#yes i rewatched it bc i couldn't stop thinking about them

[princess-of-the-corner]

I hope you're still okay with such Anon asks about Chloé, I wasn't quite sure who to ask this because of how divisive of a topic this is now and you seemed to be the right person.

I've been rewatching some 2000s Cartoons I grew up with and it really made me realize how badly Chloé's trope is ruined in Miraculous.

Chloé was the regular local bully bitch character. Ain't nothing groundbreaking here.

She's the likes of Bonnie from Kim Possible, Mizzi and Chimera from Winx Club, Dash and Paulina from Danny Phantom, Pacifica from Gravity Falls, and Brit and Tiff Crust from Teenage Robot

Or, you know, 10 billion other cartoon characters that fit this trope

And yet Chloé very obviously stands out as the one who was incorrectly utilized by her show. Bonnie, Dash & Paulina, and Pacifica for example were never given a pass for being the MC's bullies, but the shows still were confident enough in their writing and main characters that they were allowed to have sympathetic and even heroic scenes. Bc the shows understood that the bully characters were meant as side antagonists and minor inconveniences for the main character in comparison to the actual villains. So developing them positively works very well once their bully actions overstepped their welcome in the big picture.

Bullying is horrible, no shit, but cartoons normally are very much aware that the bully characters have little to no business overshadowing the real villains the way Miraculous insists on doing it.

Even the characters like Mizzi & Chimera or Tiff and Brit Crust, that weren't shown in any more sympathetic light, the shows knew how to properly utilize them. Either by mostly keeping them as minor antagonistic that don't need more focus, or they were only in the story for a limited period of time or specific usages.

Miraculous on the other hand has the main character(s) ignore all the ACTUAL adult villains she should be looking for and taking care of because instead the show made it its job to portray two school bullies as evil incarnated. As if that doesn't reflect increasingly worse on the main characters. Like in Revolution where everybody collectively ignored that Chloé obviously needed POWERS to pull off what she did, but the characters couldn't look past the "she's a bully grrrr 😠" which lead to Paris slowly being imprisoned and physically enslaved in front of the heros' eyes and Hawkmoth almost winning!

The local bully is supposed to be a level 1 antagonist the story and MCs normally grow out of because very clearly there are much bigger fishes to fry. But Miraculous deemed Marinette having been bullied as the biggest injustice and display of suffering in the plot, so naturally our heros end up being nothing but incompetent when it comes to their actual JOBS.

Who cares that Ladybug (with Cat's quiet support) basically victim blamed all of Paris into going on a suicide mission to stop an almost allmighty Monarch for the defeated Ladybug and Cat Noir, because Ladybug just said that they never needed heros in the first place (which, yes Marinette, THEY DID.) Lets ignore that the only reason why Ladybug's words didn't result in a mass slaughter of the vulnerable civilians she was supposed to protect is because GABRIEL made Chloe the weakest Akuma to date and gave her robots nothing but the safest powers. So nothing Marinette had any hand in or even knew of before she as good as attempted to send the civilians into the final battle without any help of Ladynoir...

But I guess its fine bc Marinette was looking at her bully. Of course the innocent civilians had to be hyped up to go on a potential suicide mission to save Ladynoir from Chloe and MONARCH (who should have showed up there literally any second but didn't because Gabriel is stupid for Marinette's sake)

Our main characters were apparently so overwhelmed by Chloé's meanness that needed to be put in place, who could possibly think and acts heroric anymore? 😒

And this entire mess we could have easily avoided if the show just had it done NORMALLY by not forcing Chloe into a role her trope doesn't fucking belong in in the big picture.

Yeah exactly like

In those other examples, even with the bullies staying in an antagonistic role, they're never anywhere near a Main Threat.

Yeah in Season 1 the protagonist is having a hard time with them because hey the protag is /just now/ a Hero and gaining confidence. But my later seasons? The bully is an annoyance ofc but the protag literally does not care they've handled so much worse and the bully only ever becomes a problem when a legit big bad decides to use them against them.

And then yeah letting the bullies be more well-rounded characters even if they don't get a proper 'redemption arc' per say.

Let's take Dash because he's actually the closest example to how Chloé was in Season 1-3: Yes he was a bully and that was bad. The show didn't go too much into his home life, but it did make it clear how much the school enabled him/ignored his actions because he was a football player. Though he was someone Danny was scared of early on, he quickly became something Danny just rolled his eyes at or even fought back. But Dash also very much looked up to the local Hero and saw him as an inspiration(unknowing the Hero was someone he bullied), and had several episodes where he teamed up with Danny(both Phantom /and/ Fenton) to save the day.

And yeah that- that's pretty much how Chloé was! If you didn't want to give her a full Redemption, just keep her in that weird spot!

[gayofthefae]

i just rewatched the hopper threatening mike scene bc of your post and was reminded how we literally don't know what he said to mike??! (someone else pointed this out way back, i just forgot). but like! he says i'm going to talk and you're going to listen, and then they drive off, and we don't see the actual convo. i think all we know is what mike says later, that hopper said he's spending too much time with el. i'm curious how you think that whole convo went.

Such a good point and this one of those things I like "meant to think about later"

Yes "I am going to talk and you are going to listen". I of course don't think it was anything explicit that Mike feared but he had definitely had that switch to "convince him how bad I wanna be with El" by that point in the conversation. So I don't exactly know what the "boundary" was but at the time I remember interpreting it as "stop spending time with her indefinitely, I'll let you know when you can come back".

But that threatening energy definitely stayed and I don't know that he stopped feeling scared of Hopper catching onto him even if he knew that he hadn't yet. In a similar way to El accusing him of not loving her. He knew by the end that she was mad about his behavior but didn't know why he was doing it, just like Hopper, but that doesn't put him in any less risk of her finding out if she's seeking those answers.

I think the same is true for Hopper. I think the talk in the car was very "tomorrow, you will not come to the house, you will not call and talk on the phone all day, and you will do that the next day and the next and the next and some time after that we will see if I will-" as he said in that scene "-allow you to continue to date my daughter".

I think that whatever he said was a continuation of what we saw but not clearly convinced of Mike's "normalcy" of feelings towards El enough that Mike's obedience was not based in trying to prevent Hopper from wanting to dig any deeper into it (especially as a literal COP).

But yeah. I don't know what Hopper said but whatever it was, Mike still felt scared about being found out afterwards. Enough that he couldn't just do what he ABSOLUTELY did in season 1 episode 1 and just...defy Hopper for someone he loves.

Because as I stated in my recent post, Mike DOES love El. Which is why his avoidant behavior with her is so odd. I remember thinking on my first watch "why doesn't he just disobey Hopper?" And I was right. He was never that scared of Hopper, I mean, what could he have threatened that would scare Mike that much? It's not like Hopper threatened violence against him. He WAS scary and being yelled at is a valid fear and he has legal power but at the end of the day, it all comes back to the fact that Mike has directly disobeyed Hopper BEFORE. So why wouldn't he now?

Because there are stakes to what Hopper will do if he disobeys that weren't there last time. "He'll be mad and be motivated to do something based on that" is a valid general fear, but in character, his logic I feel would lean more towards that that is preventable, protectable, and reversible. What is he gonna do? Frame him? Like-

But do you know what can't be undone?

Say Mike defies Hopper and continues seeing El, openly or in secret. Say Hopper knows. Say Hopper continues to think Mike's behavior around El, which he continues to commit to spying on, is odd. Say his curiosity motivates him to think harder on it. Say he, a straight man, continues to say to himself "that's not how I act around women, nor is it how I acted around them as a teenager. It seems almost......PERFORMATIVE". Say he realizes. Say his protectiveness over his daughter drives him to tell her. His stress about the situation drives him to tell Joyce. He tells her in Melvald's, it's overheard. Say now the whole town knows. Say they have pitchforks. Say he's the next Eddie Munson.

Now the stakes are pretty fucking IRREVERSIBLY high, aren't they? Cats don't go back in bags.

[theshy1sout]

I just finished season 5 of lmk (and rewatched Claim to Flame with my bf, skipping freenoodle parts for pure dragonfruit content bc we could so we did) and I have a lot to say. Embrace yourself, this post is very chaotic.

I need subtitles only bc of Mei

Help me, why they yelled WHITE HORSE DRAGON GIRL FLAME PRINCE TEAM ATTACK in synch?? I mean, I'm not complaining, it's just such a short and catchy name I'm so shocked (I couldn't stop laughing)

"Everyone gets mech except for me" ~ Poor little mew mew, I mean Red Son

Love that the moment Red Son realized the puppy videos were from Mei he immediately started to catch up on them XD

Red Son willingly called Mei "Mad Dawg" (I'm crying)

I had to pause the episode when Mei said "My guy" it was too much it was too much I almost died from laughing xddd

They ate dragonfruit (AGAIN)

She left him her phone (AGAIN)

I need a collection of Mei :3 faces RIGHT NOW

WHY SHE CALLED HIM SON

"thats why we don't hang out!" "ah yes that's the reason why" XDDDDDD

I CANT BELIEVE THEY MADE ONE FILLER EPISODE AND IT WAS ALL ABOUT FREENOODLE AND DRAGONFRUIT

The season 3 red son entrance killed me (And then she hugged him what killed me more I can't, guys, I just can't, I watched this episode twice and I'm still crying with laugher why this is so HILARIOUS they literally just gave us dragonfruit episode, how we even deserve that???)

The rest of season was also good, I'm just i jus can't stop thinking about the Claim to Flame and the sexy Mei's mech why was it sexy and why red son was inside

I gotta make some dragonfruit gifs, I'll be right back

[nalyra-dreaming]

re: the scenes happening outside of Louis' knowledge, I think about this a lot! Another example's the shot of Lestat in s2e6 in front of the vanity mirror. Though it's possible that this (along w/ the scenes of the coven scheming, Estelle & Celeste visiting Roget etc) is Armand's memory, because ofc he was far more aware of these events than he's letting on! The rehearsal scene could be a glimpse into his memory too imho (albeit not one he's admitting to out loud!) or it's Louis' visualization of how he imagines it going down.

Even in s1 there were scenes that couldn't have been direct memories. The lamplighter guy getting killed in ep1 is presumably Louis' visualization based on educated guesswork, as is the shot of dumpster!stat grabbing the rat in ep7 - the latter wasn't described aloud to Daniel, we just saw the vision popping into Louis' head in the moment imho. The scene w/ Santiago in their apartment might've been the same; an impression Louis pieced together after the fact, not a true memory. It could even be a fake memory Armand placed in his head, bc as you said, stealing her diaries right then would be a dumb move & Claudia would've noticed. (Armand likely had many opportunities to discreetly peruse the diaries himself lol.)

Loumand's POVs blur into each other a bit in s2, this is probably a sign of Armand's control over the narrative. I'm sure most of what we see is Louis' memory and broadly true, but it's hard to know things aren't being altered (e.g. the ep6 cafe scene feels...wrong) or strategically removed.

Not sure about the ep5 telepathic convo, but either way I'm comforted Rolin was grilled about it beforehand. That indicates they have an explanation in mind & weren't just being careless!

Anyways I'll stop talking now, this one really ran away with me, sorry! I just find this such a fascinating topic.

No! All good, it is a very interesting and fascinating topic :)

I agree, there are a lot of scenes where the "tale" becomes very apparent, but the POV is muddied waters, so to say.

I think ultimately we will have to see how the shifts in the narrative play out from hereon - how will the cues we already got come into play in the upcoming seasons. I do think there are a lot already, and I do get why they wouldn't talk about them, nor lock themselves into a certain way of doing it all (the variety of cues Sam mentioned wrt the trial, for example).

It will be very interesting to see how the POVs.... hold up to "reality" as well, because there will be some rather interesting characters coming in now - and these characters shaped the view on other characters in turn.

I'm not quite ready to talk about it, but I think... there will be some interesting shifts and ... well, parallels coming in soon. We'll see.

But yes, very fascinating topic^^

And always on my mind when I rewatch, because there's just sooooooo many hints they put in.

[stgosupremacy]

Hi! I just wanna say I love ur blog! I like how you see and talk abt Goh's character ❤️

I know some people (mostly those toxic pokemon fans) REALLY don't like Goh, and it upsets me bc it feels like me and them watched a completely different character on screen.

What do you think about it? I just don't get how they can hate him!

omg hey fellow goh lover!!!!!! 🥰 i also just wanna say thank you for the lovelyyyy message because i ask the same question daily honestly

(sorry i had to use that the animation is too slick)

ANYWAY

it actually upsets me a lot too that people don't see the good in Goh! im glad you think the same <3

okay there's some instances (yes im saying this 💀) where even i think goh went a bit too far like even though i think it's sick he caught suicune i do get why people were so mad about it? but cmon that was a bit too much hate 😭

Ash hadn't caught any legendaries his entire journey so yeah Goh catching suicune at the early-ish start of his journey was....just a bit like oh ok wow even for me lmao but yk that topic will probably never calm down lets be honest

Then there's him just catching every pokemon without battling, that I also get why ppl are mad because I was rewatching the unova anime a few days ago and a lot of the episodes had an emphasis onbattling before catching, and you can say that goes for the rest of the pokemon anime after that too...up until journeys 😂

Goh is a bit of a rulebreaker in that instance, i get that, but if people hate him taking so much screentime for Ash

(heads up the episode where goh goes on vacation and meets tokio again is the 1st episode in the anime history without any scene of Ash in it at ALL which is pretty crazy)

then I'm sure we wouldn't want to see Goh battle e v e r y single pokemon he catches, like his goal is literally to catchem all as well BUT BUT THEN AGAIN, that arguement is pretty weak i guess, and i understand why people would be mad, but I really dont like when they genuinely just hate him excessively 😭😭

OKAY POSITIVES NOW THIS IS WHAT I THINK

His character development was really nice in my opinion, and I really like how he more often emphasised the fact the reason why he wanted to catch throughout the series, and he reeaaaally understood pokemon better and forged such nice relationships with all of them

(also i was a bit sad Ash didnt get any galar starters too but....im sorry i feel like they're too perfect with Goh im proud of him)

🥺💖

he's really adorable goofy sweet amazing incredible gay and literally the entire package there are those minute things about the pokemon catching yadayada but that basically is forgotten when i watch him on screen

gonna reinforce my point about how he is perfect with the Galar starters...im sorry but look at them.

(you cannot talk to me about the drizzle episodes I will literally start crying. Also the grookey errand episode and that hug. Omfg)

You can see how much he cares for his pokemon (all the hugs above omg stop 😔💖) and I wish other people would also see that 😭 😭

He's so sweet and kind now especially at the end when Ash finally managed to help open his heart to other people and also Ash himself 😛 😛 OK I told myself I wouldn't bring satogou into Goh's honour post but they're another reason I love Goh so much, they compliment each other so well and I couldn't think of anyone else more perfect for Ash I love them both 💗🥺 (... In case you hadn't noticed)

Then again, it's still opinion based ig, not gonna fight about it 💀

Sorry this was such a long response (but cmon what were yall expecting..) but I kind of felt like I was gonna do a post like this sometime soon so thank you for anyone who voluntarily read this long-ass rant about Goh and @louie-inc for asking the question too!! 💕 💯 💕 💯

[phantaloon]

listen listen

i know so many of yall will have complaints, which i personally will simply not pay attention to, bc personally this last episode was such a perfect adaptation

the fight with ares was phenomenal, and if you think for one second that it was underwhelming go back to reading the scene in the book, it was so fucking perfect, and percy's inexperience, and ares's slow showing off, and then the WAVE, and percy outsmarting ares and showing him he shouldn't have messed with him, im just !!! god i loved it

what takes the crown for me, is that sequence in olympus, from start to finish, a goddamn masterpiece, god fuck, lance riddick, rest in peace, but the TALENT the man displayed as zeus, the way he flawlessly showed off power with simply sitting in that chair and just standing, the ANGER when he attacks percy, the disbelief when poseidon shows up, he was so fucking good, god idk how anyone could portray zeus as easily as he did, and I'll miss him so much

and toby stephens too!! maybe it was my daddy issues, but poseidon surrendering, A GOD SURRENDERING, FOR HIS CHILD, "JUST SPARE MY SON"!!! and then the conversation with percy, god fuck, the raw emotion in his eyes, the PAIN when percy asks if he dreams of sally, i FELT THAT

and walker's acting, god he somehow has managed to accomplish the brown eyed puppy eyes with his big blue eyes, HE CAN PUT SO MUCH FEELING WITH JUST HIS EYES

and dont get me started on the betrayal of luke, both walker and charlie were amazing, and you can see how vulnerable luke looks already, even if little does he know that his fear, his pain, his manipulation is just getting started, the whole "im your friend percy, im not here to betray you", IT KILLED ME, the way he put so much feeling into it, god im crying

and annabeth being there! annabeth had to have known, bc why else would she lie about staying with chiron, why else not trust that they would be alright alone by themselves, the way she must have struggled so much with her inner feelings, bc she only fought back when Percy's life was genuinely in danger, she could have stopped the fight much earlier, but she couldn't make herself

and that ending 😭 them going their way, annabeth going back to her dad, percy going home, grover going on his search for pan, and PERCY proposing their pact to meet again in a year (he's definitely in for a surprise lmao), i fucking cried

and then meeting with sally, and SIKE, literally fucking taunting kronos like he's no big deal, and him calling kronos grandpa literally fucking killed me

i just need to say, yes, it wasn't perfect scene by scene from the book, it could have been more detailed, i would have loved more of annabeth, and no we didn't get the scorpion, but it was such a perfect adaptation

i get why everyone said this was the best episode, and i already know im going to rewatch the fuck about it, im genuinely so happy about it, i had such high expectations and this episode met every single one of them

tldr; percy jackson season 1, episode 8 is a masterpiece and you should definitely watch it <3

[astridthevalkyrie]

Re: Your strong feelings against Regina - I won't be hard pressed bc it won't change my opinion (sorry my love for her is too great) but I'm curious to read if you've rambled at all about why you dislike her so strongly?

LOLL i've done a few rambles over the years and i tend to hatepost whenever i rewatch clips but i don't think i've ever done like a full on explanation on why. and yes please feel free to love her! idc how anyone feels about a fictional character.

some stuff i do like about her: lana parilla is obv very talented and pretty, her and jmo have rlly good chemistry, sometimes her one liners are super funny ("the entire charming family and their pirate mascot" is fucking hilarious i wish she said more stuff like that).

but tldr—she did way too many bad things and never properly redeemed herself for them.

in the first two seasons she does, like, incredibly bad stuff LMAO, including but not limited to: ruining snow's life after killing her dad, killing entire villages, casting the curse and the subtle ways she tortures snow in it, abusing henry (who is in therapy because he's told he's "crazy" for saying that he's aging while everyone else stays the same age), sacrificing children to the blind witch, the entire situation with graham (that she never confesses to, emma never finds out), trying to poison emma after emma tells her she's already leaving because she couldn't stand emma being in henry's life at all, separating the mad hatter from his daughter in the curse even though the last time they saw each other the mad hatter helped her and she betrayed him+making him remember his real self for some extra bout of torture, kills a little boy's dad bc the dad didn't want to drop his entire life and move into town so that she could fulfill her sudden dreams of motherhood, then later taunts that boy when he's an adult about how she killed his dad.

and what happened to her with daniel and cora's abuse is definitely really bad, it just doesn't even come close to justifying any of this for me. she didn't need to marry snow's dad. she gets rid of cora and sends her to wonderland before she's married. she stays because she likes the feeling of magic and the idea of being queen (rumple is obviously a huge part of why she turned out the way she did, "hooking" her on a magic which ouat tries to compare to drug use, but the murderous intent was in her before she even met him).

and then her redemption. hooo boy. it starts in season 2, with her just deciding not to actively do harm because she wants henry to love her. not a bad start. then she tries to destroy the well that snow and emma want to come back from (to be fair, she does this to stop cora, but she knows emma and snow dying is a possibility and is very cool with this bc it'll make her henry's only mom). she then is upset that everyone in town isn't automatically cool with her, for some reason gets credit for "saving" snow and emma (from a trap! that she! set!), and when cora does come back, she teams up with her. like. the lady who actually killed daniel and ruined regina's life. that lady. teams up with her. stands by as her mother kills snow's nanny even though they already got what they wanted. and THEN she's angry that snow had the nerve to do to cora what regina's done to dozens of people and kill her.

and then for the rest of the show there's just no point where there's time for regina's redemption because they're always dealing with the next villain. peter pan, then zelana, then the snow queen, so on and so forth. at some point she's just decided to be redeemed and anyone who argues with that point either changes their mind or is portrayed by the narrative as a villain. some of her one liners that a lot of the fandom think are so cool make me beyond angry LMAO like she tells david "i will not be given parenting advice by a man who shipped his daughter off in a box" GIRL??? BECAUSE OF YOU??? the show continuously pushes the blame onto snow and david (but especially snow) for giving emma up as though they had a choice. regina knew about rumple's prophecy. she knew snow and charming's daughter would break the curse. she was not gonna let that baby live if snow and charming hadn't sent her away.

snow and charming and emma's characters are all completely turned into dust for her too. emma is forced to grovel because she brought back a woman from the past that regina wrongfully executed bc it happens to be maid marian. snow and charming do uncharacteristic "evil" things so that they can be like "see! they're all good and bad!" when even ooc snow and charming's worst doesn't compare to regina's best.

[namtanlovesfilm]

axelle judges bl shows > Bokura No Shokutaku

summary: Yutaka lives a lonely, boring salaryman life, which lightens up once he meets little boy Tane and his older brother Minoru, who bring him into their lively family life.

where to watch: dramacool

grade: 8,5/10

pros:

this is SUCH a heartfelt show. it's quiet and subtle, but talks about trauma quite extensively & truly allows its characters to FEEL. which makes it immediately in the best jbls I've seen bc it is a love story but it's also more than that & is highly relatable just for that. the writing truly is beautiful & near perfect in my opinion!

the acting is excellent, and I truly felt everything the characters were feeling on screen & much more. minoru's actor has some serious heart eyes on him!!! the kid who plays tane also did an amazing job & was adorable!

similarly, the chemistry was really, really good, and didn't feel awkward at all (unless it was needed, that post-confession conversation in the café still haunts me with how good it is!)

the pace is really good! I feel like some of the episodes kinda felt similar in the beginning, being just yutaka going over to minoru's place for a hang out with tane, but apart from that I think the show utilized its screentime almost perfectly & it was a really engaging show from beginning to end, even with its slower, more contemplative quality!

the characters are so fucking endearing AHHHHH!!! I also was really glad to see there's not that many characters & none of them is truly horrible or "the villain" (even yutaka's brother who gets redeemed eventually), bc they got to be developed quite a lot & really made me attached to them.

cons:

the first episodes aren't super deep or focused on the love story which makes the second part of the show more powerful to me, but at the same time I didn't feel too bored or like I'd stop watching, and in fact only made me want to keep watching even more.

would I rewatch it: yes!

I'm gonna be honest, I started this show expecting it to be very mediocre, but instead I absolutely enjoyed every second of it & it way surpassed my every expectations! I honestly couldn't recommend it more, it's not too long, sweet, extremely well written, heals its characters' trauma & has an absolutely beautiful love story!

[charlieconwayy]

Just curious what you don't like about Cory/Topanga if you feel like talking about it!

hey, i don't mind!

first off i think boy meets world in the context of just a purely heterosexual show makes it age pretty poorly, and that all stems from cory and topanga. i know one of the writers said a while back that the writers room was torn between shory and corpanga, and tbh, rewatching as an adult, that's extremely evident. i'm not gonna make this post all about shory bc that's reductive but i am first and formost a shory girl and a firm believer that cory matthews is a gay man

so let's get into it.

i really really love s1/2 corpanga. idk if it's just bc ben/danielle felt more natural back then or if it's bc they actually allowed cory to be wrong and topanga to be right, but it's just so sweet. one of my all time fav ship moments from the show is the frickin sock basketball scene where they touch hands and he giggles. so adorable! but i think what really makes them suffer after s1 (and kind of s2) is just that they clearly made topanga a normal, kelly kapowski girl-next-door type to make her more "desirable" for the male audience. that could be an entire separate post, but it's so fucking obvious that that's what the change was and it sucks because topanga was great the way she was.

they're not like hatable in season 3 exactly, but the "old married couple haha look how old gross and boring they are" trope when they were legitimately sophomores was just weird? and this is a retrospect thing but i hate how the show just kept retconning shit and pretended they never broke up in season 3, as if a HUGE storyline and one of the most iconic episodes (the happiest place on earth) wasn't about them getting back together? and for me just the concept of the ~universe wanting them to be together~ over and over again is just so fucking lame when they were so toxic. (great video on this here)

they really don't do anything wrong in season 4 either, but a long walk to pittsburgh is honestly so beyond ridiculous LMAO. i know everyone talks about how romantic it is, but i hate it because topanga literally runs away and moves back to philly just for cory. i know they claim it's to finish at john adams too, but i would find that much more believable if they had developed topanga AT ALL outside of cory. we know almost nothing about her home life and they wrote trini out so we never even see any friends of hers! the trend of them fighting and talking down to amy about their love is so fucking stupid too. like you are sixteen. it is fine to love someone and want to be with someone, but amy is right that it's not healthy for them to be as obsessed with each other as they are. like cory literally doesn't know who he is outside of topanga and that's NOT healthy.

oh lordy. s5. i'm not going to get into how much i hate that shawngela (a MUCH happier, more interesting relationship) was reduced to "wanting to be corpanga" in both their intro episode and then fucking gmw, but even the "old married couple" stuff in "chasing angela" at the restaurant is so annoying. "last tango in philly" is one of my fav episodes, but it's the perfect example of how cory can never accept he's wrong. shawn tries to tell him they should stop, and he just tells shawn he knows nothing about relationships and keeps being a dick about topanga and her (obviously gay) friend. but obviously, you're here to hear about how i feel about the cheating. yes, cory cheated and he genuinely liked lauren. for the show to act like he didn't is just gaslighting their audience. and tbh? i think ben and linda cardellini had excellent chemistry (certainly more than he and danielle did at that point . . .) and i think it's completely healthy to date more than one person! it was nice seeing cory be able to open up and bond with someone else, and yes, what he did was cheating. just bc he changed his mind and decided he "couldn't live without topanga" (bless u probably queer writer for what u did w that line :') ) doesn't mean that it didn't happen. topanga had EVERY right to break up with him. it does piss me off that we barely saw topanga's reaction to the breakup when there was a whole ep dedicated to shawn's reaction (and i say that as the #1 shawn stan), but that show hated women lbfr. AND WHY TF WAS IT BAD FOR HER TO KISS JONATHAN JACKSON WHEN SHE AND CORY WERE BROKEN UP????? bc cory can't accept things not going his way and not having control. the "we are a masterpiece" scene makes me so fucking angry omg i cannot

and i mean, bro, the yale shit has been talked about to death, but topanga lawrence going to the same college as straight d-student shawn hunter has got to be the dumbest, most woman-hating shit the show ever did. love can survive long distance if you put the effort in, trust me. (yes i am aware that the show prob didn't want to separate their main couple, but s6 was almost entirely about shawn anyway so????)

then in seasons 6 and 7 we get into the "cory yelling at and publicly humiliating topanga" trend. "undapants" is iconic so i'm not gonna go into that episode (fuck you "take her back to your tornado infested trailer park" line!), but i can name at least seven occasions where cory pressures her into sex. and rider strong is right. it was extremely holier than thou how they constantly made it seemed like corpanga was better than shawngela for not fucking before marriage. like isn't there a line where they call shawngela sluts in s7? the whole honesty bit in "the truth about honesty" (admittedly one of my fav eps) is also just ridiculous bc both of them always get pissed off at the other one for being honest, even in the past. i've seen people get mad at topanga for throwing yale in cory's face but lbr, who didn't see that coming? i guess maybe it's a little weird bc she'd never been resentful about it before, but that's a HUGE thing in their relationship. and yes, it is weird that she's using his razor without his permission but again just the pressuring her to show him her ass is also fucking weird (it's also weird imo that they've been together "their whole lives" but they've only ever kissed, but again, holier than thou bullshit)

one thing i can say about how weak and uninteresting their relationship actually is is that their ENTIRE wedding episode is about shory, bc they are the much more compelling dynamic in cory's life. weirdly enough, i do actually really like cory's vows though?? on a shawn hunter stan note, oblig "that best man speech was bullshit" comment. it's completely normal and healthy to have a best friend outside of your partner? especially when you can't be honest with your partner. god i fucking hate that bullshit. just like how i hate in "seven the hard way/the war" how they portray cory abandoning his best friend/true life partner for topanga AND THEN IN FUCKING GMW THE BAD FUTURE FOR EVERYONE LITERALLY CAME TRUE!!!!!!! omg i will go insane if i think about that for longer than a few seconds.

end of post, but leaving this here

[yukipri]

The Bad Batch Season 2 - Mid-Season Eps 7 & 8 Spoilers & Thoughts

Ranted it out on twitter last night and forgot to share here.

LOT of thoughts this time

Major Spoilers beneath cut!

Really trully phenomenal writing, so much more than I expected to be said so explicitly. Open discussion of clones' rights, their futures, their lack of personhood under both the Republic and the Empire, even the threat of decommissioning.

What we always knew, what we wanted explicitly addressed in mainstream canon, stated by the clones themselves. Truly ecstatic about these episodes.

Absolutely loved the confirmation that yes, this is what Rex has been doing all along. We saw it implied with Gregor in S1, but it's so good to see it clearly stated, and to see him in action. It makes me hope he got Cody out too.

It also made me crave a show dedicated entirely to this fight. I once again understand and am okay with the TBB centering solely around the Batch. But it's hard not to be anxious knowing what all the other clones are facing. Which makes me understand Echo even more.

Echo's decision. I knew it would come to a boiling point, trusted it would. I'd hoped that Echo would convince Hunter + co to care, but they have their own priorities. I love Echo more bc he decided he couldn't walk away.

He said that his place was with the Batch, and I like to think that he found some kind of home with them. But unlike the rest of them, he sees the rest of the clones as his brothers too. I hope this isn't the last we see of him, but I know he is loved and respected with Rex.

These episodes were a wealth of nostalgic locations, and seeing each one caused such a beautiful ache. I love all the lush new planets explored in the other episodes, but Coruscant felt like coming home.

The specific locations: 79s, the Senate building, Riyo's room that looks so much liked Padmé's, the Martez sisters' place, the clone memorial, the lower levels, even the star destroyer, the stunning of the troops specifically evoking S7's finale. Everything the same but different.

We didn't get to see all of these places with the new graphics, bc TCW S7 only had 4 arcs and TBB S1 covered a lot of newer locations. But gosh what a treat. It was all so beautiful, both aesthetically and metaphorically. Defs need to rewatch so many times to truly appreciate.

Rampart's fall surprised me, bc I did feel he's the lone Big Bad of the show so far, the true embodiment of anti-clone. He's done a lot of unforgivable things and having Palps lock him up isn't satisfying, even if it was surprising. I unfortunately doubt that's the last we've seen of him, though who knows. I admittedly don't care too much either way, but if he's gone, it'll be interesting to see who steps into the next "main antag" shoes, bc I doubt it's Palps himself.

IAN MCDIARMID.

TRULY THE KING.

(or should I say, Emperor)

RIYO.

I'm so glad to see her again

(also, apparently I've been saying her first name wrong all this time??? Am I the only one who's been saying Ree-yo when it apparently shoulda been Rai-yo?)

Rex had his tiddies uncovered the whole time and I was so concerned he'd get shot. i mean he's the only chara guaranteed to live, and I'm also glad he's got a better disguise, but dear please wear some protection

(but yeah ngl it's nice that we got to see him armorless with the beefier new model. I am still remembering TCW Saleucami and thinking my gosh this man is a STICK he is STARVED they ALL ARE. I am always for adding more beef to clones.)

Really curious where they're going with the chips brainwashing the clones. Both Rex and Wrecker appeared conscious of the whole time they were under, trying and unable to stop and remembering it afterwards.

Yet other clones seem to be gradually "waking up," even though many of them likely should have been equally horrified at the moment O66 went live. Rex and the Batch aren't exceptions being Good Guys, the vast majority of the clones are extremely loyal and honorable.

Makes me wonder if after an extended time under the chip's control, that feeling of wrongness/fighting against it fades, until it seems the new ordinary? But then the more time passes, the Order weakens, and they're able to feel more discrepancies, hence the desertions?

The clone assassin definitely seemed super "under" an Order, extremely Off and not himself, like what I'd imagine a freshly O66 clone to be like. Which makes me further curious that Rampart had him (and presumably more like him) under his control. We'll have to see!

But yeah, to conclude: Cody didn't die! (didn't show up!) Named clones I cared about too much in the few minutes we had them DID die and I am still sad but, it could have been worse.

Also huh, not even a glimpse of Crosshair? (feeling a wee bit bad for his fans, that out of the first 8 eps, he's only in one of them...hopefully the next one will be about him ^ ^; )

[chirpsythismorning]

Your last post is amazing and I want to share with you that I had a similar journey when it comes to shipping byler.

I first watched the show when season 2 had just come out in 2017, and I was a hardcore milkvan shipper (I was 13 and I didn't know any better and lacked critical thinking skills lmao). While watching season 3 for the first time I noticed Will being gay (I gasped at the rain fight scene), but just like you I assumed milkvan would be endgame. After watching the infamous last milkvan kiss in the last episode, I was left with a weird feeling about it for the next week but I was never able to put my finger on what exactly had felt so wrong in that scene.

Like you, I also have never shipped ships where I didn't notice that there was clear buildup towards endgame (I even watched outer banks for the first time earlier this year and a lot of the fandom swears there has been jiara buildup from the first season, but I know that's not true and the only scene I can identify as true buildup is in the last episode of season 2). However, two years ago I began studying film and how it works, first in highschool and last year in college. I learned a lot about visual storytelling and I also gained an incredible amount of media literacy. Exactly a year ago, a month before vol 1 came out, I was bored and decided to rewatch the whole 3 seasons.

With my older age now and my better understanding of cinematography and narrative, I stopped liking milkvan in the first season because of the born sexy yesterday trope, but I also began to notice how Mike was surrounded by queer coding, both narratively and by the framing of his scenes with Will (the hand hold close up hello). Then I got to the end of season 3, watched that kiss again... and I noticed Mike's eyes were full open and the closet (Wills closet!) door was perfectly dividing Mike and El as if there was a wall between them. That's how, years after, I realized why that scene had felt so wrong to me the first time I watched it. I saw that boy was gay.

However, I was still skeptical precisely because I never fell for queer coding. But I went onto to Tumblr and I decided to read byler theories. I went in with an open mind and I realized that it made perfect sense and it was set up way too perfectly, so it couldn't be a coincidence, either it was queer waiting or true.

I went into vol 1 so excited, I noticed Mike's queer coding on episode 1 alone was SO heavy (I went 🤨 with his bedroom posters and one way sign, the way he looked at Eddie, the people he wanted to ask to be subs in Hellfire...). Then when he dropped the famous "were friends, were friends!" that's when I knew they were going there. And they I saw that he couldn't say I love you to El? That was the moment I smiled widely, and ever since that moment, I've known byler is endgame and I've never had a single doubt ever again. Not even in the aftermath of volume 2. I knew Mike's speech being based on the painting attributed to El when it's actually Wills mimicked the plot of many teenage early 2000s movies (yes I was the girl who wrote you that love letter not her, I'm the one who actually loves you like that... And then boom they always end together). Then, El wasn't speaking to him, and I saw the last shot with the couples standing together. I knew that it was intentional for them to be positioned that way, and at this point I knew it wasn't queerbaiting

YES!

It's so cool to hear other bylers experiences with being introduced to all the evidence and just hearing about similar experiences in general!

I feel like a lot of bylers are just sort of lumped in with this naive stereotype of someone who always falls for queer-bait? Like we kind of just get lumped into it when the circumstances for Byler are completely different than the queer-bait ships that came way before.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a frequent queer-baitee. There literally isn't. Especially bc queer-baiting is referring to instances when a queer non-canon pairing is supported by the fans and the creators sort of humor it while knowing full well it won't happen?

Obviously times are changing at like lightening speed.

For example Stranger Things came out in 2016 and tbh 2016 is a completely different era of representation that 2023. 2016 was like the end of the queer-baiting era almost, give or take a few years. As we got closer to the 2020's, we started to see more queer rep that I feel like wasn't very overtly obviously queer-bait, but often queer characters at the forefront as the main or being more than just another example of the 'bury your gays' trope.

Also I took film classes in high school and I'm now majoring in film studies! So that was also something that no doubt had a massive impact on my perspective of things changing throughout that time from s1 to s4's release as well!

Even despite that I am a little bit slow about catching onto things, and so like it doesn't even matter that I have extra terminology under my belt or something. For example, I have a sister who hates movies, but when I do manage to convince her to watch a movie or show that I think she'll like, she'll notice stuff I didn't notice upon watching for the first time, while I on the other hand didn't notice that detail until like my 3rd rewatch. And it seriously pisses me off so much!!!!! She doesn't even appreciate her gift!

I remember watching s4 with her, and literally having no knowledge of anything outside of half paying attention while watching, she was like, Mike's pocket looks like an arrow... And I just looked at her completely silent and had to look away like seriously fuck you I had to go online and hear hundreds of bylers obsessing over it to think about it that way. But that's also just us as a fandom seeing stuff simultaneously and figuring it out together. Maybe I would've figured out the arrow pocket myself if I had actually not been exposed to the flurry of theories while s4 was promoted and released.

Still, it just goes to show that while yes extra knowledge about film is extremely helpful, like very helpful obviously, someone without any experience can be capable of picking up on things you missed regardless. And I do love that because it's just a reminder that no matter peoples bias' we can work together and figure shit out.

Also why I sometimes still enjoy lurking reddit bc they can be smart, and even a homophobes POV can come in handy bc I feel like they are avoiding the gay subtext at all costs so they're able to focus on things that we might overlook?

I do notice that a lot of people treat bylers like they are pervs and need to stop shipping boys together bc it's just not going to happen and we shouldn't be crying queer-bait, or this or that?

But like, first of all, it's half-canon my friend. One of the characters is, in canon, in love with the other. And there's still one more season left. And the other character has no idea that the other character is in love with them...

That doesn't happen bro. It just doesn't.

And not only that but, we were obviously milkvans at one point... I personally skipped entire episodes for those bitches...

And yet, even despite that, I also noticed something off between them just like 90% of the ga did before even looking up theories or picking up on byler fully.

This isn't a case of a bunch of people shipping two boys for shits and giggles (and even if it was, who fucking cares).

What's happening on Stranger Things is not something that happens, ever. You don't make the main couple become this pairing that the audience is indifferent to in the 3rd and 4th season, practically repeating the same storyline of them being incompatible, only to make their love for each other fail at saving the day... and with unresolved feelings between the main guy and his best friend being unaddressed... It's not a thing.

If more fans realized that this isn't even about shipping and it's just about literally paying attention beyond seeing what you want to see, then they'd understand where we're coming from. I shipped Milkvan but it's clear to me that the story is trying to convey they are not right for each other. I'm not going to hold onto a romantic relationship between two characters who met when they were like 12 and were sort of pressured into being romantic instantly, just bc love at first sight or something? That's stupid. If it was built up more satisfying, and if Will wasn't there being in love with Mike and with Mike clearly holding similar feelings then it wouldn't be what it clearly is. A fucking story that is clearly heading in the direction of a straight-bait/endgame main queer couple.

[baelatargaryen]

overall thoughts on s2?

ah. well. 😔 you know. i have so much to say really and generally, you can kinda tell how i feel about a season from how much i gif it versus how much i don't and same for each episode and character lmao. sorry for how long this is gonna be, i'm gonna split it up into general thoughts and then more character based thoughts:

overall:

if i had to sum up hotd s2, i would say two things come to mind immediately. the first is that, even with the show's heavy handed writing, i couldn't as an audience member understand where this season really was culminating. for me, there was an overall lack of tension that really drove towards a finale, in some sense it's a season that cuts short of where it should be going bc of the hbo limiting them to 8 episodes.

my other perspective is that, s1 gets a lot of flack for its speed and the significant jumps we make for characters, and yet i felt that this season actually did a far worse job juggling the appropriate amount of screen-time but also remaining consistent to the character's core motivations.

the 8 episode limitation i do think affected them for some characters. there are jumps in character motivations that are essentially a flick of a switch with no lead-up, certain storylines are really left loose and not tied up or fully reach a conclusion.

but more than that, the 8 episode limitation doesn't really matter. yes, it's limited screentime but it's still 8 hours of screentime. i've seen shows with that amount, or less, that have done a more coherent job with just better writing. ik a lot of people take issue with the show not having more "action" or battles (and some of it is probably valid!) but for me the prevalent issues where with character writing, allotting screen time and pacing.

overall, season 1 > season 2. for me, personally.

my favourite episodes were 2, 6, & 4. i do think they kinda messed up b&c but on rewatch i enjoyed it fine, still think there were some weird beats in it but phia does an amazing job. i think ep 7 was very well done but i'm not sold on the direction they're going with rhaenyra yet. weakest episodes for me were 3 & 8.

characters under cut:

warning: lot of criticism below so if you don't want to read negativity just stop here bc it's mainly me ranting about the bits i didn't like. tldr; aegon - best writing of the season, aemond & alicent - weakest writing of the season. that's not intended as character hate, it's intended as criticism of how the characters are written and utilised this season.

daemon:

i would have cut the harrenhal storyline. i know people like it, but what at first is a surprise to the audience quickly loses its luster when the contents of daemon's vision are nothing more than rehashing his season 1 storyline. and in a season of 8 episodes, you don't have time to waste somehow relitigating the same thing you have since your PILOT. it's really a fault of s1's writing for kinda putting daemon aside post episode 5, but even then what's the point? i have an issue with the harrenhal plotline because it's not believable — as an audience member, i don't expect daemon to betray rhaenyra and i don't buy that he will. the contents of the vision and daemon's reaction to them make it clear it is an obstacle for him to overcome, a lesson to learn let's say, rather than true temptation. in the meantime, the action in the riverlands stagnates and daemon is essentially made to look incompetent — rather than being able to muster an army for rhaenyra after the mistake of b&c and prove himself to her via his own actions, he loses their support, is essentially schooled by a 14(?) year-old and then an army amasses just in time for him to wake out of the visions which somehow (even when they're direct parallels or mirrors to scenes which took place in REAL life) have a more significant impact on him than, say, oh idk, the very real argument he had with his wife in episode 2.

rhaenyra/alicent/rhaenys/helaena:

this constant need to circle back to this show's primary understanding of women in power being "women are actually peacemakers who avoid bloodshed at all cost, and it's men who are driven to reckless violence and war" is actually regressive af and i don't care to see it. am i here to watch a tragedy or not, because if so the show needs to allow these elements play out for it to feel like one.

rhaenyra & alicent, & even more so rhaenys, are just pigeonholed into these women desirous of peace even when it's at the cost of the people they are supposed to LOVE most in their lives, and in doing so they no longer feel like relatable characters to the audience at times. this show is 10x better when it's female characters are allowed to be ugly, to rage and to be vengeful instead of becoming a living soapbox for the writers' "stop the violence" shtick. and helaena is right there along with them, phia saban is amazing during b&c (even if they managed to fuck that up too), and episode 2 as well, only for her grief to be resolved by episode 3 and then. then, the most staggering of all, by episode 8 her story culminates in a vision where she is bran-stark 2.0, all-knowing with her powers controlled (who knows how) but also more of a plot-device than a fully fledged character, there to apparently TELL daemon what to do (just like alys ofc, cause who knows what her backstory or motivation is. certainly not us).

i liked alicent and rhaenyra's relatonship in s1. it was fine. did i think it could cause potential issues down the line, yeah i did and i wasn't fully happy with the effect of aging down alicent to be a child-bride and a victim of marital rape, but i took it in stride. but this was their backstory. and that's how it should remain. we have 8 episodes of limited screentime, and really, if they had at least stuck with the actual friends-to-enemies that i assumed was the intent, it would be fine bc guess what — there IS a reunion in the book that they could have adapated perfectly fine. but instead, we are treated to not one, but TWO, two! reunions which are nonsensical, but more than that, are honestly...insultingly bad? i re-watched s1 directly before s2, and i also rewatched the first two episodes of s2 at one point and i have to say after episode 2 of s2, the show feels markedly different. even rhaenys death doesn't really have the impact it should? the characters just. don't act like themselves at times, and idk what it is - the lack of a court environment? the lack of domesticity and characters being separated? dialogue that is driven more by s1 plot points than what just occured last episode?

alicent. well. idk what to say. the amount of screentime that is given with giving olivia nothing to do is awful. it's three times the screen-time aemond gets for example. i'll say no more bc ik people love alicent and olivia, but the writing for alicent was appallingly bad this season - truly a disservice to the character. abandoning larys & alicent's relationship was a mistake, as she no longer even attempts to cling onto power, and once otto leaves in episode 2 there's no one for her character to essentially play off of, leaving for the most lackluster of writing. oh well.

idc about those reunions at all. i was kinda taken aback by having two, which i think undercut each other tbh, but i knew at least one would happen. and i expected the tension and energy of 'driftmark' not whatever this was. and the acting couldn't save it for me, alas.

aegon/aemond/criston/gwayne:

aegeon received the best writing this season by far. i would say its a marked improvement from the writing in s1; aegon still feels like a continuation of s1!aegon (pathetic, a drunk, incompetent and crude), but given more depth and range, with a storyline that takes him from an incompetent king, all the way through his grief, to realising he is nothing more than a pawn to his family, and to the betrayal at rook's rest after which changes him significantly and sets the stage for the third season. aegon & larys' relationship too is a standout, because it's the only part of the show that bothers with political intrigue the way it's predecessor did. the rest is abandoned.

aemond is given. well. almost no writing or screentime! i'm not really a big fan of aemond in many ways (if i could be more honest, i really don't care for him at all), but really, the guy has barely any more screen-time than he does in s1, even though he's not only a) partially responsible for the outbreak of this war (cutting the f&b scene where he informs his family was insanity.), but b) literally becomes REGENT in episode 5. the brothel plotline as an aside to justify his betrayal of aegon was unnecessary tbh, it dislocated him from the main plotline. for those first 3 episodes he feels like he has no presence in a story, even after b&c has happened. he literally commits the act of burning an entire town (sharp point) off screen. we don't see it! only the aftermath!

criston, criston, criston. tbh, i was pleasantly surprised by criston at certain points of the season (i do think he had more screentime than he should have though) — he is a FAR better and more interesting character once you remove him from the confines of the red keep. putting him opposite someone like gwayne made for much better screentime than his lackluster, completely passionless romance with alicent.

speaking of which, i thought alicole would at the very least has some effect — lying to aegon's face about what happened during b&c, helaena finding out, larys figuring it out. but no. the only confrontation comes from gwayne of all people as cole sniffs a handkerchief, and which is of no consequence. so much for 'political intrigue' right.

gwayne: a welcome addition and freddie fox is brilliant. that's all.

jace/baela/rhaena/corlys/dragonseeds/mysaria....and etc:

jace after aegon is the most consistently written character imo. harry did a good job for the most part i think, you feel that jace has gone from a teenager to someone on the cusp of adulthood, a dutiful heir, stricken by insecurity and affected by his brother's loss but also who deeply desires to fight for his mother and his own claim after hers. i wish we spent a bit more time with him in the north or the vale, but at least we know he went and achieved something, plus the idea of the dragonseeds comes from him — he definitely stepped into his own this season.

baela & rhaena: should have both received more screentime. baela's scene with corlys was good, i wish more of the scenes centred around baela's feelings as opposed to jace but i did like it even if it felt a bit overacted at times. as for rhaena? phoebe is such a good actor (honestly a standout in the minor screentime she gets), but gets so little writing even now. i can only hope we actually see rhaena claim sheepstealer and that it isn't another scene relegated to offscreen.

corlys: steve is one of the best actors in the show and he is underutilised this season imo. he is confined to that shipyard, and although his interactions with alyn are well-written, it still leaves him removed from the rest of the action. he teleports between there and dragonstone, but it's not until the last episode that you really get the sense that he's rhaenyra's hand even though he has been since episode 5 — he should have been present at dragonstone much more and earlier, and addam and alyn moved to dragonstone earlier to allow for more interaction too imo.

mysaria: clearly not her book counterpart, but i enjoyed her story this season a lot. do i think it's a bit on the nose the way mysaria speaks of rhaenyra as a cue for the audience but i'm hopeful it goes in a more interesting and nuanced depiction and in the meantime, i enjoyed their screentime

dragonseeds: meh. honestly, hugh's backstory is very cliche and i found his wife a far more interesting character but maybe that's just me, at the very least he's likeable and GETS a backstory. idc about ulf, at all bc idk who he is and his sole trait atm is being irreverent and in a story where you are personally attached to the characters he is insulting it doesn't make you sympathetic to him really (which is fine), but i would have rather seen rhaena claim sheepstealer which we built up all season, than watch ulf fly on silverwing for the simple purpose of having aemond see it so that he can become aware of rhaenyra's dragonseeds.

who gives a fuck about the triarchy and how jason lannister got them btw. just have that first meeting, even the 2nd mud fighting one okay but a THIRD scene in which he sings and gets asked to fuck someone's wives? this is a narrative choice that's being made, they could have just as easily had the triarchy capitulate and side with jason, but instead i'm treated to his aside of adventures in essos which would be fine but it's the FINALE and we need for these stories to culminate and you are giving me almost (almost) got-level writing.

anyways. sorry for all of this. i don't mean it to be hateful it's just me ranting 😭😭😭

[averys-happy-space]

miri's anxious attachment style in ep 2

this post ended up being WAY longer than planned so everythings going under the read more but i promise this is like, more than just the insane ramblings of an obsessed fan. tldr; miri got attached to kazuki and rei so quickly bc she's been heavily neglected by misaki and it shows. and also misaki's life is a fucking tragedy.

so im rewatching bd in prep for the last ep and i noticed something. in ep 2, at the beginning, kazuki and rei go out to see kyu to ask about miri's origins and where her mom is. in doing so, they leave miri in the house alone, and miri has no qualms about this. kazuki simply has to turn on the tv show and miri happily dances along, allowing them to leave without resistance.

when they come home, she's turned the place upside down. when kazuki and rei find miri upstairs, she's playing hide & seek and says kazuki is it now before running away, with kazuki chasing after her. then, it cuts to them having dinner and miri, again, prompts kazuki to play hide and seek with her which he (unwillingly) obliges. though once kazuki moves back to discussing work with rei, miri makes an angry pout (its really cute lol).

the next day, when they try to leave, miri is suddenly very very attached and refuses to let them go. despite kazuki's bribe of sodas and sweets, she makes a big fuss, crying loudly enough to attract a neighbour to check on them. this is a stark contrast to the day before where she was satisfied to stay at home with just the tv running.

this is a very depressing thought, but i think miri got so attached so quickly because it was the first time in her life that she's ever been shown attention beyond what was necessary. misaki likely never played with miri or showed any interest in entertaining her beyond just putting on the tv so miri would stop bothering her, hence why initially miri was so easily subdued by the tv show. however, now that she's with kazuki, he's suddenly showing her tons of attention, chasing her all around the house and playing hide and seek with her. he's very good, too, as rei points out, which means miri never has to wait in one spot for long periods of time. if miri ever asked misaki to play hide and seek, it's likely misaki would send her off to hide and then just... leave, instead of looking for her, because she couldn't be bothered. so kazuki being so good at seeking makes it that much more fun, because miri's never been found before.

and when it's the first time ever that you've been shown so much attention, after being deprived of it for your entire life, it's no wonder miri got so attached so quickly. even though kazuki wasn't willingly playing hide and seek with her - he was just trying to catch her to make her sit still - he still played, which is likely more than can be said for misaki. which explains why, when kazuki and rei try to leave the next day, miri is suddenly a sobbing mess demanding to follow them. she doesn't want to lose this attention. it's new and it's nice and it's fun, so of course she makes a fuss. she's scared if she lets them leave, they might not come back. she might lose this little bit of fun that she's gotten.

this does, of course, reflect very badly on misaki and just adds more evidence to the fact that she was likely a neglectful parent. and to some degree, i get it. i know misaki's life massively sucked and she probably just didn't have the energy to play with miri, especially since miri is so lively and energetic all the time and misaki was probably working herself down to the bone trying to provide for the two of them, while also getting the shit beaten out of her by her abusive boyfriend. but it's just so... tragic.

like, man. when misaki says in ep 11 that she's sorry for making miri so lonely to the point of becoming attached to kazuki and rei, yes it's selfish and dismissive but it's also right. miri was lonely and she did become overly attached too quickly. it literally only took a single day. but that doesn't diminish the fact that kazuki and rei gave miri more attention than misaki ever did in the past, and they gave her a happier life than misaki could, and miri's bond with them became so much deeper than her love for misaki.

and that breaks my damn heart!!!!! god. i do believe that, if misaki had been more secure and comfortable, she could've given miri a happier life. but she didn't have that. and it's a fucking travesty. because i know if miri did have that happy life, if misaki's life had been successful and fulfilling, if she'd been able to provide for the two of them, then miri never would have met kazuki and rei. misaki's suffering was necessary to push miri's life in this direction. and it's just.!!!! my heart is broken, it's been torn into a thousand pieces, and it's been irreparably damaged by this god damn show.

man. i never caught this before, this is literally my 3rd time watching the show. but i remember reading a post about miri's anxious attachment style - which i wanted to reblog with all these thoughts but i couldn't find it ): - and it made me become more aware of this idea of miri having an anxious attachment style. which is the reason i watched miri's behaviour more closely on this rewatch and ended up noticing the change in her attitude. these subtleties in the writing go so deep and it's all thanks to reading tons of tumblr analysis that i've become more attentive to what's being portrayed in bd. and it's just made me appreciate the show so much more.

anyway who hype for the last ep of bd!!! (im not. im so not fucking ready. i dont want the show to end......... im literally gonna cry and i know it)

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

hsmtmts s4 spoilers ahead!

so i actually liked hsmtmts season 4. and i never expected to be saying that. from the trailers, i was worried the high school musical 4 plotline would take over and make the story too crowded. i thought they would focus too much on new characters. i had my problems with how portwell was handled and how EJ's plotline was handled in season 3. i was scared they would turn EJ into this guy who peaked in high school. i thought half of the theatre kids would be missing.

but i've never been happier to be wrong. yes, it took me a second to warm up to this season (though I'm looking forward to rewatching it and seeing how these thoughts change) and some choices felt especially out of pocket, and i still have problems with things, but this was still. so good. it honoured the heart of the early seasons and each character was given so much love. i'm so happy EJ Caswell my love was still a part of the show and got to sing and have his moments and story. i'm not super happy with how much of it was more for ricky's benefit and i still think he deserved so much better but i like them being friends. i like where he ended up with gina.

I am so proud of each of these characters and how much they have grown. I'm especially proud of how much Gina and Ricky have matured and how much they've learned from their past relationships

this season brought me the things i said i needed for me to support ricky and gina. yes portwell will forever have my heart and i will read fanfiction about a world where they got together and dream about what should have been but I'm also learning to be okay with the way things went this season. they were respectful of ej and gina as characters (other than taking risotto away what was that >:0), had them communicating and in such a healthy way and gina apologizing, and it felt so much kinder than last season. and the show acknowledged how it's always gina having to go first and put in the work and they had ricky change that! ricky really did show up and not gonna lie that love confession scene at the end got me it was good. they're not going to be my favourite ship ever by any means but that's okay. i can understand why other people love them and i just hope we can all be friends bc there are so many good ships in this fandom lol so we can all calm down and stop bullying each other thanks <3 (seriously the way none of these ships are problematic but people will be saying the rudest stuff if you mention a ship they don't like. like the number of posts i keep seeing calling people stupid and lacking in media literacy for having a different opinion is just so unnecessary)

and i was so happy for gina in this season! having her moment, showing so much strength and growth she was just everything and i love her so much.

i like that hsm 3 had its moment. and i am so so so happy all of the family was back (other than nini I'm sad she couldn't be there but i also didn't think she would be unfortunately). the highlight of everything for me was really gina's goodbye speech to everyone. it was so beautiful it felt like a love letter to every character on the show and i appreciated that so much.

so even though it was messy and imperfect and i love seasons 1 and 2 much much more, this season was so strongly found family and it's the found family i love and I'm happy with the ending. it had me sobbing because these characters (and the interactions I've had with people in the fandom) have meant so much to me. i started this show as a senior in high school and now I'm going into my senior year of college and this show with its found family of theatre kids and the soundtrack have been a huge comfort for me and I'm just happy it ended in a place i could appreciate (especially because i didn't think i would be saying any of this after season 3).

so for every moment of heartbreak this show caused me, I'm still happy knowing it ended with these theatre kids laughing and singing in a limo driving to denny's. maybe i would change some things along the way, but that was the perfect ending.

[besidesitstoowarm]

nah i'm not done being pepe silvia tonight actually. i'm like throwing up thinking about "the giggle" i need to rewatch actually i think i might be able to process it better. however

i think it's amazing that tennant said he didn't consciously try to make fourteen distinct from ten, he just played the tenth doctor after 15 years. so the result you get is, essentially, ten if he remembered being eleven, twelve, and thirteen. and the fact that he's back with donna, it's just these echoes. the davies return, even, all of it, it's an echo. the consequences of s4, the specials, echoes through the runs of THREE other doctors in the same way tentoo's single heartbeat echoed back to keep drawing donna back into the doctor's orbit. everything is still the same and yet nothing is, we're back at the beginning, it's not a timeloop but it is a spiral. it's like poetry it rhymes

and so you get the toymaker's gay little puppet show where he shows donna the fate of the next few companions (i pointed at the screen like the leo meme and said BILL REFERENCE out loud when she was there. is bill anyone else's fave like for real god tier companion). and the doctor keeps interjecting when it's implied he killed them, no amy chose that, no clara chose that, no bill chose that. that wasn't me, that was the angels, that was the raven, that was the master. and the refrain: WELL, THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN. breaking the accent, cutting deep

bc that was ten's whole thing, wasn't it? that savior complex, that MARTYR complex. he goes off the deep end into the time lord victorious because he thinks he's above the rules, he can save people even when they don't want to be saved– it's almost cope, the way he talks to adelaide. everyone lives or dies by his command, his desires. if he wants to save them, he will; it not, well, too bad. the toymaker is confronting him with the fact that not only does he leave collateral damage wherever he goes– he takes these idealistic, adventurous young women into essentially a war zone every day bc he doesn't want to be alone– but that he both IS and IS NOT responsible for their deaths

specifically, like. they would not have died, not the way they did, if they didn't travel with the doctor. he put them in harms way over and over again on PURPOSE. sure they had free will but those were in situations that never would have existed without him. he killed them, even if he didn't pull the trigger. so that hurts his desire to save everyone, to protect people. "just this once everybody lives." but then! it's also NOT in his control. they chose to die, they chose their fate. HE IS NOT GOD. HE CANNOT CONTROL THEM. the toymaker is in essence saying "you're a murderer, even indirectly; and you are not in charge of this game" which is like, his whole thing. and of course, the obvious angle that just bc the doctor didn't kill them, that doesn't alleviate the guilt he should feel. yes, amy chose the angels. bc her husband was already gone. so that's alright, then, huh? you couldn't save adelaide bc she didn't want to be saved. you should learn that lesson

is most of this intentional? doubt it. but when has that ever stopped me

[hood-ex]

not to sound like a copycat, but my fave is also Mikey 🤭!! 2k12 has a special place with me because it was my intro to the turtles, but 2k3 is phenomenal- also, the 2007 movie whenever i want Leo & Raph angst lmao. that rooftop fight scene in the rain 💔 hmmmm okay SO initially my fave pair was Raph and Mikey, but then in my most recent rewatch, i was like 👀 the Leo and Mikey dynamic sooooo maybe a tie between those two?? but also pretty much anyone with Mikey is a+. it’s so hard to pick. and this isn’t a pair necessarily, but donnie pov things where he’s like analyzing his role/relationships- i am an absolute sucker for those.

ajsjasjsksk STOP ✋, you’re going to make me cry, i will legit never forget reading that scene for the first time and BAWLING. the movie is such a comfort movie, used to rent that sucker from the library, and now i stream it all the time. it’s nice to have on, even if i’m not actively watching hehe

okay, my turn to ask, if you’d like to answer!! which order did you get into them? for me it was, tmnt, the outsiders, and then batfam 😊

Ahhh that makes me so happy that you're also a Mikey stan! I have such fond memories of laughing while watching 2k12. I was sooo sad when Leo's original voice actor got fired and replaced though. His voice fit so perfectly with the other turtles. That's the one thing about 2k12 that makes me 😭. Well, that, and the season they spent most of in space. I preferred the NYC based seasons. But other than that, 2k12 was fun and angsty. Plus it had the cheese phone! *gasp* The cheese phone! Truly an emergency! It also had the scene of Tiger Claw trying to get Mikey, and Mikey just like... throwing himself off of the subway train or whatever the hell it was. Ahh that was a good season for some little Mikey hurt/comfort moments.

Ohh yes the famous Raph and Leo 2k7 movie fight. I'll be honest, I can't really stand the entire plot of that movie, and I also hate the fact that they cut the scene of Donnie telling Splinter he couldn't have any birthday cake bc of his health, and Mikey then sneaking Splinter a piece of cake 😭. 2k7 is also funny because it's Splinter being like, "Leonardo, you must go learn to be a leader by yourself in the middle of nowhere." And it's like, uh idk, sounds like he kinda needs a team to practice leading alksdja. Why did he even need to practice at all 😭.

Yeees the Mikey and Raph dynamic is stellar, and if you haven't read the IDW comics, I love the moments they have together in that as well. Lol now I'm thinking of that scene in 2k3 where Mikey was pretending to be hurt, and Raph was like, "What is it, Mikey?? I'm right here." And then Mikey just laughed at him ASLKDJA. Love when they annoy each other but also act soft/loving to each other.

I love Donnie and Mikey. They're the fun adhd/autism duo, and I love that some ROTTMNT stans refer to them as the smarts and crafts duo. Smarts and crafts 😭. That's so cute 😭. And yeees love Donnie POV things.

You stream it all the time?? Ahhh that's amazing. I actually have the complete novel version of the movie on DVD, I haven't watched it in a long time. I can't remember if it's the edited version or the novel version that has the shitty music 😭. You know what's funny though is that my phone ringtone is actually a song from the soundtrack. It's "Gloria" by Them and Van Morrison. Think it plays while Dally, Pony, and Johnny are walking to the movies and chase those little kids with the cards alsdkja.

Love that! For me, I know The Outsiders was first. I think I got into TMNT and batfam around the same time, so I can't remember which comes second. Did you get into batfam through comics or from one of the DC shows/movies?