#agents of shield wank

[tremorsismyhero]

Season 5 is just not my favorite, and a lot of that is how I really, really don’t like the direction they took the characters in 5b. I don’t like how contrived the conflict between the characters is, I don’t like how they had characters either dumbed down or made into the cruelest version of themselves or had the characters completely allergic to nuance or listening to their teammates. All it did was make me angry and wish for the season to end.

However, something that is also EXTREMELY aggravating about season 5 is just how cheap the central conflict of the season is. We are told again and again that time is fixed, that the future is rigid and unchanging, etc. It wasn’t just a claim that Fitz made, it was textually supported in the show by Spacetime in season 3 and by extension the season 3 finale, and by the causal loops in season 5a. Then in order to ‘break the loop’ in season 5 they just… do it. And they do it in a way that feels entirely driven by out of character choices.

The loop breaks because Daisy has the centipede serum, which would imply that this is the only timeline in which Coulson gives it to her, something that’s absolutely ludicrous. Even if this weren’t out of character, the idea that breaking a causal time loop is as simple as a character just making a different choice is on its face lazy. It makes the establishment of the loop feel unnecessary and just for the sake of artificial conflict. Seriously, how could the loop even happen to begin with if characters could just decide to do whatever at the most convenient time? What is purpose of the narrative choice to include a time loop at that point?

I have no problem shows establishing and breaking and rewriting established rules of a universe, that’s part of storytelling and frankly it’s inevitable in long form media like television.

What I have a problem with is when you break rules in major, status quo changing ways with little to no explanation simply because you raised the stakes so high that you have no way of resolving your narrative without doing so. It feels incredibly lazy. “How do we solve this massive threat wherein the only solution is counter to the established rules of the narrative? We just do. No more question.”

Season 5 just comes off as incredibly unpolished and lazy for all of these reasons, and it’s made even more noticeable after season 4, which is one of the most polished, tightly written, and well paced seasons of television I’ve ever seen.

[shinelikethunder]

You mentioned in one of ur posts abt dunking on agents of shield and im so curious what writing you were talking abt (genuine question i love AOS but i’m bad at recognising bad writing lmao and i’m nosy)

under a readmore because AoS is one of the few bad shows i've ever given enough fucks about to outright fucking loathe

i made it through all of, like, two seasons before i ragequit, so i can't speak to anything it did afterwards, but i am always down to clown on those two seasons for being creepy culty police-state apologia, having one of the most egregious cases i've ever seen of "entire fictional universe contorted into a rube goldberg machine whose sole job is to frantically prop up a shambling putrid mess of protagonist-centric morality," spending its CA:TWS tie-in throwing spite tantrums at the whole movie for having the gall to suggest that Maybe The Real Tyranny Was The Post-9/11 Security State We Built Along The Way, devolving from mediocre but serviceable case-of-the-week in s1 to undifferentiated arc-plot mush in s2...

like i know the fandom likes to wank eternally about Ward, but he was at most a moderately entertaining symptom of a show that never met a jackboot it didn't want to fellate sloppy style, yet lacked the skill to even make a point except by flinging ever-more-ludicrous strawmen at the screen. its tragedy was always that the characters were just likeable enough to make you wanna scoop them up and find them a forever home on a show that was slightly less dogshit.

obviously different people watch shows for different reasons and get completely different things out of them; i assume AoS fans have their own aspects they're invested in, likely involving the characters and having very little to do with the show's politics. i'm not accusing them of anything except, like, dubious collective taste in character-centric flamewars. but i cannot watch it without going into a white-hot rage and wasting more words on it than it deserves, and my mid-2010s back catalog of stupid fucking hills to die on includes "my reasons for finding this show rancid may not be relevant to your viewing priorities, but they are an unassailably fucking valid reading of those first couple of seasons."

[vivalasthedas]

if you ever want a guide on how to make your characters insufferable, irresponsible, wank rags. Don't know why you would. But agents of shield season 5. My god. Am I meant to like ANY of the 'agents'?

[moonlayl]

Some of y’all criticize comic inaccuracies in live action movies like your lives DEPEND on it, except when it comes to adapting poc and female characters from the comics into the big screen. Then it’s “but no one asked for this!!!” despite plenty of people having asked for it.

[jazzycasino]

Obviously WV is doing numbers so why are her stans so threatened by FATWS? It’s trailers got more views than WV within 24 hours of it being shown. Ppl have been wanting a show like fatws for YEARS no one cared about Wanda until endgame and that’s the hard truth. She came from age of ultron the worst rated avengers movie that didn’t do as good and despite how I feel about it the winter soldier is still TO THIS DAY one of the most successful mcu films. You walk up to anyone and ask them what’s their favorite mcu movie, tws will be one movie that is named. General public WILL be tuning in for fatws the numbers DONT lie.

I’m tired of whitewashed Wendy stans getting bold targeting black and other characters of color. Your character was literally stripped of being Romani Jewish and was instead given a made up nationality and to make it even worse her and her brother volunteered to work with a N@zi organization. So y’all are the LAST people to even call a show staring a black man boring or and reducing it to just guns and fighting when we all know it’s going to be more than that(of course they don’t want to acknowledge the fact the show will be tackling how a white America reacts to a black man being captain America). Armor Wars was just announce I doubt it’s even started to film right now and what are they doing? Making more racist and ableist jokes about Rhodes.Not to mention how y’all are treating Daisy Johnson from Agents or S.H.I.E.L.D who’s the first Asian American woman to LEAD that show for 7 seasons alongside Ming-Na Wen. Your girl isn’t even a mutant anymore but yeah let’s bash on the woc who’s an Inhuman.

My question is next week which new non white character and fans of that character will they harass? I will be glad when this show ends so I wont have to hear from them,and about them for quite awhile. They won’t have as large of a voice and I’m more than okay with that. For weeks on end I’ve had to see them silence and take away the voices of many Romani and Jewish ppl who have voices their issues with the character, actress, and show itself.

[magickgirl786]

Honestly I feel like I’m living under a rock because this is the first I’m hearing about them potentially recasting Quake in the MCU

But like if they do that I will be so fucking mad.

I don’t give a fuck that they don’t want AoS to be part of the MCU

Chloe worked incredibly hard for SEVEN years to make Daisy the incredible character that she is and she does not deserve to have her character finally be in the MCU but not get to play her.

Also, just because AoS is not technically part of MCU canon does not mean Chloe can’t be part of the MCU. They let Clark Gregg continue to be part of the MCU so why can’t they do the same with Chloe?

tldr: either they should choose a different character for Secret Invasion instead of Quake or cast Chloe in the role. It’s not that hard MCU.

[hecckyeah]

Ugh I just saw someone be like sousa deserves peggy he's too good for daisy and even people who disagree are like oh but she's in love with her ex, he can be with daisy like that's the only reason Excuse me?? I like Peggy I enjoyed agent carter but Daisy ＞＞＞＞ She has been through so much, sacrificed so much, saved the world so many freaking times, her powers are insane and because she's been in a show for 7 seasons she's the most developed superhero in Marvel tv/cinema the absolute disrespect

Totally agree, anon 👌

The thing about fandoms (and literally everything else in the universe) is that everyone is going to have different opinions.

I firmly believe that there is no one that is too good for my girl Daisy, because she deserves the best.

And yes, I love Peggy too, especially in Agent Carter. But personally, I was never sold on Peggysous. The second I watched CA:TFA for the first time, I was hooked on Steggy and no one could change my mind 😂

But I did get attached to Sousa, and I'm just SO GLAD they're (probably, hopefully) giving him a happy ending with a girl who's not going to break his heart again.

Same with Daisy. Like you said, she has been through SO MUCH. She more than deserves this, and I really think there could not be anyone better for her than our resident Bad-Boy-Boy-Scout-Dorky-Square Daniel Sousa. They just complement each other so well and their chemistry is *chef's kiss* and now I'm emotional again because I don't want to see them go 😭

Ignore the hate, Anon. It's always gonna be out there. At this point I've basically just hunkered down in my little Dousy blanket fort 😂 Oh, and stay the heck off twitter for sure. It's a minefield over there right now 😳

[2minutes2midnight]

I miss Fitz. I really do. I miss Fitzsimmons. I miss Bus Kids. I just miss my team being all together. And I’m sad because we have only 3 episodes left of series and I already know I will not see many dynamics I love before it ends. I’m not gonna see bus kids with Philinda, I’m not gonna see May hugging Fitz, I’m not gonna see all of them being just together. I mean there is still chance but I lost hope already.

But when I miss my favorite character and actor, when I’m really sad because of lack of Fitz in this season - I really can’t understand people being angry at writers, cast, crew...even Iain. I mean...what the hell? He’s a real person, he has his personal life and has right to miss season for whatever reason it was. And no one owns us explanations. His friends are not gonna tell you why he wasn’t there...you know why? Because they’re friends and they know it’s not our business. So really people should calm down and stop acting like this cast and crew own them anything. I’m more mad because of decision of producers or promo team that they act like Fitz is there - when he’s not and that they didn’t mention the fact he’s not series regular even once. Maybe if they tell us - look his not series regular, but he’s gonna be in the end of series - I could enjoy season 7 more, because now I’m spending more time waiting for him than focusing on the rest. Don’t get me wrong - this season is great but I just don’t feel it in 100%.

It’s okay to miss your favorite character, but what’s not okay - it’s harassing cast and crew because of that.

And from positive side - I believe...or better I know - that Iain is gonna kill it in those few scenes ha has.

[i-have-zero-chill]

I actually just witnessed a bunch of people on twitter straight up call someone a Nazi sympathizer for shipping Malick and Garrett as a joke... It’s a crackship the whole point is that it’s ridiculous. It’s not as if people are shipping Daisy with Malick or something. It’s just shipping two villains that’s it. How you can jump to calling someone a Nazi sympathizer for that and think you’re doing something is beyond me. Twitter is truly a cesspool.

[eclecticmuses]

look don’t get me wrong I am very glad that Agents of SHIELD is ending on its own terms instead of going out open-ended but IMHO it’s dumb as shit to end your network Marvel superhero TV show and then immediately turn around and be like oh WAIT we are developing A WHOLE NEW ONE

[imaslowlearner-butilearn]

Hey remember when Fitz tied Daisy down on a table and cut into her with a knife?

The writers sure don’t :)

[sunalsolove]

AoS Hiatus and Fanfic Numbers

This hiatus has been long, and hard. Agents of SHIELD fans have had very little to keep them going during it. Ther set was on lockdown for the filming of S6, and we got very little. So far S7 is shaping up to be the same. (Hopefully, Wondercon will break this trend?) And we’re getting *something* in two days. (I WANT IT NOW) 

I would argue that the backbone of a fandom is its content creators. Those making moodboards, aesthetics, meta posts, fanfic, and fanart. I’ve been hearing a lot of from other AoS content creators that they feel like no one is paying attention. They can’t get reblogs, kudos, any of the things that we all thrive on. 

I thought it was my imagination at first, or that the holidays were responsible for a slow do, but the truth is, the casual fans aren’t here. I hope they come back with season six, because it becomes demotivating when you feel like you’re talking to a void. 

To illustrate this, that people are just not engaged with AoS right now, I’m going to use a subset of data on my own fics- kudos, hits, and comments from my FitzSimmons E rated one-shots over the last year (approximately). There is some wiggle in the numbers, because the longer something has been up, the more it’s probably been read, but long experience has taught me that with a one shot, the vast majority of hits, kudos, and comments come in the first couple weeks something has been up, it falls to a trickle after that. 

You could also argue maybe I just started writing really terrible lately, but since I’m hearing the same thing from creator after creator...I don’t think that’s the case. 

First off, the hardcore fans, the ones that comment on a fic? They’re still here. The number of comments on a fic have stayed relatively stable over time.  (I love all y’all). This data is in no way me complaining about numbers, especially because the core fandom is full of beautiful, supportive people. 

My argument is that having such a long hiatus has driven away the casual fans. And that the drop in numbers has driven away content creators as well.  In other words, hiatus hurt the fandom. In a way I’m not sure it’ll recover from. 

Kudos have fallen over the last year. The big dips tend to be very porny things, like hardcore BDSM, but the overall trend is visible. 

This trend is even more striking with hits. 

This post is not to shame anyone or a call for people to go read or kudos.  It’s to offer a hug to other creators and go: no, it’s not in your head. All of this goes double (or triple) for anyone writing a smaller pairing. 

It’s not your fault. Your work is amazing. Don’t get discouraged because of numbers. Hiatus has just hurt us all. 

[theclaravoyant]

I’ve got a lot of comments on that Joey Gutierrez post including but not limited to:

- people adding canonically queer characters from related marvel franchises eg. defenders, the comics, which I wouldn’t consider mcu but one could make a case

- people adding canonically queer characters from unrelated franchises as if they think I think Joey is the first gay character in anything ever and am a fakewoke marvel worshipping sheeple

- people adding non-canonically queer characters who are from the mcu

- people informing me that Joey is from Agents of Shield (even though that’s literally in the post, in fact it’s kinda the point of the post)

and the best/worst of them and I honest to god think this person must be joking

- “can- can you not politicise marvel movies please?”

I literally do not know where to start with that. I do not. Even. What.

[fiovske]

man, i really wish the MCU hadn't abused the Accords as a petty trigger for a Tony vs Steve feud bc the Accords are a very serious issue and the MCU doesn't examine the pros and cons of the accords or deal with any consequences of it thereafter, it just sidelines the whole political issue of the accords for a certified big bad™ Thanos bc clearly the MCU doesn't have the nuance to tell an impartial story of the Accords without taking sides.

The Accords aren't necessarily a bad thing. There should be a legislature to keep this American private organisation in check! They run rampant on foreign soil and answer to nobody, that's vigilante work! and when someone comes into my own house, blows up my roof and says, "don't worry! this is for the greater good!" you bet i am going to be pissed bc idc what greater good! you just destroyed my own home! looking at Team Cap through the post-colonial perspective really rattles you, let me tell you that. People who are "superheroes" need to be held responsible for their actions.

Note: The Avengers don't even issue a public apology after Lagos, which should've been done pronto. Steve says "we can't save everyone" and it sounds dismissive bc yes even though you can't save everyone it doesn't really weigh on you that foreign civilians lost lives, on foreign soil bc you refused to involve some officials in the loop and evacuate the areas to avoid any collateral damage in the measure of lives. You should sign the Accords bc you owe it to the people you have sworn to protect!

On the other hand, Steve also has a point for not signing the Accords and i hate that the Russos make it more personal than political bc it is a political issue and should be examined as such! Steve's reasons for signing should've been more than just "the safest hands are still our own". As a non-American, that sentence terrifies me.

That being said, once they sign, a natural list of their names are made. And anytime lists are made the names on the lists stand as a threat, to others and to themselves as well. (this issue is very well explored in Agents Of Shield season 4 i think)

But the fact that you can't trust the people who are asking you to sign the Accords is also very telling. The militant agenda of "either sign the Accords or go to prison/retire" ...is messed up. But as Natasha's says, "one hand on the steering wheel and you can still drive". If you don't do it it'll be done to you anyway because 117 countries don't feel safe around you, pal!!!! that's messed up!!! if you wanna change some terms and shit, sign it! Get on board and work @ it from the inside. In cases like these stubborn headassery does not work! Plus, if you sign, you can have the Accords ammended, why give up that position of power that you may be able to hold if you just stop punching your way through things?

Also, we never see any consequences for people who sign, its just a passing ref of "The Accords". We don't see the red tape or the bureaucracy that goes into the agendas that Steve so vehemently detests, and fresh from the Winter Soldier plot, he has every right to. But then again, i hold a belief that TWS shouldn't have been a Captain America movie. At least not yet. We should've had a chance to explore Steve Rogers in the 21st century. He's a different man now from the one who went under 70 years ago. We should've had the chance to see him, his PTSD and his breaking and rising instead of him being used as a cardboard cutout of "Captain America: the concept". We don't get to explore the Steve Rogers story but that's a whole other post, anyway my point re: The Accords. You see when lists are made of people, there's a high chance of that list falling into wrong hands and being abused. Up and coming superheroes would have a hard time bc they are liable to being discovered. But they also need guidance and as bad as it sounds they are a threat to themselves as they are to the general population. But they are also people and its a very very tricky territory to deal in when you bring in the issue of enhanced humans etc. See, this is a very difficult issue and we should have actually had a nuanced movie that deals with the pros and cons of the Accords in equal measure.

Instead we get that the movie was basically to drive Tony and Steve into opposite camps so as the "break the Avengers apart" for angst value so when Thanos comes they're unable to fight back. Lame, that's a lame excuse.

What i'm saying is: The Accords shouldn't have been a Captain America movie in the first place. It's an issue that should have been examined more attentively for the complexity that it carries and independently of a bias that it is so inclined to bc of the damn title of the movie itself— at the end of the day it was a Captain America movie. And that itself explains why putting it a tailend movie in a titular trilogy was the wrong way to go about dealing with something of this magnitude.

[moonlayl]

One argument that’s really annoying to hear post 5x14 is “Daisy should’ve gotten Fitz actual professional psychological help because he’s mentally ill instead of locking him up and for that she’s bad”

I’m sorry, but have you watched the show? Were you paying attention to ANYTHING in season 5?

The entire shield team are fugitives. Like yes, ideally, Fitz definitely needed help, but they couldn’t give him that help??? Like they literally couldn’t? How are they supposed to trust any professional and allow them access into their secret base during a highly critical situation, when they’re literally fugitives, have hydra, the government and aliens trying to get their asses, AND the end of the world is only days away?

And you guys are acting like Fitz was stuck in solitary and wasn’t allowed to see anyone and was locked up with nothing to do.

This dude had Jemma never leaving his side and visits from Deke, and despite threatening Yoyo’s safety while she was unconscious, getting Mack shot, and restraining Daisy to perform surgery on her which could've PERMANENTLY PARALYZED HER FROM THE NECK DOWN, he was still around to know what was going on and give his input and help.

Plus he was freed like three days later.

And like i said, getting him actual help in that specific time wasn’t possible, so was Daisy supposed to let the man who attacked her, attacked another member, and violated her roam free when he could potentially hurt someone again???

[blancasplayground]

Hey, I’ve found my fandom antithesis for AoS. Every opinion this person has, I seem to have the exact opposite opinion. I’ve never hit the block button faster. I think both of our online experiences will be happier this way.