#ALSO THEY TOTALLY UNDERUTILIZED HIS POWERS

[anotherscrappile]

I just watched & thoroughly enjoyed The Suicide Squad (2021) except they gave us what seemed to be a joke character

who actually has interesting & highly effective powers

as well as a complex personality & backstory.

Then, they killed him off in the cheapest way possible at the end.

I’m so sorry they did you dirty, Mr. Polka Dot Man. You deserved so much better.

[inbarfink]

In general, I feel like Zim’s panic and paranoia are very important aspects of his character that sadly often get overlooked and underutilized in the fandom. I feel like some folks just kinda go ‘oh, well, Zim thinks he is the greatest and most fearsome Invader in the universe so obviously he is certain that he can beat every obstacle’ when… I mean, sometimes he is like this - but some of Zim’s most iconic moments are powered by his fear and anxieties about failure.

So many of Zim’s schemes are motivated by an assumption that Humans are a lot smarter and more observant than they actually are. 

Or even just scarier and more dangerous.

He probably would have conquered the planet in a day if he just directly pulled all of the technology he had at his disposal and marched his way publicly to President Land. But he is just so obsessed with the idea that the Enemy is basically constantly one second away from uncovering him that he just wastes his time on pointless ‘infiltration’ and ludicrously overcomplicated ideas of how to ‘subtly’ take over or weaken the Earth’s defenses via fast-food or the Skool Student Council or Dookie. 

I mean, that is basically Duty!GIR’s big complaint about Zim in ‘GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff’. His progress has been stupid, because he’s been far too Stupidly Subtle about information gathering and world conquest and information gathering for the purpose of world conquest. When literally just heading to the public library and sucking out people’s brains is actually incredibly effective and has no real consequences. 

‘Walk for Your Lives’ is another excellent example of how Zim’s extreme ego and extreme anxiety go together. Zim is driven entirely by a totally made-up arbitrary ticking clock revolving around the idea that the Tallests WILL call again soon and so he MUST get rid of the Time Explosion NOW.

But he’s overconfident in the sense that he is certain that the solution he comes up with is Actually Good and won’t just make everything worse even as literally everyone around tells him it would. 

Enter the Florpus’ plot kicks off with a very similar scenario. Zim just comes up with a Made-Up Deadline and a Made-Up Consequence for ‘forgetting Phase 2’ and just starts… stressing himself up with it. 

On one level I think this is like… also a weird result of his Ego. You know, the logic being that if any potential challenge is not 100% effortless for him, Irk’s most amazing and powerful Invader, then it must be a horrible and fearsome threat. If Zim actually fully admitted that Earth is the stupidest, easiest-to-conquer planet in the universe - he would have to admit that failing to conquer this planet of all planets makes him a huge-ass loser. So instead, Zim salvages his own pride by constantly overestimating the humans.

But I also think in general Zim has a lot of anxiety and nervous energy. Maybe just from all the insecurities and failures he’s trying to deny and ignore all the time? And he’s just channeling them into the only channels he can consciously acknowledge - worrying about his enemies. 

[aroaceleovaldez]

it is so extremely underutilized that Nico is heavily implied to have powers of just. anything ghosts are reportedly able to do.

we know canonically that he can drop temperatures to freezing/to the point where it creates frost, and does so involuntarily or unknowingly at times. We know he can project emotions and memories out onto others, just in general and with physical force - both his own memories/emotions and general emotions as well, such as radiating an aura onto his enemies so that they would fear him more. We know it's heavily implied he can straight up create illusions and inflict madness upon others. We know he's eerily silent when he moves and seems to just appear in places. We know he can control/walk through/mess with dreams. We know he can become intangible and pass through solid objects and terrain without even realizing it.

like, that alone is so much! but the fact that it's implied that's not it? there's MORE?

Where's Nico fucking with EVPs and speaking through radios or static or TV. Throwing his voice. Nico remotely setting things on and off, or draining batteries, or making cell service fuzz out. Nico totally turning invisible (also a Hades' Helm of Darkness thing, so double reason for Nico to be able to do that). Where's Nico inflicting sleep paralysis. Where's Nico straight up making the walls bleed. Let him do more ghost stuff!

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

Okay so the thing abt Jayfeather gossiping w kittypets in order to have them help him w a prank is hilarious, sure.

But it also raises the question of why the FUCK didn't he use his power to make a sign from Starclan????????like if he used his dream powers to convince a bunch of kittypets or loners or smth to deliver a message to Blackstar???

Like if Jay had convinced a ton of kittypets to regularly find Blackstar and tell him "One must become Four to face the Darkness" or some other cryptic bullshit that forces Blackstar to be like "wow Starclan really cares enough about Shadowclan to stoop to using kittypets to send signs. Man fuck u Sol"

The tree plan is just SO extreme, it's hysterical to think there could have been a much simpler plan

Oh my god that's so true he totally could have faked prophecies and stuff with his powers, as per usual, the three's powers continue to be very underutilized! The tree plan was pretty cool but could you imagine every single kitten in the nursery suddenly starts chanting "not even a liar's commands can make a shadow move" or some shit? Terrifying. I love it.

[purplecyborgnewt]

Who is the flash character who is the most underutilized/which character should have had more episodes?

Hartley. I'm living on this hill, might as well die on it.

He had so much of his plot and personality developements happening offscreen. Turned good offscreen, worked with Team Flash offscreen, then turned bad offscreen, got a boyfriend - and not just a boyfriend - a boyfriend who's supposedly Love Of His Life! - offscreen... Roderick's cute, I don't mind him existing, but he started as a sexylamp in a glass coffin and didn't really progressed much from there after waking up. If Hartley got more screentime, more story - onscreen story - maybe Roderick would become more than a Mandatory (Not-Het-For-A-Change) Love Interest Out Of Nowhere. Maybe I'd even start to care about him for his own's sake, not just because he's someone Hartley cares about... Or maybe I'd keep feeling conflicted about him. We won't know, because their whole alleged Great Love Story happened offscreen. No flashbacks (beside one to the tragic incident on the bridge), nothing. He's a cute blank slate. Great for ficwriters who are afraid of fucking up and making a character OOC, I suppose. Look, I'm myself the person who's always afraid of fucking up and go too OOC - that's why I barely write serious fics and pretty much never publish them anywhere. Nonetheless, if you're trying to sell me this dude as Love Of Hartley's Life, I'd like something... more substantial.

They also randomly gave Hartley powers, then either forgot about those powers or quietly retconned them away.

All the Rogues were either underutilised or mishandled by the show tbh (or were both mishandled and underutilised). Hartley is the one I always have to stop myself from ranting about until I just run out of words.

And while we're at it: unpopular opinion - "should this Flash character have been on LoT instead" pretty much always gets "no" from me. LoT took two iconic Rogues and killed one of them (the exact one with the most fans, to be honest - sorry, Mick). Killed Stein in the way that still infuriates me. Somehow killed Mattobard twice. (Fine, so the things didn't go all that great for him when he returned to his own show either. When the fans who liked how Mattobard looked in 3.01 were saying we want to see him with a beard again, we meant his actual facial hair, EW.) Miraculously didn't mansge to kill Wally, but still. They all "should" have been getting better writing and more screentime on their own show. Alas, that wasn't meant to be.

(EW claimed lately that if he got another season he'd totally bring back everyone-everyone-everyone. Yeah. Sure.)

[happyk44]

The things I would change about the Shazam 2 film - like I did really enjoy it but because of the overall plot, there were definitely some nuances they couldn't expand on as well as they wanted to.

More Billy as Billy, not as Shazam - teen Billy was very much underutilized and I'm not totally sure why, but even though Zach's performance as Shazam was really good, I would've liked to see Asher more

Explicit explanation that Billy sees his connection to Shazam as a way to fit into the family. He has abandonment issues and struggles with the fact that the team doesn't always want to be the team. To him, being Shazam/Captain Marvel is his way of connecting to the family - their sort of "genetic" bond as it were. If it were more obvious, I think the scene between him and Rosa would've had more impact -- plus it would've been a nice way to explain why he's always Shazam in the film

Mary's scene talking about Billy aging out of the system -- it came across well meaning to me and I understood what she was getting at, but I did see a lot of comments afterwards complaining about it so maybe a little more emphasis on the fact that Mary isn't telling Billy he needs to leave the house, but that he needs to contribute in a more meaningful way, which he can't do if he's always powered on. There is more benefit to the family as a whole when Billy is Billy, than when he's superpowered (which would then tie into the above point, where Billy feels that his only value is Shazam and that his only way to bond with his family is through having the same superpowers)

Either get rid of the scene where Mary finds out that Rosa and Victor bought the house or elaborate on it some more - part of Mary's speech to Billy is about how rent is expensive on top of taking care of the whole family, which is why she pitches in as much as she can, now that they don't receive government support for her. Them randomly bringing up this fact makes it seem like she's being working for nothing and just left a weird taste in my mouth.

Also if they just. Wrote the scene where Billy comes back from the dead a little better. Like it was fine, but it was just so. Random. Like how was Wonder Woman able to access the realm of gods so easily - had she heard about it before? It was trapped in a bubble, so we know she's never visited before. And why did she show up to revive Billy in the first place. Like we get the little joke from Billy about her receiving his letter, but even that falls a little flat because it's just. 🤔

Honestly I would've preferred Hades or Anubis or any other death god to come forward, reveal they've been hiding in the mortal realm since the destruction of the god realm or whatever, because "you can't kill death" and also it would a) explain better why the Wizard didn't die (they refused to accept it based on what he and his family did to their world) and b) better write in Billy resurrection (they either then can restore the god realm like Diana did or Anthea could do that once they restore her powers) and c) show that they have decided Billy (and subsequently his family) is worthy of the powers from their family.

[iholli]

I would absolutely love to hear about your faves 👀 Tell me everything you know 👀👀👀👀

AAAAAAVUYCDTIGCTUGCH YOU'RE A GEM THANK U FOR THIS 😭😭😭💚

this is super long bc I'm Completely Normal abt J'onn lmao whoops 😂

omfg where do I start. FIRST THINGS FIRST. HE. MY BELOVED. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, my favorite favorite of all time. no really it's coming up on 8 years and I still love him sm 😭 my one braincell may wander off to new fixations but I always circle back around to him sooner or later.

I have like 4747058 images of him ofc but these are SO good bc they tell a lot about him ??? he's cute, he's silly, he's dramatic, he's sassy, he's the heart of the Justice League twenty times over despite DC refusing to give him any time to shine (I'm going to fight them with my bare hands for that).

I've never posted this but it's been in my drafts for ever so I'll throw it in here 😂 I have so many thoughts about him omg

ALSO I have a whole thing analyzing J'onn's moral compass & development through Justice League Animated, Unlimited, and some of the comics a while back so there's tHAT WHICH,,, was super good imo 👏

uuuuughghghghh I could talk about him forever 😭💚

When it comes to people Superman wouldn't want to fight, J'onn is top of that list, that's canon. He's OP as FUCK. He has most if not all Clark's powers, shapeshifting, intangibility, invisibility, phasing, telepathy, seriously his powers seem to never end ??? But he's terribly underutilized :") like I get it but come on DC,,,

J'onn is addicted to Oreos. no, really. in MM 98 issue 24 Blue Beetle and Booster Gold have this Super Funny Idea to hide all the Oreos from J'onn, and you gotta applaud the dedication to the prank bc they literally went out and bought ALL the Oreos from the ENTIRE vicinity of the JL Embassy building. J'onn proceeds to Hulk out and tear up half the city chasing them for it. It's revealed by Batman that Martians can get addicted to Oreos. At the end of the issue it turns out this is just a story J'onn is telling Diana but... he winks and asks if she's got any cookies, so it's up for debate if it's really just a story [I think there's some truth to it. bc it's very funny.]. And the Oreo thing comes up many times in many places including JLTAS 😂

He also likes sweet things in general !! he canonically drinks coffee with a TON of sugary shit to take off the bitter taste. I also made the hc that was the case for him just days before reading it in MM Identity and I'm very real for that 👏

J'onn is a cat person. One of his aliases is even an Italian street cat named Tommaso. And he has an orange cat named Double Stuff,,, of course 😂

however,,, he's totally a dragon nerd, he knows everything about dragons, he likes reptiles in general but dragons are his fav. He shapeshifts into draconic creatures all the time and he talks many times abt a specific species of moon nesting dragon called quonars. He also telepathically connected with an iguana once and it was a wholesome experience 🥺

J'onn lives in Colorado, in a suburb named Middleton, which is actually the name of a real ghost town! it's interesting that Denver is his preferred climate bc you can assume Mars was similar 👀

He is THE sass master. He goes toe to toe with Batman constantly. One of these days I'll just make a list of every sassy line he delivers in JLTAS but I think that would be a whole book by itself. There's a video of sassy moments from Batman: The Brave and the Bold that I watch 400 times a week. One of my favorite comic sass moments is when Batman expresses his annoyance at J'onn for leaving on the middle of an important meeting, which J'onn happily counters with a "you're so right, it would look bad on the League if someone just vanished at random all the time, huh Batman :)." he then also takes a crack at Bruce's lack of people skills. iconic.

He's also a silly little guy. The Batman 2007? J'onn OWNS the noir detective role, down to the cheesy old fashioned music. He also has like, a whole list of quotes he's just waiting to use when the time is right. He waited years to say "You're probably wondering why I've called you all here today." love him fr

J'onn is canonically kind of an adrenaline junkie. He loves driving, particularly an 87 Chevy Impala which he affectionately says "vibrates like a Chihuahua with a head cold." He once physically linked with an entire damaged spaceship to steer it out of danger and got carried away bc he was just having fun. He also said it was similar to the video games he plays with GL-- so he's canonically a gamer, too 😂👏

I 100% believe he's got anxiety or at LEAST separation anxiety [and that may be the case for the entire Martian race]. I already thought as much but then JLU issue 24 kinda confirmed it and it was devastating :") the League is taken over by Starro, J'onn is the only one who dodges the attack and he's left to fight his teammates which. is already awful for him. and it triggers flashbacks to a time on Mars when he was separated from his family in a nasty sandstorm. J'onn went pretty much feral with panic until he broke down and then forced himself to calm down enough to think of a plan. Meanwhile back with the League he's frantically trying not to panic again bc, while fire is a Martian's greatest weakness, "being alone is a Martian's greatest fear." I cried the whole time I read that issue and then I bought a copy LMAO. can DC stop putting him through the PTSD wringer for five seconds thanks

One short comic run J'onn spends the whole time being chased by the Martian god of fire, H'ronmeer, bc it turns out he was psychically keeping the souls of the entire Martian population tethered to the mortal realm. he's super powerful and HE'S GOING THROUGH IT. ALL THE TIME.

I don't have the context for either happenstance at this time, but J'onn has been both a Black and a White Lantern in comics. I have no idea what any of it means, either, I just know it's happened. I'll get there eventually. maybe. [I think he's dead for the Black Lantern thing so...probably...not...]

^^^ this is up there with the whole "J'onn was actually an advance agent for the invading Martian species but rather than let them use him as a weapon he essentially committed suicide after fighting the whole Justice League [beat them easily, it wasn't even a competition] and somehow this split his consciousness into like 4 different people" of comic runs that I really don't want to read [even though I own this one] :") help

I don't know what it is about forcefields but his brain just shuts off when he gets near one fr. Multiple times when there's a forcefield, EVEN IF HE KNOWS IT'S THERE, J'onn just yeets headfirst into it. He's just generally super impulsive tho ??? This guy is constantly jumping into action without a moment's thought. pls stop handing off the braincell to absolutely no one when there's danger, J'onn [he does not actually have the braincell at any given time. only Bruce has it. occasionally].

He totally enjoys starting shit. J'onn is Here for teammate drama. He once gave Batman absolutely what for and called him immature just bc J'onn was annoyed with his attitude. He sends people on League missions that will either bring out complete drama or make them find common ground. Though he says the contrary, J'onn is absolutely in the background of every team squabble with popcorn like Thor watching Tony and Cap argue. "You're all so petty. And tiny."

J'onn's name means "light to the light" and it's so poetic 😭😭 of COURSE he's the heart of the League. akdjfndckdnxkd

I'm going to stop there bc I could go on forever but I've held this ask hostage in my drafts long enough 😂😂 ENJOY THE RAMBLING THANK U FOR SENDING THIS ASK AAAA 💙

[anistarrose]

📙

(ask meme: send me a 📙 and i'll explain the plot of a fic i haven't written but still daydream about!)

okay, so. a very particular TAZ Balance AU idea, which is near and dear to me, is also one that I may never write, because it would just be such an undertaking — due, in part, to it kind of being told in non-chronological fashion.

it starts with Lucretia's pov, immediately post-Phandalin, welcoming a group of new recruits to the Bureau. however, two very important things are different from canon: Julia is alive and with the boys, and Magnus has a very energetic, very clearly magical dog familiar.

and like. Lucretia's thrilled to finally meet Julia, even if she can't show it; that's not the problem. the dog (I'm thinking like, a biiig reddish-brown St. Bernard) is a surprise, for sure (Lucretia can't believe she missed the years Magnus finally started learning magic!), and the situation totally going to warrant some new fencing around the edge of the moon, but the dog itself, technically, is still not the biggest problem.

the problem is that when Lucretia tells them about the Grand Relics and Red Robes, Magnus is like "but... surely not everyone who wears a red robe is a Red Robe, right?" and then, only then, does everything click together for Lucretia.

because long story short, this is a "Magnus and Barry made a warlock pact as during the Stolen Century as a joke, and (ironically) both forgot about it until Magnus accidentally summoned a familiar decades later in Raven's Roost" AU!

after the initial reveal, we get a series of flashbacks jumping back and forward in time, slowly fleshing out details of how much Magnus knows, how much Julia knows, and just the general vibes of their relationship with Barry, plus, eventually, their relationship with a Lucretia who needs their help to gather the Relics, but is paranoid about Barry's influence at basically all times to great comical effect lmao. highlights include:

Magnus manifesting magical powers and getting visited in a dream by a scary ghost, except the ghost's voice sounds like Literally Just Some Guy and he explains, seemingly honestly and kind of sheepishly, that he doesn't know how to undo the warlock pact because they made it For The Bit when they were slightly drunk

Magnus trusts the Red Robe because he doesn't want to lose his new puppy friend; Julia trusts the Red Robe because once they meet in person, she decides he's too anxious to be an effectual evil mastermind

Barry helps out the Raven's Roost rebellion, scaring Kalen so shitless that he doesn't even try to bomb the support pillars and that's why Julia lives

Magnus knows his patron sometimes goes unresponsive for months at a time, but doesn't know why, just that he always warns him in advace and it's never forever

when Phandalin comes along, Magnus knows Alive-Barry is familiar but he absolutely cannot place it, and Alive-Barry is equally as confused, and as unhelpful as humanly possible

the main focus of this AU is on Magnus and Barry as found family, and Julia and Barry as found family by proxy, with of course Magnulia running in parallel — but my absolute favorite underutilized dynamic (Lucretia and Barry oscillating between being serious archnemeses versus just being siblings with a hilarious petty rivalry) is baked into the core of the whole premise, too

idk about the details but I like the idea of Magnus getting in big trouble with Kravitz and, much like Merle, losing a hand or a limb or something — which Barry angsts about a little bit, convinced that it was all his fault for dragging Magnus into this, but it turns out Julia is a super competent artificer and Magnus winds up really loving the prosthesis she rigs up for him

Barry does not change the "show up and monologue ominously to the Reclaimers" strategy at all but there's a lot more goofy banter with Magnus sprinkled in now

Lucretia is constantly paranoid that Barry is spying on her through the eyes of a dog (except she's correct, he absolutely is)

OH and Magnus was asked by his patron to keep an eye out for the Umbra Staff, so he recognizes it when Taako finds it in the vault (he asks if Barry wants him to steal it, but Barry is weirdly insistent that no, it should stay with Taako)...

and I want to say that it's still not an immediate realization, but he does therefore give Barry a head start on figuring out that mystery, and once he tells Barry what Angus told him about that time it burnt "LUP" in the wall, it also becomes a Lup freed early AU :')

I guess lastly, and based off the "Undead Patron" warlock subclass, there's like a spectral red robe that appears around Magnus's shoulders whenever he's kicking ass

[class1akids]

people are just so impatient they preach about letting the other kids shine but when they do then people cry what about shoto or bkg like I thought we want all the kids to get a little moment to shine so I hope next 3 chapters are flashback I seen people bitch and moan for years how underutilized the students are sero hasnt gotten anything in years beside a Tum chapter

I think the impatience can be explained that both Bakugou and Shouto have been left in a really bad narrative place.

At least other kids who had moments to shine got partial victories and are contributing - like Jirou still helped save Hawks and de-stabilize AFO, Shoji still got through to the mob, Uraraka and Tsu at least managed to go after Toga, etc. - some side characters like Gentle get huge feats, but Bakugou was left dead after his power-up with virtually not being able to do anything to quirkless ShigAFO other than remind him of 2nd and Shouto's victory got nullified in 10 chapters and for the moment there is no silver-lining for either of them.

Deku was late, but then he basically had a huge power-demonstration and one-shotted ShigAFO more or less. So even though he's fighting now all-quirks in and his timer running out - emotionally, we don't feel that desparation yet, because he's been left at a better place. He also got lots of hype and side-characters came to support him and everyone believes in him.

While with Katsuki and Shouto - we are left with a really bitter taste and barely anyone thinking of them / mentioning them.

Now, I'm pretty sure that their actions will also get pay-off on the long run, and they will also get their big moments - outshining probably what most other heroes get, but because of the bad narrative place for them, it's hard to enjoy these moments and not keep wondering - will my fave get the same? Will they also get to interact with their friends and hype each other and have fun dunking at AFO? And since they are lots of people's faves, it can be a mood-killer.

So I totally understand people who are worried and impatient and unhappy. I just think we need to keep reminding each other that the likely scenario is that there will be pay-off and I can't imagine Horikoshi not wanting to give them satisfying endings when he's trying so hard with everyone else.

[cromaka3666]

a rant/series of ideas

So I've posted these on SB before but to put it simply, the phandom is stagnant. The same ideas are repeated over and over again mixed up but too similar to tell apart. Over on ao3s dp crossover section I've noticed a ton of these stories are created after the author reads a prompt here so I figured I'd gather the posts I've made on SB and post them here in hopes those authors can see them. I'm just copy/pasting these so they will look weird as they were originally posted on SB and I can't be bothered to edit them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So yall know how d.c. crossovers are really common. Well I just had a small idea to add to the list of why heroes don't usually kill, batman especially. Obsessions can help make ghosts and few people are more obsessed than villains, the heroes know this and don't want to risk powering up their rogue gallery more, especially since hell is real and as we saw with deathstroke/slade it's easy to make deals and return. Just another angle to add for those crossovers. Last thing anyone wants is a ghost/demon empowered joker running around.

We have tons of danny phantom dc crossovers but not a single one has Cujo join the super pets for adventures. This is a crime that should be rectified immediately. Best pup should be allowed to play with Ace and Krypto and fight animal crimes.

What aren't there any stories where danny is in the marvels zombies storyline, or dceased, or blackest night, or even the new dc vs vampires storyline.

Why are almost all horror stories about him being tortured when there are perfectly good zombie apocalypses he can fight in. I'd love to see danny wield a black lantern ring and be in total control because he's already dead and as such doesn't need to eat hearts to gain power.

I'd love to see danny get bite by a vampire only for them to taste what's basically deadmans blood. We need less secret sibling, torture filled, betrayal fics and more danny pulling a doomslayer and fighting trigons armies when he invades.

Pariah Dark pulling amity into the gz would have gotten international attention just like cannon. Something that's brought up but never really explored are meta humans rights clashing with the anti ecto laws, I'd love to see the various magic users testifying in congress, debunking the fentons beliefs that ghosts aren't people and as such deserve the same rights as everyone else.

Also I'd love to see walker put in control of arkham, blackgate, or Belle reve. He'd have those places on lockdown, and the thought of the joker trying to escape only for walker to toss him back in his cell is hilarious to me.

All these DC crossovers but not one shows an alternate danny in the justice lords, injustice, or crime syndicate version of the league.

I'm tired of rereading the same stuff, let me read about an evil crime boss danny or one who rules over the GZ like how the justice lords rule earth, or one that sides with superman after metropolis gets nuked. So many alternate worlds, timelines, and dimensions to choose from and they always pick the same ones.

Forget JLU, YJ, or TT let me see danny in the justice league dark apocalypse war movie as a trigon possed Dan Phantom and have him fight Darksied

The infinite realms is so underutilized in the dc crossovers, and just the phandom in general.

You have an entire dimension that can take you any when and anywhere you want/don't want and you don't use it to let superman meet his parents before krypton blows up, or any other orphan superhero for that matter.

Hell you don't have to save his family, you can set up a stable time loop where this meeting is what convinced them to send him to earth rather then any of kryptons dying colonies.

Have Pandora meet wonder women, I don't think I've seen anything more then a passing reference about her in any dc stories to date. The 4 armed ghost of a Greek Goddess would absolutely be something the Amazon's would want to meet.

I'd love to see more stories exploring the factions in the gz like make up a rivalry between the far frozen and Atlantis before the yetis died out and less stories about Lazarus pits being ectoplasm, and Danny bring the lover/secret brother to the entire bat clan.

Give me poison ivy possed by Undergrowth or the joker being terrorized by the box ghost because joker gas doesn't work on the dead. Hell weather wizard/ any other weather villain teaming up with vortex would be fun. Or have technus hijack brainiac/amazo, now that be a good threat.

Let's see Danny put on the helmet of fate and fight klarion because he's not at the same level as the cosmic forces of order and chaos rather then the gz being some super dimension that John "I sold my soul to 30 devils, 10 gods, an angel and a fae" Constantine is too scared to touch. Pariah was powerful, but he ain't Darkseid, Trigon, Child, or Nekron powerful.

Let's see more, superheroes deal with ghostly shit rather then Danny runs away/moves to Gotham for the 30th time. Like lets say the flash has to deal with Kitty and Johnny joy riding in Central city but he can't touch them or freakshow stops in Gotham and kidnaps Jason since the phandom is obsessed with making him a halfa or halfa adjacent. So much potential and none of it explored!

So, yall know how the phandom likes to make ectoplasm an emotional conduit. Where ghosts either can feel / feed on emotions and ectoplasm can have emitions without being a ghost, usually when talking about the pit rage Jason has in the DC stories. Well, let's roll with that and add the Emotional Entities that the lantern corps use.

If ghosts feed on emotions then the lanterns are basically walking snacks, if they sense emotions then the lanterns are walking flash bangs, and if ectoplasm can have emotions then let's have some ghosts get lantern rings simply because they are emotions given physical forms.

Also, yall know how the Danny defeats pariah and becomes king stories are a whole thing, why doesn't that apply to Dan?

Rant/prompt ideas done for now but I have so many more. Let's bring some life back to this half dead phandom.

[cf56]

What is your favorite Animaniacs song? It's impossible for me to choose a favorite, as nearly every song from Animaniacs SLAPS! But if I were to list my top 5, they would include Yakko's World, Variety Speak, There's Only One Of You, It's New Years Eve, and Yakko's big idea.

Another very hard question! You can't really name an Animaniacs song I don't like. My go-to answer for my favorite song has always been Noel. It isn't the type of song most people traditionally think of when you mention Animaniacs, but I love the siblings' harmonization so much. It's such a nice and soothing song to listen to, their voices are smooth like butter. It's incredible that three unrelated voice actors came together in the 90's and ended up sounding so good as a group that it really sounds like they're siblings.

Out of the more traditional, show tune types of Animaniacs songs, I really like Yakko's Universe. For one, the audacity to teach an entire generation of children about existentialism and how small we are in the universe, in the hyper-religious family-oriented culture of the early 90's, nonetheless. For two, the audacity to sing it in such an upbeat, happy tune. I just really like listening to it. It has a passion behind it that makes me smile. Despite its topic, it sounds so sweet and wholesome. The way the sibs interact and dance with each other helps that feeling, too.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I think Panama Canal is perhaps the most underrated Animaniacs song. It's a total banger, but no one ever talks about it. Yakko's World is iconic and an impressive feat on Rob's part, but I can't say it's one of my favorites to listen to as a song on its own.

Yakko's Big Idea is similar to Yakko's Universe for me. I love the tune, I love the upbeat happiness, I love the passionate singing. It tickles me to hear Yakko singing about a topic his character is clearly so passionate about. That's definitely my favorite song of reboot season 2.

I love Do It Yourself. I love the singing, especially Wakko's. I don't know why he's so criminally underutilized as a singer. In the reboot, at least, I would say Jess's singing voice was the strongest of the three, although all were great. Yet he gets the least spotlight of all of them.

Some of Humanity's Wins is definitely up there for me as one of my favorite Animaniacs songs. I love the powerful orchestral sound and the emotions of it. I like the message. Knowing it's the last Animaniacs song for now also gives it another emotional layer for me.

I would be proud to name any of the songs I mentioned in this post as my favorite Animaniacs song, but it's really just an impossible task to name one and stick to it. Variety Speak, There's Only One of You, and Lots to See are others that are up there, along with so many others I won't mention. My top two are probably Noel and Yakko's Universe, with a bunch of others right on the edge threatening to barge in there.

[cyannchavez]

Gajevy Analysis

I'm so glad that I finally have the time to really dive deep into this topic. I have been wanting to do this for so long but never had the time! So I wanted to introduce you all to my deep, DEEP dive of Gajevy. In this essay I will talk about every single moment that features Gajeel and Levy in the manga I might even compare to the anime at certain points. Let me tell you I read the entire manga page by page to find every single Gajevy moment I could, big and small. In this essay we will explore the characteristics and personalities of these two wonderful characters and how they came together to become one of the most loved couples in Fairy Tail. So I hope that y'all enjoy this analysis as much as I enjoyed making it! 

        I wanna start off with the first half of this pair that we are introduced to in the beginning of the manga and that is Levy Mcgarden. Levy is a 17 year old girl with short but wild blue hair, we learn right away that she is very short for her age, maybe 5 ft 2in or even shorter it's never proven but she brings it up often. She has big brown eyes and her outfit consists of a yellow bikini top covered with a blue vest and khaki like shorts. Overall she's a real cutie, not only that but she is very sweet, loving and kind. 

        She is also the leader of her own three person team Shadowgear. We learn more about her as time goes on from little appearances she makes in smaller panels. She's extremely intelligent and reads like there's no tomorrow. She doesn't like violence as she never joins in when her guild members fight, she's more of a tactician and peace maker. But she's quick on her feet and uses her attacks to her advantage when she has to use them. Her magic is awesome and slap yer grandma powerful. However, due to her peaceful and loving nature she tries to avoid using it if possible. She uses a holy type of magic called solid script. Writing runes and words into solid materials such as oil, iron, and stone. I for one think that her magic has so much potential but sadly it's so underutilized in the manga which makes sense considering levy doesn't like to fight but dang give me more please! Levy Mcgarden does indeed start off as a minor character but grows into so much more as the series goes on. We find this out as we reach chapter 47, a chapter that will change her character all together.

   We start off on chapter 47 with Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy and Happy returning home from their most recent mission. They comment on the guild looking so bizarre from far away but not really realizing exactly what's wrong with the guild until they get up close enough to see. They finally look at their guild hall which is deformed and destroyed by several metal looking beams. The beams protrude out from the building in every direction. Team Natsu travels down to the hall basement to get answers from the master. Who is less than helpful and is even drunk. However in that moment we can see he is upset and is drowning his sorrows in alcohol. We find out that a rival guild named Phantom Lord destroyed their guild hall in the middle of the night while everyone was sleeping peacefully in their homes. That next night everyone pairs up for safety reasons. While everyone is together, trying to remain safe for the night something sinister is happening in town. But before I talk about that I wanna bring up our antagonist of this arc. Gajeel Redfox, shockingly the other half of our favorite couple Gajevy. 

We meet Gajeel in his guild hall while he is eating with his back turned away from us. He knocks out a guild mate when they disturb him while he eats, turning so we can finally see what this man looks like. Gajeel is a towering man at least 6 ft tall, his eyes are blood red and he has long spiky jet black hair, he also adorns piercings totaling at about 21 piercings on his face not including the ones on his arms. He has a black Phantom lord emblem on his right shoulder. His fashion choice is a little strange. He wears a black shirt that fits into his iron studded belt. It is way longer in the back making it look like some kind of frayed, torn up cloak. He wears baggy white pants stuffed into black steel toed boots covered in iron studs. Safe to say this man is absolutely terrifying.

 We learn a tiny bit about his personality other than “EVIL.” Gajeel is easily agitated as seen when he is disturbed while hes eating, he loves to fight, maim, and even torture. His magic which we find out later is Iron dragon slayer magic. He is introduced as Natsu's opposite, both being dragon slayers but one that was abandoned but found by Fairy Tail and raised with love and the other being abandoned and left to fight for himself. A perfect representation of nature vs nurture. Gajeel stands with his fist clenched ranting about how Phantom lord is a more powerful guild than Fairy Tail. His master Jose congratulates him on his destruction of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Gajeel goes on to explain that he doesn't think they were hard enough on them so he decided to leave them a little something extra, a present. 

During the night while everyone sleeps Gajeel stalks an unassuming Fairy tail team consisting of three people, Jet, Droy and to much of our shock Levy Mcgarden. This is where i'm gonna compare the manga to the anime. First off in the manga we don't see the attack take place we only see a cut straight to the next morning where we find the three mages crucified in a row on the sola tree in the middle of the park high up off the ground. They are beaten and bloody, their clothes are ripped, and Levy is branded with the Phantom Lord emblem on her stomach as a calling card. In the anime Gajeel is standing on the roof of a neighboring building stalking the three Fairy Tail members as they happily stroll along unassuming. Gajeel then leaps from atop a building and makes a direct beeline for Levy Mcgarden. I took a moment to go back and watch that episode recently using my handy dandy pause button to see the moment leading up to what would be one of the darkest moments in all of Fairy Tail. Levy is still turned away from her assailant while Jet and Droy turn around in surprise and fear realizing that they are about to be attacked. Levy on the other hand has yet to notice. You see Jet and Droy reach out for Levy to pull her away but it all happens too fast for them to reach her in time. I hit the play button and pause again quickly to see the two are now out of sight and Levy finally turns around. She looks surprised. From watching this scene I think we are seeing this from Gajeels point of view when he first saw Levy the two make direct eye contact. His red eyes meet her big brown ones and the scene cuts out to black after we get a close up of her left eye wide with surprise and fear. We hear a loud banging noise, the sound of metal coming into contact with a human body. In the anime the three are still strung up on the tree knocked unconscious. This on its own is absolutely soul crushing the fact that these three suffered through an entire night their arms stretched passed farther than they're normally supposed to stretch suspended in the air at least 20 ft off the ground with broken bones and hanging on by a thread makes me feel so sick to my stomach. Fairy Tail is normally a pretty light hearted story so this really blew me away during my first reading of the manga.  

 Looking back on all this for this essay I realize Gajeel did this without his master's blessing without anyone else in their guild knowing. He receives praise from his master for doing so and Gajeel looks on laughing and bragging about what he has done. At this point in time Gajeel is still young, maybe 20 or 19 at the most. He wanted to please his master, like a kid who wants their fathers approval. He did this to get the admiration of the guild and master. He wanted to be the biggest baddest guy they had and this in itself really shows his age in my opinion. He has no remorse because no one has ever told him that hurting people isn't right, he's only ever been praised for it. He didn't need to do this. He had attacked the guild like he was told to do. Yet he still felt like he didn't get the reaction he wanted and proceeded to take drastic measures. He wanted to humiliate not only Fairy Tail but humiliate Levy, Jet and Droy and he did just that. 

This concludes the first meeting between Gajeel Redfox and Levy Mcgarden. So this begs the question, “how in the hell did these two end up together?” That we can kinda guess and piece together. Especially since Fairy Tail is a shonen we don't get much romance. But I have been able to piece together a hopefully accurate timeline showcasing the long and grueling walk these two had to take to come together in the end. 

The Battle of Fairy Tail 

We move on to our next arc where we see Gajeel once again yet this time he is a member of Fairy Tail. Brought on by none other than master Makarov. Everyone is rightfully angry, livid at the idea of Gajeel being a part of Fairy Tail so suddenly. Levy hides behind a wall shaking like a leaf, terribly afraid of Gajeel. She tries to reassure everyone that she is ok with him there and that everyone else should be ok with it as well yet she says this while her body shakes. Levy is afraid of Gajeel but as she tries to move on from this trauma she tries to be strong, speaking up in an effort to show she doesn't care that Gajeel is there even though she's not happy about it. Jet and Droy are less than happy when they see Gajeel even telling the dragon slayer to meet them where the attack took place to “talk.” Gajeel does take the time before his mission to meet up with the two men where he sees Levy yet again hiding behind the sola tree trying to shield herself from his view. She tries to talk Jet and Droy down, she explains that she no longer holds a grudge about that anymore. Not only is she in the exact place that night took place but she is also standing feet away from the man who attacked her and her friends. She is expecting Jet and Droy to get hurt, she has seen Gajeels strength. Jet and Droy don't listen, brushing off her words as they move forward to attack Gajeel. Shockingly we see Gajeel fall, getting hit by every attack that Jet and Droy send his way. Levy looks surprised that he is going down, she almost looks confused. Why is Gajeel getting beaten so easily when she's seen him fight? Levy is smart and she slowly figures out what Gajeel is doing before anyone else. When Laxus shows up and continues to beat Gajeel into the dirt she flinches at him being attacked. Even though she is afraid of Gajeel, Levy hates to see anyone be hurt. She watches nervously as he gets beaten covering her face with her hands realizing that the reason Gajeel is going down so easily is because he's trying to show them that he is one of them now, he is trying to gain their acceptance. 

In one lightning fast moment Laxus shoots a bolt of electricity straight towards Levy, she shields her face preparing for the impact,…which never comes. She opens her eyes to see Gajeel standing in front of her bleeding and wounded.

 Everyone stands in silence and in shock at how Gajeel protects Levy. Gajeel walks off beaten, wobbling away as the shocked Levy tries to get a word out. We don't know what she is going to say but I think she struggles for the first time in her life to get the right words out because she is so dazed and so confused as to why he saved her. She is so used to the evil Gajeel the fact that she is seeing that there is indeed something good inside him surprises her. 

This arc was a great arc for Gajeels redemption; people still don’t trust him at all except for Juvia. Levy still keeps her distance if possible.  After the ladies return from being turned to stone by Evergreen they all talk about how they are going to fight back against Laxus. Levy takes it upon herself to free Natsu and Gajeel from the runes that trap them in the guild hall.  

       I love this chapter and moment between Gajeel and Levy for two reasons, number one: this is the first time we see Gajeel and Levy have a normal interaction. They're talking as if they've been acquainted for a while and I find this very interesting. Gajeel is amazed at Levy's intelligence, you can literally see the gears in his brain turning as he tries to understand what levy is saying. Of course to him it's a jumbled mess of words and codes but he knows it means something and she's on the right track because they are forming TRUST.

He is putting his trust into the woman that he has hurt in the past even though he thinks she has every right to hate him. She doesn't have to help him get out of there but he is now a member of Fairy Tail and she really believes that he can help fight for their guild after he jumped in front of a deadly attack to save her life. If he didnt care, he wouldn't have saved her but he did! Number two: Levy is so swept up in her love for puzzles and solving runes that she is comfortable in her environment once again. All the moments we have seen her prior with Gajeel have been with her in fear and uneasiness. But right now in this moment she feels strong and powerful, she's doing something for the good of her guild and is even telling Gajeel straight to his face what she has to do in order to get them out. I also love how dorky they are in this moment like they are so damn awkward around each other I can hardly stomach it, I fucking love that shit. 

After Levy finally gets them out of the guild hall Gajeel and Natsu battle Laxus until they are too exhausted to continue, while this is happening Levy is running as fast as she can to stop Laxus and let him know that Makarov is on death's door. When she arrives. She tries to convince Laxus to stop this whole madness and go see his grandfather one last time. Of course Laxus at this point is too far gone to listen and he activates Fairy law which of course doesn't hurt anyone. Gajeel lifts himself and asks Levy if she is ok. I love this part cause he is genuinely concerned for her safety like damn I'm getting all teary-eyed. We then watch Natsu almost die and Gajeel once again risks his life to save Fairy Tail. Levy again looks shocked that he is still putting his life on the line. I feel like this doesn't really cement her trust for him but it definitely gets the gears in her brain turning on how this man really is a member of Fairy Tail even though he still has a long way to go. 

Of course, Fairy Tail ends up winning this battle by the skin of their teeth. Gajeel is covered in full body bandages as he watches everyone laugh and talk after the fantasia parade. He looks down over everyone including team shadowgear kinda foreshadowing his involvement in their lives as time goes on. I have no idea if Hiro Mashima meant for Gajeel and Levy to end up together this early in the manga but this tiny little scene of him just staring at her makes me think he had the idea early on. I feel like Gajeel is watching out for her from afar, they haven't built that friendship yet so he isn't comfortable just talking to her or even Jet and Droy for that matter. So he watches them from far away. I also wanna talk about how Gajeel is a double agent at this point of the story. When we all thought this man was for sure going to betray Fairy Tail. He hands the master a note letting him know that he found Ivan and that his job as a double agent is all going according to plan. This is another way of Gajeel trying his best to gain the acceptance of not only the guild but his new master as well. This is a habit of Gajeels, putting himself in danger to prove himself. He has a tremendous amount of guilt for what he did and he does want to make up for it. 

This relationship does start off badly, we are all aware of that. Levy is still uneasy and nervous around Gajeel but she is coming around, Gajeel on the other hand is guilty of his wrongdoings and tries to keep his distance but shows Levy through his actions that he is sorry. Many fans of Fairy Tail bring this topic up often “why hasn't Gajeel apologized for what he did?” He may have apologized but we don't know because it is never shown. I honestly think Gajeel is too much of an awkward guy to try and put himself out there to apologize, I mean lets be honest Gajeel is not great with words. So he shows he is sorry by protecting his new family. 

S CLASS TRIALS

We slowly make our way to one of the most important arcs of the story involving Gajeel and Levy and that is the S Class Trials. The master explains that he has picked the people for the trial that deserve S class, the people who strive for greatness and are powerful in strength, mind and body. When Levy's name is called she is rightfully excited at first but of course puts herself down. Saying she is not strong enough for the trials and is confused as to why the master chose her. The master didn't choose Levy just because. He has seen her strength, he has seen her work and he knows she is strong and capable. I want to remind you that this trial is not easy to complete. The master picks his candidates based on whether they are strong enough to do so and Levy is of course picked meaning that she can do this. He wouldn't put someone who isn't ready into the trials. 

Levy sits on a bench thinking and mulling over why she was chosen while Jet and Droy argue to be her partner. While this is happening Gajeel, who is upset that he wasn't chosen, comes up to Levy offering to be her partner for the trials. Levy explains that she doesn't know why he would even want to help her considering she is too small and weak and that they will probably lose right away. Gajeel rolls his eyes at this, picking her up by the back of her dress with ease. He tells her not to give up before she has even tried and lets loose that infamous line “I’ll make you big.” Levy blushes, at this point Gajeel and levy are still awkwardly tip-toeing around each other but this is one of their first interactions as actual acquaintances. This builds her confidence slightly, a fire growing inside her to win the trials and prove herself not only to her guild but to Gajeel that she is stronger than he thinks. 

The two start off the trials with the serenity route which makes Gajeel upset. He wants to fight but levy is relying on her brains for this portion of the trial and a whole lot of luck. They are exact opposites and have no idea how to work together at least not yet. Gajeel complains throughout the whole walk to find Mavis' resting place. Agitating Levy, this girl is an overthinker, as Gajeel complains about not being able to fight, Levy reads this as him not being interested in helping her get S Class but he is in it for himself and this has Levy thinking that when he said he’l make her big he didn't mean it he just wanted to fight. Levy feels insecure about herself once again because Gajeel had made her feel strong but now he makes it seem like he doesn't care. He does care. But like I said earlier Gajeel is not great with words. Levy takes off in anger leaving Gajeel behind. As Levy runs through the island as she thinks about everything that has happened between the two of them, the attack on her team still in the back of her mind, she hasn't fully healed yet and as she desperately tries to move on and put her trust in Gajeel she feels like she can't. She was really coming around to fully trusting Gajeel. She thinks to herself that she thought he was actually a nice guy deep down but he obviously hasn't changed. This upsets her because Levy is a smart woman, she reads people really well. When she saw that Gajeel was beginning to make a change for the better she truly believed that. But this makes her feel like he isn't changing as much as she thought he was.  

Her thoughts are cut short when she is ambushed by two members of Grimoire Heart, they pin her down and prepare to literally slice her in two. Before that happens Gajeel jumps in and saves her life. He says that she is so tiny he had a hard time finding her so to never leave his side again. Levy looks on in surprise, proving everything she was thinking about him wrong. He cares, and he is there to help her, yes he loves to fight but he doesn't hesitate to protect her when she is in need. Levy wipes away her tears and stands to Gajeels back ready to fight with him. 

Gajeel and levy give it their all but are ultimately defeated. Gajeel realizes that they are in danger and tells Levy to run and that he will hold Grimoire Heart off while she goes and gets help. Levy is hesitant to leave him there alone. Considering he has protected her many times and she doesn't want to leave her friend behind to possibly die. He screams at her to leave and she does but not after giving him some iron to bring his strength back up. We finally come around to full on trust between these two. Gajeel trusts that Levy will get out and find backup and Levy trusts Gajeel to not die and make it out alive. The Iron with the heart in the middle is our first hint at Levy's feelings for Gajeel. This man has shown her time and time again that he will change and he will put in the effort to make it happen. This event brings the two tremendously close, they are now actually friends. 

This part of the story is huge for Gajeel, Grimiore Heart reminding him of what he used to be. We get a few AMAZING panels of how Gajeel actually joined Fairy Tail. Gajeel is down on his luck living in the ruins of his guild hall, starving, lonely and homeless. Makarov Seeks him out asking if he is interested in joining Fairy Tail. This confuses Gajeel, considering everything he did to Fairy Tail. He tries to give the master reasons why he shouldn't join. He destroyed their guild hall, Makarov replies saying that they can just rebuild it. Gajeel then brings up what he did to team shadow gear and Makarov replies differently this time saying he will NEVER forgive him for that no matter what. But Makarov refuses to allow Gajeel to fall into the darkness. Makarov reaches out his hand saying that he's not trying to save Gajeel but he is just trying to show him the right path, the good path. The newly inspired Gajeel takes the master's hand joining Fairy Tail for good. 

This memory gives Gajeel the strength to continue, he has people he wants to protect, the people who gave him a chance, the people who helped him when he needed it the most. Gajeel delivers a final blow sending the members of Grimoire Heart flying. Gajeel passes out from exhaustion. He opens his eyes to Levy by his side in tears, and with backup. This moment is absolutely beautiful because Gajeel looks at her realizing that Levy actually cares for him seeing her tears and worries with his own eyes. She asks him if he is ok, and he smirks at her letting her know that he told her he could beat those guys. Levy smiles at him, her tears falling. Levy is so proud of Gajeel and what he has done not only for her but for their guild. Levy picks him up and drags him to camp, returning the favor after he saved her. These two characters have fully come around, becoming closer than most characters in the manga.

  The arc goes on with them arguing, making jokes, and picking little fights with each other, all in good fun of course. Before they are attacked by Acnologia they even hold hands going down together. Their newfound friendship still baffles me because I do feel like it was handled well. They aren't in love or anything just yet, but they really do put all their trust in each other and rely on each other and I LOVE THAT. 

Grand Magic Games 

This arc is kinda random but we see Gajeel show up in this arc as part of Fairy Tail team B. He's also suddenly wearing headbands……like where did he get that from hmmmm I wonder. It's funny but I definitely think Levy gives Gajeel the headbands to keep his crazy hair out of his face while he fights. It's not proven but Levy is the only one who wears headbands. COINCIDENCE I THINK NOT!

      Gajeel fights in the games and Levy is cheering him on the entire time. We don't know this in the beginning but the narrator of this arc is future Levy herself. Let me just say I was so heartbroken when we saw the future Levy all alone in the future scarred up and beaten. She is lonely and hidden away left alone to die. She writes to Lucy who will never receive the letter but she does this as a way to heal. She explains that they lost everyone, even her beloved. We all know who she is talking about here. We don't know what happened but Gajeel died. This is never brought up again and we can only assume that Levy ends up dying alone in the future at some point. After future Lucy is reunited with everyone in Fairy Tail in Heaven we see Gajeels silhouette, we see everyone really except for Levy. God, it kills me, Mashima of course never tells us what happened to her, but I'm certain that she lived and then died later. 

Tartaros

This arc is….WILD. We all know why too hehehe. In this arc Gajeel fights against Torafuzar, this fight takes place in an enclosed building that is filled to the top with water, poison water at that. As everyone floats around drowning Gajeel has iron insides so the poison doesn't affect him the way it affects everyone else. He holds his breath as best as he can, fighting for his life, he can feel his lungs begging for oxygen as he gets tossed around in the water, not being able to move as quickly as Torafuzar. We get the scene where he floats down into darkness unable to hold his breath any longer, believing that this is it, he is going to die. He begs for air but sees a small ball of light coming toward him. He tries to shoo the light away saying he needs air not light. The lights grow closer and when he thinks he can no longer hold on. Levy appears as the light he was seeing and she blows her last bit of air into his lungs.

 Gajeel’s eyes open wide in shock. He suddenly has air. He spots Levy, confused, “why is she here and when did she get there?” She floats down into the darkness and he watches in shock and worry. Until he sees Torafuzar make a direct attack on levy, angry that she saved Gajeel. Gajeel jumps in right before Torafuzar is able to hurt Levy holding her close to his body and throwing his fist straight down on Torafuzars head. We have multiple translations of this scene. Gajeel says pretty much the same thing in all “Hands off,” “Don't you touch her” or “out of my way!” I love this scene for so many reasons, Gajeel has no idea what Levy did, only that she saved him when he thought he was a goner. This is the funny thing with these two they both will put their life on the line to save each other. I like to believe that they definitely have feelings for each other at this point. I mean it's hard to deny, considering they both will die for the other like wow! 

After Gajeel knocks Torafuzar to the bottom of the poisoned water, Gajeel tries to rouse Levy, shaking her back and forth and screaming at her to hang on and wake up. (Also why the hell can they talk in the water? Are they talking in the water? Or do they talk telepathically? This will forever confuse me but meh.) Levy finally jolts awake at her limit for air. Gajeel screams at her to produce more air for everyone. Levy shakes her head thinking to herself that she has no more air to give and that the only reason she gave him the air was that he was the closest. (sure levy…suuuuuure.) Gajeel grabs her screaming,  “What are you talking about, you're a wizard! Make some air with your magic!” Levy stares in confusion quickly turning to embarrassment when she realizes she didn't have to give Gajeel mouth-to-mouth in the first place she coulda just made it. This is hilarious, it kills me every time. But also People forget that this was an insane situation, Levy was probably low on air and panicking, she saw Gajeel and knew that he could save everyone so she did the first thing that came to mind. She isn't dumb she just couldn't think in a dangerous situation. 

Levy uses solid script crafting an air bubble the two burst from the water into the air bubble taking in gulps of air. Gajeel now has enough to fight. Gajeel swims off to take care of Torafuzar leaving Levy to take care of everyone else. “Gajeel thanks Levy for saving his life saying he would have been a goner without her. The fight goes on and Gajeel is grabbed by Torafuzar he struggles to escape but turns to check on Levy. He watches her air bubble blip out of existence and she passes out from taking in too much carbon-laced water. His eyes grow wide as he watches her sink, throwing him into a memory. 

This is a side of Gajeel we haven't seen in a long time. Gajeels memory consists of him standing in a room at the magic council, probably being charged with some crime he committed in the name of the Phantom Lord. As Gajeel walks out to leave, an old woman on the Magic Council named Belno follows Gajeel outside. She goes on to beg him to leave Phantom Lord, she says she has seen many young men just like him and every single one was lonely and sad deep down inside. Gajeel scoffs angrily at her for telling him what to do. He blows her off trying to ignore her words. She stops him one last time telling Gajeel that she doesn't need him to be an upstanding citizen but to give his life some meaning. Gajeel grows excited, turning to laugh that his life has plenty of meaning and that he is going to war with Fairy Tail. of course the war with Fairy Tail is a moment that he will regret for the rest of his life. After Gajeel, Levy, Jet, and Droy find Belno dead in her home, Gajeel seems upset as Levy tries to calm him. Gajeel then secretly travels to the roof to cry, heartbroken that Belno was watching out for him and he never gave her the time of day, he cries, saddened by the fact that Belno will never see who he is now and that he has given his life meaning. The meaning of his life being that he will keep his family and his friends safe no matter what. 

At the end of this arc, the guild has been destroyed and the master makes the decision to disband Fairy Tail for good. Everyone is heartbroken at this fact and goes their separate ways. Gajeel and Levy however decide to leave together with Pantherlily to join the magic council

Alvarez

This is our final arc in the story of Gajeel and Levy. We meet the two again with Pantherlily as they now work for the magic council custody enforcement unit. Levy returns from a mission where she infiltrated the cult. She explains that mixing in with the believers was super easy but getting out was hard. I love this about Levy, she infiltrated a whole ass cult which of course is crazy dangerous. Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily talk about Gray and everything with him joining the cult. Gajeel states that they will stop him and that he is no longer their friend. Levy seems saddened by this but agrees nonetheless. Of course, we find out Gray was just doing the same thing Levy was doing and Gray knew it was Levy immediately and that she needed to work on her disguise. 

We fast forward to The ladies of Fairy tail in the bathhouse that belongs to blue Pegasus after traveling for a long while. The men sit on the other side of the bathhouse and they all chat through the gate. Gajeel gets thrown out by Elfman hitting Ichiya, and sending Gajeel flying through the gate naked. He lands right on top of a naked Levy. He mentions that he is cushioned but not by much (Which makes me so mad by the way Gajeel totally deserves to be hit after this comment.) She is embarrassed, punching Gajeel calling him a dummy while Gajeel screams out in pain. Gajeel isn't embarrassed about being on top of Levy naked in front of everyone but Levy freaks! 

Then we see the infamous blanket scene while everyone relaxes before the battle that they are certain is coming. We see Gajeel lying on his back shirtless staring at the ceiling, his waist covered by a blanket with stars on it. A few panels later we see Levy sleeping as well….with the same fucking star blanket! Like what!!!!! Of course, I believe that they were sleeping together in the same bed. This makes me think that over the past year that these two were in the magic council, their relationship has started to grow into something more than friends. We don't know exactly what happened in that past year but there had to be something. There is no awkwardness between them as they share a sleeping space but they are together. Another thing that supports this theory is that they are both on opposite sides of the bed, Gajeel being on the right side and Levy on the left. Idk maybe I’m crazy but I couldn't believe it when I saw it. 

We move on again seeing mavis explain that she fell in love with Zeref and because of her sins all this terrible stuff is happening. Gajeel interjects with my favorite line of his in the entire series. “It's not a sin to fall in love.” Alluding to Gajeels feelings about a certain blue-haired fairy. I feel Gajeel says this because he's been through something not really similar to Mavis but similar in how they feel about falling in love with someone. Mavis is upset about falling in love with Zeref and the bad things that came from it, viewing it as a sin. Gajeel is guilty about falling in love with Levy because of what he did to her when they first met and he feels he doesn't deserve it viewing it as a sin at one point but he is slowly coming around to accepting it. This makes Levy blush because deep down I think she knows what he's talking about. 

The next time we see them together Gajeel and Levy can't sleep before meeting up with Sabertooth. Gajeel sits crouched on the ledge of a mountain where Levy asks him if he's having trouble sleeping. He tells her that obviously, she's having trouble sleeping as well. She explains it’s because she is scared of the fight that's to come and she's worried that it will be the end for all of them. She says she isn't as strong as everyone else and she's afraid to die. Gajeel then blocks her in with a bunch of iron pillars before getting in front of her and leaning on one of them to talk to her. He tells her she is under arrest for doubting herself, she apologizes and Gajeel tells her that he promises that since she's under arrest he will throw her in the guild hall cell when they get back home. Levy smiles and nods. He isn't really talking about arresting her here. He's upset with her for doubting herself, yes but what he's really saying is that everything will be ok. They are going to make it home alive and together. I love this scene because they both understand each other without being direct with one another and I think that shows just how much they have grown together in the past year. 

The next part is…dark. We see Sabertooth never made it to the rendezvous point due to them being attacked and crucified. This shocks Gajeel and Levy; they are horrified. Levy knowing how terrible it feels to be crucified and Gajeel knowing what it feels like to crucify someone. They fight saving Sabertooth, until Gajeel gets his hands on Bloodman, the monster that crucified Sabertooth. Gajeel pins him against a tree asking him “do you have any idea how it feels to be crucified?” Gajeel is angry because Bloodman has forced Gajeel to relive the worst memory of his life. Crucifying team shadowgear, specifically crucifying the woman he now loves. Gajeel tells Boodman he's glad he gets to fight him and even if he dies that it's ok because he's been looking for a spot to be his final resting place. Levy gives him a sad look as he says this, heartbroken first off that Gajeel has to relive this terrible moment in his life and saddened by the fact that he says he doesn't mind dying. Gajeel fights with everything he has telling everyone to get away because the Bloodman is emitting magic barrier particles, a poison that means death for whoever comes in contact with it. Gajeel falls and as Bloodman prepares to attack him Levy jumps in front of him using her solid script shine. Bloodman is reeled back surprised, referring to Levy's magic at holy. 

Gajeel screams at Levy to get out of there but Levy turns revealing her makeshift mask. Stating that the poison can't get into her if she wears it. Gajeel believes her, Levy then scolds Gajeel saying that he shouldn't be talking the way he was about wanting to die. Gajeel tries to explain that he didn't mean it but Levy doesn't agree. She states that his life is important to her and she wants him to keep on living. 

The fight proceeds with Gajeel and Levy working together to defeat Bloodman. They almost drown once again after Bloodman tries to use a tartaros curse on them. Levy uses Solid Script Hole to drain all the poison water into the ground while Gajeel attacks. Gajeel and Levy work great together, I think back to the S Class trials when they had no idea how to work together but now they've been doing it for so long it's like second nature to them. Levy and Gajeel are then swept away by a sea of corpses. Gajeel wades as fast as he can through the corpses to pull Levy out with him. Both mages fall to the ground in exhaustion. Both are badly injured as they try to pick themselves up but Levy is having a hard time doing so. She collapses again and begins to cough up blood and poison. Gajeel panics, screaming that she needs to get her mask back on now. Then Levy confesses that the mask never worked in the first place. So this entire time she has been allowing the magic barrier particles to be absorbed through her skin filling her body with the poison. I wanna say that Bloodman literally didn't even touch the other people who died when they were fighting. Levy literally swam in the poison and inhaled the poison yet she is still alive…what a bad bitch. Gajeel freaks out at her rightfully so asking why in the hell she would even go there. And Levy replies weakly that all she wanted to do was save him. She then passes out. Gajeel screams her name in worry before telling her to hang on, and that he will handle Bloodman. Gajeel gets knocked around like a rag doll but continues to pursue Bloodman like there's no tomorrow desperate to win and desperate to save Levy. Gajeel thinks to himself about how he's always felt like the weakest of the Dragon Slayers and how he's always felt that he's fallen behind. At the time, beating Natsu and being the strongest is what he cared about the most. But now all he cares about is protecting Levy, the woman he fell in love with. 

Gajeel screams out that he will get Levy back home safe no matter what, keeping the promise he made to her a few chapters back when they were talking on the ledge of the mountain. After Bloodman disappears Gajeel turns to Levy with a smile on his face, and he says her name. But before he can go to her Gajeel is grabbed by Bloodman who is turning into this kinda hell portal thing that turns people completely into magic barrier particles. Gajeel squirms and struggles to break free realizing that the portal is pulling him inside. 

We reach the only chapter of Fairy Tail that has actually made me cry. Levy watches as Gajeel gets sucked into the portal; she uses all her strength to stand spitting up blood as she does so. Running to Gajeel to save him. Gajeel screams at her to stay away from him that if she touches him she too will die. He says that he can feel his body turning into a mass of magic barrier particles and it's too late to save him. Levy shakes this off saying she doesn't care what happens to her and that she WILL save him. Gajeel pins Levy to a rock in the same crucifixion style that both of them hate. Levy yells at him asking him what he thinks he's doing. Gajeel looks down ashamed that he is doing this to her once again saying that she left him with no other choice.

Levy because she is such a freaking badass uses her foot to write the word sword cutting her free from her restraints Gajeel begs her to please stop but before she can reach Gajeel something stops her and holds her back. Lily. Gajeel gives a smile of relief as Lily holds Levy back from going any further. Levy fights to get out of Lily's grip begging him to let her go so she can save Gajeel screaming that if she doesn't do something Gajeel is going to die. She begins to cry in frustration and sadness. Until Gajeel says her name. He tells her that he used to be such a horrible person, but then he met her. She was able to bring out all the best parts of him. Parts of him he didn't even know he had. “You taught me what it means to love..and for that I will be eternally grateful.” Levy is crying so hard at this point realizing that Gajeel is going to die. Gajeel smiles at her his own tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He says that falling in love with her made him think about things he never thought he would think about. A future with her, a family with her, and just all around being happy with her. We get a few shots that I absolutely love. Gajeel laying in the grass with Levy laying on his chest, now I don't know if this is a memory of them taking a nap together or just him imagining what it would be like. But I like to think that this is a memory. A shot of Gajeel and Levy with their children, and a shot of levy giving him a smile.

 Gajeel begins to let his tears fall as he's further sucked into the portal. He says “I really did want us to be together forever..and having that future snatched away from me is the most terrifying thing I've ever had to endure.” Levy screams for him begging him to stay with her but at this point, Gajeel's face is the only thing that can be seen in the portal. Gajeel tells Lily to get Levy back home and makes him promise that he will do so. Then in a blip, Gajeel is gone. Levy screams out his name crying for him with Lily. This was the most heartbreaking moment. The two people that loved Gajeel more than anything crying over his death. They hold each other sobbing. Gajeel never thought he would ever be loved by anyone. Lily and Levy truly changed that for him. They were his family, the people that he trusted more than anyone in all of Fairy Tail. 

Of course, we find out Gajeel is ALIVE! I held my breath man I was like there ain't no way this man is dead and we were all right. Gajeel thinks about how he supposedly died and blushes because he realizes that he totally confessed his undying love. Levy finds out he is alive and is so happy when she sees him again she gives him a big ole kiss….just kidding she dropkicks him in the face. He falls back and she straddles him crying telling him that he needs to keep his promise of taking her back to the guild, Gajeel smiles and nods. After a big fight with Acnologia everyone comes together again happy that they won. We get a tiny little shot of Gajeel holding Levy and Lily close. Levy cries tears of joy and Jet and Droy stand in the back cheering at the fact that they all finally won.

We end the Fairy Tail manga with Levy coming up to Gajeel through the narration of Lucy. It is a year later at this point and Lucy explains how Gajeel and Levy have grown even closer over the last year (meaning they're dating.) Levy whispers in Gajeel's ear something secretive and Gajeel gasps in shock blushing profusely. Lucy then begins to blush confused thinking she just heard Levy say the word baby. Wendy however knows as she is steaming in embarrassment. This of course confirms that Levy and Gajeel are indeed going to have a baby. Y'all know what that means. Y’all know where babies come from hehehehe. They even end up leaving the party, Lily goes to Jet and Droy asking if either of them has seen Levy and Gajeel. Jet and Droy yell at Lily not to ask them and to think about their feelings. Where did Gajeel and Levy go? Maybe they went to “celebrate?” 

The Fight

Now I wanna talk about their meeting. Gajeel used to be a terrible person and what he did to Levy, Jet, and Droy was completely inexcusable. It was not ok but it was integral to his development. Gajeel doesn't do an immediate 180 and Levy does not fall in love with him right away. Levy doesn't forgive right away either. He doesn't join Fairy tail and she immediately accepts it. Levy is terrified of Gajeel still she is actively hiding away from him in multiple panels. When Jet and Droy go to fight Gajeel Levy follows quietly; she doesn't say a word until Gajeel shows up. The only reason she tries to stop Jet and Droy in the first place is that she is afraid that they'll get hurt. She also, like I said before, hates violence it seems to me she honestly wants to move on and ignore Gajeel if she can. We have no idea what kind of fight they had that night of the attack and I don't think we will ever know. But I think it's important that we don't know. This moment is something that only Jet, Droy, Gajeel and Levy know and it stays that way because it's dark, and it's not easy to talk about. One thing that I hate seeing is the whole disgust with Levy falling for a man who hurt her. Now let me explain myself and why I think that is wrong! Levy is not a victim, Levy is a strong and capable wizard. Levy is a member of Fairy Tail even though she hates fighting and she tries to avoid it, she will fight if she has to. Don't forget that Levy is also the leader of her own fighting team, Levy's job is to be a fighter. Gajeel didn't just beat up a girl, he fought another mage. I believe 100% that Shadowgear fought him with everything they had, they just were on the losing end of the fight. Yes, sneaking up on Shadowgear was a shitty thing to do but they are enemies of course they're gonna fight. 

Levy's clothes 

After the Phantom lord arc, we see Levy again and she looks slightly different from when we last saw her. A few paragraphs above I really went into detail on how Levy dresses. Her outfits in Fairy Tail really tell us a lot. That being how she is feeling and her mental state. Levy is still very happy and sweet per the usual greeting Lucy as she returns from her mission. Levy is now dressed in a turtle-neck orange dress that reaches the middle of her thigh. Underneath she has another layer, long sleeves adorn her arms leaving her shoulders bare and long black leggings…in the summer. Why is she dressed this way? I believe this is far from just a fashion statement. This particular outfit covers not all but most of her skin. The only remaining skin is her face, shoulders, and hands. Levy is covering herself as a way to hide. After what happened with Gajeel she feels embarrassed, nervous, and maybe even exposed after having a dark guild emblem forced upon her bare stomach. Being covered is her way of protecting herself. At this time even though she may not say it, the attack on her team really did a number on her, and most importantly her confidence, the horrible event is still fresh in her mind. Early Levy is a fairly confident woman, she is a leader and she is very capable. Not being able to protect her team or herself really knocks Levy down and now she's struggling to believe in herself and believe in her confidence. 

She ends up changing her outfit again in the S class trials. Now more comfortable around Gajeel. She also has more confidence after Gajeel told her he'd make her big. She exchanges her orange turtle neck for a short orange dress that bares her legs and shoulders.

Levy is slowly growing, her trauma falling behind her.

The last outfit everyone loves including me is of course the white crop top with the word iron on it, the gray skirt and black leggings. This is her “I love Gajeel” outfit I swear to god. Levy is now complete again and she is stronger than ever before and I love that about her. She really did grow in so many ways…not in her height but in everything else hahaha. 

Forgiveness

A common theme in Gajeel and Levy's relationship is the theme of forgiveness. Levy does not forgive Gajeel right away and Gajeel takes FOREVER to forgive himself. Gajeel and Levy don't talk about their first meeting which I understand. It's a sore subject. Gajeel however is a man of action. He shows that he will do anything for team Shadowgear and the guilds forgiveness. Protecting Levy is his way of apologizing. The man would take a bullet for this woman I kid you not. In the beginning it was a way of apologizing but now it's because she is his family and he loves her. Instead of being on his knees begging for forgiveness he gives Levy reasons to believe in him and to forgive him. Which is something that Levy needs. I don’t feel like she is one for taking apologies and just forgiving a person. I do think she wants to be shown that the person doing the apologizing is actually sincere. 

After a year of all this Levy finally gives Gajeel a shot by letting him help her with the S class trials. That scene with her running away from him after they argue on Tenrou Island isn’t just her being overly dramatic. This scene is important to Levy's development because she is fighting to forgive. Levy does want to let it go and trust Gajeel but to do that she needs to see it and believe it. The whole reason she runs away is that she thinks Gajeel hasn't changed when she was certain he had. He just doesn't know how to talk right that big ole dummy. Only after he saves her life again and they almost die together after Acnologia tries to kill them all does she truly and fully forgive him. 

It was a long road but Levy got there, Gajeel on the other hand has the hardest time forgiving himself. In stories like this, we always talk about the person who needs to do the forgiving, never the person who is searching for that forgiveness. Gajeel is a deeply emotional person. I know it might not look like it but he truly is. Gajeel was thrown into this life with nothing but the clothes on his back. This made him very tough and emotionally distant from everyone else but also himself. When he starts to try to earn Fairy Tails’ forgiveness he learns to express his feelings more. Jumping on stage to sing with passion, or crying when he finally gets to have PantherLily as his cat and partner, or being heartbroken about Makarovs sacrifice when he saves them from Acnalogia. This man is learning and thriving, however, there’s one thing that he just cannot get over and that is Levy. We kinda start to see a crush blooming between the two of them. Of course, Levy is good at showing it even though she really tries to hide it. But Gajeel on the other hand is quite different, Gajeel is comfortable around Levy, they are always seen together, and they train together. To the unknowing eye it may look like just pure friendship. He enjoys spending his time with her. We all know Gajeel prefers to be alone or with Lily, Levy is the only person that he hangs out with outside of the guild. But he is hesitant to show that he likes Levy more than a friend but goes out of his way to be with her on multiple occasions. 

When we reach the Alvarez arc he is flirting with her and picking on her. But he still doesn’t confess until he realizes he’s going to die. Gajeel explains how horrible of a person he used to be and Levy is the one who made him want to change. In that moment all the guilt and hurt that Gajeel has held onto all these years falls away as Levy cries for him. He feels like he doesn’t deserve her after what he did. Instead of telling Gajeel that she loves him she cries for him and begs him to stay with her and I think that shows Gajeel what she means by that. Gajeel was certain that no one would ever love him the way Levy does. I feel like another reason Gajeel was so emotional and heartbroken about losing his future with her is that he waited so long to forgive himself..too long. By the time he was ready to confess he was dying and it was too late. 

The path to forgiveness really is a righteous one, Levy forgave him, but not as quickly as everyone says she did. They worked together, they picked each other up constantly, and in the end, they both saved each other. Gajeel saves Levy from her fear of being weak, something that he caused by attacking her in the beginning. He picked her up and put her back together over years of working at it. Gajeel made Levy feel strong once again. Levy then fell in love with him. Levy saves Gajeel by believing in him, believing that he can change and that deep down he is a good person. She pushed him in ways no one else ever could. She pushed him to grow and become better. And in the end, Gajeel fell in love with her for it. 

How did they become who they are?

Sometimes I really look at how far Gajeel has come as a character and who he is as a person. Gajeel like I mentioned above is deeply emotional, he has hardened his heart over the years from being abandoned. The day that Metalicana “left” Gajeel was the day that made him decide he wouldn’t trust anyone ever again. It’s so sad to think about him as a kid wandering for days looking for his father only to come up with nothing. This leaves him homeless and desperate for help from anyone who will give it to him. And that is where I’m thinking Jose entered his life. Giving Gajeel food, a roof over his head, and a life in general. Jose used Gajeels vulnerability to his advantage, Gajeel being a child at the time or maybe even a young teen when he was recruited into Phantom Lord.  So Gajeel learned things all wrong, Jose drilled into him that he had to be the best and to do that he needed to hurt people to get what he wanted. Gajeel was tricked into thinking that Jose, his master, was a father figure and what does Gajeel do? He strives to please him, to show him that he is the best, that he can handle the harder jobs that Jose has to throw at him. While Gajeel sees this as Jose being kind to him, Jose sees Gajeel as a puppet or a pawn nothing more. So when Phantom Lord is disbanded

Gajeel is so lost, he knows nothing else but Phantom Lord so he once again falls into this depressive darkness. If Makarov had never gone to Gajeel that day, I don't think he would have ever joined Fairy Tail, or let alone see levy again. This huge difference between Jose and Levy is crazy because Levy on the other hand believed in Gajeel in a different way, encouraging him to fight and be the best but for good and good only. He struggles to put his trust in her but when he does he grows in all the best ways possible because this is the first time someone has worked to build him up not tear him down. 

We have no idea who Levy used to be before she joined Fairy Tail. Something that I will always wonder is what happened to Levy's parents for her to end up in Fairy Tail? The majority of the children in Fairy Tail have been through some pretty unimaginable things, things that no child should have to go through. There are a few panels and one cover page that show Levy as a little girl in Fairy Tail. She is very, very young in these panels and when we see her she is never smiling. She's frowning or looks sad or uncomfortable, I don't know, maybe I'm crazy but where on earth did this girl come from? It is mentioned in one scene while little Levy plays some kind of version of chess with Cana that she was younger than Cana. I have a theory as to why levy's backstory was never introduced. I think Levy was very young when her parents disappeared or died making her an orphan. She honestly could have been an orphan from the very beginning but we just don't know. Levy integrated into Fairy Tail at such a young age I don't think she even thinks about her real parents. She sees Fairy Tail as her only family. She grew up there and that's why she is the way she is, kind, loving and strong-minded, she learned from tons of good-hearted Fairy Tail mages, so it would make sense that her characteristics and qualities all derive from the people who raised her.

Two Mages and a baby

Gajeel and Levy are seen again and their story continues through the Fairy Tail 100 year quest. Gajeel and Levy are boyfriend and girlfriend now which is so weird to me. I mean I love it but it's just so crazy that it feels surreal. This story is set a little bit after the end of Fairy Tail and Gajeel and Levy are expecting their first child. Gajeel and Levy bicker like an old married couple but they also constantly flirt with each other like teenagers. Levy's unwavering trustful side comes out when they discuss Touka, Gajeel not trusting her stating that she's off for some reason he doesn't know why but he knows something's up. Levy combats this saying that they shouldn't be stalking her and that she is a Fairy Tail mage so why shouldn't they trust her. Gajeel goes on to say that everyone treated him badly when he joined. Levy scoffs, stating that it was because he used to be horrible. They get all up in each other’s faces and Lily tries to cool them down, they both turn telling him to shut up. Levy then stomps off angry, Juvia asks Gajeel if he's sure that fighting with levy was ok. Gajeel turns to state that if Touka is actually evil then she'd be putting levy in danger and he refuses to let that happen. 

It's not fully confirmed at this moment that Levy is pregnant. However, it is finally fully confirmed as Levy walks down the street after catching Gajeel and Juvia still stalking Touka. Gajeel lands on top of Juvia in a very suspicious-looking position on the middle of the sidewalk. Levy looks down at them and Gajeel tries to explain himself. Levy just says “carry on,” and walks away while Gjaeel screams for her to wait. Levy is not jealous in this scene. Levy is just agitated that they still aren't listening to what she had to say when she told them that stalking Touka wasn't a good idea. No she doesn't think Gajeel is cheating bahahaha. She holds her stomach and a little light pools inside, showing Levy's pregnancy.

 Gajeel is very protective of Levy that even when his mind was being controlled by Touka and Levy was fighting Natsu, Gajeel begged Natsu to not fight her afraid. Before Natsu punches Levy in the stomach, he stops mis-swing remembering that she's pregnant. We get a little flashback of Levy telling Lucy, Natsu, and wendy that she is expecting. Natsu asks her if the baby is his and Levy gets flustered screaming at him saying “there's no way in hell that it could be his.” Natsu is not that dumb seriously hahahaha I will never understand why he thinks this way.

 Natsu is completely frozen in his place, giving Levy the moment to strike, sending him away on a carriage. Gajeel gets upset with Levy saying that what she did was really risky. He then begins to sulk after being beaten by Natsu again. Levy smiles saying that she doesn't care that he lost, holding his hand, she goes on to say that no matter what she will always think Gajeel is the best. We get another scene later on of Gajeel switching bodies with Levy while Sai uses his alchemy love bond which turns people into the person they love. Gajeel gets angry allowing God Serena to get away saying that this body is way too important right now and that if Sai even tries to put a scratch on it he'll smash him to pieces. 

Gajeel shows his affection for Levy constantly in this spin off and I absolutely love it. While Gajeel fights God Serena we get a scary panel of Gajeel being beaten when God Serena asks him if he has any last words, Gajeel looks on in anger and worry. We then see Gajeel slumped against the wall beaten and bloody. God Serena then replies “Oh? A woman's name? Too bad she will never see you again.”  Gajeel was so worried about leaving Levy alone and I think that's why he said her name, maybe even wanting to hear himself say her name one last time IDK but I was all sad.  I think this is an eye-opener for him because when he returns to the guild Levy scolds him for disappearing and that she was worried sick and that he is going to be a dad now so he needs to be close. Gajeel smirks, wrapping his arm around her stating that she's going to be a mom too. They walk off together. I assume Gajeel might be done with doing dangerous things at least for a while so that he can be with Levy and the baby. Gajeel is super excited for the baby, we even get a cover page of him making a baby crib while smiling, and Levy stands behind him smiling as well. Overall I think they are gonna be great parents. They're all grown up now and it literally brings a tear to my eye. We got a little spin off story of Gajeel laying on the ground in his house in his underwear exhausted because he is pushing himself so hard to make more money to support Levy and the baby. Levy comes home to a huge mess and starts to clean but notices Gajeels scars stating that he has so many and there are even more than before. We see a memory of Gajeel explaining that he will be ok and he just wants to make as much money as possible so he can support them. Levy smiles at the memory and lies down on the floor with Gajeel resting her head on his chest. It's absolutely beautiful and Gajeel doesn't even stir awake. He's so used to Levy's presence that he doesn't care; he knows it's her sleeping on him and he just lets her come in for a cuddle. So damn cute!

I feel so lucky that we get to see Gajeel and Levy’s actual romantic relationship, them getting ready to become parents, their flirting and being in love is just so beautiful! I do wonder if they will get married though, or if we will actually get something showing their engagement or even wedding! I cannot wait for this baby to be born or if its actually going to be twins like we all suspect. 

Conclusion 

Gajeel and Levy are one of my favorite couples of all time. I'm so happy that I saw these two characters grow together in more ways than one. Seeing where the two of them are now is so fulfilling, being able to watch Gajeel change his ways and being able to watch Levy grow in strength was more than I could have ever asked for. The two of them deserve all the happiness coming their way after working hard for each other for so long. It definitely is a rollercoaster of a ride but it was all worth it in the end. Gajeel is one of the best once a villain and now a hero character i've ever seen. Levy really did bring out the best in him. Now we can't have one without the other. It's no longer just Gajeel or just Levy it's now Gajeel and Levy. Thank y'all so much for taking the time to read this. I hope you all enjoyed reading the entire timeline of how these two ended up together and how they lived, learned and loved. 

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

To the anon about Sakura Haruno, a lot od the things they said are influenced by the Sakura Haruno written by the internet. She's not how they described her.

First of all, their last point brought up FANFICTION. Fanfiction doesn't change anything about Sakura to appease more as a character. It's fanfiction. People could wrote whatever. Her core remains untouched that's why Sakura is so beloved worldwide despite haters joining the hate train. Same way people write Henata to not be a simp or a failure, 1no to not be another simp and fatshamer who can fight, or 1010 to have more screentime or a romance with Neji.

No, Sakura wasn't in love with the idea of Sasuke living in her mind. Genin Sakura had a crush on Sasuke since she was very little, she was infatuated with him and much later came to really love him for who he was. Kakashi repeats it a lot of times actually. She was willing to sacrifice her happiness to free Naruto for his promise and all the suffering Sasuke was causing Team 7.

She was also a freaking badass. Don't mix underutilized with useless, she was stronger than Tsunade all Shippuden, confirmed when she finally unleashed the seal and finally didn't have to hold back longer. Did she need more screentime to show off? Yeah she did. Too bad she wasn't caught in the reinarnation shit.

People really forget about the nature of Sakira's character. She was written to be a realistic girl. No shinobi background, no powers, in love, with enourmous potential, intelligence and chakra control but no jutsus. Trained under the Hokage and Sannin so double legend, surpassed her and succeeded in life. Self made, no inherited job, the strongest kunoichi and best medical ninja. Only female pillar of Konoha, created clinics herself which weren't animated cause SP really hates her, directs the hospital, heads the whole medical branch, only jonin of her class too, on missions regularly and raised the best kunoichi of her generation.

Does she interfere in sns? Hell yeah she's the biggest fujo victim. I don't see anyone blaming Shoko Ieri and she's not as strong and even more sidelined. Must be the love triangles God forbid women for standing in the middle of two straight men.

Did SP totally kill her character? Yes. Even made breast jokes 24/7, rejecting her canon design, making her unappealing, making jokes about her being a whore and a large etc.

Don't jump into the internet written character wagoon.

.

[rabdoidal]

BIG OL SPOILER WARNINGS FOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 / EPISODES 8 & 9

It felt fairly obvious to me that Eddie was going to die, but I think his death was totally underutilised.

There was so much going on with season 4 - the California gang, the government, Russia, Eleven and the scientists, the Hawkins gang, the background of the research facility and One, tracing Vecna back to Henry, and the most underutilised element, the Satanic Panic of Hawkins. 

Most people know that in the 80s when Dungeons and Dragons was picking up in popularity, religious groups and parents had a moral panic over the satanic implications of the game - people thought it encouraged violence, atheism, and occult activities, or that D&D itself was a Satanist cult. This is a massive part of Eddie’s arc for season 4, along with some few but famous examples in the 80s-90s of people in the hardcore metal scene to be both openly Satanists and also murderers (see the Early Norwegian black metal scene). It’s clear to me at least that they introduced Eddie as a way of being historically accurate, in a way, to reflect the mid to late 80s opinion of D&D as Satanic, and the consequences of mob mentalities, without having to kill off any of the main cast members - with Eddie Munson the sacrificial lamb, the easy metalhead target, the younger kids were free to continue to play D&D and defend its intentions, while Eddie could still die to create tension, and be a way for the town of Hawkins to rationalise the disaster of the portal opening.

However - I don’t think they went hard enough in this storyline. It felt cheap and unintegrated, a last ditch attempt of offering a reason for people to leave town, but not enough for them to assume the apocalypse is happening. Eddie summoned the Devil, Eddie caused the earthquake, Eddie is killing the plants, Eddie brainwashed the kids, Eddie killed all those people. It makes things clean - there’s no body for the town to find, so maybe Eddie is still alive, still praying to Satan. This isn’t inherently bad, but I think it would’ve set up better tension for season 5 if Eddie was still alive. 

Eddie’s sacrifice was noble, but we only knew him for 9 episodes - it didn’t make me feel anything when he died, honestly I was way more sad for the people Eddie left behind - Gaten Matarazzo acted his goddamn heart out. Imagining what a season 5 would look like with a still living Eddie is way more compelling to me - it would be a throwback to season 1, having to hide Eddie in the kids basement or in the cabin with Eleven, from a town that are now 100% certain he caused the deaths and disaster. Throw in that he still has to recover from his wounds, perhaps he even caught a disease from the bats or is being used as a conduit for Vecna, I know obviously 80% of what he did in season 4 was hide, but it felt underutilised and temporary - it felt so clear to me that Eddie should’ve been found by the town, and the rest of the cast would have to get him back, but that never happened.

Even better - what if Jason had survived his fight with Lucas and lived to tell the town what he saw? We only saw the barest of uprisings from the citizens of Hawkins, again, totally underutilized as a plot point for the whole season - I’m sure that season 5 is going to have more of the Satanic Panic themes, but it would be more compelling if there was a first-hand witness to the “Satanic powers” - it would mean that at the end of season 5, Eddie making a similarly noble sacrifice, this time to save the town from certain doom, would have the dual ability of making him look like a hero, remind the town of Hawkins that it is unreasonable to assume D&D is a cult, and make his death something tragic, but inevitable. There is much less impact to have him die in the same season he was introduced, underused, and overhyped.

I find it hard to mourn the character of Eddie, when it feels like I’m more so mourning the potential his character had. Hell, even having him there to complicate the soup of romances the young adults of the show have would make things a little more interesting. I’m already disappointed at the loss of another character with an alternative aesthetic to all the identically patterned button-ups and sweaters of the rest of the cast - I miss having characters with flavour and a different outlook on life. Max is pretty much the only other character that was slightly more alternative, being a grungy skater. Having little to no main-cast goths and punks is a missed opportunity for the series as a whole - it feels anachronistic to the setting.

I guess TL;DR, season 4 had so much going on that I feel like they wasted the really interesting idea of a Satanic Panic storyline by having it be pushed to the side by the 100 other things happening - it would’ve been cleaner if they never had it, and instead used it in season 5, or had a longer season 4 to both deal with that story, and establish Eddie more as a character. 

[deltoravivisection]

Thoughts on ttd:

I got it spoiled that the silver door was an alt future but I was still pogging when I realized that the burning of the forest was what would have created the Saltings. Also that flooding it with saltwater was why it was called that. Also didn't know the golden door lead to the past so that was a good twist.

I really liked the main cast. In contrast to Deltora they felt a lot more animated. Kept picturing them pulling cartoonish expressions lol. Might have been because the general tone was a bit more whimiscal.

That being said the horror elements that were present were really well-done. Book 2 was my favorite of the 3 for this. Obviously.

I liked the macguffins. At some points I was like "geez these are wildly op and Rye is totally underutilizing them" but then I would remember that they're being wielded by a teenager who has not been jaded by post-apocalyptic conditions. Sorry I keep comparing it to Deltora but I do find it funny that if you gave Lief that bag of powers, Deltora Quest would have been joever in like 3 days. But I think it's a sign of good writing that the power balancing was still believable. If that makes any sense.

To be a hater for a second, I thought book 3 was kinda mid. The finale was good but I hateee amnesia plots they always decimate the pacing. I find them sooo frustrating and sort of lazy. I didn't like how there was just one bad guy either like I get Why it's like that. The themes and all. But a general criticism I have of both ttd and Deltora is that it always seems to be a case of there being One Guy pulling the strings. Which is whatever but considering how strong the rest of the writing is it just feels like a bit of a cop out sometimes.

Also the twist of Sonia being the warden's daughter felt kinda ehhh unnecessary. I was sooo certain she would be his bastard child or something but her switching places with Annocki felt 🙄 idk pointless??? It worked with Deltora because the mystery of the heir was built up so much, but not here. Like I truly don't care.

That being said, now that I know they aren't related, Annocki and Sonia should have gotten together lol. Sholto is gay to me as well I know it. Maybe he and Annocki are each other's beards idk. My headcanon now sure why not.

Liked it overall 👍 Cool lore cool ideas

[clarkgriffon]

S&B Season 2: The Ships

On the whole, I’m very positive with the ship content this season, with a bit of a caveat.

The caveat being that the Season felt a little... uh, too shippy? I really think this just loops back to the Too Many Characters thing. When you have this many important characters, and a lot of them have love interests, it can feel like not enough room is left for other things. I think there’s definitely a correlation between Nina being separated from her love interest this season and getting not a ton of focus or screentime. Somehow, last season, that revolved around a love triangle, felt less shippy than this. Everywhere you turned: Malina! Darklina! Kanej! Nikolina! Genya/David! Nadia/Tamar! And so on.

BUT, actually looking within some of the major ships, I was not disappointed.

MALINA: I was very high on Malina this season. Archie and Jessie continue to have fantastic chemistry and I think they just about killed me with the Firebird arc. The emotion and intensity was top notch. I had one major qualm, which was the ending. I actually had no problem with the break-up itself. For a break-up that didn’t occur in the books, I actually found the reasoning to make a lot of sense, the idea that two people so interconnected since childhood need to find who they are outside each other. It was more... the execution? And I don’t know if it was the writing or the acting, but the actual breakup felt SO emotionless. Which is crazy coming off such an intense high of emotions with the Firebird stuff! Alina was just SOBBING over his corpse! And then suddenly it’s this very business-like breakup, Alina is a little perturbed at first, but comes around and then is completely normal. I think the same breakup with the same reasoning, but Mal and Alina are crying as they leave each other would’ve had a totally different and more fitting effect. Like they’re upset to separate, but know it’s for the best.

WESPER: I’ll admit I was skeptical on the hooked-up-once Wesper storyline, but I’ve come around to it. I love a slow-burn, which is why I was a bit put off at first, but I think considering how shippy the season feels, them having a history felt refreshing. They didn’t just jump into a relationship out of nowhere, these are two people that hooked up before, know they’re attracted to one another, and after discovering a deeper understanding of each other’s personalities, decide to attempt being in a relationship. It felt real, which I appreciated. Kit and Jack were wonderful, with specific props to Jack who I think has nailed all aspects of Wylan. The “You brought me stroopwafels!” scene is gonna live rent free in my head.

DARKLINA: While this isn’t my ship, I was underwhelmed with the content for them this season, mainly because I think the Darkling was underutilized. After Season 1 really established that A) The Darkling is a master manipulator who used Alina and B) that he also has what he considers to be real feelings for her and that she has this feeling of obligation where she wants to please him, there’s a lot of potential expand that, as I feel was done in the books. Instead, it felt like Alina wasn’t pulled toward him even a little, and that being power-hungry was a second to being in love with Alina for the Darkling, which feels very out of character for him. This ship should have give-and-take and there was just, absolute zero. Darklina is a big ship being 1/2 of the main love triangle, and I’ve barely seen any content for them, which tells me that they probably underutilized this dynamic, romantic or not.

KANEJ: Kanej is my #1 ship in the Grishaverse and was definitely my #1 ship in the season. I thought their handling of these two was fantastic. Freddie and Amita just get it with them. In the “tending to Inej’s wounds” scene, you can see Kaz’s hand tremble attempting to get past this physical barrier but he wants to do this for her. Inej’s hallucination as foreshadowing for the “I will have you without armor” conversation was flawless (and also some excellent fanservice to give the Kanej fans an almost kiss that Kaz and Inej are nowhere near reaching yet). Nina clocking them at every second. The only gripe I have here is timing, in that if they really are going to put the Ice Court heist next season, I just don’t get why they moved so much of the SOC content like Kaz’s backstory, Pekka, and the Kanej development into this season.

HELNIK: I was lowest on this ship this season for a variety of reasons. And I should preface with, I LOVE me some Helnik. Book!Helnik is my best friend. But this season really seemed to show a fundamental misunderstanding of Helniks and of Nina, specifically. For starters, retroactively, I’m questioning the decision to make Season 1 their backstory rather than sticking in the prison storyline there. Because of their separation, their screentime felt very low (not just regarding each other, but individually. Like the writers said, “Matthias isn’t here? I guess we don’t really NEED to see Nina, then.”) But I digress. Let’s just look at what is there, yeah? Nina’s entire motivation is “I am in love with Matthias and I want my happy ending,” which is just... not really getting Nina. The point and the bite of Nina and Matthias is two people indoctrinated into heavy nationalism, still believing in that nationalism, and falling in love in spite of it. There’s a reason that Nina goes back to helping Ravka after Matthias dies; there’s a reason Matthias shows empathy for the Fjerdan soldier who kills him. They don’t let go of their roots because they find each other, nor do they toss out all the ideals instilled in them. Instead, they realize that they care about each other more than they care about their beliefs. Nina telling off Zoya about why Matthias is some higher purpose than Ravka doesn’t track. Matthias, while heavily sidelined, at least felt more in-line. Him repenting the whole season for doing sex was very on brand. The last scene, where he reaches out for Nina, I hope is an instinctual reaction. If the show robs me of my season-long Nina and Matthias cannot stand each other and will bitch at each other at every opportunity, I will riot.