#do you guys ever think about how we could genuinely have just killed adversary when she let us and have the good ending

[voiceofthesilly]

If me thoughts were more coherent id type up a thing about how if it weren't for our specific circumstances stubborn would often doom us but alas

[cwarscars-a]

@ubcs asked ; [ continuation of this ask ]

DEAR READER. what is a piece of advice your character would give to a loved one. is this advice they follow themselves?

be proud, be strong, be brave.

heidegger would advocate for someone to be proud of who they are and fierce with it. this is a man who admires strength and enjoys a challenge. he likes the bold & the brave. whether they're an enemy or not - he enjoys people who are willing to stand up for themselves.

it's one of the reasons why he's such a prick to his soldiers - they're all weak. none of them challenge him, none dare get fierce or firm or brave and to heidegger - that sickens him. take his interaction with barret as an example - barret snaps back, takes the piss and heidegger smiles. he loves it. he's obviously entertained by somebody willing to fight back & appreciates power. so, i think if he were to give advice - it would be advice that tells people to be strong. no matter their adversaries.

HITS DIFFERENT. what is something that deeply resonates with your character? it could be a song, a quote, a piece of art, or any other form of inspiration.

oh no, not this question. *whips out my war movies* slngslkdngsd. honestly, the quotes i use in my pinned / blog / promo are big inspirations for me. respectively, from platoon & apocalypse now.

the platoon quote is by sgt barnes - a guy who is /just/ like heidegger. fierce, in charge. kind of an underhanded prick who aims to get the job done and is straight-up brutal. he says -

Now, I got no fight with any man who does what he’s told, but when he don’t, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. And I ain’t gonna allow that in any of you. Not one.

this quote - to me - sums up what heidegger is all about. it's that genuine idea of doing right by oneself and morals / company. like, it's that idea that suggests anyone not 'for' the actions in question - are 'against' them. it's the suggestion that heidegger isn't a man who sees himself as a villain. he sees himself as genuinely in the right.

the other quote is from apocalypse now & is from col kurtz, who really, is quite an opposite character to someone like heid -

I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare: crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor and surviving.

horrifying imagery aside - i love this quote. i love everything about it. to me - it symbolises the mundanity / willingness of going towards ones death. blindly moving through inevitability - the snail is moving along the thing that's killing it; no emotion, no reaction. it just keeps going. it's his dream, because the snail doesn't give a single solitary fuck. it's his nightmare because it's horrifying. it's upsetting. the thought of willingly dying for nothing - of accepting ones death so easily? is that brave or stupid? sadness or truly being content? to have no fear of death - is that admirable? to be so brave as to blindly march toward it? is that stupid?

i relate it to heidegger because although i see him as this pigheaded, arrogant man. i also see him as somebody who has been through hell. he has seen more bloodshed than a normal human could process - he's made both a friend and enemy of death. i feel so passionatly about his inner thoughts and feelings regarding death. he is, as the meme says, both sickened and curious by death.

YOU’RE LOSING ME. has your character ever felt disconnected from their emotions or struggled to maintain relationships? how do they handle these challenges?

yes. 1000%. aside from the previously mentioned things regarding his trauma as a young man / losing his wife & kids ( when they decided to leave him ). i essentially write his before crisis self as a man in just one big alienating spiral.

in truth - i never played before crisis. i read all about it and i watched heidegger's segments but they're very brief. he is terrible and screws around with the turks & almost gets president shinra killed. so, i started headcanoning that - with this being so soon since he came back from the front line of wutai - that he'd become an alcoholic and that drinking on the job, wasn't uncommon.

the way i write him during this time is someone who is just entirely out of touch. he's drunk 90% of the time and has alienated a lot of people who may have once even liked him. his relationship with everybody sours during this time & once again, shinra has to save him from himself. ( shinra constantly saves him because heidegger is useful to him ). i think the disconnect during this time was huge because -

he'd lost everything.

he could no longer fight. a bloodknight - deprived of battle! he no longer had his daughters to dote on, or his wife to cheat on ( ouch ). he was just rendered another public figure. a man with medals and pride, sure but - what else? he'd go home to a lonely house. he'd drink to stave off nightmares.

during this time, he was at his possibly most disconnected as an older man. and, in truth, he only got lonelier.

but heidegger being heidegger, he turned that loneliness into pure hatred & anger.

[hyperbolicreverie]

I think there’s an interesting observation to be made about how there appears to be a narrative pattern ongoing in One Piece about how the rising stars of the new generation of pirates also seem to be the ones who genuinely care about the people close to them.

Luffy’s a given here. All of the Straw Hats are, really. The entire crew is fantastically devoted to each other and their dreams. Multiple times one of them has been willing to sacrifice a lot to protect the rest of the crew from whatever adversary has reared its ugly head. They’ve fought governments and Emperors over it, and Luffy will never accept a world in which his crew or anyone else he cares about is allowed to hurt.

But let’s look at the two other boys out here beating an Emperor:

Law literally sent his crew away rather than risk them getting hurt in his crusade against Doflamingo. He was absolutely incensed at the suggestion Bepo, Shachi and Penguin could have ever betrayed them, and then willingly offered himself up to Hawkins' torture to rescue them when the only other suggestion was to kill them. He was also just straight-up willing to die if that ended up being the price for dragging Luffy into the fight on Dressrosa.

Kid is pretty consistently depicted as an angry, murderous bastard, but from day one in Sabaody it was clear that even he has his lines in the sand. We’ve spent less time with him than Law or Luffy, but he’s received some lovely, if subtle characterization in Wano, and part of that was showing how incredibly protective he is of Killer. For Kid, it’s clear that if you hurt someone he cares about, the price is to be paid in blood.

And let’s actually single out Zoro and Killer here too: Zoro, of course, has his famous “nothing happened” moment–among several other examples of protectiveness throughout the series–and, though the exact details are a bit hazy, Killer willingly ate a SMILE fruit for the chance to save his captain and crew.

(You can also look at Bege for this tendency. He’s definitely not the nicest guy, but this man loves his family and his crew and literally uses his body to protect them. And even if his plans against Big Mom failed, I don’t think she’s forgetting his attempt any time soon).

I think it’s also interesting to note that Hawkins and Apoo, who have both received beatdowns to a degree in Wano, are the captain who literally uses his subordinates as sacrifices, and the one whose entire modus operandi seems to be “betray your current allies as soon as that status becomes mildly inconvenient,” respectively. The narrative has explicitly made them pay for these tendencies: Hawkins tried to take Law’s crew and Killer’s captain hostage and both times ended up at the wrong end of a furious man with a sharp blade, and Apoo will probably survive Onigashima like the cockroach that he is, but he was betrayed by Queen in a wonderful example of karma, and got smacked around a bit by both Zoro and Kid.

The jury is out on the rest of the Worst Generation, just because we haven’t seen much of them. Drake could be an interesting case–he definitely had to be willing to do some terrible things while undercover, and we don’t know if his crew are actually pirates or if he dragged a bunch of marines out with him to play pirate with him. But I think we need more information on him before the jury can rule for or against him, and as he’s not really a pirate, he might not count towards this theme anyway.

But I think it’s a really interesting bit of flavor to add to the ongoing theme of a new generation being ascendant–a theme that’s been in the background since the parallel speeches from Whitebeard and Law we got that alluded to the ending of an era and the start of a new one at Marineford and Punk Hazard. Except the further we’ve gotten into the New World, the more and more that theme has been moving into prominence, to the point that Wano is practically shouting it from the rooftops.

And these tendencies stand in stark contrast to how Kaido and especially Big Mom have been portrayed. These are people who have held on to their empires by sacrificing and subjugating the people they should have protected, and now they're facing off against opponents who have all demonstrated that, even if it is not the crux of why they are fighting the Emperors--because let's be real, Kid has no reason to actually care about the people of Wano--they choose to allow themselves to care. Messily and selfishly and not universally, sure: but they care.

Now, none of the people I’ve mentioned are saints; they’re pirates, not heroes. But they’re pirates that given the choice between someone they care for hurting and material benefits to themselves will pick their people every damn time. 

And those are the people who have started upsetting the foundations of how the world has worked thus far.

TLDR: The rooftop battle on Onigashima is literally the five most ride or die people in the Worst Generation versus two people who have been serially abusing their family and others for years.

[div-divington]

big ol’ invicncible spoilers, watch the show first trust me you’re not missing anything if you don’t read this post

I’ve never talked about a cartoon or tv show before but I’ve gotta say that people who say there’s ‘no complexity’ to Omni-Man’s character just tick me off.

I mean, listen, he’s totally a villain at least in the cartoon adaptation (I’ve not read the comics, going to consider them separate entities for the sake of argument), but he’s far from a two dimensional sussus amogus imposter blindly readying the planet for invasion.

I whole-heartedly believe that Omni-Man enjoyed being a superhero, saving lives. I believe his friendship with the tailor guy was real, I believe he respected, admired even, the Guardians of the Globe, cherished his relationship with Debbie, and enjoyed living among humans. The brief interaction with Darkwing and The Immortal when the Mauler Twins attack the White House is so sincere right? Like, it seems to me he respects them, the jokey “you’re welcome” when he saved Darkwing, the “I had him” when he saved the guard Immortal was going for, that wasn’t necessary of him. He had no real reason to be playful and cordial with them, he could have been distant and still gained their trust easily (I mean, Darkwing was a jerk and they loved him). The brief moment of shock and unresponsiveness when Mark revealed that he’d finally gotten his powers? I honestly believe that was a moment of disbelief. I think he hoped Mark’s powers wouldn’t manifest, hoped he wouldn’t have to continue his mission. That pause was him coming to terms with the end of things. The realization that he would have to hurt people he respected, finish his mission, and end his time as a father, author, and superhero.

When he collapses after murdering the Guardians of the Globe, the look on his face isn’t just exhaustion from the fight, it looks to me like shock. Disbelief. I don’t think he wanted to kill the Guardians, I think he hated doing it, but it’s what he was bred for. He was born and trained from childhood for thousands of years to weaken a planet from within, prepare it for invasion. Earth had superheroes, naturally a pretty noteworthy obstacle for an invasion, so he, in his mind, had no choice but to kill them. And notice that most of his kills are pretty... clean? He goes right for Immortal’s head, ditto with Aquaris and Green Ghost, snaps War Woman’s neck, kills Darkwing in one clean move, tears off Martian Man’s heart(? is that a heart?), crushes Red Rush’s head (which seems slow because of Red Rush’s perception of time being RIDICULOUS compared to our own, that horrific scene only lasted like a second for the rest of the characters). He goes for quick, clean kills, minimizing pain. Maybe its just brutal, soldier-like efficiency, since the greatest superheroes on Earth cannot be allowed to get any good hits in (they nearly killed him as it was), but what if it was a desire to not prolong the suffering of people he genuinely liked? 

We see in the flashback towards the end (during the THINK, MARK, THINK! scene lmao) that he initially didn’t give two shits about humanity on a deep level. He loved and respected Debbie and his then-very-young son, but thought humans were, on a whole, primitive and dumb. But as he spends time observing them, watching their culture, interacting with them, living with them, he warms up to them. The smile on his face when Mark hits his first homerun in little league, remembering Debbie’s favourite foods, the way he laughs when he mentions how a superhero had to meet the president in a plaid supersuit, the fishing photograph with the tailor. Even after he finally reveals himself as an infiltrator, the way he talks, to me, shows respect for his adversaries even as he demeans and belittles humanity. The discussion with Cecil, the warning to ‘stay out of this’. Nolan seems reluctant to kill anybody he doesn’t have to, and seemingly acknowledges that the Global Defense Agency at the very least is a minor threat.

So, you say, why does he act so AWFUL at times?

Well, his seeming lack of emotion after the funerals for the Guardians of the Globe can proooooooooooooobably be chalked up to his alien psychology. He finished grieving, he didn’t see the harm in cracking jokes about them. Calling Debora a ‘pet’? I think that honestly would be him trying to rationalise his feelings for her. There’s a fraction of a second where he hesitates to say it, and I honestly think he’s just trying to explain to himself how he could ever love a ‘lesser lifeform’. Killing all those innocent people? In his mind that was justified to get through to Mark. He doesn’t enjoy it -- though he also doesn’t dislike it -- he just sees it as a flat necessity, no less insignificant than killing a bug (i said the man is a complex character, I didn’t say he wasn’t evil). 

Don’t forget, Nolan’s genuine reasoning for bringing Earth into the Viltrum Empire is to help it. He argues that Viltrum technology can end hunger and poverty, end crime, revolutionize medicine. In his eyes, his indoctrinated eyes, he’s doing the right thing to help the people of Earth.

He still thinks he’s the hero.

‘it’s right to pity them’.

He sees humans as lesser creatures, he thinks they need protection from themselves, need to be brought up by the Viltrumites to be better. They can’t survive on their own, they’re weak and soft, they need us to reach their full potential, to find true glory in serving the might of Viltrum. Omni-Man does not see his actions as evil, he thinks he’s the good guy. He reluctantly kills the Guardians of the Globe, slaughters thousands of people, and destroys a city in order to, in his extremely twisted sense of morality, help people.

And, in the end, it is not the Viltrumite parts of Omni-Man and Invincible that end the conflict. It is Mark’s very human belief that he will, one day, get through to his dad. His refusal to give in, his undying love and determination to save people, save Nolan. It’s this that reaches Omni-Man. It doesn’t reach the tough soldier he had been for thousands of years, it reaches the small part of Omni-Man that wasn’t pretending to be human. The part that is Nolan Grayson. The part that, despite still seeing them as primitive and inferior, likes humanity. It’s a human tear that leaves his eye as Nolan flies away from Earth, finally giving up and refusing to facilitate the invasion if it means killing his son, something a full Viltrumite wouldn’t hesitate to do for a second if their family got in the way of their conquest. He was changed by his time with humans.

I’m not defending Omni-Man, he’s obviously a bad guy, an antagonist, serving a genuinely evil empire, but i AM saying he isn’t some flat, boring two dimensional villain who just PRETENDED to like humanity for the twenty odd years he spent living there. I’ve seen people in youtube comments replying with “I think you misunderstand Omni-Man as a character, you see, he was simply pretending to not hate humanity, it was all an elaborate ruse, there’s no real depth and inner terminal in him at all uwu” but i think THEY misunderstand Omni-Man.

He’s not morally grey, he’s arguably not even redeemable, but he IS a complex and well written character and boiling him down to ONLY being an evil alien who tricked people into liking him just rubs me the wrong way.

but idk maybe I misunderstood him and he really IS flat and boring. Maybe his time with humanity didn’t change him at all, he isn’t emotionally conflicted, and he’s just less cool than I thought.

And despite my seeming passive aggressive language, it’s totally chill if you disagree with my personal interpretation of Omni-Man as a character, art is meant to be a unique experience for everyone, so if you see him completely differently to me that’s great! I just dislike the insistence from some people online that anybody who sees him as a deeper, more complicated character is just wrong.

also sorry for this post coming out of left field entirely lmao 

[thiswasinevitableid]

57 sternclay nsfw? i can see stern complaining to a stranger that his ex complained about how weird his kinks were while dumping him

Here you go! 57: “we’re fighting over the last box of half-off valentine’s day chocolate and end up in a “who has it worse” battle.

For being in a mountain town in the slow season, the seasonal candy shelves of the Kepler Walgreens are bare. Were it 10 am on Valentines Day, Joseph would be in a panic. At 10 p.m, it feels like yet more proof this trip is utterly doomed.

But he didn’t become one of the top agents in the Department of Unexplained Phenomena by being unobservant. On the top shelf, pushed towards the back, is a bag of Reese's hearts and a bag of M&Ms. Thank you, years of training.

Being six feet tall helps too.

He’s so locked onto his target that he doesn’t notice the other person in the store until their hands smack into each other en route to the bags.

“Sorry, uh, lemme just get these and I’ll get out of your way.” A voice as deep and sweet as summer honey reaches his ears.

“I’m sorry, but I was going to buy these.” He starts pulling the bags towards him, only for the other guy to grab them. Joseph glares; the man trying to relieve him of his last solace looks like the kind of lumberjack you see in recordings titled things, “Log Pounders IV” or “Bear Hunting.”

“Look, buddy, I really need these so can you, like, find some other bags?”

“These are the last two. And I guarantee I need them more.” As long as he keeps a pleasant voice and gives no ground, this should go smoothly.

“Unless you got dumped this month, I don’t think you do.”

“I got dumped seven hours ago.” He says through an increasingly tight-lipped smile.

“At least your ex isn’t tagging you in a bunch of photos bragging about his new boyfriend.”

“He can’t, because he probably only just got back to his apartment in the rental car. The one I’m now stranded here without.”

“Pfft, just call an Uber or something.”

“It’ll cost several hundred dollars to get home!”

“You look like you can afford it.” Brown eyes flick from his hair down to his shoes, “some of us have to use half-price candy to soothe our wounds. You’re probably staying at the kind of fancy B&B where they have complimentary booze.”

“I would be, except their was a fuck-up with the reservation. Which my ex took as proof this was time to end things, and is the reason I’m dragging this all over town.” He kicks his ergonomically designed, rolling suitcase hard enough that it bumps into his adversary.

“Better he gave you some bullshit reason than the truth, which mine was all too happy to tell me. You can have these when someone you tried to make happy tells you he thinks you’re ‘too soft’ and that if only you’d manned up he woulda stayed, whatever the fuck that even means.”

Goddamnit, Joseph is not about to lose this argument--and his candy--on top of everything else.

“I’ll trade you that for being told you’re: too exacting, far more uncool than your job implies, too anxious, too invested in your work, that your whole personality is flawed and, just for extra fun, that your kinks are too weird and no one in their right mind would ever want to sleep with you if they knew them ahead of time.”

The other man’s hold on the bags loosens. Then it returns, stronger than before, as he grumbles, “Please, no one’s kinks are that weird.”

“You have no idea what mine are.”

“Then how about you give me a demonstration, huh?” Lumberjack snaps.

Joseph's common sense finally catches up with his thirst for comfort and, apparently, conflict.

“I, I’m sorry, did you just offer to fuck me in the middle of a fight over discount candy?”

“I....” the man lets go of the bags, chuckles, “yeah, I did. Fuck, I’m sorry, it’s been such a shitty day that my mouth decided it was gonna do whatever it took to stay in that fight.”

Joseph laughs a little, slumping against the shelf, “I guess it’s nice to know I’m not the only person in town whose Valentine’s Day didn’t go to plan.”

“No kidding. Though, uh, I didn’t get dumped this month. It was three months ago. He did tag me in all those photos today though.”

“That’s so rude.”

“Not as rude as leaving your boyfriend stranded in the mountains.”

B-grade pop hits fill the awkward silence between them.

“I, uh, this might be way outta line, but I got an idea; if you buy the candy, I can take us back to my place and bake something with it. That way we can both enjoy it, and you won’t be stuck wandering around in the cold.”

He runs a quick is-this-a-serial-killer scan of the man in front of him.

“Sure. But just so you know, I’m opening the Reeses in the car.”

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

“Feeling better?” Barclay, his host, wipes stray cupcake crumbs from his lips.

“Much.” He polishes off his second coffee-cocoa cupcake with M&Ms in the batter, lifts his coffee cup, “this place is lucky to have you.”

Barclay blushes the same way he has every time Joseph compliments his cooking, home, or taste in books. They’ve spent the last ninety minutes in the kitchen of Barclay’s small, A-Frame cabin, one of eight laid out in a half circle behind Amnesty Lodge. The cook explained that the cabins were for staff or long term residents, and that while the Lodge sometimes had vacancies, this week had seen them swamped.

The rain alternates between pleasant pitter-pats and drops that could kill a small bird, so Joseph is incredibly grateful to Barclay for giving him a place to shelter. When he thanks him, the cook shrugs with a little smile, “you shouldn’t leave nice things out in the rain.”

As they’re cleaning up the dishes, Barclay passes him a plate and says, “You can stay here tonight. If, uh, if you want. The couch isn’t much, but it’s dry and I’ve got a bunch of spare blankets.”

“That’d be great, thank you. And, um, thank you for being so nice to me, given how we met.”

“Eh, no one who’s in a Walgreens after ten is in a good mood. And, uh, it’s nice to have someone to talk with. I’m kinda the quiet one of my friends, and work is mostly calling orders and stuff.” He pulls the coffee pot from the heat, “can I top you off?”

“Yes, please.” His caffeine tolerance is so high a few cups late at night doesn’t mess with his sleep. Barclay is sticking with tea, something scented like cardamon and comfort.

They move to the couch that’s clearly been re-covered a dozen times, Barclay only getting up to turn on some music; delta blues, if Joseph’s ear is right. It’s not until the clock strikes one thirty that Joseph notices they’re sitting so close that their knees bump whenever one of them turns to talk.

“Okay, I gotta ask” Barclay’s brown eyes shine sweet and playful, “what exactly was so weird about your kinks that your dickhead ex went out of his way to mention them?”

He thinks a moment, scanning his body and noticing he’s more relaxed than he’s been in weeks, including all the times he spent with his ex. Something about the faint scent of dish-soap on Barclays hands, the gentle smile that makes Joseph certain that--for all his bulk--if Joseph told him to roll over and show his belly, he’d do it in an instant, the way he doesn’t rolls his eyes or shy away when Joseph talks, all of that makes him calm. Which makes him bold.

“Wait right here.” He hops up, grabs his bag from the door and pulls it over to the rug by the couch. All he has to do to reveal his secret is lift his pajamas.

“Holy fuck.” Barclay leans forward, “you really came prepared.”

“It was supposed to be a romantic getaway. I...we’d never used any of this together, but I hoped we might this time. It’s, it’s not his fault, I know my tastes aren’t for everyone, and we had plenty in common in bed. But he went through this whole thing where he said we should share our deepest fantasies. Apparently wanting to be choked is fine, but wanting to fuck Mothman is not.”

“That’s what this one is.” Barclay picks up one of the two dildos, black with lots of swirling ridges.

“That’s actually my dragon one. Um.” he holds up the ovipositor toy, “this one is supposed to be mothman.”

Barclay squishes one of the silicone eggs, “that feels kinda nice. What else did you bring?”

His genuine interest is not helping Joseph keep his hopes under control.

“The other toy is the ‘bigfoot’ model. And this is, um, this is my newest one, I was so excited I pre-ordered it. It acts like a cock-sleeve, but this part here is supposed to mimic a, um, a knot.”

“Like the idea of getting knotted, babe?” The cook’s voice is a little deeper than when he last spoke, and rather than pulling away he’s inching into Joseph’s space.

“Yes. I, um, I’m getting the sense” he shifts so his hands are on Barclay’s knees, “that we might have something in common besides our taste in leftover candy.”

“I packed all this so carefully” he brushes their lips together, “it’d be a shame to let it sit unused.”

Barclay scoops him into a kiss, growling happily when Joseph instantly parts his lips. His beard is soft and tickly under Joseph’s palms, and his mind takes the thought of getting beard-burn on his thighs and runs so far with it that he almost misses what Barclay says next.

“In that case, you better decide if you want me to open your ass up so I can fuck you with a knot, or if you wanna do it yourself.”

“I prefer to do it myself.”

A second kiss, a bit gentler this time, “bedroom’s at the end of the hall. Get naked and wait for me there?”

“Roger that, big guy.”

When Barclay growls this time it’s rougher, jumping out of his chest and seeming to surprise him.

Joseph undresses as Barclay stops off in the bathroom, rifling through the medicine cabinet while Joseph folds his clothes. He’s down to his boxers when he remembers there is a conversation he needed to have before it hit this point.

“You trying to get me to rip those off with my teeth?” Barclay grins as he sets some condoms and lube on the bed and starts taking off his pants.

“I, um, there’s something you should be aware of. We don’t have the same, um, set-up.”

Barclay furrows his brow, gets his meaning, then nods, “no problem. If you’re okay with that part of you being involved I, uh, I just got a really, really good idea for what to do.”

“It’s not always the case, but tonight I definitely want it involved. I want you inside me as many ways as possible.”

“Fuck yeah.” Barclay tosses his shirt into the laundry, “get your ass open enough to take that knot.”

He slips the condom on, douses it with lube, and presses the first finger in, discovering that he's unable to stop complimenting Barclay for even five seconds while he finishes disrobing. The flush under his dark chest hair is unendingly charming, as is the little whine he makes at Joseph telling him he likes how big he is.

“I, I’m serious, ahhn, it’s rare to find someone taller than me and I really like it.”

“Feeds into the monster thing?” Barclay crawls beside him, laying down so he can kiss him as he works the second finger in.

“In a way.”

A deep, rumbly chuckle that has Joseph fucking himself hurriedly, “Don’t be coy, babe. You like the thought of something big and hairy getting a hold of you and not letting you go until you’re dripping cum.”

“Holy shit, yes” he gets the third finger in, sighing as Barclay nuzzles his neck.

“Well, I’m not bigfoot, but I’m betting I’ll do just fine.”

“More than fine.” Joseph kisses him, feels him smile in a way that melts his heart like cheap chocolate.

“Got some other theories about you, babe, but you gotta wait until you’re on my dick to hear ‘em.” Barclay sits up, stroking his cock in time with Joseph’s hand, “fucking-A, can’t believe your ex didn’t wanna stick around for this. You look like a fucking porn star; we oughta record you getting fucked in your suit and sell if for big bucks.”

He moans, pulling his fingers free, “Fuck me now. Please.”

“Fuck that’s hot.” Barclay works the sleeve down over his cock, sits up against the wall, “come sit in my lap, facing away.”

Joseph straddles him, gasps when the head of his cock presses in. He prepped well, but all the same he has to take his time wiggling his way down. Barclay caresses him, grunting and whimpering whenever he moves, breath prickling the hairs at the base of his neck. It’s heavenly.

When he hits the knot, Barclay rubs more lube on it, but it stays outside of him as he grinds on it. Between moans, the cook manages to say, “want me to start the next part?”

“Yes, please.”

Barclay loads the ovipositor with the three eggs, praises Joseph for being a good boy when he spreads his legs to accommodate the head of the toy.

“I, I thought you had more you were going to tell me?” He tilts his head awkwardly to kiss Barclay’s shoulder.

“Uh huh.” Barclay slowly works the toy in and out, doing his best to sync it to the rolls of his hips, “I think you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t just want one monster; you want ‘em all.”

“Variety is, ohgod, part of a healthy sex life.”

“I don’t mean one monster on one day and a different one on another. I think you want them all at once.”

“Oh yes, oh! Ohohoh” he kicks his legs as the first egg pushes in, “fuck, Barclay, please keep going.”

“Whatever you want, babe.” He nuzzles Joseph’s hair, “that’s how I came up with this plan; seeing all those different dicks made me think you’d, fuck, you’d like me to pretend there was more than just me fucking you.”

Joseph nods, clinging to Barclays arm and bearing down on the knot.

“Can just see it now; you got yourself lost in the woods out here, go looking for help only to find a whole bunch of monsters waiting for you. Spend the rest of the night pressed into the dirt and leaves while every cryptid from, fuck” he bucks his hips, “from here to Canada had their turn.”

“Shit, shit” the knot starts pushing in, “y-you’ve got my number, big guy.”

“Yeah?” Barclay squeezes the base of the toy as he talks, causing the remaining two eggs to push their way in, Joseph’s body clenching around them, “you want a night where all your good for is being fucked, where if you beg for a break you get a bigfoot fucking your throat and werewolves cumming on your chest instead of them all mobbing you at once?”

“Shit, yes, YESohfuck” the knot enters him as Barclay shoves his hips down, “ohmygod that’s good, fuck, I feel so full, you’re so smart, this was genius, fuck you know how to treat meAHannnfuck, shit.” He holds on to Barclays arm’s as the other man fucks him with abandon.

“Oh I know, babe. Know I was fucking right. You wanna be claimed, wanna be owned, wanna be bred by a whole fuckin pack-”

“Jesuschrist” it’s hard to breathe at the pace Barclay sets, his body aching to cum but not quite able to get there. He squeezes his eyes shut, rubbing frantically at his dick as Barclay loses himself in the fantasy.

“You’d be so cute, leaves in your hair and cum on your chin, taking it all and begging for more. Good thing you’re so needy, you could tear a pack apart with folks fighting over who gets to fuck you, fuck, Joseph, baby, you’re so fucking good, gonna be so fucking good to you, fuck, fuck” he shoves as deep as he can while he cums, and in the haze of pleasure Joseph swears claws prick the skin of his chest. Just the thought of that sends his own orgasm coursing through him, his body tensing and twisting on Barclay’s cock, making them both moan from sudden overstimulation.

“S-sorry” Barclay pants.

“Nothing to apologize for, just physiology, here, let me ow, ow, okay maybe I should have relaxed more first.” He’s free of both toys, but that was right on the edge of too painful. He waits for Barclay to take off the sleeve, then rolls the bigger man so his head is on his chest.

“Your ex didn’t know how good they had it.”

“Thanks, babe.”

He smiles, “I like that. No one ever calls me something that informal.”

“Call you it whenever you want. Babe.” Barclay kisses his arm, “you can, uh, stay in bed if you want. We don’t have a ton of time together so I’d, uh, well, I’d like to spend as much of it with you as I can.”

For the first time, Joseph wishes his vacation would last longer.

“Agreed, big guy.”

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

“You said you had my new assignment, sir?”

“Yes. Agent Stern, you will be going to the town of Kepler to investigate the events described in this file.” Agent Hayes passses him the folder.

“Understood, sir.”

Joseph manages to keep his smile to himself all the way to his desk.

[aqvarius]

With people comparing Namba and Matsunaga (both older, both have an ex which feels redundant plot wise, and having moments of being laid back but also stern), which of the two do you think is the better?(Though I'm not sure if rmd will go beyond the 2nd epilogue since all the backlash from LC and we'll probably never see any more character development from each guy)

hmmmMMMM okay so i still have thoughts about the future of rmd (which i’m still working on slowly to try and get all my Thoughts in order) pending for another ask BUT i actually still haven’t read namba’s adversaries so i feel like i can maybe make a decent comparison without namba having too much advantage

so matsunaga and namba are REALLY similar. the sad thing is that matsunaga’s history with his ex should tie into the plot but it really doesn’t (or rather the link between ex and the plot comes out of literally nowhere) unless you’ve read all the right heart scenes (i’m just presuming this, it might also come out of nowhere even if you’ve read all the heart scenes and also i don’t know which ones exactly bc i didn’t wanna spend any hearts on this route lol). 

CUT FOR BIG SPOILERS

i do actually think that matsunaga’s route had more potential to weave in some more complex themes but ultimately ended up being a bit more basic(?) in terms of its core message. while yes, it is groundbreaking for voltage for them to write a bi love interest, i felt the way they tackled sexuality in this route wasn’t the most thoughtful. i mean, for the patient to basically go nuts (honestly don’t even remember his name bc this route made so little impact on me and i didn’t enjoy it enough to save screenshots lol) and murder his ex because he chose to preserve his public image as a celebrity and date a woman just felt like (1) not the most thoughtful character construction for a non-straight character and (2) just a way to (dare i say tokenistically) shoehorn in matsunaga’s sexuality without making it a genuinely impactful part of his personality and the development of his relationship with the mc. 

for one, i have to reiterate that it really did come out of nowhere. most of the route focussed on matsunaga’s health issues (frankly unnecessary imo). for me it felt like the health issue thing was a way for matsunaga’s backstory (particularly in relation to kasumi) to be written in, and then the thing with his ex was the way for his character to relate somewhat to a seemingly unrelated case (the actual medical/patient case aspect of the route), but they honestly threw that in so last minute and it was such a passing thing as well? like i feel like matsunaga’s route and his character were developed more from the whole downplaying his health issues thing than his sexuality. however, because the climax of the route was about the patient going berserk, they kind of were like let’s diffuse this situation with a dramatic reveal about matsunaga’s sexuality and that GENUINELY felt like all that was used for. like all of the “getting closer” moments were related to his health issues or hanging out the pomeranian lol. 

also honestly the ways in which both the patient and the female patient dealt with the singer’s death was exactly the same (i.e. wanting to die bc what’s the point in living if he’s no longer there) so i didn’t really see the point of there being two of them aside from setting up for a more dramatic ~gasp the singer was bi~ moment which in itself was just a setup for a more dramatic ~gasp matsunaga is bi~ moment right at the end. i also felt like they could have addressed the idea of fear of social discrimination in a more nuanced and thoughtful way? essentially i wasn’t a fan of the whole “he was afraid of being in a publicly gay relationship with me so i killed him bc he broke up with me to be with a woman” thing. and in my opinion, matsunaga contributed NOTHING to that entire theme aside from just saying “i had a boyfriend and we broke up for the same reasons except i didn’t become a murderer” which like........ you could have used this opportunity to actually explore the pain and difficulty of needing to hide your relationship because of social taboo or being discarded because your partner chose public image over you rather than just write this character off as a vengeful gay ex vs the good bi guy (matsunaga who just accepts injustices like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ que sera sera). i thought it would have been a stronger and more sophisticated story had they either focussed on either one theme or the other in this one route (health/life expectancy issues vs sexuality) instead of kind of having both be treated a little half-heartedly. the feeling i got was that the first step to getting closer (and i say this laughingly bc honestly the distance between them even after 30 chapters is GAPING) was the pomeranian and then the topic that gave their relationship a little more depth than “we’re just hanging out with your dog” was the revelation of his health issues. 

also the idea that people live on through your memories of them felt a little like... overdone/simple? or that it was lacking a more sophisticated engagement with the idea of death, legacy and memories. i’ve read school life shoujo manga that deals with that theme in a more interesting way. so for me, it felt a little ingenuine that it was treated by as a perspective or way of thinking about death that was like a mindblowing new way to look at life ahead, especially since the characters involved are in their 20s, not early teens. 

so anyway i think that matsunaga has potentially a deeper character? namba has more or less ‘healed’ or at least learnt to cope with his issues enough that you wouldn’t know anything is up but it’s clear that matsunaga still has a lot of personal issues to work through, so there was genuine potential to overcome some of that boss-subordinate power imbalance through having genuine connection between just humans or to develop him as a character whose prioritisation of others is maybe a flaw. i just think that they crammed so many things in that none of it really got addressed or developed properly lol.  

i will say that i find matsunaga is way less fun than namba? namba is more of a “my pace” kind of guy - he’s more random/eccentric which i enjoy. matsunaga’s persona is more just like a regular nice guy? you would NEVER find matsunaga just on the street in costume pretending to be a fortune teller for no reason but to give you random love advice? 

but on that same note, i definitely feel less chemistry between matsunaga and his mc compared to namba. maybe this is just bc i only read matsunaga’s normal ending in which she confesses and asks him out and he literally SAYS NO AND IT ENDS WITH HER GETTING REJECTED (and i’m p sure they still aren’t together even in the happy ending or the epilogue), but the whole time i feel like there was only ever a parent-child relationship between them. i never felt like matsunaga treated her any different than how he treats literally anyone else in the EICU. i actually think he treats kasumi the best out of everyone, including his mc. the weird thing is that rmd actually had way more time and potential - i mean they literally SET THE TWO CHARACTERS UP IN AN EXPLICITLY ROMANTIC CONTEXT and there was still NEGATIVE amounts of romantic chemistry??? HOW? namba and his mc literally were in a boss-subordinate dynamic the entire time and they still had more chemistry and genuine interpersonal connection without it feeling like the mc is a small pet vying for her owner’s attention the entire time while also somehow simultaneously trying to mother him? i’m not kidding when i say that namba and his mc are more fun in 10 chapters than matsunaga and his mc are in THIRTY.  

ALSO namba’s (consistent lol) berating of his mc makes sense with his character and the context and is justified every time because his mc is a thoughtless noob (but one with potential that he sees his old self in). on the other hand, matsunaga has one moment when he scolds his mc for... some reason... but because she’s supposed to be this superstar student, she doesn’t really make the mistakes that allow her those learning opportunities. and then matsunaga basically just lets her do whatever she wants re: dealing with patients.  

oh and also the plot of namba’s route is better. 

in short, matsunaga’s route had potential but i feel like the missed potential and the lack of thoughtfulness in cramming in too many themes and not making the most of them are huge negative factors. namba has a more fun character, there is SO much more romantic chemistry between him and his mc, the plot is better and more interesting and has a twist without it feeling forced, namba’s comments about his age/their age gap make more sense for his character, his sprite is more attractive (lmaoooo), the relationship development is more organic, even the moments of rejection feel both more earned and heartbreaking. tl;dr: namba wins

ALSO sorry it took me so long to reply!! i’m still half in and out of tumblr 

[horde-princess]

An Analysis of 4 Key Relationships in Season 2

Now that we’ve had some time to digest season 2, I wanna take an in-depth look at some of the new relationships and group dynamics that have popped up in the show. Specifically, seeing Catra interact with Bow and Glimmer was something I’ve been excited about for a really long time, and then of course there’s Scorpia, and wow do i have THOUGHTS alright here we go

Catra and Bow

i know, weird right. there’s a reason i’m writing about these two first and it’s because i have a lot of feelings lajksdfd just hear me out okay

Idk about you guys, but when I was watching Catra attack Bow in 2x02 it just felt so weird, like in a bad way. Catra’s anger towards him for stealing Adora away is obviously valid, but Bow is just so pure and righteous and good, you know? He doesn’t have a bitter bone in his body (unlike Glimmer, who can give as good as she gets). Bow doesn’t know how to respond to Catra’s anger... and I think the reason that it was so hard for me to watch is because Catra and Bow actually have the potential to be good friends.

Think about it like this. Catra and Glimmer are a lot alike--they’re fierce and intense and they each have someone who helps bring them back down to earth: their respective best friends, Adora and Bow! And we see how much Adora and Glimmer have grown to love one another, right? It’s because their different personalities complement each other so well.... So I think that, given the chance, Catra and Bow could have a similar dynamic :)

There was a sweet moment in 2x02 that offered a glimpse of this, when Bow was trying to show Catra some kindness. He’s such an earnest, straight forward character, he sees right through Catra’s bullshit and knows exactly what to say to get through to her (i mean look at her expression here, the way her ears are flattened--so different from her absurd behavior in the rest of the episode).

Lock these two in a room for an hour? Yeah, they’d come out best friends 😭💖 I hope we get more of them in future episodes!! 

Catra and Glimmer

Oh man...... Whew. YIKES. Where to even begin with this alsjdfsdjld. Catra and Glimmer’s rivalry is just. everything. 

To Glimmer, Catra is the girl who is trying to destroy her home, murder her and her loves ones... the girl who’s breaking the heart of someone she loves (Adora).

To Catra, Glimmer is the girl who stole Adora away from her. She tore her life apart. She represents what it means to be born into a position of privilege and (literal) power, which Catra resents with a burning passion.

Seeing these two go head to head, sparring physically and verbally, it’s so freaking delicious. Catra has the advantage over her in almost every way: she’s a better fighter, she lies and manipulates, she’s willing to do evil things to win battles that Glimmer, as a typical hero, refuses to do. But despite all that, Glimmer still wins every time... Because she has Adora.

It’s interesting, though. Even though Adora is on Glimmer’s team, Catra knows that she is the one who holds Adora’s attention, if not also her affections--and she knows this fact drives Glimmer crazy. I mean come on, Adora means everything to Glimmer! She loves her as a friend but more than that, She-Ra gives her hope that they can save the world. Yet Adora loves this feral half-cat demon over her?? what???? lmao. So I think part of what’s fueling Glimmer’s hatred, her desire to just beat the absolute shit out of Catra, is that she feels like she’s contending for Adora’s love.

There were four glitra moments this season that I wanna highlight.

First, when Catra tries to get in her head and make her doubt her relationship with Adora. I found this interesting because you almost see a glimpse of sincerity in Catra--as if she’s trying to warn Glimmer against repeating the mistake she herself made. Glimmer’s reaction to the words are just as telling. She gets angry, but I don’t think it’s because she believes Catra. I think she’s angry because Catra is slandering Adora’s character. Unlike Catra right now, Glimmer sees Adora for who she truly is. She knows that Adora isn’t the kind of person who abandons her friends in pursuit of power. So yeah this was a cool moment that illustrated Glimmer and Catra’s contrasting perspectives.

Second, I LOVED this line, when Catra makes fun of Glimmer and Adora’s relationship (but it just comes off as jealous lmaoo). The reason I love it is because it’s so true!!! Glimmer and Adora are perfect for each other. What this line proves is that she is absolutely threatened by Glimmer in a romantic context. She recognizes that Glimmer might actually be more compatible for Adora than she is, and that Glimmer is her foil (which I’ll explain more in a minute).

Next is the scene where Glimmer actually threatens to kill Catra in cold blood. If you’re like me and you missed that when you first watched it, yeah, that’s what happened--Catra gives Kyle the order to “take Entrapta out” and then Glimmer slams her against the tree and says “two can play at that game.” She gets this close to blasting her face off but Bow is able to talk her down from it. And the whole time, Catra is just fucking smirking at her, calling her bluff because she knows Glimmer won’t compromise her morals (parallel to catradora in 2x05 anyone??). But yeah this was crazy. Catra just wanted to see how far she could push her and it turns out... pretty damn far. 

One of my favorite lines in the whole season was Glimmer telling Catra “I’m not as naive as you think.” Catra thought she had her outsmarted, forced to deplete her magic, but in the end Catra had underestimated her as an adversary.

The more I think about it, the more I realize Glitra’s rivalry is a hundred times more intense than Catradora’s. Remember in the DnD ep when femme fatale Catra points at Glimmer and calls her her greatest enemy? That was veeery interesting... Their relationship really has a life of it’s own now, like, separate from Adora. They hate everything about what each other stand for. They’re both so strong and hot-headed, with opposite moral compasses--like two rockets on a collision course. But I also love that they have this sort of begrudging respect for one another. Look at what Glimmer says here in 2x03, the ghost episode:

How random, right, that Glimmer would be thinking about some offhand comment from Catra from the previous episode? AND! In context, it just sounded to me like Catra was saying Glimmer was terrible at taking people hostage lol. Glimmer extrapolates and applies her comment to her courage, her capability as a hero. That’s like.... whoa. It shows that Glimmer actually cares about Catra’s opinion of her.

So yeah Glitra’s dynamic is more amazing than i could’ve ever dreamed.. not to mention their weird flirtation and oh no looks like we’re out of time for this section kjdfljsdkaskjd

Adora and Scorpia

Ok seeing these two dorks together in 2x05 was so amazing 😂😂 As cute as it was though it was one of the most heartbreaking parts of the season. I can’t remember a time that Scorpia ever demonstrated such bitterness towards someone.

Not exaggerating when I say that last line brought me to tears like wtf.... 😭

I’ve mentioned this before but Scorpia genuinely loves Catra so much and she just can’t stand seeing her heart breaking over Adora when Scorpia feels like she could treat Catra better. She’d give her the whole world if she could (which is quite literally what she’s trying to achieve!)

Adora, on the other hand, she doesn’t really know who Scorpia is. To her, Scorpia is just someone who is enabling Catra’s descent into darkness, so there is a hostility there already. If I had to name one thing that I’m excited about for upcoming episodes, it would be Adora inevitably growing jealous of Catra and Scorpia’s relationship. We haven’t seen it yet but mark my words we WILL AND ITS GONNA FUCKING DESTROY US okay i could yell about adora and scorpia for hours but let’s just move on and get to my fave part of this meta laksjdfs

Catra vs. Glimmer, and Adora vs. Scorpia

So Catra and Glimmer rivalry’s is obviously really fun, same with Adora and Scorpia. But the real magic comes in when we look at the dynamic of this whole 4-person group. I didn’t take Scortra seriously in season 1 (blasphemy... i know) so it took me until season 2 to catch onto this pattern, but now that I have it makes so much sense and gives the show a new perspective for me. 

Glimmer and Scorpia’s relationship hasn’t really been explored in the show but there is one thing we know they have in common: they both love two girls who are obsessed with someone else. And they both act as foils for our two protagonists. 

Glimmer is Catra’s foil. The similarities between these two are obvious. They’re both passionate and angry and driven and traumatized. But Glimmer’s strong moral code contrasts sharply with Catra’s lack of one (and really that difference is just a result of their disparate upbringings). 

Glimmer is right in front of Adora. And she’s everything that Adora only wishes Catra could be... yet Glimmer will never be able to compete with Catra in the contest for Adora’s affection. Adora is stuck between loving someone that she can’t be with, or being with someone she can’t truly love... at least, not in the same soul-altering way that she loves Catra.

Scorpia is Adora’s foil. Scorpia and Adora are also alike in some ways, but there’s a key difference. The fandom has discussed before how, yeah, Scorpia is part of the Horde, but she doesn’t appear to have any kind of moral stake in the war that’s going on. What Scorpia really cares about, what she’ll fight to the death for is... her friendships. She’s loyal to a fault, and she would do absolutely anything for Catra. Catra is her number one priority. 

GUYS! This is the exact opposite of Adora!! Adora may love Catra, but she will always choose the greater good over her. She won’t betray her convictions for love. That’s just who she is. Thus, Scorpia is everything that Catra wishes Adora would have been for her. Someone who would have stayed by her side no matter what. Someone who wouldn’t have cared whether or not the Horde was evil, as long as she could be with Catra. But again--though I do think Scortra’s budding romance will continue to develop--in the end Scorpia simply cannot compete with Adora for Catra’s affection. She acknowledged it herself. 

I wanna mention one more thing here.. So Scorpia and Glimmer are playing similar roles for their respective love interests. From my point of view (feel free to disagree this is just the way I’m interpreting things) I don’t believe that those relationships are gonna be endgame. To me this show always has been and always will be about Catra and Adora. And while I can’t wait to see them reconcile with each other, Noelle has suddenly got me falling in love with these other characters, too, and I'm so afraid??? ESPECIALLY for Scorpia. While Glimmer at least has Bow and the Princess Alliance, Scorpia has absolutely no one. Catra is Scorpia’s whole world. What will she do when that falls apart? (god please i’m begging, just let scorpia find happiness 😭)

Catra and Scorpia

Honestly I don’t even think I can write this part without having a meltdown but its the last one so im gonna push through alksjdfls. I already talked a bit about how Scorpia is exactly the kind of person that Catra needs at this point in her life, and I think it’s best summed up in this quote from Noelle:

“We see Scorpia expressing this admiration for Catra, expressing desire to get close to Catra... Catra is just not at this point super open to Scorpia’s affection. So I think it’s kind of tragic at this point. And I think for Catra, although she’ll never admit it, what she really wants is love and acceptance. Suddenly she is getting that, no strings attached, from Scorpia, and she is not ready.”

-wiping away tears- okay so yeah, Scorpia is over here offering Catra unconditional love and Catra’s just.... she’s so traumatized and has such deep-seated abandonment issues that she just doesn’t know what to do with it. She doesn’t feel she deserves it. Also, up until 2x05, Catra didn’t respect Scorpia much at all and definitely did not see her in a romantic light. But I have a theory on why that changed. 

For much of her life, I think the Horde taught Catra to associate love with blind loyalty and submission. Now, she is starting to question this belief. She thought Adora loved her, but Adora ended up being disloyal. She thought she could earn Shadow Weaver’s love by submitting to her, but Shadow Weaver continues to prove her wrong. So what is love, exactly? What is an expression of love? Catra’s not sure anymore.

When Scorpia defies Catra’s orders in 2x05--she destroys the First Ones disc, lets Adora escape, fucks up Catra’s plan--Catra is completely thrown. In the animation alone, you can see they’re trying to convey that Catra is seeing Scorpia in a way she never has before.

It’s precisely because Scorpia defied her and chose not to blindly submit to her, that Catra is still alive. It’s the first time that Scorpia went against Catra’s wishes in a big way. And I think this moment shook Catra to her core because it made her question what love is truly about. Like maybe Scorpia understands something that she doesn’t.

We see this again in episode 2x07, where she’s stressed out about Shadow Weaver and yelling at Scorpia to just obey her orders but Scorpia isn’t having it. And in that we see a special trust developing between them. Even when Catra’s being a dick to her, denying that they’re friends, saying things like “get used to not getting what you want in life...” Scorpia stays by her side and refuses to be discouraged. and I think that really is something that’s going to leave a huge impact on Catra. Scorpia is no longer just a tool for Catra to manipulate--she has come to seriously rely on her without realizing it.

Still, Catra doesn’t seem quite capable of understanding what a beautiful friend she has in Scorpia. and I’m afraid (predicting) that she might take it too far one day, and figure out the hard way exactly how much she had to lose. But that tragedy may also turn out to be her saving grace ✨

congrats if u read this whole thing lmao id love to hear your thoughts/criticism on it!! i was gonna discuss catradora too but actually i think that should be a separate meta so..... yeet .

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 118 Poll Results

The chapter 118  poll closed with 1,311 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated.

Rate the Chapter 1,217 responses

“Sneak Attack” is the second highest rated chapter this year with only 1.2% expressing extreme unhappiness with the chapter.  The overwhelming majority (93.7%) rated it a 4 or 5 on our 1-5 scale.

A chapter I finally enjoyed with a lot of developments other than just Titan bashing. It would've been perfect if we also got some answers about Levi/Hange and Historia but well we can't have everything I suppose.

Finally got some great character development that is amazing payoff after all these years! The Shiganshina vets, Paradis Commanders, and Marley crew all had great moments!

Impressive how so many of the many many plotlines in the air were allowed some great development in just one, insane chapter.

I loved this chapter. I feel like shingeki is really at it's best when we have character moments and plenty of dialogue.

the chapter was too wholesome, I'm scared for next chapter

Which of the following was your favorite moment? 1,263 responses

“Mikasa leaving her scarf behind” has the slight majority, but only a few percentage points separate the top  choices. “Falco’s confession” and “Armin rallying everyone to Eren’s side” follow in second and third.

Mikasa is best girl, she is no ones slave ! I just need ch 119 now!

Go Go Mikasa!!!

I'm so into Armin having some kind of game plan and Mikasa moving forward.

I love this chapter. It was an action chapter but damn there were so many touching, human moments it made me so emotional. Connie outburst about being constantly betrayed (pls give this boy a break, he lost so much), Mikasa leaving the scarf behind, Nile helping Falco and speaking about his daughters, Grice bros reunion hug, FALCO'S CONFESSION, Zeke and Pieck still caring about each other.....

I'm so glad to see I was right about Onyankopon lying to Yelena because he had no other choice and still be loyal to the 104th and Hanji!!!

Well, better late than never; I am truly happy to see Mikasa’s development, being more independent.

WOW JEAN MY SON YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE

Who was this chapter’s MVP? 1,245 responses

Armin managed to claim the title of MVP this chapter, and it’s no wonder. Not only did he show some much-needed optimism regarding Eren’s current state, but he also chose to believe in Onyankopon’s sincerity regarding his lack of any awareness of the wine plot.

Honorable mention to Nile, who doesn’t show up in these polls often - but when he does he makes sure to give Armin a worthy adversary for the title of MVP. Best dad? Best dad.

A little insulted Yelena isn't an option for MVP, she is literally the ONLY interesting character this chapter

I believe in Armin. He is the understanding character who's really trying to understand things about Eren.

I believe in his statement that Eren's hatred towards Mikasa is a lie.

I love Jean. He is surely honest that he can't let Eren die and is willing to help.

Finally Armin puts it together for everyone

I'd say everybody was the MVP in this chapter: Onyan for being honest with AMJC Jean radiating bi energy towards Eren Mikasa for dropping her scarf Connie for being done with betrayal Nile for being a family man Pixis for admitting he drank too much Falco for confessing to Gabi Gabi for letting go of her prejudice AND OF FUCKING COURSE GENERAL MAGATH AND PIECK FOR MAKING THEIR MONKEY HUNT SUCCESSFUL HAHAHAHAHAHA

How dare you not have Yelena in the options for MVP! LOL but seriously woman is batshit crazy, u guys should have a "who did better" question comparing her psycho face with Armin's and Jean.

Nile deserves to live and see his family

Each of the commanding officers had a big moment. Whose did you enjoy the most? 1,252 responses

Nile may have only come in second place for MVP of the chapter, but most (64.5%) respondents thought that he had the best moment of any commander who made an appearance this time - taking care of Falco and helping to reunite him with his family. Pixis was a distant-runner up (17.3%), with Magath and Shadis nearly tied for third place with about 9% of the vote each.

Nile is best dad

Magath’s shot might have been my favorite moment if he hadn’t missed. >.<

I'd fight a bear just to save Shadis :((((

Seriously though, who is Shadis trying to impress?

This is gonna be long but OOF I cannot express enough how much I loved the little Shadis panel. Bless him.

Has Armin convinced Yelena of his loyalty to her cause? 1,264 responses

Armin seems to be acting like he’s on Yelena’s side once again, and her first reaction to his comments was visceral to say the least, but then she seemed to warm up.  57.9% of you think she’s rebutted acting with acting and is only pretending to give Armin her blessing, whereas only 15.4% think Armin’s Oscar worthy performance won her over.  26.7% don’t have a clue about what this crazy girl is thinking.

Yelena and Armin are both playing each other.

Yelena is CRACKERS and I love her.

Yelena isn't suspicious of Armin, just yandere levels of jealous that he will get to see the Jaeger on Jaeger action up close and personal

Yelena is so out of her mind it actually makes me think if there's something more to her?

Yelena gave me nightmares tho.

Yelena's crazy face scared the shit out of me.

yelena looks like she eats the gum underneath desks

Would knowing Falco drank spinal fluid deter Zeke from screaming? 1,263 responses

Well… 8% of the people who took this poll have a level of optimism that is truly admirable. The other 92% have far less trust in Zeke’s compassion and empathy, most leaning towards the “Hell no” category - that Falco’s wine ingestion wouldn’t even be a consideration if it came to it. Press F for Falco.

After he’s told Falco has ingested his spinal fluid. He’ll give a cold look and say “ah... I see. *inhale* YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

When he learns about Falco's confession and screams because he doesn't want any Grice-Braun baby on his watch

I scream, you scream, we all scream for- Oh shoot Falco's a titan

Zeke screams when Zeke wants to

Do you think Nile will live to see his family again? 1,262 responses

Commander Nile Dok is one of the many citizens to have ingested the spinal fluid wine.  If they get transformed into titans, Nile would never get to see his wife Marie and their daughters again.  62.3% of you think he won’t reunite with them, while only 14.2% think he’ll see them again.  23.5% don’t know what they think his fate will be.

Nile deserves to live and see his family

Well, at least Nile and Pixis are goners for sure, but I still think that even if they are titanized, it isn't necessarily their end, because the power of the founder can be used to change the molecular structure of Titans, so if they don't die immediately Eren theoretically could turn them back into humans

please let nile see his family he's so underrated and he deserves it thank you mr. isayama

Which character’s feelings toward Eren best align with your own? 1,257 responses

Close to half the fandom agree with Armin that Eren is only doing this because he has no choice. In second place, almost a third agree with Jean’s “He’s a bastard but he’s cool.” The remaining ¼ of the fandom are divided between Mr. Braus (“Can we just head on home yet”) and Connie’s “I’m sick of being betrayed.”

Connie's anger is valid (fuck Eren)

Jean is out of character for part of it and I really hope that Armin has a secret plan to subdue Eren/at least get angry at Eren for all the shit he's put them through. Connie's right; Eren has been completely shitty and betrayed them even if he does it because he thinks he's saving them or something.

I'm glad Connie hasn't lost his ability to speak his mind, and is sick and tired of everyone's shit.

Armin wonders if Eren will use the rumbling to wipe out the world. What do you think? 1,249 responses

In this chapter, Armin thought back to Eren’s monologue at the ocean about killing everyone in the outside world. 56.2% of you don’t think that’s Eren’s goal at the moment, but that he would be willing to do it if push came to rumble. 20.1% think his end goal is in fact to flatten the earth, whereas 15.8% don’t believe Eren would ever do that in 2000 years.

ern got sneky plan up his slev

I think Eren intends to use the rumbling to destroy the world, but have confidence that Armin will be able to show him it's not the only way

Isayama has been making it so its not clear one way or the other. There are arguments for and against all of the options. I am waiting for a different plan altogether, but I would be fine with either way really.  

Eren himself will never do that. But if he is influenced by the memories of so many Attack Titan holders and the will to always move forward and fight, he probably will.

Eren will use the rumbling to deter the world, not destroy it unless he has to.

He'll use it but for a purpose we don't know about yet. Possibly a way related to the S1 miner story and the walls going deeper underground.

I think that Eren's ideology of being born into this world as a free person is something that isn't just applied to Eldians.  We know that Eren learned that those across the ocean are the same as those behind the walls.  Despite the hatred that parts of the world may have, I don't think Eren wants to take away the freedom of those who never knew any better.

The slight pause in Armin's expression seems to tell me there's more to what he's thinking! Not just rumbling  

I imagine we'll follow the time-loop theory and Eren will use the rumbling to rewrite (and rewind) the world to be one without any existence or recollection of titans. Or some weird shit like that.

Eren will turn all Eldian women into anime cat girls. That’s what I would do.

Do you think Armin is being genuine in his optimism about Eren? 1,248 responses

With all of the opinions on Eren floating around at the moment, Armin tries to convince the others that their friend isn’t on the side of evil.  The majority, at about 60% believe that Armin’s not positive of what he’s saying, but is trying to be optimistic.  32.5% think Armin truly believes Eren’s had no choice in what side he’s on.   Only 6.2% think Armin’s lying and tricking Yelena in that way.

He is being naive and basing his thoughts on his own perception of Eren. Or, he knows that Eren is up to something but needs to convince the others to work with Eren.

I think he’s pretending to support Eren to trick both the 104th and Yelena. The emotion he had after Eren hurt Mikasa was real,  no way he’s just over that. But I think it stands true that without Eren, Pradise’s fight would be lost. After everything that happened, though, why would the 104th want to help Eren? Thus Armin knew he would have to manipulate them (and Yelena, for other reasons) for the greater good in the end.

I'm not sure. He wasn't against feeding Eren to someone else if he rejected the SC and now he seems to stand behind him? I think he wants to play along until he knows the truth for sure.

He's deluding himself. He knows Eren is going to destroy the world but doesn't want to believe it.

Yes I believe so. Armin felt like he did not understand Eren anymore because his actions didn’t make sense. That was until Yelena expelled their plan to him in prison. I think that was the missing piece that solved Armin’s puzzle. He may not be certain about the exact plan Eren has but he has enough to go on that Eren would never agree to euthanise people.

I don't think he fully trusts Eren, but he knows that right now, whatever plan Eren has, keeping him alive will be best for Paradise's side. I think he definitely wants to see the good in Eren, but he also realises there might be darker motives in him, though he won't tell the others that in order to rally them properly.

He’s half trying to convince others that Eren is a liar, and half trying to convince himself. Armin just wants to understand, and I relate him.

*clenches fist* A C T I N G

Mikasa is leaving her scarf behind as she heads out for battle. How do you feel about that? 1,251 responses

The scarf coming off is a big moment for Mikasa, and most of us (59.7%) are optimistic that this is the beginning of some great development for her. For others (17.5%) the heartache is just too real. There was quite a bit of hopefulness in the write ins though!

MIKASAAAAAA <3 ok but... she's asking all the right questions!! putting away the scarf!!! thats my baby!!!

I was really excited about the scarf choice! I am not so much a fan of people misinterpreting what the scarf means though... Take a shot everytime you see someone say 'finally some development for mikasa'."

It keeps pushing along the development she has been receiving since the Time Skip. After her conversation with Eren, she more than likely associates it with the Ackerman Bond.  Her going out without is a statement that she's truly doing things by own will. Will it be the last time she wears it? I don't think so.

The scarf is her sanctuary and her cage. Leaving it behind is bittersweet and I think the next time she wears it (if she does so) it'll symbolize something totally new.

I want to see Eren's reaction to noticing Mikasa without her scarf

I'm glad that Mikasa decided to leave the scarf behind. She needs to live her life and become strong, independent, smart, mature woman. Being attached to Eren was only stopping her from her own growth. It doesn't matter if Eren was honest while saying about hating her. Mikasa is now opening her eyes and I hope that she will keep moving forward.

Mikasa removing her scarf leads into a perfect segway for Eren wrapping it around her again, as he promised in chapter 50. So I am actually quite excited for that as an Eremika fan, rather than worried.

Chekhov's scarf incoming.

I am more concerned about whatever the hell's going on inside Louise's head as she stares at that scarf.

Louise will take it for one reason or another.

The Marleyan's have new anti-titan rifles. Who will they be used on first? 1,239 responses

The anti-titan guns will no doubt be useful fighting the shifters but a slight majority of the fandom (36.7%) thinks the wine drinkers will be the first victims. 36.4% think they’ll be targeting one of the shifters first.

It’s taken 27 chapters, but Gabi has finally realized the people of Paradis are not devils. How do you feel about her character development? 1,257 responses

Gabi’s been in the story for quite a while now, and has finally come around to the idea that not all the walldians are evil devils.  Despite criticism of Gabi being a common sight, the majority of fans, at 37.8%, loved her development and are excited to see what she does next.  27.1% weren’t fans at first but have enjoyed her development, and 23.2% still don’t love her but she’s grown on them. Only 11.9% haven’t enjoyed anything Gabi’s had to offer the narrative.

Feeling validated in my love for Gabi, I'm so glad she finally reached this realisation!!

Granted, Gabi isn't nearly as bad as she was when she started, but her realization came way too late for me to feel anything for her. The damage at this point is already done, so I can't feel anything but complete disdain for her and could care less whether she lives or dies (though it seems like even now a lot of people are still rooting for the latter)

Gabi is best girl.

As expected from Gabi, so obvious and predictible "development " she is the proof that isayama isnt god, becouse everyone do mistakes. Worst manga character

I loved Gabi’s character development. I hope that she’ll do something useful in the next chapters.

I couldn't possibly care less about Gabi's "development". My interest/investment in this series died when Gabi killed Sasha and Isayama started painting the SC as "the bad guys". I didn't sign on for this BS.

I'm glad that Gabi had her moment of realization. It's easy to forget that she's just a child, brought up to believe certain things, and it's coming to that realization that matters the most.

Loved gabi’s character development so so much which i was waiting for. I’d call this chap kind of a heartwarming one in many ways. can’t wait for ch119.

How cute was Falco’s confession? 1,251 responses

In the midst of battle, Falco confesses his feelings to the girl of his dreams, one Gabi Braun.  Over half of you (52.1%) gave this confession a 5/5 on the cuteness scale.  25.6% rated 4 cute blushes out of 5, 14.1% were right in the middle at 3, and only 8.3% rated it negatively.

Falco is so pure.... WHAT A GOOD BOY.

Gabi and Falco's scene this chapter really hit me. So much beauty and heart. I feel like the story would miss something without them, aside from their relevance to the plot.

The Gabi-Falco moment wasn't that important to me since I literally just don't feel any particular attachment to the characters, but it WAS important to the story and it needed it happen.

Falco's confession was too cute and pure... oh my god I AM WEAK FOR YOUNG LOVE.

I loved Falco's confession and how him and Gabi were staring at each other at the end of the chapter. They were just so fucking cute.

Wow, for once I found myself having fun with this chapter instead of stressing out. Also, I DIED when Falco confessed to Gabi, that was the cutest scene I've witnessed since 108 and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday chapter. Thanks, Isayama!

Gabi and Falco are getting too much attention but their moments were cute nonetheless.

Falco is sooo cute! Loved that confession scene.

IM OFFICIALLY A GABI STAN, FALCO IS A CUTIE

Is there a chance Falco and Gabi will get married and live happily ever after? 1,260 responses

In a series as upbeat and cheerful as this, a happy ending for a young couple is certain!  Right?  RIGHT? 45.2% know the series they’re reading and are bracing for the worst form Isayama, and another 36.6% doubt it will end up all rainbows and smiles for this blossoming romance. 14.8% are holding out hope that it’s possible, and only 3.3% don’t think those little snots deserve a shot at happiness.

As cute as Falco's confession was, how is he going to marry Gabi and give her a happy life if he's going to inherit the Armored and then die in 13 years anyway?

Falco's confession was like a drop of purity and innocence in this cruel world. I wish they could live happily. That would be beginning of something new and hopeful.

Now when I say "they don't deserve a happy ending", I'm really just referring to Gabi. Falco deserves nothing but the best.

I'm also glad Gabi is finally awake, idk how I feel about Falco being some weird scapegoat shield foil for her (taking the hits every single time she gets herself into trouble), but I don't think her character development has peaked yet. She's too much of a parallel to Eren to be done already.

Bless Falco, he is just too pure for this cruel world... or maybe he is just what this cruel world needs.

Romances never end well in this series but somehow I hope that this one can come to fruition. I’ll be hurt if Falco actually dies. Maybe that’s what it means to suffer as a braun.

Can't wait for next chapter. PROTECT FALCO, COLT AND GABI AT ALL COST.

When will Zeke scream? 1,246 responses

A solid 35% of the fandom believe Zeke will only scream if he’s totally cornered by enemy troops. Following behind that at 26.4%, respondents feel that he will be doing it immediately in the next chapter. 20.5% think it will happen if and when he is torn out of his titan by an enemy soldier. A small sliver of respondents don’t think it will actually happen.

As soon as he steps on that Lego

Once he notices the people with balck arm bands who are gathered in the front line as pixis ordered, it will be his only salvation... again.

Depends on how bad the interference gets between him and Eren. He panics whenever things don’t go his way and that would be enough of a distraction to reach Eren. Although once they titanise they will also try to eat any surrounding shifters excluding Eren because of Zeke’s influence. It’s a reliable last resort for him.

If Eren gets to him and does his own plan. Once Zeke realizes Eren didn't uphold to the euthanasia plan, he'll scream

The only way he won’t scream is if Armin transforms and turns the tide of the battle. It seems that Zeke is only going to scream as a last resort, but if the battle doesn’t shift back in his favor soon, then he will for sure. I think it’s on Armin at this point.

Not if Eren has a say in it. For all he knows the 104th are still in the building, along with anyone infected that he cares about. If Zeke tries to scream, I feel that Eren will somehow stop him.

Will the Rumbling be activated in this battle? 1,244 responses

66.6% of respondents (is this an omen?) feel that we will at least see a partial rumbling during this battle. 23.4% feel solid about Eren not activated it at all, and the remaining 10% of respondents feel sure that Eren is going to unleash the big guns.

Destroying the world would be too simple. Eren might try to use the wake up call and make people to see that everyone is the same.

I'm still unsure whether this battle will lead to a full or partial rumbling. There are characters who are still missing the call: Kiyomi, Historia, Hitch, Annie…

I don't think Eren is going to activate the rumbling when he touches Zeke. I think he has something else up his sleeve.

Is it wrong that I WANT the Yeagerbros to use the Rumbling? It will basically wipe out the rest of the outside world that has done nothing but persecute Eldians and try to exterminate the protagonists. I see nothing wrong with this 'genocide' plan of theirs.

Eren using the rumbling to destroy the rest of the world makes no sense, especially after what he told Reiner and the fact that it’s what everyone assumes he wants to do.

Zeke is now close enough to titanize those infected by the wine. Do you think he'll do it? 1,251 responses

Reflective of the earlier question about when Zeke will scream (we may not have realized we got a little redundant, oops!), the majority of the fandom believe that Zeke will definitely titanize the wine infected Eldians in the area. A small 11% have faith that he won’t do it.

Zeke stop being such a retard already and let's get to the good stuff! The rumbling the scream! Come on dude!

I both want Zeke to scream for cool storytelling but I don’t because I love the people who would be affected

Zeke screaming is too predictable, same with falco becoming a titan shifter, I will be a little disappointed if isayama does that

Is this the final battle? 1,252 responses

While a third feel that this is climactic enough to constitute the finale, a clear majority (68.1%) feel certain that there is still more to come after this battle

This can’t be the final arc because it doesn’t really feel like the strongest arc. Isayama would make the final arc amazing

We're in the endgame now

If this is really the final battle I worry it'll be rushed. Mikasa only just started her development to "get free" from Eren and Armin still hasn't lived up to Erwin's legacy. Then there's Hange and Levi, who I still hope to see in action again. Same for Annie. If we don't get to see female titan in action one last time, I'll be disappointed. Not sure how can that happen, since she's still back in Wall Sheena (and I hoped Armin would see her wake up), but please...

Prediction time! Death flags are everywhere, who do you think will die in this battle?

Unlike the other groups in this section of the poll, a few hundred people chose not to make any selections for the Survey Corps, expressing confidence that they will all survive this battle.

When we look at combined results, the death flags are waving most prominently for Floch (741 votes), the senior military (650), Reiner (598), Connie (594), Porco (588), and Yelena (583).

Senior Military 1,196 responses

When Nile waved goodbye at Falco, it wasn't just meant for him. It was also meant for us. This chapter really felt like this is the last we will see of Nile as a human. The next time we see him, he will be a Titan for sure.

My heart breaks for Keith. He also drank from the wine, so he´s a goner? What do you guys think?

Survey Corps 916 responses

As much as I love Jean, it really hurts  me that I chose him and Connie as the next characters in the Survey Corps that will die, because it feels like they will.  I really hope I'm wrong.

Connie will die soon, mark my words.

I didn't really catch any death flags for the survey corps? Maybe hange or levi but that's it

Jaegerists/Volunteer 1,133 responses

if floch dies next chapter many extremely manly tears may be shed for that lovable nutter

Can Zeke just die? It's been 3 times he survived from death. It makes it predictable

I don't want Zeke to die, I don't want Zeke to be betrayed by Eren. Eren, please... My heart is breaking.

Marleyans 1,150 responses

I have huge soft spots for both Nile and Falco and am in denial about their eventual fate :(

pieck must never die

I hope Reiner doesn't join Berthold just yet

reiner must die

It’s really great seeing Pieck get more spotlight, now all I need is her last name, and I can accept her probable death

If my boi Reiner were to die I'd drop the manga

Which titan power do you think Falco will inherit? 1,204 responses

Will all of Falco’s warrior training pay off now that he’s in a situation where he might become a titan?  The most popular option at 55.4% is that he’ll inherit Reiner’s armored titan.  26.7% don’t think he’ll end up becoming a shifter at all. The Jaw and Beast were the next most popular choices, at 7.9% and 6.9% respectively.

The stage is set for Falco to inherit Reiner's titan.

I know the prevailing theory is that Falco will eat Reiner and get his power (and it'll probably happen too) but something about letting a kid inherit Ymir's curse all over again doesn't quite sit right with me. Like what Eren said: Falcon deserves a long life too. But I guess it's better than being titanized by Zeke's scream and shot by one of those guns.

No Colossus option? C'mon.

What would you most like to see next chapter? 1,219 responses

Levi and Hange top the wish list with just over one fourth of the fandom (21.7%) hoping for an update on their condition. Eren and Zeke touching is second (17.6%) and Eren noticing his friends in the fray is third (16.2%).

Annie will reappear, DRINKS ON ME

I fucking hope Eren and Zeke touch bc damn this chapter seemed to be so short and we’ve been eating for so long.

Glad to see Jean mentioning Levi & Hange, makes me expect (and fear) that they will be included in the next chapter.

Hange and Levi plz

I hope we can get a glimpse of Eren's thought. I need his perspective more, more than anyone else's. And last but not least, Levi's condition.

I'm excited to see the gang join the battle

I'm genuinely at a point where this whole 'mystery MC motives' thing is making me want to drop the series for a while. Please just rip the bandaid off if Eren is going to be a legit ~villain~ or whatever, stop dragging this out for so long.

With this being the last chapter of the current volume now would be a perfect time to check in on levi and hange's conditions and perhaps could pace the way for some good angsty chapters that eventually lead to them two coming into this battle with a brilliant game changing fighting strategy (maybe some hange backstory too if we are lucky enough like cmon its the final arc and hanges the only main cast that hasnt had any hint of a background)

Eren and Zeke touching lol phrasing

At this point, around which chapter do expect the manga will conclude? 1,163 responses

Not a whole lot has changed here since last month, but we had a slight increase in the percentage of respondents that think 130 or 134 will be the final chapter of the manga. The percentage of people who believe the manga will continue to chapter 138 or beyond has stayed about the same. Similarly, the people who think the manga will end at chapter 122 or 126 are hanging in there - and it doesn’t seem like they have been convinced otherwise.

Where do you primarily discuss the series? 1,141 responses

While Reddit and Tumblr hold steady, Facebook has been making tiny gains in recent months. Thank you again to everyone who participated, regardless of what platform you are on! If you are on an underrepresented platform, please feel free to share the poll there.

Additional thoughts on the chapter?

Some of you have never been brainwashed by an evil regime and it shows.

I ache for Nile, we misjudged him, he is such a sweetheart with his three little girls! <3 I have a bad feeling he'll die, but I really, really hope he survives this, because from *his* original trio, he's the only one left. Mike and Erwin are gone. :(

A lot of people think Armin only function in this arc is just to blow up and follow Eren's game but I think he is going to become the third option in this conflict, as soon he confirms his fears about Eren true intentions with rumbling.

As for the titan serum wine victims, maybe they won't be affected if they don't hear Zeke's scream if they cover their ears hard enough

AVENGE YOUR SISTER, KAYA! DESTROY THE HATED ONE!

Eren is a shit. Who puts his friends and family of dead friend into a prison together with potential titans? If someone from Sasha's family dies because they were locked in Shingashina, Eren will be officially the worst person ever and I will root for his terrible and painful death.

Eren looked so pretty in that last panel

EREN PLEASE- DO SOMETHING. SAVE THE KIDDOS.

Finally the story is starting to progress again after months of nothing really happening that builds the story. Finally we are getting answers without getting anymore questions. This is a lot less infuriating than previous chapters have been.

i feel like there is going to be a lot of deaths tho since we are in for a large scale battle, mainly with all the people that consumed the wine.  but i still think  Hizuru will come into play here and in a dangerous way.  

I just hope a happy ending for everyone (or most of them) but knowing isayama, I will read happy endings only in fanfiction

I like Gabi now

I hope Mikasa realizes she’s NOT a slave and Eren’s Ackerman talk was bullshit. Ackermans are the most free ppl in this series

I wish for Eren not to turn like a villain, I want him to keep his same goals from the very beginning and save his friends, the Eldians, and unite them with Marley all together. I hope he can team up with Reiner and defeat Zeke. Most of all, I would like Mikasa to break her bonds she has with Eren and live for herself. And for Armin, to free Annie with the help of the Survey Corps and Reiner with Porco together so that Annie could fight on the right side for once, then return home peacefully.

If Armin isn't lying I'll eat one (1) entire issue of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine.

It didn’t focus as much on the fights as last time, focusing more on how the characters are being affected by the fight

It was amazing and it felt a bit more hopeful than the other chapters. But since it is supposed to be the last arc, something big will happen for sure and i am not ready XD!

Mikasa does not wear the protective shields. Foreshadowing? My Eekstinct tells me she is going to be injured in this battle and then Kiyomi makes a move that shock everyone, drags Mikasa away and keeps her promise of protecting her.    And then Hizuru arc begins EEEEEEEEK

Needs more Annie and Historia but still a 10/10. Should be 11/10 though.

One of the greatest cliffhangers ever. It created such a conflicting feeling in me. If Zeke doesn't die asap, he is going to scream. If he does, Eren won't be able to activate the rumbling to defeat Marley. It's two terrible results.

People could use some pointers from Yelena and stop looking at Eren as this messiah-like figure who is here to bring world peace or balance or any of that stuff. Eren doesn't fight for the world, he never did. He fights for the freedom of him and his people and if flattening the earth gets him that then so be it. After all, he will keep moving forward, until his enemies are destroyed.

Probably my favorite chapter out of the last year! I thought it was going to be more action heavy but there were so many touching character moments and I absolutely loved it for taking its time to touch on almost everyone

This is like the 4th time in 5 chapters that Zeke is on the brink of death and my poor heart can only take so much ;-;

Unpopular Opinion (don't kill me), I feel that Pieck is such a Mary Sue.  I get that she is highly skilled among the Warriors, but she has seriously only had one "mistake" since her introduction (Panzer Unit explosion).  Other Warriors such as Reiner, Bortolo Colon, even Zeke have suffered multiple beat downs throughout the story.  I just want her to not feel as invincible at times, as it seems she's always one step ahead.

We’ve heard little to nothing about Eren’s philosophy and state of mind since after the time jump (and even after the RTS arc ended), I think we’re in for some info soon enough

Yelena is the representation of all the creepy fangirls who just wanna protecc their otp change my mind

Well, if I wasn't right about anything else, I was right in that shit has completely gone down. Probably one of my favorite chapters in the whole manga.

With so many airships this month cant we just rename Attack on Titan to Attack on Airships ? :D

[dndplus]

In-Depth: Villains, Part 2

Again, if you’re hear to learn about making a villain for your adventure/campaign and you’re a newer, less experienced DM, I highly recommend you look at my posts titled ‘Getting Started’ first, specifically the ones about making an adventure.

They can be found here:

Getting Started: Making An Adventure, Part 1 Getting Started: Making An Adventure, Part 2

If you’re here and have not looked into Part 1 of my In-Depth on Villains, it can be found here:

In-Depth: Villains, Part 1

Hello again!

We’re picking up right where we left off with the steps I laid out in Part 1.  They are:

Motive, Station, Mentality, Ability (Essentially, all of Part 1)

Introducing the Villain to Your Party (We’ll start here)

The Villain’s Lackeys

Evolution

The Hill They Die On

Most of the actual “Creating” happened in part 1 with identifying a villain’s MSMA.  This is only a small part of a villain, though.  Having a good one made does little if they way they’re presented and used isn’t also done appropriately.  For some, simply being a menacing figure is at the end of your dungeon is enough.  That said, you can’t simply having one basic, menacing figure after the next over a twenty level campaign, can you?

Introducing the Villain to Your Party

This is important, make no mistake.  When the party first meets the villain is just as important as when they kill it (assuming the villain doesn’t win, of course).

There are several things to consider when you introduce the villain, but the MSMA of that villain go a long way in helping you determine the details.  Here’s a few basic introductions to start:

1. The Guy At the End

This is the most basic of all introductions.  Essentially, an NPC in need of help will describe the villain to the players, and the players will run into them at the end of their dungeon and fight to the death.  Believe it or not, as basic as this is, it can be compelling even for a campaign’s BBEG.  

I recall a specific example here of an Aboleth who worked so secretly that discovering his name was an event of enormous importance in the campaign.  He was never seen (or interacted with) until the very final confrontation.  Rather, the players dealt with a legion of spies (in the form of Deep Scions) that acted as the main source of their player-to-villain interaction.

For simpler villains, you really can just stick them at the end of the dungeon and call it a day.  The scale may go up as your players increase in level, such as in who gives them the task, and what they’re there to accomplish, but at the end of the day there’s always room for a simple “they’re the guy at the end” situation.

2. The Power That Be

A powerful politician.  A corrupt member of the military or guard.  The ruler of an evil kingdom.  This villain is best introduced to the players through their importance to the region, without any mention to the fact that they’re to be an enemy in the future.  This builds precedence, and creates drama when their involvement becomes that revelation to really kick things off down the line.  It fits will with the noble-as-a-thief trope I went into detail on in Part 1.

In some cases, this villain meets with the players directly before the two groups turn adversarial.  They could be someone the players report their heroic deeds to, and are thus congratulated and even rewarded.  They could be a person of importance they bump elbows with while at a gathering for the rich and powerful, whether it be for something completely unrelated or not.  Regardless of what you do, when this chance meeting happens, I advise finding a way to show the villain isn’t entirely genuine.  This could be as blunt as them being mean to a servant, or dismissive of plights of people they think of as ‘beneath them’, but it can also be more subtle than them.  The villain could be trying too hard to appear kind to the players, such as by offering favors and help should the players ever need this.  This approach is particularly devious, as your players will never turn down a favor from someone who seems powerful (especially if it seems like going to them is what you intend for them to do in teh future).  In this way, you create a situation where the players learn of a plot by the villain without knowing who it is yet, and thus delivering their involvement directly to the villain themselves.

3. The Old Evil

Some villains have a history of being a villain.  They enact schemes meant to disrupt life for good folk and cause disorder wherever they go.  They may also be a great, roaming beast that’s awoken from a thousand year slumber that the players will need to assemble help against.  Regardless of your particular brand of ‘ancient, terrible evil’, you can be certain to evoke an entirely different atmosphere when you introduce this villain through a story reminiscent of the Boogey Man.

Of course, how you reach the ‘ghost story introduction’ of your villain is important as well.  Show the players the effects of the villain first, such as a village in ruins at the hands of their methods, or if the villain isn’t meant to pay off until much later, put the players IN the event that terrorizes a village/city/kingdom.

In Conclusion...

Regardless of how you choose to introduce the villain, and there are obviously more than the three I gave you to get started with, remember that your villain is unique.  Two different villains with the same introduction should play out differently, sometimes even drastically so.  A cocky, arrogant noble is going to be blithely charismatic, whereas a cold, uncaring sociopath who cares nothing for his people will likewise be a stalwart and serious individual.

The Villain’s Lackeys

This applies to every villain, even ones without ‘actual’ lackeys.  I know that may seem strange, but we’ll get that particular type of villain in a moment...

For starters, consult your villain’s MSMA.  Their station as a crime lord is going to put the criminal element front and center as far as lackeys is concerned.  In contrast, a warlock may have deep sea monstrosities, wicked fae, or terrible fiends at their disposal.  A crime lord who’s also a warlock might have both.  

How do you handle that situation, though?  Typically, the beings of a patron’s background (in the case of a warlock) are of a higher power level than commonplace thugs.  In this scenario, your crime boss might employ a wide variety of thugs, bandits, and the like, and have a single, somewhat powerful fiend/fey/eldritch horror as a sort of ‘mid-boss’ to the adventure.

Some villains don’t really have minions, but may live in places that are simply fraught with danger.  A Behir lives in a secluded cave, one that’s particularly hard to reach, and could have any arrangement mountain monsters between the players and itself.  This could be a contingent of trolls, or a group of stone giants.  It’s important to understand these aren’t true lackeys, of course.  In the instance of a villain like this, the players will be able to sneak by whatever stands between them and their intended target, which can drastically alter the course and pacing of an adventure.

More significant villains are going to employ a greater variety of minions, including other villains!  Keep this in mind when you have two greater villains operating in a similar realm, as a ‘mid-boss’ type, lesser villain can be the thread that ties the two together.

Other villains have far less complicated lackey situations, but ones that should still be heavily considered.  Liches and necromancers, for instance, will employ the undead.  It’s important to know a lot about undead minions when you select what they command, though.  Some liches may have apprentices who weren’t quite up to the task of achieving lichdom themselves, which would create a Boneclaw.  Other liches might have a Cadaver Collector employed, which suggests that they are mechanically inclined, a fact that can be reflected in their lair and the traps they employ later.  Finally, a particularly sadistic and wicked lich may be host to a Devourer, suggesting a connection to the Demon Lord of Undeath Orcus himself!  

A villain’s lackeys tell a story about the villain themselves, as well as what they do and what they might become.  In that vein, we move on to...

Evolution

This section will be short, but it’s important.  It does not apply to minor villains, as they are meant to come and go in a short period of time.  Moderate and major villains, however, can be the focus of multiple adventures.  Their schemes, as well as their defeats, can shape how they present in the later segments of an adventure.

A villain who succeeds in stealing a powerful object may acquire new abilities, or perhaps that same villain kidnaps a renowned tinker and adds mechanical wonders to its list of lackeys.  

On the contrary, a villain who is defeated may set itself up to better counter the players’ own abilities, or retreat to a place where it is more powerful.

This can happen in reverse, as well.  Players may simply find a villain becomes more nuanced and dangerous as they grow closer.  The tactics used to achieve victory may prove less effective as time goes on, or they could reach a point where they need to evolve by finding outside help.

Whatever the case, always be mindful of how the successes and failures of your villain are going to shape their actions.  It keeps things from becoming stale, and empowers the notion that the players are fighting a specific character, and not just ‘whatever the DM throws at them that session’.

The Hill They Die On

Another short section, and the one we’ll conclude on.  There are scenarios where your players will kill a villain before you planned to have them die, and that’s fine.  

Applaud your players for pulling something like that off, whether it be because they were exceptionally clever, or your own inexperience made it possible.  It’s at this moment I’ll say something I may not have said yet: always be ready for the next adventure.  If your players pull off a surprise victory ahead of schedule, knowing what their next adventure is to be and letting them find their way to it will allow you time to finish the session without canceling too early.  This will then give you time to prepare assets and properly build the entirety of that next adventure.

Unexpected scenarios aside, your villain has a limit.  There is both a point in time when the villain must truly ‘lose’, and when your players will yearn for something new.  There are a few ways to do this, but what’s most important is to understand their motives.

A necromancer looking to learn about the undead will die on the hill of ‘backed into a corner with nowhere to go’.  It’s not significant, but a necromancer of that sort is not a significant villain.  A necromancer working tirelessly, maybe even selflessly, to use profane magics to resurrect a loved one will sooner die before let the players foil their plot, and that is the hill they die on.

Some villains will still try to escape after their plot is foiled, only to find they have nothing once truly beaten.  This villain may fade into obscurity, beaten but not dead, or that villain may develop a personal vendetta against the players.  That adventure finds the players as targets, with the villain pushed to their absolute limit as they attempt to assassinate the players in a murderous rage with no regard for their own well being.

Villains have an expiration date; a period of time where their involvement as the players’ main antagonist is interesting.  You can save them if you want, keep them alive to be used as a lackey to a greater villain, perhaps purely to strike at the players out of spite, but they are still no longer the main antagonist in that scenario.  

I end this post here, on this somewhat dour note, because you may feel particularly proud of a villain.  That’s great, be proud, and even keep that villain for later.  A villain in one campaign can come back in another as an undead, or a devil, or after some other grisly transformation, and when they do they’ll be interesting again.  What’s most important for now is that you say goodbye and congratulate your players when they triumph, and then get excited as you start the MSMA for the next villain they’ll love to hate.

[werewolfdays]

Drunk Jayde drabble

ok so I wrote a drunk Nadya drabble a while ago and wanted to do a Jayde version since. then I heard about a drink called “The Graveyard” and thought that it was definitely something Jayde would get hammered on so here we are!-

I watched on in exasperation as Jayde and Toby stared each other down. These two seriously acted like children sometimes. Children that were unfortunately old enough to drink alcohol. Jayde already had a whiskey before Toby challenged her to drink something that sounded like it would kill a human. I prayed that one of them would back down, but I knew they cared too much about their sibling-like rivalry to let each other off easily.

“I don’t think you can do it.” Toby taunted from behind the bar.

“Have you met me?” Jayde fired back and downed the rest of her whiskey, slamming the glass down on the bar, “Do your worst.”

“Okay.” Toby said, rubbing his hands together excitedly, “Watch this shit.”

He grabbed a pint glass and set it right in front of Jayde for a clear view. Shot after shot started filling the glass. Rum, tequila, vodka… on and on until I counted seven different types of hard alcohol. Each one made my stomach drop even further in disgust and dread and the glass wasn’t even full yet. Next, Toby grabbed a light beer and poured until there was an inch left till the rim. Last, but not least, he uncapped a dark stout beer and filled it until the liquid was nearly overflowing. It was a pint of death.

“The Graveyard!” Toby announced loud enough that some of the werewolves in the Den glanced in our direction.

Jayde reached for it and I grabbed her arm to stop her, “As a trained medical professional and your soulmate, I really have to advise that you don’t drink that.”

“Hah! See, Nadya thinks you can’t do it.” Toby said.

I held a finger up, “Oh, no, I definitely think she can do it. It’s what happens after that I’m worried about.”

“Both of you are gonna look pretty stupid when I polish this off without breaking a sweat.” Jayde said smugly.

“Babe,” I started in hopes of reasoning with her a little more, but Jayde had already raised the glass to her lips.

After a couple gulps she recoiled with a look of disgust, “Ugh, Jesus. That’s disgusting.” Then continued to drink.

I looked down at the surface of the bar and massaged my temples, muttering, “You’re not even doing this for any money…”

Thirty minutes later, Jayde was arm wrestling any and every werewolf in the Den that would accept her challenge. Toby and I watched on from the bar as Jayde shouted taunts and insults at the people that declined. To her credit, she hasn’t lost a single match yet despite having faced some seriously intimidating wolves. If I wasn’t so annoyed I would have enjoyed the show more, but Jayde was shit-faced.

I glared at Toby with the sounds of Jayde trying to start a fight in the background. “This is your fault.”

“Hey, she didn’t have to take the dare.” He pointed out.

My eyes narrowed, “When has she ever refused one of your dares?”

Toby shrugged, half-hearted guilt written on his face. “You gotta admit, it’s kinda funny.”

Looking back over, I saw Jayde squaring off with a burly looking guy that must’ve been a foot taller than her, but she didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. She raised an eyebrow at him, crooked grin tugging at the corner of her mouth as she mumbled something that I couldn’t hear from my place at the bar, poking her finger at his chest. The guy crossed his arms, growling loud enough that most of the Den heard it. That just made Jayde’s grin grow wider.

“Too bad Skye isn’t here.” Toby chuckled.

“She’d never let her live it down.” I answered, “I should probably go break that up.” Part of me was reluctant to get in the middle of that.

“You could certainly try.” He was enjoying this way too much.

Gathering my courage, I approached the scene. Jayde’s fists were clenched at her sides, eyes locked on the other werewolf. I knew she was about two seconds from clocking him. When I reached her, my hand wrapped around her wrist to get her attention.

“Hey, babe.” I used a pleasant tone, hoping it would distract her. “Why don’t we call it a day?”

Slowly, Jayde’s eyes drifted over to mine at the sound my voice. She looked torn, so I gave her my best puppy-eyed look knowing that she wouldn’t be able to say no to it. It worked. Her shoulders slackened and she gave her adversary one last good scowl before she slurred, “Sorry, fellas. Another time.”

There was a collective sound of disappointment in the Den and the wolf she was facing off with flicked his wrist at her and made a whipping noise. His buddy next to him said, “Gotta have your girlfriend come and save you, huh?”

In the blink of an eye, Jayde gave him a left-hook hard enough to drop him. There were a few surprised hoots from the small crowd accompanied by laughter. Even the big guy let out a barking chortle at his friend. “You’re damn right.” Jayde told the wolf on the ground, grabbing my hand and leading us away.

“Okay, that was… kinda hot.” I told her quietly.

Jayde put her arm around my shoulder, “Yeah, well, I gotta show off for you every once in a while.”

“Please, you would’ve done that even if I wasn’t here.” I teased.

“That’s true.” she agreed without hesitation, making me laugh.

She halted us by the bar for a second, pointing at Toby and going, “You owe me…” her brows furrowed in confusion. “Shit, I didn’t do this for anything, did I?”

“I tried to tell you that.” I scolded.

Toby added, “If it makes you feel any better, you won the bet and got to punch somebody.”

Jayde sighed. “That’s really the best a girl can hope for.”

“Alright, come on.” I said, wrapping an arm around her waist and guiding her away. “Time to sleep it off.”

When we got to our room, Jayde leaned against the wall beside the door while I fished through my pockets to find the key. She was watching me so intently that once I found it and put the key in the lock, I paused to look at her in confusion. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shrugged, “No reason. I just really love you.”

I let out a light laugh, “Yeah, I really love you too.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that.” Her words were lighthearted, but genuine.

I froze and stared at her for a few seconds. “I’m not.” I told her with enough certainty that I hoped she understood how serious I was even in her drunken state.

Jayde smiled at me, moving closer and gently cupping my face in her hands, tilting my head down so she could place her lips on my forehead. She held us there for a long moment. Being this close to her, I could smell some of the liquor mixed in with her usual scent, but it wasn’t exactly unpleasant. And the feeling of her tender kiss definitely wasn’t. I felt her take a deep breath, inhaling my scent for her own comfort.

Both of us remembered that she was drunk when she swayed heavily against me and I had to hold her waist to keep her steady. My amused exhale sounded between us and Jayde pulled back. “I know you’re not.” She said softly.

I gave her a reassuring smile, turning my attention back to the door and opening it. “Come on.”

“Do we have to go to bed?” Jayde almost sounded like a child.

“Yes.”

She grumbled at me. “You don’t want to go punch things?”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?” There was such a hopeful glint in her eye that I had to hold back laughter.

“I’m sure.”

“Ok, but what if I let you punch me?”

I blinked at her. “What makes you think I want to do that?”

“It’s fun, I promise.”

“Jayde, get in the room.” I commanded through an exasperated giggle.

“Ooh, bossy.” Jayde noted, looking me up and down. “How sexy of you.”

I laughed at her inebriated flirting. “Oh my god. Okay, I’m going to sleep. You’re welcome to stay out here if you want.”

Jayde followed me in like I knew she would. It wasn’t difficult to coax her into getting ready for bed. I could see the intoxication start to wind down and asking her nicely did the trick. Every time I told her to do something, she would obey and look at me expectantly. Soon, I caught on that she was looking to me to see if I was happy with her. So I would give her a sweet smile and a thank you as a reward, which she seemed rather pleased with.

By the time I got her into bed, she was pretty out of it. In fact, once her head hit the pillow, Jayde was out like a light. It was probably the fastest I have ever seen her fall asleep. Maybe that was why she used to drink a lot.

I brushed some of the hair out of her face, taking a second to let the tip of my finger trace a small scar on her cheek. “Sleep well.” I leaned in and planted a gentle kiss to the scar, whispering, “I love you.”

[sherlolo-land]

Okay, we’d like to go over some of our favorite parts of this post. Now, we’re not here to tell you that you absolutely have to hate Mary with every fiber of your being, because that’s an opinion for each person to decide on their own. We are just here to talk about why some of the reasoning in this particular post is laughable.

1. Right off the bat, it compares Johnlockers to the obnoxious boy in the scenario raising his voice at someone who disagrees. Lmao. We know what you guys think of Johnlockers. We don’t need to waste time proving that the hate against us is both hypocritical and blown out of proportion. For more info, simply search this blog. It’s just funny how ya’ll can never make any arguments against us without resorting to ad hominem attacks at least once. Or in this case, from the very beginning.

2. Mary’s “unforgivable sins.” The examples you give of us searching for any reasons to demonize her are…. not the best. You picked examples that made it easiest for you to say “See, look how reaching your arguments are!” You basically said we think she’s evil because she playfully teases Sherlock, tries to keep her family safe, and doesn’t reveal her identity right away. I think you know that there are much better examples to argue that Mary is not a good person, but you intentionally didn’t use them. You went for the smallest points in our argument instead and presented it like it was the core of it. To me, this shows that even you see the weakness in your own argument. And regarding Mary’s abandonment, John himself thought it was incredibly selfish of her to run off instead of working things out with him. His words, originally, not ours.

3. Mary’s smile. Now its my turn to call the argument reaching. I’d say, claiming Mary was smiling just so Magnussen wouldn’t have another pressure point on her is one interpretation you could use if you were desperately trying to make her actions in these scene less detestable. If you love Mary and want to think this to make yourself feel better about her, go right ahead. Make it your fanon. But claiming that it’s a cold, hard fact? Nope, nice try. There’s nothing in that scene to suggest that that smile was only for Magnussen. That’s your personal headcanon, and there is a difference between that and canon.

4. “A large number of people claim they hated Mary before His Last Vow…However, if she was disliked before she actually deserved that, what does it say about those fans?” It’s not a crime to dislike a character. Johnlockers are held to this ridiculous standard of not being allowed to speak a single negative word about any character (esp. a woman). Why aren’t other fans held to the same standard? Why is it okay for Sherl0llians (and sometimes Adl0ckers too) to vehemently and openly hate John with everything in their soul? They are never accused of hating someone for getting in the way of their ship or being biased in their opinions. On the flip side, how come no one is making this same argument about ppl who loved Mary? There are people who loved her right from the start, and throughout everything afterwards (the assassin reveal, the shooting, the lying, the abandonment, the belittling, the selfishness…), she remained a saint in their eyes. How is this different from someone disliking Mary from the start and holding onto that opinion no matter what?

5. “Nothing an antagonist can do to be redeemed, it seems. I don’t want to say a female antagonist, but I am thinking that (Irene Adler, for instance, is still described as a villain.)” *claps for you* Omg what an original argument to make against the big, bad misogynistic Johnlockers! I’ve never ever heard that one before! … Shucks, and here I was thinking I was reading a well-written, organized post that for once didn’t resort to calling Johnlockers sexist for no reason. And about Irene, she may not have necessarily been a villain, but she was an antagonist. She was a force working against Sherlock throughout ASiB. She worked for Moriarty. She was a adversary for him. Does that make her a horrible, evil person? No. But don’t act like it’s a crime to call her what she is. An antagonist. And chances are, if someone uses the word “villain” instead of antagonist or adversary, it’s probably just a word preference. It’s not that deep fam.

6. “It’s best, I believe, to look at the facts and try to be objective.” Okay, then let’s look at all her crimes and despicable acts that you left out of your earlier arguments. Wait… but that would tear apart the point you’re trying to make.

7. Before she shot him, she clearly warned him not to come closer and expressed her remorse. Aka: It’s okay to shoot your friend (who is offering to help you) in the chest just because they bet on you having a conscience and decided to take a step closer to you. And afterwards, it’s best to express your remorse by threatening to shoot them again when you think no one is looking.

8. “Sherlock clearly forgave her and they remained friends” See here’s the thing. We were never actually shown this. We were shown Sherlock escaping dying at her hands a second time, then John making up with her with that ominous, carefully worded, possibly double-edged “The problems of your future are my privilege.” Then Sherlock shot Cam to keep John and Mary safe (yes, John too). Then we got TAB, where Sherlock solved the mystery of a bride who shot people and envisioned John’s marriage going downhill. It was sublte, but throughout all that, there was always the very plausible possibility that there was something more going on. After all, it would’ve made a much better story than Mary trying to kill her supposed friend twice and John forgiving her, despite that decision going against all his previous character development. So yeah, it’s not a surprise (nor the viewer’s fault) for scratching their head when TST aired and Sherlock and Mary were suddenly besties. Something else to understand here re: s4: The question isn’t whether or not he forgave her. They made that pretty obvious. The question we simply have is why?? It’s not a crime to wonder about this instead of just accepting whatever the writers give us, especially when it has no consistency or sense behind it.

9. “She’s been criticised for her sass in HLV, after the shooting, when she dared not to grovel at John’s feet, begging for his forgiveness.” Ask yourself, does her little quip in HLV make you see her as a funny, quirky badass? Why? Genuinely ask yourself why. Why shouldn’t she ask his forgiveness for trying to murder his best friend in cold blood, and apologize like any semi-decent human being would have done? Why is it so “uwu cute and badass” that all she had to say about the situation were some snarky sarcastic comments? See, this is an example of Mary being able to do literally anything, and still be worshipped for it. She’s a woman and can therefore literally commit murder and its uwu so cute. I don't understand how saying “omg wow she tried to kill her friend and DARED to not apologize for it, you go girl!” is helping your argument that she’s really not so bad of a person. (It does, however, help the argument that she would have made an incredible, very interesting, and entertaining villain, so thanks for that).  

10. “Regardless of Mary’s actions and her motivations, she was bound to be hated, simply because she was in a relationship with John.” *claps again* Ohmygod wow you are so smart, I have never heard anyone say that before. Jesus, can ya’ll simply make your argument for once without resorting to calling us sexist? Or insulting our intelligence by implying that we can’t tell the difference between someone getting in the way of our ship and someone being a despicable person who should not be worshipped and praised? And it’s  funny cause i double some of ya’ll would love and stan her so much if she wasn't in a relationship with John. You guys just love being able to use that excuse. You love that she blocks Johnlock and you love her for existing to do just that. If she was just a random side character who shows up in S3, makes some snarky comments, becomes friends with them, and then tries to kill Sherlock, I doubt you guys would still feel the same about her.

11. “But when people demonise her and twist her every word to make her look like the evilest woman on earth, I have to disagree.” / “Mary is not as evil as some people think.” Listen, I agree. I don’t think every single thing she does is horrible. People can often be unfair when talking about her. Both in defending everything she does, and villainizing everything she does. I get it. But hating Mary or interpreting her as a villain is not a fucking crime. There are numerous reasons to support this reading, as you said yourself. I personally don’t see any redeeming qualities in her that make her a character worth forgiving or liking. If you want to argue that she’s not so bad of a person, go right ahead. But seriously, if you’re going to try to justify your reasoning for doing so, try to come up with some better reasons, because these are weak. As I said before, I don’t think every single thing she does is horrible. But I do think that, objectively, the bad about her far outbalances the good. Just try making a simple good/bad list of her traits and actions, weigh them fairly against each other, and tell me what conclusion you come up with. It’s really not a surprising thing (nor a crime) to dislike Mary or see her as a bad character. It’s common sense. At least that’s how I see it. But I’m just a stupid Johnlocker who is only interested in seeing dicks touch. What do I know

[kalinara]

It’s interesting to scroll back through character tags.  I found one for Stranger Things from a while ago that basically argued that “from a story perspective” Billy Hargrove should have gotten Steve Harrington’s redemption arc because it would have been interesting to see him overcome all of his obstacles in life.

It’s stuff like this that make me realize that a lot of fans don’t understand how character redemption actually works.  

There is no such thing as a redemption arc.

This is not to say that a character cannot achieve redemption.  But it’s not a matter of an “arc”.  It is not a closed off plotline that starts off with a vile human being and has him travel from point A to point B, to magically become a good person at the end, end of story.

I feel like a lot of fans treat redemption like some kind of modular attachment that they can attach to the character of their choice.  Heck, that character doesn’t even have to WANT to be redeemed, some other character like Steve, or Rey or Princess Leia can somehow DRAG them from point A to point B and it will somehow still work.

But if we look at the times when characters have genuinely redeemed themselves, it becomes apparent that redemption isn’t some sort of separate modular plot device.  It’s simply one potential aspect of character growth.

Since the post I’m vaguing about mentioned Steve Harrington, let’s look at Steve Harrington’s general story arc.  Steve starts off as a boy who is self-centered, shallow, and seemingly has very few interests outside of having fun with his friends and his girlfriend.   He is oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend has just lost her friend, and reacts in a selfish and cruel way when he thinks she’s cheating on him.  He says some truly hurtful things to both Nancy and Jonathan and allows his friends to behave badly as well.

Afterward, Steve regrets his actions and, unprovoked, decides to take steps to atone.  He makes genuine apologies, he works to repair the damage: cleaning the paint, replacing the camera.  And he also learns that there’s more going on than he thought when he helps face the demigorgon.  In season two, Steve continues to grow.  At first he tries to deny/ignore everything that happened, and then he takes proactive steps to help these weird kids.  By the end, he’s somehow a third surrogate parent.

And that’s why Billy getting Steve’s “redemption arc” is a ridiculous idea.  Because Steve didn’t really have a “redemption arc” per se.  Steve is just a character that kept developing throughout the course of the two seasons.  There’s no indication that he ever consciously said “I don’t like who I am, I want to change.”  He just gradually became a more self-aware, empathetic, considerate and altruistic person as the series continued.

This was a very organic growth that had its roots in who Steve was at the start: Steve was self-centered and shallow, but he wasn’t malicious.  He was sweet and funny to Nancy, and made her laugh.  He was friendly to Barb, and until the scene with Jonathan, we never saw him act intentionally cruel.  And therefore it was believable that he grew in a positive direction.

Let’s look at another example of a redeemed character: Prince Zuko from Avatar.  Now, unlike Steve, who was at worst an inconvenience and an obstacle, Zuko was a legitimate adversary and he’d done some nasty things to our lead characters.  Over the course of four seasons, we see how he is pulled back and forth between them, how he makes good decisions and bad.

Unlike Steve, we can pinpoint a specific time where Zuko decides that he wants to change for the better and he begins to act accordingly.  Leaving the Fire Kingdom, joining the team, earning their trust.

But I personally wouldn’t consider this a “redemption arc” either, because it really isn’t self contained.  It was a logical development from the very beginning, and we could see the roots in his confused motivations and conflicting impulses.  And we could see it in the way that Zuko generally tried to conduct himself honorably.  He was occasionally childish and angry, but he valued his uncle’s guidance.  There were lines that he wouldn’t cross.  He was never a torturer or a murderer.  He was never deliberately abusive or cruel.  Zuko’s “redemption” with the team was less about turning Zuko into a good guy and more about Zuko figuring out his own path.  His redemption was just one part of that journey.

It wouldn’t make sense to give Ozai Zuko’s story arc, because Ozai is not a child, he’s not lost, and there are definitely lines that he’s willing to cross: including hurting his own children.

So let’s look at a legitimate monster.  Someone who IS a murderer and torturer and has crossed almost every line available: Darth Vader.

This one is a bit more controversial, because, understandably, not everyone agrees with the idea that Darth Vader has done enough to redeem himself.  And certainly there’s truth to that argument...if you’re looking at it in terms of a “redemption arc.”

Vader didn’t have a redemption arc.  He made ONE non-evil choice at the end of twenty years of atrocity.  And then he died without ever having to follow up on it.

Whenever I look at Vader’s redemption, I try to do it from the perspective we would have had when it originally aired: namely what was established in the first three movies.  No slave backstory, no unhappiness with the Jedi Order.  Those were all inventions after the fact meant to help explain and expand on what happened in the original movies.  So let’s look at the original movies.

The interesting thing about Vader’s arc is that it definitely wasn’t planned from the very beginning.  So there really aren’t any roots to be seen in A New Hope, there isn’t much of anything to be seen there really.  He seems vaguely interested in Luke’s force potential,

In Empire Strikes Back, he’s different.  He goes from being vaguely interested in Luke Skywalker, to being fixated.  He stalks him, terrorizes his dreams, captures his friends, tortures them, all to bring Luke to him.  Then he makes him an offer: power and an alliance.  Ruling the galaxy together.  Luke refuses.  And then in Return of the Jedi, Luke comes to him, trying to convince his father to come back to the Light.  Vader seems more hesitant, regretful, but still gives him to the Emperor.  It is only when Luke refuses to kill him, and the Emperor is killing him, that Vader chooses to act.  And he does.  

This one act doesn’t begin to make up for Vader’s atrocities.  It doesn’t bring back the lives he’s destroyed or the people he’s killed.  And Vader never even apologizes for them.  As a redemption arc goes, well, that’s not one at all.

Vader’s choice saved Luke and it proved him right: there is “some good” left in his father.  And thanks to that choice, Anakin Skywalker was able to rejoin the Light.  But nothing is fixed.  Nothing is repaired.  And except for Luke Skywalker (and maybe Leia, in some universes), no one alive will see him as anything but a monster.

And of course, he’s dead now.  So it’s a moot point.

Vader’s choice has its roots in Empire Strikes Back, possibly even in A New Hope, if you’re willing to stretch your interpretation a little.  The contrast in Vader’s behavior between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back is the difference between a man who thought that he’d lost everything that mattered a long time ago, and a man who discovers that that’s not the case.  Vader, in Empire Strikes Back, is a man who genuinely does want a relationship with his child.  But he’s become so twisted and evil that he can’t conceive of this relationship except in terms of power, betrayal and alliance.  And because Luke won’t join him under Vader’s terms, Vader starts to very slowly be more receptive to Luke’s.  He goes from angry and forceful in ESB to weary and resigned in ROTJ.

But, he can’t make that leap until the Emperor almost kills his son.

This is the dynamic that people keep wanting to recreate with Kylo Ren.  And that doesn’t work.  Vader was a man whose character development took him from a dispassionate mechanical monster in ANH, to a very human monster in ESB, and then finally to a regretful and weary old man in ROTJ, which finally enabled him to make a choice.  

Now, Steve, Zuko and Vader aren’t the only characters with a lot of growth and development.  Billy, Ozai and Kylo have gotten their own share of development.  The problem is, so far, their development has gone too far in the opposite direction. 

Billy starts off being cruel to a child, threatening (hopefully jokingly) to run over children while creating a dangerous scenario, and escalates to the point of attempted murder.   Ozai has become even crueler and more power hungry.  And while Kylo hasn’t necessarily gotten worse (it’s hard to get worse when you START with mass murder of innocents), but by killing his father, he specifically and deliberately rejected the redemptive choice that his grandfather made.  He wants more power and is intentionally going deeper into the dark to get it.

I’m not going to say that these characters can’t ever develop in a direction to make redemption a feasible part of their story arc, but I don’t really see it as part of their current trajectory.  Sometimes villains just continue to be villains.

[irondevilpunisher]

My Punisher Review

*No Spoilers*

This is the series I’ve waited years for, ever since the 2003 film starring Thomas Jane (which I still love btw). I don’t know what it is about the Punisher’s story of a broken man out for revenge that has me so entranced, because lets face it this isn’t an original plot. Its been done many times; example Death Wish. I guess it has a lot to do with how its executed that keeps the Punisher fresh and interesting just like its titular antihero. Plus I’m a sucker for antiheroes and people just can’t get enough of this guy. So did the series do this iconic MCU character justice? Yes it did and more. However there are some issues I had with the series that I will get into but first let me talk about the highlights.

 Let me start off by talking about the acting powerhouse that is Jon Bernthal. For me he stole the show in DD2 so I didn’t expect anything less in his own standalone series. And believe me he absolutely kills it in this. He kicked ass. In my opinion Frank Castle is Jon Bernthal’s baby now and forever; he embodies that character like no other. I’ve loved Jon’s work since his Walking Dead days (despite my loathing for Shane’s character). When I heard he got cast as the Punisher for Daredevil’s 2nd season I thought “hah, I wanna see what this guys’s got” sure enough Jon blew me away with his outstanding performances and won me over indefinitely. I just did not expect to fall even more in love with this character under Jon Bernthal when I had Shane still lodged in my mind. That said entering DD2, Shane was nowhere in sight. 

He definitely had quite the load to work with but Jon seamlessly brings a near perfect blend of vulnerability, humanity and lethal infusion. What he did with the Punisher in Daredevil’s 2nd run, he takes it to the next level in the spinoff series. The layers and complexities he gives Castle are nothing short of brilliant. One minute he can make you laugh, then scared, then break your heart which isn’t an easily accomplished feat at all considering how brutal Frank can be. You wouldn’t think it watching how violently Castle exacts his own brand of justice but Jon’s portrayal for the most part comes across as oddly endearing, sympathetic, charming and even relatable. Frank is such a tortured and tragic individual. He’s just likable even when he’s not trying to be. He was a family man, a marine and a patriot to his country. Frank had problems in his marriage yet was completely in love with his wife. Struggled with ptsd which is why he had issues connecting with his family and maintaining other relationships. And he’s incredibly selfless. Frank’s torn love for his fellow soldiers and his family is actually bittersweet and very human.  

There is no one more deserving of their own series than Frank Castle. And Jon hit a grand slam with this one.

Moving onto the second highlight of the Punisher series, David Lieberman aka Micro aka Frank’s new geeky buddy/partner in crime. This guy was freaking awesome! I mean seriously I loved this character right out of the gate. He stole all his scenes. And the best part about Micro is he wasn’t just there to be the comic relief or the techy sidekick, he really humanizes the Punisher. Brings out a lighter more laid back side to Frank’s persona. The two characters just play off each other so well, Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach have such a natural instant onscreen chemistry, its actually touching. I could watch their scenes all day. I really enjoyed following and witnessing the connection between these two men deepen as they worked together throughout the series. Their relationship is without a doubt the core of this show. And Moss-Bachrach made me feel so much for Micro’s character in terms of his isolation and alienation from his family. I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing opposite to Jon’s respective Punisher. Micro is literally the best friend Castle could’ve asked for, totally has his back 100%. Such a welcoming addition to the Punisher’s brutal world. 

Frank really needed this guy to keep him balanced. Polar opposites yet they have so much in common at the same time. Its like watching the Die Hard version of the Odd Couple only better. I don’t know what’s in store for Micro next season but (not to spoil you) I just have a terrible feeling he may suffer the same fate as Frank judging by how his seasonal arc ended. I sincerely hope not but if we go by what happens in the comics you know that the Punisher/Micro are a package deal. They’re in it together all the way. 

 Other highlights include Ben Barnes as the show’s villain Billy Russo aka Jigsaw/former best friend of Frank Castle. Holy crap this guy was scary as he was sexy. The interesting theme I found in this series was human nature and how sometimes it can be catastrophic. While Frank is so open about his grief and rage. Russo is the opposite, he’s the calm before the storm. His rage is more on the inside which makes him all the more dangerous and a worthy adversary to Castle. Strangely enough I really liked this character. He doesn’t set out to be evil just doing what he feels is right. Russo harbors so much pain and anger, dealt a lousy hand in life. And Barnes kicks a hell of a lot of ass in this role. I even enjoyed his complicated romance with Dinah Madani. They had nice chemistry together and quite a few steamy scenes that were pretty ship worthy which makes their inevitable conflict that much more heart-wrenching. Although I wasn’t entirely fond of Madani in the beginning and found her many times naive when it came to Russo, Amber Rose Revah did play the part best to her ability. She also had a fascinating cat/mouse thing going on with Frank Castle and I loved her dynamic with fellow agent Sam Stein. 

Most of the supporting characters are good and compliment the show’s lead very well. The flashbacks and dreams of Frank with Maria were bittersweet and heartbreaking as they were essential. In a way Maria acts as Frank’s guardian angel and conscience. Flawless chemistry between these actors. It hurt knowing Maria and the kids were dead yet I kept wishing they weren’t every time Frank had a moment with them. I have to commend the casting decisions for the Punisher people because they really wanted actors who gelled in the limited time they had. And fortunately they did. Jon does some fantastic work involving the Frank and Maria Castle stuff, particularly in the last couple episodes of the series. 

Sarah Lieberman is a doll. I absolutely loved her character and her interaction with both Frank Castle and her husband Micro. Jaime Ray Newman is gorgeous, talented and so underrated as an actress. She’s strong as she is vulnerable and sweet. She really brought out a softer and much kinder side of Frank that was needed to keep his character grounded enough so that the Punisher wasn’t just strictly about murdering people. In fact her chemistry with Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach was an accidental surprise and really had me torn because after watching this series I proudly ship the hell out of them both. The unexpected connection that Frank develops with the Lieberman family is some of the most powerful bits of storytelling. This broken man who’d lost his own family he  in turn gains another and its some of the most simple yet entertaining parts about this show. I just really enjoyed Frank’s interaction with Sarah and the kids. And I’m looking forward to where the writers take them next season, hopefully its in a good place. 

Karen Page, it was so nice seeing her again after Defenders. DAW is just stunning as she is awesome as this character. She wasn’t in the Punisher that much but I will say this show gave her a hell of a lot more story time than Defenders did. I really looked forward to watching Karen extend her reporting ventures and learning how she’d been dealing with the aftermath of Matt Murdock/Daredevil’s supposed death. Suffice for me to say this girl was hurting badly. Though [minor spoiler] Matt nor Foggy’s names escaped her lips even once on the Punisher, the way DAW played it so subtly internal made me think they were on her mind the entire time she was onscreen. Karen was definitely wearing masks while she was in Frank’s presence. Hiding from him and herself as much as she was using work to escape her pain. And that obvious grief only provoked a more reckless side in Karen to say the least. I won’t say what that was of course being that this review is supposed to be spoiler free. 

The one thing I will touch on about Karen’s appearance that I didn’t enjoy would have to be the plot she was given in the Punisher. Which brings me to my low-lights of the series.

The Kastle stuff was fantastic in DD2 I loved their scenes and their dialogue in that season of Daredevil. Both Bernthal and DAW managed to create an interesting dynamic between Frank and Karen, a unique bond, mutual respect and understanding. And I thought that relationship would’ve translated beautifully in the spinoff as it’d done on DD. However in my humble opinion it did not. I just didn’t feel the connection between these two characters was genuine  as it had been in DD2. While some stuff was touching [like the hug between Karen and Frank at her apartment] there were parts about their interaction that had me rolling my eyes. I’m talking cringe-worthy moments [like Frank’s little “she’s family” outburst with Micro and the elevator]. It just felt so out of place especially when Karen’s name did not come up on Frank’s radar when she wasn’t in episodes. There were times it seemed as if I were watching a soapy Kastle fanfic instead of the EPIC story of Frank Castle/The Punisher. 

Don’t even get me started on the fact that Karen’s role in this series was minuscule or that the B-plot she was involved in was horribly predictable, badly written and unimaginative. Far as I’m concerned the whole Lewis Wilson arc was the weakest part about the Punisher. It only served to give Karen’s character an excuse to stick around longer and to satisfy the dreams of a certain section in this fandom. I understand very well why Karen was used instead of Claire Temple to bridge Punisher with Daredevil; she developed a bond with him. It only made sense for the writers to use her for that purpose. But for me this is what slowed the series down. And as much as I love Karen and seeing her developed further this show did nothing for her. We didn’t get any insight into where her head was at after Defenders which is what the Punisher really needed to keep all these Netflix MCU worlds connected. She doesn’t really share any personal or meaningful conversations with Frank as she’d done previously. So because of that, Karen Page’s addition into the Punisher felt disjointed and awkward. 

The veterans/gun-control plot part of the Lewis arc really wasn’t needed. It worked for an episode after that this part of the plot took me out of Frank Castle’s story. Hopefully next time the Punisher writers will stay focused on the main storyline they’re telling and less on the preachy bits about today’s society.  

Overall this was a really strong start for a freshman series. Its flawed and far from perfect but still badass and entertaining. The action/fight sequences and stunts were gritty and excellently choreographed. There’s plenty of guts and gore in this show so if you have a weak stomach you might want to avoid the Punisher. And the bodycount is fairly high, it wouldn’t be the Punisher if it wasn’t. The pacing is decent. The writing in most of the episodes was modest, most notably in the last 3 episodes. Its definitely one of my top favorite Netflix MCU shows. I sat on the edge of my seat from the start to the end. So much potential for better seasons to come but all and all I finished this show feeling very satisfied and wanting more. 

A worthy addition to the netflix MCU. Oh and that freaking intro man it has to be my favorite by far!

 Final thoughts go to my fellow Karedevil shippers:

I know its been a rocky road for all of us after DD2 and Defenders. Some of you have chosen to abandon ship while others are only slowly losing faith in the DD writers. It might seem hopeless right now but as I said in my Karedevil post  Karen Page’s path is still pointed towards Matt Murdock’s. Her state of suffering in the Punisher only clarifies how much Karen still loves Matt. Her fears and concerns for Frank’s well-being came from a place of her own personal loss. She did not want to lose another person she cares about just as she felt she’s lost Matt, I strongly believe this.

Its not over between them its only the beginning. Besides no one ever said the road to true love would be easy. So hang in there guys DD3 ‘Born Again’ is coming and I anticipate great things. Charlie believes in Karedevil and knows they’re meant to be just as we do. The only thing the Punisher writers did for Frank and Karen was give their fans a few tasty snaps and closure, kinda like what DD2 and Defenders did for Mattelektra fans. There is still plenty of hope left for Matt and Karen now that she knows his secret and that they remain part of each other’s lives. Until then we carry on chilled. 

Now here’s a lovely Charlie gif for you all.

[themattress]

My Disliked Pokemon Adventures Arcs

I love Pokemon Adventures, but there are three arcs that I don’t care for at all: the Ruby/Sapphire Chapter, the Emerald Chapter, and the OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire Chapter.  

In other words, all the Hoenn arcs.

Why I dislike the Ruby/Sapphire Chapter:

- The tone. It’s inconsistent - it goes from a children's version of "Around the World in 80 Days" to a political thriller based around Team Aqua and Team Magma to a freaking Kaiju movie as Groudon and Kyogre wreak havoc, and none of it really gels together or works well, and I feel that this arc is the only one to have this particular problem.

- Ruby and Sapphire.  I personally don't care for Ruby and Sapphire's personalities here. I think Kusaka wanted to subvert expectations based on the characters' designs, but it's still done in a pretty hamfisted, over-the-top way, with Ruby being stereotypically feminine and flamboyant and Sapphire being stereotypically tomboyish and wild.

- The story's whole set-up is flawed. Ruby and Sapphire argue about which is better: Pokemon battles or Pokemon contests.  They make a bet to see which one can master their preferred goal in 80 days.  The problem is that this makes much less sense than an alternative bet: to have the one disparaging contests to try to master them and the one disparaging battles to try to master them.  How much more interesting would that have been? That's why I'd have had Ruby be masculine yet still end up doing and enjoying contests, while Sapphire would be feminine yet still end up doing and enjoying battles.  But if Kusaka really wanted to do them the way he did, then the contest-loving Ruby should have challenged the gyms and the battle-loving Sapphire should have performed in contests.

- The whole Ruby vs. Norman conflict. It is so forced and so badly-written.  It starts out as a thinly veiled metaphor for a bigoted father who can't accept his gay son (which is stupid since, when you strip the metaphor away, Ruby not being gay and being in love with Sapphire is kind of a big plot point later on), yet we're later expected to sympathize with Norman because it turns out he was going to allow Ruby to do contests before Ruby ran away and that he has been protecting Ruby more than Ruby knew for a long time, making him running away come off as particularly ungrateful.  But is this really a good excuse for Norman outright beating his son in a physical quarrel in which Ruby is hopelessly outclassed?  Yet Norman is still called a "good father" immediately after this! What!?

- Wally.  All the build-up he gets to being the "Emerald"-representative Dex Holder, and it amounts to absolutely nothing because he ends up having to turn in his PokeDex back to its rightful owner, an actual character named Emerald who doesn't work nearly as well as Wally would have.  What was even the point?

- Archie and Maxie.  With Archie, Kusaka gives him an interesting position as the head of Hoenn's primary TV station and thus Ty and Gabby's boss while secretly being the leader of Team Aqua, but his personality is all wrong - he is now Faux Affably Evil rather than genuinely Affably Evil, ruthless to the point of discarding (even lethally) his own grunts in order to get what he wants, which Archie from the games would never do, ever.  Maxie's personality is on point, but his position as a total shut-in at his cavernous lair undermines him as a character, since in the games he's a badass who is just as active with his team as Archie is because he's just as committed to his extreme vision of a new world.  They get worse when they decide to team up to awaken Groudon and Kyogre, despite knowing the risks and the fact that they'll have to betray one another in the end, anyway.  But then they get driven mad and even flat-out possessed by the Orbs they are holding and seemingly get killed.  But then they show up still alive in the end for one pointless final battle, no longer possessed but evidently permanently insane and sadistic. They meet an unceremonious defeat within an electrical forcefield.  This is a severe bastardization of the well-intentioned extremists from the games, who were the series’ first (somewhat) fleshed-out villains!  Just what was Kusaka thinking?

- Tabitha's design. Seriously, wtf!?  I get that Tabitha didn't exactly have the most interesting of designs in the games, but you could have come up with better than this!

- Courtney. When she first shows up, she's fine. But then she faces Ruby one-on-one, and we get a very uncomfortable one-sided flirtatious dynamic, with Courtney finding Ruby "interesting" due to him being an innocent, beauty-loving Coordinator like she used to be before becoming an evil pyromaniac (a backstory and transition which is never explained, btw!)  She then gets so obsessed with Ruby that she looks up all sorts of personal info on him before getting called back on her mission, in which she takes innocent people hostage and threatens to kill them in order to avoid being defeated by Roxanne - a low, cowardly action.  So we're supposed to dislike her, right?  Well, apparently not, since she receives an abrupt redemption as she helps Ruby in stopping Groudon and Kyogre, even at the cost of her own life until the Celebi Ex Machina happens.  Very little about this character adds up, yet she receives the most exposure and supposed "development" out of any of the villains in this arc. I was so sick of her at the end that I wish she'd just stayed dead in the Cave of Origins - or better yet, back when Ruby dropped her into a flaming inferno at Rusturf Tunnel!

- Shelly's disappearance.  Shelly came off as more likable than Courtney, and yet not only did she not receive as much paneltime, but she also just disappears without explanation. Following her defeat at the hands of Winona and Flannery, who she had good adversarial chemistry with, she retreats on a Vibrava and is never seen again.  She's the only villain to not receive a conclusive ending at the end of the arc, and that really bugs me.

- Matt. Apparently, Kusaka thought it would be too boring if he was just the generic tough guy he was in the games, so he made him more sensitive and accident-prone, which should have made him more sympathetic.  But like Courtney, he really isn't, particularly when he attempts to drown Sapphire and Flannery and set a Sharpedo on them, grinning and laughing with maniacal glee while doing so.  Kusaka must’ve realized this by the end, since he's ultimately left to die (by drowning, karmically enough) - and unlike with Amber, nobody saves him.

- Ruby crosses the line.  Late into the arc, after Kyogre and Groudon are awoken, Ruby pulls a two-punch move that kills all likability his character had. First, he refuses to swallow his pride and call off the bet in order to join Sapphire in saving all of Hoenn when she pleads with him to, flat-out saying he doesn't care about what happens and just wants to keep doing contests. Sapphire is understandably pissed about this extreme display of selfishness. What's worse, afterward he blames his Feebas, whom it looked like he was coming around to liking for a while, for losing a contest and kicks it out of his party, yelling about how it's weak and ugly.  Yes, Ruby played the "You're not beautiful enough for me!" card well before Lusamine did!  How am I supposed to root for this guy after this?  I don't care if he felt remorseful afterward, this was too selfish and mean-spirited for him to come back from.

- Ruby and Sapphire's backstory. OK, this was just stupid.  Out of nowhere, it's revealed that Ruby and Sapphire actually knew each other as children and don't recognize each other in the present day.  Even worse, we find out that the reason they developed the personalities they have was because of a misunderstanding - a Salamance attacked Sapphire, and Ruby viciously fought it off all by himself, at the cost of getting a scar.  He and Sapphire were separated afterward, leading Ruby to think he traumatized her with his viciousness and becoming more gentle and feminine as a result, while Sapphire thought that Ruby must have gotten in trouble (in addition to getting hurt) because of her weakness and becoming more rough and tomboyish as a result.  Really now? That's what we're going with?  Ruby and Sapphire's romance, IMO, would have been much more engaging without this "bombshell”.

- Groudon vs. Kyogre.  This starts with round 53, in the fifth volume.  It ends with round 83, in the eigth volume.  So that's 30 chapters of this big climactic event happening!  It just goes on, and on, and on!  What's worse, it keeps getting sidetracked by other things, like the Gym Leaders fighting the Aqua and Magma Admins, or Norman training Wally, or Ruby and Sapphire's quarrel and reconciliation and backstory reveal, or the introduction of Juan and his training program on Mirage Island, or Courtney's whole Redemption Equals Death...and then, even after Groudon and Kyogre are finally put to rest, we get another climax when Archie and Maxie turn up alive and ready for one more battle!  It just never seems to end!

- Sapphire being locked in the car during the big climax. Fuck you too, Ruby!

- The infamous Celebi Ex Machina.  So, after that prolonged climax, we have had three casualties: Courtney, Norman and Steven.  That seems fitting - you shouldn't do such a huge, lengthy, perilous event and have no prices be paid at the end of it all.  But nope - Ruby reveals that he's had Celebi all this time, and uses it to do some time mumbo-jumbo and resurrect all three characters.  This remains one of the most criticized parts of the entire manga series, since it's such cheap writing and feels like a slap in the face to readers who read through this arc.  It was completely unnecessary - Courtney never appears again and Norman doesn’t do anything that couldn’t have been done by another character, so it's fine for them to stay dead.  And as for Steven, his father could just resurrect him in the OR/AS arc with the whole Infinite Energy / Ultimate Weapon ritual that he is canonly well-versed in.

- Finally, the arc's length and what came from it.  This arc taking so long, particularly due to the Groudon and Kyogre battle getting so dragged out, screwed the entire manga's schedule over for the next decade.  Gen IV started and Gen III was nowhere close to being wrapped up in the manga.  Gen V started and Gen IV was nowhere close to being wrapped up in the manga.  Gen VI started and Gen V was nowhere close to being wrapped up in the manga. Only with Gen VI have we finally gotten back on track, with the manga wrapping its Gen VI arc just as that generation came to a close - and even then, we still have yet to see Gen V's B2/W2 arc conclude.  And it's all thanks to this one, long, BAD story arc.

Why I dislike the Emerald Chapter:

- Emerald himself.  There is almost nothing likable about this guy.  He's a battle fanatic who only cares about Pokemon as tools of battle, he's an insensitive jerk to everyone around him, he's got a very unappealing design, and he's actually freakishly short (and his sensitivity about this is nowhere near as funny as Ed Elric's.)  The worst part is that Wally was supposed to have his role, but for some reason or other, Kusaka became convinced that he needed to pull a Yellow and create an original character with the game's name, and that Wally is too gentle to fit in the Battle Frontier...which is exactly why Wally would be so interesting in the role, and it would fit his development from the games (even more emphasized in OR/AS) and this very manga!  

- The tone. It's by-the-numbers shonen action style.  C'mon, Kusaka - you're better than this!

- The big twist.  It turns out that Emerald is actually under hire from Professor Oak and Kris to catch Jirachi so that it can use its wish-granting powers to revive Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Silver from the petrified state they were inexplicably left in at the end of the previous arc. The problem is that everyone predicted this already, and it makes it seem like the whole reason that cliffhanger was even put in to begin with was to make the Emerald Chapter more "epic", like the Gold/Silver/Crystal Chapter.  It didn't work, at all.

- Ruby and Sapphire return.  As if things couldn't get any worse when it comes to the main character, he ends up having to deal with Ruby and Sapphire inserting themselves in as his teammates midway through the arc.  Their already excessive stereotyped personalities are even worse here - they seem to have gone through Flanderization, and it’s annoying.

- Guile Hideout.  Nothing about this arc's villain works.  It's a lone man in knight-like armor with the absolutely stupid name of "Guile Hideout", who wants to capture Jirachi for his own evil purposes. Again, it's a blatant attempt to copy the epic quality of the Gold/Silver/Crystal Chapter and its Mask of Ice.  They even throw in a red herring and make it look like Guile Hideout is actually the resident old man, Spencer, just as Mask of Ice was Pryce.  But nope, the villain's true identity is actually....Archie!?  And he's even crazier and more evil than before - the armor he's wearing is space armor that keeps him from dying as an aftereffect of his possession by the Orb and he murdered Maxie in cold blood to get it.  And now he wants to create a demonic version of Kyogre and take over the world?  Kusaka, just stop it, please!  You've fucked this character up enough already.

Why I dislike the OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire Chapter:

- The Delta Episode. The postgame scenario of OR/AS is the basis for the arc.  I did not like that scenario in the game, and while there are a good number of improvements made to it in the manga, I still can't say I like it.  There is just so much about the plot that feels contrived, from the Draconid tribe we'd never heard of until now to the Grand Meteor Delta itself that we're supposed to believe is a threat to the entire planet even though the Pokemon World has survived worse before.  Kusaka did his best, but he can't fully salvage this.

- Zinnia's Villain Sue-dom.  I love Zinnia, but her use in this arc was iffy.  It keeps in that she was undercover in Team Aqua and Team Magma, and that her guidance was crucial for Archie and Maxie to discover how to awaken Kyogre and Groudon...but without the stipulation the games had about it being in an alternate timeline, thus making Zinnia responsible for the villains' plans in the R/S arc.  If this wasn't enough, it turns out it was her Salamance that attacked Ruby and Sapphire as children, caused the trauma that made them change their personalities, caused Ruby to get scarred, caused Rayquaza to escape and Norman to take the blame in order to protect Ruby...all of that (with Rayquaza escaping being retconned into being the goal all along rather than a freak accident Ruby caused, meaning that Norman did what he did for nothing).  So Zinnia is literally responsible for everything that went wrong in the R/S arc.  Every bad thing that ever happened in Ruby and Sapphire's lives can now be summed up with "THANKS, ZINNIA!"

- Emerald's new design. OK, I take back the criticism I had for his old design being unappealing.  This one's even worse.  Kill it with fire! 

- Archie and Maxie. Didn't see this one coming - it turns out that Archie and Maxie's spirits were somehow transported to the Distortion World due to the supernatural nature of their deaths, merged together and then split apart, which cured them of their evil and insanity. Now resurrected into new bodies (their OR/AS designs), they are finally in-character and finally get to redeem themselves before dying again.  While I should be pleased with this, and to some extent I am, the convoluted way it happens and that it had to happen at all only reminds me of how badly Kusaka botched these two in the first place. Sometimes I question if they weren't better off just being left dead and forgotten about.

- The Codenames.  How does Kusaka work in the OR/AS designs of Shelly, Matt, Courtney and Tabitha?  He has them show up as entirely seperate characters, and reveal that "Shelly", "Matt", "Courtney", and "Tabitha" are actually codenames that Admins of Team Aqua and Team Magma use, and that they weren't the real names of the originals either.  Lame!

- Crazy Rayquaza. In the R/S arc, Rayquaza was unquestionably a heroic Pokemon.  In this arc, however, it's suddenly prone to mood swings of psychotic anger, and it keeps switching from a protagonist Pokemon to an antagonist Pokemon at the drop of a hat.  This, along with it eventually doing battle with Deoxys, calls "Destiny Deoxys" to mind - and I don't want to be reminded of that crappy movie!

- Needless Relationship Drama. For no good reason, Ruby decides to start keeping secrets from Sapphire, until he suddenly doesn't and starts being open with her.  In between is all the expected relationship drama between the two, and it all feels so forced.

Now, let me say that none of these arcs are actually bad by regular manga standards, IMO, and there are also several things I like about each one.  And Kusaka doesn’t half ass-it, he always tries his best.  It’s just that the bad stuff overshadows the good stuff for me, and that by the standards of this usually excellent manga series, they fall disappointingly short.  

[erinpagewrites]

5 Shows to Watch Now That REIGN Is Over

After four seasons and 78 episodes (!), our favorite, semi-historical, semi-fantasy teen drama has come to an end. The last Urban Outfitters dress has twirled out of the ballroom; the last Lumineers song has played us off; and the last prophecy of Nostradamus has come to fruition. Did those things have anything to do with the real life of real person Mary, Queen of Scots and Notable Badass? Oh hell no, but that didn’t stop me from loving this show.

For me, it was love at first sight with some of the bananas storylines and details:

Why doesn’t anyone in France find Queen Catherine as hilarious as we do?

How many games of Hide & Seek can these grown-ass adults play per season?

Is the ghost that lives in the palace walls there to help Mary or hurt Mary, and hey it’s not a ghost it’s been a lovechild this whole time?

But my love for this show grew along with the tangle of plotlines, and over the last few years I developed a genuine affection for Reign. I’ve spent a good number of Friday nights watching and livetweeting and yelling at the screen when yet another episode has gone by without Mary getting a happy storyline, or without enough Catherine one-liners, or when they’ve killed off characters I’ve come to care for.

So where do we go from here? Where can we get that rare mix of adventure, romance, pseudo-history, and most importantly high-stakes costume drama? I’ve assembled a list of shows to help fill the void, where to watch them, and a semi-biased guide to appeal-level of each one.

(I tried to find as many pictures for these shows of the cast in the same dark, broody pose. This is the kind of detail I muster just for you guys.)

1.       VERSAILLES

What It Is: A series following Louis XIV, and how one prince turned an obscure hunting lodge into the premier palace of Europe. As you can imagine, this show is less about the price of timber and gilded mirrors and more about the courtly intrigue of early Rococo France.

Where To Watch: Versailles premiered on Ovation tv, but has since been available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix. Seasons One and Two have aired, with a third season in production.

Will I Like It? If you loved the courtly intrigue best in Reign, then this is the show for you. It’s basically the late sequel to Reign, in terms of time period. A lot of the cast is also fairly young and pretty, and the set design, costumes, and sweeping scenery gives you a lot to feast your eyes. It is definitely, ahem, a show for grownups in terms of graphic content, but probably nothing you haven’t seen before on a BBC show.

2.       MEDICI: MASTERS OF FLORENCE

What It Is: A series following Cosimo de Medici, running his family bank and investigating the murder of his father at the height of Medici family power. Heavy on the murder investigation, family drama, and political upheaval, and light on the banking systems of Renaissance Italy.

Where To Watch: Netflix. Season One was uploaded in late 2016, and a Season Two has been discussed.

Will I Like It? This is the series for you if you wished we could have seen more of what Queen Catherine’s relatives and enemies were up to over in Italy. Also for the Rob Stark fans. Again, this show is heavier in graphic content than Reign.

3.       THE WHITE QUEEN / WHITE PRINCESS

What It Is: Two seasons covering two stories in Philippa Gregory’s The Cousins War book series. Season One is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, York Queen and mother of the infamous “Princes in the Tower” allegedly murdered by Richard III. Gregory’s books and the tv show focus through the female perspective on the Wars of the Roses in fifteenth century England.

Where To Watch: Originally on Starz, The White Princess just recently broadcast its final episode. The White Queen is available to stream on Amazon Prime, and I imagine that The White Princess will not be far behind. I was unable to find information on a third season, but as Gregory has several books that continue the warring family saga, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was renewed.

Will I Like It? To be completely honest, this is my favorite of the shows I’ve included in this list. I’ve been a Philippa Gregory fan ever since I was in high school and first fell in love with The Other Boleyn Girl. Her stories bring a lot of family lineage, political minutiae, and land-grabbing to life. The White Queen and The White Princess have been critically acclaimed as a “feminist response” to Game of Thrones, which… while they certainly offer a nuanced perspective and, in Season Two, a noted female gaze, they’re not a “response” if the books were written before Game of Thrones ever aired. Just nitpicking on the critics not checking publication dates! Because it’s a terrific show, and if you love the strong female characters of Reign, then you’ll love these real women of English history. This brings me, of course, to the show I almost need not list based on the fact that you’ve definitely heard of—and probably seen it-- already…

4.       GAME OF THRONES

What It Is: Warring families compete for The Iron Throne in the fantasy world of Westoros, while dark supernatural forces loom on the horizon to threaten life as they know it. Inspired by the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, author George R. R. Martin has stated in numerous interviews the significant influence of the Wars of the Roses, the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, and other classic “sword and sorcery” novels on his high fantasy books.

Where To Watch: Originally on HBO, but literally anywhere, as it’s the most pirated show in tv history. Available to stream in its entirety on HBOGo. Gearing up to debut its seventh (and penultimate) season next month.

Will I Like It? If you were into some of the magical and supernatural storylines from Reign, and can stomach some pretty intense violence, graphic adult scenes, people being mean to each other, and unending side characters and plots, then you’ll love it. I’ve loved this show, too. I don’t love it all of the time, but it’s hard to beat the dream casting, shocking moments, and truly gorgeous production quality.

5.       POLDARK

What It Is: A young lord returns from fighting the rebels in America to his failing estate in Cornwall. Ross Poldark must save his mine, his tenants, and struggle to win love in eighteenth century Britain.

Where To Watch: Originally aired (in the US) on PBS, now available for streaming on Amazon Prime. Currently airing its third season.

Will I Like It? If you like the family drama and romance parts of Reign, then you’ll like Poldark. Also, if you’ve been a fan of The Forsyte Saga or Downton Abbey, then this is really the best show in this list for you… The balance of heartwarming and backstabbing moments between characters is exquisite, and the period details and beautiful seaside Cornwall are massively appealing. Also Aidan Turner has been mentioned as a potential future James Bond, so... do with that what you will.

BONUS!       ROAR

What It Is: A series following a young Celtic warrior prince who is determined to protect his land from the invading Romans. To do that, he must gain the trust and respect of the Celtic tribes and find a way to overcome his adversary’s mysterious power in early Middle Ages-Britain.

Where To Watch: Apparently it originally aired on Fox, but I remember it from childhood in syndication on the SciFi (now SyFy, and no, I’m not afraid to date myself) Channel. It doesn’t look like it’s currently available to stream anywhere, but you can get the complete single season of 13 eps on DVD for a (shockingly high) $25 USD on Amazon.

Will I Like It?  Roar is the *tamest* of all of the shows in this list in terms of graphic content since it originally aired on Broadcast television many years ago, so if you need a break from GoT you can check out Roar. But I made this one a Bonus! entry on the list because it’s difficult to find and (again, just being *honest*) of spotty quality. They were banking on the then-recent success of the Hercules and Xena shows, but I think that the seriousness of the Roar storylines and the confusing timeline of the show were its ultimate downfall. Nevertheless, I couldn’t *not* include it because I have truly enjoyed several watch-throughs of Roar myself. Hey, I’m an anglo (er, celto)-phile myself, I was bound to find something in it to love. Do you want to see bb Heath Ledger and bb Vera Farmiga? Of course you do! The charismatic actors are the best part of this series… and hey, if the dubious historicism, fantastical magic, and occasional camp appeal to you from Reign, then you’ll find a worthy stand-in in Roar. 

[kathryn-claire-oconnor]

@triadverse

Triadverse Week, 4/1 – Author’s choice: Sigyn/Loki/Angrboda & Natashas/Clint/Laura

Also, I think this means that the three one-shots before this one in this ‘verse all became sequels to With Fire and Ice? Whoops... kind of.

“You must think this ‘Thanos’ guy is a pretty big threat, Tony,” Steve’s voice floated over the old flip phone.

“Considering how freaked out Thor was when he told me what he’d heard, I’d say so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Thor look genuinely afraid before this.”

“Do you have any idea who his sources for the information are in the first place? It’s not that I don’t trust Thor, but I don’t trust a good number of the people he surrounds himself with off-world.”

“Yeah,” Tony drew in a slow breath before beginning, “About that…”

Jotunheim

The day before

Sigyn and Angrboda ran together through the icy woods, and the blonde had a moment of thinking to be grateful that it was spring so the snow wasn’t nearly so thick or difficult to travel through as they went towards where their children were waiting. All six were near one of Loki’s portals to Midgard, a precaution they’d been told to take the moment their home was surrounded by murderous foot soldiers of Jotunheim’s king.

Sleipnir met them first, and Sigyn saw her biological sons behind him, the older three forming a protective sort of wall between the rest of the world and their three younger siblings. And emerging from behind an overhang of melting ice… Loki, winded but in one piece.

Angrboda and Sigyn froze, staring at him.

He smiled, halfway between his normal, teasing smile and something much more repentant. “When I realized what the soldiers were at the house for, I panicked,” he explained quickly. “I left a double there to fight with you and myself went with the children. I apologize; there was simply no time to tell you. I thought you had seen me go with the children.”

“We didn’t,” Angrboda bit out sharply – but in the next second she had thrown her arms around him and was clinging for dear life, murmuring, “Don’t you ever do that again, or I will kill you myself.”

They all knew enough to believe her.

“I know,” Loki said, “That the plan was to escape to Midgard if we needed to, but I think we ought to first inform Thor of what’s coming. Thanos is more than what most could handle even expecting him; the best thing we can do is give my brother as much time as possible to gather as many as possible to aid him –” Loki drew in a deep breath, and Sigyn saw a fear he might never admit to in his eyes as he corrected, “Us in our fight against Thanos and his army.”

“Agreed,” Sigyn nodded, already starting to shepherd the children back the way that she and Angrboda had come. There was a portal to Asgard between here and the farm that they could all use, and as it was, their children would be safest on Asgard in the first place.

“Who do you think Thor will draw in to fight alongside us?” Angrboda asked, and Sigyn could see her working out battle plans and potentialities in her head as they began to walk.

Loki drew in a second breath like the first, and Sigyn knew the answer already, though he at first said only, “His Midgardian comrades from… before, I’d imagine.”

“Lovely,” Angrboda murmured, and Sigyn couldn’t tell how sincere – or insincere – she was.

“And you’re sure Thanos is this big of a threat?” Steve asked again. “Because if I bring my guys out of Wakanda, and this doesn’t have the severity that you think it will—”

“Rogers,” Tony broke in, staring in shock out the window of his office. “It’s that bad. I promise you it’s that bad.”

“How do you know that if Thor hasn’t given you a real, comprehensive rundown of what you’re going to be dealing with?”

“Because,” Tony grimaced even as the words came out of his mouth. “I just watched the Bifrost land in the yard, and now I’m watching Thor, three women, and Loki make their way into the facility. Bring the others now, will you?”

Suddenly, there were no more questions in Steve’s voice as he said shortly, “Right. We’re on our way.”

“Last time I checked, Nat, Tony wasn’t real happy with you when you jumped ship to stay in Wakanda,” Clint commented.

“Last time I checked,” Natasha replied, fastening a strand of widow’s bites around her wrist, “Tony had bigger problems on his mind then me staying with my spouses.”

“Like Loki showing up and wanting to help us fight this guy?” Scott suggested.

“I’m telling you,” Clint looked over his shoulder at Scott. “Loki isn’t a problem – not in the scope of things, and not at all if you talk to the right people.”

“Since when are you guys ‘the right people,’ though?” Steve asked. “Tony says Loki and a couple of the women with him are refusing to talk – at all – until you and Nat are there.”

“Suffice to say that we learned to put up with one another during Wakanda’s scuffle with Russia,” Natasha replied.

“It sounds like your downright friendly,” Sam remarked, though at least his tone held no real suspicion.

Natasha and Clint shared a glance, but each elected to stay silent as they finished preparing to land at the Avenger’s facility.

Tony and Thor met them when they landed, and Steve moved ahead of the others to shake Tony’s hand. “Talk after this is through?” Steve suggested, to which Tony gave a quick, curt, nod.

And that was that.

Beside him, Clint barely heard Natasha release a small, tense breath.

“Shall we, my friends?” Thor asked, gesturing back to the facility. “We have much to talk about, and now that we’re all here, I’d imagine my brother and sisters-in-law will be more forthcoming with the information that they have to share.”

“Loki’s going to talk about Thanos?” Clint double-checked in surprise.

“He has opted to, yes,” Thor nodded, though his eyes had darkened with thoughts that Clint could only guess at. “He’s said Thanos is an adversary that merits such… discomfort.”

Clint was pretty sure that ‘discomfort’ was a kind word for what Loki was feeling right now, but he knew Thor only wanted to protect his brother, so he kept his mouth shut.

“You’re sure that Loki’s willing to work with us on this?” Steve asked – Clint had stopped keeping track of how many times the question had been posed.

“Yes,” Thor replied firmly.

Natasha fixed the rest of the team with a firm glare, adding, “Listen, boys, if Loki is what I’ve come to believe he is, the fact that his wives are here with him says a great deal about his intent. If he meant to cause trouble, he wouldn’t put them in harm’s way too – which means he’s not in the mood to cause trouble, but to stop it. Okay?”

Natasha, at least, Tony and Steve both still trusted to put her personal feelings aside for the sake of the impending battle. If she said Loki and his wives could be trusted in this fight, then they believed her. And for now, that was enough.

For now, this tense, hesitantly struck truce was enough… because it had to be.

“Okay,” Steve and Tony replied together.

Then Tony’s chest rose and fell as he drew in a breath and nodded to Cap. Cap, in turn, swept his gaze across all of them as they filed into the room where Vision was already waiting with Loki, Sigyn, and Angrboda. “All right, Avengers,” he paused a beat, as if he was reconsidering everything only to return to the same conclusion he’d already made. “…time to assemble.”