#and it's creating a lot of weird expectations for season two that don't seem to take into account the tone/genre/medium of the show

[earthstellar]

what are some other nice moments from Rescue bots?

This show is loaded with them!!! :)

Here we go, some nice moments in Rescue Bots!!

I'm going to write this with the assumption that some people reading this may not have ever seen Rescue Bots or might only be somewhat familiar, as I realise the target audience skews much younger than most Transformers media does, so I'm not 100% sure how popular it was outside of that demographic in total.

Off the top of my head:

-There is an in-universe VR game called Element Quest that has a couple really good episodes, the design is cute and there are tons of meme references. Blades, at one point, goes "I used to like video games. Then I took an arrow to the knee." LOL

-I think it's cool how they actually do tie in their continuity with TFP's continuity. For example, "What Rises Above" (RB) canonically comes before "Nemesis Prime" (TFP), and this is directly referenced in the dialogue in TFP when Optimus says that he is late arriving to the base as he was exploring an underground energon deposit-- This is the deposit he explores with the Rescue Bots.

-THERE IS A MUSICAL EPISODE. IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD

-Woodrow Burns, the Chief's brother, is kind of an idiot asshole, although he's not actively malicious. But he is great with the kids and for whatever reason the only thing I can ever remember about this character is when he goes up to Cody after it's been a long time since he saw him last and says "You've grown a whole foot since the last time I saw you-- Now you'll need three socks!" IDK I just think that's a real cute dad joke thing to say to a little kid lol :')

-There is an episode where they explore the local folklore of Griffin Rock, and TL;DR the local lore is that their island is where literal griffins used to nest seasonally. So throughout the episode, there's this kind of vibe of "OK are these electrical magnetic pulses or whatever like a science problem or a magic problem" and it's actually a very cute and fun vibe, especially since Cody is talking about the lore in the first place as part of his work towards a Scouts badge and Blades is very cute in this episode, the bots are all like "okay magic isn't real but uhhh what if magic's real?" for a minute and it's great :')

-Doc Greene/Green creates a ton of fun science devices throughout the show, but the names of some are just so doofy and fun. I love the "Torna-Don't", which is a thing designed to dispel tornados. Of course. lmao

-All the weird small town local events are also very silly and cute, and weirdly realistic for those of us who are familiar with this kind of local event thing, lmao. One of my favourite concepts is one of what seems to be several crawdad-related festivals, in which there is apparently a televised crawdad race. It's a bunch of shrimps put on a tiny racetrack, like Olympic runners. LOL

-At one point, Blurr shows up, and when the Rescue Bots are trying to acclimate him to working with humans, Chase is like "Humans seem to have two genders, which are defined by how many cooties they have." This implies that as far as the Rescue Bots are aware, 1) cooties are real and 2) human gender is defined solely by how many cooties a person has, and not by anything else, thus leaving their understanding of human gender fairly open (and it is also clear they have solely learned about gender from young kids in a small town which is likely why they state there are two genders but then make it clear that gender is a cooties thing and not an inherently physical thing, which makes sense in context and is kind of great because it gives more leeway for gender diversity than I expected) and I love this a lot. What is human gender? Cooties. That's all. So someone with a particularly high number of cooties could be another gender altogether, because why not?

-There is a body swap episode, which treats us to Blades in Dani's body trying on dresses in her room. He picks an orange and white one, which matches his paint job. I also love this a lot.

-Heatwave is gruff as hell especially at the start of the series and constantly starts shit or perpetuates shit with Kade, which is super funny. Just this centuries old Cybertronian fucking with this doofus boy who keeps leaving donuts in his cab. God dammit Kade, lmao.

-There is an episode where Cody is aged up via Science Device, and we get to see an older Cody, who more closely resembles his father than his older brother does. It's cute that he'll look like his dad when he's older. :')

During this episode, he assists in a rescue, and the girl his brother has a crush on tries to hit on him, but he clearly doesn't get what's happening and thinks it's icky because of course he does, he's a kid. I just think this scene is handled well and it's cute that his reaction to being hit on is still "ewww girls" but his brother is still absolutely pissed off about it anyway LMAO like jesus Kade, relax

-Kade's mostly an asshole but he's shown to be a really good rescuer who genuinely cares about people, and he has moments where he really comes through for his family and realises on his own that he should shut up and back down on his bullshit, thus making him a better developed and more realistic asshole brother character than 99% of asshole brother characters in most shows. I think this is pretty solid because it does lead to effective character development here and there, and it makes his positive moments with his family and the bots that much nicer. :)

-Cody is such a good kid. He is often willing to give people or ideas a chance when nobody else will, and even though he's too young to actively participate in most missions, he stays involved by helping at their dispatch centre. He's a smart little dude, who has a lot of heart and a ton of potential. One of the few child characters in anything that I actually like, because I think they write him extremely well: He is young, but he is not stupid. He is not treated like an accessory or like the property of his family, he's his own person with a distinct personality within his family, with a reasonable amount of autonomy. And he's a person who is still learning and has valuable contributions while also needing guidance or support at times. 10/10

-Dani gradually gets better at helping Blades deal with his flight anxiety (and sticks up for him when the others might mock him a little for it), and this is not only inherently very nice and cute, but it also makes a lot of sense as she is a first responder/medic and we see her offer the same reassurances towards the people she helps to rescue.

-The writing for the Burns Family in general is some of the best family group character writing in anything tbh, they handle the family dynamic so well in this show, and it's extra cute as the Rescue Bots all learn a lot from observing how the family takes care of one another and the townspeople they rescue. :')

-Blades has anxiety. I also have anxiety, so I am biased and clearly love this dude, lmao. He's so fucking relatable and even though sometimes the others rip on him, it is clear that they're also very proud of him for trying his best to deal with a situation which for him is particularly difficult (he was forced to take a flight capable alt-mode when this is something he is explicitly not comfortable with) and his team mates do support him, even though Heatwave is a douche sometimes (although it is clear this is usually due to stress or something else and that the actual problem isn't Blades). Over the course of the series, Blades does develop a little more confidence, and it's very cute and nice to see him puffing himself up a little more. :)

-The overall attitudes the bots have towards humans in this show is sweet. It's clear they don't really understand humanity or humans as a whole, but it also doesn't really matter because they are so specifically oriented to their local population on the island and their focus is a relatively small community of humans. They take their duties seriously and will protect this population, even if they don't really understand the people outright. They gradually start to respect the locals (and the Burns Family) more and more as they work with them, and get acclimated to Earth. They love their dumbass weird little humans :')

This leads to a lot of fun shenanigans with the bots not understanding things, or only understanding things as they have been explained by the children, which is hilarious.

-There is an episode where local thieves steal Chase, and inspired by Cody's school drama project, he decides to go undercover after watching a bunch of old detective movies. This includes him narrating things to himself, which he is called on when Dani enters the garage and asks him "Why are the lights off? Are you talking to yourself?" lmao

-Although it isn't explicitly canonical, it's easy to interpret both Chase and Blades as being neurodivergent. Both of them display various behaviours and traits which can potentially be understood in this way, and I'm just glad that there's a show for kids where two of the main characters, who are rescue workers, are shown to be competent and skilled at their jobs and accepted by the community for who they are while also being neurodivergent. <3 It's such a good vibe when the other characters support or defend these two in particular, especially when Chase or Blades might be confused or upset about something. Chief Burns is especially great working with Chase.

-Any episode where Optimus shows up in Rescue Bots usually has some gems of cuteness/silliness. The Elvis line still takes me out, LMAO. "You're bigger than Elvis!" "I have not met this Elvis, and I am unaware of his size." 10/10 writing, I fucking love Rescue Bots

-The bots constantly call out a bunch of details that are entirely appropriate for robots from space to notice and recognise as somewhat weird, whereas a lot of the human characters are so used to 1) being human and 2) living on this incredibly weird little technologically advanced island that nothing really phases them anymore. So we can actually identify more with the bots at time, despite the fact that they are also providing an outsider point of view, which is really clever! :)

-The theme song is a fucking banger. It's so good. I love this song so much. I wish we got a full version of it, but this is the best extended version of it that I've been able to find. Enjoy!!!

-There's a lot of fairly adult stuff in the show, more than I think people realise! The tone can never get too dark outright as it is intended for young kids as the primary demographic, but there's a lot of situations, conversations, etc. that are genuinely engaging and interesting from an adult perspective, which is a large part of what makes it a great watch for all ages.

Some situational examples include scenarios where children are imperilled in natural disasters, accidents, even kidnapping at one point.

Non-kid related situations include risks and threat to civilians from AI development and the dangers that uncontrolled or poorly thought out technology can cause or exacerbate, which is significant in context and also interesting to think about given our current relationship IRL with rapid tech development and concerns around how that technology is being made and applied, either in reality or in theory.

Some dialogue examples include scenes where the bots mention their grief over being unable to save Cybertron, a sense of guilt that they were in stasis for so long even though this was beyond their control, awareness that they may be the last Rescue Bots team in operation on Earth or anywhere else in the universe (a sense of loneliness and a responsibility as the last upholders of their specific creed), struggles with their sense of duty and concerns around their ability to fulfil their expectations for themselves and meet the expectations of others while rising to the demands of their unique situation, and so on.

--

this is already pretty long lmao, there's a ton of stuff I really like about Rescue Bots, but I hope this might encourage others to check out the show if you haven't before, it's well worth a watch! :)

[snitchesnsneeds]

First Half of Miraculous Season 2 Done. Here's my thoughts:

The Collector: A pretty good start! They made the teens smart while still being dumb teens!

Despair Bear: Chloe needs a therapist, arguably moreso than a redemption arc and especially a downward villainous spiral. Also Dangit Grandpa

Prime Queen: Wow, this was a lot more chill than expected. Even Cat Noir was left aghast at what Nadja was doing, Nadja seemed to be pressuring Ladybug and Cat Noir more for views than anything else, and I'm not entirely sure Akuma personalities can be trusted.

Befana: Fun fact: This was the episode that got me into Miraculous in the first place because of how shocking it was. And then I discovered even more. In hindsight from watching the other episodes, it was relatively darker, but mostly because it's Marinette's friends and family that are getting G-rated killed instead of random civilians like every other episode.

Riposte: Kagami is here! I don't see too much chemistry with her and Adrien yet, but she's cool and I like her and feel like I could be friends in real life. Also this feels like a relatively uncommon trope, but I wish "X is blatantly a woman but no one notices" was spedran through by someone with brains.

Robustus: Pretty good, all things considered. From what I've heard about Miraculous lore, creating sapient or at the very least semi-sapient AI isn't that uncommon for weirdness hotspots, and I'm putting Max in the list of characters I think should have figured out Ladybug and Cat Noir's identity. (There's four now!)

Gigantitan: It turns out my favorite parts of Miraculous are the slice-of-life bits instead of the superhero bits the show is about! We got to see more of Marinette's friends! Alix! Mylene! Julie! The Eeby Deeby herself! Also it was really sweet to see Adrien's bodyguard calm down just by looking at the kid. Adrien's true daddy.

Dark Owl: No wonder these two aren't allowed to know eachothers' identities, considering how much of a loose tongue Marinette has!

Glaciator: Alright, it's finally time to talk about the sins of Marinette and Cat Noir, considering the fan content I osmosed before watching the series was heavy salt stuff, and I wanna see how much it holds up. So far Cat Noir has acted as if he's already dating Ladybug previously, and in this episode he got mad at Ladybug for not showing up at a date when she herself said she might not come due to having other plans. Isn't he supposed to be used to not-showing-up disappointment as Adrien due to his dad? Is it different because he's Cat Noir? Is this a breaking point? No matter, he eventually calms down and is ultimately the less bad member of the relationship. Marinette, meanwhile, doesn't have as many misdemeanors to her name but they're a lot worse. She stole Adrien's phone to get rid of an embarrassing message and got away with it too, what the hell, and also owns the schedule. Although I don't believe she stalked Adrien and made it herself due to how busy she is as both Marinette and Ladybug, that's just weird and wrong. I'm reluctant to call her a stalker, but her actions are still wrong. Ultimately, this relationship is going to need a lot of therapy and counseling to not crash and burn. What were we talking about again? Oh yeah. The ice cream episode. I think the ice cream guy can be wrong and he doesn't understand that.

Sapotis: Silly little fun episode, also it introduces the first new Miraculous holder! I'm honestly fine with it so far if it means more screentime for side characters. I honestly really like seeing Marinette's classmates. They're neat. Also I was this close to putting Alya on the list but she proves time and time again that she doesn't actually know Ladybug's identity.

Gorizilla: In this episode we are introduced to Adrien's deranged parasocial fanbase. I'm starting to understand some of his father's decisions at this point. This is what I was talking about with the schedule, by the way. These obsessive stalker creeps make Marinette look reasonable, and I wouldn't be surprised if the one guy who I'm pretty sure becomes Party Crasher discreetly stalked Adrien to get his schedule. Restraining orders need to be filed.

Captain Hardrock: One of the funniest episodes, up there with Dark Cupid. Also Luka is here! And he already has great chemistry with Marinette! And more Rosie and Julie content even if it's crumbs!

[elderflowergin]

Hey hey! I don't know if can articulate it as well as you. But, My Dearest has endeared me to him quite a bit(a lot). I am in the rabbit hole at this point, currently on episode 12 of Hot Stove League, and it is so weird to see him so demure(?) compared to his other roles where he does use his full body quite a lot to express himself. Here, he gets shoved around and startled, and it's a far cry from the sword wielding warrior he is in My Dearest. But he does it so well, I kinda want to cradle his face in my hands and until he sees himself the way I see him, which is 😍😍( when he held a baby for the first time). I also stopped One Dollar Lawyer for similar reasons and The Veil. However, I did spend some time on Falsify(a hidden gem, truly). Him and Oh Junge Se are brothers, journalists, and it delves into the world of journalism and the responsibility of media in shaping public opinion etc, I haven't finished but he's so good at, I don't what to call him, to put it simply, a man who is angry at what has been 'done' to his brother and by extension him. By the way, any hopes or expectations for the 2nd part of My Dearest, for the characters and the story? I kinda don't want to create any illusions of what is to come, and just enjoy the story for it is but ahh, the situation looks so dire. Thanks for welcoming me into your inbox.

Hi again Anon! I completely get you. I loved how different he was in Hot Stove League - it’s such a restrained performance. The character of Baek Seung-soo is interesting to me because he feels like a cold and distant person when you see him, and you realise how principled and generous he is only through his actions. It’s a challenge for any actor, and I love that he did it well and was such a good foil for both Park Eun-bin and Oh Jung-se. I don’t wish to cradle his face (I’m afraid I’d break it) but I did want to put him in my pocket and carry him everywhere.

Sadly Falsify doesn’t seem to be on any of my services, so I will have to wait until the coming Namgoong Minaissance encourages someone to carry it. I didn’t check it out so I didn’t know he plays Oh Jung-se’s brother, which is fascinating to me since I loved their arc in Hot Stove League. Thank you for telling me more about this show!

As for Namgoong Min in My Dearest: he is so expressive and I absolutely love that about watching him.

I could go on and on (and I will!) but I’ll talk about one scene in particular: the one where he carries Ahn Eun-jin across the riverbed which rewired my brain. She’s being carried by him, which must be a novel sensation, since she’s alive to his body in a way the other girls were not. She sees the perspiration on his face, and you can see how it makes her feel, how she’s overwhelmed by — not handsomeness, really, but pure attraction and want. She’s almost entranced, and she touches his face, his sweat, which is, yes, gross, but deeply intimate, like blood. And he notices; how can he not when she touches his temple? He could probably feel her gaze from a mile away, let alone a physical touch. And so he turns and looks at her, and that face says so much, reflecting so much possession, want and banked desire.

Both actors are so subtle and wonderful, and yet convey the undeniable attraction between the characters. For two people who talk nonstop at each other and deny their feelings throughout it all, their true feelings reveal themselves with surprising ease in other ways. I love that so much.)

As for season 2: I didn’t like how their arc ended at the last episode of part 1, but I don’t think it was inconsistent with Jang Hyeon’s character or bad writing necessarily. I’m ultimately glad Gil-Chae stayed with her family. I hope Gil-chae and Ryang Eum become besties. I hope Gil-chae continues to be the successful businesswoman that she is. I hope her friends remain by her side. I think Jang Hyeon has a lot of work and growing up to do. I get that the storyline needs them back together, so for what it’s worth I hope he grovels and begs and is a repentant, changed man when he returns to her.

(I understand that this isn’t a prevalent opinion about them as a couple, and I’m fine with that! I also get that all of this is unlikely to happen, so I’m not resting my hopes on it :’().

Thank you Anon for letting me go on and on about this. Happy watching Namgoong Min and I hope Oct 13th gets here soon! ❤️

[jaywritesrps]

I saw this post on L Chat and I wanted to share here cause it was very accurate. I am going to cut some parts too invasive, but the rest is a good point:

"Okay, can you all chill a little about Sophia and Ashlyn? We know nothing more than what we know already, and there's too much here that is just stuff people create in their heads and others believe for nothing. Many of the info you are spreading we will never know if it's true or not cause it's not our damn business.

About Sophia's lovelife, herself and her friends talked a couple of times about this subject. She said herself that she had two major flaws: she is too gullible (as in she can see the other person flaws, but she ignores it and chooses to focus on the person's positive traits rather in the negatives) and she is/was a people's pleaser, which makes her doing whatever it takes to fit in on the expectations on her (you can get these infos on her both podcasts and in her interviews. But if you don't feel like looking cause they are a lot, watch the interview she gave to Michael Rosembaum in 2021, which is one of the a few times she talks about CMM, and the one she gave to Jameela Jamil two months ago) Hilarie confirmed this in one of the early episodes of Drama queens when she told that one of the problems her and Sophia had in the first seasons of OTH was cause Hilarie said straight on her face what was going to happen in her relationship with Chad Michael Murray and Sophia got pissed at Hilarie for trying to warn her. Many fans pointed that pattern too at each new relationship she made public.

Now focusing only in her marriage with Grant, this happened with him too. Many fans pointed out that she seemed a lot more into him than he was into her. You could see she was putting too much effort and not getting the same in return. In Grant's defense, I think he was relief when she asked for the divorce, cause he was very quick to erase any sign of her existence or their marriage in his IG. Prior the rumors of her being with Ashlyn started, and even prior to Cannes, many of her likes from IG were about stopping letting people making you feel small and unwanted, or to stop letting other's define you or tell you how you should feel or invalidate your feelings. So the marriage was faded to die, Ashlyn was just the last drop.

With that being said, this relationship between them is far too new to anyone say anything yet or to determinate how their dynamics are or even if Sophia or Ashlyn are repeating their patterns.

So far, the solid things we have are:

1) they are a couple

2) they went to Rapinoe's retirement party as a couple

3) they went to Big Sur together

4) they did tattoos together

5) they are balancing schedules to spend time

6) Sophia looked happy in the events she went and in recent podcasts while Ashlyn is avoiding the drama from fans, that are fed by cryptic messages from Kyle Krieger, focusing on attacking solely Ashlyn (If you think about it, we didn't heard Ali's side of the story directly from her, cause the only thing she did was posting a vague message and let the internet helldogs create stuff. But she didn’t really said anything, which per se is weird overall)

7) it looks like it's a serious deal for them

Anything outside of these is pure speculation. We didn't even have one picture of them as a couple to try a guess of how they are, the only thing out is just posts on social media that is being taken out of context to stir more drama and people online are falling very quick in this non-sense, already claiming that Ashlyn is broken and Sophia is paying her bills, or that Ash is going to live in California with Sophia or that Ashlyn was fired from Gotham.... None of these are true and it's also none of our business. I know this is a forum and a place for conjectures, but conjecutures are just guesses, nothing more nothing less, they are not true and we can't know if they are because none of us have the big picture, and probably not even Sophia and Ashlyn have that figured out just yet. So chill out, okay"

[jinkieswouldyoulookatthis]

you bring up such a good point regarding tptb creating weird dilemmas, and you may disagree but i think it was just them doing very depthless, desperate writing in every ep after swan song. i did a s12-13 rewatch recently and was blown away by how ridiculous the characters' choices were considering knowledge we saw them obtain in MUCH prior seasons. a lot was contrived the entire show's run just for drama but it really got nauseating often enough i had to stop the rewatch. i know the heart of the show is always a case, but we're meant to care about the characters solving the case to stay seated and you could tell the writers didn't give a shit if we did or didn't, which is, admittedly, sorta slay. i had a lot of complaints on substance but actually the strangest thing to me was forcing the bros to disagree on things that no two people who are genuinely compatible companions would ever bicker or waste breath about. literally any other character could have been used as a narrative tool to draw out the other side of the argument or create the needed tension, but them full on brawling between themselves about big ticket worldview/ethos things like if mary's dead or if jack is evil was just so forced and so pathetic! maybe the thought was the show would get boring if they didn't seem like two separate people anymore, but it did a massive disservice to the story of these specific men who genuinely simply wouldn't, on certain levels, be two separate people anymore.

I know that a lot of folks weren't happy with the later seasons. But I also know some folks who prefer the later seasons. Me, I like the entire run and found each season had its own strengths and weaknesses, but in general were all worth watching.

The main dilemma facing a show with only two regular characters, and that is ultimately just about the relationship between those two characters, is that the drama is most likely going to involve, or come back to over and over again, conflict between those two characters. So with Supernatural, we got the boys' multiple break-up and make-up arcs. And yeah, those got tiresome after a while. But, I found that starting in season 11 the boys really were together and on the same page more often than not. But, Sam and Dean are different people, and they have different views on things and think about things in different ways, feel and process stuff differently, and this makes them more interesting, at least to me.

So yes, the drama throughout the show (even in the early seasons) often feels a bit contrived, but it is contrived, it's fiction. And more than just fiction, it was a 22-23 episode/season show so some repetitive and contrived drama is to be expected. I don't know, maybe I'm the weirdo with it, but I think that the entire 15 season story is pretty good, feels consistent to me (allowing for the various practical/real world changes outside the show's control) and at the end felt like it told one big epic hero's journey story about these two brothers.

But the best thing about Supernatural, is that anyone can just pick and choose what parts of it they want to watch now. Really only like the Kripke era? Just watch 1-5. Like Castiel? Start at season 4 and only watch about a quarter of the episodes from there on. Or do what I do and subject yourself to watching all 327 episodes in order every year or so.

TV shows, especially 22-23 episode long season shows, are a collaborative effort that have a lot of cooks in the kitchen. So sometimes they crank out huge gourmet meals while at other times they just end up fighting about what's on the menu. Honestly? We lucked out with Supernatural because it really is way more good than bad and that was due to Kripke and Singer and Manners, and Jared and Jensen, and the majority of the crew that was there for so much of the run, really caring about the show and the characters and putting everything they had into making something that they so obviously loved.

[obsidiancreates]

Okay so more elaboration on my Rise Separated AU (all fluff and goofs, no big angst here lads).

To recap: Leo was raised by April's family, Raph ended up still with Draxum and his sweetness turned Draxum into a Real Dad who doesn't wanna take over humans anymore, Donnie ended up with The Foot and got control of the whole clan by the time he was like 8, and Mikey ended up with Splinter who was given shelter by Todd so they both raised him.

Anyway, April found this little turtle one day (I think they got separated by Draxum trying to hunt down Splinter and he lost Leo and Donnie before fleeing to the woods and finding Todd) while out with her parents (she's like 2 years older, right? And let's say Leo's abut like, a year old by the time of the mutation, so she's about 3) and brings it home. Her parents don't realize it until she's got a box and is trying to feed Leo her graham crackers. A turtle seems like a safe enough pet, really, so they decide to keep it, even though it looks a little odd.

And they eventually realize "Oh this thing is. A toddler. This is a child." And instead of getting rid of him or anything they just like, r3aise him as April's brother. They decide "It must be some kind of skin condition. And a-a growth, around his back and chest. Yeah. That's it." And he basically lives his whole life thinking he's a normal human with some weird medical conditions. He straight-up goes to school and April just kicks anybody's ass who tries to say "Um. Why are you a turtle." Because as we all know, no human in Rise actually cares at all that mutants exist so even if they noticed it'd at most cause a little bullying.

Now as for Mikey, Mikey has known his whole life he has 3 brothers out there somewhere. Splinter, thanks to Todd, has a lot more resources and extra time to work through his traumas, but he still feels guilt and concern every day for the other turtles who he failed to save. Mikey decides one day, "Alright. I'm old enough now to go find my brothers, and help Pops to stop feeling bad about this!"

He's been raised in a damn Puppy Rescue in a tailer after all, by Todd and Splinter. He's sheltered, he's super peppy, he believes the power of lemonade and good food fix almost everything. He knows one brother got left with the guy who created all of them, and two were lost in New York City, one next to a shoe store and one by an apartment building. Easy-peasy!

He finds Raph first, I think. Draxum, as I said, is a lot more like Season 2 Draxum.

Basically he fully intended on raising Raph as a warrior, but child-rearing turned out to be a lot tougher than he expected. He couldn't leave his Gargoyles to do it because Raph bit them too often and nearly took their limbs off, and he couldn't hire someone else to do it because his experiments are so illegal that they'd turn him in for the pardon they'd get for it. SO he had to raise Raph himself, and- oh.

Oh, Raph is such a sweetie. Yeah, he bites a lot, and has tantrums, and does dumb stuff, and gets mad and screams. But he loves snuggling, and he loves playing with the other experiments when he sneaks into their enclosures. When Draxum has an experiment go wrong, or a setback in the rebuilding of his lab, Raph, who must always be strapped to his chest or else he'll be found somewhere he shouldn't be, always gives him a cubby-armed little hug. Basically Raph slowly melted Draxum's heart and Draxum's priorities slowly shifted to caring for this little turtle, until one day he realized he hadn't worked on his Eradicating Humanity plan in years and his little boy is all grown up now.

Obviously Raph also is trained in Mystic Combat with his tonfas. Draxum has always intended that, and followed through with it, but it became just a Fun Father-Son bonding thing more than. Like. Evil warrior training.

Draxum also kept Raph informed that he has brothers out there somewhere, but feels less concern about it. He's sure Lou Jitsu went into hiding with them, maybe raised them to be incredible warriors as well in case Draxum ever found him. So when Mikey shows up like "I'm your little brother!" Raph just immediately scoops him up and is like "ONE OF MY BROTHRS CAME BACK!"

Draxum tries to convince mikey to stay with them but Mikey is like "We've gotta find the other two! Besides, I love my Pops and my- uh, Todd. But Raph says you're way different than Pops remembers, so I promise I'll come back with Raph and give you a chance!"

And they both set off to find the other two.

They end up ninja-ing around for a few weeks until they finally catch sight of Leo (all the brothers have their same names but Raph, leo, and Donnie don't have the Full Names. April named Leo Leo because he "looks like a Leo" when she was like, 5, and Raph was actually named "Wrath" but couldn't pronounce his own name right so Draxum just ran with Raph, and Donnie's name is actually cchose by himself and designed specifically for the pun of "World Donnie-nation").

Leo is with April and a few other friends (despite his Obviously Turtle Nature he's actually pretty popular. Captain of the basketball team, class jokester, always willing to help people out with stuff, awesome parkouring skills, for sure the kind of kid who breaks into the teacher's desk and get everyone their confiscated stuff back) and they're all heading out for some late-night pizza. Raph and Mikey are SO CONFUSED because they've both been taught to stay hidden from humans their whole lives and here their brother is HANGING OUT WITH A WHOLE GROUP OF THEM!!!

So they wait and watch and follow Leo and April back to the apartment, and watch Leo get greeted by two human adult who it becomes obvious are his adoptive parents and this other human is his adoptive sister, and he and his sister to to their shared room (because this is New York, no way in hell the apartment has a room for both of them) and start to watch Jupiter Jim movies.

"Well, if she already knows about him," Raph says, "We might as well show her us. Since she'll be our sister basically."

"Sounds right to me!"

And anyway they knock on the window and April goes to open it with bat in hand and sees two OTHER turtle-people who are both smiling, one kinda shyly and one beaming with the power of the sun itself, and she goes "Uh, Leo? Did you happen to make some friends I didn't know about?"

The talk is so baffling to them because Leo is insisting he's a human with some weird medical conditions and they CANNOT convince him otherwise. He does however feel in his hear that they're telling the truth about being his brothers (mystic bond) and so he decides well. They must have the same conditions and just think they're turtles because whoever raised them didn't know any better. So he accepts them as family, as does April, and they all set out to find the final brother.

As soon as they step into the shoe store Splinter said the last one got left by Donnie's system goes off in a HUGE ALERT because he's got it set up to alert him to any weird mystic shenanigans. I should specify here that The Foot Clan under Donnie's rule isn't really focused much on Shredder, like The Flaming-Headed Gay Guys we know from the series raised him and Cassandra is his second-in-command but he's more focused on gather as much Mystic Knowledge as possible to create the perfect blend of Mystic and Tech possible and the whole Shredder thing is like. A backburner project. "Yeah yeah, we'll get to that soon, we've got plenty of time. But for right now, Casey I need you to put on this jetpack and tell me if this mystic-infused fuel makes it go for longer or if it just blows up."

Anyway he sees three other turtle-mutants surrounded by mystic energy and DOES A SPIT TAKE AND GETS OVER THERE RIGHT AWAY (using one of those portals that The Foot have, yes this means he helps Leo figure out Portalling later on). He pops out from the back and drags all of them, including April, to the backroom.

Mikey explains, Raph chimes in with some stuff, Leo doesn't believe a single word but does note that he and Donnie are the same age, hey twinsies! Donnie believes them (again, mystic bond) but is also like, "Well, this is cool, but I'm a bit busy running an ancient mystic ninja clan here and trying to bring them into not only the present but the future of technology that will be dictated by me, so. I don't know we can set up a visiting schedule I guess."

But Mikey convinces him to come out to the trailer jsut for a day and as soon as Donnie tastes Mikey's version of Todd's famous lemonade (the twist is he includes a little lime in it) he decides "Actually you guys can visit whenever and I'll give you all my contact info because THIS IS THE BEST DRINK I'VE EVER HAD!"

And yes, Donnie does realize upon meeting Splinter that he's The Last of the Hamato Clan and the owner of the head of Shredder. He just doesn't care. "Oh, cool, now I know where it is if I ever pick that project up again. Anyway back to teaching my Sudden Twin how to use that sword Raph gave him so he doesn't accidentally portal us all to the center of the earth someday."

Eventually Leo does accept that he's a Turtle but it's a long time after he's already accepted Mystic Powers and other mutants and stuff. Also he's way more behind on the ninja thing, yeah it's in his blood and he can parkour real good but the other three still need to teach him how to fight-fight and there's a lot of funny stuff that can happen there I think. He picks all of it up pretty quick, obviously, and in turn he introduces them to Skateboarding and Jupiter Jim. Donnie and Mikey already know about Pizza of course but Raph doesn't, Draxum didn't eat it, so they collectively introduce Raph to pizza and cheer when he loves it.

Splinter feels bittersweet about it all, wishing he could have seen these boys grow up together but glad they're a family now, and he likes this April girl who's apparently their sister now, too.

Donnie eventually introduces all of them, in passing, to Casey one day when they come visit him. She's both the second-in-command and by default Donnie's best friend, even though she wishes he'd focus on Shredder more than he does, and long story short she and April are besties now and while the others train Leo, Casey trains April, and thus Casey decides April is totally worthy of being Donnie's other best friend and invites her over for movie nights and stuff all the time.

[dragonworshippersblog]

Hi, a question why do I see posts saying Aegon's kids are Aemond? When did that happen?

B&C happened because of Aegon throwing a feast in appreciation of Aemond killing Lucerys. The quote itself can be seen as a jab to Alicent too, cause she demanded an eye of a child. Aemond killed Queen's son, so they took usurper king, Aegon's son. The kids are Aegon's not kinslayer's. show runners like the greens but even they know people will literally laugh at them, they'll not turn this show into a very unfunny joke to make a green fanfic true.

Actors say a lot of stuff, but normal viewers don't care about imaginary rhaenicent or one liner of imagined helaena and aemond ship, i'd say even most fandom doesnt except the shippers. that stuff stays in fanfics not in the show, even show alicent will not bow down to rhaenyra, not when she made her walk after giving birth, they changed stuff but not the core of the story, she said nothing to cole when he called her a spoilt cu**. her ass doesnt care about her, hell rhaenyra in first ep didnt like when daemon asked for alicents favour, she was even laughing at dinner scene when they were fighting, rhaenyra rose first to stop them, then her ass came, she was smirking when aemond made his toast.

rhaenyra will not give two shits about her when she is the reason luke is dead, jace will die, little viserys assumed dead. her love for her sons triumph whatever imaginary agenda these people are pushing for rhaenicent, literally no mother would give a shit about another woman if her son killed hers. thats why they scrapped off the scripts in which rhaenyra is not even herself but a weird doormat.

hi anon

That is just a theory made by some fan, but in the book and in the show there is nothing that suggest aegon's children to be aemonds. The actors or the writers said in an interview that haelemond shipper will not be disappoint by next season, but personally I do not think they will make this change from the book. B&C was a clear attack to aegon as you said, daemon was like "now you will feel the pain you celebrated" but it was the best revenge in my opinion. It hurt every green in the worst way possible. Since the show runners seem to be obsessed with making the green better than in the book I feel like the canon will not be respected, again unfortunately, and the part of Aegon’s feast will be omitted. I agree with you anon, I expected a lot from this show which in my opinion had a great potential, the actors are very good and the settings are great but it was completely ruined by writers making it look like a fic, and in an attempt to create a "feminist series" they only created inconsistent characters that go on to confirm patriarchal stereotypes.

[3wizemen]

Rapture - Chapter 1

word count: 2617 rating: mature

In the aftermath of the Great Hawkins Earthquake and the death of Vecna, Robin and Steve find themselves a job at a new mascot-based children's entertainment restaurant. Nancy soon discovers all is not as it seems at the Party Palace.

---

This is a Ronance-centric story focused on creating a fun and believable alternate season 5 for the show. Definitely not a thinly-veiled FNaF AU (I promise it's more than that and has actual cool lore)!

read on ao3

next chapter

---

"And so, we played the game again, for one last time. It didn't matter that there were no maps, or dice, or no monsters. Pardieu saw the monsters. We did not. We saw nothing but the death of hope, and the loss of our friend. And so we played the game until the sun began to set, and all the monsters were dead."

- ♁ -

August 2, 1986.

"That was a shitty movie," Dustin said, rolling his eyes and setting his paper plate, slick with pizza grease, on the coffee table. 

"What'd you expect? It's called ‘Mazes & Monsters'. Dumb from the start," Lucas' laugh rolled over the credits music as he finished his own pizza. It had arrived, late, three-quarters through the movie.

Mike huffed, but the light in his eyes showed he was just as entertained as his friends. Bad movies with friends always made for a fun time. "It's just crazy that so many people think that about a game, even outside of Hawkins, enough to make a weird-ass movie about it."

"They just don't realize how cool it is," Dustin turned up his nose, smirking in a very uncool way.

Steve held his hands up. "Woah there, don't get ahead of yourself," He said, having only tolerated the horrid movie because the boys found it so entertaining. He had found it pretty boring. Thank God it was over. "Just because the movie sucked and people hate your game doesn't mean you're cool, buddy."

"Be nice," Robin, sat beside (partially on, her legs sideways over his) Steve in the beat-up armchair next to the couch, playfully slapped his shoulder. "Let the dorks be nerds. Haven't they gotten enough shit for it already?" She tilted her head slightly, grinning.

"Can't let them get big heads, Robin," Steve said with a roll of his eyes, pushing his friend off of him to go and collect the group's used plates. He was always the one keeping their apartment clean—if he didn't pick them up, nobody would.

Yes, their apartment. Over the summer, following the earthquake that practically destroyed a fourth of the town, Steve and Robin had gotten an apartment together. Steve hated being alone, as his parents were always out on trips, and Robin hated living with hers. They rather liked each other, so it was an easy decision. Robin wasn't going to college ‘till ‘87 (at least) now, anyway. The earthquake had wrecked her family's house so much that they couldn't afford to send her to college anymore, so she'd be working for quite a while to save up a little money before the loans got her.

Much else had happened in the few months between the Hawkins earthquake and where they were now, the party huddled up around Steve and Robin's TV watching shitty movies snatched from Family Video by its two responsible, trusted employees. For one, the Byers and Eleven had moved back to Hawkins. Tragedy seemed to follow them wherever they went—they might as well stay close to those who could share in the grief it brought.

Max had awoken from her coma in May, blind and unable to walk. In the two months since, she'd regained her vision—somewhat—and had learned to walk again with a cane. She had been spending a lot more time with the party than she did before after Starcourt, unable to do much else and not wanting to sit around at home. She sat on the couch now, sandwiched between El and Lucas, arguing over exactly how stupid the movie really was. She seemed to be doing better, but Steve still worried about her a lot. He worried about all of them a lot.

Steve worried a lot nowadays.

The worrier tossed the plates in the garbage can by the kitchen, just a few steps from the sitting area. He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, watching with a small smile as the group exploded into a lighthearted argument about the worst movie of all time. It was nice to see the kids laughing—Robin, too. None of them had laughed much anymore. It was hard, knowing all that they did.

Steve had watched as his kids retreated into themselves over the months following the raid on the Upside Down. He saw them become shells of themselves more than ever before. Most painfully, he watched Robin do the same. Himself, too. But it was over. It was over, for good this time. El had eviscerated Vecna's mind, and Nancy, Robin, and Steve had destroyed his body. The gates…they'd opened, the earthquake happened, but just as soon as that big, ugly gash in the earth had opened, it collapsed in on itself. It left no otherworldly trace, only massive earthly destruction. 

The Upside Down was gone, for good. No more Vecna, no more Mind Flayer, no more Demogorgons or Demodogs or whatever weirdo nerd names the kids gave every Upside Down creature that reared its ugly head at them. At least, Steve hoped.

They'd never been able to figure out if destroying Vecna had destroyed the Upside Down, but it had definitely destroyed all of the gates, barring the other world from theirs permanently. There was no mastermind to force gates open, and El knew now how the original one had opened (though she never told Steve himself) and said there was no possible way it could be opened from their side again. He believed her. He wanted to.

"You zoned there, Steve?" Robin leaned her arm over the back of the armchair, giving him a funny look as the rest of the group continued arguing over the credits scrolling endlessly down the screen. He knew that look well. Are you just chilling, or having an episode, bud? 

Steve ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Just taking in the scenery," He said. Not quite sure on that, Rob. "I didn't think such a shitty movie would have them in such a good mood."

"Movies, no matter the shittiness, are an art, my friend," Contrasting the pretentious tone she took on, Robin climbed out of the chair and over the back with very little grace, sliding over the arm and onto the ground at an awkward angle. She grabbed some stray, crumpled-up napkins and threw them out (Robin Buckley? Cleaning? Maybe Steve should be the one checking on her) before sitting on the counter next to Steve. Voice low, the brunette learned over to him and said, "We oughta tell ‘em."

"Oh, it's not that big a deal," Steve hand-waved her head away. "It's just–"

"What's not a big deal?" El's ears practically perked up like a cat's, and soon did the rest of the kids' as they all turned to look at the two adults in the room. Steve could swear El had super hearing in addition to all her other stuff with all the little strings of conversation she'd caught before. Or maybe it was just the urge to know, to never miss out on anything again. Never miss something that could be a sign of upset, or danger, or…

Or maybe he was projecting.

Robin shot Steve a bemused glance and nodded him along, earning a sigh from the poor man. He stood up, pushing himself away from the counter to clasp his hands together. "Alright, kids, here's the deal. Robin and I aren't working at Family Video anymore."

"What?" asked Dustin.

"Why?" asked Mike.

"So?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"We got a better job," Steve raised his hands, shaking his head dramatically. "At one ‘The Party Palace.'"

"Oh, come on dude, seriously?" groaned Dustin, chorused by the rest. "That's so lame."

The Party Palace was once, in another time, known as the Palace, a cool arcade the boys and Max used to hang out and play games at. However, following the earthquake, the former owner put the business up for sale, and it was bought and turned into a Showbiz Pizza-style establishment just in time to spoil the gang's summer. The kids hated that it was gone; Steve had said that maybe, if he got the money, he'd buy a Nintendo for the apartment for them to go crazy on instead. That had yet to happen, but it remained a possibility, since…

"They pay almost two whole bucks more there, you know. It's a business decision," Robin said, kicking her feet from the counter. She almost caught Steve's back, but he was just out of reach, on purpose.

"A business decision? It'll be a net loss with all the money we'll have to spend at the video store now!" Lucas said, exasperated.

"Yeah, what about us?" The kids huffed and puffed, their nearly endless supply of movies Robin and Steve snagged for them free of charge now at an end.

"Contrary to popular belief, our lives don't revolve around you, dipshits," Steve said, dodging another Robin kick by simply moving one inch forward. "I already pay for pizza at least once a week for the entire pack of you, you can buy a movie or two."

"Lame," El said quietly, followed by many sage nods from the others.

"You guys just suck," Steve said, glancing at the clock. 11:38 PM. "You're all probably cranky from lack of sleep. It's late, go home, get out of my house."

"One, it's not that late, two, it's not a house, it's an apartment, and three, you're zero fun," Mike said as the kids gathered their bags. "No wonder you're working at the loser arcade."

"Go home, loser," Robin threw an empty plastic cup at the boy, thonking him in the head. "It's s'posed to rain in a little, anyway," That earned quite the scoff from Mike, but the kids all went somewhat willingly toward the door. 

"When do you start?" asked Max as the group was corralled through the door and down the outside stairs of the short apartment building, Steve helping her down the stairs as she hadn't quite grasped those with her cane yet. It was obvious by her question and the look in her eyes that she was calculating the amount of movies they'd be able to obtain depending on the length of Steve and Robin's remaining employment at Family Video.

Sadly for the redhead, Steve said, "Monday, why? Want to come visit the dumb baby arcade, Max?"

"Forgive me for asking a question," Max rolled her light blue eyes and climbed onto the back of Lucas' bike. He'd been ferrying her everywhere since she gotten out of the hospital.

Steve watched, hands on his hips, until all the kids had vanished from sight. It had begun to sprinkle. He ran a hand through his hair—can't have that getting messed up, no sir. But man, those kids would be the death of him, he was sure. They already almost had been at least five times. At least.

He turned to climb the rickety wooden stairs leading back up to his apartment, not daring to risk the splinters of the handrail, despite it becoming increasingly slick as the rain began to fall in thicker, heavier drops. He opened the red-painted door to find Robin back on the armchair, ignoring the remaining mess of disposable cups and napkins strewn around the room. Oh, Buckley. He knew her cleanliness couldn't last.

Robin remained silent as Steve began picking up the refuse littering the floor and coffee table, playing with the many thick rings that adorned her hands. "Kids always leave a fuckin' mess, I swear," Steve muttered as he tossed the garbage into the can. "If they don't clean up after themselves next time, they're never allowed over again, and I mean it this time."

"Quit being such a housewife, Stevie," Robin hummed, looking up from her rings to shoot Steve a smirk.

"Oh, shut it, you're just as bad as them," Steve chastised her, getting a paper towel to make sure the coffee table didn't get too many cup rings on it. If only those damn kids knew how to use coasters. "Worse, maybe. If I didn't pick up after you, this place would be a dump."

Robin laughed, a sound Steve had always liked, even when they were nothing but coworkers at Scoops Ahoy. Jeez, that felt like such a long time ago. "I picked up those napkins earlier! Just for you."

It thundered outside. "My hero," Steve grimaced out a smile and fake-half-curtsied as aggressively as possible, causing Robin to grin. He went to wash his hands in the sink and was about to tell her to turn off the TV before the bulb went out when all of the lights suddenly flickered in the apartment.

Steve jumped nearly through the ceiling, going pale as the lights fizzed and flickered before stabilizing again. He steadied himself with a wet hand against the counter, sink still running beside him, and took a deep, shaky breath. Just storming. That's it, that's all.

"You okay, Steve?" Robin's voice, far shakier than it had been moments before. Steve looked up from the blank spot he'd been staring at on the counter as he tried to calm his racing heart to see his best friend's pale face peering over at him from the chair, eyes wide.

"I'm good, yeah," Steve replied, letting out a sigh. He hated being so jumpy—he'd never been before…well, everything. But now, it just seemed to keep getting worse.

He knew Robin was dealing with the same thing. The other week, a black snake (Steve was unsure of the type, but Robin said it wasn't poisonous) got into the apartment and scared the shit out of both of them, who had mistaken it for a tentacle. Every time a lightbulb went out, every time their neighbor's loud-ass grandfather clock chimed, every anything, their hearts jumped into their chests. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Robin nodded. She waited a minute before saying, in a slightly less shaky tone, "Got any beers left?"

"No, but I have some vodka, Coke, and some Twizzlers," Steve moved to open one of their cabinets. Drinking after a little Upside Down-memory-thing had quickly become tradition in the Buckley-Harrington household after a night spent celebrating their brave removal of the snake from the premises. It probably wasn't healthy, but what were they supposed to do?

"Oh, gimme that, then, Harrington," said Robin, who got up to change tape in the player. They were always quick to move on from the topic of the Upside Down—unless they were drugged up by Russians, it was hard to get either of them to talk about their feelings. "What movie?"

"Uh, I dunno," Steve shrugged, pouring them each a nice concoction and tossing the bag of Twizzlers onto the couch. "What do you wanna watch?"

Robin sifted through the stack of rented movies the kids had left on the TV stand and picked one at random. "Oh, hey, they got Back to the Future."

"Bet that was Henderson," Steve brought the drinks to the coffee table and sitting on the couch. Robin shoved the tape in and sat down next to him, putting a Twizzler in her drink to use as a straw. Eventually, it grew too slow for her impatient brain, and she ended up chugging the whole thing.

Steve gave Robin's arm a gentle slap. "Woah, Buckley, slow your roll," He said, concern drawing his eyebrows together just a bit.

"Chill, we don't have work ‘till Monday. It's Saturday," Robin said, grimacing after swallowing the last of her drink.

"You handle drinks as well as I handle not housewifing," Steve replied, taking a sip of his own. Eh. Not his favorite. "I'd love for you to be alive in the morning." "Gee, thanks."

[decompose1]

hey i've been seeing these 'object shows' here and there but i don't really know what they're about. i tried getting into hfjone and i don't think it's for me. but your analysis of a phone character's morals was really good and got me interested in them! could you explain the premise of these object shows very briefly? and recommend any series that have good/complex character development? it'd be really appreciated!

Aw sure anon!!

So ONE is definitely. This is a weird thing to say about silly object cartoons and i don't mean it in any elitist way at all, but ONE is what i'd consider an "advanced" object show. It's definitely sort of meant for people who already know the genre, because it works as a deconstruction of common object show tropes!!

I'll cover some of the big ones here, otherwise this is gonna get MEGA long, but know that there are a lot of object shows, and they vary a lot!!

Battle for Dream Island:

The one that started it all! This was the very first object show... ever!

Created by twin brothers Michael and Cary Huang in 2010, when they were just 12 years old!

Based heavily on shows like Total Drama Island and Survivor

The object contestants are competing to win Dream Island, which is a luxury island with lots of cool amenities.

This is both the oldest and longest show to date, i believe. It started the whole genre, so i DEFINITELY recommend starting with it if it seems up your alley!

General vibe: A more lighthearted, silly, whimsical show with a few hard-hitting moments and topics.

4 seasons

Deaths: Not usually serious. Characters die often for slapstick comedy, and are usually just revived without issue. There are only a couple times a death or near-death is ever plot relevant, this show focuses more on interpersonal conflict within alliances.

S1 is hosted by the Announcer, an alien in the shell of a speaker box. He's cruel and monotone and pretty funny. I cant say much on S2 without spoilers for the end of S1!!

S3 was cancelled after only one episode because Cary went to college

S4 is the longest (split into 4a and 4b), and is hosted by Four and X, two aliens taking the form of algebraic symbols ("algebraliens"). They're a lot more like.. wacky and strange as hosts, i like them a lot.

Inanimate Insanity:

My personal poison of choice. I make no claims about you liking it as much as i do. HEHE.

Created by Adam Katz in 2011, inspired by BFDI and TDI.

The second object show ever!

3 seasons (2 of which are ongoing. S3 is a side season that isn't canon to the timeline of S2!)

Contestants are competing for $1,000,000

General vibe: About 50/50 comedic and serious. There is a LOT of comedy, the show is generally pretty silly n goofy, but they also tackle some extremely serious, very real subjects (including capitalism, abuse, mental illness, and queerness. Yes i'm being serious)

Deaths: Mixed between comedic and serious. There's a fair bit of slapstick, but there are also some plot-relevant, upsetting, and/or permanent deaths. MePhone4 is the only method of recovery.

Hosted only by MePhone4, who is essentially this universe's iphone (4). There are other MePhones, but it's only 4 who actually runs the show (barring 5 specific episodes in which he isn't able to).

S1 is... quite old. It definitely shows its age. I love it to death and still recommend it to those who choose to watch ii, the plot is good, but please keep in mind it does have a few offensive jokes. The creators were bein' dumb kids, they've grown!

(I can clarify further, should you message me (feel free to! i'm friendly!). I have a CW list for those who'd need it!)

Late S2 is where it really picks up. It starts to take a much kinder hand to the characters and their problems. I will warn you that season 2 gets extremely dark. I went in blind, expecting it to be like BFDI, and ended up experiencing. like. the doki doki effect. Legitimately shocking. The topics brought up in late S2 are handled very well, though, IMO!

S3 (Inanimate Insanity Invitational/III) is a lot more lighthearted and silly as a breather while the crew finishes the darker story of S2. It's cute!

The Nightly Manor:

A smaller, shorter, but extremely serious and tragic object show.

Created by Allen Lee only a year ago, and still ongoing!

There are only 5 episodes out, but they contain multiple original songs and have already made me cry. TEARJERKER SERIES.

General vibe: Starts comedic, quickly turns to a murder mystery and then a tragic story about grief. It's so fucking good.

Deaths: ALWAYS serious. TNM does not have recovery.

A non-competition show- this one is a mansion murder mystery.

This one is a personal fave.

Honorable mentions i don't have a solid list for right now:

Sacriverse (particularly Obsolete Battle Show and Happy Star's Guide to Object Shows)

Animated Inanimate Battle

[thesilverlady]

What do you think of Tyrion ? For me there are 2 of them. The book one and the show one. Show one I hate. Book one I kinda enjoy because he constantly flirts with darkness. I don’t buy show Tyrion poor misunderstood meow meow. And I hate that they did the same with show Aemond. That’s why I prefer Aegon and Daemon. From the beginning you know where they stand, there are no attempts to make them sympathetic bullshit. Stop whitewashing characters in order to make characters more sympathising for audience. The reason why the Joker, Soprano Family and Roy family from Succession are so great is because they aren’t portrayed as some poor people being victims of their circumstances all their life. Aemond wanting to console Jace at Driftmark? What the fuck is that? Also giving him sexual trauma made me laugh. The show made it clear I and everyone else is meant to feel sorry for him but I just laughed at how pathetic they are. Like you have weak Viserys, pedo Daemon, rapist and drunkard Aegon and traumatised and with only one eye Aemond. So yeah, the winner of who should be the fan favourite is clear. Instead of showing the 4 of them as bad and letting people choose who their favourite is, they create 3 of them in unsympathetic light and make one of them #1 victim and the other 3 as monsters or weak men. Sorry but I hate the narrative where I am being shown down my throat who I am supposed to love and who to hate. Especially if 3 out of 4 characters are doing terrible things and only one behaves properly until starting the war. I really can’t wait for Aemond to burn Riverlands, most stans would leave his fanclub and began to see Aegon is not the worst guy out there. I just hope TGC won’t stop playing Aegon until the moment Aemond will show everyone what a legit psycho he really is. And tbh Aemond was my favourite green character in the book but the forced victimisation and the way the fandom act as if aemond is the most opressed character and "feminist" to ever walk in westros when he is the targaryen ver of Andrew tate in reality has completely ruined my enjoyment of him

I don't really have anything to add. I agree with your complains for the most part. I think lots of shows nowadays are painfully censored, the writing has to be simple and the views have to be walked by the hand because they cannot make an intellectual conclusion on their own.

Dunno if you've watched this. But Hannibal nbc was one of my favorite shows of all time. An interesting adaption that was definitely very different from the book material but didn't try to pretend to be better. It was its own thing and was extremely controversial while it was airing due to the violence, themes, and overall subjects. It also remains very much loved despite the years that have passed with an ever so dedicated fanbase.

it seems hard to recreate shows like this. Even GoT's writing was starting to suffering way before the last two seasons but ofc people were trying to be optimistic and we still had hope that one day George might publish another book...

I loved Tyrion and still do in the books. His pov happens to be a favorite of mine, but the show version of him got very bad very fast. It's as you mentioned, there doesn't seem to be a balance about the characters who are supposed to be dark but also possess good traits. It's what makes them interesting in first place.

There's a very weird love for oversimplification in recent times and it kinda sucks out the joy ngl.

As for show aemond, I've ranted so much about him I'd probably repeat myself. I'd only advise to keep expectations low. S1 they managed to make him murdering Lucerys an accident 💀 I wouldn't be surprised if they try something similiar with the burning of Riverlands (perhaps another misunderstanding like the alicent x Viserys one?) who knows. we can only wait and see

[pastelwitchling]

Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano

⭐⭐.75

Oh my GOD, I EARNED this rant, do you understand me? I've EARNED it.

I don't know what's more devastating. The fact that I felt the need to finish this because I've DNFed so many books lately and desperately need to make it out of this reading slump, or the fact that the worst part about this book was all the wasted potential. In fact, that's the best way to really describe it. Reading this is the equivalent of watching the live-action Last Airbender movie; you start off excited with the concept because it promises epic adventures and elements at one's fingertips and rich characters; you see the kernels of good ideas, but none of it is ever used. The entire book rushes from one point to another, leaving every moment rushed and unimportant.

I was thrown off when Jack's own death scene in the first chapter started and finished within maybe two paragraphs, but I let it go. And then we got the same thing for the entirety of the rest of the book. It's all just getting from here to there with no time to take in ANYTHING.

The "Seasons" (I'll get to that in a minute) can't touch each other or they'll supposedly die. But no worries, because a few chapters later, they figure it's okay to touch each other, so that's not a problem anymore. Jack includes a bunch complicated science talk on how they can escape the Observatory, this place we've barely seen and have no feelings about, leaves a few maps for Fleur behind, and suddenly she can completely understand his idea. They talk a lot about how this and that is going to be a big deal and hard to manage, then manage it in less than a page, and move on. All the Seasons coming at them at once? They escape in, once again, about a page, and move on. Important character dies? We get maybe four lines dedicated to it, and move on.

The descriptions were just plain not well done. For however short the fight scenes were, they felt even shorter because I didn't understand half of what was going on. People would suddenly fall out of car windows in confusing ways that I had to read and reread to make sense of, people would "tense up" a LINE after they were just chatting and laughing like they sensed danger, but we as the reader never really get to experience that, and they talked a lot about these people controlling the seasons, but it never made any sense how they managed it. They never showed ANYBODY so much as lining the trees with frost, or making leaves change color, or making flowers grow. It seemed more like these people were being affected by the change in nature rather than them affecting any change themselves. So there goes the magic and whimsy.

Which brings me to the second biggest issue I had with this book. It was trying so hard to be Rise of the Guardians, Percy Jackson, and The Raven Cycle without ANY of the heart. I remember Jack Frost and his staff, I remember the abandoned amusement park in The Lightning Thief, I remember 300 Fox Way. Why? Because the authors took the time to explore the characters, their powers, and these places. All the campers at Camp Half-Blood had such presence. When the Athena cabin or ANY worked together, you knew you were going to see something amazing happen because you knew they weren't human. The characters in this book, however, felt like nothing BUT human. The fact that they were seasons felt more like an aside.

I expected whimsy and magic and epic battles using the elements, and instead I got a college setting with a bunch of science talk that left gaping plot holes in the story! Explain to me this; if Chronos, Gaia, and ALL of them are supposed to just be "vessels," what's their purpose? We never SEE any of them actually creating anything, never see them use their powers to change the weather. It changes based on their moods! If anything, having vessels for the seasons seems more like a liability! But oh, it has to fit the weird science logic that this book insists on having.

That's another issue; how convenient everything is, and how often everything happens off the page. They need money to escape; oh no worries, all the Seasons are unreasonably rich. (Why are Seasons saving up money? And how do they manage to save up money? For the three months they're out in the world, don't they have work to do controlling the weather? I'm assuming, since we never actually see it?)

Too much telling and not showing. We keep getting told about how close the eight of them are, but it's like they want us to forget that almost all the four Seasons (outside of Amber) forced and guilted their Handlers into giving up immortality to join them. Choose immortality or choose death at Chronos's hands because I want to escape where I will forever be immortal anyway. When Fleur had the actual NERVE to say that Marie had the choice to go where she wanted AFTER they had knocked her unconscious and forced her along with them? Oh but it's okay, it's okay, because every so often, we'll get a reminder of how guilty the Seasons feel about what they did to their Handlers, which makes it all okay. What a load.

So much was needlessly difficult for drama when it really could've been resolved so easily. Like the fact that Fleur starts an earthquake all by herself even though they have an army of other Seasons with them, another Spring included, and yet SHE had to be the one to start the earthquake by herself? Why? And why did Lyon have to be so damn cryptic about everything? With Chiron in Percy Jackson, you understand why he has to be careful with his wording; the gods are always watching, the Fates are always watching, one of the gods resides with them in the camp, and they have rules about anyone knowing too much about their future, especially a demigod hero. With this, Lyon just felt like a cheap knockoff of Chiron, keeping things vague so that Jack could a few pages later piece things together, even though Lyon could've just directly told him how to fight back. It made no sense.

What bothers me the most is what this could've been. This felt like the last book in a series, expecting to get the same amount of emotion and attachment we form to characters that we've had the chance to know for several books. Instead, this one skips to the end. I don't even know WHY they had to be so-called "embodiments of seasons" if they don't act that way. I love how much Jack loves Fleur, I love Amber and Julio, I love Fleur's strength, and I love the Handlers, too. (They deserved so much better.) But instead of leaning into the magical aspect that this book kind of promises, it crams in way too much and rushes through it all. I have a lot more problems with this book, but I'll end it here. I'm tired. After getting through it, however, after acknowledging what we could've had, the only thing I really have left to say is... man, what a waste.

[hellshee]

I've seen your recent anons and replies. Mistakes can happen, I agree. However, some of them could have been easily avoided if the Duffers kept track or notes. I don't want to beat the dead horse, but them mixing up Billy/William on the gravestone and forgetting Will's birthday is a pretty lazy and serious error. Billy & Will are not my favourites, but I like them in the narrative and I care about the whole puzzle. So I expect good writing on all characters, even the ones I don't care much about. They are still important pieces and messing up such details however tiny they might seem makes me lose faith in them as writers. I like so many other made the biggest assumptions and theories based on these 2 details. Billy/William is in a short trailer for God's sake! And Will's birthday was mentioned by Joyce in a pivotal scene to try and save Will. During El's bullying scene they chose to show that date exactly on the camera recorder screen. It's normal everyone made theories. So when it turns out those were just mistakes oh oopsie, it feels like a slap in the face. I was so worried, too, because I couldn't believe Joyce or Jonathan would ever forget Will's birthday.

Sorry for prolonging but this is careless for me. I may have closed and eye or two on other things, but this is too much. I lost faith on the writers and am scared for season 5.

Also certain writing choices annoy me, and I haven't even talked about Mike's senseless monologue yet.

don't get me wrong, i think everyone is entitled or allowed to be critical of the writing the duffer brothers put out. and i do understand why messing up / forgetting details can be frustrating to fans, myself included at times. and furthermore, i understand why that creates anxiety for s5. people care about this show very much, that is pretty obvious, so i get why it's an issue. and the duffer brothers should also realize that just because the show got so big doesn't mean they shouldn't still try their best.

but i guess at the end of the day it's a question of whether or not as an individual you can still enjoy the show while knowing all of this.

i'll be honest, because of some of the mistakes + choices made this season that i do not particularly agree with, i also have my fears for s5, and my expectations are a bit lower, but there are still a lot of things i love about it and i'm curious to see where it goes.

i'm gonna be honest about one thing regarding mike wheeler's storyline with eleven this season (tho i do wanna say to anyone reading this that while i'll reblog a post or two which kind of makes fun of mike, this is not anti mike blog so do not come in my inbox with negativity like that because i will not reply to you): i do not think they should have waited till s4 to deal with a "mike can't tell el he loves her due to not being able to express himself because he didn't really have the best of models in his life"

i feel like by season 4, this should have been dealt with. like i think it's sweet that mike was there for her and encouraged her to fight when she needed the confidence, but i also feel like eleven seeing max like that should have been enough.

idk i'm also trying not to nitpick. clearly i wasn't a fan of the way they handled both mileven and byler this season and i thought we'd find mike in a better place than the "it's not my fault you don't like girls" thing he had with will last season because i'm still clueless as to why he made that hug weird in episode 1 but who knows, maybe they're foreshadowing something in s5. or maybe their intention with that scene didn't translate well enough to people in the audience like me.

from what we gather later, they didn't talk that much the past year with mike mostly talking to eleven, but i still don't see that as a reason for mike to make that hug awkward.

anyway bottom line is i get those things can be frustrating, but at the same time there's not really much to do when you're in the audience

[bi-bard]

Milkshakes - Team Free Will Imagine (Supernatural)

Title: Milkshakes

Pairing: Team Free Will X Platonic!Fem!Reader (as put in the request)

Requested: @gabrielasilva1510

Word Count: 1,846 words

Warning(s): violence, death

Summary: [Early Season 11 (Before Episode 10)] Sam and Dean think that there's something that can be The Darkness. Castiel warns them but... who knows? Maybe God's ultimate weapon isn't as scary as it seems.

Author's Note: I used dodie for outfit inspiration because the outfit matched the vibe but change it if you want. I only used a female read because it's in the request and it helped with clarity because the whole imagine is in 3rd person (I do usually use they/them pronouns in my work). Finally, I thought the milkshake flavor sounded good, but you can change it in your mind if you want to.

Hey! I did a rewrite of the ending of Supernatural. It took a really long time to complete, so it would mean a lot to me if you check it out. Here’s a link! (it’s on my personal account)

----------------------------------------

--Third Person P.O.V--

Sam was leaning over a lore book in the library. It was too early for him to be so focused on the book but he felt like he needed to. The Darkness being released was his fault, he needed to find a solution.

Dean walked in from the kitchen with a cup of coffee and was clearly still half-asleep. He sat across from his brother.

"What're you reading," Dean grumbled out in between sips of coffee.

"I found this book about the most powerful beings," Sam explained. "Most of them are just rumored to exist but I thought it'd give us a jumping-off point on where to find something to help us defeat Amara."

"Anything interesting," Dean asked.

"A Nephilim; kid of an angel and a human," Sam said. "There's no mention that they could kill someone as powerful as God. Then there's..."

Sam trailed off and went back through the book, hunting for a particular page he had read nearly an hour ago. He pointed to the page once he found it.

"This doesn't even have a name but it describes a creature created by God to be a weapon," Sam explained. "I was doing some snooping on some message boards when I first found out about it. There's a lot of religious nuts and self-proclaimed hunters who think this thing is gonna be the end of the world. They say it's a prophecy that can't be stopped."

"And you think hunting it down is a good idea," Dean asked.

"Listen, I don't think it's fair to think this thing wants to end the world," Sam replied. "I think it's the best choice we have right now."

"Alright, fine, where do we look," Dean asked.

The boys didn't have to look far before Castiel popped into the library. He asked where they had gotten on their path to defeat Amara. His eyes went wide when they explained what they wanted to do.

"Are you two insane," Castiel asked.

"Listen-"

"No, I know more about this than either of you," the angel stopped Dean's argument. "This creature could kill you both with a look and end the world with a flick of the wrist and you want to track it down?!"

"Isn't it worth trying," Sam asked.

"'Trying,'" Castiel was so unbelievable done with the idiotic decisions of the Winchesters at that point.

"If we don't try something, then Amara kills all of us anyways," Dean said. "We need something Cas. This could be the thing."

Castiel sighed, letting his head fall forward for a moment before looking back up at the boys.

"Fine," Castiel threw his hands up. "Do you know how to find this thing?"

"Looks like a spell," Sam turned the book so Castiel could look at the page. "We should have everything. It's strange no one's tried-"

"Succeeded," Castiel corrected. "People have probably tried if the spell is so simple."

"Okay, good, let's get the supplies and give it a shot," Dean clapped his hands and stood up.

In a matter of minutes, the boys and their angel were back around the table and ready to start the spell.

Castiel and Dean jumped when Sam grabbed a knife and nicked his hand.

"One of us needs to be bonded," Sam explained. "Like a human compass. It feels right that it's me."

He didn't wait for the other two to respond before he started reading the spell of the book. Castiel and Dean exchanged a look for a moment.

As he finished the spell, a purple flame shot up from the bowl for a second. Sam felt his arm tingling from the wound up. He shook it out, trying to understand what it was telling him.

States over, a young girl, a college student visiting home, is sitting in a booth at a small diner.

In between page turns, she sits up straight. Her eyes flash the same purple as the flame from the spell before she snaps out of the trance.

She looks around. Everything feels different. It's like the air had shifted around her. She furrowed her eyebrows... what the hell was that?

--time skip--

Dean pulled the impala up to the curb of the street. The three of them look at the nice house. White picket fence, two stories, a garden.

"Are you sure about this," Dean asked Sam. "This seems like a pretty normal house."

Sam nodded, "I can feel it. It's here."

"Alright, let's go," Dean replied.

The three of them got out of the car and made their way up the pathway. None of them knew what fight they were going to get once they opened that door. It could've been a deadly fight. They may not have even had a chance to fight.

Still, with one last silent check with the others, Dean lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

The last thing they expected was for a girl to open the door with a wide smile. She had a white dress on with an orange cardigan over the top.

"Hello," she said happily. "What can I help you with?"

"Sam," Dean looked at his brother. Sam just nodded. He could feel it in his gut. "What's your name?"

"(Y/n)," the girl replied. "And you are?"

"I'm Sam," the taller man answered. "This is Dean and Cas."

"Nice to meet you," she held a hand out.

Sam awkwardly accepted, shaking her hand. They both froze, eyes flashing purple before they both stepped back from each other.

"That was weird," (Y/n) mumbled, frowning at her hand. "What was that?"

The boys looked at each other but before they could speak, there was a crash from inside the house. The girl jumped.

"Who's that," Dean asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "My parents are gone. No one else is supposed to be here."

Sam and Dean grabbed their guns before all of them walked inside.

Before they could get any answers for themselves, an angel rounded the corner and tried to grab (Y/n), who ran behind the others as soon as she saw the angel.

She stumbled backward toward the wall in shock and fear. She covered her mouth as the more angels walked into her living, not that she knew that's who they were.

Sam, Dean, and Cas were getting thrown around.

"Stop," Sam yelled as they walked toward (Y/n).

"We need something to defeat the Darkness," one of the angels said. "This is our option. Thank you for leading us to her."

(Y/n) was shaking more as she listened. The Darkness? Why was she so important to them? To the boys or the others who had broken into her house?

"Come on, (Y/n)," one of the angels had a hand out to her. She shook her head and the angel chuckled. "Fine. Make this harder."

The others came running at her.

"No," she yelled, dropping to the ground, and covering herself with her arms.

A pulse of energy shot out. The angels that had broken in had burned in front of her.

Dean, Sam, and Cas looked at each other.

(Y/n) slowly looked up from where she was.

"Hey," Sam walked over, kneeling next to her. "You alright?"

"What was that," she asked, shaking. "Who are you? Who were they? What did I do?"

"Hey, hey," Sam touched the girl's shoulders. "It's alright. Hey... how about we go somewhere to calm down? How about some food, yeah? Is there a restaurant nearby or something?"

She nodded. Sam helped her stand up fully and led her to the impala. Dean and Cas sat in the front while Sam and (Y/n) took the backseat.

(Y/n) rambled about a small diner nearby, giving Dean quick directions before falling silent again.

The four of them took a booth in the farthest back corner. (Y/n) sat leaning against the wall, Sam next to her and Cas and Dean across from her.

"Umm... do you know what you want," Sam asked quietly, making (Y/n) aware of the waitress there.

She was an old friend, "You alright, (Y/n)?"

"Yeah," (Y/n) nodded. "I'm just a little tired. Umm... can I get a cherry vanilla milkshake?"

"That it for you, dear," the waitress checked. (Y/n) nodded with a grin, playing with the end of her cardigan's sleeves.

The waitress took the other three's orders before walking away.

"Who were those people," (Y/n) asked. "Why did they break into my house?"

"Because God made you a weapon," Cas said bluntly, making (Y/n)'s eyes go wide.

"A weapon?"

"He means," Dean jumped in, "you have powers that you don't know about. That's why you were able to get rid of those angels."

"Those were angels," she tried to keep her voice down. They all nodded. "I thought angels were supposed to be good?"

"They are supposed to follow orders," Cas corrected. "Not all of them are good."

She nodded, "Are you guys angels?"

"No, well, Sam and I aren't," Dean pointed between him and his brother. "Cas is."

"Oh," she muttered. "You're not-"

"I'm not gonna force you to go to heaven to defeat the Darkness," Cas promised.

"The Darkness," she said. "What's that? Why do I need to fight it?"

"The Darkness is... kind of our fault," Sam explained. "She's trying to create a new world in her image, which includes destroying this one."

"So, how'd you find me," she asked.

Before they could answer, the waitress came back, dropping off their food and drinks. (Y/n) leaned forward and took a sip of her milkshake and grinned to herself for a moment.

The boys were so confused. This was God's weapon?

"Well, Dean and I are hunters," Sam continued once (Y/n) back over to him. "We hunt monsters. Our grandpa was part of this group, the Men of Letters. They have a book in their collection that talks about you. There was a spell that led us to you."

She nodded but furrowed her eyebrows. Monsters? God? Hunters? After what had happened today, she struggled to deny all of it but was still hesitant to believe them?

"Well, if the Darkness knows I can defeat... her... won't she be looking for me too," (Y/n) asked.

"We can keep you safe," Dean promised.

"You're sure?"

"As sure as possible," he nodded.

(Y/n) looked down for a moment, "Okay. I'll go with you. I just... I need to get some stuff from my house and tell my parents that I'll be gone."

"You can't tell them where you're going or why," Dean said. "It'll put them in danger."

She bit her lip, "If it saves them in the long run, fine."

(Y/n) asked a lot more questions that day as they ate in the diner. They told her about monsters and the big bads they had faced. Monsters' weaknesses and abilities. Their other hunting buddies. People she could trust.

Sam, Dean, and Cas trusted her immediately. They felt like they needed to. Like she was a person to rely on.

And there- over a cherry vanilla milkshake- (Y/n) watched her entire life change forever.

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[spaceorphan18]

Thinking about "problematic" and "toxic" relationships in Glee.

These terms get thrown about a lot - and maybe in other shows as well, but I just don't follow anything else as close, nor do I get people coming to me about anything else (not that anyone has recently about this subject) but I think I wanted to have a conversation about it.

Because - I think people often conflate problematic/toxic with imperfection and struggles within the relationship. And they're two, very different things. And I think it's bizarre to expect, specifically, the teenage relationships of the show to be the most unproblematic and healthiest of things.

I mean - teenage years are when you learn a whole bunch of shit, as well as learning about yourself, and and you and your partner are going to change a whole lot. I can't name a single person when I was in school, including myself, that didn't have some serious issues when it came to relationships. So it's weird to me that we expect art to be above it - especially when people are clamoring for more realism in the art. It's such a weird thing for me.

Anyway...

Couples who were actually 'toxic':

Will/Terri

It's implied that their relationship, which began in high school, was built on more superficial reasons - looks, popularity, and physical attraction/sex. And while you can totally be in a relationship for those reasons (and that's fine) they held onto the relationship both wanting more out of it or something different than what their partner wanted.

They remained teenagers in their relationship with each other. They both held on to this idealized view of what they were in high school and never grew beyond that.

They're both very selfish people - which often results in manipulation (especially on Terri's side).

Will straight up has an emotional affair with one of his colleagues - and instead of examining why, or that he may be at fault for his marriage crumbling, pushes a lot of the blame onto Terri's lying.

Puck/Shelby

Fascinatingly (?) Puck's 18 and legal by the time this relationship starts - so I can't add statutory rape to the list, but there is a big power difference here, and it's still very sketchy when this is in a school setting.

Shelby is using Puck to make herself feel better about getting older - which you can be in a purely sexual relationship and there's nothing wrong with that, but she knows the reasons Puck wants to be in one, and continues to do it anyway.

Puck is using Shelby, yes because she's hot, but more so because he has this idea in his head that by getting closer to her he can be a father to his kid.

When Puck doesn't get his way - he verbally assaults her, and shames her for both having sex and not giving him sex when he wants it.

Beiste/Cooter

This should be the most obvious example - as Cooter is domestically violent

Relationships with a lot of 'problematic' elements but that I wouldn't define as 'toxic'

Will/Emma

One of the problems with Will, in general, is that he's a very selfish person. And the writers rely on this to create conflict, to the detriment of the couple and of Will's character. I think if this wasn't a TV show that needed drama, I wouldn't place this one here. It's the fact that the writers are constantly making Will a douchebag in order to drum up drama between the two of them, and it makes their relationship seem worse and worse.

Will consistently does not listen to Emma about her own issues, problems, and life. She doesn't need to explain why she doesn't want her parents around. She doesn't need to go with him to Washington. Her career and career goals aren't silly - especially compared to his. He needs to be an equal partner when it comes to wedding planning. And her virginity is not a prize to be won. (And this a shortened list.)

Interestingly - I think that once the show pushes them into the background the last couple of seasons a lot of their issues aren't there any more, more so because neither is really much of a functioning character anymore.

Rachel/Brody

The one reason I'm adding this here is the fact that, even after defining the relationship as open, they both continued to lie to each other about sleeping with other people. Having an open relationship is fine. But lying about it is not. And in fact, most of their relationship seemed to be built on lying to each other about who they are and how they feel.

Finn/Quinn

They're meant to be the mini version of Will and Terri. Neither one is interested in the other as a person but instead interested in the idea of what they could be.

Relationships that you might think I'd put on one of these lists and am not.

Finn/Rachel

I have some seriously complicated feelings about Finn and Rachel - and do not think they belong together long term. However - I think the show did show them being kind and good to each other, and while yeah, there were some shitty things done, my own biggest issue with the couple stems more from the fact that they're just two very different people on a track to be in two different worlds. And I don't see how you can ever reconcile their relationship from that.

Marley/Ryder

I don't like Ryder. And I don't like his somewhat possessive attitude about being with Marley. He seems to always place himself first, and doesn't seem to consider her feelings all that often. However, they went on a few dates and nothing substantial enough that I'd call an actual relationship.

Emma/Ken

This relationship is fascinating (even if I find it horribly terrible and dull). Because Ken and Emma have enough respect for each other that they know their boundaries and communicate well so that those boundaries are maintained. And despite the fact that this relationship has no positive emotions attached to it, they're both well aware of what the relationship is - and it works, even if it doesn't an both members are unhappy in it.

This is all kind of the stuff I'm thinking off hand. The rest of the couples on the show (and my god there are so many) may have issues within the relationship - but I don't think should be extremely defined as problematically toxic. And both terms are thrown about so easily that I think it's become synonymous with 'has elements that I don't like'.

[dreamylyfe-x]

you know i'm rewatching the gallavich wedding planning and i can't help but feel like i don't know who this is, but it ain't mickey! them writing him to be all specific about colors and sh*t, like where's the real mickey from s4 who was annoyed with that guy listing beer types? i get they wanted to do that dumb gag but they should've used someone else for it. i mean ian's the one who was always meticulous about details, they showed that from the beginning. i don't know i just found it so weird

Aw, yeah. I get that reaction -- I think it’s pretty widely shared. And I suspect that storyline did come from someone pitching “it’d be funny if Mickey was a groomzilla.” Which is an idea I find annoying. Because I find the whole bridezilla thing annoying. 

But... I kinda love it, to be honest. 

I really like the idea that Mickey has an aesthetic and some artistic tendencies. We know he draws. I think there’s some indication in canon that Mickey is creative -- both in problem solving and in, let’s say, his sartorial choices. Mickey seems to act on things a lot. He’s not buying those hoodies without sleeves. He is creating hoodies without sleeves.  

Ian IS meticulous... or at least, he’s organized. He’s also given to executing a plan that isn’t necessarily of his own devising. He is drawn to uniforms and he seeks out knowledge he can apply to systems and processes. He seems to have an appreciation for creativity and art, but he isn’t particularly creative himself. 

So of the two of them, I think Mickey is actually much more likely to observe the details and to have opinions about them. That’s still a long way away from having a meltdown about gold chiavari chairs with white cushions. I do realize this. And I remember how that scene came out as a sneak peek the week before and I was... concerned. But when I saw it in context, I honestly liked it. Not so much the scene itself, but the story of that episode. It’s pretty much the only ep that season where Mickey’s concerns are foregrounded over Ian’s and, though (as always) I would have liked MORE of it, I like that we got this one episode about what the wedding mean to Mickey. 

So here are the top reasons why I like and buy this story. 

1. Right off the top, I don’t think Mickey objecting to being given a list of beers indicates he’s not going to care about what chairs are at his wedding. Putting aside that he’s lived an additional five or so years since then, Mickey doesn’t get annoyed in that scene because he thinks it’s dumb to know a lot about beer -- He’s annoyed that Ryan has asked him a question he can’t answer. I’ve always thought of that as a class issue -- He has never been in much of a position to CARE about what he drinks, and he drinks mass-produced pilsners because that’s what everyone in Southside drinks, because it’s cheap. He might love a winter wheat. He has no goddamn idea, because he isn’t living a life where you get to concern yourself with whether or not you’re into IPAs or lagers. Mickey DOES like beer. I was surprised and delighted when he recently ordered a stout at The Alibi, because it does indicate that his life has changed enough that he gets to know a bit more about beer. That at some point, he had the time and inclination to alter his tastes. He might have a different answer for Ryan now.

2. That Mickey wants things. Just... I don’t know. Mickey wanting anything other than food, shelter and Ian gets me so much. Mickey attending to his hierarchy of needs legitimately makes me teary. For people who grow up like Mickey -- asking for things can be a very big deal. So the fact that he just decides he’s going to make a wedding happen -- and a wedding with nice flowers and chairs that will reflect the light (because, we find out, that’s why he wants the gold) and a singer who will perform Livin’ on a Prayer -- is a big deal. And as many have cited before me, it makes sense that Mickey wants a better wedding with Ian than the one he had with Svetlana. But what we also find out, when we get the moment with the vows, is that Mickey takes the whole thing very seriously. He delivers those vows with complete commitment and deep sincerity. So I understand why he wants that space to carry the weight of what is happening. 

3. Mickey doesn’t break the chair because it’s not gold. He breaks the chair because every single person he’s encountered that day is a fucking dick. And they’re being a dick about his wedding. Something he’s happy about, and something he wants to celebrate. And, honestly, he’s not asking for much. He’d be annoyed, but most likely not violent, if his father hadn’t aimed a gun his face and some random old lady hadn’t refused him as a client because he’s gay. Brooks -- who tries to gaslight and act like the chairs are the chairs that were asked for when he knows damn well they are not -- is taking the wrath for a number of other people. But to me, the most important line in that scene is “why does everything always have to suck?”

4. Another thing about this is... back when Mickey responds to Ryan’s multiple choice beer question with “how ‘bout beer?” Ryan covers the awkward moment by making a joke about his own sexuality. The implication being that relating to beer with the kind of detail traditionally reserved for wine, is not masculine. And the thing is, Ryan is making a joke at his own expense, but he’s also acknowledging something that has always been true for Mickey. That Mickey has to make sure he never, ever displays any of these qualities Ryan so casually exhibits. Whether it’s natural for him or not, Mickey has to avoid anything that can be read to be a stereotype. He has to be hyper masculine, both because he’s from House that Toxic Masculinity built, but also because HE knows, even when he won’t acknowledge it, that he’s gay. So when we see Mickey openly talking about what flowers and chairs he wants at the wedding, he’s letting out something that could very well have always been there, but that he never, ever would have expressed back in seasons 1 through 4. Mickey doesn’t kiss Ian for two whole seasons because he’s so messed up about his sexuality. I 100% buy that, at that same time, he isn’t acknowledging having opinions about home decor. 

5. I like it when Mickey defies our expectations. I’m find with him discovering or revealing new facets or abilities or interests -- what I don’t like is when they have him do something that seems more like a regression. The show lampshades that this is something of a surprise, for Mickey to want a wedding, by having Ian be absolutely baffled by it for most of the episode. But they also participate in the end. There’s an indication that Mickey and Ian plan the eventual wedding together, though I imagine Mickey’s stronger opinions took the day in most cases. And the gesture at the end of that episode -- a romantic gesture just as surprising from Ian as anything Mickey does in that episode, really -- validates Mickey in a way I think is pretty beautiful. Like... he gets to be a guy who wants someone to sing Livin’ on a Prayer to him while he holds his boyfriend’s fiancé’s hand. He wasn't allowed to be that guy for years. I like that he gets there. 

So. We might not agree on this, but I really like that you drew a parallel between that scene and the party scene at Ryan’s because I hadn’t though of that before and I think it’s a very interesting one. I also enjoyed thinking so much about this on the day that we mark their one year anniversary! Because holy fuck. Gallavich is married! 

[silvermoon424]

"Toei dropped the ball in promoting Crystal". If this ain't the truth and it makes me so mad. Sailor Moon is internationally known due mostly to the anime and it feels like they did diddly squat to promote it to new fans. The only PR it ever got was from fans excited it was returning. Toei WTH!?

And I'm also sad all we get for the dream arc is two movies both cause of the wait for it to come to the states and cut content. It's the most different from the 90s and the 1 I prefer and I hope they adapted it nice.

I'm also worried for Stars as well because we don't even know how they plan to adapt it. With KNY at least the train arc wasn't that long and they adapted it nice but so much happens in the final arc I want it to get a tv season but then that would throw off the flow of things. Tv series, then movies then tv series? Ugh. Did we ever get a reason why the dream arc was a movie and not a tv season.

TBH I didn't really like Crystal. I just liked the humor and art style from the 90s better but I wish Crystal was treated better. I feel it shoulda had more poured into it then an average seasonal show. Fans expectations were let down and it really drove a wedge in the fandom which was the saddest to me. Just wanted to give my 2 cents. Thanx for listening.

Preach, anon. That's something that's always really bothered me too: Crystal's seeming disinterest in creating new fans. This is Sailor Moon, a beloved worldwide phenomenon. I get that it'd be harder to capture that magic again because the 2010s/2020s are so different from the 90s, but I firmly believe that Sailor Moon is timeless and younger generations (or hell, even older people who missed out on the phenomenon in the 90s/early 2000s) can and will enjoy it.

Like, I'm living proof of that. I got into Sailor Moon in 2008 at 13 years old- in a really stagnant period where nothing new was being made and nothing was promoted. I literally only found Sailor Moon because someone's signature on a random site had a picture of Rei in it and I thought she was pretty. Yet I still fell in love with Sailor Moon, I felt its magic. Crystal could have easily been something that created scores of new fans, especially in its native country of Japan (where the Precure series is still going strong).

Yet Toei was more interested in capitalizing on older fans and nostalgia. They did very little to promote the series or engage with people who were unfamiliar with Sailor Moon. Everyone should have been talking about Crystal, like they did for FMA Brotherhood. But the hype for Crystal was mostly contained to the preexisting Sailor Moon fandom itself, which is really sad. It really can't be said enough: Toei fucking dropped the ball.

It's also really frustrating to see the differences between magical girl properties Toei actually cares about and Sailor Moon. Precure gets awesome animation every season, 2 movies per season, tons of advertisements and merch, beautiful and unique transformation sequences for every Cure... the list goes on and on. Sailor Moon Crystal gets merch and remakes of the 90s anime transformations and that's pretty much it. I love Precure, but it wouldn't even exist without Sailor Moon. Like I said in that previous post, Sailor Moon has made Toei untold amounts of money and they've been so disrespectful to it ever since it stopped being one of their primary cash cows.

Also, I'm worried about Stars too. It really needs to be a season but like you said it would be super weird if the format got messed up like that so it will probably be a couple of movies again (if it ever gets adapted at all). And I'm pretty sure no official explanation has been given as to why Eternal was a 2-part movie instead of a season, but fans speculate it's because season 3 of Crystal was unprofitable (thanks to Toei dropping the ball on seasons 1-2 and killing off most people's interest) so they went the cheaper route of shorter runtime.

Also yeah, speaking of someone who has been active in the fandom for over a decade, Crystal really drove a wedge between fans. A lot of people (including myself) felt the need to defend it because we'd been waiting for it for so long and some people felt the need to voice their (understandable) frustrations and anger. Everyone seems to unanimously agree that season 3 was good (and reception for Eternal is warm based on what we've seen of it) but the first two seasons were brutally controversial.