counterproductive, both in universe and from a viewer’s pov.

But but but, I hear you protest, what about Data? He had worth! 

This may be controversial, but Data mattered to us because of the character he was, not because he was supposed to be human. He was adorable and losing him meant losing an interesting and enjoyable element in the show, which would make us sad. I love him like I love Cris’ holos, the Voyager Doctor, Wall-E and Eve, R2-D2, Jarvis and Chappie. They’re (very) likeable fictional creatures that can be used as metaphors for real life issues, nothing more. In any show/movie I’d be really sad if one of them had to be sacrificed to save the world, but I’d accept it (looking at you, Infinity War Captain America). If the question arose in real life, would I question the morality of it? No. 

So, are the new synths the same? I already tackled the metaphor thing, it’s not handled that well and Detroit Become Human did it first. (Again, it’s hard to portray the otherness of other real life-cultures that we may unjustly fear by using things whose living status is so easily questionable!!)  Is killing off the synths wrong from an out-of-universe perspective because the audience loves them? Let’s see... Are the new synths adorable/likeable? Heck no, give me Emil and Enoch over them any day. Would we lose something in the show if they died? Nah. We didn’t even know they existed until one episode ago. Picard would get angsty and Agnes would get upset, but it’s nothing a few fluffy fics wouldn’t fix. Do we know the synths as characters? We know that Sutra is crazy, violent and bloodthirsty, Jana was probably nice (?), Dahj had a cute boyfriend (outstanding characterization) and Soji... Welp... *sigh* I guess Soji is okay, even though she’s the least relatable and interesting character of the whole Sirena crew?  We know that their creators and biggest advocates, Soong Jr and Maddox, are(/were) creepy old dudes with warped ethics, half a brain between the two of them, really toxic interactions with Agnes, and enough hubris to bring the entire greek demigod population to shame. They would race Icarus to the sun, seriously.  We know that Captain Vendermeer killed himself over two robots, permanently damaging one of the nicest and most beloved characters of the series. Yeah, real incentive for me wanting to see the Federation risk destruction for the androids, guys.

But seriously, the last time a psycho AI tried to destroy the galaxy and make it in its image (*cough* Control) the protagonists spent a season trying to destroy the thing, and they were right! Future-control was self-aware and demonstrated anger and fear! Make up your mind, CBS!! 

And by the way? THE SYNTHS HAVE A MEANS OF ESCAPE!! No, I’m sorry, if they don’t decide to go aboard la Sirena and choose to endanger the Federation instead, then for all plot issues I’m siding with the Zhat Vash. Go on, destroy the synths. As part of the audience, I don’t care, and the show attempts at making me care by trying to make it a moral issue feel clumsy and forced. 

Also. Q exists in the Star Trek universe! He’s a deus ex-machina machine!! (Pun intended.) It’s hard to take big issues like that seriously when he could just swoop in and teleport the synths out of the galaxy/destroy the Romulan armada/put the robotic overlords in their place. JL, please, give Q a call. Yeah, yeah, it’d take away from the moral stakes because you can’t solve your irl problem with a snap of your fingers and you have to make actual decisions - but as I already said, I feel like the moral stakes are dumb and contrived. Give me the deus ex-machina, please. 

This has been a Star Trek rant. I know that I tackled two separate issues here: the in-universe morality of the synths’ death (I will admit that from the crew’s perspective it’s not right, because they can’t know if the synths are alive or not for sure) and the out-of-universe viewer experience. I apologize if it came across as really confused and complicated. 

I still like the show and love the actual characters (meaning, la Sirena’s colorful crew), and the show writers are not incompetent, or stupid, or wrong for writing their show how they want. They are really skilled and talented and they have created mostly compelling characters - I’m just unhappy with the direction taken by the story.

[timeagainreviews]

Sifting through the Dregs

For series twelve of Doctor Who, I have opted to take a casual approach. I've avoided spoilers as much as possible. Although I caught the trailers, and the odd press photo, I've managed to stay away from things as simple as episode descriptions, writers, or even episode titles. I want to come into each story with as little expectation as possible. This is so that I might avoid hype, both of the negative and positive varieties. So when I read the words "Part One," after "Spyfall," it was genuinely a surprise. And when I read the words "Orphan 55 by Ed Hime," I was suddenly very hopeful.

If you remember from series eleven, I was a big fan of Ed Hime's episode "It Takes You Away." I praised its brazen absurdity, likening it to something Douglas Adams may have done. The episode is rather divisive in the fandom, as some might call it one of the worst episodes ever. Obviously, I disagree. Ed Hime stands out to me as exactly the kind of writer Doctor Who needs. Someone with a bit of a taste for the absurd, while still managing to capture human moments. Ironic then, that despite my best efforts to approach the episode without expectation, the hype I would most contest with would be my own. Does "Orphan 55," live up to my expectations? Let's get into it!

As I said, Ed Hime lends a sort of mad weirdness to Doctor Who that I feel a certain section of writers possess. Think your Lawrence Mileses, your James Gosses, or even the occasional Steven Moffat. These are writers, who for better or worse understand one thing about Doctor Who- it's weird. Strangely, one of the common most aspects ignored by Doctor Who writers is the absurdity. A blue police box wrapped around an impossible machine, piloted by an ancient trickster somehow becomes mundane. Doctor Who's weirdness is an integral element that has been around since its inception. That's why when the gang gets teleported by a contest cube Graham has assembled, and the first person we meet is a furry, I feel we're already onto a good start. Especially when they just finished cleaning up the biggest calamari ever from the TARDIS floor. (Anyone else think of the Nestine Consciousness?)

Characters like "Hyphen with a 3" or "Hyph3n," remind me of some of the '80s era's odder characters. I could easily see her and her tail living in "Paradise Towers," or perhaps riding a bus in "Delta and the Bannermen." But another reason I love her is that she's not just a furry, it's part of her identity. You don't get the idea that she's an outlier like real-life Trekkie, Barbara Adams, who famously wore her Star Trek uniform to jury duty and her place of work. Instead, you get the feeling that in the future, people respect identities. To use Star Trek again, I remember watching an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise," where the character Trip has a crisis over whether or not a girl "was a man." When you compare this to the dialogue we're having about transgender rights in 2020, you're automatically reminded that Enterprise came out in 2001. By today's standards, furries are still seeking acceptance. Seeing Hyp3n in a partial fursuit may seem absurd now, but in its own way, it's futuristic. How very Doctor Who.

Things in this future, however, aren't all progressive acceptance of our fine furry friends, there seems to be trouble in paradise. As I said, the gang is greeted by Hyp3n, a sort of porter for a relaxation destination called "Tranquility Spa." The companions immediately take to the spirit of things, as they settle in for a bit of rest and relaxation. The Doctor, of course, starts snooping around. Meanwhile, a security team of two, Kane and Vorm are responding to "another security breach." Whatever it is requires machine guns, which seems like quite a lot. And if you're like me you'll spend the next half hour trying to figure out where you've seen Kane before. I'll help you out- it was Lydia from Breaking Bad. You're welcome. I just saved you a trip to IMDb.

The next scene introduces us to a concept that will run strong within this episode- Yaz as a gooseberry. We see a couple of pensioners, Benni and Vilma, enjoying their spa getaway. Just as Benni is about to ask Vilma to marry him, Yaz stands right between them. I mean, I know the pool is for everyone, but read the vibe, Yaz. Jeez. Meanwhile, Ryan is checking out the interior of Tranquility Spa. The bar looks like the kind of place art vampires go to get lemongrass enemas. It reminded me a lot of "The Leisure Hive," with a budget, or even a more modern twist on the Centre of Leisure from "Time and the Rani. So much of this episode reminded me of classic Doctor Who.

Ryan notices a vending machine, but as he's retrieving his food is infected by a hopper virus. The Doctor explains the virus is capable of jumping from computers to humans. After expelling it from his system, the Doctor bags it to take to whoever is in charge. While Ryan is sucking his thumb to reduce the hallucinogenic side effects of the virus, he sees a cutie in a similar situation, a young woman by the name of Belle. It's pretty obvious at this point that Belle is to be a sort of romantic interest for Ryan, and who can blame him? She lives up to her namesake!

Everyone is rounded up for a "tranquillity drill," to a safe location while Kane and Vorm run through the lobby with their guns in tow. As with most companions, travelling with the Doctor embeds a deeper curiosity. Much like the Doctor would, Ryan questions what type of drill requires guns. This question entices Belle to follow him as they investigate. I really liked this pairing of the two of them as their chemistry was natural, despite Ryan's repeated failures at chatting her up. It only added to their charm.

The Doctor confronts Hyp3n who seems just about as confused and nervous as many of the guests. Whatever she's hiding is only because she's been instructed to by her superiors. Considering the hopper virus and drill, the Doctor deduces that the spa is under attack, and demands to know what they're hiding. Who would want to harm a spa? The spa has been using an ionic membrane to keep out unwanted visitors, visitors which appear to have breached the membrane. Now under a full-on attack by a group of monstrous beings, guests become casualties. Not only is the base under attack, but the viruses have also handicapped the systems, disabling the emergency teleportation devices. With everyone trapped the Doctor has to work fast to stop the killing, as well as survive.

Graham finds a pair of green haired servicemen in the form of Nevi and his son Sylas. Their entire character design once again had me thinking of classic Doctor Who characters such as the Swampies from "The Power of Kroll," or the Karfelon androids from "Timelash." I liked wondering if they were a kind of species that has naturally green hair, or if they had father/son hair dying nights. In this brief interaction, you learn that Sylas is the better mechanic between the two of them, but that Nevi does a bad job of acknowledging this. Graham gathers them and others to evacuate while Ryan and Belle hideaway in a sauna of sorts. While there, they confide in each other that neither of them is nearly as impressive as they initially led on, and the truth strengthens their bond.

Sadly, as Graham is rounding people up, Benni gets separated after backtracking to pick up Vilma's hat. As life signs extinguish across a computer screen, highlighting the trail of carnage, the Doctor finds a way to push back the onslaught. By repairing the ionic membrane, the creatures, known as Dregs, are physically pushed out of the spa by a force field. The crisis averted, the survivors search for the bodies of their loved ones. Much to Graham's relief, Ryan and Belle have both narrowly avoided the claws and teeth of an angry Dreg. Benni, however, is nowhere to be found.

After discovering a hole, which looks like a tear in reality, our heroes discover that Tranquility Spa is actually an illusion. A dome separates the spa from a hostile planet far too polluted to inhabit. This abandoned, or "orphan," planet is designated "Orphan 55." This is the reason guests are teleported to the spa- to cover up its seedy location. However, it would appear that whatever the Dregs are, they seem to be apex predators, able to survive the hostile environment of Orphan 55. And they want the spa and its inhabitants gone.

The Doctor makes Kane drive them out into the wasteland to find Benni, as his oxygen tank would allow him to survive outside of the dome for some time. It was a thin chance, but it might be enough to save at least one person among the carnage. I was really hoping for some silly "Moonbase," style helmets, but instead, we got these minimalist blue breath right strips across the bridge of the nose that linked to small wrist canisters as supplied by Nevi and Sylas.

The trip out onto the surface reminded me a lot of the great Russell T Davies episode "Midnight." And much like Midnight, the confined space of a vehicle traversing harsh conditions offers plenty opportunity to explore the people within. Remember how I said Yaz is a gooseberry? She wastes no time getting right between Ryan and Belle. I honestly can't tell what's going on between Yaz and Ryan at the moment. Last season, there was a bit of a "Will they or won't they?" vibe between them. But series twelve seems less interested in coupling them off. First, we had the Master and Yaz getting weirdly touchy-feely, which surprisingly never comes up again. And now we've got Yaz teasing Ryan in front of Belle like a jealous school girl. We learn that along with sucking their thumbs, Ryan and Belle also share having a dead parent in common, so that's something.

The vehicle picks up a bit of barbed wiring leaving it, as the Doctor put it- completely knackered. Keeping with the Midnight vibe, the surface of the planet is too dangerous due to monsters and killer sunlight. Afraid for her own self-interest, Kane wants to abandon the search mission, but a pleading Vilma begs her to continue looking for Benni. After callously accepting Vilma's necklace as payment, Kane agrees to continue with the rescue mission.  The crew abandon their vehicle and run for the safety of an underground service tunnel, but Dregs attack from every direction causing them to return to the safety of the vehicle. But that safety won't last long.

It's then that they hear Benni calling for Vilma. He asks her to marry him and then asks them to shoot him as well. It's a morbid moment as you realise the only reason the Dregs have kept Benni alive is to taunt the survivors and prolong his suffering. I don't really understand what the point of having them run back into the vehicle actually was. They basically run back out a moment later with the new plan of Kane and Vorm covering with gunfire. I don't understand why it was so important that they leave one location just to return moments later.

As Kane and Vorm blast Dregs, the rest of the crew run to the safety of the service tunnel. In the scuffle, Vorm dies, but Kane catches up just in time to open the tunnel. The entrance to this tunnel had me thinking of the opening of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." I kept waiting for Rita Repulsa to pop out and say "Ah! After 10,000 years I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!" They make it down into the tunnel where there is a short-range teleporter nearby. Vilma asks Kane if she saw what happened to Benni, and Kane coldly tells her not to worry, that she shot Benni as he requested. It's at this time that Belle steals Kane's gun. She reveals that Kane is her mother and that she's here for revenge for abandoning her and her father. Belle teleports back to the spa taking Ryan with her. Seeing as the teleporter only had enough juice for one go, the rest of the crew must go deeper into the tunnel to find their way back.

Back at the spa, Belle reveals a huge bomb she plans to use to blow up the spa. Poor Ryan, he just met this girl and already he's dealing with her baggage with her mum. I kid, but damn girl, take a guy to a movie first. It's lucky for the Doctor that this adventure isn't actually from the '80s. Had it been Ace in this position, she would have seen the bomb and said "Wicked!" while offering up Nitro 9 to add to the destruction. Instead, Ryan pleads with her not to blow up the spa, dooming everyone involved.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and crew discover a plaque written in Russian, cluing them in to the fact that not only is the planet abandoned, but it was also abandoned by humanity. Orphan 55 is in fact, Earth. This revelation hits Graham and Yaz hard, as they never imagined the fate of the world to be so ugly. Their grieving is cut short by the appearance of Dregs, who Vilma bravely sacrifices herself to, to save the others. The Doctor, at this time also appears to be running out of air. It appears that the ability to be the loudest talker isn't always helpful when oxygen preservation is to be considered.

The sole reason for her running out of oxygen serves only to discover the Dregs breathe out oxygen. She discovers this when she finds a Dreg conveniently hibernating within the tunnel. Why this is important is that it gives a bit of insight into the Dregs' motivation. Kane's big plan was to make a spa that slowly terraforms the planet, which would harm the Dregs. It also explains the trees seen on the surface of the planet. That or these trees are also apex predators able to adapt to anything. Using her Time Lord brain magic, the Doctor looks into the mind of the Dregs and affirms what she feared most- they evolved from humans.

Everyone has now made their way back to the spa. The Dregs are closing in and they need to fix the teleporter. We're treated to a series of people once again leaving and returning to the same location for the sake of upping the tension. Kane appears to sacrifice herself and Sylas gets in an argument with Nevi once more over being told he's not a mechanic causing him to run away. But both of them are ok, as they both return unscathed. Yaz and Ryan wheel Belle's bomb to try and take out a few of the baddies. It's kind of a clusterfuck if I am honest. Lots of characters get taken in and out of scenes merely to pad time and add to the tension. It's not egregious but could have been edited better.

Sylas appears just in time with a solution to use the hopper virus to convert fuel for the teleporter. I was happy they brought the virus back, even if they don’t make a whole lot of sense. Were the Dregs weaponising the hopper virus? Were the viruses remnants of human civilisation? Regardless, I’m glad they brought it back. Sadly, this entire end sequence acts as evidence that perhaps there are too many companions in the TARDIS at the moment. Graham's job is to stand over Nevi and Sylus saying things like "That's right lads!" Yaz and Ryan are basically running around doing busywork, while the Doctor and Belle are having a stand-off with a Dreg. The Doctor manages to equalise the air in the room so that it is mutually beneficial to keep her and Belle alive. What the Dreg breathes out, they breathe in, and vice versa. This stalemate allows them the ability to leave. With the teleports up and running, the Doctor and her crew are transported back aboard the TARDIS, but not before Belle steals a kiss from Ryan. Are she and her mother going to be okay? We're left to wonder.

The victory celebration is short-lived as the companions remember the fate of the earth. Now, I need to preface what I'm about to say with the following- I fully believe climate change is a thing. I say this because we need to talk about how Doctor Who handles the subject. I've seen a lot of people (see: morons) complain about when Doctor Who gets "too political." They seem to think anything they don't like is political. The Doctor being a woman is political to them. But as I said with episodes like "Rosa," and "Demons of the Punjab," it's not that Doctor Who shouldn't be political, it's that it's simply not very good at it.

I can appreciate that the message of climate change is a real and pressing matter, but the cautionary edutainment way in which they present the information was so cringe. It felt so unnatural and tacked on. In their desire to address the audience directly, they lose a level of reality that makes the dialogue seem fake. These scenes always feel badly acted to me, but it's the fault of the dialogue. There's no good way to break the fourth wall without also sacrificing the characters' voices. It's like one of those adverts where you have two people talking far too candidly about something like their period flow, or constipation. It's a way to disseminate information about a product or ideology, but don't mistake it for dialogue. Nobody talks like this.

All in all, this was your standard "base in peril," episode. While not as transcendent as "It Takes You Away," I believe Ed Hime has given us another solid episode of Doctor Who. It's hard for me to tell if Hime's ability to write action was wanting, or if it is simply the fault of the director, but it definitely suffers at points due to the janky pacing. Pacing has really been an odd sticking point for series 12, and I hope they work it out. Even still, I was hoping that after the two-parter of "Spyfall," we would get something a little more grounded. Having this odd little contained storyline with little homages to classic Who is actually more than I had hoped for. It also gave us a new character in Belle, whom I expect to see return eventually. And despite the heavy-handed and unnatural way in which they dealt with climate change, I understand that it's a family show. In keeping with classic Who, it aimed to be educational, and for that, I cannot fault it.

[chicago-reeed]

PHCK ME - Reed900 Fic Rec List

Hello!!! You might not remember, but awhile back I mentioned I had the start of a fic rec list that I planned to post (which I never did). To celebrate all 1K+ of you, I thought I would finish the list for you! It is my duty as a loyal reed900 servant.

DISCLAIMER: This list of reccomendations was made purely out of personal opinion. I by no means want to discredit any other fics/authors. Some may not agree with my choices, and that’s totally understandable. I just wanted to share these fics because I personally enjoyed them <3

I didn’t include some fics because they haven’t been updated in a long time, or I didn’t remember them enough to give them accurate reviews. Also, I’m sure there are many more fics that I forgot to put on here (these are from my ao3 bookmarks). I might include them in a future update.

Anyways, all of my recs are under the cut! There are a lot!! I had eight pages worth of them in my documents haha

Mint Condition - by itsdefinitive - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - Reed could see what they were going for there -- the whole infallible super-soldier thing.  A monument to testosterone made perfect, cast in steel within plastic.  It was actually really creepy.  Maybe that was on purpose.

The first reed900 fic I read, and it’s honestly what got me into the pairing itself.

Charon - by Vapewraith - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin Reed, a mess of a human being, just wants to be left to his self destructive tendencies. RK900, an android designed by the most brilliant minds in the world to be the perfect machine, is desperate to grasp the full range of emotional freedom now afforded to him. The two will need to find an equilibrium before their incompatible personalities—and an eccentric serial killer with a dangerous piece of tech—swallow them whole.

I can’t even describe how much I love this fic. I’m a slut for horror, and there’s plenty of that in here. It might just be my favorite. Definitely recommend.

Two Sides of a Vaguely Similar Coin - by ZombiBird - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 13/? - RK900 is lost.

It’s been months since the Revolution and he’s still no closer to figuring out what the hell he’s supposed to be doing with himself. He feels like an outsider in his own body. Completely detached, nothing more than a quiet observer; like he’s looking down at the world through a layer of glass instead of fully living in it.

Gavin Reed is a temperamental asshole.

This isn’t news, okay? Gavin’s fully aware of what he is. He burns bridges instead of building them. Bites hands instead of shaking them. Would rather drown in a sea comprised of the consequences of his faults and misdeeds than try to change the way he is. Because people like him? Maybe they deserve to drown.

[Alternatively: Both lost in different ways, Gavin and RK900 try to figure their shit out and end up learning that, sometimes, it takes two people who have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re doing to get a goddamn clue.]

I don’t remember much about this fic, if I’m honest. Not that the story is forgettable, it’s just been awhile since I read it. However, the title definitely stood out to me so I know it was very good :P

Captcha Encryption - by Cerulaine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - It's a little over a year after the android uprising and it's still the end of the fucking world.

Back in the day when things became shit he used to enjoy a drink or two. Or Five. It all depended on how long the shift ran. After 'The Accident' he can't even cough without Nines breathing down his neck anymore.

He just wishes everything would go back to normal, but if there's anything Gavin has learned it's that you can't unring a bell once it's been rung.

Or whatever. Fuck if he knows.

Similar situation to the last fic: I don’t remember much about it (my memory SUCKS), but I do remember thoroughly enjoying this one.

Daydreamer - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 21/24 - Large purple bruises twined prettily around the corpse’s throat, every finger defined in perfect cruelty. His eyes tore away from the handprints as a cold finger traced the lightning strike scar across the center of his face—drawing his attention to a small, blue lipped smile.

“Do you think you’ll ever leave this town, Gavin?”

________

When a series of Detroit murders are linked as originating in his hometown, Gavin Reed is unwillingly assigned the case. Fowler insists that his history with the place and people will hugely benefit such an investigation.

He was fucking wrong. 

This fic is one big holy shit moment tbh. Really fantastic. Really makes you wonder why these authors aren’t paid to do this.

All Aboard the Underground Railroad - by Senjihae - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 11/? - What starts as sticking it towards his half brother evolves into something with the potential to rewrite android history as he knows it. Gavin doesn't realize what he gets himself into until he is mistaken as the 'Android Messiah' of all things. It's not like he goes out of his way to help them, but his life gets a lot harder once Hank is assigned a shiny new boy toy ('sent by CyberLife').

Things only get worse when he's gifted a heap of metal of his own ('sent by Elijah Kamski').

(Yeah, fuck off Elijah)

Very interesting fic. Gavin is RA9 so that’s a thing. A nice slow burn!

Dragon Become Age - by errantwheat - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content Warnings - Chapters 11/? - Y’all wanted me to write dragon age!au so I did :)

YES! YES! YES! DRAGON AGE AU! YES! YES! YES! (it’s really gud)

Warmth - by TheRedPaladin101 - Teen and Up Audiences - No Warnings - Chapters 1/1 - Gavin frowned, the aching in his shoulder fading from his mind for a moment. “Then give me my jacket.”

“Your jacket is in no condition to keep you warm,” he stated. “For now, use mine and stay warm while we wait to head back to the station.”

----

Five times RK900 gave Gavin Reed his jacket, and one time Gavin gave his in return.

Very wholesome. Lives up to its title. Some good ole hurt/comfort!

Letifer - Terminallydepraved - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 19/19 - Gavin Reed is a DPD beat cop determined to make detective by any means possible, and putting an end to a string of murders looks like the quickest way to accomplishing that goal. Unfortunately for him, he fails to account for the real culprit— or the thought that perhaps he isn't the only one on the hunt for a killer.

(Now with cover art by Leetmorry!)

I love beat cop!gavin. It humbles him. And vampire!nines is scary and amazing. Love how the author wrote both of these characters (and the others too!). I definitely recommend this one!

A Strange and Beautiful Creature -  by LittleLalaith - General audiences - No warnings - Chapters 7/7 - Scientist Nines is called in to Amanda's lab to assist with a new discovery - a genuine Mermaid.

While Amanda is indifferent to the creature's circumstances, Nines builds an unlikely connection to the specimen and they grow a little closer than either of them expected.

(AKA Gavin is a sassy sea slug and Nines thrills in breaking the safety protocols)

Mermaid au! Nines wants to save mermaid Gavin, and it’s all very wholesome.

I Think You Do - by spotlightonmringenue - Teen and Up Audiences - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/? - “Son of a bitch, there’s another one. What the fuck is it doing,” Gavin says, grip going white on the gun as the android continues to stare at him without acknowledging Connor.

“RK900, my name is Connor. I’m part of a group called Jericho that recovered you from Cyberlife’s Production Center late yesterday. We are currently in the Detroit Police Department Central Station. Are you feeling okay?”

“It doesn’t feel shit,” Gavin mumbles, resisting the urge to step back as the RK900 takes a step closer. It holds out the cup, and Gavin’s eyes dart to it for only a second before flipping between Connor and his doppelganger.

“You requested coffee,” it says, and Hank sighs, leaning back against his desk while rubbing a hand over his forehead.

Quality ‘enemies to friends’ content. Nines is intimidating. Gavin is confused. Good times.

Flying with Crooked Wings - by UnCon - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 20/? - “Listen, kid,” Gavin started, cutting off the desolate child. Sure it was sad his dog had died but it wasn’t Gavin’s fault no one taught the little twerp chocolate was a dog’s kryptonite, “he’s in a better place, alright, so if you’d just stop asking for him to come back—it’d be much appreciated.”

“You promise?” the eight-year-old asked, his big brown eyes looking like glass—fragile and sparkly.

“Yeah,” Gavin lied, looking away as he did it—his halo going a bit crooked. To be honest, he wasn’t sure where dogs went after they died, only that he was tasked with calming the little boys and girls who despaired after them—at least until his punishment was up. “So just, you know, go to sleep and all that.”

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

In a world where angels and demons inhabit the same earth, both searching for a way to overthrow the other, both failing--Gavin sits right in the middle, with a crooked halo and a pair of wings to match. It's not enough to be a bit mischievous, however, he also has to get caught up in the demon brothers' scheme to take over heaven. Perfect.

Really good! This fic has the interesting dynamic of Gavin as an angel and Nines as a demon. Check it out!

The Red String Will Still Connect Us Ten Thousand Miles Apart (and to the moon and back) - by Jillflur - Teen and Up - Content warnings - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin, an ‘unlovable’ man without a Soulmate. He was used to it, never had one since he could remember. However, that little fact changes when he wakes up one day and realizes that he suddenly has a Red String connected to his ring finger. It only gets worse when months later, an android walks into the precinct who apparently is his new Soulmate!

Can androids even have Soulmates?!

To make everything even more complicated, a sudden new killer is on the Streets, and he murders people by cutting their Red Strings!

A soulmate fic by our very own jillflur! So good. Amazin. I love the red string trope so much. Yall should big read.

the prince & the reed - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 2/? - "I wanted to marry you," the prince murmured, polished armor gleaming as he stared down at the injured man--icy eyes tinged with sadness. Regret.

A guttural scream ripped from the soldier's throat as a heel dug into his wound, arm coated crimson from his weeping shoulder.

The soldier's teeth were stained pink as he jerked his chin up to grin toothily at the other man, bloody fingers scrambling down his thigh in search of the dagger tucked into his boot.

"Then drop to your knees and ask me properly, Nines."

Okay this fic is only two chapters and hasn’t been updated in awhile but GOT DAMN do I love how the author set this medieval fic up. I’m a slut for the medieval au’s, so that’s just extra points.

Not a teacher but I can teach you a thing or two - by Adishailan - Teens and Up - No warnings - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin owed the walking hunk of plastic. He owed him. Ugh, Gavin hated owing people stuff. It gave him a horrible feeling in his stomach, like indigestion, except worse because it involved emotionsTM. This, coupled with the fact he was pumped up with drugs and suffering a concussion, was why he was about to make a terrible, terrible mistake.

“‘Kay. Fine. Thanks or whatever. Lemme know if you ever need anythin' prick.”

RK900’s LED went yellow at this, and this time Gavin was pretty sure he was doing the processing thing. It was still yellow even when he nodded in a serious way and said:

“That would be useful.”

Oh man this one is BIG CUTE! It’s so soft, and is a fantastic slow burn. I totally recommend this fic.

O May I Join the Choir Invisible - by BanishedOne - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 13/? - Gavin Reed was a new inmate at a prison where the infamous killer, R. Nathan Kearney, was on death row. Circumstances led to an unfortunate encounter.

Okay don’t quote me on this but I think you can find the rest of this fic on Twitter. It was posted in a bunch of seperate posts and it was really confusing but there was definitely extra chapters. You can find the post here (or at BanishedOne on twitter). Other than that, this is a really good fic! The boys get into a lot of trouble!

Neon Maps - by caffienefueledfeels - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 11/11 - Everyone has their limits. Gavin is about to discover several of his own.

He's broke, barely scraping along, and struggling to keep an aggressive black-mailer off his back. On top of that, the grey-eyed distraction in his bed is about to test his heart in more ways than one.

Cyberpunk fic!! Super interesting! Go check it out!

Computers Are Elaborate Cat Beds, Actually - by errantwheat - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 6/? - “Marvelous find, Gavin. They’ll promote you for this, surely.”

Gavin pulled an exaggerated frown. He was awfully animated for a robot. “Jesus, What kind of human are you? I’m waving a fucking kitten in your face and you’re still a bitch.”

Really cute. I’m pretty sure there’s some art to go with this fic. Super duper cute reverse au!

More Than a Woman, More Than a Bride - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 38/? - When Gavin’s life is threatened for the last time by a violent gang expanding the production of a new drug in Detroit, Captain Fowler must come up with a plan for his safety. Perhaps forcing a marriage between Nines and Gavin wasn’t the best solution he could come up with...

Oh man. This fic. Let me tell you. I’ve been with this fic since the beginning and it is one hell of a roller coaster XD. The author updates constantly, it’s really impressive.

More Like You - by Mooneye - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 1/1 - “This next bit’s going to get awkward. I’m going to interface with you.”

At that he could feel the collective confusion in the room. His eyes darted up to look at Hank and then Nines. They both seemed eerily still and were possibly thinking that Gavin had surely lost his mind.

Gavin has kept his prosthetic arm, with good reason, a secret from humans and androids alike for as long as he’s had it. The prospect of losing Nines threatens to unravel everything, but perhaps it’s worth the cost.

The idea of Gavin (an android hater in-game) having a prosthetic-android arm is definitely interesting!

An Unforeseen Union - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/16 - Gavin and Nines are sent undercover to investigate a slew of brutal murders at a gay counselling and therapy resort for androids and humans. They're forced to pose as a couple, but soon feel their relationship becoming more than an act as real feelings develop.

I loved the dramatic whodunnit vibes in this fic! It gets crazy :P

The Great DPD Kink-Off - by connorssock, LittleLalaith, Skye_Willows, Stujet9rainshine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 24/24 - It started out as a bit of rivalry and turned into a competition. Who was the kinkiest android in town?

If you like smut, then read this. That is all I will say.

The Black Nights, The Long Dark - by bvssbot - Explicit - Content warnings - Chapters 8/12 - translation of an amazing russian fic тёмные ночи, долгая тьма (the dark nights, the long darkness) into english

An unknown catastrophe was the reason Gavin ended up stranded alone on a godforsaken Canadian island. Having almost made peace with the thought of living in solitude for the rest of his days, he saves the life of a pilot named Richard, whose airplane crashed in the middle of his humanitarian mission.

Shit, I loved ‘The Long Dark’ and I love this fic. I don’t speak russian, unfortunately, so I must wait to read the end. But this is still amazing and you all should read it.

Detroit: Outlast - by Cardboardghost - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 1/? - Connor Upshur is a down on his luck reporter, who spends his nights getting drunk and passing out at home. A mysterious email calls him to Mount Massive Asylum, owned by the Cyberlife corporation. Armed with nothing but a camera and his wits, Connor must brave the asylum's horrors and find way to save the people Cyberlife stole from him.

Gavin Park is a beat cop looking for a more well paying job. So when an offer to work private security at the Cyberlife corporation all but falls into his lap, how could he refuse? Gavin quickly realizes things are not what they seem, and in an attempt to expose Cyberlife, he ends up further in their clutches. Now he and Connor must work together to claw their way out of the asylum's depths, and the familiar faces that wait inside those walls.

This fic only has onw chapter, but go check out Cardboardghost’s art if you finish reading this!! They have provided so much quality content for the Outlast/DBH crossover I didn’t know I needed.

Gin & Tonic - by limchi - Explicit - No warnings - Chapters 8/? - People didn’t like Gavin Reed. Gavin Reed didn’t like people. It went together like gin and tonic, you can’t have one without the other. Nines hated him and he hated Nines. Those were the rules they played by, the rules that couldn't be changed - until fate decided they could.

It turned Gavin into pretending to dislike and Nines into a dense idiot with a crush, unable to grasp the concept of love. Both in utter denial. The catch: gravity worked against them, pulled them together at a frightening pace. Push against and defy the rules of nature or go along the prevailing forces?

Your friendly neighborhood reed900 fic. Very epic slow burn and fluff (and a hint of angst tbh). I definitely recommend!

Bitter Half - by turnabout - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin Reed was born unmarked, and had spent his entire life expecting to die like he lived - alone. It isn't until Tina points out the new serial number on his chest that he realizes everything is about to change. Whether that's for better or for worse is up to him.

I’m a sucker for soulmate fics and this one does not disappoint!

K-900 - by Serazimei - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 3/3 - Gavin and Nines were a great team. Unfortunately they were both huge workaholics. That's why when Nines' body gets busted on a job and the needed parts aren't available yet chaos is inevitable. Needing to choose between waiting and potentially being of no use at work or participate in one of Kamskis experiments and transfer his mind into an Android dog the decision is easy to make.

Who knew being in a dog body could become such a hassle? Not Nines, that's for sure.

Nines is a pup!!! I don’t believe I’ve seen a fic like this yet, so it’s really cool!

Thanks I'm Hating It - by Lupo (LupoLight) - Explicit: only suitable for adults - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Gavin goes to a fast food burger joint and Nines judges him. Then he realizes that Gavin isn't as much of a dick as he used to be, except he is, but in a different way. He isn't sure how to react to this knowledge.

QUALITY reed900 content

Bloodstains - by DeviantAlicee - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 12/? - Nines is an interrogator & detective for the DPD with a dark past. His thick skin & smarts helping him to be one of the most valuable members of the department. He's cold & daunting.

GV200 is one of the first police android models who's partnered with a cruel beat cop who not only hates that his partner is an android but doesn't think GV can feel any of the cruel things he does or says to him. The android doesn't speak up due to the fear of being shut down.

Nines has no clue that the android he bumped into at a bar is in fact a police android. He just thinks that he might be somebody in need of some help. But, as time passes by & a new drug that can be used by androids begins to circulate, Nines begins to realise the situation is a whole lot more convoluted than he originally thought.

This is a really interesting reverse au! Check it out!

Team spirit - by ilse_writes - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Someone had the unholy idea to go camping with the department, all in the name of 'team building'. Gavin is not liking it very much. That tall instructor with his haughty manners and cool eyes... that one he likes very much.

I don’t think I’ve seen another au quite like this one. Very epic content, can we hit Gavin Reed?

Wake Up - by SkySquid22 - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 6/? - “Gavin!”

GV200 slipped out of his stasis. He didn’t get a chance to open his eyes before a file came down on his face, smacking him.

“And here I thought tin cans didn’t sleep.”

Something was wrong.

Something was very very wrong.

DIS GOT ME  F U C K E D  U P!!! Bruh @skysquid200 really out here shaking my world with this fic. I was hollering while reading this like I got HYPED

Natural - by Erik_Heinrich - Teen and Up - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 1/? - They are all wing people.

Gavin gets partnered with Nines. As expected hes not too happy about it, but their partnership seems to be going well. That is until spring comes along. Nines wings seem a bit fidgety and Gavin is nesting. Nines doesn't realize he's been trying to court Gavin, and Gavin is just as oblivious.

or. They are both complete idiots the whole time

WING FIC WING FIC WING FIC!!!! Yall dont know how long I’ve looked for a reed900 wing fic. My homie @phckingusername out here doin God’s work <333

Thank you all so much for 1K!!! Being able to hop on Tumblr everyday and talk to you guys makes me so happy!! I really hope I didn't f up this rec list anywhere lol. Hope u guys like it!!

[otomeshistarlight-blog]

So! We’ve reached the final stretch of season two and as of this current moment, we have 5 episodes of Osomatsu left. I’ll be so sad to see it end but I have high hopes for a third season and/or a movie announcement in the near future. It’s still a profitable franchise so if they want to keep raking in the dough, they’ll give us more NEETs. Simple as that. With that being said, I thought it might be fun to talk about anime we’re interested in watching next season so feel free to come in and check out my shit taste if you dare.

Gegege no Kitarou

The original manga series was created in 1960 by Shigeru Mizuki. It is best known for its popularization of the folklore creatures known as yōkai, a class of spirit-monster to which all of the main characters belong. The first anime series aired in 1968 and the franchise is one of the most beloved classic’s in the medium. You’ve probably seen parodies of it in various shows and may have not even realized it! I’m a sucker for this kind of spooky stuff (Hell Sensei Nube, Dororon Enma-kun, etc) so this was an immediate yes for me. I personally cannot wait to see what they do with this new iteration and given how unpredictable it is to gauge how reboots/remakes will turn out, it could really go either way! Expect good old episodic fun that will more than likely revolve around a monster of the week formula.

I would like to say that given its notoriety, its pretty much guaranteed a solid series but I thought the same thing about Sailor Moon and look at how bad Crystal turned out.

Airing: April 1st, 2018

Golden Kamuy

A manga series written and illustrated by Satoru Noda. The Ainu language in the story is supervised by Hiroshi Nakagawa, an Ainu language linguist from Chiba University.

Plot: Saichi Sugimoto, a survivor of the battle of 203 Hill in the Russo-Japanese War has become a miner in Hokkaido in order to provide for the widow of his dead comrade, Toraji. He hears a dubious story of hidden Ainu gold (worth about 800,000,000 JPY / 6,636,000 USD) stashed by a criminal group, and accidentally finds clues to its location. After being attacked by the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army and other mysterious groups, he decides to search for the gold along with an Ainu girl, Asirpa, who rescues him from Hokkaido's harsh northern wilderness.

This one is very interesting to me because the Ainu people are a minority in their own country and as such they are not depicted very often in anime/manga. The only other Ainu characters I can think of right off the top of my head are Horohoro and his family from Shaman King but from what I’ve heard, it seems like the author has gone to great lengths to accurately depict their culture. I’m quite interested to see how this turns out both in terms of quality and how well the manga itself is adapted given how it features brutality and ridiculously comedic scenes both. 

Airing: April ?, 2018

Hinamatsuri 

Based on a comedy seinen manga series written and illustrated by Ootake Masao.

Plot: One night, a strange object falls on the head of Nitta, a member of the yakuza. Inside the box is a strange young girl named Hina. She has tremendous supernatural powers, and Nitta finds himself reluctantly taking her in. Her powers can come in handy for his yakuza business, but he also runs the risk of her using them on him! Not to mention, if she doesn't use her powers, she will eventually go berserk and destroy everything around her. Nitta and Hina's strange life together is just beginning...

If that summary doesn’t sell you then I don’t know what will. We’ve all seen the tried and true trope of a-mysterious-girl-falls-out-of-the-sky-and-finds-herself-in-the-care-of-a-young-man but this time, it involves a yakuza member rather than a hapless high school boy so that alone has piqued my interest. The fact its a seinen manga also gives me hope that it won’t be plagued by overdone cliches and honestly I’m expecting plenty of wacky gang shenanigans involving various plot points only the yakuza could find themselves in. 

Airing: April ?, 2018

Sweet Punishment (Amai Choubatsu: Watashi wa Kanshu Sen`you Pet)

Look. I don’t care that these are going to be shorts. I will check out the first episode the very second it is available and if it doesn’t disappoint then it just might become my new obsession. I have been waiting for something like this that actually delivers and honestly if I get blue balled then there is a good chance I might riot. 

Plot: (Based on Izumi Shou's josei smut manga.) The story is set in a prison in the near future. It revolves around Saotome Hina, imprisoned despite her innocence, and the elegant yet sadistic guard Miyoujin Aki. Hina's heart and body are at the mercy of Myojin's "heartless yet sweet domination" from physical examinations to her lovers' prison visits.

Okay, so right off the bat that doesn’t sound too promising does it? Hey, I wasn’t completely sold either. I had my doubts concerning the delivery of this supposed ‘heartless yet sweet domination’ up until the point that I started reading the manga and only a few pages in, he was giving her a very thorough physical exam. If the anime actually pulls through and ends up not being a cock tease then I will be extremely pleased. Honestly I wasn’t expecting the manga to go THAT hard so hopefully they realize the fans want more of that instead of pussyfooting around with awkward symbolism such as the classic ‘falling rose petals’ scene. 

Airing: April 2nd, 2018

My Hero Academia Season 3

Ya’ll already know what it is. I have to continue supporting my explosively handsome husbando Bakugou, in everything he does so of course I’m going to watch this.

Airing: April 7th, 2018

Cutie Honey Universe

A 1973 Shonen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai (author of Devilman, Cyborg009 and Mazinger). The original anime also started broadcast in the same year. 

Plot:  Honey Kisaragi is a regular Catholic schoolgirl, until the day her father is murdered by the "Panther Claw" organization. After his death, she learns she is actually an android created by him and within her is a device that can "create matter from the air".  With her cry of "Honey Flash!" she can use the device to transform into the sword-wielding red-haired superhero, Cutie Honey.

So, just like with Keitaro this is a legitimate classic getting a reboot and this was also an immediate yes for me. I’m a glutton for punishment as I just love to see how well or how bad these sorts of things turn out, but I also truly enjoy comparing old character designs to new ones. Fun fact: Honey is widely accepted as being the precursor for modern mahou shojo because of its flashy transformation scenes so this should a real treat for fans of the genre if you can get past the gratuitous T&A. I don’t expect this to be a big hit on Tumblr because it will very likely be just as sexualized as the previous iterations but such things do not bother me personally so eh.

Airing: April 8th, 2018

Alright, thats it for my definite ‘yes’ list and every other series airing this spring is going on my back log. I’m a completionist and I try my best to watch every single anime I can find subbed even if its the biggest steaming pile of shit ever created. Trust me when I say that I’ve sat through quite a few of those. However, I do have a few notable mentions that I’m somewhat looking forward to in a far off, when they’re completed sort of way so I can binge them in one or two sittings. 

Caligula 

Plot: μ is a virtual idol who performs user-inputted songs and gains self-awareness through exposure to users' bitter feelings and dissatisfaction toward reality. Wanting to save humanity - which she believes is continuously suffering - she lures people to a virtual reality world called Mobius with her songs. She then imprisons them in Mobius, thinking they will be free from the suffering of reality and that all their wishes will come true. Nine members of the "Going Home Club," a club that was formed because the characters want to escape from Mobius and go home, try to find a way out.

Devil’s Line

Plot: Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond-one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood...

Dorei-ku The Animation

Plot: What if you could enslave anyone you ever wanted? Well, this comes close. The SCM lets you enslave anyone who is also wearing an SCM, at a price. One must win over the other, at anything, in order for the other to become their slave.

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

Plot:  The series centers on a female college student named Aoi, who inherited the ability to see spirits from her late grandfather. Aoi prides herself on her cooking, and one day she's feeding some agricultural spirits when suddenly a god and the master of the "Tenshinya" (Heavenly Inn) appears and takes Aoi away. He says that due to her grandfather's debts, she must become his bride. Aoi hates this idea and instead declares that she will pay back her grandfather's debt by working at the Tenshinya.

As an added bonus, I’m gonna go ahead and predict that the Legend of the Galactic Heroes reboot will be the biggest disappoint of the season. I mean, compare the original to the new one on design alone. 

1988

2018

Literally no one asked for this. 

Also the most wtf anime will almost assuredly be  Uma Musume: Pretty Derby which is simply about moefied race horses. The girls are horses who apparently run track at school. Yeah. Real thought provoking, I know.

And that wraps up this unnecessarily long post! Feel free to message me or comment on what you think of the upcoming season, what you’d like to watch or even just to tell me that I suck. lol Not to worry though, this will remain a predominantly Osomatsu blog for as long as they continue releasing merch and you guys keep creating content with me! I will go down with these shitty virgin NEETs if its the last thing I do! Please pray to the animu god’s for a speedy season 3 announcement so maybe this hiatus won’t be as long as the last one!

[volleys-chan]

Between Vegeta and Crocodile, which man do you see as the most brutal in strength and power?

First off, allow me to apologize for not getting back to you right away. I have been very busy with work and you sent me this question right before I had to go and it gave me plenty of time to think about it- and then completely forget in my exhaustion about answering the inquiry.

Secondly, I am surprised you asked me such a question. I suppose if you have seen my account on Fanfiction you’d know I wrote a ton of DBZ before I switched over to One Piece… but other than a few Bulma drawings, I’ve never posted much around here about my interest in DBZ. Oh well. You were correct to surmise I’d be able to do this analysis.

The truth is, depending on the situation, either could win a fight against each other. It depends all on the circumstances, though you didn’t actually ask about if they combated each other, I will treat it like you did after a quick debrief of both their outstanding abilities.

Crocodile is a man with a devil fruit. A Logia Devil Fruit that gives him the power of sand- no, makes him a living embodiment of sand. That alone is potent. As seen, he can take physical hits and nothing fazes him until he gets wet- by any liquid as proven when Luffy figured out how to fight him by observing his blood solidified the Sand man. And that’s not including if he gets exposed to water (not rain because Oda has said moving water like rain doesn’t affect devil fruit users, only sitting water (creeks and streams, though moving, count as a large enough source to not fall into the moving water category like rain)), though Crocodile is special cause rain would cause him to become tangible too.

However, it was also shown that he can use his powers to dry himself off and even suck the water out of another living creature. He caused a drought through his powers and took out dozens of powerful opponents before Luffy showed up with the key to his success. He was nearly unstoppable because no one could land an actual hit on him, meanwhile he has complete control of the earth around him, creating more sand as he saw fit. He could create sandstorms as well!

Now, that was before we learned of Haki and that the proper use of Armament Haki could make Logia types tangible when they don’t wish to be to the Haki user. Its been a while since we’ve seen Crocodile and I’m not entirely sure if he’s found a way around that, but he is a very clever and underhanded man, so he probably has. His wit and general distrust in all his employees proves him to be very dangerous. He knew that Robin might betray him and that’s probably why he kept her close, other than for her very special skills. It was shown that he had zero tolerance for any sort of lie or misinformation when he sent Bon Clay to off Mr. 3 (who was actually being impersonated by Sanji during that time) for saying he had killed all the Strawhats ‘preemptively’. Though, as seen with Daz Bones, he likes to keep those who are loyal close and he appears to be an honorable enough man when he’s not planning to stab you in the back.

All in all, in the right conditions, he is a force to be reckoned with.

But then there is Vegeta.

Vegeta is one of the more powerful warriors of Dragon Ball Z, even being one of the first main villains Goku had to go up against early in the series. Vegeta is intelligent, conniving, a natural tactician, and a hard core freaking TANK. That man, in his own arch was beaten with Kaio Ken of different degrees of intensity, shot in the eye, his tail was cut off, hit with a spirit bomb (half formed but still potent as heck), and then smashed by a giant naked Oozaru child. AND LIVED. Then he proceeded to get the shit beaten out of him by the Ginyu Force and held the line for a while with Frieza before Goku managed to show up. I could go on, but we all know how he usually ends up holding the line till Goku shows up. He might not be as powerful as Goku is, but I think he can take more hits than Goku ever could, but at the same time, he probably is one of the few people that can still go toe to toe with Goku and give him a challenge before Goku eventually overpowers him.

Not to mention he is dedicated to training. The man tried to give it up after Cell Saga, but something made him take it back up and he isn’t the type to shift from his routines, seeing as he was a warrior most of his life, starting at the delicate age of 5. Vegeta is also a great strategist in the heat of battle, but he tends to get overconfident and underestimate his opponents when he thinks he has the tactical advantage, i.e. losing his tail; the beat down Recoom gave him; mouthing off to Frieza; letting loose Android Seventeen and Eighteen; Imperfect Cell becoming Perfect Cell just to name a few boo-boos his hotheadedness has caused.

Is Vegeta powerful? Very much so. Be enough to beat someone like Crocodile? Only in the correct conditions.

I don’t think Ki would work against a Logia user. It’s different than Haki to the point that I don’t think it would affect Crocodile. Powerful blasts scatter Crocodile and while some might surmise that Ki is hot, if I remember what Videl said about it, its not. It’s pure living energy, yes, but if Vegeta doesn’t know how Crocodile’s power works, and Crocodile is not the type to run his mouth like every other villain in DBZ tends to do, it might take Vegeta a while to figure out the rules to a Logia user. Too long.

Crocodile might not have Vegeta’s speed, but I do know he can move his presence as long as there is sand in the air pretty darn fast. He would only have to get the proper distance to Vegeta to begin dehydrating him of his body’s water and even a Saiyan can’t go against that. He could try to hit him, but Crocodile is intangible to non-haki users when not wet.

But what if he got him wet? Yeah, Crocodile would be gone in a Final Flash. 

But that’s only if circumstances favor Vegeta and he figures out that liquid is the man’s one weakness.

As I said, it’s hard to say whose the stronger, more brutal of the two because conditions would need to be met and there is no real evidence that Ki could take Crocodile out (maybe on a large scale of destroying the whole island, but the man made himself a sandstorm. How do you destroy the living embodiment of an element without knowing you are up against such a thing?) (Then again, remember that bomb that would have taken out the whole city? Crocodile knew he’d survive it, so…?)(But then again, can Vegeta superheat sand with his ki and make glass?) There are too many unknown variables people could easily argue.

If we are just comparing?

Both are smart and intelligent. Both are underhanded, backstabbing, oddly loyal to people they grudgingly respect or like, and egotistical. Both underestimate the unlikely opponents. But while Vegeta is a powerhouse/tank, Crocodile can willfully become intangible to attacks any time he wishes and capable of sucking the water out of the air and his opponent’s body. We are all made mostly out of water. We lose a very small percentage of that and we are good as dead (even Saiyans).

So, its a toss up in my opinion. Their skills and powers are too different to properly compare and measure against one another. If we are talking about a Death Battle between the two, the I think it’s all about who is Super Kami Dende’s favorite person is or isn’t. I mean, if we were to compare a bit, Luffy is definitely a tank in One Piece, but I’d call Crocodile more of a elemental (outside the normal triangle of strengths and weaknesses of various fighters, i.e. Tank loses to Rouge, who loses to Archer, who loses to Tank sorta deal). Vegeta is definitely a tank, but he wouldn’t have the field advantage as Luffy did.

Hope this gave you something of an answer? Or at least factors to consider or even a perspective different than your own. 

I appreciate the ask though~!

I really like answering questions like this because I hardly get to discuss my personal analysis on character power outside a small group of friends!

[agl03]

Hi! :) After the no Fitzsimmons nonsense of this season, are they seriously thinking about separate them AGAIN or even break them up?? They have done nothing as a couple, except crying... and let's face it the apartment thing was a prank. I won't lie, I won't take it anymore, if the season begins with them apart, I will shut down the tv... If it is a "forever love" but they only show it the first day and in the very last ep without nothing in-between, following the journey is useless. :/ :(

Hi Anon!

We don’t know what they are going to do with Fitzsimmons when we first come back…there is a very good chance that the writers don’t know what they are going to do either.  I think that they have an endgame in mind…and its a matter of what route they take to get there.   And as they go into Season 5 they stand at a fork in the road as to what direction they want to take.  

Its okay to feel upset and even betrayed right now.  I did, and I still do a bit.  I’m getting better as I re watch and have a few metas under my belt.  But I definitely am going to be a lot more careful with anything they tell us from now on…good and bad.  I do hope the writers and show runners are more careful too.  Seeing the hurt.  IE don’t put things out there you don’t intent on paying off or worse lead us to believe it will be paid off when you very well know you won’t.

The way I’m looking at it is if they were going to break them up we would have seen the break up in the finale.   We saw Philinda take the step back, if Fitzsimmons were going to do the same I think we would have had a heartbreaking scene where Fitz pushed her away and said that he needed time.  But we didn’t.   We got a scene where he point blank said that there his his love for Jemma would never fade and that there was only room in his heart for her.  With the “other woman” who had orchestrated things so that she would be his “whole world” sitting right next to him and she meant NOTHING romantically to him.  Nothing.  He had the same amount of time worth of memories and “transferred feelings” for Ophelia as he did Jemma, and Jemma won hands down.

We saw Jemma go through hell to get him back.  That her feelings hadn’t changed either, that she didn’t blame him for anything.  It wasn’t him.  And she saw that affirmation as well.  

Did we get a chance to see THAT desperately needed conversation.  No.  And not gonna lie or sugar coat it.  That totally sucks and the writers dropped the ball.  Not only did they run out of time, I think they honestly thought that what they did was “enough’ of a pay off.   Don’t get me wrong, that pod scene is now one of my all time favorite scenes.  It was amazing and powerful…and had that been the last thing we saw of Fitzsimmons this season I think most of the fandom would be good right now.  Because there it ended with them holding each other in that silent affirmation that they were there for each other through it all.   They really had no idea how much of a toll the Framework Arc would take on the Fandom.  And in the past we really haven’t been a hard fandom to please.  They are used to giving us epic moments that are spread out and we’re content to gif the heck out of it for a few months.  But we’re expecting more now because Fitzsimmons have grown both as characters and in their relationship and we want to see moments that reflect that.  

We did get some great moments, where they HUGE moments we had all been excited about going into the season?  Again,no.  But in more of Fitzsimmons fashion it was those little moments that spoke to their love and deep connection.

Bed cuddles

Adorable in the lab with the boxes “Cue Jemma Gasping”

Love Nest Shopping

Fight

“She’s out there all alone and I’m gone”/the ENTIRE team affirming how much they mean to each other.

Beautiful Reunion hugs

Fitzsimmonsing to stop Eli and double gun shot

Tormenting Talbot

Comfort Kiss

I mean the whole of 12 for me I just love WITH bonus “Your the best” face grab kiss.

“Don’t do that” with you didn’t die hugs and working together

Comforting Fitz and we’ll fix this together

Rip our hearts out but yet look he was thinking about Marriage before this all went to hades.

Jemma digging myself out of a grave to get to my man Anne Simmons

“If you do this I lose him forever” “I love him”

Pain, more pain, but we started to suspect that AIDA had stolen Fitzsimmons relationship for herself. along with Fitz.

Uniting behind our collective hate for Papa Fitz and cheering Jemma on as he went after him….after totally sneaking out when Daisy said they had to leave him behind.

More pain but Jemma would rather die than say she meant nothing to him.

Fitz woke up from a nightmare he was the monster in we need to get to him

Confirmation AIDA stole Fitzsimmons relationship for herself

Leopold “I”ll only ever love Jemma” James Fitz….with Jemma hearing it.

Beautiful reunion crying hugs

Tricking the obsessed, crazy android with a fake fight.

Jemma getting to unload a ton of bullets into AIDA

FItzsimmons getting to watch The Rider and Dad Off Front runner Coulson take care of the contrived roadblock in epic fashion.  

Jemma’s “amen” to that they weren’t letting him face whatever alone, didn’t blame him, and were going to help him heal.  

I likely missed some but we had something in nearly every single episode this season.  Again, no not the big sweep us off the feet and make us swoon traditional shipper moments.  But the more quiet Fitzsimmons ones we’ve had all along.  Again, I’m not saying I wouldn’t love me a really nice over the top shipper moment (because really writers would one good proper kiss have killed you, no), but they did give us something in nearly every single episode (which is uncommon for a show like this) and I would be bereft if I didn’t mention that here.  

Yes, they took the Love Nest from us…and now I know why.  Because its not time for Endgame yet…they let us and them get THIS CLOSE.  Not only were they looking to move off base but Shield was back on the up and up, they didn’t have to hide anymore.   Then,they and we lost it.  Jed and Mo constantly talk in interviews about the cost of the job and the toll it can take, how Fitzsimmons is one of the best ways for them to show it, this was a way of showing that.   We started the season so close and now they’ve been pulled deeper into the shadows by whoever took them than they were before.  And I’ll take losing the Love Nest to losing them together…sorry breakfast nook.   

The Love Nest is the Seychelles of this Season, that thing we lost because of the crap that happened.

This continues to give pull to my theory that eventually Fitzsimmons will say enough is enough and choose each other over the job once and for all.  And they had that decision taken from them in this finale as they were whisked way by who knows who to god knows where.

As ‘betrayed’ as I feel by the writers right now believe it or not I do have faith that they are going somewhere with all this.  That Fitzsimmons with Perthshire, Wedding, and Babies is all in the cards.  But its Endgame and until they are ready to have that happen, they will continue to put roadblocks in the way.   I’m honestly okay with roadblocks to endgame but they do need to give us Hope in between and need to let them face the next ones together as a couple.  

The one that seems to have been set up is now getting Fitz to forgive himself.  They’ve set it up that Jemma is the one who will help him do that.  Real couples face difficult situations all the time and don’t break up because of it.  This is their chance to show a couple dealing with a traumatic event while staying together and helping each other heal.   I don’t think they’ve set up them breaking up and getting back together, that is a traditional trope and if anything AOS doesn’t do traditional tropes in the traditional way.

Take the “love triangle” we had this season.  The ‘traditional’ or easy way of doing this would have been for Fitz to fall for AIDA in the real world.  But NOPE in order for it to even happen…he had to be kidnapped, brainwashed, and manipulated while being thrown in to a nightmare hell world designed by a Robot who wanted his mind and his relationship with Jemma.  

I do have concerns they will have them split up physically or make it so even if they are together the situation they’ve been forced into is somehow keeping them apart.  Be it they have physically been taken to separate locations or whoever took them won’t allow them to be together outside the lab kind of thing (though Coulson seemed to have some sort of freedom on there).  

I know none of what I just said will take the pain away or ease that distrust for the writers now.  They made their bed and have to lie in it.   A lot of this comes down to us and them having very different definitions/expectations of words like reward and soon.  Its okay to be tired of being given the run around too, because I’m there too.  They have made it so its more frustrating than fun.  They crossed a line thinking what they had was enough to make up for it, and for most of the battered fandom it wasn’t.  I’m ready to see them be a couple dealing with this stuff, not fighting to get back to each other.  There are plenty of interesting stories to tell there.  

However if you really feel empassioned and want to make your voice heard you can do that. Just like when we were fighting for renewal.  And I can not emphasize this enough that if you choose to send feedback to do it  POLITELY, POSITIVELY, AND RESPECTFULLY! We learned from AIDA that throwing a tantrum doesn’t get what you want.   

ABC has a feed back form that you can fill out on its shows.   We busted this out a few months ago to fight for renewal, now you can do it if you want to send in your opinion.  HERE is a post that has the link and instructions…just change from renewal to your thoughts on the story. 

Tweet at ABC and Agents of Shield.  Using #fitzsimmons and #agentsofshield

DO NOT tweet at Jed, Mo, Colo, Mark, the other writers, or the cast personally with this stuff. 

Going forward I’m going to be incredibly careful with ANYTHING we get from Jed and Mo.  I pretty much already disregard anything from the Jeff’s since they troll us so much.  I don’t want to get burned again.  I will not go into next season expecting kisses, romantic dinners, and heartfelt conversations about recovery, love, and forgiveness.  That is what fan fic is for.  

Rather I’ll watch for and appreciate those small moments while reveling in the big ones.  They like to surprise us with the BIG moments, Sandwich, Maybe there is 2.22, Sunrise/Perthshire 3.7, First Kiss 3.8 (we wouldn’t have seen that one coming a mile away had they not released that pic to EW), Handhold in 3.15,  Kisses 3.17,Undercover and ensuing sexy times 3.18 (again we had the undercover tease and waited MONTHS to see that…and most of you likely though I was downright crazy for that prediction too) Love Nest 4.4, Thinking of proposing 4.15.  So I’m going to sit back and wait for the next one to surprise me!  

And I will hope that the writers see they did hurt us and dial back the trolling, teasing, and pain.  Don’t tease things they have no intention of delivering or be a bit more honest about the timeline of such things (cough engagement cough).   Not only throughout hiatus but into next season.  

[gamer2002]

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

I finished the Android release of DD. What are my thoughts? Well, it had some good stuff, but also has some issues. Let’s start with the good.

I really liked court segments, with a constant battle of wits with the prosecution. Blackquill was a great prosecutor I didn’t feel so fucked hard by a one since looooong. I also liked side characters, and most importantly, my clients. It’s nice to defend people you can like. And yes, I’m looking at you, Apollo Justice. I’m talking about the game, not Apollo Justice himself.

Final boss... was entertaining as a boss battle, though he wasn’t much of a character. I was spoiled about his identity beforehand, so I can’t comment much on that.

What about Athena? She was alright? Nothing great, a Maya 4.0 as a lawyer. But nothing bad either, and she managed to make me smile from time to time. Some people in fandom hold against her that thing centered too much around her, but I dunno. She was a new character, she had to be important to the main storyline. AJ sucked because Apollo had nothing to do with the main plot besides having not really developed relationship with the main villain, and some family revelation he never learned about. I much prefer when there is a point for character’s existence.

In DD Apollo was fine (lol). They actually have him his own agenda and an actual arc, he finally felt like a main character. But Clay should be introduced earlier, instead of just being told about after his death. And there are things dropped about him from Apollo’s game, but about that, later.

But anyway, the bad. Dark Age of Law was really vague, and I don’t see how “only victory matters at courts” thing was anything but usual business for AA legal system. The only difference was the stated lesser idolization of prosecutors, but there wasn’t much of it, really. And I had no clue what the Dual Destiny thing was.

Trucy was completely irrelevant until the final case, and even that wasn’t anything great (aside from stopping director Cosmos, that was awesome). I’ve never seen in this series such underwritten, pointless and unnecessary character as her. People probably hate Athena for how Trucy was handled, but the problem was writer’s utter laziness in figuring out ideas for her. It was clear as day that they didn’t even bother about her, as a character. It was simply put, a bad writing.

But perhaps she was just part of a larger problem, which was how they threw out of window all the plot points of AJ and whitewashed Phoenix. And yes, I loved DD Phoenix and like everyone I wanted Phoenix to return to being a lawyer. But they pretty much retconned out that he used in 4-1 a forged evidence (even if possibly Trucy forged it and he covered for her). And I don’t see the reason why, because it would only benefit the story.

Dark Age of Law was all about attorneys using forged evidence against false charges, and this is what Phoenix had to use against Kristoph. The Dark Age of Law plotline didn’t have to be some abstract, it could be very personal to Phoenix.

Phoenix’s arc in DD was becoming owner of an office with two young lawyers that both get torn apart by the main plot, so he had to help them. Him becoming responsible leader after being a manipulator that used Apollo to his ends could be a really great arc. Instead, it is his T&T self becoming a responsible leader. Which wasn’t bad, but I can’t accept this after AJ.

In the finale, Apollo and Phoenix, first time since 4-1, stand together behind a bench. How much more powerful it would feel, if this was after the process of sorting out between them the problems they had ever since the last time?

Not to mention, Athena being naive enthusiast, that saw Phoenix as Apollo did as he did at the start of 4-1, would have much more interesting relationship with Apollo, who would be more aware of things that Phoenix could pull. Instead, Apollo nearly fanboys Phoenix, when his character in AJ was being a disappointed fan.

I really don’t understand why they dropped the ball so hard. I mean, I do understand why. Because of lazy writing. And while DD isn’t bad as its own thing, as a part of series, it’s a let-down in form of a soft reboot.

[amorremanet]

ten facts about sara grace!

“ten facts about my oc’s” meme // previously on… (+ sara grace’s part one)

—okay, I suck, because I meant to do this on Sunday when I got it, then spent the whole day on TV Tropes, and I meant to do it yesterday, and spent the day with my sister’s dog instead, but anyway.

1. She’d probably tell you that police procedural shows are her guilty pleasure, but it’s really just Law and Order: SVU, and as much as she loves her girlfriend, she tends not to watch it with Lucy because Lucy will probably try to argue about the science, and Sara Grace gets that science is one of Lucy’s Things and she appreciates this a lot of the time, but sometimes, you just wanna ignore real-world science and watch Olivia Benson be a bad-ass, okay

2. Her MBTI type is ENFP (Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving), one of the Idealist types, known as The Campaigner or The Champion. She shares it with, among others, Robin Williams, Dr. Seuss, Adelaide, and Stephen.

3. It’s not that she is completely hopeless at raising plants, but Sara Grace is easily distracted and easily bored in ways that make it hard for her to remember to check in on her plants as often as she needs to, and they aren’t as cute as cats, which makes it harder for her — because she definitely prioritizes the cute kitties over the plants — so, she’s pretty much given up on having any plants.

4. Pretty much everyone who knows her thinks that she is kidding about wanting to learn how to ride a motorcycle. It’s not that they think she can’t (not least since, thanks to her mutations, Sara Grace has a literally superhuman sense of balance), but to her parents, her siblings, her girlfriend, her friends, her coworkers, and her former classmates, the motorcycle thing just doesn’t mix with Sara Grace’s usual femme style and her fondness for the pretty pretty princess aesthetic

Like, when she does get a license and Seb gives her Bettie because he never rides Bettie anymore, several of the other characters are going to go, “What the Hell, Sebastian? You can’t just give a motorcycle to someone like that” and he will have to point out that Sara Grace took the classes and got her license, and he let her take Bettie on a few practice rides so they could figure out how to adjust a few settings to better fit Sara Grace’s needs and riding style, and like??

What do you want him to have done? She was serious about learning to ride, so she learned to ride. Then, she wanted a bike of her own, understandably, and he has a bike in really good condition that he’s no longer interested in riding and Sara Grace liked Bettie, and there was literally nothing underhanded about any of this so what is so hard for people to understand about, “Sara Grace wanted to ride a motorcycle”???

5. All things considered, it’s probably a good thing that most of the, “ancient magical artifacts” that could come up in the prime timeline won’t actually work, because if they did, Sara Grace would probably get curious about what they can do and try to play with them.

She’s a Ravenclaw for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest ones is, “Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back, and then Sara Grace had to go and figure out what happened because she can’t talk to animals and didn’t understand prrrrfffbt when she asked the cat about what it found out.”

6. Nominally, she’s over the fact that she never got a pony for her birthday as a kid (because, like most people’s parents, hers couldn’t afford a pony, much less the care and upkeep of a pony, especially not if they were also putting money into her dance lessons, and Sara Grace was offered the, “Do you want more dance lessons, or do you want a pony” choice more than once and picked the dance lessons every time). She’s also nominally over the fact that she can’t have a unicorn because they don’t exist in the prime timeline.

—But, when the villains decide to screw around with ancient Celtic rituals they don’t understand and tear a few choice holes in the space-time continuum, thereby allowing a few alternate universes and parallel timelines to dump their contents into the prime timeline, uh…… well.

Sara Grace understands the gravity of the situation and she is very concerned about fixing things, but in addition to getting kind of distracted by things like, “coming up with nicknames for all the AU counterparts who get dragged into the prime timeline because we can’t just call everyone by the same name or it’ll get confusing” and, “the version of Lucy from the AU in which everyone has magic instead of superpowers? Yeah, she came over with a unicorn.”

She is going to be somewhat less thrilled with the fact that some of the Silent Hill-inspired demonic monsters from the canonically designated Darkest Timeline can take the shape of unicorns, and then turn out to be…… well. Nightmarish beasts that were inspired by the Silent Hill series.

The Darkest Timeline earned that title because…… yeah, okay, all of the AU’s have problems, and some of them have it worse than others, and the canon coffee-shop AU is actually a dystopian Hellhole that takes a lot of its cues from Brave New World (like, in-universe and everything; the guy responsible for making the coffee-shop AU what it is cites Brave New World as one of his big inspirations)…

—but none of the other AU’s have Silent Hill-inspired demon monsters on the same scale as the official Darkest Timeline, so…… yep.

7. If she ever challenges you to Dance Dance Revolution, do not accept. She pointedly will not challenge you to a dance-off, because dance-offs are ultimately subjective and there’s no way to know for sure who wins, so she believes that they should only be used for fun and creative expression, not for challenges. But DDR has points and an objective score, and between her reflexes, her sense of balance, and how much she just genuinely enjoys DDR, you are probably going to lose against her.

If you’re okay with that, then by all means, take her up on that challenge. But if you’re a sore loser, just don’t do it. Because she will beat you, and while she won’t intentionally lord it over you with unsportsmanlike gloating, she can be prone to post-victory preening that most people would probably find pretty irritating.

8. Of all the movies she’s watched because her girlfriend likes them, Sara Grace has the most complicated relationship with Blade Runner. Like, she wants to like it, because she thinks that there’s a lot of it that’s interesting and well-done, but she doesn’t feel like she really, “gets it”?

She’s not sure that Lucy really, “gets it,” either, and all of the different versions of Blade Runner floating around don’t help at all. Like, she’s watched all of them with Lucy before, but Sara Grace doesn’t feel like any of them have really cleared anything up so much as they’ve made everything even more confusing, and trying to read Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? just made everything worse because she started comparing it to Blade Runner and looking for what the potential significance of the changes from text to movie could be, and she’s gotten a whole lot of nowhere on that

On thing Sara Grace knows for sure, though? Ridley Scott’s original Alien trilogy might be a good collection of films, but they’re scary and gross and given her druthers, she’d prefer to watch almost anything else.

I mean, she might not really like Todd very much — she doesn’t have much against him, but he also kinda bores her as a person — but she will be so happy to tap out and let him talk about movies with Lucy, because they can talk about gross things and give Lucy an outlet for that while Sara Grace does something else without having to deal with said gross things when she would really, really rather not, and that way, everyone wins.

At least, everyone wins unless Todd and Lucy decide to do more than just talk about movies, like if Todd tries to get Lucy to come along on some harebrained movie-making adventure that neither of them has put any real planning into so they may well end up in some ridiculous, life-threatening situation and/or trespassing somewhere that they shouldn’t, and……

Todd, please do not drag Sara Grace’s girlfriend into something like that, she would really appreciate it if you didn’t do that.

And Lucy, please do not listen to the silly white gay hipster with all the cameras and the delusions of being John Waters, Jean-Luc Godard, Gregg Araki, Christopher Guest, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Tom “Human Centipede” Six all at the same time. Sara Grace supports the two of you being friends and talking about movies, but not anything that involves the two of you getting in trouble while doing something ridiculous and probably dangerous in the name of making them

Which, really, is probably bound to happen at some point, and as tends to happen when people go, “What could possibly go wrong?”, pretty much everything will go wrong, and Sara Grace only won’t say, “I told you so” because:

1. she’ll likely be more worried than smug;

and 2. Margot, Josie, or Pete will probably say it for her

9. She thinks Stephen’s jokes are funny, which will make her one of his favorite teammates.

That said, between the two of them, there is almost no impulse control when it comes to things like:

“Sure, we could Google the answer to our question, but Google is full of a lot of different possibilities and it isn’t really helping, so let’s just do this potentially dangerous thing ourselves in order to find our what would happen”

and, “Omg, an ancient magical artifact, and sure, I can see its disclaimer not to touch it, but I wonder what it does, let’s ignore common sense and touch it,”

and, “Oooooh, what does THIS button do?”

—so, as much fun as the two of them would have together, and as well as they would click and work together, they really, really shouldn’t be paired up with each other for most things unless someone else comes with them

……Strictly speaking, that someone probably shouldn’t be Sebastian, because if this doesn’t end with the three of them at an ASPCA shelter and Stephen totally failing to resist how cute Sara Grace is around the poor kitties who need homes (and yet managing to tell his boyfriend, “I love you, but no, you really do not need another dog, you have SIX already, I know that all the dogs here have sad stories and need homes, but you have six already, you’re good”)

—then it will probably end with the three of them in a situation where Seb has to try and tell Stephen and Sara Grace that hey, guys, maybe they probably shouldn’t touch that possibly very dangerous thing that they don’t understand — or at least, they have to get it back to the others, so they should only touch it as much as they absolutely have to and definitely not use it for anything yet

—and he will probably fail because shit, they’re both so eager and it’s so cute, and his boyfriend is adorable as Hell when he’s curious and excited about stuff, and okay look, Seb tried to tell them, “No” but he just…… completely lost his willpower in the face of them being cute and eager, and yes, he knows it’s sad that he is a thirty-year-old superhero who still has problems with peer pressure, but they made a really good case for why it was probably okay to experiment with the shiny thing a bit first and they did learn things, and he’s really sorry for being easily swayed by the idea of making other people happy but at least nobody got hurt, right???

At least, once Sara Grace figures out that, as much as she likes them, Stephen is easily swayed by curiosity and has an, “Oooh what does this button do?” impulse that matches her own, and Seb has problems saying, “No” to people he likes and/or cares about, especially when they’re being adorable, she’ll have the good sense to go, “Okay, we can have fun together when we’re off the clock, but we really probably shouldn’t be paired up with each other”

She will be much more resistant to the idea of not getting paired up with Lucy on different assignments — like, she’ll go along with it if there are obvious good reasons why she really shouldn’t be on a team with her girlfriend…… but Sara Grace’s idea of, “good reasons” does not include, “The two of you may get distracted from the actual task at hand because you end up looking out for each other.”

Like, “We need your skills and your talents somewhere else on this job”? Yeah, okay, that’s perfectly reasonable to her. But in the face of the other argument, she would go, “Nuh uh, no way, we can totally work together without distracting each other”… and then the two of them would do exactly that

Which? I mean, they’re not the only ones who would do the same thing if they were partnered up with their significant other (I say, pointedly glancing aside at Seb and Stephen) or with someone else they care about (I say, glancing aside at Seb and Todd, though to be fair, Todd has no business being in most of the places where Seb can be and would force Seb to look out for him instead of focusing on the task at hand because he’d be in way, WAY over his head)

But Lucy and Sara Grace are still probably going to end up learning this the hard way, and Sara Grace is going to have the harder time with reconciling the logical, “Okay, I know that this is a fair point and that there are more important things than my personal anxieties and desire to protect my girlfriend” side of her opinion, with the emotional, “But my heart says that I need to protect my girlfriend and I trust her and our teammates but I want to do it myself”

—Not that Lucy won’t have any difficulty with this, but her big issue is more that she compartmentalizes things and then tries to get out of dealing with the emotional ramifications of that compartmentalizing, not that she can compartmentalize but she would really rather not

And in fairness, they’re both 22 (with Lucy turning 23 shortly after their introduction in the first book, and Sara Grace turning 23 in the early parts of book two), whereas Todd is 30 (turning 31 toward the end of book one) and his biggest reason for ever going, “No, I want to be paired with Seb in what is blatantly not a good idea” would be that he’s working on his jealousy over the Seb/Stephen relationship, and he’s accepted the fact that he is partly responsible for this because Seb offered him quite a few chances to talk like adults and go back to being in an official romantic relationship and Todd blew him off, and yeah, he wants Seb to be happy and on one hand, he’s glad that Seb is actually with a good guy for once

(because Todd and Julian are two of Seb’s better exes, and one of them got seduced into working with very literal supervillains while the other is pretty much three bad decisions stacked on top of each other inside a pair of too-small skinny jeans and one of his Mom’s vintage sweaters, wearing a scarf in summertime and Buddy Holly glasses that he doesn’t need)

—but Todd is still jealous of Stephen (and unfortunately, things don’t magically get better after Todd gets the message that he is just jealous and completely wrong in thinking that Seb having dated multiple douchebags before means that somewhere, Stephen must have skeletons in his closet, a Bertha in his attic, an old man hidden underneath his floorboards, and/or an old friend walled up in his basement after being lured there by the promise of tasting a fine vintage Amontillado), and Todd’s being immature about dealing with his jealousy (and he’ll get through it eventually, but it’s gonna take him a while)

So, like…… Lucy’s and Sara Grace’s reasons for wanting to be paired together when they maybe shouldn’t be, and how well they deal with it, are legitimately doing a lot better than one of their teammates

10. It’s probably a good thing for Sara Grace that I cannot have the Star Trek universe in canon without getting sued, because she would absolutely try to have a Tribble as a pet. And whether she got herself an unmodified Tribble and wound up with a few billion of the little shits spilling out of her entire apartment building, or one of the ones Cyrano Jones doctored up in the animated series where they don’t reproduce like bacteria but get really huge instead, this would be really, really Not Good for everyone.