#I just think they tried to cram too much into one episode

[honeydewdonutgirl]

Percy figuring out Kronos is actually behind everything:

Fans wondering how the hell he made that leap:

[delphi-shield]

OLD FOLKS HOME ↪ age gap hcs

the people you love & the shit they do that reminds you of the dreaded Gap (tm). characters included: leon kennedy, chris redfield, jill valentine, claire redfield, rebecca chambers no warnings to speak of. remember kids, if you're gonna date people in their 30s and 40s, you're gonna have different cultural contexts and, most likely, different senses of humor.

Leon is eight levels of irony deep. He started doing Old Guy Shit just to mess with you, and now it's all come full circle. 

It turns out he actually likes watching the weather channel. He’s monitoring storms that are miles and miles away from you, pointing out the feeder bands like it’s some kind of sporting event. 

He's genuinely invested in Ice Road Truckers. He asks you to TiVo it for him when he's gone. You do not have TiVo. In fact, you're pretty sure no one still has TiVo. 

Or you were, until Leon once again committed to the bit and got TiVo.

Really, genuinely annoying about old movies, actors, and directors.

”What do you mean you don’t know who Robert Redford is? The Candidate? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? C’mon. He was even in an episode of The Twilight Zone. You’ll know him when you see him.”

At least you get movie dates out of it.

Movie dates that he will pepper with trivia about the film, by the way. You don't need the commentary track. He is the commentary.

I'm so, so sorry about this. 🤪 is his favorite emoji. I know. I'm sorry.

Chris cannot fucking hear. To be honest, I think most of them have some degree of hearing loss - but Chris in particular seems to have very subjective hearing loss.

Yes, you were just having a full-fledged conversation. No, he didn’t hear you ask him to take out the trash. He didn’t forget, he just didn’t hear you. Sorry, you were standing on his right - come on, you know that’s his bad side.

Explains basic technology to you because he’s not sure if you know what it is. Then, in the same breath, crams in so many military acronyms he may as well be reciting the alphabet. Does not explain the acronyms.

Like, yeah, Chris. I know what a landline is. Dial-up internet, too. Now, what the fuck is an ORE?

Have you ever gotten ‘ok’ in response to a nude? You’re about to. Completely demoralizing, by the way.

He didn't know you wanted him to compose a poem dedicated to your beauty, okay? He tries to get better, but winds up sending shit like 'wow 👍'

Does the dad thing where he insists he's not interested in watching what's on TV and then stands with his hands on his hips in the middle of the living room, enthralled by the show.

Jill does not understand your music. She will not make an attempt to understand your music. If you see her tapping her foot to the beat, no you do not. She is not interested in expanding her musical horizons.

She only bought you tickets to that concert because she knew you would love it. She only went with you because you’re cute when you’re so into this stuff. She only bought that t-shirt because it would be a good souvenir, and eventually, a good grease rag.

Generalized distrust of social media. Do not show her a tiktok. She will ignore the video and lecture you about data safety. Jill, please. Just watch the fucking cat video.

And then she turns around and opts in to literally everything on the McDonald's app.

If there’s a rewards program, she’s in. Already sold. Didn’t even read the fine print. All that shit she was telling you about how you need to be more careful is right out the window for some free fries.

Anything for the thrill of a good deal. If she had more time on her hands, she would be couponing.

Buys in bulk. No, it doesn't matter if the two of you could not physically eat that much rice. It's cheaper to buy it like this. It's fine. It's good for you.

Gotta stock up on non-perishables, too. You gotta be prepared in case something happens. "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

Claire cannot stop shopping from QVC. She's in the kitchen with David. It Takes Two with Mary and Sandra? Wrong. It actually takes three. Mary, Sandra, and Claire.

Infomercials have got her by the throat. You have so many gadgets and gizmos around your home that are just collecting dust.

Gets wine drunk and goes online shopping. Legitimately does not remember what she’s bought.

Absolutely will not let you open the packages. (“Some of this stuff could be for you, you know.” “Claire, last time it was a 10,000 count package of googly eyes.” “And I used all 10,000. You still haven’t found them all.”)

Uses every piece of technology until it’s about to fall apart. Absolutely not interested in having the latest and greatest. She’s one of those people who insists that as long as her phone can make calls and send texts, she doesn’t need a new one.

Speaking of texts. Somehow, she got it into her head that a read receipt is equivalent to a reply. She doesn't get what the problem is. You know she saw your text. Why does she have to reply?

Genuinely doesn't mean anything malicious by it - but also, if you did that to her, you would never hear the end of it.

Rebecca legitimately has facebook humor. They all have some degree of facebook humor, but she's got it the worst. 

Will blow up your notifications tagging you in shit that is just straight up not funny. I’m talking full on tagging you with “😂😂😂”

Unironically sent you a minion meme once.

It's not that she's disconnected. She teaches undergrads. She knows what’s in, even if it’s only from the periphery. It’s just that she doesn’t care. She has no interest in keeping up with trends just for the sake of it. She’s so used to being the youngest person in the room and having to keep up expectations that she just absolutely does not care anymore. She's glad she's not one of the kids anymore.

If it made her laugh it made her laugh, her enjoyment isn’t shackled by feelings of shame!!

If you have a group chat on any platform with your friends please invite her. She's just happy to be included. She'll make a discord if she has to, and she'll brag about it to her students.

Yeah, she says pupper and doggo. She does. Look at her.

[thesoftboiledegg]

"Unmortricken" was a lot. In fact, it might have been a little too much.

To start, I loved the glimpse of what exists outside the Central Finite Curve. The visuals were stunning and reminded me of M.C. Escher's drawings. The Jetson-like family was a nice touch--if anything can happen, who says they can't have different animation styles? All those colorful portals make me wonder what's lurking just out of sight.

It's also funny that the space outside the Curve is full of Rick's favorite thing: crystals. If he took a trip there, he'd come back with his pockets stuffed with gemstones.

Evil Morty's reappearance gave us a decent character study. Since he wasn't the antagonist, we saw him interact with the C-137s as a regular person. Morty's a little impressed, and Rick has a grudging respect for him. Others have called Evil Morty the Rickest Morty, and I agree: similar intelligence, similar technology and similar bloodthirst.

I was glad that he left in the end because that's what his character arc is about anyway. He doesn't want to be part of anyone else's story, not even another Morty's.

However, that's also part of the issue that I had with this episode. Seeing Evil Morty was great, but it was also a little...pointless? You could've had the same story without him. He's not working with Prime, and he has no ties to C-137 after "Rickmurai Jack," so it felt like the writers just said "Hey, you know what would be cool?"

I'm not against writers having fun and giving the audience what they want. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (yeah, groan at me, Marvel haters) is fan service in blockbuster form, and it was one of the best theater experiences I've ever had.

Still, if Evil Morty came back, I think he should've had a separate episode. The episode juggled C-137 Rick, Morty, Evil Morty and Prime Rick pretty well, giving them satisfying interactions with each other, but no Evil Morty would've meant more relationship development for the C-137s.

Evil Morty's backstory also didn't reveal much about him. I mean--yeah, we all figured that he had an abusive Rick and got fed up. The fact that he had a "regular" Rick instead of a deranged lunatic does make a point about the banality of abuse. Monsters aren't always raving maniacs who torture people in their basements. Ordinary people can wear you down with a slow drip of toxicity and neglect.

I enjoyed this episode, and Evil Morty's return was exciting, but cramming the series' two biggest antagonists and storylines into twenty minutes was a little overwhelming. New plot developments kept showing up, too: Rick found Prime! Prime's various lairs! Omega device! I would've preferred a two-parter.

I'll admit that if you told me that we'd see Evil Morty and Rick Prime in the same shot, I never would have believed you, but here we are.

On that note, Prime's characterization was perfect. No attempt at a cutesy, sad backstory; he's a laughing monster until the end. And is it really the end? He has regeneration abilities, but C-137 acts like he's dead and even gives up the search. This leaves us with a few options:

C-137 killed him.

Prime fooled C-137 into thinking that he's dead when he isn't.

C-137's keeping him alive for later use.

Hopefully, this is more complicated than it looks because I'll be disappointed if this is the end of Prime. He's a brilliant reflection of C-137: the Rick he'd be without his tiny shred of humanity.

And Prime's a maniac, but he tells C-137 the truth. Rick broke into Prime's house. He pretended he belonged with this group of strangers. He latched on to Prime's grandson because he never had his own. His brutal, violent streak never went away no matter how long he tried to play house.

Prime says "Admit it! You would have been me!" In season three and parts of season four, Rick was close. His love for his family--love that he pretended he didn't have--and desire for their approval just barely pulled him back. But what kept that spark alive? How close was he to becoming a cold, unfeeling shell?

In the end, C-137's not satisfied after he destroys Prime--and weirdly, I'm not satisfied, either. Beating Prime to an unrecognizable pulp doesn't bring Rick's original family back. It doesn't erase the atrocities that Rick's committed. It doesn't make his grief go away. It doesn't change the fact that Rick teetered on the edge of turning into the monster that he despised.

What's more satisfying is that Rick didn't turn out like Prime. His Morty doesn't give two shits about Prime, but he loves him. He hugs him in relief (come on, Rick, hug him back already!), cries out "Rick? Rick!" and shakes his body when he thinks he's dead, and talks excitedly as they return home.

Rick's going to therapy, which Prime would have mocked. He went from having nobody to living with FIVE kids if you count Morty and Summer. Even he and his Jerry are pretty tight.

Rick knows this, but he still feels empty all the time. Vengeance doesn't work, drinking doesn't work...wouldn't it be easier if he just switched off his humanity and laughed at everything, even his own death?

But now that he knows how it feels to be loved, especially by his hypothetical grandson, I think he'll always find himself at the Smiths' doorstep.

[remember-digimon]

Good ol' reliable Joe!

When I first watched Digimon back in the 2000s, Joe was the character I related to the least. Now, as a big grown up in my late 30s, I finally understand what Joe is all about.

At first glance, Joe is anxiety incarnate. In the dub, he gets the 'nerd' trope that Izzy avoided for the most part. Joe is always allergic to things, worried about the slightest danger, and constantly trying to be the voice of reason. His 'voice of reason' however is more 'voice of general complaints and worry.'

If I recall correctly, in the original Japanese, Joe is like this because he's the oldest, at 12 years old. He feels it's his responsibility to make sure everyone is safe since he's the upperclassmen in this situation. In the dub, he's just a worrywort.

Joe takes on responsibility that he could easily delegate to other kids. In the episode where Gomamon evolves into Ikkakumon, Joe tries to break up an argument between Tai and Matt about climbing a mountain, only managing to get drawn into the argument himself. Later, he decides that he should climb up the mountain on his own as a compromise. He doesn't even bring Gomamon with him; Gomamon tags along anyway, of course, but initially Joe intended to go by himself.

He shows initiative, that's for sure. At least when the pressure is on. Others have noted that Tai, Sora, and Joe are the action-takers while Matt and Izzy act more defensively with Mimi, Tk, and later, Kari in mind. I like this thought, especially for Joe. He is often stumbling into danger out of his need to be the 'adult' of the group, feeling responsible for everyone's safety.

One thing we should discuss is his crest. I want to go more in depth on the crests on a different post, but here I think we need to talk about Joe's crest being changed for the dub. Originally it was the crest of faith.

Honestly, I do think reliability fits Joe a lot better. It is awkward for that to be a trait of a child (Remember, their crests were developed back during the original Digimon Adventure OVA, when Greymon fights Parrotmon). But I do think he exemplifies being reliable, because it's the right thing to do.

Conversely, Joe doesn't really expect others to help him. He wants to be relied on, but doesn't want to rely on others. He saves TK from drowning in the bay without thinking of his own safety.

Joe is also the studious member of the group. At one point, while they're temporarily back in Odaiba, Joe takes a practice test and fails it. This causes him a lot of anxiety. It feeds into the situation at home, which is another point I'll get into shortly.

In Our War Game, Joe is unreachable because he's taking an entrance exam. He's in a panic the whole time, showing how important it is that he does well. No doubt he's one of those cram school kids.

As for his family, we do meet his older brother Jim, but not his parents. In fact, Joe's parents are the only ones we don't meet out of the original 8. We do hear a lot about his dad, though, who has high expectations of his sons. Mr Kido wants both of his sons to be doctors like him, and on his terms, too. Jim says he wants to go to less developed countries to practice medicine, and that their father doesn't approve.

Jim also doesn't seem to have much faith in Joe becoming a doctor due to his high anxiety, and the fact that he faints at the sight of blood. Joe seems apprehensive about it himself, even though he does eventually go into med school and become a doctor.

To me, Joe's story is one of perseverance. When he's working off his debt in the diner, he fully expects to work there until it's paid off and is genuinely surprised that Matt would offer to help. When his test scores fall, he resolves to work harder. Even though he doesn't like the idea much at first he does eventually become a doctor. I can see how the original script would give him the crest of faith with all that in mind, but I still think reliability fits him better. He doesn't just have faith that things will work out, he's proactive in making sure they work out. Even if he's a little clumsy about it.

[da-shrimping-station]

What in "Hell" is Bad MC

Emz (short for Emilla)

[ Info under the cut! ]

Some rapid-fire/general facts

21 yo

5'5"

dislikes spicy food and people who complain/whine a lot without doing anything about their problem

her favorite snack is oranges

has once thought about whitening her skin after being bullied but dismissed the thought after a stern talk from Minhyeok

fiercely competitive and has had incidents of being mean in PE class just to win a practice game

is jealous of people with a bigger chest than her regardless of the gender (she thinks her C cups are small)

Your run of the mill Asian daughter who was raised in a strict household. Her parents always voiced their expectations of her, especially in her schooling. She tried hard to uphold those expectations as much as possible.

currently a NEET but earns money from whatever version of OnlyFans they got there

Good grades, doing extracurriculars, doing well in cram school and making sure she beats ass in taekwondo practice. She can be a bit of an overachiever when she sets her mind on things and can be detrimental her more often than not. There's also bouts of her being a people pleaser. Modesty and prudence were hammered into her through her upbringing.

When her parents died, Emz lost all motivation and just dropped everything. Not just because of the incident itself but because she has no one to prove things to. Everything she did was more for her parents that for herself. And now with her parents no longer there, she slowly learns to do things for herself.

Minhyeok has be be her anchor or else she overworks or agree to things she shouldn't even consider in the first place. Emz can be a bit oblivious to people who try to take advantage of her.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, she found that posting pictures of herself online garnered a lot of attention and praise. This eventually turned into Emz posting risque photos. It was a small side hustle that turned into a source of income.

Now she busies herself with making content and buying props and costumes for photoshoots at home. Minhyeok knows what she's doing and sometimes even gets pulled into helping her out. Mostly through asking for his opinion and the occasional bondage themed pictures.

She works had to maintain her figure. Gym 3 times a week and strict skin care routine. She has occasional binging episodes when the stress is too much and gets bummed about it. Minhyeok has to intervene most of the time when she's like that.

Emz is willing to try anything once but has a hard time saying no when her partner is too dominating. She's a bit of a closeted perv and her 'job' lets her meet with people who can satisfy some of her sexual fantasies.

Fun fact! I was originally gonna name her Aerie Lee so her whole name sounds like "airily" cuz canon MC cannot take things seriously n all that 😭 but yea i settled on Emz/Emilla instead

[musamora]

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖘𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 「𝔬𝔰𝔞𝔪𝔲 𝔡𝔞𝔷𝔞𝔦」 ༉‧₊˚

content. f!reader. unexpected first dates, bored osamu dazai is a menace, flirting, hand holding, fluff, coffee shops, café uzumaki, silly goofy dazai behavior. not proofread. 1.6k+ words.

author's note. this actually originated from a request that i accidentally mixed-up, but i only noticed when i completed writing the oneshot. so here are the results of that one! (i'm also scheduling this post for while i'm at uni, and also for the same day as the last episode of season five. how's the last episode, future me?)

would you like to see more? join the taglist or comment under this post!

The breeze whispered throughout every nook and cranny of the port city, hailing from the misty waters of its many rivers before permeating into the air. It blanketed pedestrians in cool afternoon gails, blessing them with the blissful beginnings of a new season as the leaves fell before them like rain. (Name) thrummed her fingers against the keys of her laptop, peering down at the passers-by through the agency office's window before tuning back into her work.

It had been a sluggish day for the agency — a hidden miracle in their busy schedules. For the past few weeks, they had been trampled with incidents that spanned the city, along with their usual run-ins with the infamous Port Mafia. However, the consequences of monotony were paperwork and lots of it. Each of her co-workers had been assigned an allotted amount of work, though some were better at getting through it than others.

Kunikida had to be the most diligent of them all, rapidly typing away at his desk with his sole focus on the articles he ciphered through — not that anyone was surprised. The week had especially rattled his routine, so he seemed most pleased to return to an orderly schedule. Atsushi tried to follow in his footsteps, though he struggled to keep up with the blonde's brisk pace. Kyoka was perched at the weretiger's side, staring in a daze at his work before mindlessly clicking at her laptop without rhyme or reason.

Naomi and Junichiro canoodled in an isolated corner, which everyone purposefully ignored like always. Loud crunches could be heard like clockwork as they echoed across the room, crumbs scattered onto the floor as Ranpo ran through his weekly snack stash, disregarding the heaps of investigation requests on his desk. Yosano hummed from the other room, polishing her metal utensils with such enthusiasm that (Name) tried not to think about it too much. Instead, she tried to focus on her work, a pep in each stroke of her pen as she raced to conclude her second stack.

However, the resident suicidal maniac did not seem as content as the rest of his co-workers, dramatically sighing from his desk. He twisted around in accelerating revolutions; his entire body crammed onto the seat with his eyes glued to the ceiling.

"I'm so bored," he muttered, strumming his bandaged hands against the arms of his chair. His fingers wandered across the desk like brittle spiders, jumping onto Kunikida's arm and crawling up towards his neck. Everyone could see the way his shoulders tensed, counting down their internal clocks until he exploded.

"This sucks! I'm so bored."

And just as Kunikida was about to crack, pivoting his head with a sneer on his lips—

"How about I take you somewhere, then?"

Dazai's attention immediately snapped towards (Name), mimicking the same attentiveness as a dog that heard the word 'treat.' He flew over with exceeding velocity, the wheels of his chair scraping against the floor as he clasped their hands together, gawking at her as if she were a goddess incarnate.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Kunikida interjected before Dazai could practically fling himself out the window, giving (Name) a pointed look. "Are you sure you can handle him? And make sure he does his work?"

She nodded, waving him off with a smile. "I'm sure."

Plopping two separate stacks of paperwork into her arms, she balanced them both in one and grabbed Dazai with the other, leading him out the door. He practically frolicked at her side, a skip in his steps as she steered him downstairs.

"Sooooo, where are we going? A bridge to stare into the shimmering sea? A sky-scraper to gaze into the setting sun? I can hardly take the anticipation!"

She smacked him with her blank stare. "Why do I feel like you'd only take the opportunity to jump rather than do some sightseeing?"

"With you there?" he beamed. "The only sight I need before my untimely demise is you, my dear."

She scoffed, hiding the quirk of her lips as she turned away from him. "Pft—yeah, okay."

His eyes shimmered as they exited the building, only for her to drag him into a very familiar doorway, the scent of coffee striking his nostrils. He crossed his arms, a boyish pout on his face.

"The café. Really?"

She only grinned from ear to ear, hiding the shake in her shoulders. "You complained about being bored. Here's your change of scenery."

"How unfair," he groaned as he dragged himself over to their usual table, catching the attention of the café owner and his wife, the latter of which strolled over, a smile settled on her face.

"What can I get you two?"

"Hmmm." (Name) pondered as she glanced over the drink menu. She was momentarily tempted to streamline towards adventurous today, dabbling into something she never had before, but instead decided to go with her usual. "I'll have a cortado."

The owner's wife nodded before she turned to Dazai, who was completely uninterested in the entire exchange. "I guess I'll have an espresso."

The woman took their order, though her happy expression had narrowed into a frown. She bent over, careful not to disturb the brunette who slumped down in his seat and fixated on the sights outside.

"Is he okay? He's not acting like his usual, charming self."

(Name) nodded, if only to reassure the sweet lady, but couldn't help her own confusion over his withdrawal and disinterest. He never missed an opportunity to flirt with women, even in the worst of moods. Her eyes traced over his uncharacteristic stillness, scrutinizing him.

"You okay, Dazai?"

He glanced up, resting his head against the table. "Hmm? Yeah, why?"

"You're just not acting like yourself."

He raised a brow. "How so?"

She refrained from responding, not quite sure how to, messing with her fingers as her mind racked for a coherent reply. For some reason, she felt herself struggling despite her usual witt, unable to pinpoint her confusion.

"Well, you didn't flirt with the waitress."

He stared into her eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, an unreadable gleam reflected in his own as his spine straightened, taking her hand into his own. She stiffed as his fingers worked through the aching muscles of her palm, his diligence a stark contrast to his sloth-like behavior.

"Did you want me to flirt with the waitress?"

"I-I," she stuttered, not expecting to be caught off-guard by such a random question — she should've seen that coming; bamboozling her was one of Dazai's favorite pastimes. She attempted to scramble through her thoughts, becoming mildly frustrated as his laughter peaked through her mutters, giving up with a groan.

"Just do your work."

The café became quiet as she returned to the monotony of sorting through papers; only the mellow clinks of the owner's painstaking coffee creation process and the gentle hum of the occasional cars could be heard. She continued to write, heartened by the stunning scenery of the season and setting, able to sign a couple of papers before she began to recognize a tapping sound. It started soft at first, almost unnoticeable. However, it grew in rhythm and volume, shaking the table like sticks on a snare drum. Then, the humming began, followed quickly by grating, off-pitch singing.

"You can't do a double suicide~"

She was about to intrude upon his solo concert when the owner's wife interrupted them, setting their drinks on the table with a curt smile. (Name) returned it with relieved earnestness, letting out a small 'thank you' before she brought the drink to her lips. She released a pleased hum, the soothing taste of steamed milk sliding down her throat and easing her muscles. When she looked up from it at Dazai, she had, for some reason, expected him to do the same.

However, the sight she was met with was unholy. The man had resorted to filtering several packets of sugar and sweetener into the drink, effectively ruining it as it soaked up like a sponge, like a monstrous coffee-cereal concoction.

"Why aren't you doing your paperwork?" she whined.

He took a spoonful of the drink, shoving it into his mouth as he swallowed with wide eyes, vibrating in his seat as the disgusting notes trampled on his tongue. His scrunched face honestly reminded her of a pissed-off cat, and she had to physically refrain from laughing at him as he slowly settled down.

"Cause we're on a date." It was his turn to hold back the laughter as she gaped at him. "Doing work on a date is an absolute no-no."

"A-A date—?" She shot up from her seat, slamming her hands against the table and almost spilling their drinks, narrowly avoiding so as they circled in their cups. "What do you mean a date?"

He merely shrugged. "You're a stunning young woman. I'm an absolutely drop-dead bachelor. We're alone together in a coffee shop. It's a date."

"T-That doesn't mean—"

"Do you not want it to be a date?" he pouted before taking a sip of his drink, pointedly ignoring her sputtered rebuttal with only an inattentive hum.

"You know what—fine. It's a date," she relented, plopping over in his seat.

He chuckled, setting his drink down as he took her hands. "Well, if this is a date, then I have a better idea of what we should do."

It was now his turn to take her by the arm, already slinging her out the door with a devilish look that told her everything she needed to know — he had planned this all from the beginning. She yelled out her apologies to the café manager, promising to come back and pay for their drinks as she was shoved out the door. The manager only scoffed with a softened smile, his wife leaning against his arm as she sighed.

"Ahhh, to be young again."

ᴛᴀɢʟɪꜱᴛ: @sillyspookycat @imhandicapableofmath @seisitive @solandiss @ruru-kiss @ishqani

© 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋 2023 — do not repost or modify my works for any reason. do not steal graphics w/o explicit permission. reblogs are appreciated.

[museum-of-dreams]

A lot of people have been speculating who the character thats going to die is, and I have done some Long, Hard, Thinking, with what has been presented to us in the show and the information that has been given to us.

❗️Potential Spoilers ahead as I give my thoughts!❗️ (also a warning that this is long)

(Also, please be nice. These are just my opinions. Please tell me what you think!)

Some of this is also just me assuming, don't take my word for fact unless proven otherwise.

So I am going to jump right in and say that, while Vivzipop DID state that a major character death may possibly occur in the show, that doesn't necessarily mean the end of season one.

However I will also take into account that they didnt realize a season 2 was happening untill halfway through production of season 1, so they tried to cram A LOT into 8 episodes (and that's why it's so fast paced)

So if a character death IS to happen soon, here are my thoughts, by process of elimination of course 😊

I am first going to start out with Nifty. I know many people are rooting for her to die instead of their favorites. However, that's why I don't think they would kill her off.

To put Nifty in the original main 6 cast just to never touch up on her character, give her depth, or give us her full backstory that lets us connect to her character more. Unlike the rest of the main 6 casters, where we are exploring their personalitys and connecting with them, we don't really get that with Nifty just yet. Her episode is still to come. So, to put her in the main cast just for the purpose of never touching up on her character and killing her off would be very bad writing, why put her in the main cast at all, then?

I don't even think I need to talk about Charlie. She's supposed to be the main character (but that's a talk about that for another day)

Third, I am able to most likely cross off the list is Vaggie. Much like Nifty, she has not gotten her episode yet (however for both Nifty and Vaggie's cases, at the time of writing this the last 4 episodes of Hazbin are yet to realease), however we do know that vaggies story is supposed to be a deep one and there is still a lot to go when it comes to building her character up to the audience and just building in general. So I dont believe it would be her neither.

Fourth that I can pretty much cross off the list is Alastor. With the whole suggested connections to Lilith, there is definitely a much larger plot that surrounds Alastor that will keep the series moving forward. He is too much of an important character to kill off right away.

I will not be talking about Cherri Bomb just yet (however, sence 2 episodes ARE about to release with one apparently being the one she is introduced in, I may edit this later and share my thoughts)

Our last three options would be Angel Dust, Husk, and Sir Pentious.

I am going to talk about Sir Pentious first. Sence, they sped up the pace of the show quite significantly, his character progression has also been a little fast. Sir Pentious wasn't even supposed to be in the main series. He was supposed to be a one-off character for the pilot. However, people just loved him so much, but the idea of his character being anywhere near some sort of impulsive "I must save my friends" moment during an extermination or something similar, would just be bad writing and wayyy to fast even for the paceing the show is currently at. they would have to do it just right.

I do know that Vivzi wants to go somewhere with his character, though, the idea of Sir pentious developing a crush on someone in the show (suggested to be a woman, but not confirmed) is somthing that has been brought up multiple times. So I do think they actually plan on going places with his character. Also, this is NOT by any means confirmed, and just something that I have heard a couple of times, is that the potential major character death announcement was made BEFORE Sir pentious was even planned on being in the offical show (remember one-off character). So, a character was planned to die before he was officially a part of the show. With all of this, I dont think it would be him either.

WHICH LEAVES OUR LAST TWO.

Husk and Angel Dust are both very impulsive and very attached to one another. However, there is a certain character building that goes into stuff like this. And I don't think Angel Dust has this character building.

I dont think it will be Angel Dust because

1. I dont think Vivzie would want to let him go so soon

2. While he is a fan favourite and people do connect with Angel Dust, I don't think his character has been built up for dying just yet. He still has a lot of stuff set up for his character.

3. I think his character is supposed to be all about being in a cycle of abuse, and his character development is getting out of it and healing over time until eventually his soul gets redeemed and he goes to heaven. Yes, he has husk, but that doesn't mean that anything with Valentino (or in Husks case Alastor) has stopped by any means.

When it comes down to Husk vs. Angel Dust, I would say it depends on the next couple of episodes, really. You can argue with husk that he still has not gotten out of his thing with Alastor.

However, I still lean towards it being Husk that dies because 1. I really don't think Vivzi would want to let go of Angel so soon

And 2. His character is kinda built up for it? I can't explain this one all too well, and most of it is personal opinion.

While they have angel dusts character set up to go through rough times trying to escape Valentino. They don't really show this with husk and Alastor. Sure Angel and Husk relate to each other's situations, but most of Husk and Angel in episode 4 (the last 4 episodes are yet to be released at the time of writing this) was mostly Husk comforting angel, he talks about how he regrets his decisions and how he related to Angel Dust, but unlike angel dust, they never really build his character up for any kind of potential attempt to escape from Alastor. While Angel dust has that character buildup, Husks just isn't there.

They also painted husk in a way that was very likeable to a lot of people. For example, if you were to ask someone who their favourite Hazbin Hotel character is, saying Husk is a VERY safe choice. A lot of people are very sympathetic for him. They buttered him up just for us. If anybody is theoretically going to die at the end of the season, it would be Husk.

There are still some unanswered questions of mine, though. My opinion can be changed A LOT by how the next couple of episodes go. Thank you for reading this much!

I will probably keep you guys posted. :]

[justeclotilde]

Thoughts on LEGO Monkie Kid, pacing, and season 5

I’m taking this from Twitter, but basically this thread about “Say something BAD about the show Monkie Kid” came up and my biggest gripe so far has been :  The show has way too short episodes. Like, 11min30. And tries to do SO MUCH in those 11min30 that either somethings get scrapped (DBFamily but not just that) or big important elements get solved way too fast (Samadhi fire and broken scroll among other things). And it steams I think from the fact that the show went from episodic to serialised while keeping the same amount of time. 

I ramble :  I see a lot of newcomers say that they jumped s1 and 2 and really started with s3/4, and while everyone has their reasons I think that’s silly Because that format is what made me love the characters and settings in the first place. The episodes are short, so the show can only focus on a tiny thing, but sprinkled LBD being a menace throughout the season, with the spider gang being a menace. And now ? lBD is still reveared as one of the best villains, and Spidergang is still very appreciated. Same thing for DBF : Red Son was slowly developed through s1, and returned on s3 Granted he wasn’t in s2, but since he was a major part of s1, and the spider queen special, we grew to care about him and the family to an extent. Because that’s what the show is good at ! Characters interactions, character personalities, CHARACTERS !! And now, the show is going for serialised, which is great and maintains attention, but it wants to do too much with the same amount of time: - In s2 : LBD took 10 ep to build her mech. MK started slowly to grow, and his relationships were explored one ep at a time. Slowly. - In s4 : we lose SWK, MK meets Azure, we learn about Tang, Pigsy and Sandy through their ancestors, we start to question MK’s existence, Monkey MK, the scroll is a menace, Azure betrays the group, MK loses his mentor and morale, DBF is important but scrolled, the JE is defeated and BAM world explodes we have to kill God in 4 episodes now. 

Granted for the characters as well it feels rushed. We don’t have to see everything either. Of course. They have a life outside the show. And overall they did a good job in those 11 bloody minutes 30.

But

But

But.

Now that we have a bit of breathing room, maybe it’s time to have that character moment by episode we’ve been asking for instead of cramming feelings and heartfelt conversations in an episode while the world is teared apart outside. Especially since we’ve seen the characters go through hell for a whole season. MK needs to breath but he isn’t the only one. We could have an episode on Red Son and his time in the scroll, an episode on MK going monkey a whole episode, an episode on SWK and Macaque in coloc, an episode on Tang Pigsy and Sandy trying to get back to their lives since they’re the most normal of the bunch - technically (cuz apparently having episodes focused on them in s4 wasn’t enough to have conversations about it but that’s a gripe i have with the community for LATER). We could have SWK and DBF reminisce on their time together, since DBK is one of the last friend that doesn’t QUITE hate him anymore, or an episode on how Nezha starts rebuilding Heaven by himself while keeping the JE power safe, or an episode on Mei just being awesome honestly, like just Mei observing MK going insane and being the girlboss she is, especially since she went through the whole “excess power that could kill everyone you love” and is still living with that, in a way. That could answer where the Samadhi fire business went. Cuz like in real life some things are tamed but don’t disappear, she might still be struggling but has learned to live with it. And MK is going through a similar path. We could also have Red Son in this one since he’s honestly the most controlled in a way.

And through all that… discretly… the world starts to break apart again ? Tears appear and with it new monsters and ghosts of the past maybe start seeping from the Underworld ? Maybe an unmasked man tries to prevent Mk’s attemps at coming back to some normal because as long as he’s confused and scared he stays the Harbinger of Chaos ? Idk ! TL:DR A lot of critics I see sum up as « They should show this more, why did THIS disappear out of nowhere, this is wasted potential », which seeps from the show not having time to show all that happens at once. Maybe it’s time to take a breather and tackle the problems one at a time again, ep by ep, like in season 2. And then go back to « We’re all gonna die in 4 episodes » to get the panic back on track.

Anyway Please come talk to me about the show and your theories, or headcanons about what the characters are doing now that the wreck of S4 has rolled past them. I wanna talk about my babies some more...

[eewtp]

Not a PJO Show Review*

Now I was so excited for a truthful adaptation of the books and I am left just disappointed with every new episode that comes out. First of all, why was this fourth episode not even 30 minutes long? ?

Anyway, one of my main issues so far includes pacing of the story. It’s very much stuck in a “rushed but at the same time slow” moving kind of pace, which is insanely weird. In one episode they spend all their time in one place but the writing tries to cram so much detail into that episode that everything rushes by with dialogue instead of action. It’s so weird I can’t even describe it well, but the point is that there is entirely too much of the characters walking you across the street with dialogue only readers could actually follow/understand.

(For example; Zeus is pissed that the bolt is missing and wants it back by the summer solstice or else he’ll start a war. The solstice is in a few days. This is mentioned once/twice and nobody has shown even an ounce of urgency to find the bolt. It’s just expected of you to remember that fact while the show does nothing to remind you of it- the sun is always out and it’s not stormy to show just how mad Zeus is, the characters calmly walk and chat and never once mention the bolt again, etc.)

The exposition dumping does not help at all; a sentence or two to describe something important only for the talking to drag on with the expectation that you know what they’re talking about. Grover absolutely running through what CHB is all about, the entire point of the kids’ quest, Annabeth being the daughter of wisdom (so far there has not been one instance where this is proven, just mentioned offhandedly). There’s hardly any personality attached to any one character because all they do is rapidly explain things.

Now, exactly why are they going to the Underworld? To save Sally, yes; but what does that have to do with the bolt? At this point their mission is Sally, not the quest- the Hellhound chase scene was cut from the show, so now there is no indication at all that Hades might have had something to do with the missing bolt. Poseidon and Zeus are pointing fingers at each other (which was either not mention or I missed it because of how off handed this detail was), so why in the world would Hades play a part in this? Because these three hate each other? Again, only readers would be inclined to think like this because their hatred was never emphasized or expanded upon.

(Are they hoping to just ask and receive some kind of news about the bolt? They have no lead as to where the bolt may be, so going to Sally’s aid first and then figuring out details with the bolt is so questionable. Again, this is far from showing the urgency of the situation)

Also, Luke’s betrayal is going to be interesting. He’s the one who let the Hellhound in, which put the entirety of camp in danger for his own goals. Without this, he’s just some guy who doesn’t agree with the situation they’re currently in- he’s not dangerous or evil, so far he’s just there.

Friendships are just not there. They say Luke and Annabeth are like family but they’ve spoken once. They say Luke and Percy are tentative friends but all they did was have a tour around camp. They say Percy and Grover are best friends but their conversations mainly revolve around dumping exposition.

There’s more I have to say but I’ll just say I have hope the show will make up for this iffy start. It’s not too much, but it’s there-ish.

[jugheadvarchoni]

Ranking every Riverdale Season (from worst to best)

Reminder: this is just MY opinion. Feel free to share your own!

7. Season 5

With the exception of the first 3 episodes (which I just consider to be part of 4), this season was just a huge nothingburger disappointment. The idea of a time jump was cool, and it even started out okay. Then it quickly went off the rails and not only fell back into repeat territory but the jump itself was just executed so poorly… I was beyond done with Hiram villain stuff atp. The Mothmen were fine, just nowhere near as good as the Gargoyle King or Black Hood for me. Too many characters are written TOO awfully (especially the queer characters) and sometimes it feels like they tried to cram way too much into it. It just leaves the season feeling bloated and incoherent. Best parts by far were Toni getting a big role and the introduction of Tabitha.

Still, those weren’t enough to save the season imo. Overall S5 felt the least like Riverdale to me & it was lowkey boring a lot, so it gets last place. Boo. 🍅

6. Season 4

I’m actually so serious when I say I really love this season. S5 is probably the only one I dislike, the rest of these can change at the drop of a hat lol.

The main reason I’m putting S4 here is that it was very hit or miss with my enjoyment of the storylines. Jughead’s stuff at Stonewall was okay. Cheryl got another unhinged story when she should’ve been getting therapy, Archie’s story was mind-numbing, The Auteur was creepy and great until it was revealed to be Jellybean (wah-wah-wah). Maybe it has to do with COVID throwing things off, but the whole season was just a little lackluster and disjointed. Also, TICKLE-PORN?????

The tribute to Luke Perry was beautiful tho. Miss him. 💔

5. Season 1

ALRIGHT. Before you pull out those pitchforks, just hear me out. It’s an incredible season, it’s the most well-written, the tone was amazing, and it set everything up perfectly.

But I do think that because it’s only the first season, and because it’s so short, a lot of the dynamics I personally love just don’t exist. Toni isn’t on the show yet. And I feel like part of what made Riverdale stand out, WAS the craziness and the willingness to do literally anything remotely cuckoo, which S1 just didn’t have. I’m just personally very attracted to wackiness of the other seasons. It’s a little overrated.

But again, this still season is INCREDIBLE and I’m still obsessed with its’ vibes.

4. Season 7

Don’t hurt me. 😭

But buckle up, because I have a lot to say here.

I REALLY had such a good time with this season… I mean, the Choni of it all is really want gets me obsessively thinking about this season on a daily basis. The way they were treated in the first half is everything I wished for them back in the earlier seasons. If this were a ranking based on Choni throughout the seasons, S7 would be #1. Kevin also got a ton of great stuff. S7 was so kind to the queer characters… Other than them, I just love how they got to have FUN. They took us back in time and basically just put the characters into an old-timey Archie Comic. Ridiculous but entertaining side plots that actually kept me interested and put the characters in a totally new environment. And despite the fact that people seem to want to ignore this, they ARE still the characters we’ve known and loved since S1, they just didn’t remember. But the memories are still there, and still inform all of their decisions and relationships.

Unfortunately, my biggest gripe with S7 is the way it feels disconnected to the rest of the show overall. They really let the comet story flop hard. Even if we decided to stay in the 50s in the end, we should’ve had way more time with our characters with their memories. They should’ve had conversations that were long overdue, that circle back and bring things to a close, the way final seasons should. I would’ve preferred they go back to the present, but in an altered timeline due to all the changes made to their lives. Tabitha was WASTED and thrown away and it makes me so mad tbh. They chickened out with the Varchie vs Barchie thing and instead we got that dumbass polycule and everyone dating everyone only for literally no one to end up with anyone (except Choni & Clevin uwu). The later half is especially a letdown, because that’s when we should’ve been ramping up to the end with their memories and certain people coming back together. Instead, we just got a lot of randomness. Which, while fun, doesn’t make for a good final season imo.

I think this season would’ve been ranked in my top 3 had it NOT been the final one…

It’s such a polarizing season for me and that’s why it’s smack dab in the middle!

3. Season 2

What a lot of people consider the glory days lol.

Everything that was well-established in S1 was built on and just made even better. The dynamics between the core four and each one of their storylines was spot on and interesting. Black Hood is probably the most interesting mystery villain we ever had on the show and delving deeper into the Cooper family was great. The slasher horror movie vibes with Black Hood’s story & his victims were just elite.

The season was darker and full of lots of twists and turns, which I always appreciate to keep my on my toes. We got introduced to Toni and Choni was born!

It did have some meh stuff tho, the Archie vs Hiram wasn’t all that interesting to me in this season, even though I DO like Hiram a lot. He’s always been an intriguing character to me, I just think he was severely overused. I also don’t like Bughead lol. The Chic stuff is hit or miss. It was bordering on crazy, but not quite at that sweet spot yet.

Overall this season was more exciting and deeper than even the likes of S1. And this is, of course, where we started getting into the Southside Serpents and the gang wars, which I think is such an iconic aspect of the show. Just a fun, deeper, more interesting season for me!

2. Season 6

I’m a sucker for witches and magic and time travel shenanigans, so this season was RIGHT up my alley. Rivervale, Sabrina, the spookiness, Cheryl’s witch arc, Percival was great, Tabitha getting to shine, I loved SO much of this season. Having one villain, that they all focus on I think did wonders for the cohesiveness of the season. Almost everyone got involved in it, there weren’t as many tangential storylines, and the buildup to the comet was so much fun. It was the perfect blend of camp and wackadoodleness and serious life/death stuff.

The worst part for me, is the ships. Tangs being a plague on society and them making Toni’s whole storyline about being a mother (a bad, awful one ugh). Fangs was never a standout to me, but they just made him insufferable this season. The custody battle was insanely stupid and a waste of time. “Baby Anthony” sucked (Dale FTW). Barchie has always bored me. Cheryl/Heather just felt like besties lol. The ships suffered hard in this season lol.

Still, we got Choni confirmed soulmates and Thabigail + Jughead/Tabitha were cute. So that aspect wasn’t ALL bad.

Tonally, it’s soooo different from the other seasons but I think they strike a better balance between mystery villainous plot and campiness than the other seasons. I ate up the supernatural and horror stuff, the plot is one of the most consistent in the whole show, there’s good character development and I just loved the craziness. They easily redeemed themselves after that abysmal S5. 🙏

1. Season 3

Ahhh PEAK insanity. Wild, compelling, dark but also silly af sometimes. The show went off the rails in the best way and I have a blast every time I watch it. A true fever dream. They embraced the crazy and I think that’s what sets it apart from all the other seasons. Imo, there isn’t a single “bad” episode here. They were still in high school, giving us that teenage drama/those dynamics that made Riverdale what it is. My fav ships were together (not without their drama), there was an intriguing mystery with the Gargoyle King. The flashback episode with the parents was amazinggggg and I loved everything about the Gryphon’s and Gargoyle’s storyline and how it trickled down to affect so many people. The atmosphere of the season, the main cast that got focus and actually got to have screentime together, Heathers heing probably their strongest musical. I love it SO MUCH.

There are some weaker points tho. There is a lot that happens this season, like A LOT. But I enjoyed it so much that I lowkey give it a pass for being so convoluted. Dilton was wasted and killed off after not getting much in general. Bughead & Veggie suck. I wish the G&G and Cult stuff had been intertwined better.

An organ harvesting cult led by Chad Michael Murray? Archie fighting a bear? Mass seizures? Babies thrown into a fire and then levitating? Veronica opening a speakeasy as a teenager? Choni cat burglars? Archie in juvie? Bunker sex? Speakeasy sex? Fizzle rocks? Killer DnD? THE EPIC HIGHS AND LOWS OF HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL?

I-C-O-N-I-C. Riverdale is at its best for me when it doesn’t care about being a normal gritty teen show. Maybe this season was a little messier, but I think the sheer fun and craziness more than makes up for that. Everytime I rewatch this season, I enjoy the crap out of it and am reminded why I love these characters and this silly little show so much. ♥️

So to recap:

S3 > S6 > S2 > S7 > S1 > S4 > S5

P.S: if there’s a major typo or I put something in the wrong season, lemme know. I just regurgitated this all from memory when I woke up so my thoughts were hella jumbled…

[hogans-heroes]

The show was fantastic of course, though I wish they hadn’t tried to cram so much side plots in. Pick some plots and stick with them so we can see them and don’t keep adding because you want tell us everything and everyone?

Yes the show is about very specific handful of people which is fantastic, so that means we don’t see a “big picture” of the war but it’s more personal, which I LOVE, but then they try to add the big picture stuff in little pieces? You have to pick whether you’re showing the overview or personal view and I think they fumbled a bit on that one.

Storytelling will always suffer from having too many characters. The only allowance I’m happy to make is I’m massively happy we got at least some of the Tuskegee airman even though they had nothing to do with the 100th because I selfishly want to see them, but then we did feel that there was just a missed storyline…again, if you want to show everyone and tell a lot of people’s full stories in a satisfying way you’re gonna need LOT more than 9 episodes or it feels like a revolving door. This is not a complaint I’m very grateful, just an observation from a writer’s perspective.

[makeitastrength]

What are your overall thoughts of season 6?

A lot of people are saying it was extremely rushed. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely could’ve been paced better, but with 10 episodes I think they did pretty much everything they could to keep a solid pacing.

The only part that I felt very rushed was forcing Bailey and Nolan to have kids. It’s not even necessarily that it was rushed, it was more just extremely random. Like shouldn’t kids be a topic you discuss BEFORE getting married?

What is something you want to see in season 7?

I absolutely want to see scenes of Tim being in therapy. If you’ve seen suits, one of my favorite storylines is the therapy storyline. I just think seeing scenes of Tim actually putting in the work to heal would make chenford coming back together just that much better.

Hey anon! Thanks so much for the questions, and I apologize for taking so long to answer. I wanted to let my thoughts settle a bit first.

Honestly, given what they had to work with (shortened season, rushed turnaround time from the end of the strikes to the start of filming, etc), I thought it was a solid season. I do think they definitely tried to cram a little too much into this whole "big bad" storyline.

And I agree with your assessment of the Bailan kids storyline. Honestly, I liked that they were a childless couple. We need more of that in the media. But we need more representation of infertility and IVF, too, and this storyline could have been that. Instead it was so out of the blue and rushed that there was no time to invest in it. Had they spread it out over a full season and had Bailey gradually come to the realization that she wanted kids and showed John struggle with the decision more and then showed them struggling to get pregnant for months before finding out they needed to pursue other options, it could have packed an emotional punch.

But other than that, to me the season didn't feel all that rushed as a whole. I actually liked that it was more serialized and less sporadic than previous seasons.

For season 7, my biggest wish is to see Tim and Lucy find their way back to each other. We've seen the first glimpses of healing in these last couple episodes, and I think now that Lucy is seeing that in Tim as well, it opens the door for rebuilding that trust.

I never watched Suits, but I did watch Castle and the therapy scenes were really well done. It would be nice to see that once or twice on screen with Tim, too. But I'm not sure we will, since it would be just him in those scenes and that would pull screentime away from the rest of the cast. I do hope they make it clear that he's choosing to continue therapy, though, and that they have him reference it from time to time and continue to show his growth. And honestly, I think he and Lucy could benefit from some joint sessions as well.

[bomberqueen17]

caught up

Ha so i managed to watch all the episodes of the new Witcher season this weekend, so now i can -- let's be real I wasn't avoiding spoilers before, but like, I've read the books right, it's like, there's only so much they can do to surprise me. (below discussion is not in-depth or spoilery, more general and I don't have a ton of time so not meant to be anything profound)

I see they've taken Cahir's character in a delicious other direction-- book!Cahir is a dutiful young fanatic whose youth and relative inexperience is kind of critical to his character (and kind of parallels Ciri's contemporary journey, as she goes from being an idealistic child through all the things she goes through, he also is humbled and shamed and loses his idealism and his fanaticism gets a layer of tarnished desperation and then he finds his humanity etc-- chefkiss), but the Netflix version is an older, more deeply-committed fanatic, more intimately and personally tied to the ruler he serves so faithfully. They've also done some worldbuilding for Emhyr's missing years that I think is very interesting. It's funny, Cahir's actor is too old (but a great actor), and Emhyr's is too young, they've tried to age him up but he's like. Well he's like thirty. It hits weird. But, television, that's how television is.

I was using my sister's television since i had the house to myself, and could not figure out how to get subtitles on, so any of the lines that were whisper-growled-- that is to say almost all of them-- were largely unintelligible to me. But many of the ones I could make out were also just-- word salad, pretty things strung together for the vibe, so I don't feel like I missed out. You just had to get the gist, and sometimes it was an incredibly impactful book line that they crammed in there kind of unearned, but if you recognized it you could imbue it with the correct meaning yourself. This is not really a criticism. The whole thing was so rushed because they had to cover like 20 episodes' worth of material in eight, so it was just cruising on vibes and did so I think admirably, conveying a lot of worldbuilding complexity without having really a moment to get into it, and shorthanding character development in snappy one-liners that were pretty effective if you just. Suspended disbelief about literally any kind of logistics.

I did like some of the details they did choose to give us. Cool themes with Ciri, which I think convey the entire message of the book extremely well. And like-- when she's exposed to a bunch of sunlight, they showed her suffering with sunburn. That's a great grounding little bit of detail, even if it went away by the next scene because there wasn't time-- such a good detail, really eloquently conveyed by the framing and the actress and the props.

It's like.... an incredibly abbreviated art form, where they're doing grand gestures of vibes to get the story across.

Absolutely perfect for fanfic, LOL. There's really no well thought out detail to contradict so you've got a largely blank canvas. I also have deep regret that I don't think I can retcon my fic Keira into the Keira from Netflix who was both hot and had like, the perfect earthy practical personality, fuck she's good. Relatedly I loved the detail of how in the books Margarita Laux-Antilles was described as the most beautiful women in the world, and they cast a fat Black woman to play her, an absolutely gorgeous fat Black woman, and there in every scene of the sorceresses being beautiful were several fat women being beautiful too. It's something, ok.

I kept being like "omg woman hot" as i was watching, which was funny. I was by myself though, so it was fine, no one was there to witness my incoherence except the discord channels i kept typing into the wrong ones of.

one tiny sort of spoilery bit: i loved the delicious scene with Ciri confronting Cahir, but it was so rushed it was awkward, instead of showing us much they just had to have Cahir say it, and it was-- well the vibes were fucking delicious, but the execution kind of clumsy. But as I don't plan to rewatch, have zero fear that in my head I will rebuild this myself into something absolutely fucking perfect and id-tastic. Alas that we lost the book vibe where she clearly hadn't really realized he was a person until she knocked his helmet off and saw his stupefyingly blue eyes etc., and his terror and such, but i'm just gonna go ahead and fold that back in there in my mental recreation of it, don't worry. LOL if it worked for you as shot I Do Not Blame You.

oh also i'm in love with Philippa and now i feel bad i was so careless with her in my fic. Maybe I need to give her a bit more depth. I used her game characterization, I admit it, and Netflix did so well by her I'm sort of ashamed I didn't think of her like that.

[orionsangel86]

Welp. Okay I watched the last episode of ofmd.

To sum up my thoughts on this season I will say that whilst I enjoyed it and felt the love and passion and respect for its queer fanbase throughout, it didnt hit me the same way the first season did. It felt like maybe a little bit of that season 1 magic was missing and for that I very much blame Max's cutting off 2 episodes and slashing the budget. They had a lot of story they wanted to tell that would have worked so much better in 10 episodes.

I consider the last 3 episodes of season 1 some of the best TV I have seen in my life. From the use of The Chain in ep 8, through the dramatic highs and lows of eps 9 and 10 it was edge-of-your-seat drama and I was in awe at the creators that put it together. But one of the reasons why those 3 eps were so good is because the drama and the pivotal moments were given time to breath.

If those 3 eps were given the same lack of time and budget as season 2, no doubt they all would have been crammed into 1 episode and it would not have had the same impact.

If anything that last episode should have played out across two, with Izzy's death being the half way point and cliffhanger ending leading to a final battle and somewhat happy resolution.

I'm not mad at Izzy's death. If anyone was gonna die, it was gonna be him. His status as Blackbeards enabler and sometimes mentor is over. For Ed to truly be free, I think Izzy always had to go. From a storytelling perspective it makes perfect sense, even though I am sure a lot of fans are absolutely heartbroken about it.

Another casualty of the reduced screentime meant certain original cast members weren't given anywhere near the amount of screentime they should have had. I was expecting a lot more focus on Jim as they were basically the third lead of s1 due to them getting the same backstory as Ed and Stede. All of the crew appear to have had drastically reduced parts which does feel like a big loss to me.

Its funny actually, OFMD S2 suffered from the opposite problem to GOS2. OFMD had too much story to tell in a limited timeframe, GOS2 had very little story to tell outside of the flashbacks and probably too much time given to it. Both shows season 2s suffered from tremendously bad pacing issues.

Also, the one thing the final episode made so obvious to me, is the uncertainty of getting a s3 renewal. It is so clear in the way they tried to wrap things up in a happy bow as best they could, so that if they do get cancelled it leaves fans at least somewhat satisfied. I hate this though. I hate that studios are so fickle and ruthless that creators have to gamble with good quality writing and avoid cliffhangers because of asshole executives who dont actually care about the stories.

Because of the fast pacing, and the fear of cancellation, it felt more like a rush happy ending instead of a part way point in a bigger story, with important character development still to come. Perhaps I need more time to absorb the story in a full rewatch, but im not exactly itching for more at this point, whilst also not really being satisfied with what I got either. I wish we had left Ed and Stede in at least some minor peril, like have them captured and threatened with hanging but at least in a good place romantically, so that we can start speculating about what kind of escape plan they will come up with in season 3. Leaving them in a dilapidated old inn somewhere just felt wrong to me. Instead of ending the season with the stakes sky high (like season 1) it feels like they left season 2 with zero stakes at all, instead of at least a happy medium. At this point we should be turning to fanfiction and wondering what happens next, but instead I'm left thinking "okay then. That was good. What can I watch next?" I don't need to bury myself in fanfic and fanart to feed the hyperfixation this time around, and that is where I feel the most loss.

I'm sure others will have hugely different reactions to me though. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Perhaps my GO obsession just isn't leaving room for OFMD this time? But then again, I think if GOS2 hadn't ended the way it did, I wouldn't still be so obsessed with that either.

Sigh. I dunno. It was a good fun show and will no doubt still be hugely popular with devoted fans, but for me I just can't say it cast the same spell over me as it did last year.

[navree]

I've always joked to myself that Luke's biggest offense (aside from the obvious) was that he was boring, but I've never seen anyone else outwardly say it with such conviction. You're a braver person than me! 👍

Oh I've been on the "Luke is boring" train since the show was airing, it's just an objective fact. Luke suffers from something a lot of characters on the show suffer from, which is that the show tried to cram way too much into one ten episode season of television and as such a lot of character writing suffered, especially on the Blacks' side (nearly all Blacks side characters are severely underdeveloped except for Rhaenys and Corlys, who have the distinction of being somewhat schizophrenic). Luke does nothing notable for episode six, nothing notable for episode seven until he maims Luke, nothing notable for episode eight, he's not even in episode nine, and then in episode ten he dies. That's why the scenes he's in during episode ten feel as clunky and bad as they do, they sat down to write the finale, realized that there was no reason for people to care at all when Vhagar munches him, and so we got those random scenes to try and bolster his connection with Rhaenyra and show that he's The Goodest Boy to try and shoehorn in any reason for the audience to care. And be honestly people, did you feel sad when Luke died because Luke as a character is now gone and we'll lose him forever, like we did when Robb and Catelyn died, or are you just sad because he's fourteen and it made Rhaenyra sad and you like Rhaenyra? It's the latter.

(it's also why Lucemond is so popular, because Luke is such a nothing character he's basically a blank slate that a bunch of people can project themselves onto and thus be casted in whatever role they want him to be as a self-insert because Aemond is hot and you can't do that with any other character Aemond interacts with, because they've all got personalities that can't be subsumed the way you can with Luke because he's got no personality)

This is a problem that plagues Jacaerys and Baela and Rhaena as well (seriously, please name me three character traits for Baela and Rhaena separately, I can barely name three for the two of them combined you could literally replace them with lamps and nothing changes it's so bad), but because they're gonna be in the show longer, there's more of a chance to fix it. Luke only being around for four episodes, doing fuck all for most of his appearances, and being defined by "guy who caused grievous bodily harm in a fight he shouldn't have been involved in due to the fact that the opposite side did nothing wrong and then refused to ever even show contrition for it" and then promptly dying means that there's no chance to expand his character the way Jace and Baela and Rhaena can potentially get (and I highly doubt Baela and Rhaena are gonna get much expansion tbf), so we're stuck with the most boring boy. He's a plank of wood, he's nothing, he means nothing to me except that sometimes I think about how difficult the recovery period for literally losing an eye must have been for Aemond on so many levels and I think that Vhagar went too easy on his boring ass.

And it's my blog so I can say what I want and I will bear this cross for you and those like you anon, I will proudly call Lucerys Velaryon a piece of cardboard.

[themattress]

Hey look, I found and filled out an old school controversy meme template!

Favorite Character: Rei Hino and Minako Aino. Rei was my favorite ever since I was a kid because she had a fun personality and badass fire powers, but as I grew up and gained access to things like Codename Sailor V, I really began to develop a deep fondness and appreciation for Minako as well. I can't possibly choose between them; they're both great.

Despised Character: The Sailor Starlights, primarily the anime versions (the manga versions just seem kind of pointless to me). It's the final season of the show and yet so much time is being hogged by these newcomers, who are unlikable jackasses on top of that. Truthfully, I'd have much rather kept Chibiusa around, at least she's someone I know and care about.

Most Overrated Character: The anime's Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaioh. Now don't get me wrong, I love them too and I 100% get why they're so special to so many fans. But I feel that often blinds people to their less than stellar writing in the second half of S and throughout Sailor Stars. The writers took their status as "Darker and Edgier Sailor Senshi" way too far, to the point where they started coming off as unlikable strawmen of Magical Girl genre haters.

Most Underrated Character: Unazuki Furuhata. Why didn't she show up in Crystal!?

Favorite Couple: Usagi/Mamoru, primarily manga/Crystal and Junichi Sato-directed!anime.

Despised Couple: Usagi/Seiya. Toxic, inauthentic, just all-around bad. Burn it with fire.

Favorite Season: The original Sailor Moon. I don't even know how to describe it other than lightning that never quite struck twice. I think the franchise owes much of its success to it.

Despised Season: Sailor Stars. First we have an arc that butchers Queen Nehelenia, then Chibiusa is insultingly written out offscreen, then Mamoru dies without anyone knowing so that we can have the Breakup Plot 2.0, then a boy band that can transform into female Sailor Senshi start hogging the spotlight with one of them getting into a toxic relationship with Usagi, the villains are more incompetent than ever and still doing the same Monster of the Week formula with the monsters being utterly nonsensical in their origin (not to mention not in the manga at all), and we end with a six-part finale that tries so hard to cram in as much emotion and devastation as possible without doing it half as well as the original season's two-part finale. And this is the last season of the show! It's just such an insulting way for the show to go out, with its good points few and far between. Most of the staff from prior seasons weren't on this one and its director was actively sick of the franchise, and it really does feel like it.

Favorite Villain: Technically my favorite villains are the Dark Kingdom from the anime's original season, but across the whole franchise I have to go with the Black Moon Clan.

Despised Villain: Queen Nehelenia from Sailor Stars. An offensive, contradictory rewrite of what was previously among the anime's best villains. Let's pretend she never happened, 'K?

Favorite Episode: Episode 24 of the original season. The show taking an unrepentant villain and still allowing him to rediscover his humanity and find a measure of redemption by sacrificing his life for another blew me away when I first saw it as a kid. This episode and all the ones leading up to it marked the point where a really good show became a great one.

Despised Episode: Episode 22 of Sailor Stars. The Sailor Starlights reach the absolute pinnacle of unlikability in their hypocritical attitude toward discovering the Senshi's identities, and then Sailor Aluminum Seiren is killed off in a cruel, mean-spirited way that we end up with no emotional catharsis over later. At this point, it just didn't feel like Sailor Moon to me.