#while also acknowledging that it was fucked up for zack to have to be the one to kill him.

[kazumahashimoto]

Do you think angeal is a hypocrite? Personally I don’t understand it. Angeal never intended his death to be honorable, genesis said they had no honor multiple times… he views himself as someone beyond redemption. It feels like it reduces angeal’s honor down to virtue signaling, when he meant every word even in death, it’s just he didn’t view himself personally worthy of those beliefs… he never lied, the definition is comparable to a liar or a fraud, which I don’t think is the intended message of angeal’s character.

I AGREE!!!!!!!!! completely

like i LOVE the wing reveal moment with "then what should an angel fight for, zack? what do angels dream of?" like he's not being hypocritical here, he's stopped viewing himself as a person. even humoring zack in seeing him as an angel, that still makes him not human. the next lines of "please, tell me!" "to be human." always get me.

and even when he says "we must destroy all those who create suffering, and i created my own suffering" he says WE and includes himself, he still holds onto those views even as he sees himself as being unworthy of them now. he's kind of grasping at straws here for a reason why he needs to die, but i don't think it's like in opposition to what he stands for. he's desperate and hurting and still clinging to what he's based his life around.

and i completely agree i don't think he was ever trying to have an honorable death fit for a hero, certainly not when he doesn't view himself as a person. he turns into penance specifically TO dehumanize himself and further justify why he has to die. even the NAME penance, he's trying to absolve his guilt, confessing the sin of being born inhuman. it's not hypocrisy, it's not that he doesn't still believe in dreams and honor, it's that he doesn't fully believe they can apply to him anymore, and he feels guilt for living.

so he has zack kill him, because zack IS worthy of those ideals, zack HAS dreams, he IS honorable. zack, to him, is more deserving. zack is human, and zack is good. i think also, he views zack killing him as a kind of final test, to see if zack will be okay without him. if zack can kill him, then he's taught him everything he can. and, if zack can kill him, he who creates suffering, then zack is even more worthy of his ideals. angeal cares about zack immensely so this moment, to him, is an intimate one. it sets the standard for the many many angeal clones to come die at zack's feet as well.

calling angeal a hypocrite feels a bit reductive of zack's character as well, don't you think? makes his death a bit empty, if this whole time he's been chasing the false ideals of his dead mentor. i really don't think that's what they were going for like. at all. zack IS meant to have had an honorable death, he finally FINALLY managed to save someone, this was him finally becoming a hero. when he dies he asks angeal if he's done it, if he's a hero, and the conclusion we're meant to come to is YES.

SO! no i don't think he's a hypocrite. i think he was self loathing and a bit selfish, certainly, but he believed in his ideals the whole way through. he doesn't die because his morals didn't align with how he actually behaved, he died because he felt like that couldn't actually apply to him anymore, and his continued existence would be sinful because of it.

[saanphoenix]

You know what? I’m not done. I’m not done.

The following is not an apologist post, before that little thought pops up, it is, instead, meant to give some perspectives. You can agree, you can not agree, I care not.

“Sephiroth is a war criminal because he killed people in a war.” No. No, that’s not how that works. People are killed in war. That’s how that works. “Yeah, but like.. He did it really goodly and killed lots--” Doesn’t matter. “But the people he was killing were just trying to defend--” Yeah, that happens a lot in war. Now, if he, say, gathered a group of civilian Wutaians into a trench and ordered his men to shoot every single one of them while they screamed and tried to claw their way out of said trench, NOW we’re dealing with some war crimes. But we have no evidence he did that. And, yes, I am referencing an actual thing military has done in real life.

Now, I don’t like war. I’d like to think most people don’t like war. I especially don’t like wars fought over dumb ass shit like, “We want to use the land you’re on for resources and you won’t let us, soooo... :)” But, hey, that’s history for you. Whether it was thousands of years ago or right the fuck now. But you can’t just go throwing the term ‘war criminal’ around when it’s not fucking applicable. You can comprehend the horrors of war and acknowledge the situation is fucked up without using the phrase ‘war criminal.’ To me, going, “Zack was a war criminal because he followed orders and took out enemy combatants in an enemy Fort, which is an accepted target for war,” is honestly dulling the accepted amount of violence for regular ass war. That shit is allowed. That isn’t a crime.

“Sephiroth torched Cloud’s hometown. That is unforgivable.” Yeah. Yeah, that was a crime. It wasn’t a war crime because he didn’t do it for war reasons, he just did a regular ass crime. And there’s no excusing it. Even if you wanted to go the ~crime of passion~ route, like... Mmm, no. Anyway, I bring this part up because... Most people see this act of violence for what it is and appropriately respond with horror, disgust, rage at the injustice of it. “WHY would you do that?!” Even when you can see the why of it, you’re still--generally--like, “Bruh. Too far.”

What people don’t often do is look at the shit Avalanche pulls and react in kind.

“Yeah, but they’re the good guys.” I do not care. They are terrorists. And I don’t care that Remake tried to shift blame for the reactor explosions from Avalanche proper onto Shinra by going, “Well, technically, Shinra pushed the final button, so--” ORIGINALLY, Avalanche blew the fuck up two whole reactors, which damaged a substantial chunk of the city around each reactor, and killed people. People in the nearby sectors, asleep in their beds or walking along the streets, fucking died. And Avalanche was okay with that. They were so okay with that they were going to do it all the other times needed to stop Midgar for good. “Yeah, but the Planet--” DON’T CARE.

Your heroes, same as the villain, are a-okay with taking some lives to get what they want. To me, there is no moral high ground here. Now, as the game goes on, methods change and character growth happens and some guilt starts to set in a little bit, but... Don’t say Sephiroth is evil because he killed innocent people, and that’s it, and then just let Avalanche’s sins float under the radar because, “Well, they’re the good guys, so.”

If I do not require fans of the heroes to preface any show of love they have for them with, “I know they killed people, but--” Then I should also not be required to say, “I know Sephiroth/the Remnants/the Turks killed people, but--”

Love the characters you love. Hate the characters you hate. Do not assume someone’s morality or worth based on which character they like or don’t like. And, for the love of god, stop throwing around phrases like ‘war criminal’ and worse to justify to somebody else why you don’t like a character. You can just not like the damn character without diluting the meaning of words!

End rant.

[rottenpumpkin13]

Genesis, how many languages do you know or are currently learning? I know a little Gaelic, Japanese, Latin and a miniscule amount of French.

SOLDIER Vlogging Shenanigans pt. 22

[The video starts with a pair of feet scuffling along squeaky, white floors. Echoed singing that inarguably sounds like Genesis is drawing nearer. Zack pans the camera up to show a men’s bathroom door being pushed open. He walks inside, pointing the camera at the bathroom sink, where Reno is sitting there smoking and Genesis is fixing his hair in the mirror]

“Gen, I got a question for you!”

[Genesis barely acknowledges him in the mirror, raking his hand through his hair]

“Oh, do you, darling?”

[Zack zooms in on Reno, who takes a drag of his cigarette, squinting as he watches Genesis produce a hair brush out of thin air, then mouthing ‘what the fuck?’ at the camera]

“Okay, someone wants to know how many languages you can speak or are learning,” Zack reads, “they also say they know some Gaelic, Japanese, Latin and French.”

“Damn, that’s impressive,” Reno scoffs, puffing out a cloud of smoke.

[Zack points the camera back at Genesis, who turns around and begins thinking of an answer]

Genesis hums. “Well, I picked up some Wutaian during the war, and I’m rather proficient in old Banoran, having studied it as a child—my governess wouldn’t accept any less—so I’m fluent in Mideelese, naturally.”

[Zack pans the camera to the mirror in front of him, where he’s jutting out his bottom lip and nodding]

“Impressive. Meanwhile I sometimes misspell my own name.”

[He pans the camera to Reno, who's coughing violently while Genesis looks displeased]

“What about you, Reno?”

[Reno shrugs, scratching the back of his head as he redirects his gaze to the ceiling]

“Uhh…Lemme think. English, Wutaian, French, German and Old Nibel, Mideelese, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian, Portuguese, Japanese, Bengali, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Standard Arabic and some Gongagan.”

“Holy!” Zack chirps.

Genesis doesn’t miss a beat. “And can you read that sign over there that says no smoking?”

[Zack zooms the camera into the aforementioned sign on the wall, then pans to an unbothered Reno]

“Can you read a different book?”

“Can you button up your shirt?” Genesis shoots back.

“Can you get off Sephiroth’s di–”

“OKAY!” Zack chokes, grabbing Genesis by the wrist. "That's enough vlogging for today! Come on, Gen!"

[He violently whirls the camera back to himself, proceeding to haul off the more volatile redhead while laughing nervously. Genesis and Reno are still throwing unkind hand gestures at each other, one of which has Zack slapping down Genesis's middle finger]

"Join us next time when Commander Rhapsodos learns about the joys of friendship!"

[He quickly ends the video]

[mrawkweird]

Today is the 30th anniversary of Power Rangers! What are some of your favorite teams, characters, theme songs, moments and/or zords from the show?⚡️⚡️⚡️

This moment is always going to tickle the fuck out of me.

When it comes to favorites Zack was my dude and the entire universe had love for Kimberly. Like, I would have Hip Hop Kido'd my ass through all of Rita's forces to save her too. Part of me wanted to throw hands with Tommy solely over her but as time went on I really couldn't even try to deny that he was an MVP.

I'm also going to always be a mark for this scene. When it comes to this movie I absolutely love their version of the theme and above all else the suits they used in this film.

That's my favorite versions of the suits ever. I also really liked the ninja variations they get towards the end of the movie. Costume design to me was just A-fucking-1 for this film

and I mean that.

I saw some other series here and there like Lightspeed Rescue, Lost Galaxy, Dino Thunder and the Turbo movie but Mighty Morphin was always going to be the one for me at the end of the day.

Once & Always really hit home in a lot of ways with getting to go back to that world and acknowledging the losses in the series and in life.

Also, while the suits can be debated from now until the end of time I really was a fan of the 2017 film. That movie not being given a chance for more is always going to be a crime in my eyes. Especially considering how well that cast worked on and off screen. Studios left a lot of chemistry on the table.

And you better believe one of my personal favorite moments was when they teamed up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I'mma also use his moment to say SOMEBODY needs to do Venus again. Like, I fucking dare them. Next Mutation was an era; it happened and I refuse to forget it.

Also, just gonna leave the Lost Galaxy theme right here to bask in its glory.

And of course this is a moment that you just can't not bring up as a franchise highlight. Power Rangers is eternal spanning several generations and Jason David Frank was there for damn near all of them. He truly was the living, breathing legacy of Power Rangers.

[demigod-of-the-agni]

FF7 REBIRTH SPOILERS ft. Some of my thoughts on the Golden Saucer Dates >:))))))

I will proclaim which one is my favourite

warning: i hate dates. therefore all my opinions on the following, and my final verdict, are correct. good day.

Alone

Cloud's lonely gold saucer outing, when he comes across Jessie's picture and he tells her, "Hey, still waiting for that pizza" with the most saddest eyes ever.... be still my weeping heart

Also I love how he acknowledges that the skywheel is a couple's thing, then proceeds to board it anyway 💀 it'd be nice to see the whole thing by yourself though (<- i am an introvert what more can i say)

Tifa

Tifa's little spiel about wanting to make friends always hits me like a tonne of bricks, everything she says is FUEL TO MY STUPID AUs... WOMAN <33333

When they Jessie's picture and Tifa talks about Jessie saved her.... oh... oh my heart. i cannot take this anymore

WHEN THE FIREWORKS GO OFF AND THE COLOURS OF THEIR EYES BRIGHTEN,,, AND THEN HUG JUMPSCARE,,,, AND THEN KISS !!!!!!!! oughhh,,,, it's so good,,,,,,, everything is so perfect about the scene they are just. everything

Aerith

NAHHH THE DISRESPECT MY MAN HAD BY SITTING OPPOSITE TO MY GIRL.... HOW RUDE. Aerith deserved to spin the carriage around until Cloud spits out all the mako in him

RAGH when the laser show had them crashing into each other and they just sit down defeated next to each other.... it was so funny,,,, task failed successfully

WHEN CLOUD REACHED OVER TO HOLD HIS HAND IN AERITH'S.... THAT MAKES THE ENDING HIT SO MUCH HARDER. NO ONE TOUCH ME EVER AGAIN

Yuffie

In my mind Yuffie seems like she's 12 (i know she's 16 or so do NOT come at me) so the date is really just Cloud babysitting her and honestly it went just as I expected: adorably :''3 Yuffie speaking for the both of them, so real of her

"I swear Cloud, it's like you're destined to be surrounded by smoking hot chicks" [strikes a pose] and Cloud laughing like yeah, you're a little silly Yuffie

GIRL WAS DOING JUMPING JACKS WHILE WAITING FOR CLOUD TO HAND OVER THE SKYWHEEL TICKETS AJSHSHSL

WHEN SHE STARTS TALKING ABOUT ZACK... AND THEN SHE CATCHES CLOUD LAUGHING AT HER LATER AND SHE SIH-SIH-HAH'S HIM.... AND HE PLAYS ALONG TOO.... be still my screaming heart,,, the boy is embodying Zack in more ways than one

Barret

"Well, well, I wake baby from his nap?" if this were said to me I would immediately leave and mess up Barret's bed. let's see who gets better sleep after that

Anyways I'm forever in love with how, between the two of them, money jokes are their form of love. like that gets to me you know

BARRET'S "IN-KWEH-DIBLE" WILL FOREVER BE SEARED INTO MY BRAIN BY THE WAY. HE SOUNDS SO DELIGHTED AT SAYING THAT. I'M CHERISH IT FOREVER

Red XIII

"I already have the tickets, but look at me... there's no way I'm getting in by myself" dude look at you HOW DID YOU GET THE TICKETS

Red and Cloud are just having a guy's night, it's just so lit, I love it so much they are just good bros and no I'm not tearing up :''3

The two shaking hands is also so incredibly touching to me... they are just little guys!!! and then the "They ARE soft!" from Cloud,,, perfect timing my guy !!!!

Cait, Vincent, and Cid

ALL THREE OF THEM STANDING OUTSIDE THE DOOR HAD ME CACKLING BECAUSE. THE IMPLICATIONS OF HOW ALL THREE OF THEM DECIDED TO RECRUIT CLOUD INTO THEIR GUY'S NIGHT??? well maybe not all three, Vincent being Vincent was probably coerced into it, and Cid just wanted to tag along. The culprit of this outing was-

Vincent falling asleep is incredibly in character and relatable. return this man to his coffin. two decades of sleeping is not enough.

Cait pulling his hairs out is fucking sending me, poor lad

AND NOW... THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.... WHICH DATE WAS BEST???

Vincent, Cait and Cid. boys' night. it's an automatic win

jk but I loved Clerith's date the most... maybe it is because I follow tragedy and it follows me, but while the Clofi date is Canon, the Clerith date is so tender, and it really signals to me the could-have-been's. and i love the could-have-been's ykyk

okay bye

[socialcarcrash]

I completely agree with you about Sweets! His death was such a shame. How do you think he would have changed the dynamics in seasons 10 through 12 if he was still alive with the plots and characters (like Aubrey and Karen)?

AUBREY: im an aubrey-sweets friendship truther at heart, so first thing to acknowledge is the thing with aubreys dad.

We all know sweets has a slight obsession/ interest (depending on the perspective) with his friends childhoods, and that’s understandable. I can see him really helping him out at that time, and providing a perspective that would hopefully relieve the guilt he experiences after turning his dad in. also really random idea that popped into my brain!! aubrey is the most adhd coded guy ive ever seen, so i can see sweets waltzing past his desk and dropping off snacks and drinks to help him focus :)

i just think those two could have got super close. Aubrey clearly felt out of place when he first joined, a feeling that sweets shared and grew from so maybe he would have just provided that extra support for him!

KAREN: i havent got so much on this, cause i dont know her as well as i should, however; i know those ‘is psychology a real science’ debates would have got way more heated!!! its now 2v2, b&b and sweets and karen, i can see them sitting in the diner having the most heated debate ever seen and the rest of the diner is just sat silently like ‘what the fuck 0-0’.

I also think at first, sweets struggled having someone who pushed him and knew a lot about ‘his’ field, which comes with lots of special interests. (i get quite stressed if i meet a person who is into the same fields of physics that i am, especially if i am the person who is known for liking it amongst my group, and i think sweets probably has the same think). But he learns to talk with her and infodump about their theories and cases together! a form of healthy competition forms i think, one that eventually encourages them to work harder.

ZACK: i felt like it was important to mention him,even though i mentioned him in the last one, so ill just expand on this one a bit.

I just want to know what the team would have thought about sweets knowing all along that zack was innocent. What would they have felt? betrayed? understanding? sad? Maybe sweets would never have told them during this time, maybe he kept it a secret until he testified on the stand.

Sometimes i think the death of sweets is what prompted Zack to admit to never having killed anyone, so maybe if he was still alive Zack would still be there and no-one would ever know. That could give way for another new plot line where sweets lets it slip that zack was innocent, but maybe not. who knows :)

(now an extra cause i wanted to do him hes the loml)

HODGINS: this is a big one, cause the poor guy really goes through it (*cough* the doom in the boom *cough*). I love this arc, it gets way to much hate. disabled hodgins for the win!!

I think sweets totally understands his anger, and allows him to feel it (as he should!). But i think he would have put a stop to him taking it out on angela, cause it’s counterproductive to build barriers between those you love when you’re struggling. I can see hodgins (after the usual pestering from sweets for a while) just rocking up at his office looking ready to murder someone (so real) and sweets just lets him talk, and shout and probably cry a bit too.

I just think the adjustment wouldn’t have been easier, but he would have had a way to handle it better and that would mean so much!!!

okay cool im done (for now- i might revisit this idea later with a few other characters) :)

[itsdappleagain]

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS??

THATS RIGHT IT'S TIME FOR THE STICKY RICE CAPER!!!

Alright, I'ma be honest here- there are a few episodes in CS which I just NEVER rewatch, and this one is kind of one of them. I don't know why. The start of Season 1 just never really invites me to click on it...BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY!

Every time I DO watch them I really like them!! So weird little mental block. ANYWAYS you know the drill by know let's get crack-a-lacking (or crackle lacking...his memories lmaooo)

WOO HOO our first caper episode!!! I love the caper formats- such a staple of the series (at the same time I wish we'd have gotten some deviation sometimes for...character based episodes or something but oh well).

OKAY HEY HI HAVE I GUSHED ABOUT THE INTRO ENOUGH YET BECAUSE I WILL NEVER EVER SKIP IT. ITS SO GOOD. THE BLACK AND WHITE WITH ONLY THE RED THE COOL BADASS MOMENTS THE AMAZING ANIMATION THE SCENE DESIGN HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

see the intro sets up a sort of mystery and finesse about carmen's character i wish we actually got more!! like she seems so mysterious but they infodump everything about her onto us in the first two episodes immediately. i promise ill stop complaining about the infodumping thing now though

okay also but the moment in the episode when it match cuts to carmen walking from the tower to the crosswalk its sooo fucking gooood

Carmen Sandiego Fun Fact: That guy who's Agent Zari's partner in Season 1 and shows up sometimes is actually not one guy but three identical ones who keep switching out

OH also the shift into color as she looks up godddd its so good i will talk about the intro more than the fucking episode

also the!! she does the thing from s2 e1 in the intro!!! in rio!!

the tone of voice she uses when she says "looky-loos" i didnt know that word could be kind of hot

i like how offended she sounds "I DID" djfdhasfdg shes like player of course i fucking did what do you think i am an amateur

calling vile sleazy is so funny as a kid (13 yo) watching for the first time i thought sleazy was kind of a bad word (its not) and it caught me so off guard

zack's first line....its so zack

ALSO i love the intro cards so much i didnt mention it last week (two weeks ago?) but theyre so fun

carmen: hey we've got a tail

zack: im going to shake my ass all night oh yeah

i love how little carmen is doing about the acme agents shes just like zack can we not :/ we KNOW she can do shit on boats, seeing as she clotheslined devineaux in s3 or whatever she did. threw a tree at him. what the fuck did she do to devineaux i dont remember

zack: HOW TO DRIVE A BOAT SAFELY (continues talking whilst not looking where he's going)

the background couple that gets doused with water twice as the boats go by and then are never acknowledged again are so funny why didnt they have more funny background moments like that jadshfgahdsgah

imagine if acme had actual projectile weapons like idk tranq darts carmen would be so arrested immediately

ivy did it first (talking about the suez canal)

love how ivy didnt need to have that beard on at all. really didnt honestly. she should have dressed in drag more actually i think

can you imagine the thoughts going through zari and jawline's heads when the frenchman turned into a 20 year old bostonian

THE BEARD WAS ONLY FOR THE CLOSE SHAVE JOKE.

how the hell did they scale the side of that boat

i like ivy's dumb orange cat energy in jumping 30 feet off of a barge without looking

i do agree with whoever else said they wished she'd gotten a better intro though. i don't think they quite knew what they wanted to do with ivy, and by the time they were like "hey maybe her thing with red drone is because she like builds stuff or whatever" they kind of. only got to relay that by having baby ivy go "hey we should give that lady a gun" in the boston tea party caper

the combination of three languages <3 never change ivy

"while i picked up carmen at the train station" okay so the river they're driving on is the river seine, right? its right by the eiffel tower as we see. fun fact: the nearest train station? 4 minutes away or less! cool detail

ivy definitely had time to get him food just saying . also still confused about why carmen took a train to paris but ive already hounded that detail last week so whatever

carmen completely blank faced saying "yum baguettes" to tease zack is so funny you didnt have to do that

i relish the intrigue and enthusiasm in carmen's voice when she goes "SO off to indonesia" we don't even see her face but she sounds so excited to go there agh

infodumping sections beloved. ive actually learned so much from them. we were talking about coffee and how it can be called java and i was like "OIHOOHOGFOGIHOOGOOGOG JAVA IS AN ISLAND IN INDONESIA HOME TO "THE BIG DURIAN" OR THE CAPITAL WHICH IS JAKARTA"

player: i have cool facts!! this is so cool!

carmen: i stopped paying attention five minutes ago actually sorry about that my thing now

so interesting btw that all records of acme agents are taken off of anything?? why dont they have identities anymore??

how?? did the cleaners manage to get crackle out if he "only woke up moments ago" which implies that someone like. watched him do that. moments ago. the cleaners just sliced a hole in the wall again like they do in s4 jkhfkhsadf

i like how devineaux thinks carmen would go after the gigantic blue diamond but also steal some more aussie shmuck's wallet AND his train ticket for good measure

the mints were suck a weird little thing to have devineaux have and i love that he had them?? idk if it was for the sole purpose of julia following them to the ACME Closet TM but theyre a cool little character thing that i kinda forgot about (bc the writers did too after the very start of the next season lol)

is crackle implying that he has crawled through sewer tunnels? is he referencing the shawshank redemption? is he referencing black sheep crawling through the drain pipes?

bellum is so funny "I AM LASER FOCUSED" (swimpes through fifteen unrelated tabs that are actively open) adhd icon

hey by the way why did she have missile launch sights and bomb tests and gun blueprints open. because. why didnt that ever go anywhere. i know she's orchestrated some of the most strange but also deadly capers in the show but. i. okay

"the student formerly known as black sheep"

PLS BELLUM IS SO SHORT

part of me wonders if shadow-san intentionally breaks up the height slant to make him feel out of place. if they wanted everything to look cohesive he would be sitting...maybe after malestrom. but he isnt, hes on the end and his height, in the lineup, is jarring compared to the slope of everyone else's.

mael also has some pretty good nicknames for her

love that one of their finest operatives is a year-in-the-field catgirl

the little silent laugh carmen does when zack starts reminiscing about how they met awww

r&d they make it sound so sinister. it means research and development

hello trailer scene. i love how carmen runs off screen for the trailer shot and then slows down to walk with them immediately because she actually has to be in the scene

the animation when she said "plan a" was so snappy

#feminism red drone is a she

(a bunch of lights flashing and making pew pew noises)

zack: STATE OF THE ART???!?!?!!

just kidding zack love ya

that tracking shot of red drone going through the lasers?? mwah

red drone out here with a strontium nitrate fire damn

what was their plan if someone was at the lab

that light moving behind them as they walk forward into the labbbbb

SEE theres the transition sentence for next ep!

what braincell of zack's saw a pile of white rice in a petri dish, first thought "that must be someone else's food" and then thought " i should eat this stranger's petri dish food"

also i am in love with how he just was about the bite down on the whole dish at once

the teeny tiny twitch of carmens teeny tiny nose as she sniffs the petri dish dahdjhdsdsg

cleo's capers: im going to steal four dresses >:)

bellum's capers: i will cause a famine for the entire population of the fourth largest country in the world and force them to either starve or submit to me via creating a monopoly of overpriced rice which is shit quality but their only choice, and will do so by releasing an untested superspore which hypothetically could mutate and wipe out all life on these islands if all goes wrong. teehee cat videos

zack and ivy's dialogue sounds like. you know when a teacher presents a problem and then in a really dumb vice they suggest an obviously bad solution? that

"we're thieves" ivy tomorrow you're going to tell a goat that your boss's name is carmen san jose and then almost die five times in the next week

ivy's so supportive. no braincells on planning but such a cheerleader /hj

here we see the majestic long-necked ivysaur stretching her neck for a leaf

pls zack looks so hungry and sad

"so vile can make a quick buck hehaha she has a surprise coming 😌"

she looks so hot when she jumps on the roof of the jeep and then jumps off a cliff. well right before anyway lmaoo

loook

ok just thought the glider mechanic was cool. anyway

VILE HENCHMAN WATCH THE FUCKING ROAD

"HYASSSSSS" tigress never change

i love that they kept the consistency in the boston bean caper that tigress wasnt there- just the gays

tigress free plastic surgery!! good surgery? no. but free

i love when cs does high motion shots and the background just becomes one streaky color

zack driving down the cliff so true actually

ivy saw carmen climb on the hood and jump off a cliff and did the same thing. ivy dont do that

i also love the consistency of ivy being able to pick locks. she's been able to since the boston molasses disaster caper

carmen almost falls off of very quickly moving vehicles quite a lot

yes i would thats why im asking pls this show

carmen isnt really so much protecting the face as dodging very quickly and hoping

the animation of the car swerving as the durian hits it 👌

i like how immediately ivy goes flying and ZACK COULDNT SEE THE WHOLE TIME??? HOW DID HE NAVIGATE THAT TURN

that weird "eYAHOO" ivy makes is playing my my head 24/7

vile ops constantly have carmen in situations where they could do anything and they just let her do whatever. tigress. you had her hands bound and she was under your control why did you kick her in the back

also i love how carmen is getting batted around all day but tigress kicks her once and she can't get up

ivy and jumping 30 feet into vehicles

ivy's voice when she shrieks about the durian is so cute

ok its 4:30am im sorry im gay

why are there so many roads that go to the same place

"sky rockets" what other kind are there

carmen u literally have a glider you could have NOT shot the tire and caused zack and ivy to almost crash and die

love how zack hits her with the car

me too honestly zack and ivy

HELP?

i like how the car is at normal speed but carmen is in slow motion at the same time

PLS THE TIRE TRACKS ON THE GROUND WHERE ZACK SWERVED

this episode doesnt even get to what specifically vile is doing for the caper until 16 minutes in and its still good i love it

zack and ivy changing the tire just like their racing days </33

what time of year is it that player was contemplating both new years eve and 4th of july

chase is like a bad parent like julia says something and then chase calls it her fault ihgahsgajds

the glare julia shoots chase jshdgsh

i love when she's sarcastic

the way she stares right at the camera when she says "details are lurking just out of view somewhere in the shadows"

OHHH THE MUSIC FOR THIS EP IS REALLY GOOD

why do they keep putting ivy high up. poor ivy

"tigress, you know the rules. but i will say them again for the audience's benefit"

fedora the explora!!!

that kick had to hurt so bad

just imagining carmen on her new phone on like. facebook tapping "unfriend"

the way carmen just takes tigress out wheeze

cat lesbian <3

this fight is honestly so good

POOR IVY

THIS FIGHT IS. SO. GOOD. I LOVE HOW THEATRICAL IT IS

the confused looks as they keep playing music kills mee

the curtsey and the way carmen just keeps lying there for a little while for the dramatics is hilarious

tiny layering issue

and here (and once more too lazy to ss it tho)

love how she lit that match with her finger

also love hot the fuse just gets eaten. no burnt rope only FIRE

i wonder where?? like under lock and key...where?? po box?? lol

poor zack hasnt eaten in a day

oNe jUmPy RoO

the please from mael...ugh

mr. crackle

the poor sad puppy noises gray makes in the chair jdgsahdgds

that mindwiper really honestly sounds like shes gonna just kill him. yeah crackle it wont hurt. we're gonna send u to live on a farm

CHIEF ON THE OTHER END GOING "again" THATS SO FUNNY

PLAN B

Okay sweet!! Solid episode. See ya next Saturday wink wink its not 5am on sunday i promise i didnt stay up for 5 hours doing this

[bogunicorn]

The tags and comments on this post are super interesting and good. As someone who managed to be really into Whedon's work without ever watching Buffy (I was really into Firefly and Dollhouse), I have such mixed feelings about it all in hindsight.

The thing with Whedon, based on his body of work and what he's said in interviews, is... honestly, I do think he's doing a self-callout on purpose, but not the one he thinks he's doing. He's very much a writer who inhabits his own personal view when he writes, he has a very strong voice in his dialogue and narrative choices. His best and most egregiously bad creative choices almost always come from what seems to be a deeply personal place.

Whedon had his favorite self-inserts, we all know that. There was always a Whedon insert, a character Whedon personally found super hot, and the masculine classic hero type of guy that Joss himself both loathes and admires, in every single one of his works. In Firefly, that lineup was Wash/River/Malcolm. In Dollhouse, it was Topher/Echo/Paul. Even in his MCU stuff, it was clearly Bruce (and Tony)/Natasha/Cap.

Dr. Horrible just made that waaaaay simpler and more obvious. Whedon was very openly navel-gazing, he absolutely did All of That on purpose. But when Joss does it (and a LOT of people are like this, like a loooot), he thinks that acknowledging his own flaws and privileges is where the road ends. Can't get mad and hold him accountable, because he's so self-aware. He thinks his self-inserts are tragic portrayals of who he might have been, or could be, if he weren't just so gosh darn feminist and woke!

In my opinion, someone like Joss Whedon probably also is just super into being put-upon. People hating him or criticizing him or calling him a monster... honestly, he's probably into it. I don't mean sexually, I mean in a being put-upon feels kind of good, ooh let me self-flagellate with how bad I am, kind of way. Dude's just got the worst case of main character syndrome in the world and seems to think that his shortcomings and bad deeds are part of some narrative where he's ultimately sympathetic and tragic and blah blah whatever.

I have a general theory that everyone tattles on themselves in their writing. I do think a certain level of media literacy is needed to pick up on exactly what they're telling on themselves about, because otherwise you end up in "horror writers secretly want to murder" territory. It's just that the more personal and untouched by outside hands a work is, the more likely you are to be able to suss out the writer's politics, personal demons, or... honestly, their kinks. Like, we can all tell from Transformers and shit that Michael Bay loves the military, we know that Zack Snyder has a lot of feelings about masculinity and Ayn Rand, Joanne just told on herself nonstop in the wizard books, Anne Rice very clearly used her vampires to pontificate on the nature of morality and gender and sexuality.

And while Joss Whedon thinks he's telling on himself by writing himself in as awkward, gray morality know-it-alls who are bad at getting girls to like them, I suspect he thinks he's doing a sleight of hand trick, gesturing with his right hand to distract people while half the audience hasn't looked away from his left.

The real self-callout is always how his narratives treat women. Because that, he thinks he's being self-aware about. He genuinely seems to believe that, because he's been dubbed King of the Feminist Men, his portrayals of women are inherently subversive. When he's fetishistic, it's actually commentary, you see. When women suffer (usually sexily and undressed), he's saying something meaningful about women's suffering. etc. etc.

I also think Whedon genuinely doesn't realize that in the grand scheme of things, he's not the nerdy know-it-all creep. He's the big entitled jock bully. Whedon is a callous, horny, inappropriate jackass who bullies the people around him and fucks around with young, vulnerable women, sometimes to the destruction of their lives. And he doesn't realize that the people around him who do like him only hold that affection because they either don't know what garbage he is, or they're also garbage and approve of his worst traits.

Whedon isn't Dr. Horrible. He's Captain Hammer.

TL;DR it's both

I feel like I’m going to go to my grave without figuring out if Dr. Horrible is deliberately a condemnation of the geek-flavored version of toxic masculinity that would, years later, play a significant part in the resurgence of open white nationalism and the like in America, or if Joss Whedon is just a dumbass who wrote an extended callout post for himself on accident

[ocean-anchored]

continued... December 13, 2023

Yesterday was the office trivia which we needed more people so I had also invited him expecting him to not say yes so quickly but he did! I offered to pick him up cause I knew he lived DT and he also said yes again & gave me his number. He was really friendly, he did engage & ask questions which I liked. Trivia was fun even though both of us barley contributed. Shane, Kamber, Amber, Naythan, Nick, Ali, Troy & i. It was a fun night, I got to know Troy better and we had a good brief chat on the way home about church and trying to connect with people. I can't read him too well but I mean, who says yes to a NYE night & a trivia night so quickly if they don't want to connect? Idk. I'm certainly not getting my hopes up & keeping it causal. I've been thinking about thanking him again for picking up my tab (even tho it was a server error) but I remember Daniel telling me about some reasons why Troy & his ex broke up so I thought about saying thank you & gently putting it out there that Id buy him a beer whenever he's free, I don't want to come across too much at first here though so Ill give it a bit of time. Who knows, I guess we'll find out over time and we'll see what NYE brings. Yesterday, was 2 weeks since I last spoke to Zack, I've been doing good not thinking about him much & not caring. I almost got past thinking that he'd reach out again but he did. Texted me asking if he could explain what happened & that he doesn't deserve it but had to try. I haven't responded. I don't plan to. He really fucked me up and really does not deserve to talk to me again. I'm happier without him. I need to move on and I can't get sucked back in, that's so damn toxic and honestly I don't care. I'm SURE he was high again when we were talking at some point over that weekend and that Monday night so I don't need an explanation, I know what he's going to say, it's always the same shit and I'm over it. Oh and Connor, yea also tried of that shit. I'm so tired of being an option and inconsistency. We talked a bit after the last time I saw him and then his last text back was again just giving me nothing to work off, he's such a shitty texter so my response was somewhat cut off I know he didn't have anything to comment back other than if he asked how im doing which he didnt so I left it. It was a couple days, till my IG got hacked & he texted me, again which we exchanged very few words and gave me nothing so I thought Id asked how his week was cause I knew he was off those days. went back & forth like one or two more times but again still just fuck all so I didn't bother responding, then he did text me the next night when I went to Shanes christmas party & again few exchanges back, I knew he was close to his time off so we talked about him having the next two weeks off and then he said "well have to hang again soon" which I commented back "ya let me know when if you'd like to" along with another little text acknowledging his plans for his time off & of course no response like fuck me. then last night texts about the knights game with literally like 3 words and an emoji so I gave him nothing back, it's pathetic and I'm not going to engage in being someone to entertain someone while they're bored. Gosh men are so fucking annoying and lazy and non committal. I swear I might really just be single for a long ass time. Anyways, that's the last week or so. I'm really thankful for Amber & Naythan, it will be really nice to spend the holidays with them and I hope to continue focusing on myself and putting myself first.

[maldito-arbol]

Let’s talk about the GP zodiacs (Part 2)

HOLSY HSIT I LOVE THE GP KIDS SO MUCH AND THEIR SIGNS ARE SO INTERESTING

Thank u to puff-poff for shooting me with an ask about the gp kids, I think our brains just assimilated

One more note: I should’ve mentioned this in my last post but compatibility between signs doesn’t only apply to romantic relationships, it applies to any kind of relationship like friendships, family relations, etc. It’s just that when it comes to more platonic relationships, wholly incompatible signs are more likely to be able to work something out together. As an example, I’m a Gemini, and I’m about 300% certain I could never ever in my life date a Pisces, but I do have a few Pisces friends that I get along well enough with.

Okay same drill—sign, element, infodump, GO

Violet

Birthdate: June 12th

Sign: Gemini

Element: Air

Overview: SQUEALS GUYS ITS VIOLET MY BELOVED. WE’RE BOTH GEMINIS THEREFORE WE ARE THE SAME PERSON. I’m kidding but no, Violet being a Gemini makes her 100x easier to project onto. So I mentioned before that Air signs are the least in tune with their emotions, are the thinkers before they act, are horribly indecisive, and these very much apply to Geminis as well. However, the most iconic trait of a Gemini is the ability to switch personalities at the drop of a hat whenever it services the group of people they’re in—what most people call the ‘two-faced’ part of Geminis. Hey, I promise you that being two-faced is actually a pretty cool and useful asset when in the hands of a decent human being. It means we get along well with a lot of different people, and if we don’t, we can act like we do as if it’s nothing. This asset, however, can turn into a curse of sorts in that a lot of us have...NO IDEA what our actual personality is. We reshape and remold ourselves and copy traits from other signs to fit in so much that we lose sight of who we are as an individual, and therefore we have a very hard time figuring out what we truly want. This is where the indecisiveness comes into play—ask a Gemini what they want for lunch and you’ll get a “what? Huh? Oh, you pick. I’m fine with whatever.” I know Geminis best because I am one, pls forgive me for rambling so much more about them than the other signssss.

Okay so first of all, let’s talk about Violet adapting to other characters to ‘fit in’. It’s not as obvious because Violet DOES seem to have one very fixed personality, but Violet prefers to speak through actions rather than words, so I would call her following Emma to help the children at GP a Gemini move. She could’ve simply dragged her to Lucas—she’s probably strong enough to do so, but instead she decided to go along with her. This isn’t to say there’s no pushback of course, as Air signs Geminis aren’t idiots, so they’ll often try to reason with others (particularly fire signs cough cough) to try to bring logic and critical thinking into the conversation. However, when that fails, they can still be counted on to support their friends even if they disagree. This is why Geminis and Leos are soulmates you heard it here, the stars said Violemma is the way. BUT ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW VIOLET’S THE ONE ADAM LISTENS TO DURING THE LEUVIS BATTLE. YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT BEING ABLE TO GET ALONG WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE, THERE YOU GO.

Anyway it’s also very much worth noting that while Violet can seem very harsh at times (bc Geminis will put you in your PLACE), bringing her logical kind of advice into conversations can be a very helpful comforter.

On another note this scene is so gay?

Compatibility and ships: hellooooooo Air sign Violet you are compatible with other Air signs (Aquarius, Libra, and Gemini) as well as Fire signs (Leo, Sagittarius, and Aries). Usually you’ll see Aquarius and Sagittarius as the most compatible with Geminis but I disagree with that because I have never met a Sagittarius I like so I’m still pointing fervently at Leos and the fact that Emma is a Leo. Listen. Violemma is the way. I am determined to convert all of you to Violemma if it’s the last thing I do. Geminis simply cannot help themselves around Leos they fall like a fucking anvil for that bright, golden-hearted dumbass energy. If there’s any Leos in the tpn fandom let me know I might just propose to you.

Oliver

Birthdate: October 25th

Sign: Scorpio

Element: Water

Overview: the first time I looked up Oliver’s birthday I went “Scorpio???? REALLY????” but then this is another case where the more I think about it, it does indeed make sense. If Leos are the natural leaders of the Fire signs, then Scorpios are the natural leaders of the Water signs. Where Cancers and Pisces will often lose themselves to their emotions, Scorpios have a very strong handle on them. I mentioned before that Water signs are at the highest emotional level, but Scorpios are a bit of an interesting case because you oftentimes won’t even notice that they’re very emotional people. They try to act like Air signs in that way, but their true colors are always there, waiting to be coaxed out.

For Oliver, you can clearly tell that his emotional bond with his friends and especially with Lucas is very high—but even so, he doesn’t let his emotions cloud his judgment or his ability to adapt to the situation at hand. Where earth signs are very fixed and difficult to move, water signs are always moving and changing to find solutions best suited for new circumstances. The best example I can give is the part where the music plays early, and despite internally panicking about it, Oliver is the one who naturally steps up to calm everyone down.

Scorpios are great at handling others’ emotions as well as their own, which makes them marvelously empathetic leaders. We stan.

Compatibility and ships: as a Water sign, Oliver is compatible with other Water signs (Cancer, Pisces, and Scorpio) as well as Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn) so speaking broadly that makes him compatible with Pepe (a Pisces) and Zack (a Cancer) but narrowing it down, Scorpios are usually best with Tauruses and Cancers. Idk if I’m the only one who ships Oliver with Pepe but I know there’s a few people who ship him with Zack—so congrats to you guys, you won the stars’ approval.

Lucas

Birthdate: November 28th

Sign: Sagittarius

Element: Fire

Overview: yall,,,, when I found out Lucas was a Saggy Titty I legitimately guffawed out loud. Lucas and Sagittarius is so funny.... because it’s so wrong. Saggy Titties are the definition of chaos, they’re brazen, impulsive, and constantly changing. Like think of a frat boy in a house full of beer and pool tables and hot girls and you get Sagittarius. This is why I have never met a Sagittarius I like—because they have frat boy energy, and even non-male Sagittariuses require wayyy too much energy for me to handle. I guess the only time Lucas really does act like a Sagittarius is in his childhood with Yuugo, and the way he’s a lot bolder and outgoing versus the quieter older Lucas we have now.

It is important to note that Lucas has been through a lot of trauma and lost a lot of comrades which could very well change the a person’s entire outlook and turn their personality 180 degrees—that could be a large factor, although on the flip side, Yuugo still fits his Capricorn sign even after going through what he’s been through. Different events affect different people differently. Lucas was most likely knocked entirely off his Sagittarius high-horse very quickly when he arrived in Goldy Pond. But if I had no prior knowledge of who he was beforehand, I very well might’ve pegged him a Leo like Emma or even another subtle Aries like Norman. So yes, he does indeed have fire energy, it’s just generally very lackluster and farrrr away from Sagittarius’ level.

Compatibility and ships: okay so I know the only Lucas ship with any weight to it in this fandom is Yuucas, and here’s the thing,,, A Sagittarius and Capricorn combo is the most horrifying fucking couple imaginable and I’m stan so hard. Realistically speaking, your Capricorns would try to put a leash on their Sagittariuses because man. I forgot to mention how childish Sagittariuses can be (though the frat boy comparison should’ve been a clue), and holy shit that poor Capricorn is gonna get ripped to shreds by their Sagittarius. Imagine like a super pompous cowboy trying to ride a furious bull that’s trying to buck him off like there’s no tomorrow. Capricorns are people who want complete control over themselves and their partners, while Sagittariuses,, Saggy Titties just want to see the world burn. Put them together and you could probably cause the End Times Apocalypse. But you know what? Good for them. I think Yuugo and Lucas love each other enough that the toxicity that comes with typical pairups with these two signs is about nonexistent between them. But I fully believe they could still destroy an entire planet and that’s valid of them to do so. Anyway moving on!

you wanna talk about another Sagittarius that makes absolutely no sense?

Paula

Birthdate: December 9th

Sign: Sagittarius

Element: Fire

Overview: My authors I am begging you, stop putting character birthdays in the Sagittarius zone you clearly don’t know what a Sagittarius is.

Since I refuse to acknowledge Paula as a Sagittarius, let’s talk about what sign she actually acts like because I said so. Paula’s a Virgo. Fight me Shirai. (Also im sus that shirai is virgophobic because where the fuck are my virgos. There’s like zero major characters that are virgos, and the characters that ARE don’t even act like virgos. I’m coming for your small intestine Shirai) so as earth signs, virgos are generally pretty resourceful and of course level-headed. They’re kinda shy and reserved, but they’re also very hard workers you can count on when you need to get a job done. Nary will you find a Virgo that procrastinates or attempts to weasel their way out of a mission they’ve been given. The unmovable earth in virgos shows through in how committed they are, and we can see all these traits in Paula. Though she’s a quieter member of the GP resistance, you can tell just how much of an asset she is to them. She doesn’t run, doesn’t lose her cool, and she’s good at pointing out important details.

Pls let me decide your characters’ birthdays for you Shirai I promise I am good at it.

Compatibility and ships: I guess, astrologically speaking, as a Sagittarius, Paula does fit pretty well with Sonya because she’s a Gemini. I actually know next to nothing about Paula ships but I do know she’s lesbian and her and Sonya are cute but I also ship her with Barbara because reasons don’t ask questions I WILL bite you anyway they’re compatible too because barb’s also a Gemini.

Lot of Geminis, don’t you think? Yes I do. Let’s talk about them.

Sonya and Sandy

Birthdates: June 3rd and May 22nd respectively

Signs: Gemini

Element: Air

Overview: these two are what I call the gemini twins bECAUSE THEYRE ALWAYS HANGING OUT AND ITS SO TRUE GEMINIS LOVE EACH OTHER BUT ALSO ITS SO WEIRD THAT WE GET ALONG. imagine like two of those one way mirrors facing each other where it just goes on and on and on for infinite mirror and that’s what two Geminis hanging out is like. Look, they’re literally thinking the same thing and it’s so great

Anyway there isn’t a whole lot of Sandy and Sonya content to go off of in the first place, but them being Geminis seems reasonable to me—at the very least they are indeed meant to get along well and they’re so in sync I could cry. Plus they’re pretty intuitive and able to think right on the spot as they’re facing Nous and Nouma (at least at first) My man Shirai also.. really likes Geminis for some reason because they keep popping up. So instead of one Spider-Man meme it looks more like this,

Compatibility and ships: not gonna dwell too long on this section because from previous ones you may already recall they’re compatible with each other and I guess with Paula as well as I must begrudgingly accept the fact that shes canonically a Sagittarius.

Pepe

Birthdate: February 19th

Sign: Pisces

Element: Water

Overview: so I mentioned before that water signs are at about the highest emotion level, which makes Pisces a very sensitive group like Cancers. But Pisces in general are known for being the kindest and most accepting people as well, which means they’re able to make a lot of friends very easily. They’re basically that one person you sat next to in class who started a conversation with you just to be nice. Now again, there’s not a whole lot of Pepe content to go off of, but we can tell he’s kind and loving to his friends and the other kids in GP. One thing I can mention is that Pisces usually are the one of the nosiest of the signs, and they get very bothered by lies and secrets (this is true for a lot of water signs, but Pisces are the worst in my experience) so we got this single piece that may have a little bit of the Pisces in Pepe showing:

Compatibility and ships: So as a Pisces, Pepe is only compatible with Oliver and Zack considering they’re also water signs. Everyone else is Fire and Air, funnily enough, but the Pepe ships with those two are super cute I think so it’s ok.

Zack

Birthdate: July 7th

Sign: Cancer

Element: Water

Overview: so do I think Zack fits his sign? Yes, in a way I do. I already went into Cancers when I explained Don, so quick recap: Cancers are some of the most sensitive and empathetic, so their loyalty to their loved ones is pretty close to on-par with an Aries. And while Zack isn’t as outwardly emotional as someone like Don, the Cancer in him shows up well in that he’s constantly taking extremely difficult missions he doesn’t want his friends to risk, and he shrugs off any injury to himself.

This might just be a me thing but almost every Cancer I’ve met has a habit of doing That. I am so concerned for their safety. I guess though, if I hadn’t known his sign beforehand, I 100% would’ve pegged him an Aries.

Compatibility and ships: I already went over this with Pepe, but Zack is compatible with Pepe and Oliver. Y’all ok listen to me. OT3. Make it happen. Between them they have every sign in the element of water. They’d be unstoppable.

Gillian

Birthdate: September 30th

Sign: Libra

Element: Air

Overview: here’s a fun one. So as I previously stated, air signs are usually out of tune with their emotions, but where that causes Aquariuses and Geminis to repress or hide them, Libras,,,, just dump them everywhere. Listen I know Libras are supposed to be the sign of the balance scales and they have a thing about the world being perfectly balanced which makes them more prone to revenge bUT ALSO. MY first and foremost takeaway from Libras is that they all suffer from Rich Bitch syndrome, in which they obsess over material items and every Libra has a thing about cute girly stuff change my mind. HOWEVER, they’re often very chaotic as well, the kinda Sagittarius of the Air signs. So like a super cute and seemingly fun girl who will probably murder you in your sleep.



I’m sorry I can’t take it I’ve been laughing at this for the past fifteen minutes it’s too funny. Anyway, Gillian’s Rich Bitch Syndrome appears through her fashion statement. Her PINS. omg. Gillian your Libra is showing.

Compatibility and ships: as a Libra Gillian is compatible with other Air signs (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra) as well as Fire signs (Aries, Sagittarius, Leo) but she’s most compatible with Aries and Sagittarius so—— Paula yes, but also Nigel because he’s an Aries! Speaking of Nigel,

Nigel

Birthdate: March 27th

Sign: Aries

Element: Fire

Overview: Aries Nigel doesn’t come as a surprise, let’s be real here. I delved into Aries before with Norman, so just as a recap: Aries are so intensely loyal to the ones they love and would do absolutely anything for them even at the cost of their lives, and this can make them prone to outbursts of anger and/or impulsivity. Here’s your one image of Aries Nigel, I don’t even have to explain:

Compatibility and ships: so I already said this but Nigel is at his most compatible with Gillian. Are there other Nigel ships?? Pls let me know I’m very curious.

Aw, it’s over now :(

I loved talking about the GP kids they fill the void in my heart. Now to move onto talking about the demons because the silliest idiot requested it and I am beyond ecstatic to spout pure headcanon bullshit. If you’re feelin excited then feel free to keep sending characters my way I will be happy to ramble about their canon zodiac or my headcanon for their zodiac

Edit: i forgot to link part 1 to anyone who wants it and doesn’t want to stalk my profile to find it

[crimsonxe]

Can I just say how much I hate Tumblr not having the ability to do a cut in reblogs? Like I have to hope that anyone in my sphere heeded my advice in the spoiler tag cause of that >.< But setting aside tumblr issues.

See I came into Rebirth with the hope that Aerith would survive, but fully with the expectation that they could stick to the same old same old (especially with the one crowd shouting about how it needed to happen and basically prattling on as if drooling at the death). It wasn't that the hit a nerve with me and serves as the backhand if sticks. Its the reality rewrite after all the "flags" were put in place that serves that role. Had Sephiroth overpowered Cloud, had Cloud not arrived on time, had Cloud not received info about Aerith being in danger, had multiverses not been put in play, had Zack not said "save her", and/or had things played out the same as OG; then while I'd still be MASSIVELY disappointed it'd settle in "whatever b.s." territory. But it setting up all the flags that are in-line with what an "Aerith lives" person likely has stated over the last 20+ years and WORKING only to be reality rewritten = the rage inducing part. As if the writers are saying that "Aerith lives" people were idiots to think that anything could change what happens. Her surviving in one branch however acknowledges that those flags DID change things, while also having the other case which is essentially OG run parallel to check off the death. Which again affects nothing going forward and pays off the multiverse element.

Except that none of that goes into the multiverse element, Cloud doing all the things, the rainbow/prism effect during the clash of blades, Zack's line about saving Aerith (post that scene), or her arriving to fight Sephiroth in the end. Not to mention them going the route of setting up a case where the "will she live or will she die" is STILL in place due to the nature of how it was done. Everyone knew Aerith was likely to die = the exact reason to not repeat history; cause if the death does stick then its literally the same exact end point. On the note of Zack, they're similar but Cloud isn't shown having saved Zack in an alternate path; Cloud also isn't seeing Zack following him around including conversing with him; Cloud didn't go through a slew of things to earn the good end route for him; nor is there anything narratively saying to save Zack. So there's a difference being made between the two cases. Like I definitely know how mentally fucked Cloud is and that there is definitely going to be some having to piece him back together in the future; but I also know that the multiverse still is a thing, the rainbow/prism effect during the clash, and Zack's line are things as well. There's more than enough baggage in that blond's head to have many things to piece together that it doesn't need Aerith's death be all of it or even a majority of it. In fact having her alive in a branchline goes into the universe continuing to fuck with him via him being convinced by others that Aerith did die; only to have it be that in a different branch she's alive. Blurring the lines more between fact and fiction. The reality is that there IS a confirmed multiverse, that part isn't some theory; on top of that are the fact of the various things that were done that should save Aerith; and the things that go towards either her having legitimately survived or achieved a "beyond life or death" state. To just lean into "oh Cloud is just mentally fucked" is incredibly disappointing and boring in comparison (not to mention once again the infuriating reality rewrite that'd have led to it). Nevertheless that the exact same idea as the death would be in place for Cloud's mental state. That the writers know that people have known he's fucked up for years now, so they can play with that element to have it revealed that sure he's fucked up but he's also to some degree accurate. That part of him being fucked up is being torn between multiple timelines, which is in itself sort of implied in the dialogue with Tifa where he mentions feeling multiple people in his head.

Except that Remake didn't have a shred of implication that it was setting up for a "actually fate is immutable, get fucked" angle. Instead it went above and beyond to push hope,"fuck fate", a multiverse that was on its own path, and seeking a new & better route through a hard fought journey. Which is even backed up by the fact they chose to do a reality rewrite vs. just having it repeated as it happened in the OG. Oh and AC basically shows that Cloud didn't actually come to terms with Aerith's death in OG, it continues to haunt him even then. While I love 95% of Rebirth, the only way the clash scene moves into anything other than edgelord b.s. is Aerith living or being in a "beyond life or death" state. It doesn't highlight or make me more invested in the story; in fact it does the exact opposite. If it weren't for the theories and details suggesting Aerith's fate not being done yet, I'd be only seeing the third part through due to having already gone through parts 1 & 2 cause my investment and care about the characters & universe would be down to 50-60% giving shit. Because of the backhanded nature of the bullshit they'd have pulled just to replicate a 20+ year old fatalistic edgelord bad end route.

Except that none of that happens as shown in Advent Children. Cloud is hit with Geostigma, staying distant from Tifa & others, haunted by Aerith, and dying; Tifa is depressed because of Cloud's distance and just the state of things with Geostigma; everyone has broken apart to go their own ways; Geostigma is a disease that is very much spreading across mass amounts of people killing them as well as having them all in a mass depressed state; Sephiroth is able to manifest to stir shit up again; and fast-forward humanity is presumably gone. Also the message about "accepting death" doesn't convey hope or hopeful without its missing half in "valuing and fighting for life" w/ some added "fuck fate". Which is the other half that Remake-trilogy is set up to provide, especially now that the writers won't have to worry about trying to keep purists coming back.

I can easily say that while I'd put 95% of Rebirth higher than Remake cause of how much it covers, the character builds & relationship dynamics, and the various expansions it does for the story; Remake's ending will easily always be higher in my book over it. I have and will easily watch Remake's ending over and over again; Rebirth I will never touch again outside of part 3 paying it off as a clever way to get to a good end route that removes the betrayal, backhanded-ness, and incel edge of the reality rewrite. One that served to tank most of my interest in characters or story going forward if left in place. Which would be another layer of rage inducing, considering there's still the Vincent & Lucrecia; Yuffie in Wutai; Cid & Shera (which I hope to see a non-abusive toxic rendition of); etc to come. But if they keep the death in place with the bullshit manner it was done, then I may just watch it on YT instead of playing the game cause I'll have little interest.

Since iirc I've seen of your posts in RWBY too: It'd be like if v9 chose to have Ruby either actually die in the Ever After or she returned as a different person after drinking the tea. Then having that explained as "hopeful". Interpretations and all that are fine, but there's also just things that are nigh impossible to try to paint with that brush. Nothing about FF7-OG into AC comes across as hopeful or anything other than fatalistic; which again I'm fine with but I expect BETTER of Remake-trilogy. I expect it to present the other half of the coin not to replace OG but to slot beside it to give the full message. "Death should be accepted as a natural thing and life should be value and fought for.". Not "death should be accepted" and "shit happens nothing you can do about it" as it stands now.

so many thoughts about the last couple chapters of ff7 rebirth but one thing i love is that the speech aerith gives in the temple of the ancients about looking to the future seems to heavily draw from one of my favourite lines in the og ff7, where tifa tells cloud that she doesn't think aerith ever intended to die, because aerith talked about the future more than any of them. i always loved that tifa understood this about aerith more than even cloud did and i love that they're doing justice to that

[jellybeanbeing]

Favorite Books of 2020

I read 50 books this year, here are my top favorites:

9. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare // One of my most anticipated books of 2020 and it did not disappoint. This wasn’t the first Shadowhunter book I’ve read and so I was aware going into this one that, with this being the first book to a new series, there was gonna be some info dump and A LOT of build up. I wasn’t mad at it though. Besides that, I can already tell that this series is going to be my favorite in TSC. The story is already so complex with such vibrant and interesting characters and character relationships. I cried my eyes out at the end of this book because I could just feel the pain in certain characters and I am so ready to be hurt with the two upcoming books.

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: substance abuse, emotional manipulation

8. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert // This was the first ever adult romance book that I read, and boy, did it make me fall in love. I had no idea what I was going into when picking this up because I had never read an adult romance novel, and I was soooooooo pleasantly surprised that it sent me into an adult romance book binge. This is still at the top because hot damn, the relationship was just fantastic. It was sooooo cute, and what I loved so so much was that the characters had lives outside of their relationships. They grew individually while still engaging in their relationship. It never felt boring or stilted. It was so refreshing to read that. The amount of communication and comprehension that was present was amazing. The smut scenes were just fucking perfection. I loved everything about this book! 

TRIGGER WARNING (provided in the author's note of Get a Life, Chloe Brown): "This story touches on the process of healing after an abusive relationship."

7. You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle // Let me just say here that this is suuuuuuch a romantic book. There were so many lines that had my heart aching and crying. This was the first book I read where the lovers to enemies to lovers trope existed, and after this one, I want more. I looooved the regrowth of their relationship, seeing the two become friends again, and really really communicate with each other and listen to each other. It was so goddamn cute and wholesome and endearing. This book was also so humorous and I found myself actually laughing at certain parts. One thing that I really really appreciated was that though the book’s perspective was only from one side of the relationship, it never pinned all the blame on the other person. This was a story that could’ve easily turned into that, where the other person is the bad guy, but it was acknowledged that both sides were at fault for the falling out of the relationship. I had such a great time reading this one!

6. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang // I fell absolutely in love with this one, especially after a brief reread. It is sooooo freaking cute and easy going and wholesome and romantic and perfect. I love the two main characters and how well they fit together. They understand each other and respect each other and care for each other so so deeply. The communication was so perfect, the smut scenes were top tier amazing, the growth of their affection towards each other was so cute, and everything was just great. I loved the family aspect of this one! It felt natural and genuine. This book was just everything good.

5. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold // One of the last books I read in the year, and here it is! This reread was well overdue. Anyway, I loved it! I loved it way more than my first read. The found family trope in this one was literally so perfect and felt like a warm hug. I LIVE for the friendships in this one. I absolutely loved how everything tied together at the end and how everything was connected. It made me so emotional, and yes, I did cry. A lot. The romance between Vic and Mad was also really cute and wholesome! The grief that was explored in this one was also so so good. It felt so personal and it made my heart ache. Yes, this book will still remain as one of my all time favorites. I loved it.

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: PTSD, physical abuse, death of a loved one, murder, violence

4. The Right Swipe & 3. Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai // Okay, but these are top fucking tier romance books! I’m grouping them together because they are part of the same series (Modern Love). I’m usually not a fan of social media or modern day lingo in books because I do find it cringy but I don’t know, it fucking works in these two for me. The Right Swipe is a second chance romance, and I loved it! Rhi and Samson have such great chemistry and their banter was so good. Girl Gone Viral had me smiling like an idiot throughout the whole thing. It was so fucking cute! Also, it was my first bodyguard trope like book, and I like it? Anyway, what I love about both books is how great the communication and comprehension is between the couples. They understand the other person’s boundaries and have conversations like mature people. I also LOVE how the main characters are so well developed and intriguing individually. There’s enough about both characters and who they are and how they run their lives where I felt a connection with them. I found myself caring about each character outside of their relationship and rooting for them. They grow individually but they also grow within their relationship. Also, what perfect endings these two have. It’s not at all cheesy (though I’m not opposed to them) and/or dramatic. They were so realistic, intimate, and heartwarming. And lastly, the smut scenes were chef’s kiss. Great. Fantastic. These two books are the best romance books I’ve ever read, and I will die on this hill saying that.

The Right Swipe TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: sexual harrasment (the book discusses sexual harassment in the workplace), emotional and mental abuse, healing after the death of a loved one, anxiety, mentions of panic attacks

Girl Gone Viral TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: PTSD, mentions of unhealthy eating habits (restrictive), emotional and mental abuse, depictions of panic attacks, anxiety

2. Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley // This was my first book of the year, and yes, it is up this high because it was so great and memorable. I read this at the most perfect time in my life. I was initially really exciting for it, and I was so happy that it matched my expectations. While the book’s main focus is on the events of what happened that led to the start of the book, it deals with such as topics about sexuality and religion. It was such an emotional and intense book for me, and I felt like this book poured out the thoughts that were swimming in my brain. I loved the characters and how certain things played out. None of it to me, felt unrealistic. It was genuine and heartbreaking while still a bit heartwarming. This book is truly a gem, and I will love it forever.

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental manipulation, violence, homophobic slurs, homophobia

1. An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir // With how much I posted about this series, it’s no surprise that it’s numero uno on this list. I love this series with my entire soul, being, existence, it is literal perfection. Yes, I’ve had my fair share of complaints about this book series but fuck that, it is sooooo good. The characters are so amazing and complex, and their development over the course of the four books is so emotional and heart wrenching. I found a part of myself with each character and I was (and still am) so attached to them. The romantic relationship, the familial relationships, the friendships, all the relationships were so well done. I could feel the true connection in every dynamic. I love it so much that it hurts. The plot itself is so fucking good. The slow world building it has is one of my favorite things. It allows you to take in the world slowly and at a good pace. It continues to grow and evolve and reveal itself the further you go with each book. The dialogue is fucking fantastic. It’s flows so well and is well done. Yes, it gets fancy but it’s soooooo smooooooooth. The writing is just sooooo beautiful. Gorgeous. A beauty. I have different posts dedicated to my favorite lines in each book, and boy do they hit the emotional spot. This book series has had such a huge impact in my life and the fact that it’s over doesn’t even feel real. I have cried for five days straight because I won’t get to read this series or about these characters anymore, like I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE. Not to mention that the tears are also because of book four and the bittersweetness it left me with. I could go on for days about how absolutely amazing and fantastic this book series is. I would highly recommend it. Get wrecked by it. Love it. It will hurt your soul.

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: mentions of rape, mentions of sexual assault, violence (some scenes are graphic), murder, death of loved ones, depictions of grief, PTSD

[thepunkbug]

Okay, so there’s a lot going on right now to do with Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco, and I figured I’d give my take on it.

Before I start, I should say I got most of my information from other people on social media - YouTube, Twitter, Tik Tok, and I read some articles. Because of where I got most of my information, I won’t be able to link anything, so I implore you to do your own research as well. That being said, here’s a brief rundown of what happened, with my opinion at the end.

First and foremost, Brendon has been called out for being racist. There’s a Vine of him mouthing along to the n-word, and while he didn’t outright say it, he did still mouth along to it. Being white, he had no business doing that, and he should’ve censored the word out entirely, but he didn’t. He’s since apologized and been a supporter of BLM, even going onto Twitch when George Floyd was killed, and making a post on his Instagram about how white privilege affects him, all of which can be found on YouTube or Instagram.

Secondly, he was accused of being transphobic. Most of you are probably confused because he is pansexual himself, and he wrote a song about bisexuality, and he can be found decked out in pride flags at concerts. However, there is a video of him at an interview saying the transphobic slur, and since he’s cisgender, he has no right using that word. From what I know, he was explaining his sexuality when someone asked him about it, and he quoted what someone had said to him, which included the transphobic slur. He’s since apologized on Periscope (I’m not sure if there’s a YouTube video of that or not), and as we all know, he’s been a huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights ever since.

There’s also a video of Brendon joking about raping fans at a concert. You can find this on YouTube, where he says something along the lines of “If I see you after the show, I’m gonna fuck you. I don’t care if you want it - I care more if you don’t!” If the video isn’t edited shorter, you can also hear Dallon Weekes say “And I’m gonna watch,” though no one ever mentions that. This isn’t me trying to get Dallon cancelled. Quite frankly, I don’t like cancel culture and I think people are way too trigger happy to destroy someone’s career. My only reason for interjecting this is if you’re gonna get mad at Brendon for making that joke, then get mad at Dallon for adding onto it, too.

More recently, he’s been accused of sexually assaulting a fan. Someone on Twitter by the name of Kam retold a story of being a minor when he met Brendon, and Brendon was kissing and touching him inappropriately despite knowing he was a minor. There were also other accounts saying similar things happened to them. However, from what I know, the whole Kam thing was actually a Wattpad self-insert fanfiction that someone stole the plot of, and the multiple different accounts were actually one person, and they were lying, so there’s absolutely no evidence of Brendon sexually assaulting a minor or behaving inappropriately in that way whatsoever.

Lots of people also get upset with the Zack Hall thing. Zack Hall was Brendon’s bodyguard for a long time, and Breezy Weekes recently came out and said that Zack Hall basically sexually harassed her the entire time Dallon was in Panic!. Other people came out and said they had similar encounters with Zack Hall, and he’s now fired from Panic!. Similarly, when Kenny Harris was accused of sexually harassing/assaulting minors, he was also fired. People are upset because Brendon is remaining friends with Zack Hall, though I really don’t think that’s any of our business. As far as I see it, they’ve been close friends for years, and it’s hard to just drop that, even if they do something you disagree with. Also, Zack was fired, which is what people wanted. I think it’s dumb to hold Brendon to a friend’s actions, especially when he already fired him and removed him from fans, like everyone was asking him to do.

Also (and I’m not as well informed with this as other topics), there’s an interview somewhere of Ryan Ross being uncomfortable with Brendon’s stage gay. I’m not sure how many times they had that conversation or how often Ryan asked Brendon to not touch him or do the stage gay routine with him, or how many times Brendon disregarded that once they were onstage. Brendon should’ve respected Ryan’s wishes and not touched him the first time he was asked, but again, I don’t know the specifics here, so this is all I can comment on here.

[Edit: I had someone reach out to me in regards to the above information, and I decided to keep everything I originally wrote as context. According to them, there isn’t an interview of Ryan saying he’s uncomfortable with the stage gay, and it was all in fact scripted between the two of them. It sounds like people basically made up Ryan being uncomfortable with the act, in which case, these accusations also appear to be entirely false.] 

As we all know, Brendon struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, which literally impairs judgment and makes you do things you normally wouldn’t do. This includes saying things you shouldn’t (making rape jokes to a supposedly 18+ audience while likely drunk, high, or both) and doing things you shouldn’t (the stage gay routine). I’d also like to point out that a lot of the stuff he said at shows was probably to entertain, particularly the stage gay stuff, and there’s no way in hell you can convince me the audience didn’t eat that shit up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did those things to get a reaction, and you know he fucking got one, so while I disapprove of him making Ryan uncomfortable, I also understand the audience there, expecting it, probably didn’t help either.

I think that’s everything. As you can see, it’s a lot of stuff, but I don’t think any of it is as bad as people say. Mouthing the n-word once doesn’t make a person racist. Saying a transphobic slur once doesn’t make a person transphobic. He especially isn’t either of these things when you take into account how he’s since apologized and shown incredible support for BLM and the LGBTQ+ community, which I think says a lot about him as a person.

This is going off track a little bit, but I think it’ll make a point. My dad grew up in the seventies, in a time where homophobia was rampant and racism was common. My dad grew up homophobic and racist, and he used homophobic slurs all the time as a teenager and a young adult. To this day, my dad has prejudiced views about race and sexuality, but he’s obviously changed his opinion since then, with education and understanding. He never apologized for the things he said back then, mostly because he isn’t famous and no one has called him out for it.

The point is, if people held my dad responsible for things he said in high school and college, when he was the most ignorant, the most sheltered, the least exposed to other people and cultures, then he’d be labeled racist and homophobic now (which he technically is, simply by virtue of being white and straight, but that’s a conversation for another time). We need to give people room to grow, give them resources to educate themselves and combat their ignorance. Brendon Urie has DONE that, multiple times! He’s never been accused of racism aside from mouthing the n-word in a Vine, which, should I remind you how old Vine is? He’s never been accused of being transphobic aside from that one time he used a slur, when he wasn’t even using his own words.

I’m not trying to excuse what he’s done. Using those slurs, making Ryan uncomfortable [edit: probably not true], joking about rape, none of those things are okay, and that’s pretty damn obvious to everyone, I think. However, it’s also evident he’s changed since then. As far as I know, he’s never used a slur since then. He’s an advocate for BLM and the LGBTQ+ community. He’s struggled with addiction, which isn’t easy for anyone, and he’s been able to grow and become a better person since then. I absolutely agree with holding him accountable for what he said and did, especially the things we don’t agree with. He’s a public figure, and he has to be aware of what he says and how his actions have consequences. That’s just how it works when you’re in the public eye.

Do I think Brendon Urie deserves to be cancelled? Absolutely not. He’s human, and all humans change. I’m not the same person I was ten years ago, and ten years from now, I’ll be someone else entirely. If someone held me responsible for every mistake I ever made and completely disregarded my progress and personal growth, I’d look like a horrible person. Why aren’t we keeping that energy for Brendon? Hold him accountable. Keep him responsible for what he did. And allow him to improve. Allow him to educate himself. Allow him to better himself. Allow him to be fucking human, for fuck’s sake.

So, there’s my take. I’m still a Panic! At The Disco fan, and I’m still a huge fan of Brendon Urie himself. Unless he regresses completely and becomes Kanye West or some shit, I will continue to support him. He’s not even as problematic as some other people’s faves, so I’m not even gonna feel bad for continuing to support him. I’m acknowledging his shortcomings and recognizing his progress, because I understand that this isn’t black and white or two dimensional.

If his actions aren’t exuseable for you, then that’s fine. If you can’t be a fan of him of Panic! anymore, then that’s your decision. For me personally, I think his growth says a lot about his character, and I’m gonna continue to stick it out with him. You don’t have to like him, but quit being so close-minded about the good he’s done in all of this. It makes you look excited to destroy a person’s career, and quite frankly, I’m tired of trigger-happy, cancel culture junkies. Take it elsewhere.

[mengyan]

Sooo i saw you review someones carulia fic befpre so uh heres mine, if i could have some pointers?🥺For context; its supposed to be an angst to fluff comcerning how Carmen & Jules make up following the ACME interruption..

Carmen POV:

The rain relented for no one, not even for those who were in mourning. It was a single drop and a million all at once, thundering down in sheets ftom a confident stormy sky. Carmen Sandiego shivered, the tiny droplets assaulting every shred of skin she had dared to leave exposed.

Her red-brunette hair was drenched a shade darker, now existing as a thick, sopping mass glued to the back of her feverish neck. Carmen’s cheeks were ice cold and slick with water, aside from two thin trails of tears with fading heat.

That was one plus side of being out in the storm, she supposed. It was easy to cry in the rain.

In Carmen’s hands were an arrangement of Peonies and Hydrangeas, the water hammering at their petals. They had been Shadowsan’s suggestion and she took it, because, how the hell would she know what kind of flowers Dexter Wolfe preferred?

The makeshift grave had been Shadowsan’s idea, too. Apparently it would give her closure. Carmen admitted it did, to some extent, help to have some way to mourn her late father. But the fact that she knew his body wasn’t anywhere near his headstone dulled any respite it might have provided.

They had chosen a grave in Poiters, France. It was the only place the team frequented aside from San Diego, and it held the only funeral home that agreed to not ask questions about birth and death records.

Team red hadn’t visited the place in months what with her falling out with Julia and ACME, until today. It was the anniversary of his death, after all.

Carmen’s hands quivered as she lowered the flowers to the wet earth. Tension pulsed in her veins with a thousand emotions flooding through her. She was so, so angry! At the world, at Shadowsan, at Chief, at everyone for taking away what could’ve been a beautiful life with family she now knew nothing of.

She wanted to hurt someone, to scream. And so she did. A guttural roar escaped Carmen’s rouged lips, disappearing into the night. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her erratic breathing. When she looked down, she realized she had crushed the flowers.

Not caring anymore, Carmen plopped down against the headstone, the mud squelching beneath her. Tears began to flow beyond her control and she let them, for once allowing herself to truly feel all the hurt she kept pent up inside in favor of her suave exterior.

Her fingers dug into the earth, and she flung a fistful of mud into the rain. Carmen was tired of running from everything, tired of chasing her past, tired of hiding from the people she cared about.

Maybe the earth’ll open up and swallow me, she mused. Or better yet, maybe I’ll get struck by lightning.

Carmen sighed, moving her back to rest against her father’s grave. “Oh, dad.” She whispered softly. “I’m so sorry.”

The lady in red began to relax despite the rain, curling up in a fetal position and feeling sorry for herself. It wasn’t like Zack, Ivy, Player, and Shadowsan were here to see her so vulnerable, after all.

The sound of two feet approaching caught her attention, their light tread a very familiar sound.

No. It couldn’t be-

The lady in red looked up, her hair strewn haphazardly and her eyes red from crying all while every inch of her body was drenched.

“Miss Sandiego?” There stood Julia Argent with a sky blue umbrella, a mix of horror and concern painted over her delicate features.

“How many times have I told you Carmen is fine?” Carmen whispered as usual, only this time the flirty playfulness was amiss. Her voice was hoarse and raspy, not a sliver of emotion present as she stared dead ahead, right through Julia.

“I’m.....sorry.” The petite woman replied, stressing the underlying meaning.

“What are you doing here, Agent Argent?” Carmen asked tiredly, refusing to call her Jules any longer.

Julia flinched, as if the missing nickname was like a blow to the gut. “Please, you don’t have to be so formal. But, um, I live here, remember? So I think I I should be ask you that.”

“I was just passing through.” The lady in red stood, refusing to meet the other woman’s eyss.

“Where are you going?”

“Anywhere but here.” Carmen said coldly. She couldn’t believe she had ever been stupid enough to begin to trust Julia, much less begin to fall for her. “It’s a long walk to the train station.”

For once, she thought she had someone who believed in her, someone who was on her side wholeheartedly.....and yet...

Stockholm.

“Carmen, you won’t be able to find your way in this weather.” Julia said tentatively, pity filling her beautiful doe eyes to the brim. “Please, um, my apartment isn’t far from here. You can stay until the rain calms down.”

A dark, humorless laugh escaped the Latina’s lips. “What, do all you ACME agents bunk in the same place or something?”

“Excuse me?“

“So they’re waiting for me then,” Carmen continued, her anger and feelings of betrayal peeking into a tirade. “I bet they all have they’re guns propped up at the door already in place. I think I’ll pass, Jules.“

Carmen spit her nickname out like some vile insult she was hurtling at an enemy.

Julia sucked in a sharp breath, sadness touching her features. “Carmen,“ The petite woman began, pleading “I know you won’t forgive me for what happened in Stockholm, but I promise you I didn’t know.“ She paused, waiting for some form of acknowledgement, no response. “I-I told Chief to back off and let me talk to you, she-she said it was okay! I had no idea they were moving in. Please, please Believe me.”

“Oh yeah?“ The woman in red whispered, her voice barely audible over the downpour. “And what if I don’t?“

...

And thats all i have sooo far---

AIJSIDKDKJDKFJDJJSJDFJ OKAY THIS IS LATE BC I WAS NOT IN THE EMOTIONAL HEADSPACE TO DECONSTRUCT THIS BUT. ANON HOW DARE YOU? I AM IN IMMEASURABLE PAIN

i’ll just add notes as i go, thank you for allowing me to read this and offer pointers :D

your descriptions are so good omg!! i love the first sentence SO much?? “the rain relented for no one, not even for those who were in mourning” PHEWWW that’s poetry

i’d say the only thing about the following descriptions is that you don’t have to describe everything, if that makes sense? like, you can leave it as just “a stormy sky” for example. descriptions are amazing, but too much of anything can be harder to read and get your point across!

“it was easy to cry in the rain” anon WHO let you hurt me like this!!!

i feel like if i look up those flowers i will cry so i’m not going to but. shadowsan knowing what flowers to bring is just.... help i’m in pain

NOT THE GRAVE BEING IN POITIERS GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH

instead of “so, so, angry” you can say furious, and replace the exclamation mark with a period. it makes it more solid (if that’s the right word...?)

it’s probably a tumblr formatting thing but italicize the words when it’s her inner thoughts for better distinction!

CARMEN RECOGNIZING JULIA’S FOOTSTEPS

“a mix of horror and concern painted over her delicate features” i’m in LOVE with this wording??

REFUSING TO CALL HER JULES ANY LONGER@,#)&()&)&&)&:&:; LORDDDD

NOT THE. NOT FUCKING STOCKHOLM ANON?? me: brings it up 24/7 and then me when anyone else brings it up: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS

THE ANGST IS KILLING ME

side note, don’t refer to characters by their race/ethnicity, go with the thief, lady in red, the other girl etc

probably a typo but **their instead of they’re!

“AND WHAT IF I DON’T?” I AM INCONSOLABLE ANON I AM SO SCARED TO READ THE FULL THING WHEN YOU’RE DONE BUT I ALSO CAN’T WAIT AHHHHH THIS ANGST IS SOOO GOOD

thanks again for the submission 🥺💕 i hope my notes were okay!! this was such an emotional journey to read and now i’m going to be fueled by stockholm angst all day when writing <3

[itsdappleagain]

Here we go- on time, for once- with The French Connections Caper! As I mentioned, this is one of my favorite episodes from season one, because I am a little angst whore.

Alrighty- as always, notes are under the cut!

Who in the world reference. GET IT

The rotating pack of mints is so funny. Did acme have that on file?? Did she hack into his bank account??

The picture of julia just looking exhausted with chase is so funny

SIX MONTHS AGO?? THIS SEASON HAPPENED IN SIX MONTHS???

Chase is literally That Stupid

Man can you imagine the episode if PAPER STAR had kidnapped chase???? She would have just killed him

The standing up and saying “I will go” is theater kid level blocking i love that

I’m going to be yammering on about the lens of shadowsan’s double betrayal thing for probably the whole episode but goddd its so good. Severus snape and harry potter’s terf ass wish they had what shadowsan and carmen have

Shadowsan’s motif <333

YOU JOINING A KPOP BAND

Julia in her suit <3333333 YES YES YES part of the reason I love this episode is because its the first time julia sort of gets to stand on her own a little bit…sets up for next season, when she SLAYS

Also, ever notice that in this “virtual tailor” chase has gloves, but in s3 when he finally gets his suit he doesn’t have them? Interesting that some agents get them and some don’t

Chase getting so pissed off about julia saying she didn’t do it alone is SO FUNNY because he’s RIGHT she is NOT talking about him

Your SILENT partner yessir

I LOVE WHEN SHE GETS MAD AND YELLS AT HIM GO JULIA GET HIS ASS

DEFEND YOUR WIFE 💪

Chase’s ego is so large that it blinds him- jackie made a post on it already so I’ll just reference that, but its brilliant characterization

You can make yourself look like a law enforcement imbecile jusst fine

I love the way julia storms off. She cn’t take very large steps so its just very angry and quick heel clatters

She WANTS to be planning something nefarious but unfortunately she must be on the beach

Poor baby she looks so uncomfortable dsghfjda. Also another instance of a stellar outfit that we never get to see again </3

Ivy is actually weirdly talented at making gigantic detailed sand castles. That wave was so poorly timed her poor vile central

Also. wicked wicked

IVY YELLING AT ZACK IN THE BACKGROUND WHILE CARMEN JUST DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANYTHING

Yeahhh well you say you’re never going back to vile island. And technically you are right

FIELD TRIP!

THE SHOCK WHEN BRUNT SAYS THAT DJHDSFD

PLS SHE BUMPED BELLUM ON THE WAY UP WHY DID SHE DO THAT

I love the role reversal that shadowsan and brunt do here. Shadowsan is expected to be The Worst and Brunt is carmen’s closest thing to a mother. But in actuality….brunt is a murderous spiteful little bitch and shadwsan is evolving into dadowsan

Jsdfads the look on shadowsan’s face. He knows that everything just got a looot more complicated for him

At least he’s kind of self aware right

Chase only being nice to her because he knows she’s smarter than he is is so funny. He drinks the most vaguely mysoginistic respect women juice on the planet

You have no idea how much the line “wow, foamy” has impacted my daily life. I literally say it every single time i brush my teeth. I can’t stop

NOT THE VILE BRAND LOGO ON THE TOOTHPASTE AND EVERYTHING 

Chase lying on the floor looking like he just died of rabies is the funniest fucking thing

American outlets in france 👍

Carmen did a whole costume change between noon and sunset

Mesmerized by the way that top tuft of hair she has blows in the wind. Wow. could watch that all day

I love how the message goes “SURRENDER WE HAVE CHASE DEVINEAUX” and carmen is just like. Wait. partner??? Travel partner??? 😌😌😌

She’s kind of chill about mentioning that vile is definetely going to kill devineaux and then capture her in this little plan of theirs

“Which is why I’ll need to be careful” she says, walking into a closed off basement with no preparation at all

Why the hell would they put where they were keeping him in the Evil Email they sent her wouldn’t that just set her up to try a rescue mission

Props to raf for making the most diverse array of clueless grunting noises I have ever heard in my life

I cANT HELP BUT LAUGH WHEN BRUNT SAYS “BONJOUR” LIKE THAT. SHES TRYING SO HARD TO BE SINISTER BUT SHE’S JUST TEXAN

Wheeze acme set the expectation for him to be kidnapped for employment reasons

ASK YOU WHAT he’s so stupid i love him

“I’ve seen your keycard” said with the exact same tone as. Someting. I don’t know i love how she says that she’s just like Yeah. I’ve seen it. Hah

Shadowsan and that damn sword for intimidation tactics

Oogh that twisted little smile when brunt goes to get the brain scrambler 

Alternate episode where chase gets the hard way and carmen just walks in to a sad sack of broken bones on the floor

I love the almost impressed look on shadowsan’s face when he tells her that he’s singing the french national anthem. Like. of course he is

Interesting little detail that chase leans over and spits out the gag while carmen and company are just kind of making quips about him being tortured

I love he some good drunk but not drunk character tropes in cartoons. Drunk adora. Laughing gassed up anne. Sick luz. We didn’t get drunk carmen but we did get drunk chase and you know what I’m fine with that

THE WAY HIS EYES FLICK TO THEM WHEN HE SAYS BILE IS ALWAYS SO FUNNY TO ME

Love how shadowsan doesn’t care at all what happens to chase. He cares about carmen, but he’s still a VILE operative. She’s pretty much the only one he cares about until he’s spent a little while with TR

Mmm the music is so good in this ep as well

Thinking abt how if ivy was controlling red drone and carmen was sneaking off to rescue chase…that was zack in carmen cosplay who was dramatically standing ontop of the roof

The weird little petnames brunt uses for chase are also so funny

I have wanted to edit that shot of shadowsan running and jumping over chimneys onto the dinosaur game for SO LONG

Its cool how different the body types of the carmen decoys are. Its pretty easy to tell who’s who even with their faces not showing

IVYYYY

You can rock red, zack. I mean. You pick a devil costume out by yourself in s3 so clearly you know it too

I am shocked that she didn’t check the dumpster because. THATS WHERE I WOULD HAVE LOOKED. I guess she knows carmen’s style well enough- in s3 when they’re talking about catching carmen sandiego 101 zuko and luz mention that part of it was knowing that she always takes the high ground, anakin. And while this is zack the two of them are pretty well trained on carmen’s movements, clearly. They jump across the rooftops and everything just like she does to be convincing

JSHDGDS HE JUST GETS SLAMMED

BAIT N SWITCH…alright here we go

I like the little setup she has there. She brought the electrocuter thing because she had to get the cuffs off, but she uses it in the fight later too

Another little detail in the animation of chase’s sweat dripping to the floor when he falls

That little interaction between the two of them is so cool. Carmen doesn’t know what to expect, or how she can see or anything. OR that she knows exactly who she is

Pls its 4:30 in the morning the carmen team really do have a messed up sleep schedule

Sleepy julia in pajamas <3333

Me watching a france based murder mystery show: haha. Gendairme. I know how to pronounce that

It is a little inconsistent how carmen has so much difficulty dragging him out here…when these three meet again in mexico carmen just shoves him off the wrestling ring and into a chair with very little effort, although that may be evidence of her training and getting stronger over time.

Anyway, I’m exTREMELY excited for this fight. It is SO BRUTAL 

THE BENDNG THE METAL IS. GOD

She’s so. Like. hulking??? Its so creepy how she moves, especially when she uses all these little petnames at the same time as she’s cracking her neck 

THE CATCH OF HER FOOT IS SO GOOD GOD. brunt KNOWS her and even if she didn’t maybe expect her to have a gun she can catch her move pretty easily. This entire fight is full of brunt catching what carmen is going to do as she does it- except for the time with the taser

GOD the crashing into the chair augh that must have hurt so bad wheeze

Brunt is terrifying. She doesn’t slink around or do any acrobatics. She’s just like a final video game boss that has a tracker on your location and does not stop coming

GOD YEAH SEE. SHE CATCHES CARMEN’S KICK AND THEN JUST S L A M S HER INTO THAT SHELF

Carmen is again so used to the athletic, fast-moving operatives who usually match her in everything but cleverness, or use long distance weapons like paper star does. But brunt….it doesnt matter how smart carmen is when brunt can overpower her and fling her into the concrete like a bug

Goddd you can see carmen thinking about what the hell she can do. She knows strength isn’t going to work, so she has to find something else to distract brunt while she gets her baby taser

It makes sense actually now that the taser doesnt knock brunt out like a crackle rod would. Its meant for disabling hadcuff electronics, not seizing up the muscles of full grown woman

THE DESPERATION ON CARMEN’S FACE AS SHE ELECTROCUTES BRUNT IS SO GOOD. she knows this is not a good situation. She does. This is not her usual fighting style, obviously. She just wants to get out

The SMOKE when carmen gets electrocuted fuck

UNGH i love how different this fight is. Carmen stumbles on the run to the door and THAT is how you know she’s really in trouble. She’s just yanking on it trying to get out at this point. Its more instinct than battle- she’s just clawing at ANYTHING that could help her 

And then her coat gets ripped. Every time her coat is off in this show she is not in a good spot. Becauseeee COLOR THEORY!! That red is her sign she’s got a chance, but when it comes off and gets destroyed everything. Is. green. Same thing happens in hot rocks of rio, so look out for that next week. It’s really interesting to notice once you find the patterns

MMGH WHEN SHE CLUTCHES HER SIDE AND THEN HER HAND GETS CRUSHED AND HER EYES WIDEN AND SHE JUST KNOWS

That gasp when she’s down on thr ground will be the death of me. And then the rattling on the grate just. Trying to get away and do ANYTHING to save herself from this person she once called a mother figure its SO angsty god i love it

There were NO breaks in that fight scene until carmen was on the ground with absolutely no choices left. It keeps the emotion UP and TENSE and it is FANTASTIC. We get a break once we cut back to shadowsan and the gang…player telling carmen she just needs to make it a little longer, because the cops are better than being dead

Also. zack just waking up with the banana peel on his head.

Why does player have the individual tracking locations of all the cops in the city

Seaosn one and season two were written and made pretty much at the same time, which was SUCH a strong choice. THIS FINALE sets up ALL OF SEASON TWO and SEASON TWO’S FINALE. AUGH. it is such a fantastic end to the season

I love that carmen gets to learn that it wasn’t this woman who rescued her from “the side of the road” here. She doesn’t have to live with that idea in her head….that she could be saved by the same woman who was trying to kill her

Instead she’s saved again by the one who really cared all along- since the moment he saved her from the fire

Please carmen looks so small on the ground there its so scary to watch

God that returning to vile island is for carmen a fate worse than death is so. Its so

Ive always been frustrated with carmen for not. I dont know. Lying?? Saying ok sure ill go back fine to buy herself some time, so that the cops could come in and help her. But i get it. Yknow?? Carmen isn’t that person. But boy would that have prevented a lot of the rib breakage that is about to go down 

God. how limp carmen is in that moment. She flinched away when brunt goes to touch her face, but she just looks. Kind of regretful. She doesn’t really, i think, expect what is about to happen. She just thinks brunt is going to bat her around some more..

Also. how limp carmen is when brunt pulls her into the “hug” is also so scary. GOD i don’t know if its because she’s trying to prepare herself or if she’s in so much pain or if its because some part of her still trusts brunt

That tragic look almost into the camera when she realizes what brunt is doing is HAUNTING i love that sm

This is so dark btw. The foreshadowing way back in episode two for this when brunt hugs her so hard that she feels something crack to now, when that motherly role has twisted into. This

That last gasping breath carmen takes is another one thats just so. Augh. she is really and truly about to die

God the knowledge that at some point carmen just closed her eyes and let it happen because there was nothing else she could do is. What the fuck. Or maybe she just couldn’t breathe enough anymore to keep them open

SHADOWSAN!!

THE WAY SHE SCRAMBLES BACK AS SOON AS BRUNT GOES LIMP IS. god i love that shot. She’s so. Worn down at that point she’s more like a wild animal than anything ig. Just trying to get away get away get away

And then the way she, still gasping for breath and her voice choked with pain, insults shadowsan because her voice is the only defense she has against him right now

Pls i love shadowsan he doesn’t know how to not be intimidating. Running at her with a sword. “I did not come here to take you back.” this moment scared me SO BAD when i was 13 watching this for the first time. I expected it to cut back to her lying on the floor with some grevious injury, maybe to be narrowly saved by her team but frantically rushed to the hospital or something. 

The shadowsan twist is one of the best I think I’ve seen. Its set up and foreshadowed, enough that you could maybe see it coming on first and have all those little “ohh” moments on later watches. When you really step back and say, “what is the consequence of shadowsan doing all of this?” its carmen being able to escape and not becoming a vile operative. Its. yeah. I dont know. Its so good

AUGH the fear on her face. He steps over coach’s pretty much lifeless body, draws his sword. All she has is a fucking wrench

Player gripping his monitor and screaming her name is SO,, UNGH HE THINKS SHE’S DEAD

And the way they cut back with just the limp bodies around them, as shadowsan sheathes his blade. They knew what they were doing obviously

MM AND THEN THE LITTLE CHIME OF CARMEN’S MOTIF WHEN WE SEE THAT SHE’S ALIVE AND SAFE

THAT IS A QUESTION pls i’ve made fun of shadowsan here before because like. Yes. please do follow me into the dark hole no questions asked. I Will Not Stab You once we are at a more convenient and private location that you have moved yourself to. Or transport you back to VILE. just trust me okay carmen follow me right now

LOCK US UP,,, YEAH. REACH US. i love that little…its so small. The us and the little admission of how VILE works (hey- also sets up season THREE’s finale. wild). Yes yes yes. 

I love how shadowsan doesn’t want to admit it. But they have been in it together

GOD YEAH AND THEN. SHE DROPS THE WRENCH and THATS how you know she trusts him, and understands. Thats her last line of defense gone

“It was you….you were the one who found me.”

“YOU ARE IN NO CONDITION TO LEAVE HERE ON YOUR OWN” i love how shouty he is in this season he doesn’t have a gentle voice. He doesnt really. Know how to be vulnerable

But he tries. He tries so hard. He just. He says please and reaches out to her

DOOGY

Girlie im sorry but opening that grate wider would not have made brunt fit any better

That mass of flashing lights in the city is such a good way to show how far they went. Also. why did shadowsan make carmen walk like three miles with her fucked up ribs wheeze. He made her climb some stairs and everything

But he’s soooo gentle with her when they’re walking its so sweet. He lets her lean on him and helps her down to the ground so she can rest…makes sure she is safe before he says anything else and tries to get her medical attention. He is the dadowsan

Ungh gina. Gina gina please. Please put any kind of emotion into “argentina tell me everything now” like thats KIND of an emotional line..,, urgh. The problem i have with gina i think is that she is a fine ACTOR but being a VOICE ACTOR is a LOT DIFFERENT THAN THAT. she doesnt have all her little nice facial expressions and stuff she has carmen who is already inexpressive as is. So when she says that line it just sounds so flat 

He’s only lying about it a little bit, really honestly

Shadowsan: a jerk

“You knew what they’d do to me when I said no” is such an underrated line i love that one

THE COAT WAS EMPTY!! 

Carmen sounds so much like black sheep when she says “i knew it” and I love that so much. I don’t know if that was a directing choice given to gina but it was a good one. Also carmen forgetting her ribs are fucked up lmaoo

FIRST SHADOWSAN SMILE WHEN HE SAYS HE KNWS CARMEN WOULD ENJOY PROVING THAT TO HERRR that is the moment i think when he really becomes human :)))

She got my posture fr

That shot of shadowsan walking away from her as the police lights flash between them and the architecture frames everything is soo pretty

I guess i scare easy when i see a drawn sword is such a good line its so funny. i would too! Maybe he didnt have to extend the ruse all the way until he was a mile away from the school and no one was in sight except carmen herself but alright

IT WAS HIMMM WITH THE HELICOPTER I LOVE THAT REVEAL

NO WAY!!!! I love that its kind of a black sheepism

Shadowsan is like yeah i was happy you escaped but GIRLIE I DIDNT THINK YOU WOULD START FIGHTING CRIME LMAO???

The lug jsdfhds

Julia’s like not chief. Not chief with the random carmen accusations too

Used it to bait him?? How would she have done that?? She’s like in the cheese and breath mints store and she goes over the intercom like “chase devineaux please report to the shadowy death basement! We have your keycard <3”

AND LEFT WITH AN EVIL VILE MASTERMIND KSHGDFJGDS player is so right for that

That shot of her sitting and talking to player as the sun rises behind her is also beautiful i love that shot

Ahhh the way she gets up so carefully because of her injuries its so good

“A present” okay its okay you can tell him carmen

I HAVE A FEELING WE’RE GOING TO HAVE MORE CAPERS TO PLOT WOOHOO SEASON TWO BABYYYYY

ONCE MORE the shot of her standing there and the camera zooming way out is ALSO gorgeous its my blog header actually

YEAHH AND THEN THE CREDITS MUSICCC

God i cant believe we’re already done with season one!! I am SO EXCITED for season two- its my favorite out of all of the seasons and its where things REALLY get juicy. We’ve got the setup and standard formula out and we can start playing around with dynamics, backstories, history, new cast, lore, character development…yes yes yes yes yes i am so excited!!!

Love this episode, solid and fantastic end to a seaosn, which cs finales usually are. Alright- with the feeling that I’m going to have more capers to react to, this is me signing off of season 1 for cs weekly!!

[brencerlove]

A post was made here before about the allegations before then it was deleted because we didn’t want to start drama. However sexual abuse is not drama, and speaking out is important.

We want to let you know that if anything during this investigation if anything is proven obviously we will stand by victims. Still wanted to talk about a few things!

Two of the main accusers LanaJade & Kat Kalling’s friend both confirmed they WERE catfished by the Panic!Stalker Chelsey! (Check on Twitter yourself) Chelsey was able to fool old high school friends and even some Brendon’s family. There is an ongoing investigation literally involving the feds, and right now Brendon may not be able to speak out because of legal terms!

Brendon is not a perfect person, he’s said a lot of stupid assholish shit in the past but I don’t believe he would change the Highest Hopes Foundation to mainly being about BLM & BTLM just for shits. He would not be outright disgusted by Trump & other predators in the industry If didn’t care or if he was one himself. I know people are good at putting on different faces, but Brendon has always been passionate in his beliefs and shown how big his heart can be.

He his self has been being assaulted during death walks and it’s extremely uncomfortable and literally almost brought him to tears asking people to stop kissing him. Yet he would go right back out the next day and greet fans because he loves us too much and wouldn’t let a few bad experiences ruin it for the rest of us! ** Some fans getting too touchy feeling feely during the this part of the show is NOT the same as if we were to appoarch a fan. Him being a famous public who is adored by many puts him in a position of power!**

As I said earlier we know people can hide certain sides of themselves but a lot of the times he did certain stuff was because he knew what the fandom wanted. Their fans who literally went to the Cirus tour & PO tour saw how the guys would sometimes laugh at how fans when they would get extra close & did flirty things! Hell they even knew the name of the ships & how we would go crazy over play flirting in interviews! Once on this blog somewhere we told you the term “Brencer” was used when Z said he was about to go get the boys during a meet and greet. But this isn’t about ship wars or what we believe to be real or not it’s an example of how Brendon and guys always knew how to get us riled up and play into what we wanted.

Vices era could get crazy & yes some of his jokes were sexual but after he would say that stuff the crowd would roar. Never once in my mind did I think he would seriously go out and try to mess with a kid, he loves still don’t. It was all apart of the game and aesthetic of each different era and mainly he loves his wife too fucking much. A lot of people claim to love their partner and still do crappy things but the man who we have gotten to know just ... we’ll just say he played a good trick if it’s not true!

Do believe Zack should be fired? .. Yes! I know not everyone has a horror story with & have said some nice things. But he has proven several times that he takes his jokes, bullying and comments too far and We believe what Breezy says about how he treated her and Dallon during their time in the band.

It was the right move to remove Kenneth and it’s the right move to remove him too!! I adore his wife and I think she brings out a better side in him so this is unfortunate but that’s how we feel.

Sarah is a extremely soft soul and even when someone has done outrageous things that most wouldn’t forgive. She’s the type of person to somehow finds a way to forgive. And while that’s one of the things that makes her beautiful it also makes it easier for people like Chelsey to manipulate her. So Sarah might did trust that she had changed and didn’t want her bullied by fans but she’s still a victim of Chelsey’s games!

I don’t think it’s ANY of our buisness what happens in the private side of the Urie’s marriage. If past members were treated horribly xx (which I acknowledge I believe they were above) they have a right to speak out but their leave marriage out of it unless it becomes a big factor in this case.