#13 reasons why season 4 spoilers

[fanxficsx]

Chapters: 1/10 Fandom: 13 Reasons Why (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Justin Foley & Clay Jensen, Jessica Davis/Justin Foley, Clay Jensen & Tony Padilla, Jessica Davis & Clay Jensen, Justin Foley & The Jensens Characters: Justin Foley, Clay Jensen, Lainie Jensen, Matt Jensen, Jessica Davis, Tony Padilla, Zach Dempsey, Alex Standall, Charlie St. George, Diego Torres (13 Reasons Why) Additional Tags: Alternate Ending, Justin Foley Needs a Hug, Alive Justin Foley, Sickfic, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, HIV/AIDS, Good Sibling Clay Jensen Summary:

A few weeks after prom, Justin is taken off of the ventilator to die. It's something Justin has accepted. He knows he can die in the presence of a family, who loves him. Clay and his parents wrap their heads around what's about to come, but with a heavy heart. All they have to do is wait until the flat line shows up on the monitor. Minutes pass, soon it's hours. After what feels like forever, nothing happens. The line on the monitor continues, and not a single noise breaks the rhythm of pulse. Justin's still breathing.

Or

What if Justin doesn't die?

(Because it doesn't seem logical for him to die the way he had)

[nocreativityfornames]

Everything we know about Barbatos so far, lore wise.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL SEASONS

➤ He lives in the Demon Lord's Castle with Diavolo and works as his loyal butler. (swd: 2-13)

➤ He's one of the demons who share a pact with Solomon. (swd: 2-A)

➤ According to Mammon, he has a secret torture room beneath the castle from where you can hear the screaming of his victims at night. The other brothers and Diavolo were in the room when he told this to MC but none of them batted an eye or tried to deny it. (swd: 6-19)

➤ Before, citizens of the Devildom were allowed to easily travel to the Human World whenever they wished through passages placed in certain locations in the kingdom, but now those passages are blocked and the only way demons can use them is by getting permission from the few other demons who are still allowed to use them freely first. Barbatos is one of said demons. (swd: 11-4)

➤ He has the ability to time travel thanks to his powers that allow him to create a portal to any place, time and reality he wants. (swd: 15-17 and 53-11)

➤ He was the one to take MC back to the past when they made a deal with Diavolo to figure out who had opened the attic door and released Past!Belphegor in exchange for Present!Belphegor's freedom from being imprisoned for conspiring against the exchange program. (swd: 15-17)

➤ He looked into MC's bloodline under Diavolo's request once the prince realized there was something special about them, and it was then that he found out that they were Lilith's distant descendant. (swd: 16-15)

➤ In response to MC asking him if he knew everything that would happen with Belphegor getting out of the attic before it occurred Barbatos said that no, he didn't know, and even further said: "Imagine for a moment what it would be like to know everything that will happen from now until the end of time. Why nothing could possibly be more boring, wouldn't you agree?" (swd: 15-17)

➤ His main way to use his powers to "space travel" is through the many doors in his room in the Demon Lord's Castle. (swd: 15-17)

➤ He was never a child. (swd chat: The Royals, “That's What I Mean”)

➤ He met Solomon a long time ago when the sorcerer risked death to summon him (swd: 53-16), desperately needing his powers to control time for reasons that are still unknown. (swd: 49-A)

➤ He gave Solomon his grimoire out of trust and respect for him. (swd: 53-16)

➤ It's a big rumor around the kingdom that he's powerful enough to rival even the Demon King himself. (swd: 54-1)

➤ He met Diavolo when the prince was still a child and Diavolo got Barbatos to work for him by luring him into the castle with the promise of very rare tea and then telling him that he wouldn't let him leave unless he agreed to be his butler, getting to the point of even threatening to not assume his position of king in the future if the older demon refused to. And telling this story to Thirteen, Barbatos confessed to having found the whole thing very cute. (swd: 58-A and nb: 15-A)

➤ When it hit the news that he had sworn allegiance to Diavolo the whole kingdom was in shock and it was THE THING everyone was talking about. (swd: 54-1 and nb: 15-1)

➤ He has been around for a long time and shows up in historical records under multiple different names. Rumor has it he was alive even before the Devildom took shape. (nb: 15-1)

➤ When asked about Diavolo in a conversation with MC, he told them that the prince is the very reason for his current existence. (swd: 54-5)

➤ Narrated by Solomon in the Nightbringer Prologue Movie we hear the story of a certain demon, it goes: “Once upon a time, there was a demon who could see both past and future. With a flurry of trumpets from his king, the demon appeared. Finding a lost human the demon whispered: 'I can take you to where you'll be happy.' Through their tears, the human spoke: 'Thank you, o kind one. If you save me from this dark path, I will pray to you every night. Please, tell me what they call you!'" But before any reply can be said Barbatos is shown making a shushing sound, which was largely perceived as him not wanting the viewers to know that he was the demon from the story. Later, the human was revealed to be Adam, a man who came to the Devildom looking for his lover and met a demon named Nightbringer, who he immediately went to begging for help. (nb: 8-16)

➤ He was the one to give Solomon the title of “the Witty Sorcerer” when he brought him to the Fountain of Knowledge for the first time while Solomon was on the verge of death. Barbatos attended the sorcerer's wounds there and declared him the new protector of the spring. (nb: 11-10)

➤ He's to blame for how much Solomon has changed, according to Thirteen. The reaper told MC that Solomon used to be very loveably innocent when he was younger, but that Barbatos let him experience whatever he wanted and now nothing scares or fazes him anymore. (nb: 11-10)

➤ The reason he had been so irritable towards Solomon in the past was because when visiting the sorcerers' home he found a list of demons he wanted to make pacts with and noticed his name was placed 8th. (nb: 25-1)

➤ Before meeting Diavolo he used to use his powers freely to travel through time and space whenever he wanted without a care for how his actions could affect others, and they ended up terribly affecting Diavolo and Solomon, and Barbatos sees his devout servitude to the prince as a way to atone for those past actions, but Diavolo doesn't know that. (nb card: Barbatos, "Tea With You")

➤ Although he accepted to work for the prince for the sake of atonement, he ended up enjoying his time with him and found that he felt a sense of belonging working for him. (nb card: Barbatos, "Tea With You")

[derww]

not-so-liveblog liveblog thought post about a new part of the unstable universe. spoilers to it and to the previous videos.

1. judging by the flashback, parrot remembers the wormhole. so, in theory, everyone else should also remember ls. but they don't seem to. many points, of course, can be explained by the fact that they simply do not want to discuss what happened before, but mapicc and jepexx, despite their long friendship, behave as if they had not known each other before. very strange

2. who did spoke hire this time... did squiddo agree to work for him again after he burned down her house?... and it's not like he has money now.

3. for some reason, for the second time in a row, in parrot's pov spoke is this mystical man, who knows too much and calls parrot after himself, when in his own povs he has no idea what he is doing and suffers from bullying...

4. the only world where zam's empire really exists and looks like an empire

5. is zyye on the list of online players? damn, i haven't seen this guy in months.

6. "i killed parrot so many times" (c) zam on one of the last streams

7. oh, the lighthouse is flashing! obviously morse code. interesting.

8. of course, zam has voidhole. it was the only thing to expect from him. made up of all the seasons at once, leading the empire, approving exploits, of course, this zam has a voidhole. i'm even surprised that it's so small. it doesn't match his ego. /rp

9. constantly watching spoke is something from s4, from the moments when he flew after people in the spectator and frustrated them by always knowing exactly where they are. but wet cat spoke from the last episode couldn't possibly get a spectator, right? :clueless:

10. i wonder if zam&co sealed the hole, or is spoke ready to let parrot die/too confident in his success no matter what?

11. overall, this is a very interesting segment where they are locked in a void. a cool way to catch up with suspense.

12. "jumper who's void base" was the sentence that sent me laughing. of course, jumper who has a void base, after all, she never finished one on the lifesteal.

13. "this is a code to zam's vault" and how do you know it bro...

14. why is merffin pretending to be an armorstand and how did he not notice them XDD

15. hello, spoke! it's interesting how parrot, chasing after spoke for two videos already, does not recognize him, because he has never actually seen him in all this time.

16. an interesting pattern: this is the second video on this server in a row, where the main character (spoke, parrot) is looking for something secret and important and involves an innocent person (mapicc, wifies) in all this, whom he endangers and who becomes his partner.

17. hello again, the god of another world and a corpse. it's always nice to see you together, you're a good duo.

18. i killed parrot so many times (c) x2

19. why hasn't wifies taken off his second layer yet 😭

20. oh, he took it off!

21. mobs really won't spawn. it reminds me of the surreal wemmbu's state of the lifesteal during abyss arc, with a crazy tickspeed and the absence of any hostile mobs. has spoke already backdoored this server too? or did someone build a mobswitch?

22. the underwater part is the strangest so far, because it is technically unrealizable with the redstone and is explained only by the fact that spoke was watching them all this time and opened the way as soon as all the objects were in place.

23. "just break the shrieker – oh, how timely, mining futigue." I did not know the fact that natural and delivered shriekers differ visually too, it is interesting.

24. spoke continues to put the lives of parrot and wifies in mortal danger. how fun!

25. escape room is cool. I never doubt wato's skills :)

26. is this the world border?

27. oh, its not.

28. this quickly turned into a kenadian video about all the crowl glitches. i like it!

29. welcome to the conduit town! /ref

30.

wifies: why did he- you guys are on bad terms, right, you're like- are you-parrot: no, i don't- i mean- i don't, i-i-i mean, i don't, i don't like to think badly of spoke at all, but- lowkey, i would bot be surprised if he is a bit distasteful of some stuff i've done. wifies: right.

parrot: yea. but-

wifies: it's well, like- yeah, its just weird....wifies: sometimes it feels like he- like, he's really aching us on to find it. like, he really- he's really leading- he's really showing us the way, which strikes me as kind of odd.parrot: what does that mean.wifies: i don't know, like, in my mind, if you wanted to hide something from someone, you wouldn't really... create a quest of riddles for it. but it kinda seems like- i don't know- like, he wants to give you something.parrot: yeah.

wifies: he wants to give you whatever gift... or he wants to show you something. which is weird. i- i- like, again, that's- it's such a- it contradicts itself cuz if he wanted to give you something, why make you- why make you go through all of this- like, it seems pointless. if you want to protect something, never design riddles that can be solved, and if you want to show someone something, why make it harder and make these riddles? 

parrot: yeah.

wifies: just seems counter-intuitive.

seems like havoc duo here also has its ls complixity with spoke constantly contradicting himself and doing everything much more complex than it has to be. hmmm.

31. hihihihihi spokeishere :)

32. so he created a quest originally designed for two people to complete in order to then say that one should be banned for becoming too close? spoke led parrot to find a new friend, and now he's going to kill him!

33. parrot is running after spoke's shadow. spoke is running after jamatop's shadow. wemmbu is technically running after spoke, but actually he watches these two and thinks "what am i even doing here just give me my power and let me out".

34. wifies is wearing his turtle helmet. it's touching in its own way.

35. the very fact that spoke keeps saying "banned" instead of "dead". this is a hardcore server, unlike lifesteal, you can't "die" and not "get banned". iirc in naked&aftaid people usually do not say "banned", but they say "dead" and this is natural, because clarification is not required. is it just ls slang?

36. goodbye, wifies. you had a good run. o7

37. in his pov, spoke is desperately trying not to fall even lower, to preserve his principles and humanity, he breaks things – but when it's not just a place, but someone's house, then he doesn't feel good after that. in the parrot's pov, he brings parrot's new friend to the ban and then tells him that he did it in vain and laughs in the parrot's face. bro...

38. "and he's never gonna know" so we're going to roleplay that it's just a world where they live, or do we have a discord in case of something.

39. in a sense, the last spoke's video and this parrot's video end up similar. they're both broken. they are lost. they were chasing a ghost. spoke's monologue here partially reflects ro's monologue. but in the end spoke finds an actual vault, and parrot finds nothing, because now he has to break free spoke to break free wifies. how funny.

40. spoke: because- parrot, honestly, what you did to me, i needed to take something from you as well.

what did he even do to you? the only thing parrot did to spoke in the videos was blow up an orbital cannon – and it's definitely not that terrible, and spoke didn't even find out in the video that it was parrot. wtf

41. wow, spoke is in the chunkban! he will definitely stay there until the end of the server, because after wemmbu it will definitely not be his turn to upload video! /s

42. three hours is an insane time for minecraft video, of course. it's not entirely clear to me why parrot decided to make the video so long, but it's his decision, and the video is great. the unstable universe, as always, leaves a lot more questions than it answers. i'm really looking forward to the wemmbu pov!

p.s: oh no i hoped to have some devotion duo today. but oh, well, spoke decided to not bring mape with him today. or something had happened.

[know-the-way]

The stages so far of me binging the entirety of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (spoilers if you haven’t watched it before):

1. “Yeah, the 1920s hasn’t ever really been your preferred vibe, but so many of your friends like this show, and you love ‘Clue’ which seems similar, so just bite the bullet and go.”

2. “Wait, they’re Australian? What? Did I know this before and forgot?”

3. “Ohhhh right, Miranda Otto was in this! I did know that. And she’s a cocaine lord?! Nice. Don’t get to see her in many villain roles.”

4. *first scene with Phryne & Jack* “Oh, he has a very nice deep voice, okay I see I see mmmhm okay. … Why is so he so sulky, though? Big ‘who hurt you’ vibes. Intriiiiigue… “

5. “OH dEaR oh mY, there is banter and cheeky looks, this is bad, coDE RED, pretty sure this is your LAST chance to exit before this becomes a #problem.”

6. *does not exit* *becomes a #problem*

7. “Oh, so she’s gonna be banging lots of men with no emotional attachment (when there is clearly some tragic past hiding under the surface as to why that might be)? So an emotionally damaged woman who copes with her traumas by deflecting said emotions through sex and other various reckless behaviors? Babe… *cups face gently* babe, babe, babe. You’ve made this beyond a problem now. Because every little glimpse of vulnerability among your extremely out-of-hand savior complex is gonna make me fall in love with you more and more… just like the tall, broody inspector man over there (who still has a very nice voice and sad, kind eyes and who you seem to be afraid of being smitten with for ~*some reason*~). Anyway, Jack and I, we’re both fucked.”

8. Wdym they both have traumas from the war & from past relationships, that they both witnessed an unimaginable amount of loss, and that both are broken so deeply that they built fortresses of ice around their hearts to protect themselves AND YET BOTH OF THEM THAW JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE WITH THEIR EVERY INTERACTION? Fuck OFF! This is not FAIR!

9. “Miss Fisher was actually on her way home.” He said that with a fully clenched jaw and a step forward. Fuuuuccckk, there’s gonna be smoldering jealousy, too? Just slap me in the face, the amount of longing I’m about to witness… Jack, it’s okay buddy, we’re in this together. There’s something special about you and she’s gonna figure it out… after what appears to be several seasons and perhaps a feature film. But she’ll figure it out! Stay strong, soldier! I’m rooting for you!

10. “Oh God, her little sister was murdered. As someone who loves my own sister dearly, that’s fucking awful, this is hurting me deeply, and I really do not like it. 🥺 … AND THE MURDERER IS DUE TO BE RELEASED? AbSoLUTELY not! … WDYM THERE’S ALSO AN ABUSIVE EX?! And he’s come back to MURDER HER over a naked painting of her younger self like a fucking CREEP?!*”

(*not a correct summarization of what happened, but not not correct)

Anyway, I found the tragic past!

11. “Abusive ex is played by Peter O’Brien? With a ‘French’ accent? *snort* I mean, okay, it’s a choice. Anyway… what a douche… moving on… “

12. Aw, they kissed! *claps* And so soon! I mean, it was under horrible circumstances, but it happened… and with lingering looks to boot? You know what, I’ll take it. ‘Cause, I mean, look at them… and like let’s not talk about the juxtaposition of Phryne’s panic over seeing someone who once hurt her being redirected by a kiss from someone who would never hurt her… and Jack subsequently lunging for an armed René to stop him from taking Phryne… we’ll just ignore that for now

13. Felt the “I am not afraid of you” in my bones. Good shit.

14. “You kissed me. … You kissed me back!” Children, please. This is a Wendy’s.

This is as far as I’ve gotten, but omg what a fun ride so far. Friends who tried to recommend this to me for YEARS, I am SO sorry I slept on it. I understand now and your taste is impeccable. *muah*

[miraculouscriticismshub]

My thoughts on Felix - anti hero gone wrong

Introduction - SEASON 5 SPOILERS AHEAD

Felix Fathom - the show's anti hero. Easily one of the smartest characters of the show and has gained quite a large fanbase. However , his Character took a drastic turn in Season 5 , with the transition from anti-hero to a hero. He joins the team in the season 5 finale - which has raised a few eyebrows. This post will explain my thoughts on Felix and why I dislike how his character has been written this season . Don’t get me wrong , I don’t hate Felix but it annoys me how he does awful things and doesn’t face any consequences. This is not a hate post on Felix but simply me sharing my opinion on him.

His Character explained up until Emotion

Felix seemingly had a rough childhood. Due to Amelie being infertile , Colt created Felix from the peacock miraculous , which caused him to be a senti.

Due to Colt using the broken miraculous , he got sick and seemingly blamed , abused and controlled Felix.

When Felix was 13 , due to frustration , Colt punched the wall , breaking the ring which is where Felix’s amok is. This nearly killed Felix and made him realize his life was tied to his father’s ring. Soon his father died and he took his ring , securing his freedom. However he was forever paranoid of the idea of disappearing and when he found out about the peacock miraculous, he made it his goal to steal it from his uncle to ensure his survival. We see him first in the episode Felix , where he steals Gabriel's ring. We see him come back in Gabriel Agreste , finding out his uncle is a Shadow Moth , confirming his suspicions that he had the peacock miraculous.

The trauma from his interaction with Gabriel , thinking he was about to be snapped out of existence, triggers him to complete his mission. In the Season 4 finale , he steals most of the miraculous and trades all of them and Gabriel's ring for the peacock miraculous.

The rings from my understanding were a safety net in case anything went wrong. He knew Gabriel would never trade the peacock miraculous for his wife's ring because of how powerful the miraculous was so he stole most of the miraculouses because he knew about Gabriels plan. He laid low for a few months then in the episode Emotion , he committed mass genocide by snapping every human to the red moon and leaving only the senti-trio and Marinette on Earth. 

His motive - freeing his cousin and Kagami ( who he recently found out was a senti) from their parents. He however realized he lost control and brought everyone back. Felix is an anti-hero in the sense that he had good intentions but goes about it in the wrong way. He had a good reason to trade the jewelry for the peacock in order to be free , to never be under the mercy of the peacock miraculous holder , who can snap him out of existence anytime. However he achieved his goal in an unethical way , by betraying ladybug and stealing the miraculous. This also applies in Emotion , he felt empathy for Kagami and felt bad about Adrien because he was in the same situation as them which is not being able to be in control of themselves. He wanted to help them experience the same freedom he has so he snapped Gabriel and Tomoe to the red moon.  However he went way too far by snapping away literally everyone committing genocide. He had a sympathetic motive - helping Adrien and Kagami but how he conducted his methods in a questionable way portrays him as a morally gray character.

This is what makes his Character compelling . You sympathize with his character and understand why he does the things he does but at the same time disagree with his methods and resent him for helping the main villain. 

Why Feligami doesn’t work

Pretension is the episode where Felix’s character went wrong for me. This is mainly because of Feligami (sorry Feligami stans😔😔). He seemingly falls in love with Kagami after one episode and from my understanding - stalks and kidnaps her from her mom . Now Tomoe is awful but there really was no need to kidnap her - she was only shouting at her - not beating her up. He kidnapped Kagami not because she was in any danger but wanted to confess his love towards her and make her fall in love with him . Kagami was not having any of it however when he seemingly saves her and tells her about his tragic backstory , she instantly gains feelings.

The problem with this is that Kagami barely knows Felix . From her POV , he could easily be lying in order to gain sympathy from her. They got together during one episode which caused the ship to feel rushed. Another reason why this ship doesn't work is how they fell in love. Sure Kagami saw Felix differently after Felix saved her from Tomoe and gave her the ring but you don’t fall in love after three interactions.

Kagami chooses to be with Felix because he looks exactly like Adrien which causes the ship to be unhealthy because she still has unresolved feelings for her ex. She doesn’t love Felix for who he is , she loves him because he looks like Adrien. If she started dating Felix after knowing him for a few weeks/months then it would’ve made more sense that she fell in love with Felix because of his personality , not his appearance.

Felix only like Kagami because she was a senti , he barely cared for up until Emotion. He only spent a couple of hours with her before snapping everyone away and then decided he loved her.  If Kagami wasn’t a senti , he wouldn’t have taken interest in her and snapped her away without caring. The last reason why I dislike Feligami is that it feels forced . The sole reason why the writers gave Felix a love interest is to make him look more redeemable. Kagami is one of the show's more loved characters ( from season 4 at least) and making her and Felix get together was for the purpose of making Felix more likable. To conclude , Feligami is a cute idea but the execution of their storyline was done badly. They fall in love despite barely knowing each other and Kagami forgives Felix way too easily after knowing his story. If you like Feligami though , that's perfectly fine. 

Representation mess

This episode made me lose most of my respect for Felix as a character (I can hear the Felix stans typing 😂😂). The first reason why this episode wasn’t well written is how Felix approached Ladybug. When performing his cringy play (which turned out to be pointless) he asked for Ladybug help without uttering a single apology for everything you’ve done to her. He SA’ed Ladybug and gave her trauma by stealing the miraculous but still had the audacity to request assistance without saying sorry. Isn’t he ashamed of himself or feel any guilt ?

He also sought Ladybug's aid not because he wanted to free Adrien from Gabriel , not because he felt bad about what he did in Strike Back and wanted to seek forgiveness by teaming up with Ladybug to help her defeat Monarch but because he wanted to love his girlfriend freely. He only helped Marinette , gave her the information she needed because it benefited him . This isn’t a bad storyline for an anti-hero. An anti-hero only works for himself but the reason why this storyline failed is because the narrative pushed Felix to be some sort of hero. His moments with Kagami make him look like a good guy and the backstory made Felix sympathetic.

The moment  where Felix explains why he stole the miraculous felt more of a justification portraying Felix as someone who is innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong. He is sympathetic and tragic but isn't exactly a good person either so the part where he justifies what he did and the narrative portraying him as a hero felt like bad writing.

Another thing that bothers me is the inconsistency of Felix creating a sentimonster which is a projector. He said in Pretension he refused to create another senti just for him to abuse them , control them and snap them out of existence when he’s done with them.

However , after Mari wakes up , she sees a feather which we could assume means Felix has snapped it out of existence when he was done with it. The annoying thing is that this could’ve been avoided if Felix wasn’t a coward and went up to Ladybug , APOLOGIZE for what he did , says he wants to help her defeat Monarch and tell him everything he knows. Man up Felix ! The least he could’ve done was give the senti its freedom instead of killing it. However in defense of Felix , he did tell Ladybug about Adrien being a senti which redeemed him somewhat , but the info on Monarch's identity was pointless and the information Felix revealed was barely used in the finale until the Adrienette kiss scene.  Overall this Episode made me lose most of my respect for Felix's character because the writers try so hard to portray Felix as a hero or a good guy when clearly he still is the same as before. He still has villain like tendencies that are never addressed and this episode really swept all of his bad deeds under the rug. 

Why his redemption doesn’t make sense

During the epilogue of the finale - he seemingly is chilling at the Agreste mansion and spends time with Kagami - eyeing her cutely. However the most insulting thing about the finale is when Felix seemingly joins the team confirming a redemption arc (pls don't kill me Felix stans🙏🙏). He is pretty much forgiven for his crimes and faces no real consequences. Well to be fair , he did face a small consequence for mass genocide , he lost control of his power and realized he is no better than Monarch. This is shown when  he cries after snapping the red moon out of existence.

However that was the only consequence he faced out of many crimes he committed and he never redeemed himself to Ladybug for killing everyone. Instead he got rewarded with a girlfriend and ownership of his Miraculous despite his identity being known. The reason why his redemption makes no sense is that he never apologized to Ladybug or proved himself that he is a good person. Sure he had good motives and felt remorse a few times but he never said sorry to Ladybug or felt any guilt about helping Gabriel. His abuse under Colt explains his actions but does not excuse them so him seemingly being forgiven by everyone  without proving himself just felt wrong. The season 5 finale was a missed opportunity to redeem Felix the right way with him saving Adrien and Kagami from their prisons or him fighting alongside Ladybug against Monarch. Instead he was absent and only showed up in the epilogue. Another problem is that his redemption was rushed , only a few weeks ago he committed mass genocide but now he’s besties with Ladybug and already part of the team , the same team he ruined by stealing all the miraculouses. Did she also forget he forced himself on her ? Felix can do whatever he wants without ever being held accountable or face any punishment. I’m not against a Felix redemption arc if it’s written correctly. His character would’ve been better if he continued to be an anti-hero and is redeemed in later seasons.   Therefore , his redemption felt ruined because he basically got away with most of his crimes and was forgiven easily without ever apologizing or feeling much regret. He basically faced no consequences for SA, assisted terrorism , mass genocide , stalking , kidnapping and instead got rewarded .

Final thoughts

To conclude ,  Felix started off as a great character with layers and complexity but unfortunately got ruined as the story progressed. I don’t hate Felix , his character is fascinating because of his character status as morally gray but like most characters in this show , was a victim of bad writing. His redemption felt disappointing and his relationship with Kagami felt unnatural. I understand his motives (he was doing it for his own survival) but they way he conducted his methods was immoral. He got away with most of his crimes and faced no punishment. Hot take but Felix is one of those characters who’s better off as an anti-hero. He still has so much villain potential which shouldn't go to waste. However I will end this post on a positive note and say not all hope is lost and Felix’s character can be saved in season 6. Going forward , I hope Ladybug and Cat Noir (especially Cat Noir)  still are a bit suspicious of Argos and don’t fully trust him despite letting him into the team.  Another Unpopular Opinion is that I want Felix to turn on the hero team in future seasons and work with the villains. It’s logical because he never was held accountable or faced real consequences so what is stopping him from betraying the team again ? His character has so much potential and he is unique solely because he is an anti-hero. I hope in Season 6 , his character improves. However these are just my opinions , if you love Felix and agree with how the writers are handling his character , that is perfectly fine .  Please stay respectful 😊😊😊 .

[weaselbeaselpants]

If I were a cartoon review youtuber, some of my videos would definitely be:

Underrated Animated films you should see vol. 1 - ongoing

Complete look at Skunk Fu! and all it's episodes

What's ACTUALLY wrong with Illumination films (spoiler: it's not the designs). And that video would probably have a sequel ironically unironically accusing Chris Meladandri of being a White Walker who rips out movies' souls.

Disturbing Animated Film Iceberg.

A calming, sweet short retrospective on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.

Killing off the idea of "endgame". Tho, tbf, I'm definitely going to be writing that thesis statement down someday. I guess in video format it'd be a big "did this series REALLY fall off cuz the creator catered to fans?" breakdown of a few shows.

A video about 9. Because of course I'd make something about 9.

Politically heavy (but not horror) animated films.

An essay explaining the difference between what I want to see in a story vs what's actually good in a story; and likewise the difference between what I personally do/don't find offensive and what's objectively offensive as a viewer.

The dichotomy and standards between different talking animal films.

A review about Mary and Max and why I like it but it's okay if other autists don't. which would be a broader video about how to listen to the opinions of demographics and minorities and not to treat any one as a hivemind.

Movies that I dislike but aren't actually bad.

Movies I love that aren't really all that good.

A deeper dive on my take that Steven Universe was always deeply flawed but having an otherwise working ending; where Star vs was a well-written show that utterly biffed it on the ending.

The Swan Princess is secret conservative propaganda.

The 31 dumbest things in Oogies Revenge.

Zero's Journey is the only good TNBC continuation.

13 Horror animated Feature Films. For Halloween, of course...

My issue with Dreamworks' stans and why I dislike How to Train You Dragon 2.

My issues with Anti v Proshipping. Def would be a multi part series explaining why I think most of the problem is just people really aggresively bulling one another -AND THEN, getting into heinous fandom shit that no one talks about and the ethics of children online and freedom of expression.

Prolly then would make an exclusive (cuz it's dirty) review abt the rights of r34 and adult artists and what they had to/have to put up with both from peers and websites banning explicit material.

What absolutely doesn't work about Pocahontas and Anastasia.

I'd do a series called "Spitball Re-haul" wherein I go through a revisioned show's premise and then explain all the reasons for the changes. I'd make:

How I'd rewrite The Owl House season 3.

How I'd rewrite Star vs the Forces of Evil "Cleaved".

How I'd rewrite Strange Magic.

How I'd rewrite Raya and the Last Dragon.

How I'd rewrite Seasons 4-8 of Friendship is Magic.

My tinfoil hat video on Disney trying to profit so much off of fans is hurting their bases.

Mapping out and analyzing different types of crossover fiction, their merits and their issues with story-keeping.

Mythological and cultural animated films.

and finally, for when I'd muster up the strength:

an HBomberGuy-type callout/deepdive into MysteriousMrEnter and Lily Orchard and how they've made cartoon reviews worse.

[katatedge1]

Poe and Ranpo meeting a teen, 12-13, reader who’s basically murderous like Kyoka who has a powerful ability (on a rampage the first time Poe/Ranpo meet reader lol-). Except instead of reader getting a redemption (Atsushi and kyoka jumping out of the train scene) a little bit after meeting, it takes days to months even. And really, they’re just a traumatized young kid who took to murder as a coping mechanism after being taught to do so. They’re really curious about things most would already know their age

Sorry sorry if it’s a bit too detailed or you can’t understand

Do you think I want to live like this?

Warnings: spoilers for Season 4 episode 5 and gore (I think that's all)

It was only a few hours after Ranpo and Poe hears mushitaro getting shot in the head. Ranpo kept thinking of the warning mushitaro gave him.

"THE AGENCY WILL GET A JOB, NEVER ACCEPT IT! ACEPPTING IT WOULD DESTROY THE AGENCY"

Ranpo and Poe both felt saddened by Mushitaro's death.

As they were walking down the street, talking abt what that job would be, ranpo tried using his ultra deduction, but it hadn't worked for some reason.

The sounds of screams were heard as Ranpo and Poe's eyes widened, they started running towards the alley where they heard the screams from.

There stood a young girl, she was 12-13, she held a katana, that katana being covered in blood.

There were a huge amount bodies, small and big, it didn't matter to the young girl, as long as she got to kill, she didn't care.

At this point she was hitting the already dead person with the katana (legit hitting them).

She couldn't stop, she just couldn't, she wanted more, she wanted to kill more.

Ranpo went closer to her, but Poe was against it, Poe held out his hand to stop Ranpo, but he gave up as he realised Ranpo wouldn't stop.

Ranpo put his hand on the little girls' shoulder, knowing that she doesn't know what she's doing.

She slowly turned her head around, looking angry, but deep down, she was just a little girl in distress and just wants to be saved, but no one comes to save her, she's still waiting, wanting to be saved, but no one ever saves her.

"Do you wanna get killed like the others? Or are you gonna run and then get killed? Choose quickly and wisely." She said without hesitation.

"...."

"Ranpo! Why did you do that?!" Poe shout-whispered.

"First, I'll kill you both, then I'll kill my self. That's what I was ordered to do. Do my mission and die."

"You will not kill any of us. You are never gonna kill anyone again." Ranpo said boldly, clearly trying to stop the girl from completing her "mission", honeslt, who would make 13 year old girl do such job?

"Well then, I guess I have no choice but to kill myself..."

Ranpo pushed the katana out of the girls' hands and gripped both her shoulders

"NO! YOU ARE NOT GONNA KILL YOURSELF OR ANYONE!"

Poe stood shocked, and the young girls' eyes opened wide

"W- Who are you to tell me what to do?! I don't even know you!"

Her eyes started glossing as she started to cry. Poor girl.

She hugged Ranpo tight, crying.

Ranpo signaled that Poe can go, Poe went away of course, leaving them with the privacy they need.

She hugged ranpo even more tight

"I'm sorry,I'm sorry,I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." at this point she was shouting her apologies.

Ranpo hugged her back, remembering when he had a break down when fukuzawa was yelling at him, it was all the same.

"Shh, its ok..."

She kept crying,crying and crying, until she finally calmed down, still sobbing a bit.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Y/N...I don't have a last name."

You can come with me to the agency, we can get you anew katana."

"Thanks..."

[starseneyes]

Chenford REWIND - Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 4 Ep 14

This one might seem a little weird for me to pick out of the pile, but it really resonated with me for a few reasons that I'll get into once we dive into the Meta.

Season 4 is the era of open Tim and Lucy truly sharing in one another's lives at a level they never did before. It's needed for this episode.

So, bear with me because this is more of a "mini meta", but this episode deserves it, I think.

SPOILER ALERT: In the land of Spoilers I doth play! Merriment is to be had for those who partake of said indulgences, but for those who forsake the foreign finds, atrophy doth await. Okay, I can be a little silly because we've done this enough. Spoilers within. But I do try to write without foreknowledge of what is to come.

Everyone versed on the way this works? Excellent! I'm ready to dive in.

"... since I don't know my biological father, you know, it makes it kind of challenging."

I hate these forms with everything in me. And I. Have. Twins. So every time I start them with a new doctor, I have twice as many forms that have to be filled out in the same time as most parents get for one. So, I'm with you, Lucy.

Also, I remember the first time I had to fill out a School Form after meeting my biological father. I was a lot younger, but I remember my absolute confusion. "Mama, am I Hispanic?" "Just mark 'white'," she responded. Yeah... it was an interesting season.

"Wait. Your Dad's not your bio dad?" "Mmnm." "You never told me that." "It's not really a big deal. My Dad, the man who raised me, is my Dad."

Absolutely, Lucy! Blood does not determine fatherhood.

I remember an episode of The Pretender that took the angle of "Didn't I teach you to tie a tie?" and I was a mess of blubbering crazy on the floor because "Dad" isn't owed to anyone just because they contribute biological matter to an insemination. "Dad" is a special moniker.

And, yes, I call both the man who raised me until I was 7 and my biological father "Daddy". Plus I have a step-dad. My wedding was really interesting with three Father Speeches, let me tell you!

"She told me that he was not ready to be a father..."

I do feel for Lucy's mom on this one. My biological father let his friends convince him my mother was lying... so he never wanted anything to do with me.

She had to go to court to get the blood test for... you guessed it... medical history forms, so she'd be able to fill them out accurately for me.

Yeah, Lucy doesn't owe this man anything and neither did her mom.

Wait... did I just take Mama Chen's side on something? It feels dirty...

"Hey, do you think it's weird I didn't try to find my biological dad?" "No. You don't owe the guy anything."

Thank. You. Lucy, if you're not going to listen to me (just like football teams when my Uncle's screaming at them from his couch), then please listen to your husband.

What I also love about this is that we've caught up with them mid-conversation. It's possible they were talking about this in the Shop, but I like to think that it came up between them before. Lucy's comfortable telling Tim almost anything.

For a man who tries hard to keep the Shop a "personal free zone", by Season 4 Lucy has worn him down, and he's beyond telling her to stop.

She's already versed Tim on the fertility fun, so it's completely natural for her to talk to him about this, too.

"The only thing he ever contributed to your life was measured in millimeters."

Best. Husband. Ever. Get this man an award, because he's busting out all the support for his wife while calling out this no-show sperm-contributor on his lack of parental contribution. We stan a man who thinks fatherhood demands some bloody effort.

Look, I love my bio dad and we have a great relationship. But it took a lot of work and a 13-year-old screaming at her father to put down the beer and drive because he was the adult and needed to act like it. Yeah...

"Seriously, I don't know why I bother talking to you about personal stuff." "Mission accomplished."

This cracked me up the first time I saw it! Because, Tim's beyond telling Lucy to stop talking, right? But that doesn't stop him from being a cynical bitch to get her to stop.

She gives him the look, but his gaze is safely on Bailey so he isn't instantly vaporized by meeting her eyes.

"Why don't you give us a list?" "How about giving me your number?"

Tim turns to her and does his little finger point that he did when dismissing her when they decided to ride together again as Gofer and Sergeant.

He didn't need her involved in his paperwork that night so he waves her away. This time, he's waving himself out of his conversation. Also, he doesn't want to be present so he doesn't have to write Lucy up for threatening the guy.

"Sir, are you okay?" "Do I look like I'm okay?" ... "Did you see where she went after she attacked you?" "Obviously not."

Calm down, Timmy, my boy. About 12 seconds ago you asked a man washing his blood-red, can't-open eyes with a garden hose if he was okay.

Neither one of you's doing great in the common sense department, today, so why not back off on the attitude directed my girl's way?

I've seen a small contingent of people claim Tim's changed too much from Season 1. Nah. What we've seen is a man who was at the lowest point of his life finding healing. It's gradual, but it's there.

And we see that the cynical, sarcastic, dead-pan part of him is still there. But it's not overwhelming all the other wonderful, layered parts of him like before.

Also, I speak cynicism and sarcasm, so in that I've found a kindred spirit in a fictional character.

"People suck." "Amen to that."

He's not wrong. Look, there are individuals who can be pretty amazing, but in my experience, people as a whole generally suck. That's why the kind-hearted, compassionate, considerate, empathetic humans matter so much. That's why people like Lucy matter so much.

Because in a hurting world, the hope-bringers matter. They're the ones who light a torch in the blackest night and hold it high for others to see. And as we're drawn toward that light, holding our own water-logged torches, drenched in our tears... we find warmth. We find hope.

The warmth dries out our torches, not erasing our tears, but ceasing their flow. And then, slowly, the spark within each of us returns, and we can then hold our own torches high for the next weary travelers who've lost their sense of self on the difficult trails of life.

Tim's torch is starting to spark, and he can thank Lucy for a lot of it. But, right now, he's reminding us that he's one of us... still not all the way out of the dark.

Lucy twitches her hand at Tim's remark, almost a "Are you kidding me!?", but Tim doesn't see it.

"Is it better to know? Or to not?" "You talking about bio dad now?"

Kitty! My husband says that to me every time I cock my head to the side in response to something he says. It reminds him of his kitties he grew up with.

So, as soon as Tim cocked his head, I thought "kitty!" and promptly erupted into laughter in an empty room like a madwoman.

But I love how well Tim can read her. There are still times he checks in with her with a "You okay?", but we're seeing the evolution of his understanding of Lucy. He's grown in his understanding of her, and right now he knows exactly where her mind has gone.

And how special is it that she's working through this with Tim?

Look, family stuff can be complicated and we've already seen Lucy's issues with her mother. Tim has likely had several earfuls of all this, but I love how supportive he's being of her, here.

He's not telling her what to do. And that immediately throws me to post-DOD when he didn't tell her what to do with her tattoo. There's a consistency here that I appreciate.

Also, I love this growth compared to when she was vetting Emmett. She pretended to talk to Rachel (not this Rachel... but I'll totally be her second Rachel BFF if Lucy Chen, fictional character, is looking for a new BFF). And when Tim called her on it, she admitted she needs to process orally and knew he wouldn't do it with her.

Look. How. Far. We've. Come. Tim doesn't have to be talked into it. In fact, he's the one who drew it out of her when she started waxing poetic Shakespeare style—"To know, or not to know?"

Tim is Lucy's sounding board, now. Losing Jackson was huge. And while Lucy loves Tamara and talks to her a lot, it's not the same thing since there's more of a mother/daughter relationship at play.

And as someone with incredibly odd parent/child dynamics, I'm not judging. Just saying, it's different.

But in the vacuum that stole Jackson from Lucy's life, there will never be someone to fill that space completely. Yet, certain elements transferred near-seamlessly to Tim. Tim and Lucy are friends, and they are deeply involved in one another's lives, at this point.

Remember, we are post double-date, post Tim's father, post Lucy helping with demo, post so many other things that moved them forward in Season 4. Walls were torn down between them.

It's that thinnest veil now keeping them apart. That, and their placeholder significant others because, wow, were we dealing with some dead weight in Season 4, am I right?

Tim tells Lucy to find out the truth, and I love that. He's encouraging her in this endeavor on the same day he told her "mission accomplished" in scaring her off. He's still Tim. He's still going to be a bit of an ass, sometimes.

But, damnit, he's making more and more exceptions for Lucy. And he doesn't even realize it, yet. But we get the delicious point-of-view of watching it happen, and I love this for them!

"The year your mother became a therapist, she slept with a patient. He was your father... I think the shame still eats her up."

Hold. Up. Mama Condescending slept with her patient!? That is one of the rules you do not break. So rather than own up to her mistake, even with her own daughter, she tried to mold Lucy into the model of perfection without consideration for the psychological damage she might be inflicting?

Oh, Mama Chen and I are gonna fight the next time her face appears on my screen. You don't do my girl Lucy dirty like that.

It's totally in-character. Like, it makes sense. But it also hurts. Because "the shame still eats her up". Lucy's mind can't help but wonder if part of that shame is her.

"You okay?"

Hubby knows when wifey's acting off. And he knows it has something to do with her father. So, he's not going into this blind. Tim Bradford is asking Lucy Chen about her state of mind knowing it's personal.

"Personal Life Free Zone" my ass.

"My whole life, nothing I have ever done has been good enough for my mom. Not, not my grades, my boyfriends, my career. And this whole time she has been a total hypocrite." "Look, uh, maybe she's trying to prevent you from making the same mistakes she did."

Oooh, swing and a miss. Tim, you can't help someone avoid repeating history if they don't know history.

Also, Lucy's never gonna sleep with a suspect, which is the closest equivalence I can make. She may sleep with a certain Sergeant, though, down the line. Am I right?

I've wondered for a while, too, if Tim has a soft spot for Moms considering everything he went through with his own Mom. From what we can tell, he tried to shield her and protect her even when he knew things were bad with his father.

My brother and I had a bad string of babysitters when my mother first became a single Mom. She divorced my brother's dad shortly after her mother died, and it was just the three of us.

We knew how bad it was. How hard it was for her to find good sitters. When we finally found a decent one who would let us stay over at her place when needed... we hid it from my mother when she and her husband got into a physical altercation in front of us.

I was about 7 and my brother was 3. He didn't quite understand what was going on, so as my Nanny ripped us out of bed and drove around town half the night looking for a place to stay... I distracted him. I played games with him.

And as we fell asleep foot-to-foot on her mother's couch across town, I was satisfied to know he didn't understand what was happening. I managed to protect him.

And I protected my mother, too, by not telling her. Because I wanted to shield her. I didn't want her to have one more thing to worry about.

Tim strikes me as a kindred soul in that. So, he looks at Lucy's mother and doesn't quite see the whole picture. After all, he hasn't even met the lady... yet.

Oh, but when Tim Bradford meets Mama Chen and sees the bullshit she puts Lucy through? He's gonna have his wife's back and it's going to be a glorious minute twenty-five of television that I will play on repeat to my heart's content.

"Or she resents me for reminding her of the one time in her life that she messed up."

There it is. The shame. Is that why Mama Chen is always ashamed of her? Lucy has to wonder.

"Lucy, it's..."

No, phone. Not now! I have never wanted to chuck a phone out the window so badly as I did when Lucy's chirped just then.

Because Tim Bradford knows a thing or two about a parent who makes you feel ashamed of yourself. And I really want to know what he was going to say.

One of y'all better have a fanfic to fill in the blanks because, whew, if I find Lucy's phone alone in a back alley, one of us isn't coming back.

Yes, I know I have a beef with an inanimate object and that the whole bloody thing's fictional.

But damnit, I want Tim to have the opportunity to speak love into Lucy's life as often as possible and that. phone. killed. my. dream.

"Patrick Walsh. That's my father's name." "Well, I mean, at least it's not something weird like Dilbert." "You mean like the cartoon character?" "Someone named their kid Hashtag. You never know."

I love this. Tim falls into their natural rhythm, and Lucy goes along with him. It actually coaxes a smile out of her, which is what I think he was trying to do.

Awww, our babies have graduated to responding to one another's needs wordlessly. I'm so proud of them!

"So, what are you gonna do?" "Find out the truth."

She's echoing Tim's exact words to him, which I love. But I also love that Tim is driving this whole conversation.

Mr. "Personal Life Is a No-Go On The Job" is the one coaxing this out of Lucy. Because he knows her well enough to know that she'll stew on it, otherwise. If he wants her focused on work, he has to get her through those personal blocks by talking it out.

This whole episode is a love letter to Tim's understanding of Lucy and how far they have come. Yes, he gave her a little trademark Tim at the top with his no-nonsense assessment of ejaculation's lack of causality to actually being a parent.

But, throughout this episode, he's been the one driving the conversation. He's been the one drawing her out. And he's been the one supporting her in this, which is huge.

They. Have. Come. So. Far.

"He's dead."

I can't even imagine. All of these scenarios Lucy built up in her head, and they're just gone.

I met my Dad at 6. He got clean when I was in my 20's, and that is when we truly bonded. But I've had friends meet their biological fathers into their 40's. It was a wild ride.

And though Lucy loves her Dad (the one who raised her), she was curious about this man who fathered her.

A girlfriend of mine was fascinated when she met her biological father and found out he was an artist... like her. It was so cool for her to connect those dots, even though she still recognized the man who raised her as her real father (because blood ≠ "real"). There was a piece of her that she'd never seen in another human, before, and that was cool.

Lucy will never have those moments. And wanting them doesn't mean she loves her Dad any less. She simply wanted to meet the man who fathered her, to know that piece of herself a little better.

"Maybe I should have tried to find him sooner." "Maybe, but he's the one who made the decision that he wasn't ready to be a parent. Whatever he did with his life after, it's not on you."

All. Of. This. And you can tell Lucy's not completely convinced, because what kid is? Yes, Lucy is a grown woman. But when it comes to our parents, we'll always be their kids.

Lucy hasn't had the best examples of functional relationships. And, frankly, neither has Tim. Neither of them know what it looks like to really work through.

We can argue that Tim was married before, but that didn't work out. For a million reasons, it didn't work out.

And this whole "egg" thing started because Lucy's Mom wanted to be sure she'd have grandchildren even if Lucy never found the right man. And that led Lucy down the path to finding her birth-father... only to find out he died. alone.

If she had reached out sooner, could she have changed that? And, Lucy, honey, I know that "what if" game oh so well. It never ends if you keep playing it. So, you have to step away.

And, you. Yes, YOU! Don't play the what-if game. None of us can change our pasts, but we can shift our paths.

Our past is written, but the future's as twisty and turny as my kids' favorite board game. Lots of options. Lots of opportunities. Don't limit yourself because of the past. Don't "what-if" your life away.

Do what you can with what you have, and bit-by-bit, you'll build a new life. One breath at a time.

As always, thank you for reading. See you on the next!

[nevertheless-moving]

I posted 162 times in 2022

66 posts created (41%)

96 posts reblogged (59%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nevertheless-moving

@phoenixyfriend

@willowcrowned

@lullabyknell

@twinterrors29

I tagged 139 of my posts in 2022

Only 14% of my posts had no tags

#star wars - 68 posts

#murderbot - 21 posts

#nevertheless meta - 17 posts

#my au - 13 posts

#kenobi spoilers - 12 posts

#kenobi - 11 posts

#murderbot diaries - 11 posts

#tbobf - 10 posts

#stone soup - 9 posts

#ask - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#if you ever feel like singing or danceing or drawing or any of the things you really truly dont have to be good at them for it to be fun

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

1,026 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

#4

today we celebrate Esther for being nasty hot and sleeping with the right dude. thank u for risking your sugar daddy and also your life. from the bottom of my heart, you fucking rock. now, please join me in doing a shot in her honor.

1,178 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#3

sorry not sorry but murderbot dropping ‘i was going to kill all humans until i saw sanctuary moon and then i decided i’d rather watch that instead’ on the sanctuary moon team like a space future atom bomb is exquisite.

assistant sound director going home like ‘yeah your other son might be a doctor but guess who stopped a mass murder?’ a couple lead actors developing even worse diva/god complexes than they already had. the insane stress on the production team ‘if we don’t get the next season out when we promised it might snap and kill thousands of innocent people. it probably won’t. but it might.’ the overwhelming preening desire to work it into ad campaigns, acceptance speeches, casual brunches, etc, balanced out by marketing weeping ‘people do not like SecUnits! we can NOT advertise ourselves as the preferred serial for serial killers!’ crossed with that one extremely paranoid dude in accounting going ‘shutupshutup it can and will hear you and it can and will find you and it can and will kill you stoptalkingaboutit.’ the studio allocating a 5% budget increase for next season instead of the planned 5% budget decrease just—just in case. the odd relief the secondary love interest’s actor feels: ‘well when the robot revolution comes i’ll be one of the last to die’. the odd nervousness the primary antagonist actress feels: ‘it knows this is fiction right? it’s not mad at me, right?’ One of the writers who had been increasingly phoning it in over the last few years suddenly quitting drinking and turning their life around because their work has meaning dammit their work has MEANING.

1,898 notes - Posted February 7, 2022

#2

alright so people learn to express themselves through observation, right? it’s one of the reasons facial expressions and perception there of vary country to country, why people might end up more expressive/stoic depending on your parents/guardians pattern of behavior. and murderbot didn’t acculturate itself watching people around it, it hates watching real people. murderbot developed it’s sense of self watching soap operas. tens of thousands of hours of soap operas. We already know it’s face is painfully easy to read, and while murderbot attributes it to not having practice controlling it’s expression without the benefit of armor:

Then she added, “You know, you can stay here in the crew area if you want. Would you like that?” They all looked at me, most of them smiling. One disadvantage in wearing the armor is that I get used to opaquing the faceplate. I’m out of practice at controlling my expression. Right now I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in the region of stunned horror, or maybe appalled horror.  Mensah sat up, startled. She said hurriedly, “Or not, you know, whatever you like.”  I said, “I need to check the perimeter,” and managed to turn and leave the crew area in a totally normal way and not like I was fleeing from a bunch of giant hostiles.

I would argue that it’s not just lack of practice being neutral—due to it’s particular set of formative experiences, it’s default facial expressions are, in human terms, almost absurdly overexaggerarated. That look of horror is the same one the sanctuary moon terraforming supervisor had when she discovered her twin sister was sleeping with her second husband, and they were both planning on framing her for the death of the colony representative.

2,308 notes - Posted February 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

There is — god I don’t know how to put this — there is something profound and tragic and senseless in the fact that the disappointment I feel in JK Rowling so closely mirrors the disappointment Harry and the rest of us felt for his role models. Dumbledore saved the world, Dumbledore was manipulative. Snape was cruel, Snape protected Harry. The Marauders bullied, the Marauders loved. 

Rowling’s failure of empathy and the hurt she’s inflicting cuts so deep because I feel immense, inescapable love for the world she gave us all. How can I still love what comes from someone hateful? How can I stop? If I continue to sing praises of her art does that make me hateful?

Stories are important, especially the stories we’re told as children. They shape our character, they form the framework of how we understand the world, they do. And Harry Potter was the story, it can not be understated, and those of you who feel the same don’t need me to explain. And now when I lean on that to understand this sorrow I’m left with a recursive sort of remorse.

It’s a very raw and painful feeling.

3,052 notes - Posted January 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[happymagicbee]

***Obx s3 spoilers***

This is just my opinion

1. Why did we get only 10 minutes with them on the island?? I think after s2 finale all I could think about was what they were doing on the island and I just wanted to see a bit more of that

2. I liked that Kiara acknowledged that screaming murderer at Ward was the DUMBEST fucking think to do

3. Rafe and Kiara working together was fun. Kiara pushing Rafe and stealing his boat to save everyone was everything I wanted and more! Also people ship them now???

4. The group dynamics was off the minute they got back to the obx. I miss their little conversations in between reminding us they are still awkward teenagers

5. This might be controversial but I liked jiara. I think being stranded on the island changed things for all of the Pogues but especially them. jj was happy and not in his usual fight or flight mode he had to be in to survive in Kildare. Yeah living on a deserted island is hard but at least no one is beating you and making you feel worthless. And I think that for Kiara saving jj and almost losing him gave her a opportunity to explore her feelings after the whole Pope fiasco.

6. Pope and Cleo were the cutest freaking thing! I just wish they weren't so separated from the group all the time.

7. I don't like John b's father, I think him and Ward are not that different.

8. Also big John isolating John b from his friends and making him lie to them "for their safty" was a very shitty thing to do.

9. I liked the little detail of big John getting shot in the same place Sarah was shot.

10. Wards little Christian awakening was a bit weird but I think it's more of a me thing than a show thing

11. Topper helping to steal the "cross" was hilarious

12. I liked Topper burning down the chateau after being manipulated by Sarah (again). I don't think he should have done that or that it was justified in any way but he did kinda showed his true colors

13. Did kie's parents see big John, Ward and Luke and think what horrible thing can we do that they haven't done yet? They kinda tried with the phone and the money but not really... what I thought could be nice is if she forgave them in the time jump (they were in the crowd cheering at the end) but she would get emancipated

14. The little shove/hug between Sarah and jj was everything to me. I love this friendship and I wish we got to see more of that

15. And just more of all the platonic relationships in the group

16. I definitely think we needed more group scenes. Their chemistry is what made this show so fun and compelling.

17. I liked that Sarah addressed the weirdness everyone felt after getting off the island

18. The time jump was annoying but I get it, they didn't know of there would be a fourth season bc Netflix is known to have canceled shows that seemingly are loved by viewers (I'm still bitter about The Society but that's for another time) so just in case they did get canceled we get (kinda lame) closure.

19. Why did that old dude come to them with the blackbeard thing?

20. Again I'm gonna say I loved jiara and how they handled it because they knew it will have consequences on their friendship and it's something they are not willing to give up on it easily. Kie taking a leap of faith and jj recoilling bc he's afraid to lose it was very touching

21. When presented with the opportunity both John b and pope went for it but jj who is seen as the most reckless one actually took a step back.

22. I liked that Sarah made the choice to be with them, she had all the reasons to stay with Topper but she didn't. I didn't like how cliché they made it but I liked the choice aspect.

23. The scene where jj and John b fighting on the grass and shoupe just standing there chef's kiss

I'm sure I'll have more but I'm off to re-binge it all again

[queenvreads]

REVIEW: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M McManus

*Contains Spoilers*

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is one of those rare cases that I actually watched the tv show, before I read the book. The show was really good, and I figured since I loved it so much the book must be even better.

If you're wondering this book is like a mix of Breakfast club - gossip girl - Pretty little liars - and even revenge.

Its the epitome of YA murder mystery that I ADORE!

There were actually some really big differences between the first season of the show and the book. It didn't alter my rating, I am actually glad we get 2 alternate endings in both. One a little lighter, and one a little darker.

The #1 major difference between the series and the book is the identity of Simon's killer. In the show, Jake and Simon planned a prank where Simon would fake an allergic reaction to peanut oil, but Jake got scared when Simon revealed he had recorded their conversations. Jake stole the epi pens, leading to Simon's death. In the book, Simon died by suicide and involved Jake in his plan to frame others for his murder. The series added the detail of Simon being the mayor's son, which wasn't significant in the book. Simon brought Jake in to take over About That after his death. Jake was pure evil, as he also manipulated a conversation with Janae to blackmail her into compliance after Simon’s death.

I liked Simon’s story better in the series as it was less “13 reasons why” and more a murder situation. Jake & Simon were also more “friendly” in the series than the books and there was no mention of Simon’s funeral & the xbox in the book.

#2 Nate and Bronwyn's relationship had more development in the book. In the series, Bronwyn initially dated Evan but became interested in Nate after Simon's death.

I really enjoyed their romance more in the books. I understand that for tv they may have wanted to drag out them coming together a bit more for ratings, but the book did it well. Bronwyn does sort of ‘date’ Evan at the end of the book, but of course ends up back with Nate. I also liked both characters better in the book.

#3 Maeve in the book was the gang's tech expert but was not romantically involved with Simon or Janae. However, in the series, she had romantic ties to both of them. Bronwyn still had a reason to confront Simon in the book due to an About That post about her sister, and Maeve appeared on the app after getting drunk at a party, not for sexting as shown in the show.

I enjoyed Maeve way better in the book than in the series. In the series she was conniving and at odds with her sister at times. Bronwyn kept so many secrets from her and in the book they were very close, and Bronwyn told her everything.

#4 The detention teacher, Mrs. Avery, played a role in Simon's death in the series by being blackmailed to get the Bayview Four into detention. In the book, Mr. Avery was the detention teacher and had no involvement in Simon's death. Simon paid students from another school to create a fender bender to remove Mrs. Avery from the room.

I was expecting this to be the same in the book as they kept hinting that the police should look into the teacher but in the end they had nothing to do with it.

# 5 Cooper's outing as gay had more significant consequences in the book. In the series, his brother and girlfriend already knew about his sexual orientation, but in the book, Cooper was completely closeted. Cooper's father's reaction was also more homophobic in the book.

I preferred Cooper’s story more in the books than in the series.

#6 Kris, Cooper's boyfriend, had a minor role in the book since Cooper was not out. In the series, Kris knew Nate and attended Cooper's baseball showcase. In the book, Kris knew Cooper was in high school and not out, leading to a temporary breakup in the series. Despite his limited role, Kris was the one who connected the dots about Simon's depression and dark suicide plot in the book.

I loved Kris in the book, but not so much on the show. I felt like their relationship overall was much healthier in the book. Once Cooper was outed he and Kris were basically hanging out with the murder club openly and I liked Kris’ involvement.

#7 Janae knew about Simon's whole plan in the book.

I liked Janae so much more in the show. In the book she knew everything and let it happen. I found it very disturbing she knew Simon was planning on this suicide mission and she try to didnt prevent it.

#8 Jake was arrested, and not killed in the book. Whereas in the show, Addy kills him when he attacked them in the forest after a party.

This is a major twist and is different from the show. Which will make watching season 2 and reading book 2 completely different experiences.

There were other small differences in the series vs the books, I couldn't keep track of all of them but one that stood out was Ashton’s presence in Addy’s life. She was around for everything. She wasn't in the series.

✍️Befriend me on Goodreads: ⭐HERE⭐

[taylorsbrennan]

my top 10 bones episodes

I watched Bones for the first time last summer and am currently in my third rewatch. I've noticed so many small details I missed the first two times around (thanks to me finishing the show in a month). Each episode is so amazing and has a lot of great moments. I've had a list in my notes of some of my favorite episodes and decided to narrow it down to my top 10. This was a lot harder than I thought because I love each episode for different reasons. Anyway, here's my personal top 10 and reasons why I love them :) (also spoilers obviously)

10. double trouble in the panhandle (season 4, episode 12)

i know undercover eps have mixed opinions, either you love them or you hate them and i love them. the circus one is my favorite of the undercovers and i don't really have a clear reason. i think it's a really fun episode to watch that's so different from the usual setting we see. the costumes were also amazing and Emily looked gorgeous in her final performance outfit (she always looks gorgeous but still). i think it also showed a new layer of how much faith and trust Brennan has in Booth as well as their love for each other that's obvious to everyone but them. this is also Emily's favorite undercover so it made it that much better.

9. the verdict in the story (season 3, episode 13)

first, i love courtroom and legal episodes so this one not only being that but centered around Brennan and Max instantly had me intrigued. it also has such good individual scenes that make me love the episode even more. first, the scene above where Booth and Brennan are talking and Sweets asks about writing a book on them. the way they talk like he's not even there and Brennan's line, "do you likee us?" kills me every time. it also brought the iconic "that's a lot of heart, Bones." when Brennan decides to implicate herself to save Max from prison. even with their complicated relationship, Brennan loves her dad and doesn't want to lose him again. her going this far, proves this and further adds to the layer of her character. the first time i watched this episode, it almost felt like a movie and i couldn't predict whether Max would be found guilty or not. let's not forget about that final hug scene between Brennan and Booth. with Booth being torn between being happy she has her dad but also upset he got away with it, says so much about their relationship as well. and finally, Brennan hugging her dad knowing he's free and they can work on their relationship always makes me cry.

8. aliens in a spaceship (season 2, episode 9)

i know this is a fan-favorite episode and for good reason. it's one of the first times we see members of the Jeffersonian in real danger (minus two bodies in the lab, more on that later) and they're on a time clock. Booth and Brennan are also more comfortable in their relationship at this point so their dynamic in this situation is amazing to see. Hodgins and Brennan having to rely on each other for survival and use their strengths to figure a way out never fails to amaze me. their friendship is also one of my favorites on the show and it's really rooted in their experience in this episode. Hodgins telling Brennan she has faith in Booth is another clear indicator of the deeper feelings she's struggling with. i love seeing them write letters to loved ones (Brennan later revealed to have written to Booth, shows she did love him back in season 2 but just wasn't fully aware or comfortable enough to admit it out loud, yet uses her potentially last, dying words as a confession to him, sobbed the first time i heard it and when rewatching the season with this info) and them saying goodbye to each other when trying to blow themselves out of the car. they know at this point, that either choice of trying or doing nothing will result in their death so they decided to try, and thankfully Booth was there to see. Booth doing his action-hero run down the hill to pull them both out always makes me cry. if it wasn't for both of them being taken together, likely, Booth wouldn't have gotten there to find Brennan alive. it really highlighted each of their strengths and resourcefulness to extend their air supply and fight to escape. i know the gravedigger became a recurring storyline, but i really wish the aftermath of Brennan and Hodgins' coping and healing would have been explored more in the show as i think it really did have a big impact on Brennan no matter how easily she says she can compartmentalize.

7. the man in the fallout shelter (season 1, episode 9)

ahh, the first Christmas episode of bones, i love holiday episodes of shows but this one is especially good. i'll admit on my first watch this one didn't stand out to me a lot but on my second one, i really fell in love with it. this episode is the first time we see the more personal sides of the Jeffersonian team and how they do spending this much time together. we get to see the families of everyone as well as compare their experience to Brennan who she has no one to visit. this is one of the first times we clearly see how isolated and alone Brennan is. the way she wants to spend Christmas is so drastically different than everyone else's. at this time, work really was her entire life and the Jeffersonian was the closest thing she had to family (we obviously know they become her family but this is still season 1 so we'll give it time). i love seeing Booth high and him annoying Brennan because of her persistence in wanting to work on the case. learning that her parents disappeared around Christmas is a new piece in that puzzle and seeing her open the present she held onto all those years is really sweet. i can't remember if this was acknowledged in the show or if i just saw someone point it out online, but after the season 1 finale, we learn Brennan's mom had been in the Jeffersonian the whole time, unidentified. so technically, Brennan did spend Christmas with her mom just in a very different way. sometimes that makes me sad and other times i think it's kinda sweet.

6. the woman in white (season 9, episode 6)

i think this one is pretty obvious why it's in my top 10. Booth and Brennan's relationship build-up is the main reason i watched the show and loved it. they did such a good job with this ep and it's everything i could've ever wanted. Brennan's dress was gorgeous, them only caring that the other was happy, Emily's husband's cameo, and of course the vows. Brennan and Booth's vows were honestly what made the whole episode. their wedding scenes were, of course, gorgeous but the vows were not only true to character, but so sweet, had so many callbacks to early seasons, and really made the 9 seasons wait worth it. starting with Booth's, him remembering that the spot they're getting married at is where she chased him during their first (technically second) case and she called herself a duck. then saying "chasing you is the smartest thing i've done in my life and being chased by you has been my greatest joy" what more could you ask for. it's so true to their character's relationships and the early dynamics of the show. if i heard that on my wedding day i think i'd simply melt. and if you thought it couldn't get any better, then there are Brennan's vows. i always hoped what she wrote in that letter would be revealed but i never thought it would be at her wedding and i'm so glad it was. i was already crying at Booth's vows but hearing hers made me sob like a baby. the full weight of Booth knowing that Brennan was reading what could have been her last words and that they were addressed to him? her being able to acknowledge how happy being with and looking at him makes her and that he "makes her life messy and confusing and unfocused and rational and wonderful" 7 years ago, all the way back in season 2. and the knowledge that since Brennan was rescued she knew she had to find a time to admit those feelings to him. this episode just perfectly connects their relationship over the show and seems like it was made with fans in mind. i love every part of it and it always makes me cry happy tears for them.

5. the doctor in the photo (season 6, episode 9)

wow, this episode. Temperance Brennan is my favorite tv character of all time and i think one of the most complex. this episode proves that with it being so Brennan-centric. it reveals so much about her inner thoughts, how her brain works, and what she really came back hoping for after Maluku. she came back willing to take the risk and be with Booth, but he came back with Hannah. she spent the first 8 episodes trying to convince herself she was fine and it didn't matter, but this case brought everything to surface and she was forced to confront the fact that she had to try. she didn't want any regrets and she knew Booth was who she wanted to be with. Brennan opened herself up to him and let down all her walls in a way she never had before, in the hopes he would reciprocate and want to try. Booth being the guy he is keeps his loyalty to Hannah (as much as this hurts Brennan and viewers, this was the best decision at the time. they still had so much to work through, and the later elevator episode made so much more sense for them) and turns her down. Brennan's reaction, in my opinion, is the rawest and most unfiltered emotion we've ever seen from her. because all her walls were down, she couldn't compartmentalize that rejection as quickly or come to terms with the fact that she missed her chance to be with him. i do wish Booth would have done more here to comfort her but i believe he was also struggling with wanting to be with her but also not wanting to be unfair to Hannah. i do think Booth loved Hannah, but he could never in the same way he loves Brennan and he knew that. now Booth is also aware of Brennan's feelings and that if he were to try again, she wouldn't reject him. Brennan then recovering and saying "i can adjust." always hurts me because she deserved so much more. you can see her again retreating to her old self of never letting anyone in and not trusting anyone. this episode was just so well done and Emily played it beautifully. it's such a big episode for Brennan's character growth, as well as setting up for what happens in episode 16, the blackout in the blizzard. i don't think this episode will never not crush me and it reveals so much about who Brennan is and how she handles situations.

4. the parts of the sum of the whole (season 5, episode 16)

when i first watched this, i was in shock. the revelation that not only had they worked a full case before the pilot, but they were directly flirty, kissed, and had a huge fight? Sweets was me and i was Sweets hearing all of that. i love flashback episodes and this one was full of them. seeing the way they originally interacted with each other and what ended up happening, makes their attitudes in the pilot make so much more sense. that kiss outside the pool house and the implication that she was what stopped Booth from gambling again always kill me. i loved seeing their initial interactions even their argument, because would it really be b&b without a little intensity? now let's talk about what happened outside on the steps. i do love Booth's speech but he should've known her better than to ambush her like that. when i first watched, i thought this is where they finally get together and she takes the risk. watching back, her saying she can't take the risk because she's a scientist is so in character. Brennan obviously has trust and abandonment issues and swore off the idea of traditional relationships and marriage because she never thought she could trust someone in that way or have someone love her that way. Booth has slowly over the years broken all of the walls down, and although she does love him and wants to try, the idea of doing that and it not working out terrifies her. she'd rather have him always as her partner than risk a romantic relationship then it not working out, and end up losing him completely. Booth knows this about her and knows especially with feelings like that, it's important to take it slow and give her time to process. there were better ways he could have slowly introduced the idea to her that would have allowed her to gather the evidence she needed and consider the idea of actually being together. the hurt on each of their faces always gets me because neither is really happy but Brennan is just so scared of losing him. when she asks if they can still be partners, i've seen some people take this as her being selfish. in my mind, it's again because she was terrified of losing him. she turned him down because of that fear but now she's worried that by doing that she's lost him anyway. no matter how much it hurts him, he could never say no either because on some level he does understand her thoughts and reasoning. again this episode is so well done and perfect for the hundredth. the flashbacks were so cute and the ending leaves the question of where their partnership goes next and how they'll move on. it's also so clear how familiar the writers and actors were with the characters because everything was so true to them even if it hurt us as viewers to watch.

a note about my top 3: these episodes are ones that when I first watched them, I could not stop thinking about after. the day after i first watched these i ended up rewatching all of these episodes because of how much they were stuck in my head. even now, i think about them at least twice a week. they altered my brain chemistry at this point and are my most watched episodes (5 times each)

3. the past in the present/ the future in the past (season 7, episode 13/season 8, episode 1)

okay, i know this is technically 2 episodes, but since they are connected and are direct continuations of each other, i'm counting it as 1. i don't think i've ever been more emotionally distraught or stressed watching an episode of Bones as i was the first time i watched these. Pelant took it too far framing Brennan for murder. i don't think we talk enough about how Brennan basically had to abandon Booth, something she swore she would never do, in order to save herself from jail. she also had to rely heavily on her father to keep her and Christine safe from the cops. because if Brennan had been caught, there's no way they would have been able to prove her innocence. She really had to put a lot of trust in Max, something she's had trouble doing since he reentered her life but I think this situation really cements and reestablishes their relationship. Booth having to watch the love of his life drive away with his kid not knowing where they're going or how to keep them safe is so hard because that's how he views his entire role for them. Brennan also having to leave him behind with the same thoughts on top of the risk of jail is devastating. let me also just say, when i started the season 8 episode, i was expecting a mini time jump of a few weeks. when i saw 3 months later flash on the screen, i had to pause and take a moment because i was sobbing. but that reunion scene was everything i could've wanted and more. her also finally being able to come home and have her name cleared was so sweet. seeing everyone, embrace her being back even before she was cleared and their need to protect her fits their found family so well. i was also so thankful to see her brown hair come back haha. i do wish we could have seen a little more of what her life looked like on the run, however, i believe these episodes and storyline are perfect and really had such an impact on Brennan and Booth. this is the best season finale i've seen and i genuinely didn't know how they were going to wrap it up, and still feel the same anxiety each time i watch. i loved it and the effect it has on Brennans character in season 8.

2. two bodies in the lab (season 1, episode 15)

this is the episode that officially had me hooked on Bones so i have a soft spot for it in my heart. after this, I knew i would be watching every episode after and loving it. there are so many good moments in this episode and the entire thing is 10/10. hot-blooded being b&b's song is introduced in this and them dancing together is always so sweet to watch. we also really see Booth's protectiveness over Brennan come out by not letting her out of his site and breaking out of the hospital to save her. backtracking a little, i love when he's trying to interrogate Brennan's date but she is just not having it and is acting like he's not even there. the explosion scene was so unexpected and i always think about what would've happened if it had been Brennan or if Booth hadn't even been there, to begin with. it's also always so tense seeing each of them slowly figure out that it's Kenton and that Brennan is in danger. it's one of the few times i feel like we see Brennan genuinely scared because her and Booth's partnership was so new, she didn't have the faith and trust in him yet as she does in later seasons, for example, aliens in a spaceship. she also had no reason to believe Kenton was dangerous prior so why would Booth even be worried about her or looking for her, not to mention he was also in the hospital. Booth realizing and convincing Hodgins to break him out of the hospital and ignoring all the serious injuries he has just to save her, really sets the groundwork for their whole partnership. her genuine fear combined with him getting there just in time always makes me emotional. and then him comforting her and the way she just falls into his embrace (first time we see them hug ahhh). then when she realizes he's still hurt, her concern is immediately on him. i think the ending scene was also perfect for the episode with her finding a reason to cancel her date in order to spend more time with him in the hospital. overall, this episode is so good for early b&b and sets the tone for their relationship growth.

honorable mentions: the harbringers in the fountain, wannabe in the weeds, blackout in the blizzard, man in the morgue, recluse in the recliner, end in the beginning

1. the shot in the dark (season 8, episode 15)

my all-time favorite episode of bones <3. personally, i think this episode is directly connected to Brennan proposing to Booth in the season 8 finale. first, of course, we had to start with some angst and have Booth and Brennan get into an argument. leading Brennan to go to the lab (her old safe space) and end up being shot. Booth decides he has to see her because he misses her, and finds her passed out and bleeding. his panic and worry for her always gets me and the way it lasts until she wakes up. i love all the soft moments between them of him constantly holding her hand or all the forehead kisses (see above). to me, those are small moments that really show the love he holds for her and that he is her home. now onto Brennan's dream or near-death reality where she has conversations with her mom. i absolutely loved this and think it really explains so much about Brennan's character from the beginning of the series until now. i also loved seeing the mother-daughter interaction. it's revealed that the last words Brennan ever heard from her mom before her disappearance was "use your head. be rational. don’t let your heart lead you. use your brain." Brennan of course held onto that like a lifeline because that's all she had. it leads to her hyper-logical and rational persona. it also meant she kept her distance from deeper relationships with others and lead with her brain over her heart, compartmentalizing over feeling emotions. her mom then gives her new advice, again the last thing before Brennan wakes up from her final surgery. she says "it’s time for you to find some of that little girl that you locked away so deep inside yourself. because, it’s not about surviving anymore. it’s about flourishing. it’s about living a full life.” and i believe, this let Brennan let go of that remaining distance, hesitancy, and fear of all the things little Brennan wanted. she now feels safe to open herself up to marriage and relying on other people instead of her hyper independence. this is what i think leads to Brennan proposing to Booth, something she swore she wouldn't do as recently as the same season. having that interaction with Christine healed the still open wounds from her 15-year-old self and enabled her to take that step. overall, this episode adds a lot to Brennan's character development and is an intense but such good episode to watch. i wish i had a specific reason why it's my favorite, but i just love it so much and think that it's a masterpiece and beautifully told and shown.

that's my ranking :) thanks for reading this far, i know it's long. i would love to hear others thought and opinions on favorite episodes! i have so many list and ranking posts i'd love to do too so if you want more let me know <3

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, April 27th

XANDER: For I am Xander, King of Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me.

~~Witch~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Forget I Asked by NotASlayer (Xander/Anya, T)

Happy Birthday, Bottle Blonde by Bellavision (bellavision) (Buffy/Spike, not rated)

how you were inverted by CallMeVampy (Giles/Ethan, T)

A Balance of Angels by InMyOwnHeadItGoesLikeThis (Giles/Ethan, Good Omens crossover, G)

Mask by Enigmatist (Angel & Fred's parents, not rated)

Spike and Buffybot text chat by scooby-group-texts (0)

Inner Demon = Literal Cat by Desicat (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Raven, Chapter 13 by sparrow2000 (Xander & Spike, G)

… A Stranger I Go Hence, Chapter 13 by MalkMcJorma (Faith/OC, M)

Sunnydale Serenade, Chapter 15 by TheRealJeanGenie (Buffy/Spike, T)

With Arms Wide Open, Chapter 33 by jaybird023 (Buffy/Giles, E)

Shadow Over Hellmouth, Chapter 109 by Tuxedo_Mark (Buffy/Tara, E)

Thirty-ish Days (and Thirty-ish Years), Chapter 28 by Dynapink (Buffy/Giles, T)

Wish Granted, Chapter 10 by faewm (Anyanka, Harry Potter crossover, T)

Sanguinaccio Dolce, Chapter 3 by SarielLunar (Xander, Hannibal crossover, M)

In Case You Haven't Noticed... Chapter 10 by Sdhuskerfan (Buffy/Giles, E)

Raven, Chapter 13 (complete!) by sparrow2000 (Xander & Spike, G)

No Going Back, Chapter 20 by Tru2urheart (Willow/Tara, M)

Greatest Love Story Postlude, Chapter 15 by FalseGinger (Angel/Spike, M)

The Reason Why, Chapter 8 by Xyex (Buffy/OC, M)

The Boring Stuff: Reptile Boy, Chapter 6 by missfiggy (Buffy/Angel, M)

In the Company of Witches and Slayers: Chapters 18-19 by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer) (Willow/Tara, E)

You’re my always, Chapter 9 (complete!) by Shipper_wlw (Willow/Tara, T)

If I Could Turn Back Time, Chapter 3 by Tropicmorningnews (Buffy/Angel, M)

Dusk Rising, Chapter 43 by HappyWhenItRains (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Army Wife, Chapter 3 by though_you_try (Buffy/Spike, R)

Afterburn: In The Dark, Chapter 4 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Centerfold, Chapter 5 by all choseny, Passion4Spike, MissLuci (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

A Ripple In Time, Chapters 11-12 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Secret Obsession, Chapters 8-9 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Guitar Villain, Chapter 2 by RavenLove12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Masquerade, Chapter 1 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Spike's Bloody Awful Poetry, Part Deux: A Tortured Poet, Chapter 1 by BewitchedXx (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Animal I Have Become, Chapter 1 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, R)

Exquisite Chaos: Part 1, Chapter 1 by yellowb, JayeMaru, bewildered, DeamonQueen, ClowniestLivEver, VoronaFiernan (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Yellowstone: A Safe Harbor, Chapter 5 by Buffyworldbuilder (Buffy, Yellowstone crossover, FR7)

Early One Morning, Chapter 36 by all choseny (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Love Lives Here, Chapter 54 by Passion4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sculpture of Dance, Chapter 15 (complete!) by Desicat (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Der Kinderstod by linguini (worksafe)

Coloring page of Aud/Anya Jenkins in "Selfless" by amazzyblaze (worksafe)

Comic: Connor, Gunn and Spike by genericaces (worksafe)

Fanvid: Buffy Summers | The Horror by Jasmyne Peck (0)

Fanvid: Spike - Ugly Side by CaptainBlondieBear (0)

Fanvid: El Tango de Buffy (Roxanne)- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Bangel and Spuffy) by Bobblehead89 (0)

Fanvid: Buffy Summers - Look What You Made Me Do by starryeyesxxmasterclass (0)

Fanvid: Buffyverse | Out of My League by genericaces (0)

Fanvid: buffy & spike | you’ll never be friends | btvs spoilers by graey13 (0)

Fanvid: Buffy & Dean • Genie In A Bottle by Holly (Supernatural crossover)

Fanvid: Buffy and angel- Ashes by Movieandtvshows 2 (0)

Fanvid: The Prophecy | Buffy Summers by leticia (0)

Music: Buffy The Vampire Slayer OST theme fan-cover by Night-Lee (0)

[Reviews & Recaps]

BTVS/Angel Rewatch Chronicles: Seasons 6/3, Part Two by QualifiedApathetic

Rewatcher's diary: season 1 by jonaskoelker

Video: Angel, Season One, Episode Fifteen: The Prodigal by Slayed! The Buffyverse Revisited Podcast

Video: Dead Things-Slayer Sunday by Jane Talks Buffy

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3 Review! (Spoilers!) by SundayScariesReview

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer SFX - A Video Essay by TheRealZahyra

Video: The Re-Watcher's Council | "Lie to Me" Buffy the Vampire Slayer S02E07 Spoiler Review by LGRN - Entertainment

Podcast: 69 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer [movie] by The Contrarians

Podcast: Angel S4E2: Ground State by Booze & Buffy

[Search & Recs]

Fic search: Looking for a [Spuffy] fic! by Identity__Crysis

Fic rec: [Rhapsody in Oil by Eurydice11] Best Spuffy Story I Ever Read! by Ok_Wheel7960

Vid rec: Throwing it back to this iconic Fuffy vid [Whispers in the Dark by Sam] recced by patwrites

[Community Announcements]

Shoebox Diorama Contest: Buffy Edition! by The Sunnydale Diaries - A Buffy Podcast

[Fandom Discussions]

They get all kinds of mileage out of Xander having memories of being an army guy, but ... by nicnacsnonsense

Joss' favoritism of the most horrible mediocre white men aka riley, xander, and angel is never more apparent than in Into the Woods by raisedbythetv89

I think it would’ve been way cooler if Drusilla and Ms. Calendar had been related by theredpharaoah

Wouldn’t it be messed up if some known potentials where just kidnapped? by finalgirl1984

[Spike's clarification about his crypt in Potential] by littlenastieswewhispered

Dawn deserves more credit continued by thetopher

Seth Green leaving , was it dodging a bullet storywise continued by semiurge

Was Angel hypocrital for having different attitudes towards Lindsey and Faith? by The Whirlwind

Rewatch thoughts and questions continued by multiple posters

American Cinematographer Article on Michael Gershman by Priceless

Reasons for being the Slayer continued by American Aurora

If you could put one F-Bomb in the whole series [AtS], where would you put it? by asiantorontonian88

Willow in Season 7 and Angel season 4 by TheAgeOfAdz91

Sarah Michelle Gellar's best crying moment of these choices? by jdpm1991

Did Spike apologize? by Icy-Morning6813

Were you on Doris' the social worker side? by brwitch

S4E7 - The Initiative [Spike's chip] by _isopale_

What episode would you show a friend to get them to watch the show? by stnkykermie

How far do y'all think Sunnydale is from these cities? by No-Intention-1948

The Trio! by Sculder_1013

Full Series Rewatch Accomplished: Whose got time to explain the scythe to me? by Fine-Grapefruit-4193

What if it had been Buffy [whom Wesley had asked to catch Angelus]? by FoxIndependent4310

Cassie and Cassandra (the mythical figure who foresaw the fall of Rome) by nota-banana

What happened to Willy the Snitch update by PiperFett

For you, who is the best fighter in the series? by FoxIndependent4310

"Chosen" final battle by Emergency_Self_3607

Buffy's neighbours by Al_Bee

Theory About Seeing Red [Warren shooting Buffy and Tara] by Past-Throat-6788

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[biggiedraws]

SO I WATCHED RESTORATION lets do a quick rundown of my little prediction chart. spoilers under the cut!

I FUCKING CALLED EPSILON TEX COMING BACK ???????

cant believe ZERO got canonized but nothing from temple. we were robbed.

not only no grimmons love confession, but THEY SPLIT UP?????? i wasnt genuinely expecting them to get together or anything but like holy shit. literally the plot of season 15 was grif wanting to split up and realizing that wasnt actually what he wanted. this is not their happy ending what the FUCK. like it was in character and kind of a nice moment, but not as the closure at the very end??? hello??????

predicted both one of the r&bs dying and (kind of) epsilon being dead. im a genius 💪

on that note. i cant believe they KILLED one of the main characters and it wasnt even good angst. tucker fucking killed him???? and then it never comes up again???? the only reason i wanted that to happen was because tucker is the villain!!! he killed him!!!! he should have to reconcile with that!!!! but he just. doesnt?????

still no wash/epsilon interactions. also washs whole presence in this movie was confusing and bad. just didnt make any sense. disappointing

the amount of red team screentime was good though! the reds were easily the best part of this movie. also caboose <3

um. the ending was much worse than i could have predicted. see above. also the "why are we here" thing was WAYYY overused. i appreciate a good callback but like have some restraint jesus christ

and of course the top left corner was bang on. meta!tucker was..... i think in a vaccuum and with better pacing i wouldve really liked it. theres some good angst potential there, but it makes no sense with the rvb meta (haha) and is not well executed. disappointing. and the other fragments had almost no lines :(

final notes. what the fuck did i just watch. honestly its about what i expected - has potential but poorly executed. but my GOD is it poorly executed. they really butchered most of the main cast - not in terms of like, dialogue, per se, but in terms of like. character arcs? most of the character moments would be at home in season 6 even though its supposed to be post-13. and donut isnt even in it! even though theres a moment that was CLEARLY written for donut!! also the twist with doc is somehow both predictable and makes no fucking sense. the exposition is painfully bad, and wastes its time on going over shit we already know while leaving gaping holes that are never explained. the ending is awful and the post credits scene is even worse. and the PACING. this shit is WAYYY too short for everything theyre trying to do, so theres absolutely no time to build tension or care about whats happening. just bad writing all around. but like. it couldve been good. i did have fun watching it. im planning to watch it again so i can fully digest it, and i cant WAIT to read fanfic about it. and there are some really funny moments! but its bad. its a bad season. EASILY worse than the 4 full seasons of material they retconned. honestly.... a fitting end for the show. and i mean that derogatorily

[arkon-z]

actually i'm not done talking about the String Theory Trilogy. Basically, it's a set of Star Trek Voyager tie-in novels set between seasons 4 and 5 that I think were trying to fill in some of the discrepancies that popped up in Season 5. But, fuck, what a way to do it. I read them about 13 years ago, and I can't just reread them willy-nilly because my genius ass had to buy the DRM protected ebooks so they're trapped on a laptop that I lost years ago.

So for funsies, I'll try and describe the books based on the plot points I remember! Spoilers, I guess.

the crew have to rescue a colony ship trying to outrun a supernova that's going to destroy their home planet

that home planet is in a weird sublayer of reality or something because when Voyager enters it, weird shit starts happening, including one of the crew members turning into something like maple syrup and melting

B'Elanna and Seven are injured in an accident and the only way to complete their away mission is for Seven to assimilate B'Elanna and create a collective of two. This leads to telepathy and eventually, the two of them switch personalities because of course they do

the colony ship rescue mission literally falls apart when they try to tractor the ship out of that sublayer of space and the alien ship and all the occupants dissolve

Voyager gets trapped in the sublayer too, and the only way out is to blow up the white dwarf star that is somehow connecting the sublayer to normal space. So guess what the crew does next.

when the dust settles and Voyager is back in normal space having reunited with the away team, Harry takes one look at Seven and B'Elanna, who have switched personalities and B'Elanna is now sporting cybernetic implants, and just says, "We didn't get back to the right reality," in the most matter-of-fact tone possible, because nothing surprises this crew anymore.

And that's just the first book.

in the second book, they come across a space station orbiting a black hole. this space station refills all the resources on Voyager, because this was the author's best explanation for why the ship didn't run out of power or torpedoes or shuttles.

Janeway's order to blow up the white dwarf star has, somehow, started a chain reaction that will eventually unravel reality, so now she has to prove that the crew didn't do it on purpose or something

Susperia (the Caretaker's mate), or some other Nacene entity, sneaks onto the ship to take revenge on the crew for fucking up reality, so she poses as Janeway's sister and alters the memories of the crew to think she had always been there.

except there are two people on the ship who aren't affected by her rewrites - Harry Kim and Naomi Wildman - because they are quantum duplicates of their original selves with a slightly different phase signature and she didn't account for them

also the reason they had to go to the space station was because Tuvok stole a shuttle and ran away to it, because something told him to do it

shit happens, tom and harry are kidnapped, tuvok is gone, the doctor is gone, no one knows what's happening anymore and that's the end of book two

Turns out each book has a different author (i looked them up) and it's starting to feel like they're trying do outdo each other.

tom and harry have been pulled into the Q continuum where Q needs their help to catch a rouge Q

catching the guy involves tom winning a race as a microbe inside a cat's digestive system (i'm not kidding), then beat the guy at gambling in a casino, because only in games of chance do the Q feel the thrill of not being in total control

meanwhile, the Doc is thousands of years in the past on the Ocampa homeworld, having possessed a man who was killed in a war, so now he has a living, breathing body

they fight this war with flame swords and psychic powers, in case you were worried things were going to get subtle

janeway is being tried for destabilizing reality and is currently braindead in sickbay while her consciousness is in ghost court or wherever that's happening

tom and harry lose betting game played by the Q and the loss blows up the planet they were trying to rescue those aliens from back in the first book and somehow they learn that it and the sublayer of space were the leftovers of some kind of temporal fuck-up eons ago and weren't actually meant to exist.

the sublayer comes apart, the space station is ruined and sucked into the black hole, but it's all okay because either the rouge Q learned the error of his ways or the judge of ghost court decided this mess wasn't janeway's fault and all those aliens are saved and sent to space heaven

the Doc altered the course of time on Ocampa, and it means that in the modern day, it started raining again

i forget the actual resolution, but everyone ends up back on Voyager safe and sound, more or less. janeway apparently suffered some brain damage that will make her act angry and out of character sometimes, but they can't tell her why because who the fuck would believe it? (i forget the actual reason why they couldn't tell her)

also, the sublayer collapsing into the black where the space station used to be also sucked up all the light within nine light years, creating the Void, from the episode 'Night'

which means this book/WHOLE TRILOGY was the explanation for why there was no light in that spot in space and why janeway had depression for that episode and why she seemed so angry in subsequent episodes

yeah, those books were a trip. I should read them again.

[friendly-books]

Suitor armor Norrix and Modeus past

Alright I’ve compiled a list of everything we know about Norrix and Modeus' past in episode order. Spoilers for episode 124

Season 1

1. In episode 6 we see Modeus “heart”

2. In episode 7 Norrix says that “There is such a thing as knowing too much” while his face is in shadows and the next shot is of Modeus

3. Norrix talks about necromancy while in shadows again 

4. Norrix says that Modeus “It’s layers upon layers of different spells and years of trial and error” 

5.  In episode 7 Norrix says that Modeus initial enhancement is a bear, stag, wolf, and a mountain lion

6. In episode 21 Norrix becomes an apprentice the day after his mother was buried 

7. When asked how he became court mage we get a shot of Modeus eye and Norrix eyes and Norrix dodges the question 

8. In episode 35 Modeus touches foreheads with the deer fairy the fairy starts crying 

9. When the jerk knight attacks the deer fairy Modeus attacks saying “You made it red” with the word red being colored red 

10. In episode 35 at the end of the chapter we cut to two shots of Norrix looking worried 

Episode 36 is Norrix shady time

11. In episode 36 Norrix says “this is a project that has taken years to refine”

12. All in all this episode is bad for Norrix

13. In episode 44 Norrix and Modeus talk about his creation Modeus says “To Lucia but I can not remember it is dark” 

14. Norrix says that if Lucia finds outs “She would hate you for what you are and for what I did”

Season 2

15. In episode 54 it shows a mage (possibly Norrix teacher) talking about Modeus and a body

16. In episode 57 Reimund says “Because it (Modeus) is Norrix’s life work”

17. Reimund says “After what he went though he was in need of a home and I suppose I felt sorry for him” 

18. When talking about it there’s an image of red hands reaching out to Norrix and he’s covered in darkness 

19. In episode 57 Reimund says “The whole thing was kept quiet for a reason”

Episode 60 is a lot for Norrix he’s not having a good time

20. In episode 60 we see Norrix looking at a page about made fever it seems deadly

21. Norrix asked again if Modeus has told Lucia anything about his creation

22. He asks Modeus if Lucia would hate him “for what I did”

23. Norrix forbids Modeus from speaking to anyone about “that night”

24. “King Reimund was barely able to keep the entire thing quiet”

25. “ I won’t have you telling the entire kingdom and ruining my entire life”

26. “I’ll never be allowed to forget everything that happened in that damned manor”

27. Norrix starts crying he’s not okay

28. In episode 64 Lucia talks to a stranger how says “Creations such as that are not the result of mere animal sacrifices''

29. In episode 65 Norrix says “It took me years to get Modeus to the point it is at now”

29. When Norrix kills the chickens Modeus flinches back

30. In episode 56 Norrix seems to have a flashback of sorts where presumably his master says “Will you be useful? Or shall I make use of you?” 

31. Norrix is seen shaking and looking at his bloody hands

32. In episode 72 we see Norrix having a nightmare of his past. In the nightmare we see the hands again but now we see the people asking young Norrix why he didn’t help them. We also see a shot of Modeus in the same red color as the people 

33. In episode 74 Norrix thinks about how if Modeus goes rogue Norrix will be “bound for the dungeons. Or worse, the headsmen”  

34. Norrix then reaches for his neck 

35. In episode 85 Norrix gets upset when Lucia asks about Modeus’s creation

Spoilers ahead for episode 95 and 96

36. In episode 95 both Norrix and Modeus are shocked when they see the lady from episode 64

Episode 96 gives a lot of info

37. In episode 96 Reimund says that Barsabae was banished

38. There’s a panel of Norrix looking away and in darkness

39. Barsabae gets in Norrix’s face to whispered “Careful, Gorelight. Knowledge is the truest power, and I know much about you. More than anyone else in this world. Including your mother.” 

40. Norrix looks afraid when Barsabae talks to him

41. Norrix starts shaking when Barsabae talks his mother

42.  Barsabae says this regarding Modeus “Look how you have changed…care to say something? I have wondered if anything you say is a result of your own thoughts…or if they are the voices of the past…I have so many questions…” 

43. Another comment from Barsabae “This one was forged in the fires of death. And this one - is the reaper who provided the kindling.” 

44. The last panel shows Norrix eyes glowing red

Season 3

45. In episode 124 there’s a panel of Norrix going over how to recreate living amour like Modeus. The paper he’s writing on has a picture of a skull with three question marks.

In the next panel Norrix is looking stressed and worried.