#angel season 9

[absolutely-wretched]

finishing buffy s8 and starting angel&faith

spoilers under the cut

so, i did notice there were many writers in buffy s8 finally, confirming my suspicions that the badness of it wasn't joss alone. but let me tell you i was completely correct in thinking the last volume was going to piss me off. spike comes back and not only does she describe having sex with twilight to him, she KISSES HIM. i literally fell back onto my bed in exasperation. except she didn't actually kiss him, it ws a fantasy, which doesn't stop my annoyance, and neither does her immediately thinking she's gonna get into bed with him. i wanted to say like "buffy seems a little ooc, much more self-absorbed than she was originally". then i watched Hell's Bells since I was watching the dvd commentary, and her first words about Xander leaving Anya at the altar was "They were supposed to be my light at the end of the tunnel." and I was like oooooh nope she's still in character. just a bit worse, which is fair bc of the whole "leader of slayers" and "ultimate power" thing. also i was all excited about spike's design coming back in my last post bc of his nail polish, but then he's in like brownn boots and a tan sweater. idk just weird, i aggresively do not like it. i do like that Spike knew who twilight was immediately. very on-brand.

so angel kills giles and buffy doesn't stake him, but instead kills all magic. definitely needed to be done (poor willow, though), but it still seemed unrealistic that she didn't kill him, but i get why. angel&faith (abbreviated to a&f from here on out) pointed out the fact the angelus killed jenny in the same way, which i was surprised i didn't pick up on. faith gets giles' estate, which was a bit surprising but her explanation about it makes sense. that faith needed more help and all that. and faith is going to rehabilitate angel, which i love. angel's relationship with women like cordelia or faith are much nicer to me than anything about his relationship with buffy. and all magic is gone from the world except for the magic that's already there, tying these events to why the world is how it is in Fray (buffy having been the last slayer 200 years prior)

i'm curious to know how Willow was an Uber-witch then in the future, of whom Buffy goes back in time to kill. Also, Fray ended on a cliffhanger, the only continuation being when buffy went in time in s8. but i really want to know the rest of her story with Harth, especially because of that shocking kiss that's just like... what and why and what.

so warren is dead for good again, thank christ. everyone is mad at buffy for killing magic. it's all pretty fair since she boned twilight and birthed a whole universe and all that, being fairly selfish in their eyes, but since her and angel (mostly angel) were pretty possessed, it wasn't as selfish as it looks to everyone. but i'm glad they did it, a bit, because it brings us back to more of a similar world in the show. no more slayer military and all that, less bombastic fights and crazy mass demons. joss said "i learned what you like and didn't like" which i think means i'll like the seasons coming up much more. i don't like that willow has been nerfed, though. i love her so much, and she's so sad. and after goddesses and monsters, i knew she was into the snake goddess, and they're in love and she can never see her again. just... poor willow. i'm interested to know how that will turn out.

we also got to check in with riley, which i didn't care about, but it's part of the canon so i didn't skip it. and i was rewarded with finding out whistler is evil and an agent of twilight pulling the strings since buffy was 15. which was cool. oh! and giles leaving buffy the book that he pulled out in s1e1 was a nice touch. i dunno, the normalness of the epilogue gives me a lot of hope for s9 :) and so does the first vol of a&f

first off i'll say that I LOVE the art of a&f. Buffy art is really hit or miss, and while reading it i longed for the writing and art of Spike and Angel s5/6 comics (Urru and Lynch) even though when changing colorists/inkers around it could also be rendered hit or miss. But the a&f art? *chef's kiss*. The likenesses art great, the inking is amazing, I love the cell shading (which for comics is a much better fit to me than the airbrushing shading of buffy s8). I may be partial since it's the art style i'm personally trying to learn, and i'm seeing it being used professionally, but damn! it's really well done. and gone are the days of storyboarding being so confusing you dont know what's going on! i dunno if buffy s9 will lose that problem too, but here's hoping.

the characterization and story is really good, and angel is trying to bring giles back to life. i was thinking that wasn't really in character, but with eveything he did when he was (mostly) possessed by twilight, i can understand why. and faith promising to kill him, as usual. I just love it. it's got all the angel vibes of ats. I wonder how faith is going to reconcile that the slayers she helps want to kill angel. how she's going to allow him to bring giles back. it's a bummer, though, that new vampires that are turned since the seed was destroyed are like zombies. makes me uninterested in vampires. we get to check in with harmony at the end of the volume, which is fun. I love clem, he's continuously so cute.

i like the new villains. and they're working with Whistler, too. I'm interested to know more about the whistler lore. i wish they'd bring doyle back in some way. or cordelia. in comic form, not attached to an actor, i think i may actually like her, lol. i like that the seed rendered mohra blood unusable, since that could have changed angel's game completely, making him human. though, it doesn't make sense that he still says "i can't be what i need to be if i'm human". since he was human all through after the fall in Hell A and was able to save the world and all that while fighting demons constantly.

and what's up with that, too? so angel being twilight means eveyone hates him, he's infamous now. how does that reconcile with everyone in LA that he saved, making movies about he and Spike and Team Help the Hopeless, naming libraries after them and all that. Oh and I'm interested to know about the buddy comedy of illyria and gunn that was happening at the end of angel s6. i just love illyria and wanna know what she's up to.

TLDR: Joss says he learned a lot from doing buffy s8, seeing what worked and how certain things work in comic form. i feel like i'm going to enjoy the comics going forward, and really love a&f. the only thing that will make me really love s9 of Buffy when I start it, is if they change the entire art team (minus covers). I'm not sure if it's the inks that make it bad, but the shading definitely is bad. the pencils could be the problem, but since i can't see them, i'm not sure. the storyboarding was absolutely terrible, though, i had no idea what was happening a lot of the time. i'll be back after reading vol 1 of Buffy s9

[thebeautyofspn]

9x10 Road Trip

[renegadesstuff]

THOSE PARKING LOT ARE CURSED 🥺😩

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Garak is So much right from his first episode. Laura Palmer of Cardassia over here trying to get laid, foil a terrorist plot, AND work a retail shift, all while high as fuck. Dude’s schedule in Past Prologue is FULL.

[liar-or-lawyer]

[xerith-42]

Some Slightly More Coherent Thoughts about Void Paradox

Riveting title, I know, but this is the quality content I'm sure... 50 of you signed up for? When the fuck...? How are there so many of you?? And in spite of that title, this post is still long as fuck

Anyways I finished Void Paradox and it sure made me feel a certain way. [Cut to footage of me literally screaming anytime Laurance showed emotion in the series]. Gotta say, as a long time Laurance fan, this is really nice to have. I've been going on my tirades about how Jess ruined Laurance for the sake of Aaron, and how Laurance never really bounced back from this character assassination, but I wasn't entirely right. He sort of bounced back?

Well, we got this. I still would have liked Laurance in Love-Love Paradise but I guess I'll take him in this series. And honestly, it's the best Laurance content I've gotten that isn't fan content since... well, since I first watched the show back in 2015 when I was a literal fetus. Every time after I've gone back and watched as Laurance got written poorly from honestly really early episodes sometimes (looking at you Episode 65), and had to deal with the unfortunate truth that he was essentially unimportant to the story Jess decided to tell with both her series, despite being the main character of one of them.

It's so refreshing to have quality Laurance content, and we got a variety of it in this show. He's so expressive, so alive, so emotional. I've always loved Laurance because surprise surprise, the men in my life weren't always the most emotionally vulnerable, so I latched onto fictional men who were as a coping mechanism! Yayyy! And Laurance has always been a very emotionally vulnerable character, at least in the beginning. It's part of the tragedy that is his character arc in Season 2. That Laurance is usually vulnerable, that he's the one who's always willing to talk about his emotions, but the calling is making it harder to open up, and the world has only become crueler to men like him who dare to feel too much.

Wow I just keep sliding into depressing content in this post, I'm trying to praise Laurance's writing in this series. Because it's good. I have my problems with Void Paradox as a whole, but as a showing for my favorite character in the entire Aphverse, a chance at redemption, it's fantastic. As I said Laurance is so expressive in this series, largely thanks to Sebastian Todd being an absolutely phenomenal voice actor who clearly knows and cares about this character. His performance is absolutely excellent and a great high note for this character to go off on.

I cannot emphasize how much I adore every little thing about Laurance's portrayal. The flirtiness, the smug bastard energy, the very sincere and open care, that one scene where he gets super embarrassed and then whimpers that I haven't listened to like eighteen times. The whole thing is great. His dynamic with this alternate version of Aphmau is so good, it's so great to see him bounce off of other characters. I just love it so much.

That scene where he realizes that he's in a similar scenario to the Nether and literally instantly jumps to "If it comes down to it, let me sacrifice myself," I SCREAMED AT THIS. The whole series whenever he angsts over his old world I scream, but that line really hit me. Fuck whatever you say about Laurmau in every universe, the universal truth of Laurmau, nay the universal truth of Laurance is this;

"I would sacrifice myself so you could live in every universe."

That's Laurance! That's Laurance with literally anyone you want!! This is the best characterization Laurance has ever gotten. It's consistent with his character, and I love the fact that Mod Aphmau doesn't even let him finish his consideration of self-sacrifice, she just shuts it down and it's a great contrast to what Laurance is used to. I adore how that's what he jumps to, I adore the fact that he's as clueless as I am about the lore this season, I love the rivals esque thing he's got going on with Jaiden, that was fun. Lotta potential there. This was just a good time. I cannot emphasize how delightful Laurance was in this series. How his delightful presence is the most enjoyable thing in the series, and a literal blessing unto us all.

Wasn't it nice to feel good about an Aphmau series for like.. two minutes. Anyways here's the part where I get a little salty with Jess, as per usual. I'm not going to go too in depth on my problems with Void Paradox as a story because it's mercifully short and a lot of my complaints did come from a standpoint of not knowing any of the lore of Mod Mod World which might have hindered my full ability to understand the larger story.

I can however get VERY salty about the fact that I didn't even know Void Paradox was a thing that had Laurance in it until 2024!! It came out in 2018! How did this happen? Well the answer is very simple, the cause is the bane of my very existence. My Street Season 6 When Angels Fall. [I am shaking with rage]

I know you've likely read how much I can tear into season 2 Episode 95, and oh my Irene can I tear into that episode, but there's a similar but differently visceral emotion When Angels Fall makes me feel. Let's call it a sort of divine rage. And now, I have one more reason to hate it. Because Void Paradox, a series with actual quality content, was released at the same time as whatever the fuck that was, meaning it never had a chance.

For a bit of personal context, I briefly became active in the Aphmau fanbase when this season came out and during the time leading up to it. I had seen every season of My Street, and despite not being the biggest fan of where Jess took the series, I liked a lot of the characters and was invested in where they would go from here. I was knee deep in the My Street trenches when the many many different bombs dropped. Melissa dying but then she didn't but maybe she did and I literally spent hours arguing with people on this, Ein is turning everyone evil, there's a doomsday device, forever potion nonsense is happening, Travis' dad is evil maybe, Aaron is going insane, the multiverse is falling apart, and then Jess just killed the best character in the entire series, dare I say the entire Aphverse, dare I say the entire universe of existence as we know it--

It was a lot. And in all the chaos Void Paradox just... came out. It came out right before episode 9 of When Angels Fall came out. And anyone else who was there during the war... they know what that episode did to us. What it did to me. I wasn't the same after that episode came out. I felt like I had lost a part of myself. Something I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to get back...

And as a result, I and a lot of people didn't see Void Paradox. Looking at the numbers, Void Paradox struggled to get above 1 million viewers for most episodes, while the lowest viewed episode of When Angels Fall sits at a cozy 2.9 million as an established series. Void Paradox is objectively better as a series and deserves to have a second season. We deserve to explore more of the weird ideas Jess clearly had while making it, we deserve to know if a cure can be found, and we, or maybe just me and I'm feeling selfish here, deserve to know if Laurance is okay.

Jess has already taken one comfort character away from me. I'll be damned if she takes another.

[caswilllovedean4ever]

The entire plot of season 9 of supernatural:

[herb10]

Justin signing jerseys for fans [061123]

🎥 (c): @jherbertmedia

[collarbjt]

SPN 918

Whatever, fyou Metatron

Oh thank you Metatron, shower-Dean is sooooooooooooooo beautiful🥰🥰🥰

Is Chuck and Metatron are same person…??

Gabriel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re alive yeessssssIknewit!!!!

Angels in SPN is not a Shepherd, they described as flocks, like mortals. Most of them don’t have free will or can’t handle free will. Quite interesting setting.

And Gadreel is here, now.

What…???? Gabriel is dead or alive…? Oh shutup Metatron

What…holy ”The Winchesters Gospel” ??? lol Metatron you are hilarious

Oh now I want to kill Gadreel. I’m crying instead of Dean… but well played you both

Oh holy crap their call is crossed… wtf is Metatron is a really new God??? Why he’s like…almighty?

Cas understand the death-star metaphor! Soo impressive lol

SPN’s writer characters are…god? So maybe, Chuck is an old god but he forgot all memories and think he is a mortal, so Cas->Metatron played as a God?

Love the song, and wow, the angels are ready for the Castiel,!

Okay we already have a computer, but Metatron is so-analog angel. He is Still using an old typewriter😅

[shallowseeker]

Speaking of repressing the multi-faceted, three-dimensionality of your own motivations, what if that’s part of an unspoken “objectionable” thing with the melting of Donatello’s mind?

Like, Dean saw that look on Cas’s face. He fears that anger (on his behalf) was a sliver of that motivation.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

You know... I was thinking about it last night, and I feel like both Buffy and Angel somewhat go through long character arcs in the comics, to kind of just end up where they started, somewhat: Buffy with the knowledge that she's the Slayer and Angel with his "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do" ideals. I mean, it's much deeper than all of that, of course. And it's actually nice to see Buffy finally want to be the Slayer, when she kind of rightfully resented it for so long because of how much she suffered with that role. But at the same time... you could also always see that that was who she was, deep down, and she always did embody the Slayer in choosing the world's needs over her own.

But this is just another thing they have in common. And one of the reasons I don't really think they'd perfectly jibe with anyone else, because they're both such champions and I think they'd want that in someone else, too (like, note how it's during Angel's speech moment here that Buffy falls in love with him again here in S12. And she is loving seeing him be such a leader... really for the first time. Because for some ungodly reason, the writers kept her from seeing all the millions of times he was one before: like in his own show). But anyway...

[saltpepperbeard]

Hi! I saw your tags wondering how long the finale is, and from what was officially released several days ago I believe it's standard length, 28 minutes or so (and the title is 'Mermen'). I knowww it should be a two-parter I feel you sobs

GAH??????????

don't mind me lol still praying for a miracle/a surprise two-parter/a surprise extended-length because i feel like there's so SO much ground to cover based on everything we've seen in the BTS

...

[thebeautyofspn]

9x10 Road Trip

[renegadesstuff]

NOT THEM BREAKING UP IN A PARKING GARAGE 💔

[brian-in-finance]

Vanity Fair Oscars Party • 2017 • Designer: Alberta Feretti

Vanity Fair Oscars Party • 2019 • Designer: Dundas Couture

Academy Awards • 2020 • Designer: Valentino

Vanity Fair Oscars Party • 2020 • Designer: Prabal Gurung

Academy Awards • 2022 • Designer: Louis Vitton

Vanity Fair Oscars Party • 2022 • Designer: Louis Vitton

Photo: Vanity Fair Slideshow • Other Photos: Getty Images

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Remember… fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There's no how-to road map to style. It's about self expression and, above all, attitude. — Iris Apfel

Seem like only 319 days ago…

[liar-or-lawyer]

Could you make a gif set of when Hetty says 'No, but I'm going to kill him too' in 9x13?