#we needed more screentime for literally EVERYTHING ELSE

[ragerqueen]

the finale is making me lose my goddamn mind, cause this man obviously told all the guards not to let anything happen to gihun cause okay, the first time he tries to kill himself he is also beefing with the guards and grabs one of their rifles so maybe it makes sense to tie him to a bed but BUT why tf would they care if a player kills themselves normally (they DON'T, one of them LITERALLY DOES???) but when gihun tries to slit his throat and the end of hide and seek the guards are on his ass, shoot the knife out of hand, knock him out and tie him to the bed AGAIN

then he gives him the goddamn knife and even when he doesn't do what he was supposed to do with it he doesn't take it back. so you're telling me that after ALL this care he put into keeping him alive he didn't have a contingency plan for if he FALLS OFF THE PLATFORM DURING THE LAST ROUND???

edit: completely fucking forgot that the guards also broke down the door and forbid player violence when the old crusty men tried to go after the baby the first time. you know they don't care because this is how saebyeok died and gihun screamed his lungs out and they didn't give shit but here???

inho broke every. single. rule. of his own damn game for gihun up until that point. this is where he stopped caring?

and maybe, i dont know, you could say that he realized that he cannot break gihun, that he will never be like him, and something snapped, wanted to teach him a lesson. but he went out of his way to give gihun's money to his daughter??? like he didn't HAVE to do any of that??? he *personally* went to his hotel, got his money, and went to the usa to *personally* hand deliver those winnings to gayoung??

SO DID U CARE OR DID U NOT CARE. YOU COULD'VE SAVED HIM SOMEHOW, SO WHY DIDN'T YOU?

[froggerland]

Just had a revelation that the thing I love most about the terror above literally everything else is how serious it takes its audience

There are 40 white guys with enough screentime to be somewhat relevant and they all look vaguely similar and share the same 10 names? Yeah it's confusing as fuck but if you manage to remember (most of) them you discover how every single one of them has an arc and is a living breathing human being, not a background character simply there to drive the plot forward or lick the main characters boots.

There's little details that make no sense to you right now, like what does "E.C." stand for, whos that child next to Crozier in the final scene? Watch it again and again if necessary, I shit you not I've never seen a show that has (dare I say) zero loose ends like the terror.

The characters are just human at the end of the day, not chess pieces pushed around by the writers to get from point A to point B. It feels like the early seasons of Game of Thrones when it was really REALLY good, no one has plot armor, things happen because they're the logical consequence of what happened before.

I've seen Gladiator II a few days before I got into the Terror and I know the movie doesn't aim for historical accuracy over giving the audience something cool to look at, everyone knows that (case and point newspapers in ancient rome). But as a history lover and minor film buff it's kind of sad to me how much hype media like Gladiator II gets, stuff that has zero subtlety and basically spells everything out for you so that no one in the audience misses the point the director wants to make and you don't even have to use your brain. You can leave the theather thinking "yeah that was a cool movie" and forget about within a week.

I wish people would appreciate media like the terror more because without wanting to sound like a condescending asshole we NEED more media that gives you something to chew on, that you have to marinate in your brain a little before it all makes sense because THATS good media.

[doodler16]

So I have mentioned this to a couple of friends but the main difference I haven't seen brought up with Pilot and Series Loona is the fact Pilot Loona is written like an adult woman, like she's the shitty coworker in a lot of sitcoms or irl. In the series though she is written like a teenage girl like ALL her storylines are stuff you see for teenage girl characters. Especially Blitzo being the overprotective dad.

Like Loona has lived with Blitzo for 5 years roughly yet it feels that despite that Loona seems freshly adopted. Like I'm not saying they'll fix their issues completely you need them to have family drama for basic story construction. But like if Loona hates Blitzo that much by the beginning like she can leave. And especially like Loona didn't get much opportunity realistically to see Blitzo as a dad before turning 18. And the show also doesn't address Blitzo being only like 10-15 years older than Loona nor do they explore adult child and parent relationships. And I think the biggest thing that also makes Loona come off as a teen is she's only interacting with Blitzo who the show attempts to potray his fatherlyness to her as him infantilizing her but when Loona doesn't interact with anyone else... Then the fact she somehow doesn't have friends since she got adopted. Like did Blitzo push them away or stalk her? WE DON'T KNOW.

And this is partially why I think pilot Loona is better written. Like she interacts with other characters not named Blitzo and how no one likes her. But it seems set up that Loona would be the shitty coworker who keeps her job/gets away with everything because her dad is the boss but she's also kinda awful to him but Blitzo is too stupid/desperate to realize. It's crazy to me when you realize Loona is supposed to be the receptionist but NEVER DOES HER JOB IN THE SHOW! It's always Blitzo doing that and for the first episode I'm forgiving for that cause you need to show the main character before the rest unless your doing something like how Warriors introduced Tigerclaw first to trick you into doubting he could be the villain despite what Ravenpaw says later.

But like Loona not doing her job disconnects her from the cast and narrative especially as she gets barely any screentime. So they try making her the brute except being the brute is half of Millie's character. They make her the default book user except we never see her do any spells besides the go home one and there's several characters that use magic and not a lot differentiation between them in terms of limits or skills. And Blitzo has the crystal so Loona's role of teleporter fails. Needing to explore Blitzo's complicated views of wanting to not be alone.... SEVERAL characters already do that. Like Loona in the series quite literally serves no functional purpose.

Now that you mentioned it Anon, Loona in the pilot does feel like co worker Moxxie and Millie are forced to tolerate while she gets special treatment from Blitzø. While, Loona in the series feels and acts like teenager but is actually a grown woman. Bonus points: Blitzø gives Loona special treatment and coddles her even more. Either way, I still don’t like both of them.

Loona would definitely be on the streets if she left Blitzø in the beginning of the show 🤣. Even worse, she didn’t have any connection or friends to bunk with at the time so she would have to go full survival mode. Now Stolas is doing her receptionist job.

“But like Loona not doing her job disconnects her from the cast and narrative especially as she gets barely any screentime.” Oh yeah, definitely and not in the good way. The biggest thing about her that made Loona unique was her access to the grimoire and being able to transform into a human, which is now useless because Blitzø has the Ozzie crystal like you mentioned Anon.

I do hope Loona has a bigger role in season 3 because she’s been completely nonexistent in most of season 2. All she is at the moment is merch farming 💀.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think we all can agree that miraculous Ladybug's real main character is Marinette. Nothing against a single main character in a group of other main characters. But. I'm really sick that Marinette gets all focus on her when she's suppose to share that main character spot with Adrien. The one with the second powerful miraculous. This show really favors Marinette over Adrien. She has more powers than him. Her lucky charm, miraculous ladybug, de-evilization and her magical charms (which felt so unnecessary). While Adrien just has his cataclysm and his new power miraculous Chat noir which I can bet won't be used again. Marinette also gets all attention from Fu which I hate so much. Why only care about the miraculous of creation while ignoring the miraculous that literally killed all dinosaurs. She also gets the most suits and unifications. And she get shown to be the only one who needs to be out on the field as Chat noir could just be away and the day's saved.

And don't get me started with the season five final. Five seasons and we all was waiting for Adrien to face his father one last time for everything he'd done. Threatened his friends, his girlfriend, the entire city. Emotionally abused him and never acted like a real caring father. And even hurt others to get what he wants. A satisfying ending to the Agreste arc where Adrien would force Gabriel to make a wish to sacrifice himself for Natalie who actually cared about him. Having it be bittersweet with Adrien being free from him and always see him as an irredeemable monster. But he atleast still has his friends, girlfriend and mother figure in Natalie. An ending that's good conclusion to the Agreste arc with Adrien being the one facing Gabriel as it should.

But nope, he just got to stay in a room crying and just show up when everything is fixed. And he sees his father as a hero and good father, and even miss him. Wow what a satisfying ending for Adrien. I swear they better make the reveal of how hos father actually was good. Or else. But I can guess they'll just have Adrien be mad half an episode before forgiving Ladybug at the end.

Now. I have ideas how to fix this:

1) As I've mentioned before. Have the cat miraculous have the purifying power as purification fits more with destruction than creation. And have his power up be giving the target bad luck. Like having horrible things happening around them.

2) Have Adrien having more screentime and episodes focused on him. And not have Marinette being a creepy stalker, instead have her have a normal crush on Adrien.

3) Fu gives him equal attention and choose both Ladybug and Chat noir as the new guardians. Having them have one half of the miracle box each.

4) Don't make him a sentimonster as it just feels wrong. And it would be more realistic if Gabriel didn't need magic to control Adrien, showing how much abuse he's been through.

5) finally. HAVE HIM BEING THE ONE FACING GABRIEL! Either alone or with Ladybug. Have him show Gabriel that he don't forgive him and force him to make a wish. Show him finally standing up against Gabriel and cut all affection and bonds completely. Have it be a satisfying ending to the arc.

Sorry for the long rant. Just needed to vent a little.

It's fine that Marinette is the one true main character especially given the show's format, but that doesn't mean that Adrien's sidelining is okay. The options aren't make them both main character or sideline Adrien. Lots of shows give strong plots to characters that aren't the lead. Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender, Hunter from Owl House, Ron from Kim Possible, all of these characters got major plotlines and character growth while never feeling like the main character. It can be done! It can even be done while giving the non-lead character a strong tie to the main antagonist as two of those examples show.

So the issue isn't that Marinette is the lead while Adrien gets a smaller part, the issue is that I genuinely have no idea what the writers are trying to do with Adrien. They give him a ton of screentime, but they just rarely use it for anything of value. They give him a complex backstory, but refuse to engage with it. They make him Ladybug's partner, but never let that mean anything. Shits weird. I have no idea why they bothered to make Adrien Chat Noir when they clearly don't want to do anything meaningful with that choice. You could rewrite the show, keep Adrien's screen time identical, and still tell a story where he felt narratively important. It would just require giving him a secondary motivation that wasn't about romance and owning the fact that his role in the story should be more than the comic-relief love interest.

[the-sol-eater]

so gang....there's this historian...who's only had approximately 21 minutes of screentime...

unhinged rambling over a fictional character under the cut

I have always loved ulysses ever since the prologue came out back in december 2022, but after my recent rewatch in preparation for chapter 1 coming out later this year, my interest in his character has sparked into a full-blown hyperfixation??? it feels like ulysses wilhelm was designed specifically for me I'm going to be so honest. like, there's the surface level being that he's a boyfailure twink and that kind of character always seems to attract me, but everything else about his character from his design, his personality, his voice, the little aspects of him like the fact that him specifically noting down classmate birthdays and him updating a common phrase to sound more modern shows a genuine desire to connect with his class despite his clear social ineptitude, and also just...him having knowledge about the internet enough to know about internet arguments despite disliking computers?? silly ass. I've also like, never really seriously headcannoned a character with a mental disorder before, even ones that I have myself, but I am actually being so serious when I say that ulysses is literally just my inattentive adhd manifested into a person. I have not felt so represented in so long, and its by a character who doesn't even canonically have it, and I think its very special and a testament to how talented the writing crew behind p:eg is that they can make me feel that or anything I'm typing in this post despite, again, this character only being on screen for 21 minutes he is literally just me in every single way possible, actually. we literally even have the same birthday. I'm not a supernatural person, but like..I think me saying that this character was made for me might not be hyperbole after all. ...he's also just so fucking cute. Can I say that?? LOOK at this fucker??

his slightly scruffy hair that looks like he just woke up from one of his naps, his small but silly little smile, his dumb eyebags, his fucking VOICE, his lame as fuck sense of humor, his sprites, his dumbass sleepy noises, the fact that he's the shortest out of all the male characters, his everything?? I want to be his friend and listen to him yap about history, and I also want to make out with him sloppy style. I am sleepy all the time but he is sleepier, which means I can spoon him. I'd imagine his lifestyle of constantly being in his office doesnt really lend itself well to him receiving affection. he is probably very touch-starved... what if he encountered my persona. would he initially think the lack of sleep has finally caused him to hallucinate, considering I doubt you see slutty demons with big wings in real life. when he finally realizes that I am actually there, would he be fascinated at the sight of such a nonhuman creature being right in front of him? a new piece of history he has yet to discover? what if we become best friends. what if we become best boyfriends. my brain is moving at 200 miles an hour and I cannot stop it, I need him so fucking bad. if you have read this far, I'm not sorry and I'm not ashamed for my actions. except if you happen to be doctor pap (ulysses' va), in which case I politely ask you that you forget everything I have said today. thanks for reading

[jerreeeeeee]

what do u think r important aspects of the IPRE crew that can be easily overlooked or like misunderstood? I'm so obsessed with all ur thoughts towards the characters i wanna hear every thought uve ever had about them LOLL

ahh thank you!!! i think about them SO often..

i don't know that its fair to say its overlooked/misunderstood per se for davenport since he has so little screentime and most characterization for him is more or less invented wholecloth but i wish people explored his wrath more often. we don't really see what that actually is in reference to in canon, but that just means there are a lot of directions to take it and i think it has a lot of potential to be really interesting

merle in general is kind of easy to overlook.. he's a fantastic character but also just like. he's very understated for the majority of the story. and there's a lot of interesting themes but i don't know what to do with them. him and his kids, his tendency to run away, that's interesting. his failed marriage and his response in wonderland's dating game and the way he sees romance, that's really interesting. his relationship to faith and divinity, that's interesting as well. everything to do with john is extremely interesting. but i don't know what direction to take it or how to make it into something coherent if that makes any sense

i think for barry its like. guilt. like the scene where he's talking to taako right before lup disappears, taako talks about feeling weird and out of place in this world that's meant to be home now, and barry says "i would feel guilty being a citizen in a world that i... poisoned." which is in reference to the relics, obviously, and a lot of other characters feel guilty about it too, and are all rationalizing it as best they can. but he denies himself participation in the world because of it. and then also in his coin monologue he feels like his love for lup (and imo widely for the crew) "defined and redeemed" him. what's that about? what did he need redeeming for? all i can think of is that 1. he's kind of a dick with his memories gone, and 2. on the judges' cycle, his sins were sloth and envy, that he never participated in the world and was jealous of those who did. but damn, do those things really need redeeming? that's such a strong word to use. idk i guess it just sorta seems like he's someone with a lot of guilt

god what ISN'T overlooked and misunderstood about taako... i think if i had to pick just one it would be that most people are aware that his idiot wizard thing is a facade, but i think you have to go farther than that too and recognize how deeply intelligent he is. like that is his major character defining trait to me more than anything else, he's pragmatic and shrewd and clever. and actually i can't just pick one because he's goofy too. it gets lost a little bit because its easier to remember the emotional moments in the show and because its a comedy podcast so everyone else is funny too, but like, he's just a strange guy and he is intentionally goofy in-universe in a way merle and magnus aren't as much. like they crack jokes sometimes but taako has pocket pudding and pretends to be godzilla and does silly dances to cheer up his sister ykwim

for lup i think i'd just say the full extent of her effect on the story is easy to overlook because she's only actually present toward the end. the reason lup haunts the narrative is because she is literally a ghost carried in taako's hand but also because she set the whole thing in motion by coming up with the relic plan and then disappearing. she's eminently important to the entire thing because of her choices and convictions. like her relic was the first one the boys encountered !! they come across her body before they even meet lucretia!!

magnus is hard because his arc is so laid out and clear in the show so i think it's pretty difficult to overlook parts of his character? and i'm not much of a magnus scholar lol. i guess i'd just say that he's pretty ruthless and violent sometimes, like he cares about his friends for sure and he loves to pet dogs and everything but he's also murdered a lot of people lmao. which like. i find interesting the way the medium (dnd) intersects with the story. you can characterize your fighter as a rustically hospitable gentle giant all you want but in the end he is going to murder people with an axe because that's how the game works. which is kind of horrific. its odd

lucretia is such a complicated character it's difficult to fully capture her.. but the thing that's coming to mind is how like. unsure she can be. its easy to think of her as someone with a lot of confidence and conviction because she's so in control and has so much gravitas, but in the smaller quieter moments, i'm particularly thinking of her convo with merle at the spa, she seems to be sort of trying to convince herself she did the right thing. like, i'm not saying she's indecisive or plagued by doubt, we see that's not the case, but stubborn as she is, she also seems to second-guess herself a bit, which i think in the end makes her an even more well-rounded character

[regrettorisotto]

Can you do Brett and Corey? 👉👈 (they're my babies and you already did Theo and Liam)

Oh for sure for sure let me get into it 🙂‍↕️

Let's start with Brett:

Sexuality Headcanon: bi ! Wiiith a preference for guys?

Gender Headcanon: cis man, potentially in a i might be sth else but I've got a game to win so i cant focus on that rn type of way lmao. either way totally comfortable in who he is, has rocked a skirt and will do so again.

A ship I have with said character: i really enjoy Brett x Liam before Thiam happens. I also really enjoy Brett x Liam x Theo all together. I ALSO really like Brett x Nolan or Brett x Nolan x Alec 🙂‍↕️

A BROTP I have with said character: THEO AND BRETT ARE THE PERFECT BEST FRIENDS i scream into the void as they try to drag me back to hell. No fr the fics with them being asshole best friends are everything to me.

A NOTP I have with said character: hmm dont know, if done right i could see him with a lot of the characters tbh. (Except the weird ones ofc. Like keep Peter out of any ships ever please)

A random headcanon: i think he genuinely didnt like Liam back when they went to the same school. But after Liam gets bitten, after the shit he goes through, after Liam grows up, Brett is absolutely baffled by the person Liam has become. He finds himself weirdly fascinated and impressed, by Liams maturity and his strength and his character. He never thought the annoying kid he knew would ever turn into this and its throwing him off. He definitely spends a few days if not weeks after that realization in a very weird huh state whenever he thinks about it.

Liam also once accidentally makes a flirty comment towards Brett and Brett totally malfunctions because i didnt know he could do that

General Opinion over said character: love him!! I think hes so fun and i wish hed had more screentime. Hes also one of my favs, best side character for sure. I also have his hoodie, the one with his jersey number and Talbot written on the back

And Corey !!

Sexuality Headcanon: gayyyy very gay.

Though hes regularly blown away by a woman's beauty, in an aesthetic way anyways. (Him and Mason both, theyre very aestheticly appreciative people 🙂‍↕️)

Gender Headcanon: im realizing I've been exposed to a distinct lack of gender hcs in this fandom. Hm... trans man Corey fits very well imo.

A ship I have with said character: well Mason and Corey are just a given, i dont think either of them have a lot of potential other contestants.

Though ive gotta say, just by sending me this ask and putting their names together, you've given me many thoughts about Brett x Corey. I think Corey is totally Bretts type. And if anyone could fluster Brett it might actually be Corey. And we all know Corey and Mason both drool over Brett regularly..... i need a fic where Mason and Corey try to get Brett to join their relationship and i need it NOW. And then Brett thinks theyre just joking cause hes hot but theyre actually dead serious.... mmm yes.. yes

A BROTP I have with said character: i really enjoy him and Theo as friends. Its soo interesting. Itd take so much time and work and bitter feelings thatll never fully pass but they have such potential to be genuinely good friends. To acknowledge each other fully and develop a mutual respect... ugh yeah

A NOTP I have with said character: uhhh any female character...? Hes canonically gay so. As for guys i dont think i like Corey and Theo as anything other than platonic. Also Scott and Corey just doesnt fit. Scott is their literal dad 🤷‍♂️

A random headcanon: i know its not like this in the show, since both Scott and Liam are able to find Corey when hes invisible, but i think he should really be able to disappear completely. I think when he turns invisible, his scent and his heartbeat should be totally indetectable to any supernatural too. Even supernaturals shouldn't be able to detect him!!

He also should use his ability way more and for anything, just in day to day life, just cause its fun. Through that he also learns tricks like only disappearing his head but not his body, scaring the absolute crap out of Liam the first time he does it. He also sometimes accidentally turns invisible when he's sleeping, and the whole McCall pack has spent at least one whole afternoon frantically searching for him all over when he was just curled up in the armchair in the corner of the room taking a good old nap.

General Opinion over said character: when I first watched the show i found him pretty plain and boring, mostly because I don't think they utilized him and his abilities enough. I have since read some great fics and reconstructed my own image of him and he's a great character!! So much potential to be such a fun character. He's such a little shit, and he's also really brave and a great friend. I like it when fic authors make him hold a grudge against Theo for longer too for example. It gives him a depth that I really like. He's not just this happy go lucky guy, especially not after the stuff he went through.

[mad-not-disappointed]

you know, i like hordak as a character. he's interesting, he's likeable, he's a good example of an abuse victim who isn't overly infantilized and coddled by the narrative. his relationship with entrapta was cute, his relationship with horde prime was tragic and i like that he at least gets a proper confrontation with his abuser, where he is able to declare his own independence and get some closure from his trauma.

however, there are two main problems i have with his character (some of which i've already talked about but i want to go into more detail):

1. hordak was not an effective villain. heck, he was barely a villain at all.

you cannot tell me that hordak was the main villain of the first four seasons when the majority of his screentime was spent with him either lurking in his sanctum or canoodling with entrapta.. in his sanctum.

at first i thought that hordak was going to be this looming presence that had control over everything and puppeted everyone's every move, and was this evil masterpiece who orchestrated everything behind the scenes but.. nah. turns out he's just an incompetent manchild who needs a literal teenager with no battle experience to plan everything out for him. how did he conquer half of etheria before that? who knows? not important.

hordak also has no meaningful relationship with adora, the hero. there were actually a lot of parallels that could be drawn from hordak and adora both being raised by abusers who valued perfection over everything else. granted, in that aspect, hordak is more like catra but there isn't even that many parallels with him and catra. there are, in fact, more parallels with catra and shadow weaver or catra and horde prime.

and okay, not every hero and villain needs a deep intertwined relationship or complex narrative parallels. but at least give us something? a proper interaction?? the show even acknowledges the fact that hordak and adora have absolutely no connection with each other, when adora asks him why he kidnapped her and he basically replies with "lol who are you again". and then he just randomly remembers her at the end of the finale and it’s supposed to be this touching, emotional scene except you feel nothing because these characters literally never interacted, what are we looking at?

adora is supposed to be fighting the horde, but it seemed like she was just fighting catra most of the time. as the hero who opposes etheria's oppressors, shouldn't adora mainly be targeting hordak, the person who started it all? and shouldn't hordak, as the leader of the horde, be more concerned about the rebellion having an actual god on their side? i guess it doesn't really matter if said god can be easily defeated by a inexperienced catgirl

it just feels like hordak didn't have to be a villain at all. we only know he does horrifying things, because the narrative says that he does. oh, and he tortures catra once and sends her to crimson waste, so i guess that qualifies as being a villain.

the point of a villain is to drive the central conflict of the story. to oppose the hero and to pose an actual threat to the status quo. any character who doesn't do this is merely an antagonist. in hordak's case, i don't even know if he counts as an antagonist. he's like that one edgy antihero with a dark past where he murdered countless people but it doesn't really matter in present time. it’s just there to add flavor and to enhance his tragic past, because war is obviously a fictional fantasy trope and totally not something that has happened in real life. /s

2. like many other characters in this show, hordak's character almost completely revolves around his love interest.

yes, entrapta taking care of hordak and boosting his self-esteem is endearing. yes, hordak breaking his defenses and being vulnerable around entrapta is very sweet. but apart from entrapta, the only characters who have any kind of effect on hordak is horde prime and catra. and.. i guess, imp? but again, imp is mostly just a stand-in for the cute animal sidekick.

i know that hordak was supposed to be a recluse but it's impossible to believe that this kind of person was able to start an army and feed them with false propaganda. again, if you read my post about cults and their methods of indoctrination, you would know that cult leaders are often very charismatic and friendly people. and i know the horde isn't exactly a cult but we are supposed to believe that at least some of the cadets raised there genuinely believed that they were on the side of good, when their leader was a mysterious shut-in who basically didn't do anything substantial and their mentor/superior officer was just actively radiating Evil Vibes™.

i just wish they did more with hordak’s character and actually made him interact with some of the other characters. he doesn’t even interact with shadow weaver that much, and she was his second-in-command. even if it’s not direct interactions, it would have been interesting to see the characters mention hordak more, especially the ex-horde soldiers. apart from the general “oh no he’s evil and wants to kill everyone”, that is.

like we see people talking about shadow weaver. we see adora open up about her relationship with shadow weaver and ponder about whether there’s some good left in the woman who raised her. we see glimmer talking about how powerful shadow weaver is and how she could help the rebellion. we see catra complaining about how shadow weaver treated her in comparison to adora. we see angella talk about how shadow weaver shouldn’t be trusted.

when you think about it, shadow weaver was much more of a looming menacing presence in spop, despite not even being a villain, let alone the main villain.

even when she was on the good side and helping the princesses, there was always a ceaseless feeling of unease and fear, because we’ve seen what she’s capable of. we weren’t just told that “shadow weaver is sooo abusive, she’s bad!” we see how she treats adora and catra, we see how she manipulates situations and people for her own benefit, we see how she slowly starts to get into glimmer’s head. the show actually does a good job with shadow weaver, and i have to give credit where credit is due. shadow weaver was genuinely a well-written character.

hordak is just.. there, most of the time. he acts evil enough to be considered as one of the villains but he’s not actually a villain if you consider it for more than five seconds. he doesn’t really do anything for the bulk of the narrative, he has one kinda cool scene where he stands up to his abuser and then he just peaces out with entrapta.

i don’t really understand the point of taking a main villain of the show and turning him into this. sure, the OG hordak was more of a comedic villain and wasn’t super complex, but from what i know, he still played an important role in a narrative and his humorous moments made up for the lack of a tragic backstory.

[autistic-robin]

more dynamics i need to see in st5 for my mental wellbeing

1. el and dustin. that’s it send post. they were genuinely so sweet in season 1 and i miss their mad scientist/test subject vibe immensely. i know el and lucas are going to be paired up this season because of their shared connection (polyamory) to max, but i would love to see more scenes between dustin and el— maybe some lighthearted bonding over their matching leg injuries or daddy issues.

2. mike and robin. i don’t think you understand i need this like i need air. will has already had his gay awakening he doesn’t need a queer life coach!! mike on the other hand is out here in the TRENCHES. this man is down critically horrendously morifyingly BAD for will but is convinced el needs him and that will could never reciprocate his feelings. he needs robin’s gay intuition and advice if anyone does.

3. steve and jonathan. HELLO??? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELLO???? i know this is pretty much guaranteed to happen in st5 because full-circle character development and hammering in themes and blah blah blah but i’m still gonna talk about it because listen. steve got his shit rocked by jonathan one (1) time and immediately decided “fuck my idiot friends” developed a moral conscience and SHOWED UP AT HIS HOUSE to apologize. he wasn’t there for nancy he had no idea nancy was there!!! he bought jonathan a new camera!!! he was so respectful of nancy and jon even when nancy dumped his ass a season later!!! yet we never get closure between him and jonathan or even a conversation and i’m PISSED about it. matt and ross duffer rectify this or else.

4. hopper and jonathan and will. you see the vision. these kids have never had a stable father figure who truly understands them (i love bob but he was only there for st2 and was sweet but naive) and everything they’ve been through. jonathan DESPERATELY needs to be de-parentified and released from the emotional burden of constantly putting will and joyce before his own needs and dreams, and hopper desperately needs to feel like he can protect his family instead of “cursing” them. will needs a loving father figure who supports his queer identity, and hopper only had a fire lit under him in s1 when joyce mentioned it could have been a hate crime. this is like textbook recipe for healing and closure for these characters.

5. joyce and karen? i just think it would be neat. we know karen’s getting more involved this season and i think she should get to be a little gay for joyce as a treat. we had crumbs of their dynamic in s1 and on a more sincere note i honestly think joyce could help give karen the courage to leave ted or demand better from him moving forward.

6. nancy and mike. if they don’t have a genuine conversation i’ll actually be fuming raging pulling my hair out. i get it i get that they’re both emotionally repressed but GOD i wish we had more moments with them talking about their trauma or empathizing with each other’s survivor’s guilt and crippling savior complexes. all the “max and mike are the same character in a different font” business is very valid and i agree madwheeler is like ten shots of espresso injected directly into the bloodstream HOWEVER, nancy and mike’s traumas and emotional issues are so so similar please let them talk about it!!!!

7. steve and robin???? please for the love of god????? literally what the fuck was happening in s4 they were NOT given enough screentime together. not cool. i want them BACK on their queerplatonic bullshit in s5, fully codependent disgustingly clingy like god intended.

8. jonathan and el. i just want them to be siblings together!!! we got a lot of willel sibling vibes in s4 and some sweet jon-and-will moments, but i would love for them to delve into jonathan and el’s dynamic. this girl is a big reason why will was saved in s1 and we just… never really see the byerses address that? jonathan has a lottt of self-blaming tendencies when it comes to will and i’d love for el to help remind him he isn’t responsible for protecting and saving his brother all the time. conversely, i’d love for jonathan to remind el that she’s just a kid and that the weight of the world shouldn’t be on her shoulders. they’re both really soft-spoken and sweet characters with hard veneers and i feel like they’d pair well together for more emotional scenes.

9. literally the entire byers-hopper family they are the heart and soul of the show and i will never forgive the duffer brothers for losing that in s3-4 in favor of expanding the scope of the story. i miss them.

10. steve and el. i would maim and kill for this dynamic actually. both of them are involved in love triangles and have arcs centered around independency and platonic/found familial love, and steve has his whole mom-of-the-group shtick that could be really endearing paired with el’s plucky weird-little-girl vibe. idk i just think they would be a cute team, maybe paired with dustin or lucas.

11. stoncy and robin. literally give me this team or give me death. i miss stoncy’s iconic end-of-season-1 monster-hunting trio dynamic SO MUCH i would give anything for them to go on a sidequest and really just hash it all out with each other. and robin could offer steve moral support and comic relief— while we’re on the subject i would also kill to see her and jonathan interact!! like they are so similar in that brooding-noncomformist way and i feel like they would either immediately gravitate toward each other based on values OR immediately clash due to their personality differences. jonathan is all quiet and avoidant and robin can be… A Lot (said with love) when she’s not masking like s3. i just think they’d be funny together.

12. this is devolving quickly so scott clarke and the party. no i will not elaborate. thank you for your time

[sunnysideaeggs]

some criticisms i have of episode 2. read the tags first please.

disclaimer: i am a targtowers’ stan first and foremost. that means: aegon, helaena, aemond and daeron. they’re my favorite characters. that’s where my ‘loyalty’ stands. everyone else (including alicent) comes after.

helaena’s grief should’ve been a bigger point in the episode. this is HER episode and aegon’s (i’m not complaining about him but her screentime was so low). everyone else, rhaenyra, alicent, yada yada is secondary.

alicent can light up candles for her enemy’s son but can’t even attend the funeral of her grandson 🙄 she doesn’t cry, curse the blacks, want to bathe in the blood of jaehaerys’ killers, or can even bring herself to say his name.

i love aegon’s performance. i love all of his grief manifested in rage and anger. he cries but he will kick everyone later. tom go get your emmy.

girl your daughter just lost a son and you want to talk about you fucking your bodyguard. i’m tired of her. helaena is with all right of ignoring her.

once upon a time there was a boy that loved horses 😭 jaehaerys my dear

a larys/aegon scene is all i could wish for. the cold mastery of secrets and torture combined with the unstoppable wrath of a wounded man. i need more of them.

i like how the funeral seems, by all accounts, normal but by helaena’s viewpoint everything is too much. the people claim for her showing support but it’s all noise. the carriage showing her little boy so that people know who to blame but it only reminds her more of what happened. he even looks like he’s sleeping.

tbh this scene shows how rhaenyra doesn’t fucking care about helaena and her children. the first thought she had when she heard of the news wasn’t to have compassion or empathy, but to do damage control and worry about her reputation.

lmao i don’t have a clue what daemon’s intentions and rationality is. he only cares about looking mighty and dangerous to other people even when he does dumb shit, then justifies it. he lives only for other people’s opinions but then everyone hates his ass lol. dilffailure.

also he’s the embodiment of living for a dick measuring contest he ends up losing. all of daemon’s behavior can be attributed to erectile dysfunction.

how the writers found time for an oc prostitute having a mommy kink scene with aemond but didn’t have more time for a longer scene with helaena and literally anyone is beyond me.

aemond talking about his regret for luke but not about the death of his nephew 💀 luke died like three years ago condal pls get over it. aemond would care more about jaehaerys than poor little luke.

some much needed baela character development. i love characters that are like the female version of their dad but then also fucking hate their dad lol

i liked the tidbits of the dragonseeds during the episode. i’d like some nettles too :) but i guess the only female and canonically black character is a little too much for this show amirite :)

of course daemon would never be able to bend to anyone he considers inferior, much less rhaenyra, who under any other circumstance would be seen as ‘lesser than him’. it reminds him of his failures. i’m glad we’re on the same page.

aegon never had a chance right? aegon was literally raised by hightowers in love with targaryens. he never would’ve been able to surpass viserys and rhaenyra in otto and alicent’s eyes. nothing he did could’ve changed that.

otto’s little laugh cost him a job lol. i’m sad we didn’t get his cats.

the focus on rhaenyra in the arryk/erryk fight is too much for me. once again, leave secondary characters have their moments instead of shoving r or a down my throat please. this is their especial moment, their last moment. rhaenyra being all 😨🧍🏼‍♀️ between their shots does nothing for the scene.

otto’s realization of his life’s work being flushed down the drain is so touching and painful in a way to me. he’s like tywin if he lived long enough to see cersei and tommen fuck everything up.

‘i have sinned’ ‘i do not wish to hear of it’ that’s peak cersei and tywin from that one scene when she confessed the incest.

daeron exists? yay. and once again i’m fucking tired of alicent not reacting to mention of daeron, not comforting helaena, bashing aemond, ignoring aegon. where’s the love for her children?

the scene of otto putting resting his face on his hands? chills. it should’ve lingered there. showcase otto’s regret? grief? idk. pity it just lasted half a second because we needed to see alicent once more.

from now on, alicent is cancelled for me. i don’t care anymore about her. any parent that leaves their child in distress to go fuck can eat shit. i gave that treatment to daemon in laena’s funeral and i’m giving it to her.

we have more sex scenes of alicent than we have of daemon and aegon combined. yet she’s the pious queen and they’re the lechers. condal please write accordingly.

how do i watch a show when i don’t care for the two main characters, because they’re cardboard cuts of women who don’t do anything? i don’t know.

[thisgardenofromance]

hi, u like kyouya, right? me too! (but my fav is mori 🤩) anyways, for kyouya, 21, 22, and 20 (Ik Tamaki is sort of the obvious answer but like BESIDES him) 🫶🏾🫶🏾

Hi!! Yes I like Kyoya, he's my fav :) but that doesn't mean he's the only character I can answer questions about lol I love the whole host club I promise 😭

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Well yeah... For Kyoya, Tamaki IS the obvious answer, they're canon best friends lol. But if you want an answer to shake things up, I'm voting to put Haruhi and/or Renge in the mix. Haruhi's really good at calling Kyoya out on bullshit HE doesn't even know he has, which is extremely entertaining behavior and why I could watch 20 more "Kyoya's Day Outs" with no complaints. Also he's friends with her dad, which I'm sure he would be a little fuck about if given the chance. With Renge, I REALLY latched onto that ONE scene in the first of the Kasanoda episodes that reveals that Kyoya and Renge give each other ideas about the club. I want to see it!!! I want to see them hanging out!!! Idk, maybe I just love the mlm/wlw friendship dynamics with both of these two because I am currently developing one of my first ever best-friendships with a man and we are a kickass team I think. And there's ZERO fear we're going to kiss each other and fuck things up lol.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I like getting inside his lil head and poking around 😭 He's brilliant and also dumb, entitled and doesn't think he deserves love, goes 100% for literally everything except the stuff he abandons... A lot to explore :) Unfortunately this also makes it really hard to feel like I'm getting things right, so I kind of hate writing in his POV even though this is usually the best way to achieve this goal :')

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I had to think outside the box for this one so I didn't just give it a big blanket "in character and entertaining", because like, duh 😭😭 So I think something I specifically get excited about that I don't see tooo too much is watching the effect he's had on other people. When characters have a personal heart-to-heart either to or about him. When something makes him go away and everyone else has to adjust. When he's in the midst of a group of friends who obviously love him. I eat that shit UP.

I don't like when fics authors make his character more flat. Who does with their fav? He's not a one-dimensional greedy landlord - that's the whole point of literally every Kyoya-centric episode!! (He's also not a flawless good boy. He's got flaws and he's struggling! He's a little fuckwad!)

I also don't like when he's a top but that ones just personal preference so who gives a shit

Just for you anon I'm gonna answer for Mori as well <3

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

This one's fuckin difficult specifically because God this boy needs friends. Who do we see him interacting alone with other than Honey. Haruhi like once with romantic connotations?? Poor boy. Please get more screentime with literally everyone else because I don't have experience with any other Mori and Blank dynamics :') How am I supposed to know I picked the best character for the BFF title if there is only one option

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I like writing HaruMori into stuff because I think they vibe really well from what we got <3 It's cute and it's silly and it's usually a good avenue to at least make him branch out a little. I also like how he says things he needs to say and basically nothing else - I like to think it makes him straightforward.

In ensemble scenes, since he doesn't talk often, it's really difficult to keep him like In The Scene. With visual media you can just draw him in the background :')

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

When people take care to really nail his vibe despite the fact that he got so little screentime in the anime. (In the manga it's a little better, because we get to meet his father and brother, learn a little about his childhood, watch him adopt multiple pets, and see an "extra!" episode that just follows a day of his weekend that's super cute. He wears contacts to school but glasses on the weekend and likes to build little plastic model sets <33. But like. Still.)

When people just treat him like a robot. Same complaint as with Kyoya ig although it's usually a little harder to spot since he's already inexpressive 😭. Also when people make him talk too much to compensate... All I'm saying is there's a sweet spot with him.

Based on this ask game.

[threegoldfish]

Headcanon: Marc, Steven and Jake's weapons

Since Marc, Steven and Jake have different suits when working for Khonshu, each of them also have different weapons they use to protect the overnight travelers. We do know about Marc's and Steven's weapons of choice from the TV show, but I wanted to write everything down anyways regarding my personal portrayal of the boys (including eventual differences) - and also include Jake's weapons (as well as his suit), since we literally have 0.3 seconds of Jake screentime in the actual show (sighs dramatically, we need more Jake).

Marc's suit:

The one and only, well-known and impressive - bandages all over combined with golden metal parts (chest, shoulders etc), a mask, hood, cape. Every inch of his body is covered.

Marc's weapons of choice:

Crescent blades which he can summon at will, basically pulls them straight from the moon on his chest and they just materialize into existence at his touch. He uses them as projectiles, basically - throws them through the air, blades sharp, cutting through fabric, skin and bone. Besides those crescent blades, he also has a grappling hook which he can use to his liking, but rarely does. His fists as well as feet (and the whole of his body) is another one of his weapons - he's a mixture of a close range and distance range fighter. He can use his cape to glide for a certain amount of time, and he uses that one as a weapon as well (catching bullets, throwing them back at his targets).

Steven's suit:

Psycho Colonel Sanders, as Marc likes to call it - sharp and posh, complete with a jacket and vest, a tie, slacks, shoes, gloves... and his mask of course. No cape. A brighter white in color than Marc's own suit is.

Steven's weapons of choice:

Truncheons. Steven's a true close range fighter, prefers to use said truncheons to smash his enemies' heads in. Besides those, he also uses the whole of his body; Steven's movements appear more fluid than Marc's, much closer to an actual dance at times, with him seemingly being more flexible in general - he jumps and twirls, slides and crouches, throws kicks and punches. He does also throw his truncheons from time to time, but not as often. It's not something he's especially good at, but he manages rather well to hit his targets this way, and can coordinate with Marc when switching mid-throw to have him catch those truncheons in the end. That Steven's basically left with only those Truncheons and nothing else has to do with the fact that he doesn't fight as much as Marc or Jake do. And when he's the one fighting, he remains close range. He does not have access to the grappling hook and also does not fly/glide at all, neither is he jumping from rooftop to rooftop or climbing a lot.

Jake's suit (HEADCANON):

It's different from Marc's and Steven's, because it incooperates black as a color. It's more close to what Marc's suit looks like than Steven's - complete with a hood and a cape in white - but is not made of bandages; Black fabric stretches along his body, skin-tight and flexible, combined with a white chest plate similar to Marc's (complete with a crescent moon on it as well) and white gloves as well as white boots with some decorative details here and there. His mask is similar to Steven's, however - without the seam and the moon on his forehead, though. A black, sleek surface only interrupted by his white, glowing eyes.

Jake's weapons of choice (HEADCANON):

Another difference between him and the others is the fact that his suit has actual hip holsters attached, offering him two guns made of black and golden metal, with the bullets made from the same golden metal. He never needs to reload and will never be out of said bullets - his weapons have infinite ammo. Those guns are decorated with hieroglyphs and perfectly made for his grasp; Just the right weight, right shape, right size, right everything. Since Jake loves to show off, they're definitely something to look at - quite flashy with the gold, but nevertheless dangerous. Fun fact: Those guns are actually Beretta's, the very same model that civil Marc owns (the one we get to see in the TV show when Steven pulls it from Marc's bag). Next to his guns, Jake also has access to the grapplink hook and uses it the most, as he prefers to be a distant range fighter. He also has access to Steven's Truncheons - they morph into one long staff whenever his suit materializes, however, and he uses said staff to move (pushing himself off the ground, for example) or as a weapon (smacking enemies, pushing them away etc). The staff appears silvery in color with a few golden details for decoration.

[autisticsharklover]

My thoughts on the how to train your dragon live action,

No one asked for this but I wanna do it! (Also writing this while baked)

I wanna list the positives first cause while I don't like the movie it still has good stuff in it.

Gerrad Butler, omg he was so amazing!!

Nico parker, I think she did amazing with her scenes (even though I didnt like the scrip)

The locations and scenery, alot of this was actually shot in Ireland and I'm losing my mind over that.

Snoutlout, I absolutely love how they framed snoutlouts character in the movie as he doesn't just come across as an asshole but rather takes aspects from the shows about his relationship with his father(Also loved the actor!)

Fishlegs, (He's literally me) I LOVE how fishlegs is even more nerdy about dragons in this, I also love how he doesn't just sit on the sidelines for hiccup but rather supports him, similar to how they are in both the shows and the books!

The negatives...

Hiccup, he lost every bit of sass, I don't want to just insult the actor but every bit of sarcasm and comedy hiccup had in the animated just got sucked out of him.

The missing scenes, I cannot stress enough how stupid it was for them to cut some of these scenes, ESPECIALLY the terrible terror scene, like that's a major plot point??? How else does hiccup know to blow up the red death???

Astrid, I kind of hate how they wrote her in this, for one she is now out right aggressive to hiccup unlike the original, I also hate how the writers tried to make her seem more "Badass" but it just comes across as annoying and her being a dick, I'm not saying I don't like Astrid in this movie but I just don't like most of the dialogue they gave her.

The Twins, I honestly had hoped for the twins to remain their comedy but I feel like they just sidelined them instead? I don't have much thoughts on them though as they didn't get a lot of screentime

Toothless, I HATE toothless in this, I hate how he looks, sounds and acts, they made him growl like a dog in one scene (his ass is a cat) Also they screwed up his wings in most of the flying shots (look up an image it's bad..) we also get none of the "GET DOWN NIGHTFURY" Scenes which I absolutely HATE it's like they took everything that made him the lightning of offspring and death and chucked in the bin, also when his charging up his blasts he has a green mist in his mouth but his blasts are purple??? I could honestly go on forever on why I hate toothless in this but I'm honestly so tired of him

The dragon nip, this is honestly more me nitpicking but they changed the dragon nip (a major thing in both shows and movies) to just blowing shit into the dragons face to make him sneeze? Idk this is just me nitpicking.

More hiccup, again I don't want to just hate on the actor but it feels like any scene with toothless felt so obviously CGI, idk know how to explain other then it felt like there was zero acting.

Gobber, they cut like half of his dialogue I swear 🙏 it feels like he just lost his charm, and his almost father like relationship with Hiccup.

Test flight, it just felt like a poorly made parody of the original, it doesn't have the tense and fast paced nature of the og.

The music, First off I absolutely love John Powell, I even went to see the orchestra live, but the music in this feels just half assed (like most of the movie) I can't really explain as I'm no good with music terms but it's just off.

The final battle, first off a lot of this is gonna be nitpicky so my bad 🙏 but my first issue is Astrid riding stormfly instead of hiccup because why would astrid who'd never flown a dragon be upfront when they need speed? Again that's just a massive nitpick, another nitpick is the scene where Astrid almost gets eaten by the red death, I think her getting slowly sucked into the red deaths mouth is more terrifying then her being stuck with an axe in the mouth, ALSO AGAIN LACKING THE "GET DOWN NIGHTFURY" DIALOGUE!!!

That's honestly it because I'm extremely tired and am just sick of this movie and I'm just gonna go watch the og.

[lover-of-mine]

I have realized what is making my head explode when a BT post accidentally goes through my tags!!!! They are completely ignoring Buck is bi. They are acting like my aunt in the early 2000s. I may not have been fond of all the LUs but they were valid relationships. If Taylor had not fucked up who knows where that relationship would have gone. I mean clearly nowhere once Eddie was out because once Eddie broke up with him he spiraled and kissed Lucy. But they are still valid relationships and at this point in time I don't see how Tommy is better than any of them. To be honest he has the worst traits of Abby and Taylor but the screen time of Ally. So frustrating.

Well, when have people ever been normal about bisexuality? But here's the thing, every relationship Buck had so far had his own set of issues that somehow have been reduced to the way he was dating women, which is fucked in so many ways and the amount of times I have to stop myself from picking a fight because of bucktaylor it's actually hysterical to me because we're seriously at a point where I need to defend the validity of Taylor's place in Buck's life. Like, how did we get here? Because here's the thing, do I think Buck and Taylor were meant to be? No. Do I think Buck would've clung to her until he literally couldn't anymore if her actions hadn't hurt his family? Absolutely. I see Buck going as far as panic proposing to her if that particular situation hadn't happened, just to have someone. Because they had chemistry and Buck kept trying to force that to become love. Taylor was wrong for Buck for a multitude of reasons, but none of those reasons were because she's a woman and Buck is gay. And the relationship with Tommy is not gonna magically last forever just because Tommy is a man. Tommy is this weird amalgamation of all of Buck's love interests with Ali/Ana levels of screentime and he doesn't magically have a fighting chance just because he has a dick and people can't seem to see this. And I think that's crazy. Because Tommy was given to us in an episode that had the theme of not recognizing people, while actively making us think it was about someone else and then they did the Kim storyline and I want to scream because people can't see the parallels. And the more I look at it the more insane I get because he's all of Buck's love interests smashed into someone who's Eddie two steps to the left with none of the things we love about him. But somehow he's perfect because he's not a woman. The only thing Tommy has going for him is not being a woman. You turn him into one and none of the things he did would fly. Letting Buck get away with physically hurting Eddie? Leaving him in the curb? Not dressing up? Making a kink joke after someone Buck loves almost died? Picture those scenes with Lucy and tell me anyone in the fandom would be shipping them. Let alone fighting for them the way people are right now. But he's a man so he gets a pass and that's so fucking weird. Evan Buckley is bisexual but getting dicked down isn't going to magically make everything perfect. Jesus.

Also, since you mentioned Eddie coming out, something that I've been thinking about since we found out it was supposed to be Eddie, a Buck who thinks he's straight finding out Eddie has a boyfriend would shortcircuit. I legit think they could not find a way to write Buck's reaction to Eddie being queer that didn't end with him figuring his feelings out so they switched things up, so Buck would for sure would've gotten there once Eddie got there because he would've had big feelings about it and Buck is not the repressed one.

[ataraxixx]

my piece on why i really like echo. i have ruminated a lot of these thoughts in my brain for awhile but i realized ive never actually made a public post abt it .. echoheads lets discuss extensively

see. i think we can all agree about the most common echo characterization. at least the one i usually see in fics? and generally most fan content. hes a happy-go-lucky guy whos a bit child-like or naive, very innocent and mostly just glad to be here and full of wonder and whimsy and etc. and also really loves zane and is very kind and sweet and etc.

i am not saying this is an incorrect characterization by any means . obviously. because hes literally got like 5 minutes of screentime and most of that is spent not talking so its really up to whoevers writing him how they want to take his character. but i also think that making him just. Fine with everything is a very underwhelming way to take his character. because he could be so much more than just. zane's brother who is innocent and silly. he can be innocent and silly and still have complicated feelings about his situation and existence yk.

i enjoy villain/antag echo bc it gives him a role in which to explore those complicated feelings as Himself. not as second fiddle to whatever zane is doing, but as a story of his own to come into his identity. because often times when hes included in fan content hes there just to be zanes brother and nothing else. which is so sad for him. because in canon thats all he ever was and all he'll ever be to his father. to zane. to the ninja. he's just the copy. the lesser version. he can never be his own self he will always be a derivative of zane.

like how is that not an interesting thing to explore. and how could we not think about the complicated feelings he would have about that. echo isnt stupid. he isnt incapable of having those kinds of feelings about his identity or role in the world because he is Literally Zane. he is programmed to be identical and he is in every facet of his personality and mannerisms a reflection of how zane was before he met wu/the ninja. when he was just a bit clueless about the world but not Stupid. just unknowledgable. and he was still capable of complicated feelings about himself because we see as early as episode 2 of season 1 he is wondering about himself and his role in the team and how he feels about the world. he isnt just content every day of his life to simply be there; he questions things and thinks about them deeply. why do fan creators often rob echo of this same capability and dumb him down to simply being child-like or incapable of complicated thought?

i always see him just. Fine with everything. and i dont think he needs to be a villain or evil or even violent to make him an interesting character. but i also think that anger and violence is a natural progression of the situation he has been put in by the doctor and by extension the ninja. they too do not regard him as his own individual, only as an extension of zane. which is literally crazy. because he is a whole ass person. they disregard his identity because its the same exact one as a person they already know; but he has no control over that. he didnt ask to be made as a copy of someone else, and now he exists, and he is forced to live knowing he was never his own person, even though he Is. Because he is Himself and he Exists and yet he isnt because his face doesnt belong to him and his voice doesnt belong to him and his name doesnt belong to him. the world decided he is someone else and he cant be who he actually is because someone else is Already him. like christ man. why are we sleeping on this and just making him like yayyy:3 im so happy i love everything or whatever. bro should be questioning his existence!

because i do think joining the SoG gives him such an excellent entry into both formulating his own identity while also paralleling harumi in an interesting way; for both characters in their attempts to create their own identities opposing the ones theyve been forced into, they end up only relating themselves to that identity anyway. in echos attempts to separate himself from zane he ends up relegating himself to hating zane because zane took something from him, an acknowledgement that he is a copy in the first place. their scrapped fight dialogue is so interesting guys. a discarded replica an experiment left to rust. should he not be upset that despite not asking to be made, much less in the image of someone else, he was left abandoned? that he was created solely to be hated by his creator for not being Someone Else? And now he is stuck always chasing after the shadow of that person because he was never meant to be his own person. only zane's copy. never as good as the original. and he has to live with that. its so devastating and good characterization and so interesting that i cannot pass up on it for simply having him be Guy Who is Happy and Innocent.

He is not stupid. He would definitely have less anger in his heart if the ninja got to him before Harumi did, but i think its so impossible that he can simply look at zane and feel nothing. that he can see the person who has cursed his existence into meaninglessness and just be like omg brother:3 because he is doomed to constantly be relegated to Zane's Brother and he will never be Echo to these people that call him a friend. He cant even use his own name he has to be Echo. because its someone elses name and not his even though it Is His its the name his father gave him. but hes not allowed to use it because hes not the original. and he is lesser. and he will always just be zanes brother and he will never be zane. and he will never even be echo. isnt that so fucked.

[missielynne]

I vented to you once before and you were the kindest person on this site, so I'm ranting to you again despite already knowing from your posts that you don't agree---and that 99% of Ghosts fans don't either lol :)

So I really didn't like last night's episode of Ghosts. Everyone's multi-episode obsession with Sas being a virgin (THE HORROR!!!) is tiresome to me in the extreme, and I just don't really care about Joan or Shiki. Because first of all, do we need *another* plot focused on the ghosts' romances?! For me, that's a resounding no :) I found Joan quasi-cool and annoying, and Shiki is just there---and what's with her only liking Sas if he's more assertive/aggressive?! It's so forced and random, and I feel like the show is trying too hard to make us feel like they're soulmates despite Shiki having maybe a total of 2.5 minutes of screentime throughout the show's four seasons lol.

The Thor/Alberta subplot was okay. I guess, and I like the idea of seeing more interactions between them, but inventing some grudge Thor has supposedly been holding for five decades feels like the writers are already beyond desperate for storylines lol.

I'm just SO glad we got a line from Flower last night about a threesome/orgy she was a part of. What a new, creative and interesting direction to go in with her character - where would the show be without her?! (sarcasm font!) Seriously, I'm so weary of Flower at this point - literally 90% of her lines this season are about her own cult/sex exploits or shaming Sas for being a virgin. (Given her own dubious choices in that area, she's got some nerve!) She doesn't even have strong connections with the other ghosts except supposedly Thor, and that's not exactly a profound meeting of the minds.

And then Jay---I was excited that the restaurant would give him his own identity and storylines, but he seems to have less personality and purpose than ever before. He and Sam are just there PURELY to react to the ghosts at this point rather than having any sort of character arcs of their own, and that's fine in the sense that the ghosts are more interesting and entertaining anyway, but Sam and Jay feel pointless. And like someone else said they both have the same personality and perspective on everything at this point, so you really only need one of them.

So as you can tell it's not at all just this episode---I've kind of fallen out of love with the overall show this season, and it breaks my heart because this was my VERY favorite show. Watching it every Thursday was one of the few highlights of my life! I was so invested in it but now just feel so meh. I don't care about any of the romances - that now includes Sas/Shiki and Sas/Joan. Hetty and Trevor have totally lost their appeal for me as anything more than co-schemers, the idea of shoving nisaac back together is absurd given how indifferent Isaac has seemed to Nigel a full 95% of the time, I covered how dull Jay/Sam are above, and Florthinn are so nothing that even as someone who's seen every single episode I literally keep forgetting they're even technically together.

Worse yet, individual characters I loved are meh to me this season. Pete has almost totally lost the endearing, eager sweetness that made me love him and has become arrogant and annoying. In trying to show Isaac "growing" this season, the writers somehow made him five times worse (literally don't even know how that's possible, but they managed it!). I'm utterly bored by both Jay and Sam for reasons already mentioned, Flower is beyond annoying and one-dimensional (sex/cults/drugs - enough already!) and now not even nearly as sweet (the virgin shaming crap is so annoying but it's not just that!). There's been this really uneven focus on Trevor where he was HEAVILY featured at the beginning of the season and is now basically ignored (why not pace it out, writers?!). And Hetty and Alberta feel sort of stagnant, like the writers will give them a little bit to do in a given episode but clearly have no idea where they're going with the characters overall.

I am so sorry for how insanely long and rambling this but am grateful to you for listening! I'm just sad because I want to recapture my love for the show but can't.

Its okay, I get you. :)

I liked last night's episode but I totally understand about the whole Sass romance/virgin shaming thing. Hopefully once Sass has his Very Special Sex Episode, they can move on to other things with him. I'd like that.

I don't need him to have a romantic relationship, although since by nature he's more of a romantic type, it's not surprising. But like, if they try and sell me on the fact that he and Shiki are true love forever just because he had a thing for her when he was alive...no. I find her very underwhelming because we've had next to no time to get to know her or see what her and Sass' dynamic actually is. And in general she's not really all that interesting and I would say, just from what we see of her, not a good fit for him anyway. I would say Joan is closer to what I would want for him if I had to give him a romantic partner, someone who is witty and sarcastic and able to tell a good story...but I almost want just a main friendship for him rather than something full on romance novel romantic. He just doesn't seem like the type for it for me.

I liked the Thor/Alberta plot personally. They're a pair that we don't get to see very often paired off in a battle of wits and I want more. I also liked the revelation about what happened at his birthday party. Learning new things about them like that is fun for me, personally and it really just seemed in character for both of them and her explanation of why she did it made sense.

And while I agree the couples are not at their most interesting right now, I want to see where they go. There could be something to shake things up in store. I'll give them a little grace.

But my god, when Flower gets sucked off, I will cheer, unless they come up with something non-sex related for her by the end of the season. She's the real drag on the show for me at this point and where all my intense AHHH! frustration feelings are. The rest I feel could go somewhere but with Flower it's like "We've found what her niche is and we ain't doing anymore with her." Sigh. For me, I'll just see where the rest of the season goes and go from there, but as you know, feel free to come and rant any time you need to. Box is always open. :)