#but the ideas were poorly executed and the characters were poorly handled

[waitineedaname]

I've been relistening to the homestuck soundtrack album by album while working lately and man. it's reminding me how much I genuinely loved about homestuck, and how that made the aspects of it that sucked so much more frustrating

[bloody-teared-angel]

Omfg- if you don't like the show, DONT FUCKING TALK ABOUT IT! DONT WATCH IT! LEAVE FANS ALONE! LET PEOPLE ENJOY THE THINGS THEY LIKE! NOBODY IS FORCING YOU TO WATCH THE SHOW!

Leave fans alone? Anon, I'm straight up confused. Did I harass any of you? Am I telling ANYBODY to not watch it? Did I come onto any of your blogs and sent you hate or harassment into an ask box or message?

I don't remember doing any of that.

I'm not doing anything to you. I'm just voicing my opinion. No one is forcing you to read my posts or interact with them. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Also, if you have this strong urge to come to a shows defense into a person's ask box and defend it so strongly, then you're just proving my point.

And funny thing anon. I liked Hazbin Hotel pilot - which seem to be not canon now. I liked some episodes in Helluva Boss season 1.

But then the quality declined. Themes were executed poorly, topics were mishandled to the point it hurt. Characterisation of previously loved characters is jumbled and nonsensical. Villains are poorly written and nonthreatening.

What brings me comfort is writing. Writing my disappointment away for a show that I did enjoy at some point. So I started doing research, to stay as close to the source as possible while sprinkling in my own ideas.

That's how I found out about things that I know now. Because now that I look at any of the canonical figureheads in Hell and how they are handled in Miss Medrano's show, I can't ignore the issues any longer.

It's not only hurting the shows but also the reputation of canonical Rulers of Hell and Ars Goetia.

[chaifootsteps]

hey chai, long post incoming--i'm slowly chipping away at a draft of a vivzie drama masterpost i'll be phrasing as "why are people mad at vivziepop" for new-comers. i'll be including screenshots where i can and small summaries for things. that said, this is my rough list, have i missed anything that you can think of, or any specifics you think outta be mentioned?

VivziePop General Issues - Some from the Past that still happen in the Present

Inability to Handle Criticism / Confrontation

Transphobia

Misogynistic Tendencies

Issues with Improper Crediting / "Stealing" Ideas

Liking Tweets of Fans and Otherwise Who Agree with Her / Praise Her / Defend Her

Most of both her series’ “charm” is thanks to people other than her

Despite having two "LGBT+ friendly" series she primarily focuses on gay men and hasn't been the most LGBT+ friendly in other areas (acephobia, transphobia, lack of rep for queer women/wlw, thinks polyamory is just an excuse to cheat)

Conflicts between Vivzie putting forth an image of a struggling small-time creator who pulled herself up by the bootstraps and made it VS. circumstantial evidence that she is very well off financially and always has been; had her schooling paid for, spent a summer in Paris, takes expensive trips, makes expensive purchases, and lives in a million dollar house with multiple bedrooms and a pool

Testimonies of Ex-Employees and Friends

Erin Frost

KenDraws

Salem

VivziePop “Canon Events” of the Past and Present (20??-Present)

The Snake Tub & Creepy Fanart

Blaire White Fanart

Nazi Sausage Party Fan-Characters from blog “i-hate-jewce”

Starvader Drama

DollCreep / JayJay/Jiji Drama

Viv guilt-tripped a Patron for trying to get at least a partial refund for a financial emergency--many feel that while Viv was in the right for not wanting to refund the Patron, she handled it extremely poorly

Viv's 2018 "Apology"

Support of Angel Dust x Valentino as a “r*pe ships”

Her sister apologized on her behalf to someone she cyber bullied and her sister cited Viv as “having a problem” cyberbullying people. [Kedi's consequent reaching out to the sister having heard she was being a mediator for said person resulted in Viv saying Kedi was stalking her family.]

Viv kicking the original Hazbin Hotel pilot cast after saying she’d fight to keep them onboard [Michael has stated it was not a union issue and explained how he was even willing to shoulder the cost of having him on the show but was still let go.]

Viv saying redesigns are "disrespectful"

VivziePop Opinions of Other Artists

“I could destroy her” and everything else shitty she said about Kyra -- Kyra’s "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" comic & tweets People Suspect Are About Vivzie

Calling Tracy Annoying

Ashley (Creator of Far-Fetched)

- Viv wasn’t happy with Hunicast’s popularity (mainly run by Ashley) and was mad people were mistaking Ashley for the creator of Hazbin Hotel despite Ashley always making sure to correct people. - Viv learned something personal about Ashley that she used to make fun of her behind her back. - Allegedly one of the reasons Viv kicked most the original VA cast of Hazbin Hotel were due to them associating with Ashley. - Allegedly didn’t like that Ashley was leaving to work on her own indie pilot (Far-Fetched)

Bullying KediKatzen for having a similar art style, accusing Kedi of stalking her and her family, cyberbullying Kedi

SpindleHorse Related (VivziePop’s Animation Studio)

Rushed, Disorganized, Unprofessional Productions

Favoritism by Viv

“Cliquey” Behavior from Executives

Tight Deadlines

Underpaying

Working on other projects / working multiple jobs was generally frowned upon and discouraged.

In at least two instances Viv actually went out of her way to try and keep people from being hired elsewhere. - In one she told Ashley that Erin was "mentally unstable" - In another she told Nico Colaleo (Ollie & Scoops) not to hire “her artists” aka people working on her project(s).

VivziePop Criticisms Specific to Her Writing

Being Known to Skip Development to “Get to the Good Stuff”

Revealing / Confirming Story and World Lore via Liking Tweets, Making Tweets, or Behind a Patreon Paywall, instead of writing them into the series itself

Adding New Ideas Just Because She Likes Them, with Little Regard for how they Affect the Story

Rushing Characters’ Development and/or Retconning Characters to fit New Plots / Ideas

Apparent Lack of Research, Or At Least Poor Execution, of Her Ideas, Resulting in “Wasted Potential”

Concern over Mis-Management of “Morally Gray” and “Abusive” Character / Relationship Dynamics

Concern over apparent increasing themes of Inc*st in Helluva Boss

VivziePop Criticisms Specific to Her Art / Character Design

Over-Detailed Character Designs

Confusing Character Designs

Character Designs with Too Many Colors

Art style / designs that are “not animation friendly” --As well as her personal quality of art deteriorating over time

Animation is jittery, moving too much, or moving too fast

What Happened with Lackadaisy

VivziePop allegedly wanted to be on the Lackadaisy production in the past, but didn’t get hired

VivziePop has called Lackadaisy Creator Tracy “annoying” for “being active” in an animation channel on Discord

VivziePop tweeted a screenshot of a $5,000 Pledge to Lackadaisy’s backer-kit [which would’ve given Spindlehorse an Associate Producer’s credit on the future Lackadaisy productions]

Lackadaisy Crew Member ZeBirdBrain passive-aggresively replied that “since Medrano couldn’t be bothered to share the donation link, here it is!” And that money amount didn’t matter, every little bit counts.

It was revealed by SH Animator Mel in reply to ZeBirdBrain that the donation came from multiple team-members at SH (VivziePop did not mention this in her donation tweet.)

ZeBirdBrain deleted her original tweet.

ZeBirdBrain was harassed by VivziePop fans to be fired

Fans found tweets in ZeBirdBrain’s likes that appeared to be transphobic

One of ZeBirdBrain’s friends, a trans man, spoke up in defense of Ze, that Ze had known them since before their transition in 2013 and had been nothing but supportive.

Lackadaisy Co-Creator Fable, a trans masc, chimed in that they were made aware of the tweets, they looked into the matter, and were satisfied with the explanations they were given and hoped that would be enough for everyone.

[Fighting continued between fans and Lackadaisy crew members but the general consensus from the Lackadaisy crew seemed to be that they knew Ze to be a supportive ally, the liked tweets were a debated subject even in trans circles w/trans folk on both sides of the argument, Ze uses/used her likes as bookmarks rather than using the bookmark feature, and the reason Ze wasn’t saying all this herself was out of fear the rabid fandom wouldn’t take her word for it and would instead slander her further.]

Later, Lackadaisy’s Backer-Kit campaign ended, at which point Backer-Kit begins processing all the payments.

VivziePop posts a screenshot that “Spindlehorse’s” donation was denied.

Tracy replied to Viv’s tweet professionally, saying they had explained to SH the reason for the denial in private.

Viv’s fanbase became increasingly volatile towards this, claiming Tracy was “unprofessional” and “just should’ve accepted the money” and everyone should “boycott Lackadaisy”

Tracy, on one of her servers, not only elaborated more on the Ze incident (repeating much of what had already been said), but also revealed they had actually reached out to Spindlehorse in private, well before the campaign ended, and requested that they withdraw their donation. Spindlehorse refused.

i think that's about it--and obv where screenshots are available they will be linked in the full post i eventually make.

This looks amazing to me, and also you're doing god's work; something like this was insanely needed.

[heyclickadee]

Fandom salt under the cut. Not really fandom salt. Maybe fandom paprika or fandom ground cloves:

I sometimes feel like the idea that death has no meaning in Star Wars has more to do with backlash to Zombie Palpatine in TRoS and fandom endlessly repeating the idea that no one dies than death actually being uncommon in Star Wars.

Because, yes, there have been some badly handled fake-out deaths and untimely resurrections in Star Wars. But there have been some very well handled fake-out deaths and resurrections, too, and the majority of characters who die do actually stay dead. The ones who don’t tend to fall into one of two categories: either they were originally supposed to die, but then later on someone realized that was a mistake because they just showed up and there’s more story to tell with them, no point wasting a sick ass character design (eg. Maul, Boba, potentially Fennec Shand); or we never actually saw them die on screen to begin with (eg. Ahsoka two times over).

(And then there’s the Palpatine thing which is its own category of one; I enjoy Zombie Palps, to tell you the truth, but that doesn’t mean I think it was a good choice.)

Does that mean they were all well done? Oh, goodness no. But it’s really something that has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Do I think it was the right choice to bring Echo back? Absolutely. Would I argue the same thing for Fives if he were to come back? No, I probably wouldn’t.

And yes, main characters die a lot less often than side characters, true, but that’s because they’re main characters. They’re the vehicles through which the story is being told so, yes, they’re going to have a bit more plot armor than background characters. Unless it’s Game of Thrones, or something like it where you spend hundreds of pages getting to know a character only to have them die horribly to make a point about the world they live in, when you kill a main character, you really have to kill them. Not everything is or should be Game of Thrones. Otherwise a big chunk of the audience will always be wondering when that character is coming back.

Fake-out deaths can be misused and poorly done. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad trope by itself. A well executed fake-out can be a powerful tool. Theres a lot a writer or a team can do with it. And it doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences; it just means the consequences are different.

[biggiedraws]

okay i just finished rewatching fma brotherhood and can we please talk about how fuckin 15 ed is. like lots of anime protagonists are 15 but ed is *so* 15.

like- he needs to disguise the car so he makes it into a 15 year olds idea of a really cool car, and its so cringe the adults force him to change it. he makes ling a sword and puts a little skull on the handle (for literally no reason except that he presumably thought it would be cool, even though they were in the middle of getting their asses kicked by envy) and then gets defensive when ling calls it lame. he gets riled up unbelievably easily over NOTHING. his fighting style is scrappy- hes experienced but not disciplined, and he'll use whatevers on hand to get the job done. he'll mess around in the middle of a fight, use unnecessarily flashy moves/weapons, and hes just generally a nuisance in combat. he gets really flustered when people insinuate that winry is his girlfriend, and then when he DOES confess to her 2 years later he uses a fucking alchemy metaphor because hes a NERD.

im saying all of this with affection by the way- hes a cringe 15 year old because 15 year olds are cringe! i feel like most of the time these high school age protagonists are basically just adult characters with more naive ideals, or theyre a bit more emotional, or they have "childish" interests. ESPECIALLY with these high stakes action-adventure stories, where the fate of the world is in their hands. but a kid can have the weight of the world on their shoulders and still handle their emotions poorly, act recklessly, goof off at inappropriate times, and generally think and act in a way that adults wouldnt. and still be mature and competent characters! i mean, ed is a GREAT protagonist. he has a full understanding of the stakes and he knows how and when to get serious. but he also does shit like breaking into a secret government laboratory, alone, in the middle of the night, with no plan, and nearly gets himself killed in the process. because hes a reckless kid! and if he HADNT done that, they never would have found out the enemys plan in time!

and its just so perfectly executed- instead of childish traits being sprinkled on top of adult problem solving and emotional regulation, him being 15 informs how he acts all the time! sometimes this is a good thing because he solves problems in a unique way, and sometimes it causes even MORE problems. its a fundamental aspect of his character that contributes to both his strong and weak points.

and my absolute favourite part is that hes still treated like a person worthy of his title and reputation- not only by the adult characters, but by the narrative itself. but he isnt treated like an adult either! the adults around him dont talk down to him, but they also dont have adult expectations of him. theres a whole bit about how the adults shouldnt stand by while the children are on the battlefield- insinuating that while the children are worthy of standing on the battlefield alongside them, they also feel some responsibility to lead them since theyre the adults. which is super reasonable! its probably the best take on adult mentor figures for child main characters ive ever seen.

and yeah theres an argument to be made that it was pretty fucked up of mustang to recruit ed to the military at 12 years old. but he was super upfront with him about what it would entail and didnt force him into it. so watching it as an adult, yeah, its fucked up. but the target audience is kids and thats how kids want to be treated! yeah its a lot of responsibility, but ed knew that going in AND he has a huge support network of trustworthy adults who are looking out for him. hes fine. and hes DEFINITELY better off than most high school age protagonists, who are just sort of thrust into high stakes, life-threatening situations with little guidance. the dynamic is less "you are The Chosen One who will singlehandedly save the world" and more "i mean you certainly have the skills and we really appreciate you working with us but what the fuck is a child doing in the military. who authorized this?? youre going to get yourself killed PLEASE be more careful!" and like. if youre gonna have a show about a 15 year old saving the world, then thats definitely the way to do it.

and what really seals the deal is how pissed ed gets when people treat him like a kid. thats the most 15 year old thing ever! he FEELS like hes being talked down to and disrespected just because hes not given the same expectations and responsibilities as the adults. watching it as a 20 year old im super impressed by the way the adults treat ed, but i can also understand why ed gets so frustrated. its the nature of being a teenager and thinking you can handle more than you can. which really just solidifies how fuckin 15 he is

btw im not saying ed is the only well written teenager in the show. hes just the clearest example- hes so LOUD about who he is and it makes it really easy to talk about his character traits. also hes like my favourite character ever and i just have to talk about him. so like al and the rest are also really convincing kids, and a lot of this stuff kind of applies to all of them! im just talking about ed because i want to lmfao

[the-owl-tree]

What about My Pride? The uh YouTube series, I think the writer was problematic somehow but that might be a thing to mention and also I’d like to see your thoughts

It's on the list! My shorter, more concise thoughts are that while I appreciate it as very much a labor of love with some talented artists and voice actors on the team, the actual story and writing is disappointing, tone deaf, and downright infuriating at times.

I guess rattling off my issues (spoilers included):

I found the central handling of disability and Nothing's character to be poorly thought out. Needing multiple abled bodied characters to get her moving, it feels like there was little research done in trying to depict a character like her.

I hate that her name stays as "Nothing" and that an abled bodied lion lectures her about accepting it. Terribly thought out scene. I'm a she should've changed her name to Everything truther.

The central gay lion romance that the series is based off is pretty poorly written with very few sprinkles of endearing and fun moments between them unfortunately. Hover is...mean? She's a terrible partner and I was genuinely upset that her not sticking up for her girlfriend all because she missed idk a lion recital (something Hover?? canonically should not give a shit about???) was scummy. it would be one thing if Hover was meant to be in the wrong...but she's not depicted as that?

The two spend so much time apart, you start to get kind of annoyed at how much gay lions were part of the marketing and then the gay lions! weren't there!!

Didn't care for it!!

I actually liked the world and premise. I enjoy unfair and cruel societies, I like the idea of someone working to change the system (though I very rarely see the execution of that I like, very rarely will stories depict the actual necessary actions for confronting a society like this: tearing it down entirely and building something better).

I hate Feather. Them pulling their punch and not killing him was lame.

Nothing's brother being the twist villain should have been set up better, it doesn't hit the same way it could have had the series planted the seeds earlier on. We have no reason to understand why he would act this way, he was doing just fine better? Why not set up tensions when we meet the group of young male lions?

I don't like that the only real importance Nothing holds isn't because of something about her in the present, but the importance of her able bodied past life. Her ending with her wanting to die is...bleak because I don't believe she has recognized her own worth.

Poor handling of abuse. I disagree with the notion that trying to give depth to abusers is in itself apologia, but the show is trying to like....idk how to say this properly but it wants to "both sides" Nothing's mother's treatment of her, ya know? I found it really icky.

Uh I think I could say more but you'd have to give me a specific topic to bite onto or I'll keep meandering lol but I didn't care for the show but I do feel for fans of the show who are stuck on a cliffhanger. I hope the creator releases the rest of the story plan at the very least.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Okay I 'm that one anon who prefaced that I wasn't attacking and I mention that because I didn't know how to re-identify myself

Anyway I agree without you on how poorly they handled Ironwood's downfall but what else you said continues to baffle me as a writer and as one whose trying to grow and trying to incorporate more characters how would you suggest going about topics of emotionally "throwing away ones humanity" if said character has prosthetics?

Like...and understand I'm trying to figure out how to word this. If you were to take...let's keep rolling with James. As he was before the absolutely asinine commentary on what him sacrificing his arm meant. If his prosthetics are just that and not meant to symbolize anything. Can you talk about him or any character or original creation under the idea of what they could be doing to themselves emotionally or mentally?

I'm really trying to find where to go cause it just seems that with disabled characters writing certain things for them is heavily limited as to what can be done because certain attempts at things could be labeled as ableism when that wasn't the intention either in an a stumble at the execution of an idea or because the audience (and I'm not saying this is Rooster Teeth cause holy shit is it not them) took something about what was being done and applied it to an aspect of the character that the creator wasn't even looking at.

On that note what they did in general with Penny and whatnot was odd but what would you do about a character that if they had the choice didn't want a disability? This is a more of an out of somewhere questions cause typing this I always think of the Spirit Fairer discourse where there was apparently a character who had a wheelchair and I guess at someone point didn't have it anymore and was happy about that. But people got so mad that the developers rewrote the story so the character remaind wheelchaired bound, but that just makes me ask is it wrong for a character to want to be able to not have a wheelchair? Like is it wrong to write a story where a character wants to be able to walk? Like how would you go about having a character having a disability and not wanting their disability anymore?

Honestly anon as I said before I just….wouldn’t. To put it another way, what does having someone throw away their humanity add to the story? Why do you feel like you need it? And why does it need to be the disabled person? All people have humanity because they’re human. Trying to have someone throw away their humanity is…dangerous territory because more often then not those stories tend to rely heavily on either disabilities or mental illness to “justify” that and for obvious reasons that is extremely ableist. And even without using either of those things it still can be interpreted by audiences to be the disability or mental illness’s fault and what made them lose their humanity. It’s…far too tricky a subject for me to think ever is worth it to be in a story.

If you’re asking how to make a disabled character evil that’s entirely different because evil people can still have their humanity because they’re human. They just happen to be an evil person who does bad things. Making Ironwood evil isn’t inherently a bad thing, but CR/WBY saying that losing his arm is a symbol of his lost humanity is. Then repeatedly having the villains be disabled is a problem. It’s important to ask “why does the disabled character have to be evil” when making them a villain because so often disabilities are used a short hand for villainous traits which is ableist and harmful and tells disabled audiences that their disabilities are seen as villainous.

It is generally the job of the author to really think about these things and the tropes that they are relying on for their story. As a society so many people view more metal = less human which just isn’t true and is actively harmful towards disabled people. Do you remember at all the Mars Rover Opportunity? How emotional people got when her last words came out “My battery is low and it's getting dark”. My friend from my discord group put it perfectly: Oppy is all metal but she’s human. She wasn’t born, she was created but she was alive. We loved her to humanity. People mourned when she passed. NASA played a love song for her. Her being metal didn’t matter, just as James being half metal shouldn’t matter, just as anyone having prosthetics shouldn’t matter. They are still humans with humanity, and I just don’t see any reason to write a story about someone willingly throwing away their humanity.

So Ironwood "wanting" to throw away his humanity and becoming more monstrous is ableist. Doing this to any disabled character is ableist because their disability will inherently be used as a shorthand for said monstrousness either by the author or audience.

Here are a few good videos that discuss the topic further and really discuss the issues with disabled villains:

Some great points the video discusses:

A lot of villains motivation is being "cured" of their disability which stems from this idea that disabled people are miserable and hate being disabled and can only be whole and happy if they are cured. Yes some people would like to have a curse for their disabilities, not everyone wants that and having most villains want that is a problem as it stems from the idea that being disabled is inherently tied to misery and suffering which just isn't true.

It also makes the point about how oftentimes disabilities are used as a visual shorthand for inhumanity in their villains and them merely being disabled and looking "other" is a clue to the audience that said person is evil and even inhuman in far too many cases. We repeatedly see this in RW/BY with Tyrians tail, Cinders Grimm arm, Salem, and James's new prosthetic. All are framed as evil and monstrous to show us how evil they are.

At the end of the day, I think it is crucial to talk to someone who has the disability you want to represent in your work about how you are portraying them. I cannot and do not speak for all disabled people in this discussion and can only really discuss my feelings/the feelings of those I have talked with. When writing disabled characters it is critical to include people with those disabilities in the discussion of how the characters story should go.

[mysticstarlightduck]

Character Voice Tag!

Thanks for the tag @willtheweaver (here)!!! I'll go with the main cast from Of Starlight and Beasts for this one (:

MY LINE WAS: Yeah, I deserved that.

YOUR LINE IS: I don't know what I was expecting but I'm disappointed in your decision either way - because what the heck was that?

Corah - "Well, one thing's for sure: that wasn't undeserved - I really should've seen it coming, that's on me."

Arammys - "Oh Gods, that went so wrong - I deserve what happened, that was a terrible idea, and I take full responsibility for it but still... that was such a bad plan, oh Gods."

Eidan - "I should've known that this would be the outcome but I was too hasty to notice. I deserve to face the consequences for my actions."

Nimwen - "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Oh, goodness, oh Gods that went so wrong so fast. If someone is to blame for what happened that person is me, but I still should've been more careful. I'm so sorry!"

Tomasa - "Yep, no use running from the inevitable. Time to face the outcome of my poorly planned decisions. Lay it all out for me, and don't be shy. I'm a tough cookie."

Masen - "Fuck. Yeah, I'm not sticking around to find out what that's gonna cause, sorry not sorry. So, no hard feelings whatsoever guys, but I've gotta bounce. See y'all around? (winks)"

Kyran - "Oh. That... isn't ideal. Okay. Okay, okay, I can handle this, I should've seen this coming after all. I hope I can handle this. So...here's what we're going to do: we're getting the fuck out of here, right now. Because I don't deserve whatever they've got in store for me. Does anyone have explosive powder? I think can improvise a plan."

Maryon - "That was well deserved, I will admit. I made a mistake and it caught to up to me. I guess it is only fair I face whatever comes next - running will only drag things out. It's best to just get it over with., like ripping out an old bandage"

Florynce - "(In a drawn out, wispy voice) Somethings gone wrong. (squeaks) Somethings not as it should be and it's not right and it's my fault. Should I stay and face my fate? Is it what would be proper? (gives a little vampiric squeak, clearly starting to panic) I don't know what to do anymore"

Rin - "Hells no I'm not facing the consequences of that. (pats the person next to him in the back) Sorry pal, this was nice while it lasted, but you know what they say - survival of the fittest, and all that. Oh and be a darling: do tell the guards I said hi, I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about if you still have your head after this. Don't be a stranger! (flies away)"

Elias - "Oh, sink me! (groans, exasperated) I told you this was a bad idea, but who the fuck listens to me in this fucking shithole, eh?! Where the hells is my cutlass?! I'm going to fix this mess - one you should've fixed yourselves but never fucking mind that - properly this time. That's what I get for listening to you bufoons. I deserve this one. Lesson damn well learned."

Leora - "This was the worst idea I've ever had and the execution of this plan made it even more atrocious. I admit my wrongdoing and sincerely apologize. These circumstances are to be expected after what I did - and what terrible leader would I be if I didn't admit my own mistakes. Tell me what I can do to fix this, and consider it done."

Bastien - "My actions were suboptimal and their consequences deplorable. I accept full reponsibility for whatever trouble my actions may have cause and am willing to atone for it fully, whatever your verdict should be it will have been deserved."

Scarlet - "Shit. Okay, yeah. That one is on me - I screwed up big time, I really did. That seriously didn't go the way I thought it would, I don't know why I'm still surprised."

Tagging (gently, no pressure):@littleladymab @cabbojage @lassiesandiego @little-peril-stories @oh-no-another-idea @thepeculiarbird @rickie-the-storyteller @crowandmoonwriting @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @gummybugg @forthesanityofstorytellers @doublegoblin @aalinaaaaaa @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @elshells @illarian-rambling @clairelsonao3 @conkers-thecosy @anyablackwood,and OPEN TAG

[cerastes]

I have to wonder how Specter is perceived in-house at Hypergryph because both times they’ve done something big with her it’s been trouble for them and harsh complaints from the fans, “both times” being her 1st Operator Record and Specter the Unchained.

In the case of her 1st record, it’s because they had an ambitious, interesting idea that nonetheless was both executed poorly and ended up being a huge nothingburger that centered on Suzuran of all people instead. The concept, I insist, was interesting: Specter does not appear in her own Record, rather, we see her being spoken of in whispers and murmurs as this enigmatic Operator that is only sent on the most dangerous of operations and whose existence in Rhodes Island is strictly on a need to know basis, with Kal’tsit alone being allowed to do her medical checks… and That’s All We Learn. The rest of the Record is like 80% “look at how precious Suzuran is”, which obviously almost nobody liked, we’re here for Shark, not moeblob, and it’s otherwise all ultimately stuff we already knew from Specter’s Files. This happened at the same time CN players were angry as hell over Passenger having been, well, severely undertuned on release (he’s good now), so that only added kerosene to the firestorm. Hypergryph apologized and said they’d release a 2nd Operator Record for Specter. This gave birth to the idea of some Operators having more than one Record. Her 2nd Record is great, by the way.

Then there was the Unchained situation: Specter the Unchained is not at all a bad unit. She’s a great unit, even! The problem is that she exists in direct competition with her perpetual god-tier 5* Guard iteration. Unlike the other Alternative versions, her original iteration is the best at doing what she does (immortality stalling + burst damage) and is very good at other roles otherwise (cornerstone, solo lane holding, helidrop assassination). Ch’en and Skadi, for example, aren’t bad, but they certainly suffer Early Game Syndrome in that they are very inflexible units that only do few things, and aren’t the best or non-replaceable in these roles, and Nearl isn’t a bad Defender, either, but 1) her role and toolkit runs contrary to what most people play like and 2) the breach between her and Saria, the 6* version of her role, is HUGE, especially notable in that a breach this big does not exist between other archetypes’ 5* and 6* characters. This isn’t because Nearl is undertuned, it’s because Saria is overtuned, and being a launch 6* means a lot of people have her already. 5* Specter, however, regularly sees play in high level content, and the role her 6* Specialist iteration fills is closer to her 5* than any other non-3* Alternative is to their original. That is to say, they compete in a way other characters do not with their Alternate version. S2, Specter’s immortality stall signature move, has more time as Unchained —20 secs vs 15 secs— but she is not helidroppable, and the loss of AoE attacks and 3 block means you play her differently.

Unlike the situation with her Operator Record, which I do believe was mishandling of the character and that the complaints levied against HG were legitimate, I don’t think HG handled Unchained wrong. I think this was more a case of the Operators being similar enough that people didn’t like that Unchained had to be played differently than Guard, and judged Unchained by Guard standards. As time passed, players have found Unchained to be really good, but the complaints had already been launched, and in response, they announced another Module altogether for Unchained, the first time someone got an alternative Module.

With this in mind, I go back to the start of this post: I imagine that whenever they plan something with Specter now, they immediately take stomachache medicine preemptively and start drafting a new gameplay system because they know they’ll get complaints one way or another. Which is funny, because both times Specter has had something, it has come with a Special Gift for everyone else, like a deepsea santa, as various Operators have 2nd Records and 2nd Modules now.

[mod-kyoko]

"Shatter Me" kirumi tojo angst fic

info: gn!reader, established relationship, tw: pstd, scars, mentions of execution, around 3,200 words

type: angst with hurt/comfort, oneshot, post-game AU

a/n: this is a completely indulgent kirumi angst I had cooking up, basically this is set after post-game where everything was a simulation and the damage done to the 'characters' is done to them irl title is a reference to this song which I personally think suits Kirumi well but who knows lmfao

⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡

it was all like a horrible nightmare, a nightmare you weren’t even sure you could ever wake from. all the death, the pain and the misery would never be something you could shake from. every single trial, each passing moment your life was on the line… yet each time someone dies, you just wished you took their place. you survived, at what cost? only to be told that your talent and memories were nothing more than a fabrication to appease an audience? you never really found out if those interview videos were real or not…  you saw yourself, clear as day; “if I were in Danganronpa…I would love to be an Ultimate !3$5&*+...I would kill in a way no one has ever seen!”

did you really say that? was that even you, looking up at the camera with wide, child-like eyes declaring you’d… kill? In some ways, you wished you were the first to go out… so you didn’t have to witness the death of your own lover.

kirumi tojo… the “Ultimate Maid” or so they wanted them to all believe. you instantly connected with her; her calm, composed and almost motherly demeanour sucked you in like a moth to a flame. even from the beginning it seemed like she felt it too, she treated you differently than the others. she kept her ‘devoted’ maid self but she checked on you more often, she always asked if you needed anything unprompted, and poured you more tea when you were finished with a cup. you spent many moments alone with her, she enjoyed your company and laughed at your stupid jokes. the first time you kissed her; it was in the spur of the moment, you weren’t thinking. she was just so beautiful, up close to you and asking you in a soft whisper if you wanted sugar with your tea. yet when your lips connected to hers, she was shocked of course but she didn’t pull herself away from you.

what things you would do just to go back to those days, where the worries of murder and despair weren’t constantly plaguing your mind. nights upon nights you sat in your room, staring up at the ceiling asking yourself why kirumi went to the extremes that she did. It was sickeningly twisted what the motive that was created for her was, the prime minister of japan… it sounded silly now you thought of it outloud, if you knew about the truth behind it all you would definitely have thought that it was some poorly written story by a teenage girl. However, you couldn’t even fathom that thought as you were screaming and crying at kirumi that she was a traitor and betrayed your trust. you regretted those words deeply… as those were the last words you ever said to her before she was executed. you barely watched it and the little moments you did watch were enough to make you heave up. the last memory you thought of kirumi was her lifeless body on the floor, splattered and unrecognisable.

…

you looked up. your eyes just met with pure sterile white walls. after the events of the killing game, the simulation… waking up with wires around your body, you never loved the colour white so much. you were currently sat in the recovery centre, where the various victims and… culprits were recovering from their in-game injuries. it made your skin crawl to think that the simulated deaths acted as if they existed in real life too; it broke your heart to think how everyone else was handling it. However, your mind was entirely focused on one person and one person alone.

how long have you been standing here? staring at the door that led to kirumi’s recovery room? an hour? more than that? it’s not the idea that you didn’t want to see her, you were jumping off the walls in happiness to find out that your partner was alive but not unscathed. you were afraid - afraid of what was on the other side of that door, what condition kirumi would be in. would she be happy to see you?

you swallowed a thick lump in your throat, a shaky hand grasping the doorknob and you already felt the bead of sweat going down your forehead. you knew that you couldn’t just back away from this. bad outcome or not, you were going to see her, you just wanted to see her again.

with a gentle click the door opened and you peered in. there she was, dressed in a patient gown and sat in a wheelchair by the window, her eyes vacant yet staring at the courtyard of the facility. your heart skipped a beat as you held your breath, seeing her alive like this… you had to hold yourself to make sure that you weren’t dreaming and the nightmare would come back all over again.

“kirumi…” you called for her and your voice reverberated off the walls despite the fact you spoke in a whisper. her eyes widened, turning herself as fast as her condition would allow her to. you just wanted to run over to her, hug her tight and swing her around in utter joy. however, stepping closer you really started to see how serious her condition may be. minus the fact she was in a wheelchair it looked like her entire body was wrapped in bandages, at least, based on what you could see outside of the gown. her warm green eyes stared at you like if you were a ghost, hell… to her, you probably were as much as a ghost she is to you she didn’t say anything which worried you, you slowly sat down on a chair that was near the window as well. you looked out the window awkwardly, trying to think on what to even say. you looked back at her to find she was still looking at you.

“uhm… how are you feeling?” that was the only words you could even think of to say, there were a thousand questions running through your mind but you wouldn’t want to overwhelm her. she took a deep breath, it sounded uneven like if she had trouble getting air. finally, she spoke. “I feel pain all over. my head… it hurts.” hearing her voice was a relief even though it had a shake to it. “yeah… I can imagine it does hurt…” your mind flashes to her execution; from the small parts you saw through the cracks in your fingers, she fell head first. the thought made you cringed. “you… understand what’s going on, right?” you asked her. you were told that the others had been given information when they woke up… which was two days ago if you weren’t mistaken.

she gently nods her head in a twitchy sort of motion. come to think of it, her head seemed to wobble slightly even when sitting still. jesus. “all of… that… was fake? a simulation..? our… memories were toyed with…” you saw her bandage-wrapped hands clench which caused you to grit your teeth. you hated this so much.

“y…yeah… we were… fictional characters created for some.. dumb show or… whatever…” you didn’t tell her that there was the possibility that you all signed up for it. you weren’t sure what was true or not. “we are real now, of course… I’m… here.” you reached a hand to gently place it over hers, she flinched and you looked at her with apologetic eyes. “my purpose… was… just an illusion then…” she muttered with her brows wrinkling. “I… I thought I did what was right… for… my people. those people didn’t even exist…”

you grimaced. she meant her ‘fake’ past, right? the people of Japan was what made her murder another, her selfless devotion. “am I a monster?” those very words made your eyes widened and you shook your head vigorously. “no… no, of course not...  if I was in your shoes I would’ve done the same thing.” you said rather seriously and she looked at you, searching for a lie of some kind. she sighed softly. “you do not seem the type to do such a thing at all… you don’t have to try and make me feel better about myself. I see the person I am now.” “but you’re not a monster, kirumi… and I’m not just saying it to make you feel better. you’re not the only one to have motives to kill… the ones after were… much worse than yours…”

you saw the way her eyes darted around in shock, realising that the killings had continued after her death. she looked away and covered her mouth with her hand. she looked like she was going to be sick. “however, I had… betrayed you..”

hearing your own words echo from her lips made a deep guilt sink into your stomach. to think that was the last thing you ever said to her before she met her demise… because you were so damn angry, angry at her and… angry at yourself, angry at the sick twisted minds that constructed  the killing game. 

“I’m sorry.” was all you could say. kirumi looked at you completely shocked. why were you apologising…? she was the one that had killed, betrayed you and threw away everything you created together. despite her feelings, she relaxed into her wheelchair and breathed out, like if she had been holding her breath for some time. “I… I am sorry too…” 

god you wanted to cry right then and there as she said that. she was not innocent at all but something within you just wanted to hold her in your arms and never let go, you never want to lose her ever again. “are you… considering to go through the treatment…?” you asked, hoping to change the topic a bit even if it was still morbid. she nods her head gently. “yes… they said I should partake in small exercises like catching a ball… and… relearning how to walk.” 

you bit your bottom lip at that news. it could be much worse… at least it sounded like she had a chance to get a normal life at some point. “but… until then I will need assistance in basic needs…” she said with disappointment in her voice. it made you ache… simulation or not you know she feels useless right now. “I’ll be there to help you.” you were quite blunt in your words - but you meant it. you would be there for kirumi every step of the way, everything she needed you will provide. she looked at you shocked as she thought you hated her for the acts she did… she nods her head, however. “...thank you, dear.”

…

it had been a full month ever since you reunited with kirumi again, you supported her and helped her through the process of readjusting to this life, like you were. you were there for her exercises and treatment, watching her try to walk again was a heartbreaking but determination increasing experience. she wouldn’t be able to take full steps without assistance for awhile, however for right now she could at least stand from her chair and move to another quickly. it was only just at the start of this month that kirumi was out of the recovery centre and now sharing a ground-floor apartment with you. it certainly made things feel more ‘normal’ and no doubt a lot more comfortable for kirumi as she didn’t need to stare at blinding white walls anymore. you admittedly did everything for your girlfriend as it just became second nature to you at this point; you could see how desperately she wanted to clean or even wipe down a surface to feel like she was doing something. she knows that she was never supposed to be the ‘Ultimate Maid’ yet the yearning to do something, anything was still there. 

as for right now, you were cleaning the bathroom and kirumi sat at the dining table with a book. reading was now one of her popular pastimes, she greatly appreciated that you bought her so many books to read… books that she enjoyed quite a lot. hearing you scrub the tiles in the bathroom made for some interesting background noise, although she found your presence anywhere in the apartment to be relaxing. she would’ve indulged it some more if she didn’t just gain the most head-splitting headache possible that nearly made her drop her book as she gripped her head. no matter what, it didn’t seem like these headaches were ever going to go away. she sighed softly, putting her book on the table as she wheels over to the kitchen counter and opens the medicine cabinet which she could reach for obvious reasons. she grabbed her painkillers and quickly downed them with a swig of water. she closed the cabinet and was about to go back to her book until her eyes spied the set of kitchen knives.

her jaw clenched, looking down at the floor. she just wanted to be like… like herself again, like in the killing game. she was useful in it. everyone needed her, wanted her. she could service everyone and be the perfect girl she wanted to be. she leaned up slightly and grabbed the biggest kitchen knife, wheeling to the fridge and grabbing out a tomato. she just wanted to prove herself… that she could do something. she went back to the dining table, swallowing a lump in her throat as she stared at the red fruit, knife in hand as she positioned it just like how she remembers.

slowly, she attempted to cut slices of tomato as if she was preparing a salad of some kind. the cuts were irregular in size and certainly not perfect at all. kirumi clenched her jaw, trying to focus harder, she had to.try harder. no matter how hard she gripped the knife her hand would shake, becoming increasingly the more frustrating that she couldn’t cut a fucking perfect slice-

she flinched as the knife’s blade grazed her finger, nicking it and making it bleed. she dropped the knife quickly, looking down at her finger as the blood oozed out. she sucked in a loud gasp which you heard clearly. “kirumi? you okay?-” you walked into the dining room and your jaw went slack. “kirumi!” you rushed to her side, looking down at the little injury on her hand then at face. she looked absolutely shellshocked. “what were you doing…?” you asked, eyes darting around at the scene. “I… I just wanted to… show I’m useful…” her voice was no more than a whisper as she brought her finger to her mouth to suck on the cut with her brows furrowed. you frowned, putting your hand on her back and rubbing it slowly. “you don’t have to prove anything, rumi… you’re still recovering and adjusting… please don’t force yourself to do things like this, it needs to be taken slowly…” you massaged the back of her neck with your thumb, feeling her relaxed in your touch she wobbled her head in a nod. It seems she understood you. you hated treating her like she was a vulnerable child… but at this stage that was what she was at the moment. 

“I’ve finished cleaning the bathroom… would you like a shower?” you gently asked her. she didn’t like taking showers or even baths, something about the water made her want to shake all over. she especially disliked getting water on her hands although she couldn’t really tell you why just yet.

she stiffens for a moment, thinking about it for far longer than she needed to. however, she nodded her head and moved herself into the bathroom as you watched with a worried face. you were seriously getting concerned for her… it was like every day was complete pain for her, although that wasn’t far from the truth at all… what you would do just to feel her pain instead.

following kirumi into the bathroom, you closed the door and flashed a friendly smile at your girlfriend. “arms up, please!” she lifted her arms at your request, they were twitching a little but it was fine. you carefully but briskly took off her top, following up with her skirt and then undergarments. “can you get into the seat yourself?” you asked her, gesturing to the little bench inside the shower. she pondered for a few moments but ultimately nodded her head and began to lift herself out of her chair. you looked at her in awe, seeing her gain her strength each day always warmed your heart. you clapped your hands and smiled. “amazing! you’re doing so well, dear... I think you’ll be able to take steps soon!” you giggled softly to keep the air light, rolling up your sleeves as you grab the showerhead and turning it on. “Hmm… you think so? thank you, dear…” kirumi smiled softly. even when she felt useless, or feeling low, you always knew how to make her feel supported. she promised to herself that she would be able to walk properly one day for you, so you could walk along the beach together or even be able to walk into your arms like you used to. you hummed gently as you brought the shower head directly over her, the warm water falling over her severely scarred body. her entire body flinched and she felt like she was getting attacked at the moment. when your fingers combed through her sandy-sage locks to run the water through properly she started to relax into your touch. she was so glad that you were here for her, that you were looking after her and giving everything she needed, even if it embarrassed her or made her feel… incomplete. despite everything she’s done, the pain and misery she felt in her heart knowing that what she worked for wasn’t real - she could forget all of that when you were here for her.

you put the shower to the side and squirted kirumi’s favourite shampoo onto your hands. it was lavender scented and it often helped her fall asleep with the smell of her own hair. you massaged it into her scalp and you could see the moment her entire body relaxed and that she was completely at your mercy. it made you smile so much to see her content and not worrying about everything… you pushed her bang out of the way of her eye and slicked her hair back. her eyes opened to look at yours and the slightest tint of red went over her face. you giggled softly at this, leaning down to press a soft kiss against her forehead. “beautiful…” you whispered to her which caused her to blush more. she? beautiful? how can you say that to her face, when you were right there being perfect? “I love you.” she said it so suddenly that it caught herself off guard however she didn’t back down and stared confidently at you. you smiled, heart melting at such a cute confession. tilting your head to the side, you uttered back. “I love you too…”

perhaps, things will be better.

⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡⟡♡

-Mod Kirumi

[dapperinsanity]

Here’s some of my thoughts about the last two episodes of HH season 1. I will start with some more organized criticism and then I’ll share my complaints at the end of this post.

Overall:

These last 2 episodes were frustrating in general. I mean, was there some moments I liked? Yes but only a few. Otherwise the show becomes laughable, not because it’s funny, but rather the execution is bad that it had me laughing at serious moments. My first issue is that the pacing was too fast but it’s been like that the entire show so it was nothing new for me. I get they only had a certain amount of episodes and time but if you want to have a decent show, you should cut out some parts of the side stories instead of trying to shove the side stories into one episode. Since you’d be cutting out the side stories it also gives the artist a chance to continue the show through other types of media whether it be a comic, writing, or video. I know we’d all like to have the full story in 2 seasons but if you rush it, the show in general suffers and people won’t care about the story as much as they would if they had to wait for the artist to continue their project on their own if they can’t get more episodes. Besides, once the show is over you get total control over everything again and don’t have to worry about things you would like to portray in your story being cut out when collaborating with other artists on a show.

Also, side thought: If you’re going to go corporate/work with bigger companies, expect to work with others and except professional criticism. Just because she can’t handle criticism and likes things her way, she should’ve never gone “corporate”. Instead, she decided to use people who genuinely wanted to work on your passion project and were willing to do it for free, only to screw them over and use them to get into shitty companies just so you could meet celebrities and use them instead. Also, the more I learn about the facts behind the pilot and how everyone was basically let go, it’s blatantly obvious that she never intended to keep them in the first place. IMO, I think part of the reason behind firing everyone, was because she wanted to meet celebrities and use their status to get more traction. (Also, celebrities and broadway don’t guarantee automatic success just because you have them on the show)

Again, this is purely speculation and my opinion. I could be wrong so take it with a grain of salt. While spindlehorse was an indie project with people who were so gracious to work for free purely because of their passion, she took away the passion of the original project. Now it’s corporate slop. That’s not to say some workers from the collaborating companies don’t have the passion, sometimes they just do their job and work on things they enjoy more as an artist on the side. She doesn’t care about the hard work that was put both into the pilot and the show.

It’s “funny” to me that spindlehorse use to be an indie company (?) and had grown only for bigger corporate companies to take it over. She didn’t even write most of the pilot and relied more on other people that cared about her own project more than she does. Instead, she rushed through an entire season and will do the same thing in the next one. She’d rather tell (rather than show but sometimes telling works too) the audience everything about her characters and the plot but won’t take the time to full develop everything.

These are her OC’s and her ideas but she doesn’t care about the quality of her work. She rather use other people and quickly write down a poorly written show. All she cares about is that she’s rather have more views, make money off of merch, and appease the fans rather than doing her own thing because she wants to do it for herself. She cares about fame, praise, and popularity and the passion doesn’t shine through her own work. People enjoyed the pilot because of the passion of the crew and IMO, after learning more about the process behind the pilot, it feels like she didn’t do shit at all. She had the ideas and characters and plot points but everyone else managed to execute it in a way where it showed that the workers truly cared about the quality of their work. Again, this is my opinion and my first impression as I continue to learn more about everything. Now that’s out of my system, I’ll turn my focus purely to the show now.

The songs were a miss for me because a majority of them I didn’t care about and I’m a person who loves musicals and music in general. It’s not the music itself but rather the lyrics. Like most of the lyrics are just a character responding or talking to another character but instead of talking, it’s singing. The only songs I enjoyed were “Stayed Gone”, “Respectless”, “You Didn’t Know?” and “Out For Love.” I can handle cheesy songs but man, once I got the main point of the song, I skipped to the end. I wish the songs focused more about internal feelings or something that is meaningful to the character but instead the lyrics are just “meh”. I hope you understand the point I’m trying to make, I just can’t quite find the proper words to describe why I have issues with the songs.

Focusing on only episode 7, we meet Rosie. What did I like? I enjoyed Al and Rosie of course. I expected Charlie to be upset at Vaggie but I thought her talk with Rosie was cute. I could give less of a shit about Vaggie getting her wings back, probably because they spoiled it even though I knew I was correct about Vaggie being an exterminator before it was spoiled.

Here’s what I didn’t like. One major thing that bothered me was when Charlie made the complaint of Al being sadistic even though it was obvious Al was going to do whatever he wanted and had bad intentions. (At first) I understand why Charlie wanted to give Al a chance but it was too obvious that Al had some bad intentions. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Why risk having someone who is a genuine threat and enjoys the suffering of others? Also, Charlie making a deal with Al is still stupid even if he didn’t take her soul. I wish Charlie wasn’t written as naive because it was obvious he cared more about power over his potential “friends”. He even directly said in the pilot (and vaguely in the 1st episode of at some point in the show) that he wanted sinners to fail at redemption. I’ll go into detail about this later as I have a lot thoughts on Al after everything was revealed in these last episodes.

Another thing about episode 7 is the way Al treats Charlie and it feels like they’re going to go down the “Al is a father figure” route. Personally, I don’t see this as a good thing as we hardly see Charlie and Al interacting until this episode. If anything, Charlie and Al are just two friends/business partners. If they do go down that route, Al being a father figure is out of character imo.

As for the final episode, I couldn’t take the battle seriously. I wasn’t worried for anyone and the “comedic” moments didn’t help. I normally don’t mind cheesy writing but man, this was so cheesy and it’s the main reason why I couldn’t take it seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sir Pent. as a character but his death was hilarious. Adam immediately shoots a giant ass laser to vaporize Sir Pent out of existence the minute he sees them. Then suddenly we’re supposed to be in shock and feel sad about his death. I wasn’t and I was more shocked about how comedic it was for me.

Also, Vaggie should have killed Lute. I get the whole point about mercy and all but do you think that’ll stop Lute from exterminating demons and being an active threat? No. The same goes for Adam and Charlie giving him mercy. I’m glad Nifty stabbed him. I could care less about who killed Adam but when Nifty stabbed him, but the attempt at a joke just kind of ruined all the vibes overall.

Then we get a glimpse of Sir Pent being redeemed and showing up in heaven at the end of the episode. Ok, well could the same thing happen during an extermination? Let me go back to the episode where Vaggie was kicked out of heaven for not killing a kid.I don’t know why a kid was in hell in the first place but Vaggie could’ve killed the child and still manage to be redeemed in heaven. (Unless the child is a hell born) Now it’s possible the angel spears just kill them but remember, Sir Pent was killed directly by Adam, an angel himself….with a laser. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was possible for someone to be redeemed even if they were stabbed by an angel spear.

Redemption is confusing. Firstly, the angels were killing them so why would anyone want to be redeemed to be in the same realm as the exterminators? Secondly, why do they have to “die”? Sir Pent sacrificed himself for his friends so is this the only way to get redeemed? From what we got, Sir Pent could’ve easily had been redeemed earlier in the show without needing to die. I know we don’t know how someone gets into heaven but it brings up a lot of questions for me. If the only way to get to heaven is for them to die then what does that mean for the exterminators? Because if it’s purely by dying, that means there might’ve been some demons that showed up in heaven during the extermination.

Also, another thought. In the episode where we meet Emily and Sera, I genuinely thought Sir Pent would’ve the first choice when Charlie wanted to show the angels about the progress of the hotel rehabilitating sinners. Then it was AngelDust, where we haven’t seen him truly improve. And somehow, Angel standing up to Val was somehow the “progress” of him improving?

I feel bad for Angeldust and am confused about his (nonexistent) redemption arc. How was standing up to Val progress in redemption? I understand that Val abusing AngelDust is the main factor of him being a drug addict. Yet no one helped him to find a way to get out of Val’s contract when none of the main characters found out that he was being abused? Or help him in general?

Also, Charlie is the princess of hell and supposedly, by rank, strong than Alastor and maybe just as strong as her Dad. She never uses that power to help Angeldust. But what’s the point of her being a princess and her status if she doesn’t do shit in the show? Remover her status and she’s just a wimpy naive hell born demon girl.

Sir Pent would’ve been a good example. I feel like showing Angel standing up to his abuser makes it feel like the show is lowkey blaming Angel for his situation. Deal or not, what Val is doing is not okay. If the progress was about Angel trying to watch over Nifty instead of letting her do what she wants, then how does that show progress as well? Like anyone would want to protect their friend from Val if they are aware that he is abusing Angel. I’m sure that most demons there would’ve tried to get nifty away because again, it’s Val. Angel knows what it’s like firsthand when dealing with Val and naturally, he’s gonna help Nifty. It’s just something that isn’t related to redemption ya know?

While I’m glad Nifty is safe, she indirectly caused more trouble for Angel just because he stood up for himself and for Nifty. Now Val is pissed and will take it out on Angel for sure. This isn’t about redemption, it’s about Angel suffering abuse so his friends aren’t harmed by him. And if that’s the progress where talking about here, that’s really fucked up to stand by and have Angel take all the punches while no one helps him. To me, progress for AngelDust involves Angel learning boundaries because he has a bad habit of sexual assaulting others (mainly Husk), trying to sober up, and develop some sense of awareness and consideration towards everyone in the hotel. As Vaggie pointed out, Angel did not give a shit about the hotel in the first place nor did he try to attempt to better himself. I understand Angel needed a safe space to live but if you’re going to accept help from Charlie and Vaggie, he should treat them better.

*sighs*

Here’s where the complaints begin. Let’s talk about Al now.

Look I knew he was weak from the start and all but you’re telling me he’s nothing without his mic? Even though he is an overlord? I mean, cmon I know I’m a major fan of Al and all but there’s was something so frustrating about the fact that all it took was one hit and breaking his mic/staff. He was useless.

But hey, I enjoyed watching Adam winning and bruising Al’s ego but the fight did not deliver any excitement when Al was losing. Usually, when it comes to the villain/antagonist being defeated, the audience is hyped up over a stressful battle between the hero and villain and want that satisfaction of the villain being defeated. With Al and Adam, I didn’t get that satisfaction. Also, I know Al is all talk but some of me expected the show to show off how powerful he actually is. Mainly because the public is terrified of him, including Husk who was supposedly an overlord. The other overlords are not scared of Al at all but I would assume when it comes to Husk, it’s a bit difficult to scare him when being threatened. Unless it’s Al, you can guarantee he will be put “in his place”. Now let’s focus back on the battle between him and Adam.

I thought Al would try to continue to fight so that he can maintain his appearance, attempt to control the situation, and try to cover up the fact that he was losing. But no, he just gets thrown into the concrete wall, his torso is slashed, and Adam easily breaks his mic/staff. Then Al runs away. Why would someone as powerful as an overlord run away so quickly? This is why I have issues with the fact that all it takes is breaking Al’s mic/staff he becomes powerless. I know Adam took his shield down but Al managed to create a huge ass shield to protect the hotel. In episode 5, Al turns huge and has black tendrils coming out of his back and eats all the sharks that were after Mimzy.

I assumed that Al’s powers weren’t entirely stuffed into his mic and that it was in his body. Like he was just inherently powerful to a point in the same way Charlie is powerful because she is the princess of hell. Alastor can make deals by shaking his hand with the victim. Alastor can change his appearance and height and has slenderman tendrils. This is the same dude he also made his way up to becoming an overlord.

My initial assumption was that Alastor was powerful, just not as powerful as Charlie or Lucifer. We know that Vaggie is an ex-exterminator but I think he can handle an exterminator personally. Plus it doesn’t help that the exterminators spears kill Angels so the exterminators aren’t that powerful when you take out their spears. We could’ve gotten a longer fight between him and Adam and I wouldn’t mind watching Al basically eat his own words and pride.I believe that Al is powerful, but if it’s Adam he’s against, I believe Adam would win. I’m sure Al could put up a good fight but eventually, Adam would win.

When it comes to Alastor’s deal and assuming that the Eve and Lilith theory is correct, that means there’s a chance that he made a deal with one of the ladies. Who? We don’t know but taking the theory into account, there’s a chance that his powers were given to him but why would they purely be in the mic? Unless, he already had his powers and that he just got stronger because of the deal. It could explain how Al managed to work his way up to becoming overlord.

Then I had another thought. Cause you’re telling me that ANYONE in hell could have stolen his mic (if they’re sneaky enough to fool Al) and break it and he would be just a regular old demon without powers? Or at least, become significantly weaker.

I don’t know. Al is written to be intimidating and then we have the story of him working his way up to overlord, and being feared by most demons. He takes on the status of an overlord and I assume overlord’s are powerful to a point? They focused so much on Al being intimidating, displayed his power, and you’re telling me it takes one hit from Adam to knock him down and destroying his mic causes him to be weak? How is this the same Al?

I was disappointed. My initial reaction can be summed up by this image.

Then we see Al freak out because he realized that he was risking his life to protect his friends when initially he didn’t care that much about them. There’s no subtle hints of him becoming more tolerant of everyone and here is where I’m a little confused. I always knew that Al could be written in 2 specific ways while managing to stay consistent as a character. Either he would become fond of Charlie and everyone else (which I predicted before episode 8 came out but really before the whole show aired.) and that he would at least, tone down the evilness slightly.

Then we have the second route. Al would continue to be his evil self and try to fulfill his motive (whatever that is) without caring about how it might affect other people/demons. The show establishes scenes where we see Al using other’s for his own benefit. Either he could continue manipulating Charlie and others for his own benefit or come to a point of realization that he’s gotten used to Charlie and the others in the hotel.

Speaking of Al becoming fond of his friends, either route the show takes I hope thy can manage to do it well. I don’t want Al turning into another soft boi like other character we’ve seen in HH and HB. I really did come into this show with an open mind when it came to Al but I fear that they may screw up his character as it’s slowly been happening.

Lastly, Al shows up the last second and Charlie, Vaggie, are happy to see him. The rest of them dont like him but they are still shown on screen. I’m thinking to myself, “the only people who would want Al back would be Charlie and Nifty. The rest would be happy if he was gone or dead.” So yeah. Sorry if these thoughts are disorganized I tried my best lol.

[thelifetimechannel]

What are your thoughts on Hussie's statement about Rose's arc here(https://www.tumblr.com/the-meat-machine/734661517556006912)? I see the typical attitude of the book commentary beyond the technical as "no I swear this was totally all planned out and VERY DEEP and I deserve ALL THE CREDIT for the most positive readings because my ideas are TOTALLY INTENTIONAL and I am not just a shitposter who took fame poorly I swear", but what do you think of the interpretation itself? It's certainly a basic idea about her arc that you don't exactly lean into, and while your handling of Rose was of course more satisfying and coherent in execution than Canon's, do you feel like this is an idea you agree with that you might have "left behind" when plotting her arc out, as it were? Or as a less-than-coherent post-hoc justification? Also do Asks have a size limit I'm sorry thus is so long

While I found lategame HS's 'real people don't have arcs' stance to be a handwavy way to excuse dropping all the characters the author didn't care about, I'm fairly content with this commentary, actually. Rose's rejection of SBURB starts early, and her choice to destroy her gate and start ripping apart her land's nice themed puzzles was a good turning point for her and the story. SBURB does not play fair. It does not have your best interests in mind. Why not start gutting it?

You might reasonably ask, if I feel this way, why did we go back to the planet quests in TLC? Three reasons:

Structure. As should be extremely obvious from TLC's everything, we were far more interested in character-based emotional exploration and closure than Dramatic Plot Shit. However, we were trying to bring a very long and increasingly messy story to a conclusion in a reasonable number of pages, and SBURB's tasks and quests provided meaningful goals for the characters to accomplish. They were, in many ways, busywork that we could use to force the characters to act and interact.

An excuse. SBURB's attempts to reflect players' psyches and anxieties meant we could use the land quests to force the characters to confront their issues in very direct ways while lampshading it the whole time. Yes this whole adventure is very metaphorically on the nose! Blame SBURB!

Spectacle. Because our goals for TLC were so character dev-oriented, and because I am so longwinded I never established a twitter presence, we wanted some kind of visual interest to break up 1500 pages of characters having long-winded emotional discussions. Whatever your thoughts are on Rose's obligation to play the rain, it looked pretty cool.

So having Rose play the rain - and forcing the other kids to complete their planet quests - was mostly a choice made out of narrative convenience, and although I have many problems with canon's ending, Rose ditching her quest for good is not one of them. However, I definitely did not want to force Rose to become a good, obedient SBURB player who happily ushers a new world into its clutches. Which is why the true final boss of TLC is SBURB/Skaia itself, and Rose gets to lead the effort to dismantle it.

[shihalyfie]

Hello again! This ask is in case the one before it got eaten by Tumblr. In your opinion, what is it about the Xros Wars Hunter series that made it poorly received by the audience? Do you think the series had potential that was wasted by it's comedy driven tone? In what way would Hunters' storyline be if it was handled better? What would have been improvements to it, in your opinion? Do you think Tagiru could have been handled better, especially in the finale,and about the goggles thing? What aspect or part of the Hunters plot had a lot of wasted potential that was sadly underutilised in your opinion? What do you think the director was going for in this series? If there was a reboot with a similar premise to this one, what would you like to see from it? I like your insights. Eat more fruits and sleep earlier!

So here's one thing I need to point out that is very important to know about Hunters, and in fact is a factor in why the way the Japanese fanbase treats it is somewhat different from the way the English-speaking fanbase does: Hunters was a last-minute series made to stall a timeslot. This is not a statement I'm making to dunk on it (in fact, this is arguably why the Japanese fanbase is more forgiving of it), but a fact that has actually been on record and has been openly discussed -- unfortunately, the only material I know about it that's been actually translated is this one (which mentions the Xros Wars staff not being told that Hunters would exist until they were already making the Death Generals finale), but it is actually a well-documented and well-known fact that's properly cited in Japanese circles. (If you want to go hunt for the source yourself, it's apparently been mentioned in Otona Anime Vol. 22; I've already passed this info on to relevant parties in the hopes of seeing it translated, so maybe we'll see it on English record someday.)

But yes: Hunters wasn't originally planned to exist until the last minute. It's a series made in a hurry to hold down the timeslot until Saint Seiya Omega was ready. That's why it has no new toys, and that's also why I'm not really sure that finale crossover was made to bait the audience as much as it was the staff themselves messing around to have fun, because they weren't really trying to get ratings anyway (especially at 6:30 in the morning!). So in order to figure out why the series is Like That, instead of thinking it of as a series that was supposed to be something bigger and was truncated down to two cours, it's actually more accurate to think of it as a series that wasn't supposed to be anything at all...so if anything, the staff came up with too many good ideas for a series that was never actually supposed to be that interesting to begin with. Director Kaizawa himself said that he enjoyed the series and Tagiru being "fun", which is frankly a respectable goal when the job you're given is to literally waste time.

But most of the English-speaking fanbase doesn't know this, and on top of that, at the time, everyone was still obsessed with the idea that a Digimon series has to be something based on the Adventure formula where everyone has psychology-tier levels of character development, and they expected Hunters to be a series that was posing itself as a "full-fledged" sequel to Xros Wars vanilla and Death Generals the way 02 was to Adventure...but the truth is that it was never supposed to be that to begin with. And I also generally get the impression that "series that aren't necessarily that deep, but also make no pretense of being deep" tend to be better received in Japan; I've seen at least one doujinshi artist poke fun at the fact that the Hunters plot "escalates" abruptly at the end, yet still loves the series enough to make doujinshi of it, because she likes the characters. On the flip side, Western fans tend to like things that "at least tried" to be deep even if they completely fail in execution, whereas Japanese fans are more likely to mock that kind of thing for being unnecessarily pretentious or even insulting.

So I think the reason Hunters is so poorly received in English-language circles is, quite simply, the mismatch between expectations and reality. I don't know how many people in the Japanese fanbase are going to have Hunters as their favorite series ever, and it's not like I haven't seen criticism of its, let's say, unusual way of handling its pacing and how necessary of a series it was, but at the same time there's still a very "it is what it is" attitude towards it, and it's not like it's necessarily fashionable to make it into a target of dunkery. Personally, I've seen a lot other kids' shows that are far shallower and less interesting than Hunters ever was, so I don't really have it in me to see why it's such a huge problem, and I think a big part of this issue is that even when people don't think they're too stuck on wanting everything to be like Adventure, they're still unconsciously comparing it to the "Adventure formula" and believing that anything that doesn't live up to certain aspects of it is "bad". And I do think personal taste is very important, and I do agree that since most Digimon fans got in with the classic series, it's understandable that they'll prefer things like the classic series...but ultimately, you're only going to frustrate yourself if you don't have reasonable expectations of what you're going into.

So in the end: Hunters wasn't a series that didn't try hard enough. It's a series that tried too hard for what it was realistically able to accomplish.

[pines-troz]

Animaniacs Reboot Pinky and The Brain Segments Ranked

Now that I watched all three seasons of the Animaniacs Reboot, I wanted to rank every Pinky and The Brain segment from worst to best and give my brief thoughts on each one. 

In regards to the reboot’s take on Pinky and The Brain, I thought that they did a good job for the most part. While there are certainly some stinkers, there were plenty of enjoyable and intriguing episodes. I do appreciate that this iteration of Pinky and The Brain continues to explore the characters and their relationship, much like the spin-off. While the characterization of Brain was wildly inconsistent in season one, he got a lot better as the show went on, as lowered his emotional guard and displayed his soft side while still keeping his comedic roots. I do not fully agree with the idea of Brain being a super villain, and I felt like some of season one crossed a fine line. Thankfully, seasons two and three toned it down considerably and his villainy was more in a comedic light. Pinky was given a lot more spotlight in seasons two and three, even focusing on his attachment to Brain and his issues. If there’s one issue I have with Pinky in this version, it’s that he was portrayed as too much of a nuisance at times, as he normally was not the one responsible for foiling the schemes. It’s a shame that the show ended in season three because I firmly believe that the show would have continued to expand on these characters if they were given more seasons. 

The biggest issue I have with the Pinky and The Brain segments of the reboot is Julia and her arc. Even though I like the idea of her character and some of the themes (Brain creating his own worst enemy), I do feel that she was poorly handled. It feels like there wasn’t much thought put into the execution of her story and where it was going to go, and I do not find it believable that Brain would try to form a romantic relationship with her. It’s a shame that her story is left unresolved and will most likely remain that way. 

As for things I did enjoy, I liked seeing animation studios like Titmouse, Tiger Animation, and Digital eMation animate for these characters. I also appreciate that the Pinky and The Brain formula still works in the 21st Century. The sharp social commentary is still there, even if their approach is a little different from the 90s (mainly the fact that the humans are aware that Pinky and The Brain are mice). The character designs by Genevieve Tsai are great! I love the small modifications, like Brain’s bushy eyebrows, the bags under Pinky’s eyes and the tip of his tail being bent, and the mice having sharp teeth. The reboot’s version of the Pinky and The Brain opening is fantastic, holy moly! Titmouse and Giant Ant’s work on the animation is simply amazing. I love the addition of thunder and lightening in the first moments, which build up to Brain’s confident declaration of trying to take over the world. I also love the symbolism in the opening when the mice’s tails are entwined and when they try to go their separate paths, they fall apart, which is a nice way to showcase their codependent relationship. Last, but not least, I greatly enjoy hearing Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche reprise their roles again! They both seem like they had a blast voicing these characters again, and they deliver some great performances in the reboot. 

Overall, I did enjoy this iteration of Pinky and The Brain. It’s not perfect (but then again, the characters had their ups and downs in the 90s, especially with Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain), but I appreciate the ambition in the segments. Though there are some misses, there are many hits. Season one had its ups and downs as they were trying to figure out the characters. Season two had a lot more consistency and enjoyable segments. Season three was definitely the best of the lot as their segment output ranged from good to fantastic (in my opinion). In conclusion, the reboot crew did a commendable job of adding to the legacy of these lovable characters and even made some enjoyable gems that I look forward to revisiting. 

32. Mousechurian Candidate

This episode is very divisive among fans. Some folks liked the darkness of this one while others despised it. I’m in the latter camp as I feel like this episode had a lot of interesting ideas but failed to execute them. 

Although I do like the idea of Julia being Brain’s new rival, I despise the story choices made with her, especially since her transformation into antagonist largely relied on making Brain so uncharacteristically detestable and doing things that he never would have done in the original show. So the misogynistic and abusive aspects of the episode made me incredibly uncomfortable. This dark portrayal of the character is especially jarring since the episode after this one, Future Brain, has Brain still retaining his redeemable qualities. So making him completely unlikable throughout for the sake of the story is just bad writing. Additionally, I found Julia in her First Lady/Presidential Candidate mode to be too perfect, which may have been intentional, but I wish that they gave her some character flaws at the start (like being competitive or wanting to be the center of attention). 

The comedy in this one was also lacking. Pinky was barely given anything to do in this episode and there were only a couple of moments where I chuckled at best. This episode is one of my least favorite PATB segments because it feels so overly edgy and out of place compared to the other episodes from the reboot, and it began the very messy and frustrating Julia arc.

31. Close Encounters of the Worst Kind

There isn’t much to say about this one. I found the plot to be very predictable and not engaging. The only thing worth mentioning about this one was the story of how the crew accidentally put in a sex hotline number at the beginning of the episode and how they scrambled to replace it. 

30. 1001 Narfs

A pretty bland episode, if I’m being honest. It’s basically the reboot’s version of “Mouse of La Mancha”, but without any memorable moments and slower pacing. 

29. Pinko and The Brain

As for the Red Scare episode, I felt this one was decent but wasted potential. Although this one has a handful of humorous moments (like Brain swearing), however, the “mice as communism” allegory falls flat when one of the characters actually mentions communism in the episode. I feel like the Red Scare premise would have worked so much better if Brain was accused of communism (as opposed to being a mouse), but Brain would use his trademark honesty by saying “actually, I’m a laboratory mouse” and he spends the episode convincing the politicians that he is a mouse. It has its moments, but it’s not one that I would be eager to revisit. 

28. Babysitter’s Flub

An alright episode. There are some fun moments, like the “love/quantium” bit in the beginning, or Brain rescuing Pinky, and I like how the mission highlights just how small the mice are, but the dark ending soured it for me. 

27. The Prisoner’s Dilemma

I feel like this one has a lot of interesting ideas (the mice being recruited by a league of super villians, a mystery plot similar to And Then There Were None), but it falls flat due to the rushed pacing. There are humorous moments between the mice throughout, but things like Dr. Doppler (aka the Tumblr Sexyman reject) and the visual nods to The Prisoner were too distracting (especially the latter since I kept thinking about The Brainwashed Trilogy) and took me out of the episode. 

26. The Pinktator

A rather predictable episode that’s similar to another episode from the spin-off (”T.H.E.Y.”, which was a bad episode in my opinion), but the comedy does elevate it. The banter between the mice in the beginning and middle is funny, and I do think that Brain roasting the three dictators was incredibly satisfying. I just wish that the plot wasn’t so paint-by-numbers. But I’ll still take this episode over “T.H.E.Y.” though. 

25. The Flawed Couple

This episode is fine. I appreciate the inclusion of Nora as a framing device (and giving her more to do), but this episode largely feels like a “parody for parody’s sake”, and after having learned that this episode was included in season two at the last minute, it certainly adds to the notion that this one feels out of place from the rest of the PATB segments from season two. I thought the first half was pretty solid, but it dragged a bit in the latter half until the reveal that the mice are actually in the lab in the final scene. It’s a decent episode, but nothing to write home about. 

24. Fantasy

The first PATB cold-open in the reboot, and a really fun one. I love the idea of Brain being a wizard (complete with a long beard), and him summoning The Warners to do his bidding only to find out that they’re rebellious. Even though it’s a cute and funny short, I would have liked to see this one play out in a seven-to-ten-minute format, since there’s a lot of comedic potential in pairing the mice with The Warners (The first and last scenes of “Wakkiver Twist” are proof of that). But as a cold open, it’s a good one. 

23. Roadent Trip

A solid episode, if a little uneven at times. The beginning scenes and the first moments of the mice trapped in the car are pretty good, but I felt like the song number drags the episode a little bit. But I do like how it rebounds a bit with Brain deciding to have a heart-to-heart talk with Pinky. Brain’s backstory is easily the highlight of the episode. I love how the scene is treated with seriousness and gives the audience a good sense of why Brain has a lot of control issues and why he is so emotionally guarded. Even though I appreciate that the reboot gives Brain his tragic backstory in a scene that’s played straight, I wish they didn’t undercut the mood ten seconds later with Pinky’s humorous story. 

22. Of Mice and Memes

A great debut and a nice reintroduction to the characters. I thought the comedy in this one was solid, and the social commentary on the nature of internet memes and fads is on point. It embodies what was great about PATB from the 90s and seamlessly transfers it into the modern age. 

21. Ex-Mousina

If you take away some of the weird “wishing for a father figure” vibes from Pinky, then you would still get an entertaining episode. I do enjoy seeing Brain become so endeared to his own invention and finding an equal, the “Bonding” song number is fun, and I love how it ends with Pinky destroying the robot with his own inane question that was set up earlier in the episode. While “Brinky” from the spin-off is much superior, Ex-Mousina is enjoyable as its own thing. 

20. Reichenbrain Falls

As the follow-up to “Mousechurian Candidate”, this one is so much more entertaining. I love the mystery element of the first half in which “Pinky” acts slightly off and Brain, and the audience, then discover that it’s actually Julia in disguise. My issue I have with this one is mainly how the writers didn’t take the opportunity to have Julia call Brain out on what he did to her and instead have her want to take over the world for the sake of taking over the world. Other than that, I do enjoy the comedy and the animation in this one. Even though it does suffer from not expanding on the Julia arc in an interesting way, it’s still an entertaining episode. 

19. Backwards Pinky 

When I first read the plot for this one, I recoiled. I did not want this to retread the awful Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain episode “Teleport a Friend”, in which Brain was conjoined to Elmyra. Fortunately, this episode proved to be an entertaining take on the conjoined episode trope. I enjoy the design of the conjoined mice, and having their personalities change every so often was amusing as Brain really gets to become silly and Pinky becomes a bit more self-aware. But the thing I appreciate most is how the mice have to work together as a team to resolve the issue. Backwards Pinky is a surprisingly fun episode. 

18. How To: Friendship

A solid follow-up to the first “How To” episode from season two. Even though the first “How To” is superior in terms of comedy, I appreciate how this one branches off from it and mainly focuses on Pinky and how he loves Brain. I love seeing the relationship from his perspective as Pinky genuinely adores Brain and when they fight, Pinky does everything he can to make amends. The ending to this one is incredibly sweet, as the mice reconcile and Brain shows his gratitude to Pinky, both verbally and by still keeping the macaroni photo of Pinky giving him a kiss (and rearranging the macaroni so that the hearts are on top)! 

17. Run Pinky Run

The first time loop episode in the reboot, and a really fun one. I love how Pinky is at the center of this story as he tries to do his best to save Brain. And although Brain is the damsel in distress, he does manage to find his way out of the predicament in two of the three-time loops. I also like how you can see the subtle differences based on the decision Pinky makes. Like stopping at the crosswalk before the bicyclist affects the take-out food delivery, which buys Brain enough time to escape from the snake. Or how watching over the armed truck manages to be the correct choice as Pinky does show up on time with the money. But my favorite aspect of the episode is the ending, as Brain showcases his gratitude to Pinky as they head out of the hide-out. As the first of two-time loop episodes, this one was a great one. 

16. International Mouse of Mystery

As a cold open, this one is a lot of fun. Even though Pinky and The Brain already did a James Bond parody back in the spin-off ( the very funny “To Russia, With Lab Mice”), this version is different enough that I can appreciate it. Pinky’s song and his role as the Bond girl are enjoyable, and Brain in a speedo and having chest hair are also very amusing. Even though the meta-commentary on reboots seems a little late by this point (especially since it’s in the very last episode of the reboot), the delivery was decent enough. 

I also love it when the mice make their own movie or television show, something that we’ve seen in episodes like “Battle for the Planet”, “Brain’s Song” and “But That’s Not All, Folks!” I always enjoy watching the mice put together a low-budget production in the lab. As a short cartoon, it does its job well. 

15. No Brainer

A very fun take on the amnesia plot. Here, Brain forgets the plan he gave to Pinky over the phone, so the mice need to break into the National Security Agency headquarters with the help of Edward Snowden. 

The comedy in this one is great, as there are some humorous dialogue exchanges between the mice. The moment when Pinky tells Brain the plan, who gets excited, only to realize that Pinky is talking about Christmas is amusing. The twist at the end is great with Brain going through this effort to retrieve the message in exchange for returning Snowden’s houseplant only to discover that the houseplant was crucial to Brain’s plan is funny, and is reminiscent of other twist-ending episodes like “Opportunity Knox” or “When Mice Rule The Earth”. This was just a fun heist cartoon. 

14. Bride of Pinky 

A really fun Frankenstein parody. I love Titmouses’s animation as the expressions here are incredibly entertaining. I enjoy seeing Brain’s jealousy and disgust at the romance between Pinky and Drusilla the monster, and how that story is resolved with her leaving poor Pinky and Brain doing his best to comfort him. I also love the aesthetics of this episode as it really embraces the monster movie atmosphere. 

13. How To Brain Your Dragon

A really fun episode. I love that it’s just the mice going on an adventure to find the dragon and having to change their trajectory halfway through. Both mice are great here, and Benedict adds a lot to the episode’s humor with his jolly nature and charisma. 

12. All’s Fair in Love and Door

Definitely the strongest Julia episode despite not featuring her until the end. Even though I have my issues with how Julia’s story was basically born from presenting Brain as a cruel misogynistic abuser, I appreciate that Love and Door did rectify some of those problems, mainly with Brain feeling regret for what he did to her. I find the door being perceived as an allegory for Brain being “in the closet” and trying to maintain a heteronormative relationship interesting. The two issues I have for this one are that I don’t find Brain’s attraction to Julia due to her intelligence to be all that believable (since they barely had any chemistry in her debut episode) and they should have kept the boards of Pinky still being angry and jealous of Brain during the dinner scene. But despite those flaws, there are a lot of things going for this episode. From the amazing animation by Titmouse to Brain trying to shield Pinky from AI Julia, even taking responsibility for his actions when he confronts her, and that beautiful moment near the end of Pinky squeezing Brain’s hand and Brain smiling fondly at Pinky. It’s a shame that the show did not resolve the arc because I feel like had the show continued, I would have liked to see that story conclude with Brain holding himself accountable for his actions and atoning for his sins by trying to help Julia (and her most likely not forgiving him, but him learning to live with that). But overall, All’s Fair in Love and Door does do a good job of balancing comedy, drama, and sweetness into one solid package. 

11. Mouse Madness

An awesome episode. Even though there have been quite a few time-travel PATB stories, this one has the most fun with its premise, as Brain goes back in time to rig a college basketball game so he can earn billions to purchase his own island. But he becomes so invested in the scheme that he messes with the fabric of time with each push of the button. I love the absurdist and even darker elements of each timeline, and it culminates at the very end where Pinky is animated in stop-motion while Brain is animated in flat 2-D animation, which leads to a very soft and sweet conclusion. 

10.  Royal Flush

This episode has grown on me during each rewatch. I love how Pinky, despite being one of the most British Animaniacs characters with his signature cockney accent, finds England to be this strange and foreign place. Brain’s plan of trying to win his claim to the British crown by way of beating the prince at a poker game is amusing. I also appreciate that this is more of a Pinky-centric story that highlights how he feels like an outsider and wants to be close to Brain. It also has one of the cutest endings to a PATB cartoon with the constellation of Brain smiling and winking at Pinky. 

9. How The Brain Thieved Christmas

After learning that reboot would make another Pinky and The Brain Christmas episode, I kept my expectations low. I knew that this one wasn’t going to match the quality of “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” since that is the gold standard for holiday specials. But at the same time, I figured that their take was going to be infinitely better than the terrible Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain holiday episode “Yule Be Sorry”. And although I was right in my prediction, I was genuinely surprised by how funny and entertaining this one was. 

I appreciate that this was mostly a Grinch parody and really leaned into it from the inclusion of the rhyming dialogue to scenes reminiscent of the classic Chuck Jones cartoon (Brain’s Grinch grin and the scene with everyone caroling by the Christmas tree). At the same time, it riffed on previous Pinky and The Brain stories like the aforementioned “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” and “The Brain’s Apprentice” with Brain leading an army of small robots to do his bidding. I also liked that this one wasn’t focused on a world domination plan, but Brain was so annoyed by the Christmas carolers that he decides to ruin Christmas for everyone. The animation by Titmouse is one of the highlights of the episode. Brain’s irises turning pink when he’s annoyed or maniacal is so humorous, and the pushed expressions and fluid animation are also evidence as to why Titmouse is my favorite studio from the reboot.  The comedy is also incredibly strong, as there were some lines that had me laughing out loud ( “For the last time, Pinky, stop posing so...seductively”). The ending had some genuinely sweet moments, from Pinky singing silent night to Brain being so touched by the gift Pinky gave him that he decides to join the choir and sing the final verse (which is a nice payoff to Brain’s anti-caroling sentiment that was presented earlier). And much like the Grinch, Brain also returns everyone’s gifts in a very sweet gesture. Even though I would have liked the episode to maintain the sweetness to the very end, I’ll excuse it since they did build up to the comedic climax with Brain’s gift-giving contraption going awry. Though I did find Brain’s expression at his broken gift and his following response about Boxing Day to be amusing, so the comedic tone at the end doesn’t ruin things for me anyway. 

It’s no “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” (then again, that episode raised the bar to a high standard), but as its own holiday special, it’s an enjoyable one. 

8. How To: Brain Takes Over The World

This one is a lot of fun! I love how this episode parodies internet videos in a way that’s enjoyable and in character. Pinky is adorable as he’s having fun making his how-to videos, and Brain’s plan of rigging the lottery is very amusing. The character interactions are top-notch, all of the jokes land, and the run-time is the right length as it does not run the concept to the ground. How To: Brain Takes Over the World is a gem!

7. Narf Over Troubled Water

Pinky and The Brain have done music parodies in the past. Some are gems (Bubba Bo Bob Brain, Brain’s Way), while others were lacking (All You Need Is Narf, The Girl With Nothing Extra). Narf Over Troubled Water is definitely one of the gems.

The Simon and Garfunkel homages are so endearing and humorous. The “I Ate A Rock” song and montage are great. 

I love how this episode basically sums up how Pinky and The Brain work best as a duo, and that neither of them are able to function properly when they are separated. Pinky helps Brain lift his spirits, and Brain gives Pinky a sense of direction, and when they work together, they are able to succeed. 

But the climax of the episode is so fantastic, as the mice reunite in a humorous parody of “The Graduate” which both works in isolation and perfectly meshes with the Simon and Garfunkel theme of the episode. Just seeing the mice be so elated to see each other again and the implication of the ending of them being unsure of their future is so great. 

6. Groundmouse Day and Groundmouse Day Again

The Groundmouse Day two-parter is a brilliant parody of Groundhog Day. I love that we have a Brain time loop episode, but this time, Brain tries to utilize the time loop to his advantage, and he does succeed in world domination, but he can’t enjoy it because the loop keeps restarting. There are a lot of great jokes here and I love how Brain slowly loses it over the course of the episode. But the ending is incredibly sweet, with Brain spending the day with Pinky and the kiss was adorable. It’s a strong pair of episodes that reminds me of the half-hour episodes from the spin-off. 

5. Happy Narfday

A very funny and sweet episode. I like how the story centers around Pinky wanting to do what he wants with Brain, and Brain trying his best not to take over the world. I appreciate how when Brain finds the item he needs for his plan, he tries to cover it up for Pinky’s sake and essentially lies to spare his feelings. But when Brain blows his cover, Pinky reveals that he lied about his birthday because he did not want to take away from Brain’s plans. So both parties did end up lying to each other, both of them are hurt in the process, and they reconcile in a very sweet scene at the end. I would have liked the last scene to linger a little longer, but I think it’s a great episode overall. 

Also, both versions of The Narfday Song are amazing!

4. Future Brain

Easily the strongest segment from season one. I love the concept of Brain being confronted by his future self, who informs him that Pinky would betray him, but Brain chooses Pinky over his future self. The jokes in this one land, from the banter between the mice to the jokes about the Oscars. Future Brain also elevates the episode with his fantastic design and the character still being very silly (like enjoying Pinky’s cheesecake and bragging about how cool he looks). But the aspect I love is that this one focuses more on how Brain values Pinky as a friend. We see Brain being very protective of Pinky the moment Future Brain shows up, and he immediately chooses to have Pinky in his life despite what Future Brain told him. This one also has a great ending, from Pinky giving Brain the cheek nuzzle and the following exchange ( “Of course Brain! You’re my best friend!” “And you...are Pinky...” “Aww, that’s sweet, Brain!”) and Brain choosing Pinky’s loyalty over intellectual cynicism. 

Overall, “Future Brain” is a great episode that knows that focusing on the characters and their relationship results in an entertaining episode. 

3. Plight of Hand

When I first read the plot synopsis for “Plight of Hand”, I was concerned that it was going to go in a weird direction. Thankfully, this was a surprisingly fun episode! The episode seems to be a sort of riff on “Brain Meets Brawn”, but instead of Brain enhancing his own strength, he fires a blue laser light on Pinky, which gives his hands a cunning intelligence. I appreciate that this episode does address the issues in the mice’s relationship, from Brain taking advantage of Pinky to Pinky feeling insecure about his abilities as an assistant. The comedy in this episode lands, as it sometimes takes some dark turns but not to the point where it’s off-putting. 

The climax is especially engaging as Pinky’s hands betray Brain and Brain tries to revert Pinky’s physical state back to normal, but Pinky ultimately stands up to his hands, which causes a helicopter crash. This episode is also noteworthy for having one of the most tender scenes between the mice. After climbing out of the wreckage, Brain approaches Pinky’s unconscious body, mourns for him, and even gives him an indirect kiss by kissing his own hand and cupping Pinky’s cheek with it. Thankfully Pinky is alright, but I love how Brain is visibly happy to see Pinky again. Overall, it’s a fun and fascinating episode from start to finish. 

2. Mad Mouse: Furry Road

As someone who loves Mad Max: Fury Road, this was an enjoyable parody. I love how the episode slowly covers the aspects of Fury Road, from the desert setting and warning of the world becoming a desert wasteland to Brain’s plan being similar to Immortan Joe. The episode taking place at a festival similar to Burning Man was also a clever idea of invoking the post-apocalyptic future while still taking place in the present day. 

But the thing I find most fascinating is that Brain makes an enemy in the form of an Elon Musk caricature, and the episode does a great job of making Dexter Trux an entertaining antagonist that you want to see Brain defeat. Brain is especially great here. When he and Pinky aren’t looking like an elderly couple going on holiday together at the beginning, Brain is teaching a yoga class to collect sweat and convert it into potable H2O and at the epic climax, he applies eye makeup to resemble Furiosa and he outsmarts Dexter and his lackeys like a badass. And that car chase sequence at the end is so humorous and a lot of fun, and definitely does a great job of invoking the aesthetic of the film it’s parodying. Mad Mouse: Furry Road is a banger!

1. Talladega Mice: The Ballad of Pinky Brainy

The best segment from the Animaniacs reboot and one of my absolute favorite Pinky and The Brain cartoons. 

I love the premise, in which the mice engage in a lab experiment in order to steal the car that they need, but when it’s revealed that the car’s ability to function is linked to the driver’s stress level, Brain has to make an effort to keep Pinky calm all the way through the timed maze. 

Both Pinky and Brain are in top form in this episode. Their interactions are incredibly funny, and I love seeing them cooperate on a task and work together to achieve the same goal. 

The comedy in this episode is amazing, from the reference to “Opportunity Knox” to the various ways Brain has to keep Pinky calm, such as talking in a baby voice, doing various celebrity impressions, and even engaging in a tickle fight. I also love how it delves into the mice’s relationship as they undergo a lab experiment together (something that’s rarely seen in a PAB cartoon), especially with having Pinky feel anxiety over Brain being verbally mean to him in a high-stakes situation. It’s cathartic to see Pinky address his own issues and equally cathartic for Brain to actually do his best to tend to Pinky’s emotional needs. 

The animation by Titmouse is top-notch stuff. Giving Pinky blue irises for when he’s stressed is great and it is reminiscent of the expressive irises from the old PATB cartoons made by TMS. 

I also love how Brain’s childhood trauma that was established in “Roadent Trip” came full circle here, as he reluctantly gave Pinky his hand during the climax and as a result, he and Pinky complete the maze and are rewarded with a piece of cheese, which Pinky then eats. I’m not sure if the callback was intentional, but it was great to see the “Pinky is the cheese” theory come back and to see Brain become more comfortable with reaching out and even being rewarded for it. 

It’s a brilliant episode that delves into the characters and their relationship and delivers some top-tier comedy. 

[msookyspooky]

Spooky!!!!! Can you plz share your thoughts on Neve Campbell returning to scream? 👀

(Sorry if you've answered this already!)

Ps I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE ur series so much - ur writing is SOOOO good 🥹 The last chapter tore out my HEART but has me kicking my feet GIGGLING at the same time - I genuinely wish u the absolute best bc you are AMAZING 💗

OMG THANK YOU!! I appreciate that especially since I was lowkey a bit weary of even adding Billy and YN at the end but damn we're 4 books in this has to happen eventually 😭🥴 I swear that the latest chapter is actually done (Just proofreading) but the plot is so heavy so damn 'wtf' that I'm writing the next chapter because I wanna make sure this pieces together smoothly cause there is no going back afterwards. So I swear I ain't dragging my feet TOO much 😅 But I'm giddy and nervous to post bc omg I don't think yall are ready 😗🤭

That is...just complicated. I love the idea of Sidney returning but not for this movie simply because of how they handled Melissa. Idc what side of the aisle you're on firing someone for speaking their mind on their Insta instead of being a meek media darling will always rub me the wrong way.

ANNNNDDD these Producers and Executives have lowkey butchered Scream in so many ways since Wes Craven passed and the fact that they made Sidney have less screen time in 5 not only for ageism in my humble opinion and money hungry greed to replace her with younger actresses no one asked for (Sorry I was all pissed they killed Dewey just to replace him with Chad even if I love Chad and got rid of Neve for the sake of 'new chapter' bs with a Billy's daughter trope if they were gonna do that they should've went with Scream 4's original plot IMO OR Sidney's daughters and Mark etc)

THEN by 6 we got very use to them and Sam became a beloved character that we could live with her and Tara being the new final girls just to shitcan them (Jenna walked from what I remember good for her) over an opinion that wasn't stated rudely or anything just talking about the kids involved in this war and they treat her as badly as they did Neve cutting Neve's pay and tossing her aside just for Neve to agree to come back???

Man, I'm sorry I am not a Neve lover nor hater but my pride could never. Guess that's why I'm not in Hollywood or loaded bc I would NEVER sign onto a movie that publicly humiliated me by basically saying I'm not worth the pay, then treating a younger co-star so poorly, then signing back on because they paid me what I should've probably gotten paid in the first place. My Manager and PR team could bite me...Probably why I'm a struggling artist instead lol

I do not hate Neve for this choice because ik money is money but it's disappointing.

And honestly? I have BEEN vocal how Scream 5 is by far my least favorite and they suckered us in with nostalgia and Scream 6 was GREAT except for the ending with the killers being so...Wattpad to be blunt coming from a wattpad fanfic writer. Hate or love Jill Roberts but she was a great Ghostface and it's so OBVIOUS what movies Craven worked on versus not. The killers in 6 COULD have been great too had it not been for them related to Richie (Who is my least favorite GF by far) and how fanfiction both latest installments feel with reveals. Scream 3 did too but Scream 3 purposely did not take itself seriously while 5 and 6 did except for Mindy as comic relief.

Of course this is my opinion and thank you for asking I'm honored you wanna hear my rinky dink opinion but I am not looking forward to 7. Scream 6 may not be my favorite but it is top 3 for me up until the reveal and Sam letting go of the mask and choosing a path to the future feels like the perfect ending! Franchise is done! Move on!

These movies are not like Friday the 13th of TCM with new victims these are stories tying in the victims and making 7 with the political climate rn and how they got rid of THE TWO NEW FINAL GIRLS just to beg Sidney to make a comback while probably having the safest most generic plot with how many changes they probably had to make after the characters were gotten rid of.

I'm just not hyped for Scream 7 and probably won't watch it. Ya know, all good things have to come to an end. Even this fic in time has to end. And I think the execs bit off more than they can chew and are backpedaling instead of doing the reasonable thing and canceling and I hate that Neve and some writers etc are on board still

And let's be real; Scream is getting less believable with tech. 96? Yeah, I could see it! 2000's? Sure! But 2020 onward? With smartphones and smarthomes and ringdoorbells and dna collected its time to say good bye to something that has to move on! Scream 6 did a descent job with the multiple GF and Scream 4 despite me not liking it they did it best as far as preparing future Scream for the murders. Not to get away with it but to be caught and sell the footage. They SERIOUSLY could've ended at 4 and I would accept it :/

But whatever, they're still decent movies but 7 is just one I have no interest in truly watching. For me personally but thank you for asking and listening to me rant and hopefully if you want cheesy overdone meta tropes my fic will do the trick rather than the movies 😅🤞🖤

[darkened-storm]

Happy Birthday @hellovivirose

Vivi! @hellovivirose Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! It’s been an absolute delight knowing you, running a server with you (which, for everyone else, is happily welcoming new and returning beyblade and beyblade OC fans, give us a shout for more info) and sharing our OCs and all our whacky ideas. You’ve been a wonderful friend, supporting me through some trying months and reigniting my passion for Beyblade. 

This scene was inspired the moment you shared one of your artworks with me, and I have been absolutely dying to share it with you, but I don’t know what to tell you - our characters are poorly behaved children and this just kept evolving further. 

And since I finished this in beyOCweek, I’m going to double down and claim this for an early day 11: Hurt prompt.

I hope you like it!

--

It’s been a week, Steph thought dismally as she watched the elevator numbers count up to the seventh floor. The elevator itself reeked of potent disinfectant, the sort of smell that made her stomach turn - she hated hospitals. Nothing good ever happened in a hospital in Steph’s opinion.

The elevator rattled to a stop on the ICU floor and the doors opened into a dimly lit ward. Save for the night nurses, the hospital was practically deserted. Visitors usually weren’t permitted at this hour, but tonight at least, the staff had made an exception.

ICU wards always shared the same layout: with the patient beds arranged in a circle around the nurses station so that they could be monitored continuously by the diligent staff. That diligent monitoring brought Steph no comfort though - instead it served as a constant reminder of just how precarious Tala’s situation was.

The night staff waved her through to the room across the hall where she wasn’t surprised to find the guest chair by the bed occupied by a familiar, yet almost unrecognisable figure.

For as long as Steph had known her; Celeste had been the epitome of neat and organised. In the stadium, everything from her outfit to the ribbons she tied in her hair had been meticulously evaluated prior to execution.

The Celeste that sat in the chair at Tala’s beside was a shadow of her former self; and Steph didn’t blame her, she was pretty sure her friend hadn’t left the hospital since she’d arrived in Japan. Dressed in old jeans and a hoodie, Celeste’s usually neat hair hung limp around her shoulders. She looked up as Steph entered, hastily wiping the tears from beneath her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding embarrassed. “I know I’m not supposed to be here - ”

“You’re supposed to be in Canada,” Steph interjected, holding out one of the coffee cups.  “But since when have you or I ever done what we were supposed to?” she added.

Celeste choked out a laugh, accepting the cup and folding her fingers around it. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, “although, I’m not sure he would approve.”

“Maybe,” Steph said, perching on the end of the Tala’s bed and balancing her own cup precariously in her palm. 

Canada was exactly the sort of distance Tala would want both of them from the current situation. Then again, if he hadn’t been so insistent on handling everything himself, he might not be lying in a hospital bed, so Steph didn’t care much for his opinion right now. 

She ran her eyes over the vitals monitors for her own peace of mind. “No change since yesterday then?” 

Celeste shook her head. “Nothing,” she confirmed. “Still, I couldn’t leave him - not when he could wake up any minute.” 

Except that he wouldn’t, Steph knew - at least, not yet. 

Following the battle with Garland, the doctors had placed Tala in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling in his brain, to give him time to heal, they’d told her. And while the results had looked positive in the first few days; his white cell count reduced and his fever abated, he’d shown little to no improvement since. 

Steph had been around hospitals long enough to know doctors gathering outside rooms and talking in hushed voices was anything but good news. 

The truth was, the doctors had no answers for Tala’s condition because there was no medical reason for it. She’d known it the moment she’d retrieved the shattered remnants of his beyblade from the stadium floor. Whatever was going on with her friend had very little to do with biology and more to do with the broken bond between with Wolborg. She knew that through her own bond with Fovular, Celeste would have felt Tala’s loss, even from across the world.

“Kenny thinks that if we can rebuild Wolborg’s beyblade, there might be a chance,” she explained. “BEGA’s registration requirements have made it impossible for us to source new beyblade parts from any of the local hobby shops.”

Celeste sucked in a breath. “But you’re supposed to go up against their team in less than a week,” she exclaimed. “What are you going to do?”

Steph shrugged. “The Chief will think of something,” she said, albeit uncertainly. Designing and building five new beyblades in a week was already an impossible undertaking, let alone without access to the parts they would need. But Kenny hadn’t let them down yet. 

She sighed, sipping at her coffee.  “Everything is a real mess right now, huh?”

Celeste could only nod. Given the circumstances, Steph figured her friend was holding herself together better than anticipated. The revelation that BEGA had unscrupulously ousted Dickenson from his own company was one thing, but Tala’s allegations against Boris had undoubtedly turned Celeste’s whole world upside down. 

“I didn’t know,” she lamented. “When my mum withdrew me from the Abbey, I knew something was a miss, but I never imagined …” she trailed off, burying her head in her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

Steph reached over and squeezed her hand, hoping the gesture would be of some comfort to her friend, while at the same time knowing she could do little else at this point to ease Celeste’s pain. “Because he knew how much it would her you to know the truth,” she offered kindly. 

She didn’t know much of Tala’s history, or his life before he came to the abbey, but she did know that his mother had abandoned the family, and that alone was reason enough, Steph thought, for Tala to want to keep the truth from Celeste - because he knew how much it hurt to discover that someone you love was rotten to the core.

There was, however, another reason Steph knew. “And because while you still believed in Balkov’s cause, you were safe. He did it to protect you.”

Slowly, Celeste lifted her chin, her eyes were full of unshed tears. “We argued,” she admitted, the statement catching Steph by surprise, which clearly must have shown on her face, because Celeste went on.

“Back home, before the Championships - he tried to tell me something was up with Boris, but I - I didn’t want to believe him … how could I?” She hiccuped, her body shaking violently, and Steph helplessly patted her head as she struggled to digest this information.  

She’d figured of course, when the Star Shooters hadn’t entered the World Championship Qualifiers that something had been amiss, but for all the emails and exchanged pineapple emojis, Celeste had given her no fathomable reason to withdraw from the tournament. Why, Steph thought dismally. Why hadn’t she probed her friend when she felt something hadn’t been right?

“Celeste,” she began, only to be cut off by her friend’s pitiful sob. “It’ll be okay - Tala’s going to be okay…”

“You don’t get it,” Celeste said, choking on the words. “The things I said to him before he left Canada were - they were just awful, and now…” she hiccuped again, letting the tears finally fall. “And now they might be the last words I ever get to say to him!”

Oh, Celeste, Steph thought, abandoning her coffee cup and swooping down on her friend, hugging her tightly while she cried.

“I wish he could hear me,” Celeste whispered. “I wish he knew …” she trailed off helplessly.

“How much you love him?” Steph supplied the words helpfully. “Celeste - he knows - he’s always known how much, but even so you should tell him.”

She pulled away so that she could look at her friend. 

“You’re going to tell him when we get through this, and we will get through this. Kenny is going to come through for us with the new beyblades, and Tyson and I - we’re going to bring Boris down once and for all - for you, for Tala, - and god knows, for Kai too, when he finally does come to his senses.”

Celeste hiccuped again pitifully at the mention of the double cross they were all still reeling from. “How?” she choked out. “How can you be so sure?”

Steph smiled, glad that she at last had a question that was easy to answer.

“Because we have something your uncle doesn’t have,” she said assuredly. “We have each other, and thanks to Tala, Bryan and Spencer we have the opportunity to expose Boris for his crimes once and for all. But I can’t do it alone - I need your help too.”

Slowly, Celeste’s tears dried up and the sobbing eased. Finally, Steph’s words were beginning to reach her, to bring back the Celeste she knew and loved. When she finally raised her head again, her eyes were steeled with determination.

“What do you need me to do?”

  **FIN**