#They treated her like shit the entire first half of the season

[dbphantom]

"all the people who like Charlotte didn't watch the show and are misogynists"

Can't believe I just had to see this take with my own eyes but that's what I get for following the main tags instead of my trusted mutuals

[gartenofbanny]

Barbie Wire..oh boy what a mess she is. Barbie Wire isn't that much of a mess because of how she's written, she's a mess because of how little she has. Out of all the antagonists in Helluva Boss, Barbie Wire has the most missed opportunities, which is sad to even think about. This is a character that has been recognized by the fandom ever since the pilot was released yet in her debut she has lesser screentime than Verosika Mayday. Who knew that Blitzo's ex would get more screentime than Blitzo's actual relative, but screentime isn't the only problem I have with this character. Viv and her crew had a couple opportunities to mention or show Barbie Wire in previous episodes or even outside the show, but they didn't for some reason. Despite Viv stating that Helluva Boss mainly centers around Blitzo and his history, they never expanded on Barbie Wire, who is Blitzo's sister.

The Circus

The Circus was the first episode in Season 2 showing Blitzo and Stolas as children. While most of the episode centered around Stolas and Blitzo, we got to see Blitzo's childhood for the first time. What his occupation was, how his father treated him, his relationship with Fizzarolli, and how he first met Stolas...wait..that's it. Those were the only things we actually saw in The Circus.

Despite literally being Blitzo's twin, Barbie Wire wasn't shown or mentioned once throughout this entire episode. They instead gave that sibling-like role to Fizzarolli who isn't even related to Blitzo at all. Barbie Wire wasn't even mentioned by Cash Buckzo when he tried to convince Blitzo to steal from Stolas' home.

There were people assuming that this character right here is Barbie Wire, but different horn patterns. So an episode showing Blitzo's childhood for the first time doesn't even show Barbie Wire once, what a great start.

Lack of Hype

Barbie Wire had very little hype for her character as time was going on. Viv and the other creators did very little to showcase her or even try to make an attempt to hype her up, the fandom has acknowledged and appreciated Barbie Wire's existence more than the creators themselves have. Let that sink in.

For this section, I'm gonna bring up a character that actually had hype and that's Andrealphus. Now personally, I don't believe Andrealphus was planned until Season 2 was being developed because you'd think a character like him would be mentioned way more especially by Stella in Season 1. Anyway, Andrealphus had some hype surrounding him with his design and role released in February 2022

And in one of the teasers of Western Energy, we actually get a gif of his Frozen-themed birthday cake-shaped manor hyping up his character even more. While he was underwhelming as hell in his debut, people were looking forward to the episode just to see him for the first time.

Are there any gifs featuring Barbie Wire for Unhappy Campers? No, there aren't. The only gifs that advertise Unhappy Campers are three gifs of Moxxie and Millie in their mediocre human disguises.

People only knew that Barbie Wire was going to be in this episode due to a teaser trailer for Helluva Boss that was released last year. I'm pretty sure some folks didn't even know that Barbie Wire was even gonna be in this episode getting into it.

I almost forgot to mention, the latest merch sale for Helluva Boss completely forgot to mention the new Barbie Wire pin that was released. Not sure how the hell they missed that, but I'm pretty sure it was intentional.

Very little screentime

Barbie Wire does not have much screentime and the screentime she does have doesn't really explain much of her character. Half of her screentime consists of her fighting Moxxie and Blitzo and the other half of her screentime consists of her shit talking Blitzo and we don't have a clue as to why she hates his brother.

Barbie Wire has more screen time being mentioned by Blitzo and other demons than she actually appearing in the episode itself. Hell Barbie Wire legit has more screen time just being featured in posters or being mentioned by other characters in previous episodes than she does in her actual appearance in Unhappy Campers overall.

Remember when the robotic version of Fizzarolli was introduced in the beginning of Loo Loo Land and was the antagonist throughout the entire episode. What the hell happened to that? Oh I know, Helluva Boss as of recently loves to maintain two or three plots which makes the pacing out of order which as a result makes the character screen time shorter.

Lady Blitzo

Personality-wise, Barbie Wire is just Blitzo but female. She uses her body to manipulate people to get what she wants, works for an illegal business, hates damn near everybody, is violent as hell, and blames others for her failures. There are very few differences between Barbie Wire and Blitzo, I know that there probably are differences but I don't know what exactly those differences are because we don't know a lot about Barbie Wire. More on that later.

Her Human Disguise

I never had a problem with Barbie Wire's true form because I don't care about her looking exactly like Blitzo. She's literally his twin, why wouldn't they look the same? It is one thing for Crimson and Moxxie to look alike since they're father and son, but it's understandable that Barbie Wire looks like Blitzo.

wait did Barbie Wire get a redesign?

But what isn't understandable or even makes sense is Barbie Wire's human form looks very similar to Velvette as a Sinner.

Why does Barbie Wire, a Hellborn demon from Helluva Boss look somewhat like an older version of Velvette a sinner from Hazbin Hotel? This is the second new character in a row who looks like an already-designed character. And like the 5th character overall who has a design similar to a previously made character.

And why the hell are her forearms so huge but everything else is thin? I know Blitzo has big forearms but isn't he also muscular? It makes some sense with his build but Barbie Wire isn't muscular at all. She's literally a fallen-off pop star junkie.

Vivziepop has been drawing and designing for almost a decade as a hobby and as an occupation yet she can't make a design that doesn't have remnants of an already-made design. Too many characters look similar to each other in both Hazbin and Helluva that sometimes you forget who is who.

They can literally do so much with Barbie Wire's human disguise, but they just made her look like Velvette but skinnier.

Lack of character story

There's..not much to Barbie Wire that actually answers questions that people had. The most popular one being, "Why does Barbie Wire hate Blitzo?" In Unhappy Campers we don't get a reason as to why Barbie Wire hates Blitzo, we just know that she hates him for some reason.

I still can't with Blitzo's puppy dog eyes

At least when Verosika made her debut in Spring Broken we're given a few lines as to why Verosika just despises Blitzo. Blitzo ran away with her car all the way to Wrath and maxed out her credit card on horse riding lessons and possibly never came into contact with her again up until Spring Broken. And in Ozzie's we're given even further clues as to why Verosika hates Blitzo as she literally insults him in the last few lines of her portion of "House of Asmodeus". But with Barbie Wire, Blitzo's blood related twin sister, we get nothing. We just know that she hates Blitzo and never wants to speak with him again.

We don't even know anything about her personally either. What was her relationship with Fizzarolli like? What was her relationship with Verosika like? Why did Verosika insult her? How did she obtain an Asmodean Crystal? All of these questions, no canonical answers. Just fan theories and speculation which..is a huge ass problem with Helluva Boss and to an extent Hazbin Hotel too.

Conclusion

Barbie Wire is unfortunately a wasted potential and a huge missed opportunity writing wise and at this point I'm not even looking forward to the new characters at this point especially the female ones because I know the writers won't do the characters any good. Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a nice day!

[mdhwrites]

Owl House tries to be critical of religious thinking and thought processes but the ending unfortunately supports the notion as well as the writing do you have the same thoughts as well?

It's not the ending that ruins this. The WHOLE SHOW is terrible at this. The reason why is obvious as well: The show is too busy mocking modern society and late stage capitalism for its villains, if it's mocking anything, to have time or room to say anything about dystopians, puritans or religion.

Just to make this point quickly: The first time we EVER hear about the Titan in any sort of context that implies even reverence is the S1 FINALE. It is only first brought up as the reason how Belos came to power: His ability to hear the Titan. Before then, the Titan is maybe used to replace God in common expletives but that's it. It's just the place they live in so supposedly one of TOH's main critiques takes an ENTIRE. SEASON. to show up.

However, it's not just how long it takes for people to start even mentioning it that's the problem. It never gains a foothold. People don't do things for the Titan. They do things for Belos. There's like maybe a half dozen LINES in the entire show that have anything to do with religious allegory besides the fact that witch hunts were religiously motivated. Maybe closer to a dozen because of Hunter's ramblings during Hollow Mind but that is ONE episode for the majority of any talk about this.

And it's not just that she show fails to depict a religion. Allegory exists for a reason. But... What is the faith then? The Coven System is MUCH closer to a stratified class system, or a communist economic system, that it literally ever comes to being a religion. It's basis might be in that but no one treats it that way. It's just a job and what you decide to specialize in.

The wild witches being absent is another part of this that also explains why it's absent. Eda doesn't get bothered by... Anyone? In the entire show? about being a wanted criminal. Covention is the absolute closest the show ever comes to having anyone besides the EC give a shit. In that one, people at least squint at her but despite her suspicious behavior, they don't do more than that. That is actually pretty accurate to how someone in the US might act in the modern day... But not in a dystopia. Especially not a religiously motivated dystopia.

A common factor between religious zealots and dystopias is the CONSTANT PARANOIA. The fear that is put into them of the other. How they are directed to destroy ANYTHING that is against the doctrine. This is why Christianity has had SO MANY SCHISMS because a single question for the faith will cause some people to lose their minds! The witch trials, no matter where they were, were often motivated by fear of demons and empowerment of others and used to keep those who might be shaking things up down, using both genuinely held beliefs and those that could be manipulated to cause the masses to agree that the person had to die. Even from a less extreme perspective, these same ideas are used to discriminate, alienate and attack.

However... That doesn't happen. Just because Eda is nice, to a couple people, an entire mob of loyal citizens is able to be rallied to go against the ONE LAW of the Isles. There is no belief there. There is no indoctrination there. If the Isles actually cared about the Titan, Eda should be fucked. Luz should cast a glyph in front of Amity and TERRIFY her because, as Amity puts it, "I've never seen someone cast it like that."

And the funny thing is, this would have made Luz's character climax statement ACTUALLY WORK. If everyone was terrified of her simply because she chose a different path, had to do things differently and was just inherently different, she could be a great stand in for all the effort so many marginalized people have to put in. All this work just to be understood against held beliefs that don't reflect reality. Held beliefs that only exist to prop up the status quote.

But that would mean making the Isles an inherently hostile place. To make Luz have to work for EVERY. SINGLE. INCH that she gains. And, well, the writers weren't interested in that. They weren't interested in a struggle. Instead, they were interested in the story of a young bi teenager going to a fantasy world and living out her dreams.

So sure, her literally being blessed by God to enact his will against his enemies is AWFUL. It explicitly makes it so that she is actually just Belos but she actually DOES hear the Titan! So you know, just don't believe in false prophets but prophets do exist and you should follow them unquestionably.

However, the problem starts LONG before then. Like almost any problem with TOH honestly.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

[usergrantaire]

phew that sure was an episode of the gilded age

- we’re finally getting ✨DRAMA✨ and it is delicious

- also i loved peggy milking a cow in her fancy day dress

- finally larry’s fling with mrs blane is coming to an end…… but i don’t think that’s the last of this storyline we’ll see

- him saying “i thought we were going to get married and be together forever” is peak “im in my twenties” levels of delusion

- ok i know there won’t be a lesbian maud beaton….. but let me dream 🥲

- bertha clown moment switching out her and turner’s place cards. her entire tug of war with turner over the duke is hilarious and i cannot wait to see more of it

- speaking of turner!! we finally got a first name after a season and four episodes!!! it’s enid 💀

- her and oscar recognising each other at the dinner was a treat

- man after the way she lorded her academy box over bertha just to have it snatched from her by mrs astor AND had the duke snatched from her as well i just know she’ll be out for blood next episode

- ada and the reverend. i think they’re cute together but omg that proposal was so rushed? like so rushed im beginning to suspect he has a wife in the attic situation iykwim. and ada immediately says yes?? girl we have like half a season left 😭

- frances very unsubtly trying to set her dad and marian up and marian wants OUT

- since this is a fellowes show i don’t have high hopes but what i would LIKE to see is the striking workers absolutely fucking george’s shit up

- gladys wasn’t in this episode but i know that bertha’s gonna try to sell her off to the duke. and she’ll probably strong arm george into agreeing to it by holding the whole “naked lady’s maid in his bed and lying about it by omission” thing over his head

- “i don’t WANT other dukes, i want THIS duke! WE found him, and he’s MINE” immaculate and hysterical line delivery. very veruca salt core. no notes

that’s all for the week folks see you next week

[bread-squid-uwu]

I think its WILD that so many characters are just.. shown doing horrific things and people only talk about half of it. Like, yes mystreet was not meant to be taken seriously and it's all meant for jokes but holy shit this series was dark even when it was supposed to be funny.

Also, Katelyn and Travis were the two characters treated seriously DURING the point it was still supposed to be dramatic and for the jokes. Which makes those two stand out more than the rest, actually

Enough about them for a second,

Aaron and Gene were 19 crushing on a 14/15 year old as if that isn't literally p*dophilia. Garroth and Laurance were literally stalkers, absolute creeps and assaulted Aphmau many times over, Garroth could NOT take rejection and kept pursuing Aph despite everything- literally kissed her without consent, and Laurance did the exact same thing, Travis was a huge perverted creep who assaulted Katelyn and ignored her boundaries for the entire first half of season one, Dante was WORSE than Travis during PDH - he literally wrote a book about ignoring consent and harassing girls (thank god for his redemption arc in the later seasons jfc), Nicole claimed Dante was cheating despite the two literally never being in an official relationship at all aside from in high school when he actually did cheat on her, Ghost assaulted Zane many times and NOBODY BELIEVED HIM which is gross on Ghost AND everyone else. The entire "kitty" thing alongside the blackmailing and EVERYTHING.. and I've said enough about Katelyn lately, it's just repetitive now

AND THERES MORE WITH OTHER CHARACTERS???

Yeah it's not meant to be taken seriously but oh my god, this series when looking at it with actual sense is disturbing!!

But I think how the fandom treats this topic is the worst part, seeing as I got an ask telling me to get assaulted after I made a few posts about Katelyns recovery arc.

[autumntouched]

Day 18 of Ode to Phoenix

It's Girl Scout cookie season! irl, not the fic lol

Summary: Natasha's having a bad day and looking forward to taking comfort in her Samoas. But she can't find them when she gets home

Pairing: Natasha "Phoenix" Trace x Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

Warnings: Mention of period sex but nothing explicit

A/N: From my brain to the page with few edits.

Cookie Monster

Natasha hates flying the first day of her period. She can feel the changes in pressure more intensely and her cramps tweak a little sharper. Plus her tampon leaks no matter what absorbency it is. On top of that, being insatiably hungry makes her cranky. So she’s not in the best mood when Commander Hodgens calls her into his office to reprimand her for something she’s told one of the ensigns more than five times to watch out for during their hops. 

Instead of complaining about a hardheaded pilot, she keeps her face neutral and thinks about the last row of Samoas Girl Scout cookies waiting for her at home. The season of little girls hawking overpriced but addictive cookies outside of grocery stores is long past, but she’s kept this last box in the freezer. Today is the perfect day to enjoy the last of the batch and forget what a shit day it’s been. She’ll have two of the cookies when she gets home and the last three for dessert.

“Is that clear, Lieutenant Trace?” Hodgens says pointedly, watching her over his glasses like he suspects she is only half listening.

“I’ll remind the team,” Natasha promises. 

“Thanks,” he dismisses her. She nods and pivots out the room. Natasha skips the locker room shower and finishes off her work so she can head out as early as possible.

Bradley isn’t home yet. She dumps her boots, washes her hands, and heads directly to the freezer. But the cookies aren’t on the door where she remembers leaving them. There isn’t much in her freezer, a few frozen dinners and ice packs, but she moves everything around just in case.

No cookies.

Trying to remain reasonable, Natasha checks the refrigerator. Maybe she or Bradley moved them? Maybe Bradley moved them because she would remember if she had. They’re not in any of the cabinets. With growing suspicion, she rummages through the freezer and fridge again. No fucking cookies.

She puts her hands on her hips and forces herself to take a breath. There has to be a reasonable explanation for why the treat she’s been looking forward to all day is missing. But if Bradley ate her last five Girl Scout cookies, she’s going to murder him. 

Natasha stomps to the shower, hoping that washing off the day will calm her down some. Instead, she becomes even more angry that she’s not savoring the lingering chocolate and coconut on her tongue while the hot water washes over her. 

She’s fuming, planning Bradley’s untimely murder, when the subject of her violent fantasy opens the bathroom door. 

“Hey, Sash—.”

Natasha yanks back the curtain to confront him. His eyes go wide watching her stand before him entirely naked except for the soap suds dripping down her body and not at all interested in seducing him into joining her. “Did you eat my cookies, Bradshaw?” she demands, straight to the point. 

Bradley pales, but at least has the courage to open the door all the way. “Cookies?” But she can tell from his voice and the way he rubs his neck he knows exactly what she’s talking about.

“My Samoas,” she clarifies with deadly precision.

She can see the “oh fuck” bulb go off in Bradley’s head, but at least she will do him the courtesy of letting him own up to what he’s done.

“Patch—.”

“Don’t fucking ‘Patch’ me, Bradley Nicholas Bradshaw!” she practically yells. “Yes or no, did you eat my Samoas?” And because she is past angry and wants him to know just how big of a dog house he’s landed himself in, she adds, “Without asking me.” 

He gulps and takes a step back from her soaked fury. Water splashes out the tub across the floor. 

“Yes.”

“All of them? All five of my last cookies?”

Bradley looks like he wishes Maverick hadn’t found that F-14 Tomcat and left him to try his chances at survival in enemy territory. He probably had better odds. 

“I only meant to have one,” he pleads, “and I kept thinking just one more and then—.” He shrugs helplessly.

“And then you ate all my fucking cookies and didn’t even have the balls to tell me!” she finishes for him, her voice rising into a shout. “I spent this entire shitty day thinking about getting home to enjoy just a little treat only to find out that my boyfriend didn’t have the decency to leave something that was clearly mine alone!” 

She marches out of the tub. “What part of ‘this is the last box’ did you not understand! I even told you I was saving them.” 

Bradley holds up his hands as she advances on him. “I’m really sorry, Sash.”

“Sorry doesn’t bring them back!”

Her fists are curled in front of her, and she wants to punch him but she knows it won’t hurt him half as bad as she wants it to. And she’d rather not have to explain that she sprained her wrist and can’t fly because she punched her stupid boyfriend over cookies. But she wants to. 

“Can I make it up to you?” he offers. “I’ll go get you ice cream? Cheesecake? Tiramisu?” 

“If I wanted those I would have gotten them! But I didn’t. Because you know why?” He flinches. “Because I wanted Samoas! Can you go get me Girl Scout cookies? No!” 

She won’t punch him, but she will shove him. Natasha pushes him out into the hallway. Bradley doesn’t resist and stumbles back. She slams the door and locks him out then stomps back to the shower. 

“Sash,” he calls through the door. “Hon, I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to say to me until you’ve replaced my cookies!” she yells back and yanks the shower curtain closed. Is she overreacting? Maybe. But he shouldn’t have taken something he knew wasn’t his to finish. 

Of the two of them, Bradley is most likely to use the silent treatment when he’s upset about something but Natasha is not feeling her usual forgiving or diplomatic self when she gets out of the shower. 

Meekly, he tells her he’s going to pick up her favorite pasta for dinner. Because she’s angry, she tells him she needs to finish the leftovers. He’s already placed the order so he goes anyway.

And as soon as he’s gone, Natasha can’t help but notice how cute Bradley looks when he’s in the dog house. Part eager puppy and part groveling boyfriend. Committed to her fury, though, she fixes herself a plate of leftovers even though she’s actually been craving the pasta he ordered. Maybe she can try to look forward to that if he doesn’t eat it.

An hour and a half passes, and Natasha goes from being glad she made her own food to worried. It shouldn’t have taken him more than 45 minutes even if the order wasn’t ready when he got there. 

Unable to enjoy her anger while anxious her boyfriend is bleeding out in a ditch, Natasha calls him. 

“Sash!”

“Are you okay?” she cuts past his excuses. 

“What? Yeah?” 

“You’re not currently bleeding on the side of the road or in a totaled car or in any way harmed?” Natasha confirms.

There’s a hint of amusement in his voice when he answers. “I promise that outside of feeling awful about eating your cookies, I’m fine.”

“Good,” she snaps. “Stay that way. I love you.” And she hangs up on his chuckle. 

Natasha puts on a movie while she waits for him to get back, but she keeps checking her phone. It’s over an hour later when he walks through the door. 

“I hope you don’t think making me afraid for your life—.”

Bradley pulls a box of Samoas from behind his back. “I remembered Crockett’s niece is a Girl Scout. His sister-in-law helped me track down someone who still had a couple of boxes, but it was a little bit of a drive to get them. And I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find them so.” He holds up his other hand filled with bags. “I got you cheesecake, creme brûlée, tiramisu, and the pasta. It’s cold but you said—.”

He lets the bags fall to the floor to catch her. But he holds onto the box of cookies and tucks it between them before she kisses him. Bradley returns it eagerly, his mustache scratching her upper lip. 

“Ask next time,” she says softly when she comes up for air. His hazel eyes are hopeful and uncertain. “Or at least tell me.” 

He holds her tightly, large hands firm and comforting on her thighs. “I’m sorry, Sasha. I didn’t mean to be part of your bad day.” He kisses her chin. “Next time I’ll tell you before you throw a naked right hook at me.”

She chuckles and smoothes the sad furrow of his brow then kisses the bridge of his nose. “If you don’t mind getting a little messy, you can make it up to me after you put all my treats in the fridge.” A grin spreads over her face at the effort he put into his apology. 

Bradley raises interested eyebrows. “Period?” Natasha nods, and he kisses her neck. “My gorgeous girl, I’ll spend all night making it up to you. After you’ve had your cookies.”

She opens the box. “I love you.” When he doesn’t respond she looks up.

He feigns a look of surprise. “Oh, were you talking to me or the cookie?” 

Natasha smiles and pops a Samoa into her mouth. “The cookie then,” she says, mouth full, as he laughs and kisses a shred of coconut off her lip.

Ode to Phoenix Masterlist

Tag List: @melodiousoblivionao3

[joanyio]

everytime i rewatch aouad i still get a little bit annoyed at namra in the entire first half i know everyone likes her and she’s obviously written to be a fan favorite but she barely did shit until she found out she’s quite strong as a halfbie. to me she’s the classic *im not like the others i think y’all hate me so i hate y’all too im unfriendly because im better than everyone else but im actually nice if you pay attention or try to get close to me* character.. hmm idk if this makes sense but she’s so written for fans who love calling characters a bad bitch icon (not necessarily a bad thing but u get the vibe). the whole “you guys never treated me as your actual class president” shtick at the beginning was so silly instead of actually being helpful like baby you’re literally coming with them to save yourself at least be useful. also i dont remember what episode was that but there’s a whole conversation of them trying to find out what to do the whole night but she’d talk in circles in like a im-smarter-than-everyone-here tone with nothing to conclude in the end wasn’t cute at all. my biggest ick was when she saw nayeon do that to gyeongsu but stayed quiet until he died so she could pick a fight against her after like damn nayeon is more annoying sure i would excuse namra for that but she was already annoying me even before that so 😐 well she also grows on me everytime i rewatch i guess i can’t really say i don’t love her

anyway just so i don’t sound like a hater my fav characters are onjo, hari & mijin, and cheongsan. onjo was so good at split second emergency life-saving decisions, she first experienced the outbreak at the cafeteria and you get to see her initial shock, freeze stage but she was able to move quick and utilize things she sees around her for survival. the fire extinguisher, the phone, the fire hose reel, etc. she’d always given the most useful ideas too like yeahhhhh. i cried when she held onto isak til the very end, the editing for that part was so good the way they showed us their bff memories and the last flashback scene was them eating odeng as isak leaves the frame so onjo is left alone.. the emotions, the music, my heart… it’s even sadder when you know by the end of the season onjo would lose everyone she cared about the most, her best friend isak, her dad, and cheongsan 😭

idk how to end this long rant but here’s a pic of my fav girlfriends:

god damn it i cant wait for season 2 i heard cheongsan is alive (inhales gazillion kilograms of copium)

[sunnwila]

Stan Marsh Headcanons (Highschool AU/Aged Up):

NOT nsfw. Strictly sfw. Just some Headcanons about stanley and his character

- lost his hat in the 9th grade and cried to Kyle about it

-Randy forced him to join the football team when he got to high school, was benched his first year which led to him to care about literally nothing but getting good the entire year and summer leading up to the next season

-Kyle says kys when he’s mad, Stan says “ok”

-has stayed with Wendy through high school, feels like he’s not good enough but Wendy tells him to stop being stupid

-listens to all kinds of music, biggest music snob in the WORLD. Makes sure you know he listens to everything

-quiet and scares people with how quiet he is, but when he finally talks it’s always something funny and has everyone laughing

-likes to party to take his mind off of his family

-whenever his parents start fighting he goes into Shelly’s room, she’ll be doing homework and half heartedly tells him “get out turd” but doesn’t get mad when he stays, at least until the yelling is done

-pale as shit. Can’t tan for anything, literally gets burnt, peels, stays pale. It’s an endless cycle

-will sometimes tag along for dinner at the Broflovskis with Kenny

-drank for the first time his freshman year, had a pact with Kyle in middle school that they wouldn’t drink so they wouldn’t become losers. Kyle didn’t talk to him for a week when he found out Stan broke it

-Kyle “I believe in you, bro” Broflovski 🤝 Stanley “Glad one of us does” Marsh

-dark ass hair, kept it pretty long through middle school and the beginning of high school. LOVED when Kenny cut Kyle’s hair and had to ask Kenny to cut his hair the same way a couple days later when Kyle wasn’t around (Ken smirked and said something like “For sure man”)

-plays electric guitar, REFUSES to use a pick, likes when his fingers get all bloody. Wendy does not. (Kyle does, but he won’t tell)

-Kyle mentioned once he liked blondes and a couple weeks later Stan bought the cheapest box bleach at J-Mart and Kyle helped him dye his hair (Stanley I know what you are)

-bruised knuckles all the time because he kept putting holes in his walls (he is a stereotype) before Kyle showed him his punching bag

-painted his nails when he was deep in his emo phase his sophomore year (Eric ripped on him and told him it was queer) still paints them black for Halloween

-speaking of, Halloween is his favorite holiday, it reminds him of when the gang were kids and they didn’t have as much to worry about. Misses trick or treating and dressing up

-horror movie enthusiast, especially loves 80s slashers

-constantly chews gum

-has an oral fixation, hence the gym chewing

-the only member of the group yet to kick Eric’s ass over something he said

-wanted to be scene for a while, too scared to do it

-had really greasy hair before Wendy told him what dry shampoo was, now he rips on Eric for having greasy hair

-strangely good with Ike, he grew up helping Kyle watch him (he’s still not sure why he trusted him around a child) and taught Ike to play guitar

-likes parties, hates hosting them because of his house and family dynamic, so he and Kenny usually host bon fires in the woods

-strangely a jock stereotype, bad grades (Kyle yells at him) and kinda stupid but in a puppy dog way

-awkward

-like really fucking awkward

-Wendy’s always saying she loves her boyfriend and constantly needs to touch him, he blushes and tries to hide his smile

-wide receiver, got super buff in his junior year “for the aesthetic” but also for football

-will rot in his bed for days watching movies before his friends have to drag him out and force him to go to school

-in middle school Sheila convinced his mom that she could give Stan a haircut herself and save money because that’s what she does with Kyle. Stan ended up with the worst bowl cut anyone in South Park had seen (the guys ALL ripped on him and he NEVER took off his hat)

-rants to sparky when he doesn’t feel like bothering his friends

-has acne, mostly because he’s gross and doesn’t wash his face (“dude, for the love of god please wash it” - kyle) Eric rips on him but Stan spits it back because Eric’s acne is BAD

-hopeless romantic

BONUS: whenever someone makes fun of Stan being emo to Shelly, she tells them to fuck off and calls them a turd

[emilyrox]

ouat for the ask game?

OUAT!!!

Favorite Male: Killian Jones. There's no contest. Just Killian.

Favorite Female: Emma Swan. There's no contest. Just Emma.

Favorite Pairing: Ok I'm gonna list both my favorite main pairing and favorite side pairing.

Favorite Main Pairing: Captain Swan. You all knew this was gonna be my answer don't lie. Finally watched the Captain Swan wedding for real and it is the best thing ever. Also started season 7 officially and THEY'RE HAVING A BABY!

Favorite Side Pairing: Mr. Hyde x Mary Lydgate (I don't know what the ship name is someone plz help). Gonna be honest I don't exactly know why I think about them as much as I do. Maybe it's because Hyde is also a favorite, or because of their dynamic in general, or because I wish we saw more of them, but I just think about them a lot and what they meant to each other. I'm attached to a pairing that was together for ONE episode??? It's more likely than you think.

Least Favorite Character: uhhhhhhhhhhhh I got a few

Fiona "The Black Fairy". I did not like her. Yeah she's a villain so she's meant to be rooted against but other villains in the show are at least ENTERTAINING. Regina was an entertaining villain (and the og). Zelena was fucking hilarious (and still is as a hero I'm glad they kept that part of her). Cruella de Vil is a cruel dog murderer but I was always interested when she was on screen. But Fiona? She was just a bitch, and not an enjoyable one. I just wanted someone to finally end her. Was so satisfied when Rumple killed her for good.

Mother Superior/"The Blue Fairy". Just because I don't like Fiona and she and Blue were foils doesn't mean I like the Blue Fairy. I agree with the rest of the fandom that she was shady as fuck. She does some good things but also a lot of rude and shady ones. The way she treated Tinkerbell was awful, and her overall "I art holier than thou" attitude was just unpleasant. I could never really tell if she actually wanted to help the heroes or not, which would have been an interesting thing to think about during the show if not for her over-the-top self-righteousness.

Rumplestiltskin (Season 4, Season 5B-Season 6A. Season 7 TBD). He has had many opportunities to redeem himself and be a good person, which he claims he wants to be, but over and over again he kept clinging to "muh power." He is entertaining as a villain overall, and I do like Rumbelle, but not when he is being borderline abusive and possessive of her. I specified specific seasons where I don't like him because those are where he fucks up the most imo. 5A could have been his perfect redemption arc, and he was finally free of the Dark One Curse, but he willingly chose to take that power back. Which makes his actions more irritating in 5B. 6A Rumple was god awful. However, I am glad that by 6B he got his shit together (most of the time) and ultimately did the right thing. *I will say that I enjoy Rumple the most when he is in full-on Dad mode. Which is part of why I like him again in 6B. He genuinely cares about his sons, and I believe him when he says he would do anything for them.* Rumple in Season 7 has yet to be determined as I have not finished it yet.

Who's Most Like Me: Ok imma be completely honest I don't actually know. I feel like my answer, if i have one, would just be me projecting myself onto the character and not actually looking at canon.

Most Attractive: Killian is the obvious choice but ngl more than half of the entire cast slays. The costume department is a big reason why. I agree with the idea that most of the budget went towards the costumes and honestly that is 100% valid of them to do.

Three More Characters I Like: Here ya go:

Elsa. Fuck y'all the Frozen arc was great and Elsa was great and she cares about Anna and Kristoff and becomes besties with Emma and doesn't understand talking phones with Killian and she's great and I may or may not have shipped her with Liam (the first) at one point even though there is literally no way that could ever happen but consider this: it'd be cute.

Zelena (Season 5B and onward. Season 7 TBD). I mentioned how she was a very entertaining villain but ngl I think she's even more entertaining when she's on the heroes' side. She still has 100% of her sass, it's just now directed at people who deserve it. Like Fiona for example :D. I also love when she and Regina work together and help each other. I also believe, like Rumple, that she genuinely cares about her daughter, and seeing her go mom-mode is great. Overall, I think she became a much more likeable and enjoyable character after 5A, and especially by mid 6A. Zelena in Season 7 has yet to be determined as I have not finished it yet.

Lily Page. So from what I've seen online I'm not the only one that was hoping to see more of her after Season 4, right? I thought she was an interesting character, and I'm happy she finally reunited with her mom, Maleficent. Lily being her daughter was a plot twist I don't think anyone expected, but I really liked it! I would have honestly loved to see an episode where Lily and Emma, and maybe a few others, go searching for Lily's dad. They introduced that arc for Lily in the Season 4 finale, but then it didn't go anywhere. (Ok so I have been spoiled that it's revealed in Season 7 at the very end but I wish we got more than that ngl). I like Lily, I just wish we got to see more of her.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

4, 20 for the yugioh ask game?

IM GOING TO BE NAILED TO THE CROSS FOR THESE I FEAR

4. Favorite season/story arc

for each series i have seen:

DM: *crying anime girl jpg* SORRY FOR BEING A SEASON 4 LIKER IM SORRY I CANT HELP IT. like objectively battle city is the best arc but Waking the Dragon DOMA Atlantis will forever be where my heart calls home. you had to be there (baby dana in 2004 getting her entire brain chemistry blasted open by cool dragons and rex raptor's soul being ripped out of his body.) again,

GX: i love the first season of GX so much and so genuinely... it's just so silly and fun and the little filler antics make me smile so much. I'm also very fond of season 4 even though it's a pretty divisive one (and a little clunky i will admit).... seeing these kids get ready to graduate and grow up makes me sooo soft ;___;

5Ds: *crying anime girl jpg AGAIN* SORRY FOR BEING 5DS SEASON 2'S STRONGEST SOLDIER IM SORRY I CANT HELP ITTTTTTT like. ok see below there are part of it that Suck but that first chunk of s2 where the gang just dicks around in the garage and bruno is there is just such a treat. anyway also my actual top fav story arc is The Ark Cradle. We Know This. I am genuinely considering getting a custom ARKCRDL license plate for my car. that stretch of episodes is probably My Favorite Chunk of Yugioh Thus Far. it makes me sick in the head. it makes me explode. What if every duel Whipped Like Hell. What if Old Man Divorce happened For Real.

Zexal: god all of zex is so fuckin good but my fav is probably that first chunk of season too, the initial Barian Invasion...it's just peak yugioh hijinks and the horrors have yet to hit and it's FUN. THEY PLAY BASEBALL. RAY SHADOWS IS VERY HERE. GIRAG AND ALITO BESTIES MOMENTS. ART STANLEY.

20. Least favorite season/story arc:

again, for each series:

DM: god KC Grand Prix was bad. i thought it was bad when i was a kid and then i rewatched it and it still Was Not Very Good. i will fight for every other DM filler arc but Not That One. Sorry.

GX: aaaahhhhhh man i gotta say probably season 3....just like. especially that first half of it. When season 3 is good it's REALLY FUCKIN GOOD but it has moments that drag like hell and are just. Not fun to watch. and im still not rly the biggest fan of what they did with Jaden's character in that season...ah well. season 4 brings it home so i cant complain too much.

5Ds: ok yeah i can only defense s2 so much i love you WRGP but when you drag you FUCKING DRAG. WHY IS THE TEAM UNICORN DUEL LIKE 5 EPISODES LONG. THOG DONT CARE. WHERE ARE MY ITALIANS. also i love the dark signers arc but that shit with the ape king. i wish i could delete you from the canon.

Zexal: i actually dont think i have a 'least fav' season or arc! I genuinely had so much fun with all of Zexal and i think there's good to be found in all of it. i luv zexal :]

[mdhwrites]

Do you think if Owl House’s third season were longer instead of being crammed into 3 long episodes, it would’ve been better?

I actually did a blog about this literally the night before the S3 finale and the finale did not prove me wrong!

But I want to emphasize here that a lot of these problems... are due to S2 and S1. S3 is how it is BECAUSE of the writing choices the team made going into it. There were ALWAYS going to be problems with S3 because of how S2A was paced, because of the INSANE decisions made in the face of the shortening in S2B like the Collector. Just the insane amount of mismanaged time. But I like to provide evidence:

No usable villains: S1 had the most amount of threats that could be taken seriously and even they weren't treated the best. The EC were still mostly bumblers who could be taken out by Eda or Hooty with EASE, Lilith is used for comedy far more than threat in S1, even if her role as straight man works to keep some of her menace, Kikimora is barely there and Belos is introduced at the end of the season. All the one off villains are pathetic and usually defeated through brute force in their episodes proving that except by schemes, like Really Small Problems, they're all fucked going against Luz in S2 who now has actual power behind her. So by the end of S1, you have Hunter, Kikimora and Belos. S2A will then go on to make Hunter immediately not a villain, Kikimora a joke by the end of it and ignore Belos entirely until S2B while introducing no new real villains so now they only had BELOS and their time is running out. Also, their only human realm villain is a joke who got beat by Camila, let alone anyone with magic. Speaking of:

Edit: I straight up forgot to mention the coven heads but S2 does technically set them up... and then destroys the coven system, giving them no systemic power, and Luz literally saved all of theirs lives so they have no reason to fight her. Also because the Collector is straight up not a villain in S3, he would not be sending them out to kill people even if that were his style so they don't count as usable villains and neither does the Collector.

Power Scale Issues: In literally the sixth episode, Willow singlehandedly beats the shit out of an entire squad of trained MONSTER HUNTERS without even the element of surprise. She's just that strong. By S2's end, EVERYONE will be at her level. Luz at the START of S2, before glyph combos are introduced, takes down the Selkidamus effectively single handedly. She literally only needed physical strength of pulling the thing in and NO ONE acts like it's a question if she can slay it once she's given a sword. It's really fucking bad. And as they have magic in the human realm, all of these characters are still at that power level for what would have been the first half of the season. This means threats and villains are out of the question. How about character work?

Character Blandness: Willow has no character. She is wishy washy all the way through the series and this is true even in S1 where she is shy for half the episodes and also the most brazen person you know in the other half, sometimes in the same episode. Escaping Expulsion murdered about half of Amity's potential and Reaching Out made sure that there would literally never be a conflict about Lumity and made Amity only a bland love interest with daddy issues and her dad isn't in the human realm so you got nothing on her for the first half. Hunter had to have almost all of his shit dealt with by the end of S2 so he's a certified good guy at their side by the Day of Unity who at least half of the cast have accepted so all you have is backstory angst which they can only do so much of without it being repetitive or boring, especially if you want the BIG reveal to only happen shortly before his possession. Luz has her angst which can't be resolved until post Belos revealing it so you have half a season where NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING. You theoretically have Camila fluff and Vee angst/fluff potentially but people got pissed at Hop Pop and Sprig getting episodes dedicated to them in the human realm instead of the plot. How would most have reacted to characters who have made barely an appearance stealing half a season from the entire Hexide Squad?

Human Realm is Bad: By the end of S1, the Isles has cellphones, it has televisions, it broadcast news, it will fight for a wrong unjustly done, etc. S2 only doubles down as it introduces robots, child endangerment laws and other things that are just part of the human realm. That's why ALL of the fish out of water jokes in Thanks to Them are utter shit and require characters acting like complete morons because the two worlds are the SAME. And they have almost always been that way. The only difference is that one has electricity, the other has magic. As such, going to the human realm is just not compelling. It doesn't even have thematic reasons to do so except I guess to FINALLY actually show Luz being bullied and they didn't even do that in the specials.

And sure, stuff with the resistance could have been neat in the second half. The first half could have included good fluff like Lumity dates and Gus freaking out about the human realm for an episode. But... It would still be needing to introduce elements. It would still be scrambling for ways to fill the time because S2 killed most of the potential for the characters and was so focused on that goal, even in S2A, that it didn't introduce compelling plot elements for drama or good villains to play into its adventure elements.

Could it have been better? Possibly. But a lot of people felt how much S3's specials were just padding. Just wasted time. Now TRIPLE the length of the season?

Yeah... The shortening was a blessing, not a curse.

=======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[thelaithlyworm]

DMBJ Meta: Bai Haotian

So, since I’m in the middle of a Sound of Providence rewatch (I’m up to the murderous puppet theatre), I’m also having thinky thoughts about one of the supporting characters, Bai Haotian, also known as Xiao-Bai (Little Bai).

She’s present in the webnovel as well, incidentally, though she and Warehouse 11 are much less filled out. Anyway. (Some spoilers to follow.)

So Little Bai is a short drink of water, tiny, bright-eyed, who appears when Wu Xie enters W11. She’s extremely helpful, and also extremely mysterious, but after several mini-adventures it’s revealed that the giant flaming crush on him is entirely genuine and also, she’s a third-gen manager of the Warehouse (which is why she knows so much). In season 2, she’s recruited for the Thunder City arc as a diver; in the second half she’s involved in the W11 shenanigans that fill out the season. 

She’s adorable in her own right, but what interests me in the narrative sense is how much she is like Wu Xie when he was a Baby Adventurer, Very Staunch. Young, brilliant, family connections to weird shit but also very sheltered, doggedly loyal to the people she admires. She’s got a lot of talent but also needs some teaching and seasoning before she can compete in the big bad world. Does that sound like our Xiao-Xie? And it’s nice to having someone in that ingenue role since he’s thoroughly aged out of it by now, but also.

If we treat Xiao-Bai as an analogue for Young Wu Xie, in that story Old Wu Xie is a mash-up of two different roles - Xiaoge (his long-time crush) and San-shu (uncle, mentor, tricksy manipulative bastard). And I think that Wu Xie, at least, is aware of the parallels.

So when Wu Xie tells her, “You’re young: you don’t understand the difference between love and worship,” is he also talking to his younger self? Is he looking back fifteen years to the young sprat he was and kindly patting that boy on the head for being enormously silly but sweet? Does he think whatever his *waves hand helplessly* Thing with Xiaoge is, it’s stronger than that or does he also worry that after all this time he’s still... the wide-eyed infant to Xiaoge’s tired self. I mean, on the surface level she’s just found out he’s dying and he wants her not to grieve so much so he’s trying to de-escalate her feelings, and that’s a solid bit of story-telling right there. But Xiao-Bai, and Piaopiao for that matter, have a lot of parallels and resonant themes with what’s going on with the Iron Triangle, and I think this is one of them.

And! A large part of drama plot is Wu Xie’s drive to prove that San-shu (the first one, at least, the one before the Xisha Shipwreck Tomb) was a decent man. That whatever bloody deeds he had done, he was forced into it, that he meant well, that he was doing his best.

The point being, this is Wu Xie post-Sand Sea, where he spent most of a decade being tricksy, manipulative, pragmatic, bloody-handed, using his allies as harshly as his enemies. The actor Zhu Yilong made sure we remembered that every morning he spent extra time painting a bloody great scar on his neck. The text reminds us by bringing in Jiang Zisuan and his accusations which are... inaccurate regarding A-Ning’s death but not without weight, either. Wu Xie’s walked in the footsteps of Third Uncle: he’s done some shit. So it’s interesting to me, and sweet, and bittersweet to be honest, in this quest to prove San-shu was a good man, just how much work Old Wu Xie puts into keeping Xiao-Bai, this mirror of his younger self, safe.

Also she’s cute. Did I mention she’s cute? OMG I could just die.

Anyway, back to the show... Run from the clams, my good man! Run!!

[e-the-village-cryptid]

bix deserved so much better than she got she is the kindest most good-hearted person in this show, she is constantly sticking her neck out for everyone and getting burned for it and she knows she’s gonna get burned for it going in and she does it anyway, she tries to talk herself out of it but she cannot stop herself from protecting the people she loves, it’s just the core of who she is. and yet everyone in her life keeps leaving her or being taken from her and just when you think she had nothing more left to lose, well, enter dedra.

if they stick her with cassian in season 2 and use him for her recovery arc i will be. i will be so pissed off. they better not oh they better not. not unless cassian truly demonstrably gets his shit together. he is not good to her at all!! it’s not just “oh off-and-on relationship” no the relationship breaking is so one-sided on his part!! already in the first few episodes she’s risked herself several times for him, then he leaves and she’s left helping take care of his mother, then she sticks her neck on him for the line again to try to tell him about maarva and of course we all know how well that went.

“oh but cassian rescued her, he’ll always come for her, it’s so romantic” uh uh. no. bare fucking minimum considering he’s the reason she was in there in the first place. and then he dumps her on a ship and leaves again!! entrusts her care to B2 which like yeah we love bee but uh bix needs more than a malfunctioning droid at the moment she needs a fucking doctor she can’t even walk she can barely speak she needs someone to look out for her the way she’s been looking out for everyone this entire time, not to be treated as an afterthought to cassian’s hero story. please bring her to cinta, cinta can put her medic skills to use and i think cinta and bix complement each other really well even though they didn’t really interact and at this moment post-finale both of them have traits that the other really needs, bix needs cinta’s rock-hard strength and commitment and cinta needs bix’s valuation of others’ lives and keeping that core of humanity behind the rebellion

anyway her recovery arc better involve healing through community and support from the rebels and friends who will actually take care of her the way she’s been taking care of her people this whole time, not a romantic relationship and definitely not one with cassian

oh also something else: very upset with everyone calling her “broken” like first of all not a cool thing to say about anyone ever and second of all she has demonstrated she is not. dedra claims in episode 9 that bix eventually gave up all the info under torture but in episode 11 they ask if anto kreegyr is axis, and he looks absolutely nothing like luthen so clearly bix didn’t give them a description of luthen or even basic info like his age. she looked half-dead and could barely move and still wasn’t giving up the most important info she had. she’s the bravest, kindest, strongest person in this show and she deserves better

[thesixthcavalier]

Just finished the annual Alien and Aliens rewatch, usually would do it closer to Halloween but DBD's Alien release got me eager. And once again it's simply stunning how perfectly the movies meld into one another, and how excellently they hold up. The first movie does such a great job of building tension with simple scenes that, in a lot of movies today would just be cut out entirely. Whole extended scenes of characters just walking around a room or down a corridor, arguments between characters, just small things that really build the tension and sense of foreboding. And it does a great job of hiding the Xeno, because obviously the effects were not perfect. The couple of times we see the Xeno full on, on an average television screen today, you can clearly tell it's a guy in a rubbery suit. But you only get that twice in the whole movie, once it's the briefest flash of the creature in the vents and then the scene cuts away, and then at the very end. The rest of the time it's shadows, sharp movements, bits and pieces, and it does such a great job of putting together the idea of this terrifying, stealth killer that is picking apart this crew piece by piece with no real recourse.

Likewise, Aliens is one of the few sequels I can think of that really just says "More is more!" and does it flawlessly. A bigger, badder threat being dealt with by a bigger, badder crew and it's basically the same outcome. It's not as much of a horror movie obviously, but it still does a fantastic job of mounting tension and fear with the trackers and the way the characters respond. You spend about half the movie just getting to know what Ripley is dealing with, how the various characters are going into this, and seeing a bunch of marines who are loaded up to kill whatever they find and treating this like it's going to be a walk in the park, and when shit hits the fan they do respond to it, but between bad leadership and being ambushed, they don't win. It's a pretty fantastic show of scaling up the threat without making it lose it's potency in terms of the terror and the shock.

And again, the effects are so well done. We get to see more of the Xenos obviously, and while they're still not perfect, the lighting and the action is done in such a way that artfully conceals that rather than simply trying to make every scene a thousand cut mess. The Queen looks frightening and imposing, though I think anyone whose seen the movies a couple times can agree that her fight with Ripley in the mech has a couple moments where it looks just a tad silly. But the point is that doesn't detract from the overall excitement and pure adrenaline that is everything else coming together properly.

Every year I watch these movies and Over the Garden Wall as sort of my Halloween season setter, and in all three cases I notice little things that I didn't before, or have new thoughts. I could honestly talk on and on about all of them and all the fun themes and character arcs. But I won't, at least not right now. I know no one will read this, it's just me shouting into the void. And thank god for that, I love being able to shout into the void.

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V2 63

Vinland Saga S2 - Everything that happened to Thorfinn back in the first season finally gets addressed and brought up to Einar, who is understanding but direct with his friend and gives him some words of advice. Thorfinn's newfound humility and steady growth as a person is really reflected here. But then when Einar and Thorfinn find their wheat field has been completely razed, rendering all that hard, long work they put in meaningless, Einar flies into a fury and is quick to assume the farmhands who look down upon them were the culprits. When happening to run into the farmhands that night, Einar's rage forces Thorfinn's hand and he finds himself right back in the realm of violence and bloodshed he'd wanted to leave behind. At the end, his nightmare seems to be coming true: he's falling into Hell once more.

Hunter x Hunter - Gon fights Knuckles while Killua fights Shoot. At this point this plotline has wore out its welcome for me and I just want to move on already. Which we thankfully might be able to do soon since back at the hive, the King is about to hatch prematurely!

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Got some Caster focus at this time as she recalls how she'd initially been summoned for the Holy Grail War by a different mage who ran his own lab that extracted mana and thought he could treat her like garbage even though her magic control exceeded his own. She immolated him to death but got injured by a hit on her from Assassin that Kirei had arranged. She was saved by Kuzuki, who became her new Master. In the present day, Illya's manor is breached by Shinji and Gilgamesh, who uses his Noble Phantasm to kill Illya's homunculus maids. An enraged Illya calls upon Berserker to crush the intruders! It is ON!

Re:ZERO - Very scary and distressing shit in this season's eleventh episode! Beako reveals for just how long she'd been awaiting Subaru to arrive in this world and that she wants him to kill her so that she doesn't have to keep living a slave to her Tome with her spirit tethered to the library. Elsa attacks once again and we meet her co-conspirator, a child from the village named Meili who's a Mabeast controller and wants to kill Subaru and all her fellow villagers (which suggests she was behind the events of Arc 2). Beako gets killed by Elsa and dies in Subaru's arms, using Frederika's crystal to send him back to the Sanctuary, where he finds Emilia has gone mad from the trial's failure and is half possessed by Satella. Roswaal shows just how evil he really is by skewering Garfiel and Ram, and revealing himself to be in possession of the second Tome and that he has been aware of Subaru's Return By Death looping this entire time. And then the goddamn Great Rabbit attacks, kills Roswaal, and nearly kills Subaru again. Subaru dies from all his wounds in the arms of the envious witch, awaiting when it's his time to start over again. Damn.

Symphogear AXZ - I really didn't want to ever have this experience with this anime, but this one pushed it for me; I had to stop watching an episode and not finish it. And I was liking what I was getting up to that point - more cool moments from best girls Kirika and Shirabe, more HibiMiku tenderness, getting to meet the cold and cruel Fudou Kazanari in person, even a posthumous guest appearance by Dr. Ver, which at first I wasn't sure I was going to like but the man is so damn bombastic that he won me over in seconds. But the entire subplot of Maria and Elfnein delving deep into Maria's mind and memories culminated in something that's not just reminiscent of how badly GX botched the arc with Hibiki's father, but reminiscent of that fucking episode of Your Lie In April. Yeah, it pulled the exact same "whitewashing of child abuse" bullshit, insultingly having Maria realize that the physical abuse, experiments, and emotional torment Dr. Nastassja put her and other children through to shape them into child soldiers for a terrorist group wasn't really bad not only because "Mom" felt bad about doing it, but because raising her in a harsh environment made her stronger, ensured she was toughened up and fully ripened and not soft and are you fucking with me right now, Symphogear? Just like with Hibiki's dad, there was a conclusion the character should've been drawing here, one that would've much more interesting and appropriately nuanced and fair to Nastassja's character while still condemning her actions, yet the character is written like a dumbass who takes away the absolute wrong lesson and we're supposed to just be fine with that. Fuck off with that garbage, Symphogear! I expect better from you and am immensely disappointed, my enthusiasm for the rest of this season diminished.

Eureka Seven - Wait, it's fucking recap episode? With not just Renton recapping things but Stoner and Dominic??? Consider me immensely disappointed in you this week too, Eureka Seven!