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fisherpon · 2 years

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Tumblrpon Retrospective: 1-16/16 “The Shared History”

First and foremost, let me get this out of the way: I’m not leaving. This is not a goodbye message, this is marking the end of the Great Draft Dump with a look back upon my time in Tumblrpon. This will be a very long post, hence the pagebreak.

Comic sprites commissioned from @darkfiretaimatsu Final art commissioned from @askmovieslate Background vectors by BonesWolbach Editing by me

Credits for each drawblog are after the page cut.

A long time ago, I had a saying. “Ten days online is like a year IRL.” What I meant by that is that so much stuff happens online and so quickly that if you go away for a couple weeks and come back, things may look completely different. Just think of the addition of ‘blorbo’ to Tumblr vocabulary, for instance. My point is, on that measure, I’ve been a part of Tumblrpon for 408 Fyears (Fandom years). Considering the oldest trace of Tumblrpon we could find is 415 Fyears old and the show itself is 438 Fyears old, it’s safe to say I’ve been around for a while. And, like any old dragon, I've lived through a lot and got some stories to tell.

The Beginning

When I started, Tumblrpon was small, but vibrant. There were drawblogs, indeed; the First, Applebloom; the Drunkard, Berry Pnuch; the Musician; Octavia, and surely others I have forgotten. In these very early days, Tumblrpon was mostly roleplayers. Among them, the Second Queens, the Lawlicorn Diarchy. This was the age of magic anons, of KA-THINGY spells and the invention of the word ‘ponification’. Aside from the drawblogs, here I have remembered some of the more prominent roleplayers of the era, many of whom were, and are, my dear friends. Many of them are still roleplaying in the depths of Tumblrpon, long since overshadowed by drawblogs. I still think they’re the core of Tumblrpon, though; more on that later.

Eventually, however, one drawblog would appear that would change everything. Easily the most influential Tumblrpon drawblog of all time, and perhaps the most deserving of the title Queen of Tumblrpon. The Third Queen, Pinkamena. Before her entry, grimdark elements like Cupcakes and Scootabuse were frowned upon, even hated. Pinkamena rose up and destroyed that barrier. She was by far the best-drawn drawblog up to that point, and pulled no punches when it came to blood and gore. And in doing this, she became famous outside of Tumblrpon. Her art spread to Ponibooru and other pony outlets online, and seeing what she was doing here brought many, many, many other artists to Tumblrpon. She arrived 3 days before me, and within a year of her arrival there would be hundreds of drawblogs. Her presence was brief, but her influence ever-lasting. This was the beginning of our finest era.

The Golden Age

Over the next few years, Tumblrpon thrived. This was also the golden era of the fandom as a whole, the period from Season 2 to roughly 6 or 7. With every new episode, drawblogs would pop up out of the woodwork. With each new character, multiple drawblogs would appear, often with variants. Tumblrpon-wide memes happened; Misty’s Hoodie, Rainbow Chubbie, Yellow vs Blue Pegasi, Ghost Trixie’s Memorial and the Somboom were but a few of them. Collab drawblogs appeared that were simply ‘put all the drawblogs of this one character in the same house’. I went to my first Bronycon (thanks to a charity drive by my Tumblrpon artist friends) and was part of the first of many Tumblrpon panels, through which we brought even more artists into our community. In the midst of all this, I jokingly called Raikissu the Queen of Tumblrpon, and it ended up turning into a massive injoke among our group of friends (which, because it included a lot of influential drawblogs, turned it into a Tumblrpon-wide injoke). They're the only one who really got to experience that title, making them the Fourth Queen. They were also the last, since eventually people didn’t realize it was a joke and started getting uptight at them about it.

As for me, running Fisherpon was a lot of work. I had separate categories of tags that I would search through, some daily, some weekly, some monthly and some yearly, and I would fully tag and put everything into the queue. I had to make a second Tumblr account and move Fisherpon to a secondary blog so I could bypass the 300/day post limit to handle all the content! But it was too much, and eventually I burnt out. I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but I think it was sometime in 2016. After that point, I stopped trawling the tags as much. I was following most of Tumblrpon (often running into the following limit of 5000 blogs), and through them I often saw new drawblogs (which I reblogged) and good pony art (which I tossed into the drafts, for when I’d eventually get around to processing it). Most of my blog’s activity turned into liveblogging new episodes, and Tumblrpon itself left its growth phase and plateaued.

Bit of a side note: In early 2017, a very dear member of the community passed away. He’d been there since the beginning, had one of the most unique ‘draw’ blogs, and was a close friend to a lot of us. Despite not liking alcohol myself, I still raise a toast in his honor on every anniversary of his passing. I still miss you, Rusty. You wise old bastard.

Anyhow, on to the most prominent event in Tumblr’s history:

The Purge

When the news dropped, I was travelling abroad in Korea so I wasn’t watching Tumblrpon closely. However, when all my Discord groups exploded, it was pretty hard to ignore. I feared that it would be the end of Tumblrpon as a whole, and wrote a dissertation about Tumblrpon’s history and my memories from the site. That goes into more detail on my origin story, if you’re interested in that.

And, as I expected, it did a lot of damage. Many drawblogs that were already on hiatus used it to justify finally ending their blogs, and a lot of ones that were active found themselves struck out of the sky by a stupid bot that couldn’t recognize boobs if it motorboated them. Tumblr gained a reputation as being unfriendly to artists, especially for those grimdark and risque artists Pinkamena had attracted to Tumblrpon in the first place. I’ve heard that roughly 30% of the site’s users left entirely, and in no place was it more obvious than my dashboard. Despite following thousands of accounts, there were and are days where I catch up on my dashboard to where I was the previous day and have to wait for new posts to appear. That would never have happened back in the Golden Age. Tumblrpon had already been slowly declining, but watching Tumblr shoot its foot off and strangle Tumblrpon (among other fandoms) was very depressing and radicalizing.

However, despite the purge, Tumblrpon lived on. There was talk of migrating to Pillowfort, NewTumbl or Mastodon, but they never caught on well enough to seriously shift the userbase. Despite everything, some new drawblogs popped up, and some of the old drawblogs that survived the purge kept on ticking and gained new prominence (or were simply no longer overshadowed) among the ruins. Things clearly would never be the same, and yet not everything had been lost. It was reassuring, in a way.

Meanwhile, outside of Tumblr, another great star was nearing the end of its life. The show itself, our source of fuel. It whose whims had given birth to thousands of drawblogs during the Golden Age, and whose fancies had caused no end of trouble for drawblogs whose canon counterparts went through big changes (cough Twilicorn cough). Nothing can last forever, and Season 9 would be the last season. Generation 5 was still at least a couple years away, so I decided to finally lower my standards and bring myself to post pony art without proper tags. I know, it sounds silly now, but I took great pride in my post organization and it took a lot of willpower to override that. I made a post telling people about my plans for the Great Draft Dump and started posting again, dripfeeding Tumblrpon with a post (almost) every hour from my reserves.

The Present

And now, here we are. A year past my original ending estimation and a couple weeks short of 3 years since it began. I could have pushed it to 3 years, but today is also the 12th anniversary of the very first episode that started it all so I figured this would be a better ending point.

Tumblrpon is still recovering from the Purge. They’ve dialed back the bot, and that combined with Twitter imploding (or something?) has helped bring artists back to some degree (or perhaps it’s due to COVID stuffing everyone inside), but there’s still a long way to go. We have new horse content again, and while it doesn’t seem to have the same spark G4 had it has breathed some new life into the fandom which is nice to see. There’s even been a handful of G5 drawblogs that have appeared, even though we still don’t seem to have any for Zipp or Hitch which is weird (especially in comparison to the dozens of drawblogs each Mane 6 member had back in the day). And yet, I’m still reminded of times long past. With most of the drawblogs gone, a lot of the activity on my dash is made of roleplayers once again. They’re not the same roleplayers as back in Oldest Tumblrpon, of course, but I feel as long as they continue roleplaying and interacting with each other Tumblrpon will never truly die.

And that is my history lesson. They may not be aware of it, but the new generation of drawblogs and roleplayers carry on a 415-Fyear-old legacy, part of which I’ve included in this comic. Just as we were Tumblrpon, so are you. To every blogger who ever drew a pony answering a question, and to every roleplayer who by interacting with others helped knit Tumblrpon together, I am deeply grateful. Undoubtedly, in the making of this comic I’ve forgotten ponies who should have been included, and to those I deeply apologize as well.

As for me? I’ll still be here. Ever-watching, ever-promoting, though perhaps not as much as I used to. The tanks are dry now, and everything I post will be from the present rather than the past. I’ll probably just toss it all into the queue and have it post whatever it gets a few times a day. Thanks to Tumblrpon, I gained a lot of horse friends, and it’s always great fun meeting up with them at conventions or hanging out with them in my personal Discord server (the Tumblrpon Block Party). If you made it all the way to the end of my tale and you want an invite to it, or if you have a new drawblog you want me to promote, or if you just want to chat, feel free to message me. After all, like I said at the beginning:

I’m not leaving.

Blogs featured in the comic (Queens bolded): Again, if I forgot you, my apologies. My memory’s far from perfect and there’s only so much space on the billboard.

Beginning (Panel 2): @askapplebloom-blog (archive of the original one) @vindicarthehippogriff @faithful-student @rainbowdash-answers @askberrypnuch @askrustynail (RIP. Survived by @techmomma) @askoctavia @ask-reginald-dragon @asklyra @queenfrau @draggity @ask-nightmaremoon @mythic-swirl @trollestiaanswers-blog-blog @stilllunaanswers

Early Golden Age (Panel 3): @askpinkaminadianepie @askmlcblobs @ask-doctorcolgate @ask-sadistic-rarity @ask-dr-adorable @thetalesofwildcard @askterry @asklittlepip @askhotbloodedpinkie @ask-misty-wonderbolt-blog-blog @raindropsanswers @ask-sapphire-eye-rarity @askprincessmolestia @askcharliefoxtrot @junes-pony @askfluttershyandpinkiepie @spittfire @asksirlintalot @ask-glittershell @ponyhawkesho @askdeadrainbowdash @askpiratedash @askvelvet @askstonedtrixie @asksurprisearchive (archive of the original one) @ask-jappleack @askspirit @sweetiebotreplies @askthenightguards @ask-grimdark-bigmac @askpalette-swap @just-flutterguy-replies @susie-queen-of-the-vampireponies @seaponyluna @askbadbloom @askmeaniebelle @ask-scootabot (sequel to the original)

Late Golden Age (Panel 5-7): @raikissu @vocationaldeathcruise (Somehow, this is still up) @askstalkerloo @asklaura-and-naki @outofworkderpy @ask-dinky-dawberry-doo @ask-doctor-dimension @ask-cyberpunkspitfire @ask-thaumaturge-pony @luna-afterdark @ask-dolly @askmovieslate @cmcnext @thehorsewife @askflufflepuff @questionpinkamena @lilmissrarity @fiddlesticks-archives-blog @darkfiretaimatsu @askfirestarterspitfire @fristart @under-renewal (Ask the CMC) @ask-acepony @pinkiepiesolutions @askshinytheslime @reversal-mushroom @askpun @askloona @ask-de-writer @askresearchertwilight @ask-king-sombra (Somboom reflected in window) @ask-fillytwilight (has since been taken over by a russian pornbot) @ask-ikea-pony @askbananapie @askseriousrainbow @motherlyscootaloo @butters-the-alicorn @thecoopontlc (the first collab drawblog) @ask-canterlot-musicians

Post-Purge (Panel 11): @rainbowdashsmailbagthings @thelunararmy @aerialaim @whirlwindflux @ask-louvely @unlocktheaskblog @adorkabletwilightandfriends @askburningstream @glimglamandpals

Now (Panel 13): @askalbinopie (Fellow Keeper of the Past, except that they also have the art skills to do it justice. If Rai hadn’t abdicated and killed off the Queen system, I’d prolly make Alby the 5th for their art skills and their understanding of our history.) @askjetstream @questionthedoctor @twila-bloggin @ask-izzy-moonbow @askquartzandcord @askdrunktwilight @darkreplies @sunny-and-sparkle @ask-narratordoe @ask-pippamena (What did I say earlier? Pinkamena’s legacy lives on.) @asklostcelestia @a-spoonful-o-generosity @askcharmingshadow @ask-shutter-ghost Here’s a funky fact for those of you who came alllllll the way down here. In late 2011/early 2012, right when Tumblrpon started expanding, there was a lot of Homestuck on my dash as it was still updating at the time. Because of that, I have approximate knowledge of many parts of the mid-to-late part of Homestuck, and also because of it I considered opening up a second Fisher blog for Homestuck material. Fisherstuck. Who knows how things would be today had I done that? Who knows....

#fisher #fisherpon #tumblrpon #my little pony #mlp #drawblog #detailed #very detailed #epic #beautiful #wallpaper #magnificent #masterpiece #ngl james drew me kinda swole #not that I'm complaining #tumblrpon retrospective

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danaredbeard · 1 month

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Part Two: “What did they do to you?”

In season One (yes, I am just going to manifest this) Michonne is the personification of Divine Intervention. Her entire journey is being dictated by fate.

She found Rick’s belongings that lead her on a journey to find him.

She found people that needed her help

She helped them find their way back home to the caravan

In which she found Nat who helped her along her way with new provisions.

She found new friends who wanted to come with her to find Rick.

Nat found a way to part the hoard like Moses and Michonne could pass not waiting months for them to clear.

After being attacked by the CRM Michonne found shelter for her and Nat for a year while recovering.

She eventually finds what she was looking for and it hold no clues to Rick’s whereabouts.

Michonne find’s the courage to give up and go home.

Every place on her journey fate had brought her there. So, looking back at episode 1 when Rick finally after almost eight years gives in and FULLY signs on to Okafor’s plan fate steps in and places Michonne directly in his path destroys Okafor and literally snatches him from the sky. That was fate not a coincidence.

Can you imagine all that Rick Grimes is pouring his heart and soul into the enemy? Me neither and nor could Michonne.

YOU SHALL NOT KISS THE SWORD.

(Just theory I could be 100% wrong)

Oh and I think it is BS that Okafor killed his wife. I think that they were just planting seeds in Rick that when push came to shove he would sacrifice his wife. But when Michonne showed up their plan went to poo. They brought in Jadis because she was the only one who could identify Michonne.

Part One

Part three

Part Four

Part Five

#the ones who live #the walking dead #rick grimes #twd towl #towl #richonne #towl spoilers #michonne #twd spoilers #danai gurira #andrew lincoln #TOWL CRM

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nineevees · 26 days

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general thoughts on the wk “our blue and green world” special (for funsies)

they had me in the beginning, by the end they completely lost me tho lolol

!! SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE EPISODE YET !!

things i liked:

the intro was!! very good!! loved how they started in space and then gradually zoomed into earth, that was really fun :D

always excited to see how the background of the final shot changes in these specials !!

right away i am so glad they finally color corrected everything i couldn’t stand how bright everything was in season 6 T_T

chris being able to just effortlessly fold his t-shirts into a stack made me laugh lol

i don’t care if anyone says the song sounded flat as hell. the disbelief i had when it first came on. “what is this music what is goin- IS THIS A SONG??” the pure, unadulterated joy i experienced from it. it may be cringe but it has set me free.

idk. i’m just glad to see all these characters back after the hiatus :D

the resplendent quetzal is!! so cool!! so pretty!! i’d love an episode just dedicated to it

saw someone say this already but common aviva W for inventing two creature power discs at once !! it’s her world we are simply all living in it

BLUE WHALES ARE AS BIG AS TWO BRONTOSAURUSES?? waow

i think ever since i’ve gotten past the age of. elementary school. martin’s nicknames for animals have been kind of hit-or-miss for me? (though it might just depend on who’s writing the script i dunno) but i liked kablooey!! (kabluey?) it’s a very cute name :D

zach remembered that he has hacker bots he can use (which are. arguably his best invention?? i’m pretty sure?? i get why they don’t use them every single time zach shows up bc that would get old quickly but it establishes that despite being a whiny man-child who couldn’t tell a walrus from a wombat or a wallaby, he can still be a threat to the wk team)

indri lemur my beloved 🫶🫶

and everyone’s been talking about that so um. let me throw my hat into the ring then.

i can see the intention behind trying to redeem paisley, but it just. doesn’t really match with what’s been established by her character?

the entire special hit me with subsequent punches of “wow this is a kid’s show and i am NOT the target demographic” when they were talking about the water cycle and explaining global warming. so it makes sense, in a sort of wish-fulfillment kind of way that they’d try and redeem the villain whose goal is arguably the most realistic out of the main four.

zach’s main gimmick is using wild animals for his own technology. donita uses wild animals for fashion. gourmand cooks and eats wild animals. yes, the latter two can and do happen in real life (not… really sure about zach’s but that’s not the point). but paisley’s gimmick was never about harming animals, but destroying the environment they live in, in order to build things for humans instead. she’s the kind of person who you’d most likely encounter in real life. redeeming paisley has nothing to do with her character (a businesswoman who finds nature “yucky” as seen in the spirit bear and Asian elephant episodes), instead her general gimmick. wouldn’t it be nice if we could get the people destroying animals’ homes to truly see how beautiful nature can be? so much so that they stop trying to destroy it and instead attempt to help preserve it?

(this is just a personal nitpick but paisley’s new design absolutely is NOT working for me srry)

after i watched the special i had some ideas abt how it potentially could have gone instead?:

don’t redeem paisley at all: again, i get the general idea of why they did this but also. it doesn’t?? line up with her character at all?? the way she was acting in the beginning was fine and perfectly in character for her. she just wants nature out of the way in order to complete her plans, and she has no time for zach being overly concerned with the wild kratts. you could argue that her knowing that dolphins and whales weren’t fish but mammals was foreshadowing to her redemption, but like… paisley’s not dumb?? donita has also corrected zach on not knowing his animals in the past so unless you’re also going to argue for a possible donita redemption in the future then. yeah. i dunno. the other villains didn’t need a redemption to make the special they were in interesting, i don’t see how this one should be any different.

another redemption fake-out, but do it much earlier in the story: i have. my own gripes about how the plot of this special went but we’ll save that for later. have paisley initially be dismissive of the wild kratts’s presence, but once she learns that the kratt brothers are arguing and that aviva, koki, and jimmy are spending all of their time trying to get them to make up, pounce on that opportunity. have her go all over-the-top (like she did in her canon redemption) and trick the wild kratts into thinking she’s turned good, only for her to turn on them in the second half. this might be too similar to “a creature christmas” though. this one would take up more of the plot if that’s any consolation?

give a hint to a paisley redemption arc, but don’t make her do a complete 180 right away: if they’re adamant on redeeming paisley (again, i see the general idea behind this gimmick-wise), then they could still do it and make it fit with her character. remember that paisley’s intentions are not to harm animals, but their environment (which is not any better, making that clear). she can still have her awed-by-coral moment, but maybe. tone it down?? she can have second thoughts about going with the plan, but have zach or rex* encourage her to continue. she steels her resolve, but remembers the coral, and hesitates. and the kratt brothers use that last-minute hesitation to defeat zach’s zachbots and paisley’s pavers. have paisley question why she couldn’t go through with it as she and zach leave madagascar. you could have aviva or one of the other wild kratts theorize that paisley has started to have a change of heart after seeing what nature is capable of, if left to thrive. but again: don’t redeem her right away. hint at it, and then explore it whenever she appears as the main antagonist in an episode of season 7.

*i’m admittedly not caught up on all of wk, but like. did paisley fire rex or something. WHERE WAS HE THIS ENTIRE SPECIAL??

as for the plot point of the kratt brothers fighting… yeah that definitely could have gone better.

(again, minor nitpick but jimmy saying that this was the first time he’s seen the brothers fight,, then implied that it happened every single laundry day,, but also he’s definitely seen them fight before? or had disagreements at least?? isn’t that the premise of at least two different episodes not counting this special. this script is also Not My Favorite. not sure how to explain it but some of the dialogue seems a little awkward?)

ik that the brothers get into danger 24/7 but i feel like. martin should be a little bit concerned that chris was getting squeezed to death by a green anaconda?? like you don’t have to make him overtly worried to the point of apologizing, but you could at least. make him look at chris with concern? i get that the point is that “oh no the brothers are fighting so they won’t help each other when one’s in danger” but. martin your brother is dying STOP SMILING NONCHALANTLY.

the resolution between the brothers was. kind of rushed? all it took was chris complimenting martin (“nice one, bro!”) and then activating some creature powers and then everything was fine. is. is that all it took?

if you liked it then that’s 100% fine !! i’m glad you enjoyed it :D it just wasn’t for me

just my personal preference but i think i would have preferred it if we spent more time with the brothers solo (martin at sea and chris in the rainforest) and have them come to their realizations that the planet needs both blues and greens to thrive separately. like martin sees the planktonic soup and acknowledges that the creatures who live in the ocean need a little green to survive. or chris sees how important rivers are in the amazon and remembers how the rivers will eventually flow into the ocean. and both of the brothers remember their adventures with each other (or aviva, koki, and jimmy remind them). they can still be stubborn and not forgive each other, but i’d like them to at least like. acknowledge each other’s pov and respect it.

or: do something with aviva trying to program two creature power suits at once (the brothers are both in madagascar at this point). like, what if there was a creature power suit malfunction where martin is a blue whale at first, but then turns into an indri. and chris starts our as an indri but then his suit malfunctions and he becomes a blue whale. the bros swap places, with martin going on land and chris going to sea, and then they realize that the other had a point - the land is home to so many wonderful creatures and so are the oceans. and how both are connected and make the earth their home. boom, reconciliation.

also another personal preference thing, i really wish they spent more time with kablooey/kabluey and mambiky (?). i’m here for cool creatures and i wanna see more of the cool creatures !! is that so much to ask for !!

also also. i think the indri-conda was born bc someone saw the pun potential and to that i say. no comment.

i still have. a lot of thoughts but i think i’ll just leave it there for now. ik i criticized it a lot but i did genuinely enjoy the special :D i’m happy to have the brothers back from hiatus and can’t wait to watch the other episodes !!

#wild kratts #wild kratts spoilers #our blue and green world

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nekojetto · 4 months

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What if s2 ep9 very long review (with spoilers!)

Nothing worst can't happened to the what if serie. I knew it, I was prepared from it. I already think about plot for season 2 and "Supreme can be the final bad guy?" Was already an option in my mind and I like the idea.

Oh and I don't want to read someone telling me "You only the goth boyfriend meow meow fangirl and a anti Carter" I'm not, I 100% know Supreme isn't like I headcanon him, here I'm only taking fact from the show.

I'm going to start with what I find cool into the episode:

I like the fact Captain Carter is the main character of the serie. I like the fact Kahori is a more important and powerfull character than Stephen. I like they changed Stephen monster form. I LIKE the fact Stephen is the bag guy of the season, great idea.

And the biggesst problem is that to every of these point have a "but" and a big one.

I like Captain Carter episode into this season, I started to feel tired during the 1602 episode and seeing her at the final episode ALONE vs Supreme... no Marvel I can't beleive she's stronger than him. She's a super soldier, she's intelligent have a militar formation, but NO she can't use 6 infinites stone like nothing and being more powerfull than Stephen. They are no built up for this (With Killmonger in the first season we have an explanation, he know nano technology, he worked during the whole ep on Ultron armor) Here Peggy use nano bot and the stone like she breath, with a ligth and funny attitude than upset me. She's like this during the whole episode btw. Girl... the multivers is going to die and you're laugthing and Having fun... where is the Carter who understand how in pain Stephen is, and how important the multivers stability is. And everyone at the end gives her their powerfull weapons to figth, good idea btw, but the way it is I can't avoid the Mary sue original fanfic in my head. "She's beautifull, so intelligent, so kind and strong than everyone like her." Carter writing during the whole season is weak like this for me. Compare to the first one, it's a total down grade I'm sorry. And once again I like this character, I have nothing about the idea of having a female warrior as a main character but please PLEASE make her a good writing character in a first place! The interaction between her and Stephen in the first season was well writed, subtile, here we have dial from power ranger episode: "Stephen It's not you!" "I'm not anymore!" Come on!!! I heard that a thousand of time and it's still not working here!

Kahori... Kahori my poor girl... I wanted YOU as a main character of this episode. Imagine someone totally stranger to Stephen's story behing manipulate by him because he looks nice and discovering he's a total unwell crazy demon. Using the 6 stones one by one, because she already knew how to use one. I'm doing what if here... but for now we again got the "side kick color character" syndrome. She has no used into this episode, Carter doing everything alone. I'd love to see here kicking Stephen's butt alone because they are so much more sens than Carter! She fougth Conquistador, she used to infinite stone, she can figth Stephen who is stealing energy from other univers.

And Stephen... I don't even know what to say about him. The whole developpement of his character totally vanish. I HATE when writers makes step back between season to fit their new story and here it's not working. I can totally admit my vision of the character into the first season is not the same as everyone but the best part of the character is that... he could turn to be a bad guy, but he learned his mystake and choose to change. That the most beautifull part of him for me, it's full of hope and positivity. Here turning back to a vilain again isn't a good idea but the fact it's AGAIN because of Christine and acting like everything never happened.. come one. You can totally point the "savior syndrome" he has and only wanted to capture vilain to fixe destroyed univers in general. Pointing the fact it's not his "pain" who turn him evil but his hyperfixation to save ppl. Comparing him to Uatu who choose to doing nothing. Here we never had an interaction between them. I hate the fact they erased his "fragile and unconfident" side into the first season.

I find the final battle as a down grade to the first season. Technically and in storyboard side... they only used old Stepjen technic idea we already saw in the same way and with a "BUT Carter is stronger", in a total lazy way. I still can't believe Carter is stronger than him, She's a super soldier with a shield, he's an overpowerfull sorcerer, ridiculously overpowerfull. I wanted to see FOR ONCE IN MARVEL a figth not around "who's having the bigger one??". We already see how powerfull Stephen is into the first season and the fact they won against Ultron thanks to Carter's Leadership and intelligence. Why you don't use it here?? It's lazy at this point. I wanted a REAL scene where we saw than Peggy has more mental strength than Stephen. Here we have the exact same scene as s1 ep4 but in "Hahaha it's not working on me because... I'm me!" Please can you just leave this episode alone and admit Stephen is over powerfull but less intelligent than Carter? And than Carter doesn't have an unhealthy way to see her dead relationship with Steve. Here the end is still "BAWH!! Carter push Stephen into his own machina Hahahah!! Because... she has a shield and him overpowerfull magic power?"

I feel it into the whole season but the fact we've got 30min epidoe instead of 40min hurted a lot the show. And we totally miss 10min into this final episode to have EMOTIONS. The end of the episode wasn't a good idea, Stephen sacrifice himself to bring back his world but without him, it's perfect on paper but here... THEY ARE ZERO EMOTION??? The butterfly

could go on Christine's shoulder, we could have a sadder sountrack, something more subtile like Stephen still into reflexion of object around here, watching her but can't interact with this world. I don't know but something more than a dial to thanks Captain Carter like she saved the multivers ALONE. HELLO??? And Kahori?? Is she okay??? Where she is?? Maybe I miss something at the end... But the Carter attitude of not even being sad for his Friend Stephen... I hate it once again. And Uatu... UATU??? Stephen saved your life??? He's your friend too??? And... it's totally your fault if he turns evil again, you bring Nat into a new univers at the end of season 2 and you let Stephen alone?? And never interacted with him like you did with Carter??? Wtf Uatu at this point you're only a Carter fanboy ?? You deserve better too!!!!

They are a thousand of plot hole that I'm tired to see... the "magic armor", the bad guy who keep all the vilain/hero alive into the same place "I don't see what bad can happened?", the vilain suddenly becoming stupid and less powerfull for no reason. Like... you have the time stone from the beguining??? As I said before the "sidekick color character", the non respect of fan like... poor Killmonger's fan here. The no used fanservice. Like, it's cool to see cowboy Loki and ThorHulk... but they are no use here. The characters who suddenly all became Clowny Ironman style. Like Stephen made jokes and have a funny side into the first season but it's around Party Thor who has the power to bring fun around him, or when he's less confident to hide his insecurity here he's just... funny all the time for no reason. Same for Carter here. The five years old dial like Peggy having fun of Stephen's cape and him having fun of her British flag... guys what are you?? Children??

I'm so sad to only have Carter at the end and no mention to the guardian of the multivers here?? Like... imagine the drama of the whole team against their old friend! And the perfect way to show her more powerfull power is her leadership, not throwing shield to ppl head.

Yeah as a conclusion I totally can accept one or two mistake like this... but here it's only making out of the show, feeling nothing for the character. The total opposite of the first season. I totally understand WHY it's that bad. I feel they've got less money, less time, less freedom. Than disney were behind they're backs like "we need to sell Carter action model, nothing else." But it's easy to say it's only Disney fault. I personnally put the fault on the writers and director's shoulders. Pushing a Captain Carter without thinking "why" she is a good character. That's the biggest mystake of the second season.

#what if #what if marvel #what if...?#spoiler #spoilers #review #salted one #long post

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sabrondabrainrot · 1 month

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I finished the 87 series as a whole (except the European vacay season like I can't find it anywhere) and want to cry!!! My boys!!! I can't believe it's done!!!

What an awesome show. I might have to rewatch it just to write down more notes and thoughts. ;)

Anyways here's some headcanons about my sweet 87 boys and some show observations:

Hopefully with this people might give the show a chance. It's so delightful and charming. You won't be disappointed.

🐢🧡🐢💜🐢♥️🐢💙

The turtles are all basically 3-4 years old. They make tons of comments about living half their lives in a fish bowl and when Yoshi comes across them they're still babies. When they're shown mutating, they go from baby turtles to the older bipedal forms we know them by.

They're all identical sans their voices. (In the 87 show not only does April have trouble telling them apart at the beginning but so do the animators in every episode)

They all seem to possess super strength and some levels of invulnerability. Donatello in particular had a multiple story brick building dropped on him, which he just walked off. They've all shown varying skills such as bending metal with their bare hands. Raphael as a practical joke in one episode picks up a couch and hurls it at Donatello just to be smartass. Leonardo cuts metal like tinfoil.

They still think of themselves as turtles first and foremost, so they don't refer to each other as brothers. (despite the fact they're totally brothers) and simply address each other as friends. (They're brothers tho we all know the truth 💕)

Something not explained in the opening of the 3rd season, the turtles as babies, before they mutate, are shown with different shell patterns. While it's not obvious which turtle is which it is neat the artists went out of their way to animate each turtle with a unique pattern.

When you watch the show the amount of people and mutants that dislike the turtles is shocking. For a fun kids show made in the late 80's to mid 90's, it's basically a huge allegory to the civil rights movements and you can even take relevance to human rights movements of today.

Despite being so lovable they have only a small circle of friends. Most of those friends at some point have betrayed them too.

The boys have seen two different futures of themselves. (not counting their shared apocalypse nightmares) The first future is where they get old together in a mansion and they're heralded as heroes and everyone likes them. The second future doesn't show them but in the second future it's stated being a mutant is a crime punishable by death and all mutants are criminals regardless of deeds. This is before the red skies studio era of writing. That's before it's supposed to get edgy.

They all are highly intelligent. They can each pilot every vehicle ever present in the show despite none of them having a formal education, license, or understanding of the rules of the road. Michelangelo in particular seems to have a knack for US fighter jets.

In season 7 episode 11, titled "Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter!" We meet two new mutants named Rahzar and Tokka. They're a gay couple. You don't believe me? Go watch the episode. I'm not pulling your leg. I swear. I promise. It's a good episode go watch it.

Master Splinter calls them his sons. He also calls Carter, his newest student, son occasionally too. It's his term of endearment.

The turtles in this version are known to get sick pretty regularly. (probably because of their still developing immune systems). They always get sick as a group and they totally soak up the pampering.

They in the first season share a 4 stack bunk bed and then after the bunk is destroyed in the season 1 finale they each get their own alcoves which they treat as their own rooms.

I didn't remember which Punk Frog said it, but one of them called Leonard and Michelangelo his Bubba which is a term of endearment for brother. The punk frogs call each other bubba too. So unlike the turtles they were either all frog brothers who mutated together or after mutating they just decided they're brothers and they also adopted the turtles as their brothers too.

Mondo Gecko seems older in this series because of his appearance but he's the same age as the turtles and actually mutated from the same ooze as them on the same day at the same time so he in 87 is like a mix of their brother and cousin? He's related regardless. (We all know the truth in our hearts)

Shredder and Krang act like a married couple who've been married too long and are on the cusp of a divorce but they've been together too long so they just keep tolerating eachother.

They all love the unhinged gross unholy pizza combos. Michaelangelo's stated combos are actually tame compared to some of the things they've eaten. One episode the boys committed to the bit so hard they ate lit candles just to mess with Michelangelo. They get pregnant sardine fudge pizza cravings at midnight. They put cereal on regular pizza for breakfast. They hate vegetables though. They literally gag when Splinter eats sushi. They refuse to eat bugs despite their turtle origins (interesting enough the Punk Frogs don't even like pizza at all first unlike them) but like they will eat out of the garbage. But not fresh handmade sushi.

They're so casual about being in public. Like they have disguises but sometimes they just go out in public as themselves. They also have so many elaborate disguises. In the first episode their first instinct to blend in was to throw on bright neon shoes, various bomber jackets, and start publicly beatboxing and breakdancing.

The turtles get called slurs by Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady. The slur in question is "Shellback" . When Donatello makes an evil clone the first thing the clone does is call him that slur. It's so funny like that's yourself. Donatello basically called himself ugly. Why is that so funny.

Shredders go to threat in the show and many other villains go to insult is to straight up threaten to eat them. Like, do none of the villains care about getting salmonella? Why do all the villains want to eat them?

Something I've noticed, they refuse to use nicknames. They only use each other's full names. It makes me wonder why? I theorize it's probably to do with the fact Master Splinter gave them their names and that's the first thing they received? It's not like they're not playful enough to use nicknames.

Despite his fatherly role in their lives, the turtle boys don't call Splinter their father and this is more than likely to do with the fact they see themselves as turtles and know they have turtle parents. (Again we know the truth)

April in this show is an adrenaline junky. She's also a child endangerer. She's helped save the day a lot but she would much rather the world burn so she can film it as her next big scoop.

The boys treat April like their mom in this show. April herself doesn't really get that. In one episode she got poison flowers and thought it was from the boys and went to "let them down gently" because she thought they romantically liked her.

April on multiple occasions reads bed time stories to them. She in one episode read the same bedtime story 4 times just because they liked it that much. She was going to read it a 5th time just for Leonardo.

When Zack, the 5th turtle, was in danger instead of helping him April shouted "What a scoop!" and filmed a child in a death trap.

Splinter believes in wholesome gaslighting in this show. He once cured three of them of permanent balloon-itis with moth balls but made up a story about how it was an ancient mythical legendary cure. Then after they were better he said it was moth balls.

April actually got fired from her job because she wouldn't badmouth the turtles on live television (also for other reasons). She focused on freelance while helping the boys on the side.

April is really bamf. She's actually saved the turtles just as much as they save her.

I just want everyone to know I love these little guys. The turtles are pure little snookie pookie baby bookies. No one knows the amount of space these silly little fictional turtles take up in my heart.

I hope maybe with more word out people might give the 1987 tmnt show a chance. It's really cute and funny. A super enjoyable time. It doesn't deserve the ragging it gets from other shows and fanbases. They're just goobers.

Thanks for reading my ramble list. :)

Also! if there's any fanfic recs please let me know I'm making a list and checking it twice ;)

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stedes-tarty-pink-robe · 8 months

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WWDITS SEASON 5 FINALE PREDICTIONS

Someone asked for bonkers predictions for tonight's episodes, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I doubt the curse of Apollo will strike me, but who knows?

- The Morrigan House is a ploy by Simon the Devious. The vamps obliviously blunder through traps meant to kill them, foiling their host's plan.

- The Guide has been intentionally sabotaging the vampires all season because the housemates destroyed her former way of life and the building she was in charge of. She could have forgiven them if they gave her a new purpose as their friend, but since they're ignoring her, she will become their nightmare instead. She previously hexed Nadja, tried to get Guillermo killed and threw shade at Laszlo's book organization to cause him to hyperfixate.

- Guillermo's been kidnapped but Nandor is too stupid to realize it and thinks he returned to Panera Bread. While he's gone, Nandor can't stop seeing Guillermo everwhere. That rat looks like Guillermo. That bird-frog looks like Guillermo...

- The vamps will comb every Panera Bread, and fortunately for them, Guillermo's kidnapper is dumb enough to keep him at a Panera Bread in Little Antipaxos. Nadja finds out from her diner friends.

- When Nandor finally finds out, everyone tries to take the blame for turning Guillermo. Like Spartacus style. Laszlo, Nadja and even Colin because he didn't want to feel left out. They then try to convince Nandor it was a communal turning of a communal familiar so no one needs to kill anyone else today, but Nandor doesn't believe them. Not because what they say is physically impossible on multiple levels, but because ...

- Guillermo cannot fully change because Nandor made a wish that Guillermo would never be a vampire yet will remain with Nandor. This leads to yet another emotionally cathartic fight between the two. Each accuses the other of using them. The fight only defuses when they see clips from the documentary of the other being mushy about them when they're not around.

- Nandor uses his last wish to make Guillermo a full vampire thus Nandor technically turned Guillermo and doesn't have to kill him. This can't be a completely happy ending so it's Nandor's turn to run away from things he'd rather not deal with, leaving Guillermo behind.

- Guillermo is confident he can track Nandor down. He's still a vampire hunter, after all, and Nandor isn't the brightest prey.

- Laszlo creates a couple of Guide-raven hybrids, so the Guide will always have company. Laszlo is happy his science has worked for once. He ignores the TV reports about the increasing number of Guillermo hybrid sightings around New York.

- Nadja is happy that no hex means she's free to be mean again. She and Dollie go on an insult bender.

- Derek used the money Guillermo paid him to bribe other vampires into talking him up, so now he's considered a cool and legendary vampire. Bonus points if a jealous Nandor is there to call him a fucking guy.

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits theory #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #nadja of antipaxos #laszlo cravensworth #wwdits the guide #season 5 finale speculation

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twinsunstars · 2 months

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Thoughts on The Bad Batch Episode 1 - Confined - A Discussion Post

I was not ready for the premiere at all. Started crying even before I turned on the first episode. The recap broke my heart.

The Bad Batch's final season is finally here, and there were a lot of emotions flowing through with the premiere of three episodes. I'm going to do each episode one at a time with each having their own discussion post whenever we have a day with more than one episode. Let's look back once again on the first episode!

(SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE PREMIERE EPISODES YET!)

Omega's new life and daily routine is something she is trying to adjust to, and she eventually does since she does the same things every day. She makes tally marks on her cell's wall, counting the days.

She has Emerie with her all the time, and Emerie is completely fine with her life here. I wonder if Emerie will recognize all of the wrong things here soon. I also had a thought of Emerie potentially being brainwashed in some way, but I'm not sure.

Something I keep wondering is if the other female assistants around are also clones. I feel like they aren't, but there's a potential.

Omega's blood sample kept being taken, and Nala Se continued to destroy them. I wonder what is in Omega's blood specifically that she keeps destroying them to make sure it is not tested. Nala Se also said "M-count", which means midichlorian count, right? What does that mean for Omega?

I love how Omega has a new friend and pet, and she named it Batcher, which I find adorable. She keeps giving her most of the chicken nuggets she gets for her food, and I wonder how much Omega is actually eating.

Omega had made herself a Lula out of the hay from the room with the lurca hounds, making something for her to have company in her cell. Her cell is nothing like her room on the Batch's ship, and I hope she's getting sleep at least.

Omega carves out time to meet Crosshair in her daily routine, as Crosshair is stuck in a cell, exhausted. He has no intention of escaping, while Omega continues to have hope for an escape plan. Crosshair's hand begins to shake, and I either feel like its a result of his trauma, or Hemlock did something to him.

The other clones also looked so sad and tired, and it broke me to see them this way. They are no longer soldiers, and they can't be free.

Time passes, and Omega's hair has grown longer, some of it hanging freely with a tiny ponytail in the back. She's getting so big, and it hurts. The tally marks have grown, and she looks like she's lost hope.

Batcher was set for termination after getting hurt, even despite Omega's efforts to help heal her on her own. Omega fights the droid who tries to stop her and letting Batcher free, only to get caught by Hemlock and Emerie. Her fighting skills are coming in handy.

Omega is returned to her cell, wanting to be alone. Emerie returns the hay Lula she had made to Omega after it was taken, giving back her the only thing that helps her be a kid. She hears Batcher roar in the distance, staring out the window, and I can see so much sadness in her eyes.

This premiere broke me, and I wasn't ready for how fast Omega was getting bigger. Crosshair looked so done and hopeless, and he is just broken. This episode was just pain.

#star wars #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch #the bad batch season 3 spoilers #the bad batch omega #the bad batch crosshair #the bad batch series #the bad batch season 3 #emerie karr #royce hemlock #nala se #tbb

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total-drama-takes-takes-2 · 7 months

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tta episode 11

“Last time, on Total Takes Action: we gave our final five a little break from their torture-packed schedule with a mockumentary-styled interview. Fortunately for the ratings, this didn’t stop a second of the drama or the pain! Scary enlisted Max’s help reviewing her mysterious 'evidentiary' notes, Peter and O bonded over being total pushovers, and Scruffy learned about their old “friend” Julia’s new relationship with former contestant Patrick. In the end, Peter stood up to Scary, but it was Max who took the most epic ride home yet after he was blown sky-high, a la minefield. Will Scruffy ever stop sobbing in the confessional? Will Scary be able to rewrite her notes in time for the season finale? Find out here, on Total! Takes! Action!”

The birds are chirping, the butterflies are dancing in the crisp morning air, a blanket of fresh dew lines the grass around the film lot trailers. By all means, it’s a beautiful morning, but there’s an air of tension.

Peter nervously pokes his head outside the boy’s trailer, looking from side to side before nervously tiptoe-ing out. Every step he takes is delicate and tiny, barely even disturbing the dew drops on the blades of grass around him.

He makes it about half-way to the craft services tent before O hollers from the trailer behind him: “Hey, what’re you doing?”

Peter winces and turns to shush him.

“Oh, right!” O says, and then immediately drops his voice to a whisper. “I mean, oh right. Well, wait up!”

The much taller boy ducks back inside the trailer and comes dressed in seconds. He jogs over to where Peter is and the two walk to the craft services tent together.

---

O: “Peter’s been pretty tense about destroying Scary’s notes. We haven’t seen her in a few days, so I’m assuming she’s trying to put them back together, and after that, she’s probably going to kill Peter. So, I’ve been upgraded from therapist to friend to bodyguard!"

---

The two take a seat at the table inside, looking around to make sure they’re truly alone. Once O gives a thumbs up, Peter releases a long sigh and slouches.

“Any sign of Scruffy?” Peter asks. “Scary might be tailing them for help.”

“Nah, Scruffy’s been a lost cause for weeks now, and they’re just getting worse,” O shakes his head sadly. “The news from the aftermath was the final straw that broke the camel’s back…”

The two hear huffing as Scruffy runs a lap around the craft services tent, red-faced and sweaty. “Six hundred and fifty-nine!” they shout. Their voice fades out until they circle it again. “Six hundred and sixty!”

Peter and O look at each other nervously.

---

SCRUFFY: “I spent the last four days crying in bed, sure, but after my 64th consecutive hour without showering, it dawned on me: Julia only… “allied herself” with Patrick as motivation for me! She must be watching my pathetic performance and is cheering me on from the sidelines! She has a special way of doing things,” they sigh happily.

---

“Attention, campers! That’s ‘roight, mates! It’s outback time! Meet me at tha desert set in ten!”

Peter quivers and O tries to pat his shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be fine. Scary won’t try anything while I’m here!”

“Yes, she will,”

O sighs. “Yes, she will,”

---

The four remaining players stand lined up in front of Chris as he saunters around in a khaki suit and a cowboy hat. Peter is on one end of the line, barricaded by O, who’s next to Scruffy (currently doing 800 pushups on the ground), who’s next to a bored-looking Scary.

“Welcome to your next challenge- the Australian western! Also commonly known as a meat pie western, this all-Americana genre has been taken from the dusty deserts of Arizona and Nevada to the dusty deserts of the outback,” Chris explains, smiling widely. “You’ll be competing in a number of Australian-themed western challenges. Winner gets immunity, everyone else on the chopping block, blah blah. Follow me!”

The campers look at each other for a brief moment before walking deeper into the set.

Peter fans his face. “Is it just me, or is it hotter now?”

“Not just you,” O wheezes. “It’s like the sun got bigger, somehow.”

“Fancy fluorescent lighting,” Chris shouts. “We’re technically still indoors right now- it’s like a greenhouse in here!”

The campers groan, aside from Scruffy, who’s doing front-rolls to keep up with the group. They finally stop at an empty corral, where Chef is repainting some blood-spattered fence.

“Welcome to your first challenge- kangaroo lasso-ing! Each of you lousy cowboys will get five lassos- that’s five chances to wrangle a ‘roo! I’m sure you can pick it up from here…”

Scary sighs dejectedly, and speaks in a monotone voice. “Whoever wrangles the most kangaroos wins this portion of the challenge,”

“And don’t forget that these guys pack a powerful punch,” Chris chuckles. “It’s basically like trying to hold an MMA fighter with dental floss. Good luck!” he turns as Chef sets down the paint and brush. “Lemonade and the pool?”

Chef grins. “About time,”

The two walk off, leaving the campers behind.

“Is it just me, or is Chris totally MIA this season?” O asks. “I feel like half of these challenges he just walks off to go eat hor d'oeuvres.”

“Yeah. There was a reason for that, let me see…” Scary starts. “Oh, right! That’s gone now! Along with all my other notes!”

Peter winces and O looks between the two nervously, but Scary eventually calms down and sighs. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with,”

Scruffy is the first to jog over to the color-coded ropes, grabbing their green lassos and hopping the fence into the corral. “Where are they?” they shout, grinning. “Bring ‘em at me! I’m ready!”

A loud mechanically whir starts and they brace themselves, grounding their stance as a large door connected to a barn opens and a few docile-looking ‘roos step out. They hop around merrily, sniffing flowers growing between the cracks of the set and resting.

“Really?” Scruffy asks, relaxing their stance. “Okay, Chris, you sneaky little so-and-so. I see your game!”

O blinks. “Are they okay?”

Scary mumbles something indistinct and walks off.

Scruffy bounds up to one of the ‘roos and gets in a fighting stance, putting their fists up. “What are they? Radioactive? Robots? Come on, let me have it!”

Chris’ voice blares over the intercom. “They’re normal kangaroos, dude,”

“Ha! As if! Let me guess, one of them has a bomb strapped to it?” Scruffy asks, turning to one and holding up its tail. “Or-” they bound to another and peer in its pouch. “One of them is a bomb?”

They look up from the pouch to see a very unamused kangaroo, and then receive a very swift punch to the face, sending them flying out of the corral.

The campers outside of the fence watch in horror (except for Scary, who’s filing her nails). Peter and O back away.

Finally, Scary sighs. “Fine, let’s get this over with,”

She steps into the corral casually, holding her purple ropes over her shoulder. Peter and O watch in anticipation as she approaches a kangaroo slowly, then…

“Eh,” she says weakly, tossing the rope over the roo’s head. They walk around the corral, half-heartedly throwing ropes over roos.

Finally, they turn back. “Are any of you going to try or is this national gawking day?”

Peter and O look between each other and then nervously enter the fenced-in space, holding their ropes and looking between each other.

“Is this some kind of trick?” Peter asks.

“Chris already said… oh, you mean, me?” Scary chuckles. “No. I’m not going to hurt you, Peter.”

He sighs a breath of relief. “You’re not mad?”

“Oh, no. I’m furious. But what’s done is done, and there’s no logical way I can get my work back now. Might as well…” she sighs, looking back to the Scruffy-shaped indent in the sand a few meters away. “...Play… the game…”

“Well… okay then!” O shouts merrily, jogging off. “Good luck, Peter!”

---

O: “I guess my problem is that… Well, people expect unconditional support from me, but everything has conditions! My therapist, Dr. Anderson, is my only friend, and I have to pay her $120 per session! That’s just how people work!”

---

Peter watches nervously as O begins corralling his own kangaroos, taking the same gentle approach as Scary.

Scruffy peels themselves off the sand-covered floor a few meters back and limps over to the corral again, weakly dragging their lasso behind them.

“Um, dude, you might want to go to the medical tent,” O says, tossing another rope over a docile ‘roo. “You’re not looking too great.”

“I don’t need your help. I don’t need anyone’s help!” Scruffy snaps. “I have… to prove… my worth…”

O shakes his head sadly.

---

O: “I keep trying to help Scruffy, and they keep pushing back. They’re bottling up their emotions big-time,” he nods knowingly.

---

Scary sighs, tossing her last lasso over a docile kangaroo and walking back to the front of the pen. Chris’ voice blares over the intercom:

“And Scary wins! If everyone would please meet me on the south side of the lot…”

---

The campers stand beside each other, most at least a meter apart from the next person. Chris saunters over, still in those terrible khaki shorts, and grins.

“This next- and final- part of the challenge is gonna be a real doozy for you folks,” Chris explains. “Does anyone know how long it takes to travel from one end of the film lot to another on foot?”

Everyone turns to Scary, who stares blankly back. Finally, Scruffy clears their throat. “Thirty minutes,”

“Correct. Now, does anyone know how long that’d be on horseback, herding a rambunctious group of cows?”

Chef emerges from around the corner, leading a group of 50 or so milking cows atop a brown horse.

“This challenge will require two things you dudes are majorly lacking on- morale and cooperation. No one will be getting invincibility tonight, so you’ll all have an equal chance to win… or lose! Haha. Your goal is to herd these cows from one end of the “outback” to the other- as a team!”

The players groan and look between each other as Chef brings out four horses. One whinnies and takes a dump on the asphalt.

---

SCARY: “And then, something just broke inside of me, and I realized: I have no reason to be here! My notes- gone. My lawsuit- gone. No one will ever believe me… I’d need to call in a few favors, but I can’t do that here…”

---

The four remaining troopers sit atop their respective horses, traversing through the film lot. Peter seems incredibly nervous, barely balancing on his steed as if he’s afraid sitting on it will kill him.

O is grumbling to himself, scratching his ear and watching Scruffy recite wilderness survival tips under their breath from up ahead. Scary is lying on their horse, face down on its back as it guides itself.

“How long has it been?” O shouts up to Scruffy.

“Ten minutes!” they shout back, leading the group. Despite this, the sun is already setting over the set.

“G-guys… I think mine hates me,” Peter whimpers. His horse stops to buck a little and he screams in terror.

“Chill, dude. Animals can read emotions like that,” O snaps his fingers. “If you’re calm, they’re calm. Wanna do some breathing exercises?”

Peter sighs shakily. “...Okay,”

Before O can speak again, a nearby howling catches everyone’s attention (aside from Scary, who, much like a corpse, doesn’t budge).

“...What was that?” Peter finally breaks the silence with a hoarse whisper.

“This challenge is supposed to be Australian themed… right?” Scruffy taps his chin. “So those must be-”

A pack of dingoes springs out from behind a set piece, barking and gnashing their teeth. Peter shrieks in terror as one leaps up, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, and carries him off.

“The dingo’s got my Peter!” O shouts in terror as the pack disappears.

“Who cares?” Scary grumbles.

Chris’ voice blares over the intercom, feedback whining. “Reminder to all contestants, all four of you must cross the finish line to win the challenge,”

Scary sits up and groans, stretching. Scruffy and O look between each other.

“I’ll go,” O says. “None of you even care about other people, anyway.”

“I don’t think you should, you’ll slow us down. You’re not equipped to handle the stress of this competition!” Scruffy points at him. “I’ll go!”

“No, way! You don’t care about anyone but yourself!”

“Both of you, SHUT UP!” Scary shouts. It's the loudest he's been all week, and the remaining two look at her in terror as she steers her horse off. “I’m going! I have nothing left to lose anyway, right?” she glares. O shrinks in on himself.

---

Scary’s horse trots through the set, dotted with green trees and red rocks in every unfitting location. As they move through the city set, they roll their eyes at the elaborate Australian-themed decorations.

---

SCARY: “I’m at an impasse right now- I could follow Scruffy’s simpleton advice and continue in the show, try to recollect enough evidence to take Chris to court, or… I could…” they shiver. “...Ask for help from an outside source…”

---

A distant howling catches their attention and the horse whinnies and backs up, much to Scary’s vague annoyance. They dig their heels in its sides and press forward.

“Come on, you’re at least six times their size!” she grumbles, coaxing the nervous horse ahead. “I’ve dealt with worse! At least you’re getting good meals.”

The two round the corner and stop at the entrance of the maze from prior challenges. Scary sighs and hops off the horse. “Stay here,” they instruct. The horse immediately neighs and bolts in the opposite direction.

She smacks her palm to her forehead. “Why did I think that would work?”

---

SCARY: “I feel like… I don’t know, I feel like I’m coming undone…” Scary coughs. There are heavy bags under their eyes and their skin is even paler. “So tired…”

---

Scary wanders through the maze without any sense of urgency, casually strolling with his hands in his lab coat pockets. He yawns and stumbles a bit before righting himself and pressing on.

A round of distant barks come into earshot and he shivers, pressing forward. After rounding another corner, they see Peter cornered in the back of the maze, holding out a stick and poking at a pack of dingoes. One of them gnashes its teeth at him and he jabs the twig at it, earning itself a nudge from the dull end of the wood. Peter screams in terror at the barks. Scary rolls her eyes.

“Scary!” Peter trembles. “H-help!”

Scary scoffs. “You should be so lucky. After ruining my chances? I just wanted to watch you get eaten before I…” they pause. “Never mind.”

Peter looks up for a second and notices Scary’s disheveled state. He frowns. “Are you okay?”

“What do you care?”

“Well, you look sick,” Peter says gently. “We need to get you back to the medical tent.”

“I’m fine,” they growl. “Just shut up and get eaten quietly!”

One of the dingoes snaps its jaws at her and she growls back. It whimpers and retreats.

“I’m only trying to help!” he insists, waving the stick around. “You don’t have to be so mean all the time!”

Scary coughs loudly. “I don’t need help!”

“Okay, fine!” Peter shouts. “If you go back to the medical tent, I’ll vote myself off tonight so you can stay and… study… or whatever you do.”

Scary looks up from her nails (which she was absent-mindedly picking at moments before) with a slightly amused, slightly surprised expression under her pale skin and eyebags. “Really?” she chuckles. “You’d really give up your precious competition for someone you hate?”

“I never hated you! I don’t hate anyone!” Peter insists again, looking up. “I’m just mad- mad doesn’t mean hate!”

She blinks, still amused. “Huh. But we’re not friends,”

“You don’t have to be friends, or even like someone to care about them,” he says. “Haven’t you ever had anyone who you cared about?”

This seems to strike a nerve with Scary- she turns red and braces herself to shout, but just as Peter covers his face in anticipation, a hand wraps around his arm and pulls him away from the dingoes. Scary carries him on her back out of the maze, jogging.

Her breaths are ragged and her eyes are drooping as she runs through set.

“Let me walk! You’re too weak to-”

“Shut up and accept my favor!” Scary wheezes. Peter does as told.

They make it to the cityscape before hearing shouts. Scary finally slows and drops to the ground, collapsing, too weak to go on. Peter slides off her back, and, with great effort, pulls her onto him, then continues. The shouts become clearer.

“Help! Scary!”

“Anyone out there!”

“HELP US!”

“This is a really inspired challenge, Chris, I gotta say-”

“Scruffy, SHUT UP!”

Peter rounds the corner and shrieks in terror. Two massive, man-sized spiders have Scruffy and O wrapped up in webs, suspending them in midair right before the finish line. The herd of cows is already beyond the checkered flag, leaving everyone only seconds away from completing the challenge.

"Well, this is certainly Australian, isn't it?" Scary grumbles.

Peter stops and Scary slides off his back, collapsing on the ground.

“Peter! Help!” O shouts.

“I-I don’t know what to do!”

Scruffy chuckles confidently. “Heh, don’t worry. I’ll get us out of this!” they struggle a bit against the webs. Nothing happens. “This’ll work eventually.”

“Idiot,” Scary mumbles, her face on the pavement.

“What’s wrong with her?” O asks, raising an eyebrow.

Peter babbles, stumbling over his words. Finally, Scary sighs and tries to stand before collapsing again.

“Okay, whatever. Just help us down!”

The spiders click their pincers at him, crawling around their massive expanse of webs. Scruffy makes a joke about Australia before being completely mummified in webs.

“I- what do I do? I can’t!” Peter hyperventilates, shaking.

“Peter,” a small voice says. He looks down to Scary on the ground. She wheezes and shakes, her arms quivering. Finally- she extends her hand and gives him a big thumbs-up. “You got this.”

Peter stops shaking and looks at her, then smiles brightly. “I-I got this,”

“You can figure it out,” she coughs. “I... believe in you.”

Peter puts on a serious look, salutes, and begins running steadfast into the webs, just before catching a glimpse of the massive spiders again and screaming and flailing his arms around. His right ankle catches on a loose end of web and he trips and falls, skidding across the asphalt and dragging the web with him. The entire structure unravels, collapsing. The spiders fall first, and then O and Scruffy fall on top of them.

O manages to wiggle out of his binds and helps Scruffy out of theirs before scooping them, Scary, and Peter up and weakly dragging them all across the finish line, huffing.

The intercom crackles to life. “Congratulations, final four! Your challenge is officially over!”

The four groan.

---

A medical helicopter takes off, carrying someone in it, out of the game. The camera pans down to the final three (only having suffered minor injuries).

Peter, Scruffy, and O wave to the helicopter as it disappears, and Chris salutes it with a grin. “See ya never!” he chuckles, walking off and dusting off his hands as if he just closed a deal.

The final three look between each other with blank stares.

---

Scary, now ghostly pale from her skin to her now-white hair, lies on a cot inside the vehicle as it soars through the cityscape. A few medics rush around her, taking her vitals and trying to determine a cause.

Finally, she holds out an arm and weakly extends her hand. “Phone,”

“Mx., we can’t-”

“It’s important,” she snaps. “If I die before I make this call, my people will personally see to it that you never set foot in a hospital again.”

The medic rolls his eyes and hands her a satellite phone. She dials a number and holds it to her ear. “I’d like to make a collect call to the Open Spaces, Toronto Chapter,”

#tta #total takes action

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ridiculous-disaster · 10 months

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Anyone wants to hear a rant about why Zoe should be a twist villain?, no. I don’t care I’m going to rant about it anyway.

I don’t care how nice she is, Zoe should be a twist villain.

Now I know what I’m saying might sound ludicrous, but hear me out.

So in order to explain why I think this I have to bring up a few points. Some will be familiar as I have said them before and some will be new. Let’s tackle the minors first. Most of these have already been mentioned in earlier posts.

1. She is literally vesperia, if translated from French it means wasp. What was Chloe when she was aqumatized? A wasp, if the wielder’s outfit reflects who they are then it would make sense that she is a villain, a wasp is an angry sun condensed into a insect mold. They sometimes sting for no reason, they are a pain in the skin. They will sting because the stinger doesn’t detach and they don’t die. And they don’t even have the positive of their puke being delicious. They are at most pest control. If this truly is a reflection of Zoe then she should be evil. (The pest thing kinda makes sense from a certain angle, Tomas considers Chloe as pest).

2.she is an actress who has previously been lying about who she is, she claims they she pretended to be someone else at her old school but then got bullied when she revealed herself (also can’t really blame her classmates for bullying her, imagine if one of your closest friends suddenly revealed they she was faking everything including her personality, I’d be pissed if that happened). If my theory is true then she could have just made it up to sound sympathetic, which would explain why she drops her backstory within five minutes of us meeting her. She wants the others in class to sympathize with her and having a sad backstory is a great way to get sympathy. Zoe probably knows that she is an actress after all, so she should know what a theater audience finds sympathetic. She is also that sickly sweet that only a made up character can be. Now you may be thinking what about the writing on her shoe, well she could have just written that herself, we only get to see her write numbers in the show so it could be her handwriting Also She outright lies in the show itself she also shows no remorse for Chloe, the person she lied to. Through the entire season she shows no remorse for making her sister believe that her mother cared for her when it was a lie. Taken from a script.

3. Her entrance (I know that the actual reason is that she was pulled out of the eather, but stick with me) it was sudden. She might have seen an opportunity. Her half sister just revealed every temp hero’s identity and has probably fallen so far out of ladybugs grace that she won’t ever have the bee again. So she decides to swoop in immediately afterwards in hopes of getting a miraculous. If Chloe and most of her classmates got one then it’s reasonable too assume that the person giving miraculouses out is also in that class. So she infiltrates the class and makes friends with everyone in hopes of getting a miraculous. And it works she has the bee. If the show did what I wanted it to do now then it would reveal her to be a villain somewhere in season 6. Preferably a little before the middle of the season so the ramifications of her twistiness can be felt. But season finale works too. As long as it’s continuing for the next season.

Now we get to who I think this is a good idea. Simple, the show has shown to have no kwams destroying characters to make a message (cough cough, Chloe). But unlike Chloe this actually has hints to why it would happen. Have the message be that you can’t be too trusting of people. Zoe’s marysue-ness gave her an miraculous in the second episode she was in. Marinette trusted her so quickly without even spending any time with her to get a feel who who she is. For all we know she could have been a demon waiting to take over the world we didn’t know anything about her.

This would also add drama not connected to the love square. The show has consistently shown that Mari can do no wrong, that’s just plain stupid. But if Zoe turned out to be a villain then Mari would have to face that she misjudged someone and continuously gave a miraculous to some one who outright faked who she was. Mari would have unmistakably made an error, that could have been catastrophic.

If I got more to chose then Chloe would have a redemption ark here but they’ve already ruined two (Chloe because of writer bias and Gabriel, because again writing bias, it wasn’t organic and shouldn’t have happened in the first place, because he abuses his son and never changes).

Also while we’re at it can someone can someone call whatever the French and English version of CPS is, I can assure you that it would be better for Chloe, also is it to late to request someone beat up Andre with a metal baseball bat?

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #miraculous #mlb spoilers #zoe lee #gabriel agreste #chloe bourgeois #god I hate Zoe #why can’t we have nice things?#marrinette dupain cheng #ml ladybug #can I beat him up with a baseball bat?

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penig · 9 months

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So, on my one episode a day rewatch of Good Omens prior to the airing of Season 2, yesterday was E4, "Saturday Morning Funtime," which is a hard episode to stop at the end of btw, and some ideas I've been percolating for a long time finally brewed up.

One of the most striking things about the adaptation, and why it hooked me so hard (I'd been a fan of the book for thirty years without ever feeling a need to fic about it), is the way Aziraphale and Crowley communicate in modern day. The first two episodes adhere closely to the book. We are introduced to the archangels and Beelzebub and get views of Heaven and Hell setting up the adaptation's characterization of them as competing departments occupying the penthouse and basement, respectively, of God's vast impersonal corporation, as opposed to the original Cold War analog; but otherwise those of us who have already read the book get no new information, just the pleasure of seeing familiar material onscreen.

Then comes the E3, "Hard Times" teaser, all 30 pre-credit-rolling minutes of it, and suddenly that familiar day-long conversation in which Crowley convinced Aziraphale to work with him to balance the antichrist's influences isn't the same one anymore. Suddenly every conversation they have, every communication they make to each other, is a hundred times richer. Because now you know that they talk in code - every conversation is the sort of allusion-dense, shorthand-riddled, blank-filling communication that happens between old friends, married couples, roommates, and siblings who have private conversations in public. Once you realize that "Let's do the Ritz" is a reference to the conversation in the car in 1967 - "You said maybe one day we could dine at the Ritz. Well, time is running out for it - now or never -" and add into it the significance of the revolutionary crepes, and how shared meals operate for them - well, I for one get impatient with fanfic that claims they can't communicate, and wonder what happened with the gravlax in dill sauce that got it into the opening salvo, because you can't fit much of 6000 years into a 30 minute teaser but now I know that every single item on that list of things that'll go whooosh with the earth has its own reference point in their shared past, and every harsh-sounding attempt to parry with the regurgitation of the company line, on Aziraphale's part, is a plea: Make it possible for me to do something about this.

Every conversation is like this. Every conversation has to be like this, because of the fear of surveillance by Heaven. (Crowley's electronics can ambush him at any moment, but he clearly is on a longer leash than Aziraphale; Heaven is the one we see with pictures from the Earth Observation files and each one we see is, indeed, a picture in which they are performing their conversational Dance of Deniability in order to subvert their orders). It is also, of course, a huge convenience, as any couple who has ever won a team game by exploiting their private communication system can attest.

And then it starts to break down at the Bandstand, in the very same episode, as Aziraphale tries desperately to hang onto all his disparate loyalties, dithering and lying to everybody and trying to find a better solution that covers all the bases, including protecting Crowley from his own side. Because if Crowley kills the antichrist, or is responsible for his coming to harm, Hell will destroy him unless an equally powerful force protects him. (It annoys me to see people reading the Bandstand as Aziraphale rejecting Crowley when his agreeing to run away with him would mean abandoning Earth. A lot of things are going on at the Bandstand, but rejecting each other isn't in there, even though breaking up the team is.)

Then next episode it breaks down completely, a panicked Crowley discarding the dance in order to make a direct plea, trying to save what he can from the inevitable destruction of Earth - his car, Aziraphale, and whatever Aziraphale elects to pitch into the back seat. (Of course he intended to drive his car to Alpha Centauri.) No codes, no tempting, none of his serpentine subtlety: he sees Aziraphale on the street outside his shop, screeches to a halt, and leaps out making his pitch for escape. And what does he lead with? An apology.

But Crowley never apologizes.

He never acknowledges responsibility.

Oh, sure, he "exaggerates in memos to head office." He claims credit for all sorts of evil deeds that he may or may not have had any hand in, and accepts his commendations. But from literal Day 1 he is deflecting his responsibility for anything happens, when he talks to Aziraphale; it's the very first element of the conversational dance established. If God didn't want the humans to eat the apple they shouldn't have put it on a tree in the middle of the Garden with a big "Don't Touch" sign and what's so bad about knowing the difference between Good and Evil anyway?

A lot of this excuse making is acknowledging human agency in a way that Heaven and Hell's official policies never seem to. In the "Hard Time" opening Aziraphale accuses Crowley of orchestrating the ongoing disasters in both the French Revolution and the Blitz and Crowley denies it outright - the humans thought of this themselves. In the conversation in the bookshop after Warlock's party he bemoans having been saddled with responsibility for the antichrist and makes excuses about making false claims to his bosses - the humans do these things before he can get around to tempting them, that's not his fault.

Nothing's his fault - pedestrians in London are on the street and know the risk they're taking, he didn't hit Anathema she hit him, "we lost the boy" when Aziraphale knew nothing about the delivery of the antichrist until well after the switch was complete. Before humans even enter the picture, he didn't so much fall as "saunter vaguely downward." When talking to God/himself/his empty apartment about the Fall he "only ever asked questions" and "hung around with the wrong people." Even his declining to be thanked when he does something for Aziraphale feeds into this general refusal of responsibility. He, apparently, has no agency in any of these things.

I've seen meta to the effect that, while Aziraphale lies like a rug to everybody, including Crowley, Crowley lies to everyone except Aziraphale, and that's true as far as it goes. But thanks to the code, when Aziraphale lies to Crowley (except about the location of the antichrist) he's really saying something quite different which Crowley understands, right up until the bandstand, and Crowley's excuses are also incorporated into the code. Aziraphale's accusations of wrongdoing, his pontificating about evil, "get behind me foul fiend - after you" is all ritual. A certain amount of it is probably private joking, in which Aziraphale's stern straight face is the funniest thing of all.

But what's the first thing out of Crowley's mouth in the street in front of the bookshop, surrounded by witnesses, in full view of any Heavenly or Hellish operatives who happen to be around? "I'm sorry, Angel, whatever I did, I apologize." For what? For the bandstand breakup? For being unforgivable? For being a demon, losing the antichrist, not knowing how to save the world, not tempting properly the first time he suggested running off together? You'd think what would seem to be his first ever acceptance of responsibility in 6000 years would be for something specific but nope, he just tosses it out there in the street - an apology for everything, everywhere, all at once.

You can tell the world is ending, because the Serpent of Eden is apologizing.

But Aziraphale, fresh from being mugged by archangels, in possession of truly occult knowledge, is still desperately trying to dance. He still has one last throw of the die to make before he resorts to the killing-the-antichrist-together solution that is so likely to get Crowley destroyed. So he Forgives Crowley, an apparent direct response to a direct plea, but Crowley's not dancing now, he's just desperate and for the first time ever he loses the beat and doesn't understand what Aziraphale is trying to tell him. With Crowley having disrupted the steps, it's possible that Aziraphale doesn't understand what he's trying to say, either, except that this may be the last speech of all and if that's so, he wants to give Crowley the one thing that he by definition cannot have.

Maybe he has tried to stop dancing, too, but no longer remembers how.

So they go their separate ways, Crowley to don his hazmat suit and booby trap a door, Aziraphale to call in the biggest gun of all, while Adam frightens his friends and his Dog to the point of rebellion, and the weather goes weird and everything climbs into the handbasket to go to Hell, but Shadwell rallies to save Newt (and incidentally trigger a subdisaster within the larger disaster) and Anathema decides that y'know, there's worse ways to go out than orgasms with a hapless virgin witchfinder so let's do something fun and life-affirming during the tornado like Agnes predicted, and she can sort out what the implications of that are if there's a later.

It's really hard to stop watching at the end of this episode.

I wonder if I've gotten to the bottom of those conversations yet.

#Good Omens #Season One #Saturday Morning Fun Time #non sims

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unofficialadamtaurus · 10 months

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What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂

You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)

I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.

If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.

Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.

Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.

And it falls so, so flat.

Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.

Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.

There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.

The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?

To get to the main team:

Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.

Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.

Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.

And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.

Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.

Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.

Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.

I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.

But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.

The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.

To sum up:

The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.

If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.

#anon #unofficial adam answers #rwde #there are so many little things I could go into #but then I’d never finish my answer #but yeah this is a spectacularly frustrating volume

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clueless-fan-critic · 1 year

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The Owl House Season 3 Review: Embracing Change

Season 3 of The Owl House concluded with an explosion of heartfelt emotions that no human has ever felt. Luz and her friends are sent into the Human Realm on the Day of Unity with Belos seemingly destroyed by the Collector. Now, with him/them free, the Boiling Isles just became a playground from the god child. As the three specials progress, we get to see how Luz, Eda, King, and many other characters are impacted by the story.

My overall impression was that Dana Terrace and the crew did fantastic with what they were given. This made it even more satisfying to how almost all loose ends were tied up. I loved every second of the specials right up til the end. Although that a fantastic show like the Owl House has left us, we won’t forget it for a very long time. Now, with that out of the way, I want to discuss in detail each special and what I believe their individual themes are.

Episode 1 “Thanks to Them”: Moving Forward

The first episode of Season 3 went off with bang, picking up where Season 2 ended with Luz and her friends in the Human Realm. Luz is grappling with the guilt of unintentionally helping Belos find the Collector while Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus adapt to their new settings.

What I love about this special is how the gang adapts to the Human Realm with Hunter thriving to become himself while Luz struggles with her own guilt. We get to see some levity for the gang before jumping back into the realm of chaos that will eventually come. Willow, Amity, and Gus acknowledge that their friendship took time to get there, implying their past experiences before. Halloween itself plays a roll in how we, as the audience, gets more backstory to Caleb and Phillip in the 1600s and their encounter with Evelyn. The holiday also has significance with how it’s a time where the veil between different worlds is at their weakest, thus playing into the gang finding a portal back to the Demon Realm.

Hunter has the most development with him finally accepting himself as his own person (due to being a Grimwalker) while letting people into his life. His confrontation with Belos possessing him makes more impactful about how he wants to learn to carve Palisman and be a normal student at Hexside. I liked that Hunter was given more agency to his character and flesh out how he’s adapting to his life outside of Belos’ influence.

Camilla gets more context to her reasons for sending Luz off to camp as she wanted to encourage Luz’s more eccentric traits, but felt that the people around her didn’t have their best interests at heart. In the flashbacks, it was revealed that the principle influenced her decision by bringing up that she had a hard time growing up and fitting in.

Luz’s guilt and trauma over what happened during the Day of Unity doesn’t exactly hinder her ability to enjoy her time in the Human Realm. In fact, she even teaches Camilla what she learned about Glyphs. But, she feels that she’s undeserving of her happiness and keeps messing things up. This prompted her decision to stay behind on Halloween. This is pushed aside when her friends encourage her to come with them to stop Belos. While not immediate, Luz does develop to overcome her trauma and not let that define what she does.

Overall, “Thanks to Them” was a fascinating and lovely beginning to the end of Season 3 and made me excited for what would happen next.

Episode 2 “For the Future”: Understanding Yourself

The gang returns to the Boiling Isles as the Collector “plays” with the residents as puppets while Belos tries to regain his strength. They are still reeling the previous events of “Thanks to Them” and still figuring out what happened with the Collector and the aftermath of the Day of Unity. We discover that the Collector is playing out “the Owl House” with King as a game of pretend using people transformed into life-sized toys. The gang find refuge in Hexside with other students under the command of Boscha manipulated by Kikimura. Belos is scrambling for a host to possess, resulting in taking control of Raine and manipulating the Collector once more. We get a cliffhanger with the gang reaching the Titan’s skull, Luz getting her Palisman, and the Collector starting a new “game.”

King and the Collector both stand out in this special as two different characters with almost identical lives as the children of god-like beings who grew up alone. Unlike the Collector, King found his own family in Eda and Luz, growing more mature and understanding before and after finding out his origins as a Titan. Now he wants to try reasoning with the Collector into freeing the people and without violence.

There are good moments of character growth from various characters like Amity choosing her own path against what Boscha wants her to be and Hunter learning to open up about how he feels. Also, Willow gets some growth (plant pun, ha) to becoming more open with her feelings after bottling her emotions for the sake of staying strong for the group.

Finally, we get to see Eda Clawthorne after recovering from her Owl Beast form as she trapped in the Collector’s castle by the Coven Heads as toys while reeling from Luz leaving the Demon Realm. She doesn’t have a lot to do, but it’s great to see her after a long time.

What I felt was pretty underwhelming were some characters like Odalia being a caretaker for King and the Collector, and even the main antagonist Kikimura felt like a one-off bad guy. I would of liked to see more exchanges between Kikimura and the gang about the state of the Coven system and Belos’ reveal as a witch hunter. Like Kikimura still wants to follow the system blindly and make herself the new emperor in spite of its failings, while the gang make their arguments against it.

Luz finally learns to overcome her guilt by having a heart-to-heart with her mother Camilla about how Camilla was much like Luz as a teen but wanted her to grow up without being bullied. This finally allows her Palisman to emerge from their egg after Luz realizes that she wanted to be understood for who she was and have someone know this and embrace her, flaws and all.

Sure, “For the Future” wasn’t the best overall, but it does get the ball rolling. Now, we finally reached the point of no return. Let’s talk about the final special and episode of The Owl House “Watching and Dreaming”.

Episode 3 “Watching and Dreaming”: Embracing the Future

Luz Noceda must face her greatest challenge as Belos possesses the Titan to destroy the Isles once and for all in the final special and episode of the series. Luz, Eda, and King are trapped by the Collector in nightmares surrounding their fears and guilt, but are freed because of the Light Glyph. We get a sort of victory lap around the Boiling Isles as Luz, Eda, and King show the Collector the places that hold the most significance in their lives while teaching him about making friends. Luz is killed and then revived as Titan Luz by the Titan themselves and defeats Belos once and for all. After a time jump, Luz is attending the University of Wild Magic in the Demon Realm with Eda as headmaster, as well as a glimpse into everyone’s lives as they gather for Luz’s King-ceanera. One final scene ends with the entire party saying “Byyyyeee” to the Collector and the audience.

One of the more impactful scenes comes from Luz’s nightmare created by the Collector when each of her friends tells her off about being the villain and everything happening to them was her fault. The ones that hurt the most was Gus saying Luz is a hypocrite for getting her back to the Human Realm while their families are missing and Hunter for how Luz got a Palisman while he lost his own. These details seem like the kind of ideas in Luz’s mind that she make herself feel guilty over. I liked the part that Luz recognizes the trick by hearing “Witch’s Battle” instead of “Witch’s Duel” to cement her fan girl nature of spotting small details from the Good Witch Azura.

Another scene is when Luz, Eda, and King tell the Collector about how they’ve felt alone, abandoned, and misunderstood, but now want to show him how they became friends and a family. They lead him all over the Boiling Isles to have him understand how to make friends without forcing people. First to the Owl House where Luz tells the Collector about meeting her friends and then to the Knee where Luz connected with the Titan. She finally tells him that people are complex and need some kindness and forgiveness. I liked that she tries to teach the Collector about her time because it really did make a great deal of change within her.

The Collector gets major development as we find out he doesn’t understand the concept of death and is using the games he plays as a way to “pretend” to have friends who won’t lie or trick him. Luz taught him about empathy and understanding in order to make friends, only to fail with Belos killing Luz. This leads up to The Collector finally understanding what he’s done as he breaks down in tears while Eda and King turn monstrous from grief. He tries to make up for it by saving the gang in the castle from falling. In the end, he returns to space in order to “grow up” but not before a farewell gift from King.

I loved that Raine Whispers gets a much more significant role in the final special by breaking free from Belos’ possession, trying to stop him, and as a part of the team who takes out Belos. This is great for nonbinary representation to go beyond and become more than just flat cutouts and more fleshed out.

We finally meet the "King and Queen, best of both things” themselves Papa Titan when Luz ends up in the In-Between realm. They explain to Luz, thinking she’s just like Belos, that their feelings to protect their families are genuine while Belos’ desire to save humanity stems from his need of control.

The final death of Belos caught my attention because he does the exact same tactics of manipulating people into getting what he wants and Luz basically being done with his games. This gives us that Belos hasn’t even tried changing his tactics even on the brink of death. We are also treated to the best scene with Eda, King, and Raine curb-stomping Belos to death, treating his death less epic and more hilarious.

“Watching and Dreaming“ was an epic series finale, the animation, story, and characters just flowed almost perfectly with a few nitpicks like the Light Glyph Deus Ex Machina. It almost felt like something that was part of an episode between specials. But that’s nothing with the incredible finale we got out of it.

Conclusion

After watching all of the season, The Owl House gave an uplifting end to its run. The ending was a perfect sendoff to all that Dana Terrace and her team did for the show and what it has given us as an audience. The animation was a major treat with Titan Luz fighting Belos with all the flashy blasts and the smoothness of the movements. That wouldn’t matter if the story wasn’t almost flawless with everything that happened behind the scenes, which is honestly a miracle with most shows that ended abruptly. Most of the characters feel as if they came full circle in their development. I loved every moment of this show (with some exceptions but that’s not important) and hoped for another show like this in the future as an example for years to come.

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theprinceandthewitch · 2 years

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Not to be mean or anything... but when I see people compare Luz to Caleb and think Evelyn and Caleb are supposed to be about Lumity I tab out immediately.

The parallels between Caleb and Luz don't work; and Lumity isn't Caleb+Evelyn because

Hunter is a clone of Caleb and is the only Grimwalker who looks the most like him. Hunter and the GG's are tied to Caleb whether or not they like it or are even aware of it. Their lives and deaths have always been determined by what Philip believes his brother should have been - a fellow witch-hunter who would never abandon him for the evil he wants to destroy.

2. Caleb is an orphan. The only remaining family member is his brother Philip. Before Hunter knew the truth of his origins he was raised to believe that his entire family was wiped out by wild magic. And that it was his "uncle" who saved him and is his only remaining family. This mirrors Caleb and Philip as orphans who were the only ones left of their family after tragedy befell them. Though the caretaker role has been reversed.

3. Caleb's entire deal is that he's fundamentally a good person who eventually forsakes his "oppressor" mindset. We can even see this quality present in all the GG's including Hunter. Every single one of them came to the realization that what they were doing was messed up and changed themselves. And that they'll always try to put a stop to Philip's plans. But yeah, the "unlearning of an oppressor mindset" doesn't work with Luz for reasons that are so obvious I'm not going to waste time writing them out.

4. Amity did not "entice Luz away" with magic and Luz did not run away to a new world because of Amity. Luz ran away to TBI specifically because she followed Owlbert through the door. And she didn't stay there for Amity. She stayed there only because she wanted to learn magic and live out some kind of grand destiny in a fantasy world. AGAIN, Luz did not run away to TBI because she wanted to start a more peaceful life with her lover - she "ran away" because she wanted to learn magic and live out some kind of grand destiny in a fantasy world. She never planned on staying on TBI for the rest of her life despite dating someone from TBI. And I honestly don't see this show ending in a situation where Camilla and Luz are going to spend the rest of their lives on TBI. The most likely outcome is that they're going to find a way to go back and forth between worlds.

Also I want to point out that unlike Philip's and Caleb's relationship, Camilla's and Luz's relationship isn't hinted at being unhealthy and eventually abusive. This is important to note because Caleb most likely "abandoned" Philip because he came to realize their relationship was poisonous. Luz didn't INTENTIONALLY "abandon" Camilla like Caleb did with Philip. Camilla is not a toxic influence over Luz's life that Luz wanted to get away from. This is why Luz "running away" and Caleb running away doesn't - the motivations are completely different.

5. Amity does not have meaningful history with the main villain like Luz, Hunter, Evelyn and Caleb do.

6. Luz lured Hunter away from Philip. I mean this literally and from a character arc standpoint. Here, let me just copy and paste what I wrote in my pinned post:

" Okay so let me explain why this drives me crazy as someone who loves storytelling. Because this parallel doesn't start when Hunter is running away with Luz in Hollow Mind and stop in the season finale. It goes deeper than that - to a character arc level - and it goes all the way back to Hunting Palismen. This episode is the start of Hunters positive change arc and "betrayal." The person to spearhead his positive change arc and "betrayal" is our favorite WILD WITCH Luz. Completely unbeknownst to Hunter, the moment he lets Luz go he is taking a stand against Belos. And he's following Calebs footsteps by choosing a wild witch over Philip. That is so romantic it's crazy to me"

Romantic undertones aside - do you know how important this is? That both Hunter and Caleb were lured away by someone who represents something they've been taught to fear? Caleb was taught that magic was evil so any practitioners of magic were agents of the devil who needed to be killed. Hunter was taught that wild magic was dangerous and that anyone who didn't want to seal their magic were criminals that needed to be killed. Do i need to say any more than that? This is also why "Amity enticed Luz with magic" doesn't work because Luz was never afraid of magic.

7. Luz introduced Flapjack to Hunter like Evelyn did with Caleb. It's unclear whether or not Flapjack was hers or she carved him for Caleb. I'm more inclined to believe the later because of how Flapjack is a cardinal - a.k.a a creature that is not a native species on TBI. Either way, the point is: without Evelyn showing him that magic isn't evil, Caleb would have never wanted Flapjack. Just like how Hunter would have never wanted Flapjack if Luz didn't show him "wild" magic wasn't dangerous.

8. Evelyn is a Clawthorn and Amity is not. Luz isn't a Clawthorn either but she's heavily associated with this family. And this family has alot of ties to the plot of TOH. Amity doesn't hold the same weight in the story like the Clawthorns do.

9. Luz is a "witch from another world".

People tend to forget what wild witches are and how magic works in universe. Wild witches are witches/demons who refuse to limit themselves to one of the nine main forms of magic.

Magic operates in two ways: either the spellcaster writes a spell in glyphs to perform it or the bile sack, which produces all the glyphs, combines them for the caster. For the former, if you know all the glyphs then you have access to all the same spells someone with a bile sack would have. However, unlike a person with a bile sack, you need to spend some time writing out combinations to figure out how to get the spell you want. This is why this parallel still works despite Luz not being an "actual" witch. Because, even without a bile sack, she still has excess to all forms of magic, just like any wild witch with a bile sack would have.

I need to point out Luz not being an "actual" witch is irrelevant. The point is that Evelyn and Luz represent something Caleb and Hunter were indoctrinated to fear. Evelyn representing magic and Luz representing WILD magic. Through Luz and Evelyn, Caleb and Hunter came to realize the thing they feared wasn't actually dangerous. And because of Luz and Evelyn, Hunter and Caleb were "lured away" from Philip so they could try and live more peaceful and fulfilling lives.

It just doesn't work with any other combo of characters besides Luz and Hunter.

#lunter ramble #analysis #it really is Luz's and Hunter's story... always has been.

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blogger360ncislarules · 8 months

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Nancy Drew left us with one last clue to follow.

The CW drama wrapped its four-season run on Wednesday, pitting the Drew Crew against its greatest supernatural threat yet before revealing what the future holds for everyone in Horseshoe Bay. More importantly, the finale also (potentially) solved the show’s longest-running mystery — Ace’s last name.

One of the episode��s final shots was a carving of the crew’s initials, including “A.H.” First name Ace? Yes, confirmed. But could that “H,” as many fans have speculated over the years, really stand for Hardy? Did the show just confirm that Nancy has had a Hardy Boy by her side this whole time? All signs point to… probably!

Though executive producer (and pilot director) Larry Teng didn’t exactly spell it out for us, he confirmed to TVLine that he’s known about Ace’s last name from “day one, episode one.”

Speaking of Ace, yes, he ended up with Nancy in the end. Here’s a quick summary, if that’s even possible: Saving the town required apparent soulmates Nancy and Tristan to sever their spiritual connection, following the discovery that they’re only linked because she murdered him in a past life. (Oops!) Ace saved Nancy by tethering himself to her, but the process literally cost them their souls, making it impossible for either to be reincarnated. Silver lining? It also destroyed their death curse, allowing them to enjoy the remainder of their last lives together.

“When Ace says to Nancy, ‘Will you solve this last mystery with me?’ in my mind, that was, ‘Will you marry me?'” finale director Amanda Row tells TVLine. “That was both of them acknowledging that there’s nothing they can possibly do to stay apart. They have to be together. And I love that. I love how big Nancy and Ace have become, because it was definitely not planned. It ended up just organically happening, which I think makes it so special.”

Every epic reunion needs an equally epic kiss, and Row definitely felt the pressure to deliver with this one, “especially because there was that gorgeous slow-motion shot wrapping around them when they kissed earlier this season,” she says. “With this one, I wanted to keep it more still. I was echoing the same framing I did in [the Season 4 premiere] when they meet up at at Icarus Hall. I did the exact same conversation, but this time it had a different outcome.”

And then there was Nancy’s farewell to Tristan, whom Rowe describes as “an innocent bystander in a lot of ways.” For that reason, “you can’t help but feel for him,” but at least we can find a “really beautiful resolution” in that he and Nancy were able to overcome the sins of their past lives. As Row says, “it shows that the cycle doesn’t have to keep going. Things can change. His role was really significant in teaching Nancy that.”

As for the rest of the Drew Crew, George got into Northern Seattle Legal College; Nick accepted an engineering position under Tom Swift (R.I.P.!), while Jade also landed a gig in Swift Enterprises’ PR department, courtesy of Zenzi; Bess is embarking on a global expedition to replenish the historical society’s destroyed artifacts, while Addy is running for local office; Carson and Jean are preparing to welcome their new baby girl; and Ryan… well, let’s just say that Red appears to be keeping him on his toes.

#nancy drew

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spiralcass · 11 months

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 1, EPISODE 13 (PART 2 of 2) (SEASON FINALE)

We open many years ago in a time and place we’ve seen before. A conservatively dressed, teenage Jean Grey steps out of a car, arriving at the Xavier Institute and looking at it in awe. As she comes through the front gates, Professor Xavier and his four X-Men come to greet her outside. While Xavier is polite and cordial and Iceman couldn’t seem any less interested, Cyclops, Beast, and Angel all introduce themselves overly eagerly with lustful intentions.

While Jean seems less than impressed and put off by Warren and Hank, respectively, she’s charmed by Scott’s approach as he takes her hand, bends down, and kisses it. While she giggles as he does this, when he stands up, he finds he’s now shrouded in darkness, and Jean’s eyes are aflame.

In one swift motion, she reaches into his chest and pulls his heart out.

JEAN: “We are the reason your heart beats, and yet you break ours? You do not deserve this, Scott Summers.”

Scott falls over onto his back as the two both become their adult selves. Jean grins down at Scott as his eyes bulge and his body convulses as he bleeds out from the gaping wound in his chest.

We cut straight to another past event, this one somewhere we haven’t been before. A slightly younger Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Mastermind, and other men all dressed like they’re from the 1800s have a toast to their new Black Queen. Said Black Queen is revealed to be Jean, who joins them in their toast, adding in that’s it to their defeat of the X-Men, and the world which will soon be theirs.

Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler, all captured and restrained, look on in horror as they call out to their friend, shouting at her that they’re brainwashing her in an attempt to reach her.

Emma possessively puts an arm around Jean, evil smirks on both of their faces, and asks what she has to say to these peasants for insulting them like this.

Jean’s eyes ignite as she spins around and tears Emma’s arm off. As Emma screams in agony and darkness surrounds them, the two become their modern selves.

JEAN: “You have always been a wicked witch, Emma Frost. We gave you a second chance, and you failed in the worst way you could have: you corrupted a good soul. You do not deserve the gift of life.”

As Emma continues to scream, we cut to her bedroom in the Institute, where Rachel is sweating, spell circles over both Scott and Emma’s heads.

RACHEL: “Come on, come on, come on…”

There’s a flash of red light and Rachel is sent flying back across the room as Cyclops and Emma jolt awake, gasping.

While Emma is struggling to compose herself, Rachel gets up, rubbing her “roughed up booty”, and asks her dad if he’s feeling well enough she can smack him for being a dirty cheater.

SCOTT: “...what have I done?”

The room turns silent as he and Emma continue to shiver.

In her estate, Nova sips her tea with her eyes closed. Every sentinel she’s deployed has been destroyed, but she still has 20 left. And with the Dark Phoenix coming to Earth, everything is falling into place.

In space, we find the Dark Phoenix speeding past planet after planet on her way back to Earth, a manic grin spread across her face, and the phoenix aura ten times her size.

In the Blackbird, Storm is arming every single one of the ship’s weapons they don’t normally use, Betsy seated in the front next to her. In the back of the ship, Kitty is clearly freaking out, and just trying to stay composed. Roberto, smiling with all his shiny teeth showing, asks what she’s so worried about.

ROBERTO: “You love bragging about how many times you’ve saved the world! And unless you were betraying your poor friend’s trust and lying to me, you’ve saved the whole universe. Why do you think this time will be any different?”

KITTY, holding herself: “Would you believe me I told you things have never been this bad? The X-Men have stopped the Phoenix, they’ve stopped armies of Sentinels, and they’ve stopped evil telepaths, but never all at once. And never because of our own mistakes.”

Roberto asks Kitty exactly what she means, with her everyone for this situation. Scott for being a dick who couldn’t keep it in his pants and for bringing Emma in in the first place, Emma for “seducing” Scott, Jean for not just crying into a tub of ice cream after getting cheated on like a normal woman, and the rest of them for not noticing how “too good to be true” Jean had been lately, and not seeing that she was one trigger away from blowing up.

KITTY: “I’m supposed to be the smart one, aren’t I?”

Roberto laughs and shakes his head. Maybe they did all screw up. Maybe they should have done more. And maybe the situation right now is more dire than ever. But they have a plan, and they need to trust it.

ROBERTO: “Never, ever, second guess a plan.”

Kitty still doesn’t seem reassured, so Roberto makes her a bet: If they survive this with no one getting killed, he gets to use her makeup whenever he wants, without asking.

Kitty giggles. “And if someone does die?”

ROBERTO: “Not going to happen, so not worth thinking much about. I don’t know…I’ll buy you something pretty?”

Kitty snort laughs.

ROBERTO: “There she is!”

KItty sighs as she calms down. “I wish I could be as carefree as you, Beto.”

ROBERTO: “It’s a gift.”

With the Blackbird ready to go, Storm shouts on the coms, demanding to know where Wolverine is.

Elsewhere in the institute, Laura tells her she’ll be there in two minutes. She’s making sure they’re ready.

Laura arrives in the medical bay, where the training squad and Roxy surrounded Noriko, who Beast’s just finished patching up. Several former X-Men are far more severely wounded and are asleep in beds.

BEAST: “Well, Ms. Kinney, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that you didn’t actually break anything in your little scuffle, but you did give the poor girl a concussion. I believe an apology is in order, yes?”

LAURA: “Sorry.”

Noriko flips her off with both hands.

As everyone walks out of the med bay on Beast’s request so that he can look after his more in-need patients, Julian asks what she’s doing here. Shouldn’t she be with the X-Men?

LAURA: “Yes. And so should you.”

Laura tells them that they were right. She was worried about them, and she didn’t want them getting hurt, especially not because of her, but the amateurs she saw in that foodfight at the start of the semester don’t even resemble who Wind Dancer, Surge, and Hellion are now. The rate of their growth has been incredible. And while she’s sure they’re not done growing, they are ready.

LAURA: “All of you are.”

Brian and the other girls look shocked. Laura tells Cessily that she was in that foodfight too. Is she going to tell her she’s stayed stagnant while those three have grown so much? And while Sooraya may lack experience fighting villains, her performance scores have always kept up with Surge and Wind Dancer’s.

LAURA: “You two believed in me that I could handle Sabretooth. I believe you two can handle this.”

Laura looks to Brian.

Brian shakes his head. “No. I can’t do it. Literally! I literally cannot fight giant robots!”

Laura smirks. “Obviously. But if one comes to the school, you can make them run away, and no one HAS to fight them.”

Brian is nervous, but appreciates the vote of confidence. And he does want to help.

BRIAN: “I can do that, Creepy Girl. I can do that.”

Julian cheers.

JULIAN: “This is so IT! Everyone else in school already knows I’m the best Mutant here besides Laura and deserve to be an X-Man too, and by the end of today, Storm will see that too.” Julian takes Sofia’s hand. “I promised you we’d be heroes together. And now I’m gonna show you what a hero I can be.”

Sofia grins.

SOFIA: “I have been afraid. I have been afraid of being hurt again, and of how I can hurt others.” She clenches Julian’s hand. “But I know that so long as I have all of you at my side, I have nothing to fear.”

Noriko groans.

NORIKO: “I still think anyone who wants to be an X-Man is cuckoo banana pants crazy.” Noriko cracks her shoulder. “So call me crazy, I guess.”

Cessily and Sooraya nod in agreement. Roxy is clearly terrified by what’s going on, so Cessily wraps her arms around her and kisses her on the lips. She promises they’re all coming home safe.

CESSILY: “I am NOT setting a world record for shortest lived relationship by getting killed!”

Laura grins. These are her friends. These are the people she can count on to watch her back.

LAURA: “Let’s go.”

As the Blackbird takes off, the four adults and six kids heading off to take on Nova, Scott and Emma rush toward the hangar so they can take one of their smaller ships so they can intercept Dark Phoenix before she reaches Genosha, Scott having been contacted by Xavier, while Emma gets a headache from the psionic energy Jean is emanating from across the solar system.

EMMA: “I haven’t touched hard drugs in years, but my mind is going to need them to recover from all this. Care to join me, Mr. Summers?”

SCOTT: “Don’t. Don’t make jokes. Don’t talk to me. We made a mistake. A big one. The only reason you’re coming with me instead of Rachel is if killing us is the only thing which will make Jean calm down. Even if we live through today, this is never happening again.”

EMMA, sarcastically: “Oh no, I’m so crushingly disappointed. Wherever will I find another man like you?”

Scott makes it into the hangar and, while he isn’t looking, Emma is visibly more upset by his words than she let on.

In the Blackbird, Hellion and Wind Dancer are holding hands, nervous but excited to prove themselves, Surge is anxiously tapping her foot at super speed, Mercury is struggling to stay solid with all the nerves she’s feeling, and Dust is praying. Laura meanwhile gets psychically linked up to Storm and Betsy.

Storm wants to know if Laura really trusts her friends for this mission. There’s no doubt they’re talented, but she should have consulted her on this instead of running off on her own and giving her no choice but to bring them. Laura promises they proved themselves to her. If she’s really an equal X-Man to the others, they’ll trust her judgement.

Storm takes a breath.

STORM, under her breath: “Just like you, Logan.”

As the Blackbird rockets toward Nova’s estate, she finally stands from her seat. It’s time to get her hands a little dirty. As she exits her parlor, she psychically deploys all of her remaining sentinels.

The sentinels meet the Blackbird in the sky, or at least some of them do, as others fly off in other directions. Storm quickly calls out orders, telling Hellion and Wind Dancer to keep themselves as well as Sunspot, Laura, Surge, Dust, and Mercury airborn to deal with the sentinels, while Kitty pilots the Blackbird to back them up with its weapons, and she and Betsy make the final push toward Nova.

Everyone does as they are told as they all leave the plane, except for Kitty.

KITTY, over coms: “Beto, let’s try not to embarrass ourselves in front of the kids, alright?”

ROBERTO, floating in the sky, surrounded by sentinels with the kids: “Roberto Da Costa hasn’t embarrassed himself once in his life.”

JULIAN: “Phh. Please, Professor. Even I know that isn’t true. Now come on! Enough talk! Let’s show these tin cans what the next generation of mutants is all!...about.”

Jullian’s face falls as he looks a sentinel in the eyes and freezes up. He lets go of Sofia’s hand as his own shakes.

WIND DANCER, concerned: “Hellion?”

Still flying toward Genosha, Scott has Emma put him in contact with Magneto. Charles has already contacted Erik and informed him of the situation. He pities Jean, and should her wrath burn away all that he protects, even after death, he will never forgive Cyclops.

MAGNETO: “I expected more from you.”

Scott, hanging his head: “So did I.”

Cyclops asks if Scarlet Witch is backing him up. If he and Emma can’t calm Jean down, Wanda is the only person on Earth even capable of hurting Dark Phoenix. Magneto tells him that she isn’t even on Earth right now, instead fulfilling her mystical duties in another realm. Quicksilver and Polaris are similarly pre-occupied. He has other combatants on Genosha, but none that he’s willing to throw into this particular line of fire. All Scott can do is promise they’ll be there as soon as they can.

In the distance, Magneto can see more sentinels coming.

MAGNETO: “See that you do.”

With a pan across the ocean, we see that Nova’s estate is actually on an island only a few miles away from Genosha.

Nova calmly walks out of her house and shuts it behind her, only to grin wildly and leap out of the way as Storm calls down a bolt of lightning to strike her. Nova’s eyes light up as she looks into the sky and sees Storm and Captain Britain.

NOVA: “Storm! A pleasure to meet a goddess face to face! I hope you can live up to that title.” She turns her head to Betsy. “And you brought a friend. Captain Britain, yes? I should be honored to me a hero of your calibur…but I always preferred your brother.”

The two veteran heroes are unphased by Nova’s taunts, with Storm ordering Nova to call off her attack before they’re forced to make her.

STORM: “For all your crimes against your own people, there is no salvation for you, but you can still escape the full extent of my wrath.”

Nova hums as she rolls her head around, confusing Ororo and Betsy.

NOVA: “Wrath. One of my favorite words. And one of my favorite things to demonstrate.”

With her grin spreading unnaturally across her face, Nova blasts Nova and Betsy out of the sky with a psychic wave. Storm and Betsy get right back up, however, and with the winds summoned and sword and shield drawn, the two charge into battle.

Nearby, Sunspot is punching and blasting away at all the Sentinels in the sky, while Laura chops them up, Surge and Dust hit them with everything they’ve got, and Kitty provides cover fire from the Blackbird, Hellion is frozen, with Wind Dancer having to keep everyone airborn herself, while also keeping Julian from getting killed, and Cessily is crying, using her powers purely to dodge and run away in terror, shouting that she’s sorry and she can’t do this.

KITTY, taking note of what’s going on: “Dammit.”

SUNSPOT, over comms: “Care to step in with a motivational speech? Those aren’t really my style.”

Kitty pinches her forehead.

KITTY, over comms: “Don’t have time for this. Wind Dancer, get everyone to the ground and get Hellion out of there! Wolverine, grab Mercury NOW and jump! Surge, Dust keep up the good work! We are not losing anyone!”

Laura, pissed and growling, tries to reach Cessily, but a Sentinel gets in her way, delaying her. Wind Dancer meanwhile completely ignores orders, instead adding to her current tasklist by going on the offensive against the sentinels herself, slicing away at their outer armor with sharp winds, and by electing to do something different about the current problem they face.

WIND DANCER: “Julian, I understand you’re afraid, believe me, I understand, but we need you right now.”

HELLION: “I…I can’t. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t.”

Kitty once again shouts at Sofia to get everyone down NOW, while Laura continues to fight, and Mercury is clearly getting tired.

WIND DANCER: “Please. Don’t you want to be a great hero?”

Julian tenses up, clenching his fists and on the verge of tears.

HELLION: “Do I look like a hero, Sofia? Guess I was all talk. Ashida will get a good kick out of–”

Sofia slaps him. Julian is confused, but Sofia just looks at him sternly.

SOFIA: “There are two things I know about my new boyfriend. Number one: He never doubts his greatness. And number two: He’d never, ever, do anything which would make Noriko look better than him.”

JULIAN: “Sofia…”

SOFIA: “ARE you my new superhero boyfriend, or are you going to tell everyone at school that Surge is better than Hellion?”

The two stare each other down…until Julian untenses and smirk spread across his face.

JULIAN: “Not a chance.”

Julian gives Sofia a quick kiss on the lips before shrounding everyone in his TK fields and jumping into the fight to save Mercury from an incoming attack.

HELLION: “Sorry about that, everyone! It won’t happen again. Now you get out of your funk too, Cess! I know you’re better than this!”

Using his TK, Julian helps Mercury re-solidify in her base form and carries away her tears.

JULIAN: “Remember when we met? I told you how you could show everyone at school everything your awesome body can do. Time to show the world.”

With a warm, charming style from Julian, Cessily sniffles one more time before recomposing herself.

Laura finally takes out the sentinel she was fighting and reaches the two, Sofia flying over to them at the same time.

LAURA: “You three ready to actually help now?”

MERCURY: “If you and Julian know I can do this, then I have to accept it.”

SOFIA: “Apologies for the delay.”

Laura smirks “Good. Couldn’t have you all making me look dumb.”

The four of them re-enter the main fray together.

In the sky above Genosha, Magneto battles a whole squad of sentinels by himself. Impressive as that is, he notes that this shouldn’t even be a fight at all, yet somehow they’re somewhat resistant to his magnetism. There’s something different about these sentinels.

Scott and Emma finally arrive, ready to back Erik up, but as Emma carries the two of them out of their ship, something odd happens: Magneto, the sentinels, and all the in-progress attacks are frozen in place.

EMMA: “I don’t suppose there are any Mutants on Genosha with control over time?”

SCOTT: “Not that I’m aware of.”

The two shield their eyes from a blinding light as Jean, still shrouded in a massive Dark Phoenix force, cackles. She’s been waiting for them. And she wanted some privacy. Before she burns this world to ashes, she wants to do some quick “couples counseling”.

Storm attacks Nova were lightning strikes and winds clearly far heavier than Sofia’s, but they fail to do anything against Nova’s psychic shield, as she leaps into the sky and launches another psychic wave at Ororo and Betsy. This time, Betsy is able to block the attack with her shield, though it does leave her with a bloody nose.

NOVA: “Hmm. Best deal with you first.”

Nova’s eyes glow white as Betsy’s forcibly turn purple. As Storm continues her assault on Nova, Nova’s battle with Betsy takes to the astral plane, as giant, psychically projected versions of themselves engage in combat, with Betsy unable to do anything against Nova’s raw power but play defense.

NOVA: “I can’t say I know anything about you personally, Captain, but do you really believe you’re fit to stand in Brian Braddock’s shoes? You wear those colors, that armor, and represent the greatest country in the world. Nobility or not, is that really a job for a…” she snickers. “...a woman like yourself?”

As Storm finally manages to land a clean hit on Nova, Betsy too is able to start striking back.

BETSY: “You’re the sister of Charles Xavier. You’re a Mutant. What could possibly make you hate us like this?”

NOVA: “If a spider nearly stopped you from being born, if you vividly remembered it trying to kill you, wouldn’t you hate all spiders?”

BETSY: “We are not spiders!”

NOVA: “Nor are you real. Not really. And with every one of you I kill, I make Charles suffer that much more. And that, dear girl, is the only thing that really matters.”

Pulling off a wild aerial maneuver in the Blackbird, Kitty is contacted by Storm over the coms. She’s unsure if she and Captain Britain will be able to defeat Nova on their own. She’s requesting both she and Sunspot come to back them up, not Laura because she doesn’t have the mental defenses necessary to even approach Nova, but she ONLY wants them if she believes Wolverine and the students have the Sentinels handled on their own. It’s her call.

Outside, the kids have gotten their act together, and with Hellion having snapped out of his funk, a leader has emerged.

HELLION: “Wind Dancer, I’ll yank off their armor after you’ve worn them down, then you slash up their insides! Mercury, Dust, stop attacking them head on! Get inside them and mess em up from the inside! Surge, handless fastball!”

Julian, Sofia, Cessily, and Sooraya all do exactly as the former said, taking out several sentinels. As for the “handless fastball”, we see that it involves Surge coating herself in her electrical aura, Hellion putting an additional forcefield around her, and Surge vibrating at super speed before getting launched by Hellion. While this attack hurt’s Nori’s head more than it did in the danger room, it does succeed in putting a hole straight through a sentinel’s chest.

LAURA, over the coms: “Go, Professors. We’ve got this.”

Kitty takes one more moment to mull this over, before calling for Beto to get on board, and wishing them luck.

While the kids are on fire figuratively, it’s literal for Scott and Emma as Jean tortures them both. Emma attempts to fight back, but her psychic attacks peter out in Phoenix’s flames before they can even reach Jean.

Jean laughs.

JEAN: “Oh, Emma. You may be one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth, but you’re still only human.”

Scott begs Jean to stop and to just talk to him, only for Jean to remove his visor and force his eyes open so that she can absorb all of the optic energy he emits.

JEAN: “Consuming a world will take no effort on our part, but regrowing it will. We’ll need to be at our strongest. Consider this an involuntary apology gift, slime.”

While Jean continues to absorb Cyclops’ energy, she also turns some of it onto Emma.

As Emma screams, Jean taunts her.

JEAN: “Isn’t this a little like what you did to Jean Grey’s friends in the old days? We’re certainly enjoying ourselves enough. But unlike them, you’ve done everything to deserve this.”

Scott and Emma are completely helpless.

On both the physical and astral plains, Storm and Captain Britain aren’t fairing much better. Nova’s attacks are now not just hurting Storm, but bypassing her mental defenses to an extent, taunting her with the visuals of what her best friend is doing right now.

NOVA: “These were the people you trusted? You fought Cyclops for leadership of this team once. Perhaps you should have done it again.”

Things are even worse on the astral plane, as Betsy is simply no match for Nova. With each hit her projection takes, her real body gets more and more slashed up. Accepting she can’t win, Betsy elects to at least do what she can.

Captain Britain re-absorbs her astral self into her body and flings herself through the air and Nova.

BETSY, telepathically: “Storm! Cover!”

As Storm shrouds the two telepaths in clouds, purple and white lights flash.

As the clouds clear, Betsy has a psychic knife through Nova’s head, while Nova is gripping Betsy’s.

Betsy falls unconscious, but for the first time, Nova actually seems to be disoriented and in pain.

NOVA: “What did you do to me you little–?”

Storm cuts her off as she shifts the atmosphere around Nova to an unbearably hot temperature.

STORM: “The psychic knife shuts down a normal person’s mind, no matter their defenses. It seems it only weakened you.” With perfect timing, the Blackbird arrives, Kitty and Sunspot phasing through it and dropping down next to Storm. “But we can do the rest.”

Having gotten into a perfect rhythm and executing Julian’s orders perfectly, the kids are having the time of their lives. They’re all clearly proud of themselves, but none moreso than Laura for having made the right call in bringing them.

LAURA: “Only two left. Take them out.”

Nova meanwhile laughs. Kitty, who makes a remark that she really never needed to know what Professor Xavier with boobs would look like, questions what’s so funny.

NOVA: “What’s so funny? A lot of things in this world. Crying babies, natural disasters, wide-spread plagues and diseases…and dead children.”

As the six kids move to take out the two remaining sentinels, the machines’ eyes turn white, and a new layer of armor forms around each of them.

NOVA: “You didn’t think I’d played all my cards, did you?”

While Wolverine, Hellion, Wind Dancer, and Surge focus on attacking one of the two remaining sentinels, with little success, Mercury and Dust are able to circumvent the new armor and get inside the other one. However, once they’re inside, it electrocutes them both. As the girls scream in agony, Hellion panics and abandons his current battle to go and pull them out of there.

HELLION: “I’m the one who’s about to become an X-Man! I’m not letting any of my squad get killed here!

Julian is successfully able to extract his friends from the death machine and help them re-form before they fall unconscious.

HELLION: “Sleep tight, girls. Leave the rest to me.”

While both Storm and Sunspot blast away at the weakened Nova, the older woman now needing to actively deflect their attacks instead of passively shielding herself, Laura, Sofia, and Noriko are knocked around by one of the sentinels, unable to damage it. Wolverine shouts at Hellion to stick with the group and back them up, but he says he’s not backing down again, and is gonna make this thing pay for hurting his friends.

HELLION: “I’m never doubting myself again.”

WIND DANCER: “You idiot! This isn’t what I meant!”

Proudly proclaiming that he’s the strongest here, Hellion attempts to fight one of the “super-sentinels” on his own, throwing everything he has at it.

The results are disastrous, as the sentinel counterattacks and blasts off both of Hellion’s hands.

Everything goes silent, with Julian in shock, and horror on Sofia and Laura’s faces, before Julian cries hysterically and screams at the top of his lungs as his stubs gush blood.

Jean continues to torment Scott and Emma, both with her flames, and with more visions, as Scott gets a highlight reel of the two’s most romantic moments to shame him, while Emma is taunted with the ghosts of the Hellions, Synch, and Skin, as well as one other man. Someone who appears slightly older than Emma, but sickly, with a shaved head and a scar across his neck, who lays in a hospital bed with empty eyes.

JEAN: “Christian Frost. How did you ever think someone like you could protect anyone else if you couldn’t even protect your own brother? Destruction is all you’re good for.”

Emma seemingly cracks, but while she is hurt…

EMMA: “Fine! You win, goddess! I’m a monster! But if you’re poking around in my head, you know that I’m not ignorant about this fact! Can you say the same for yourself, or do you honestly believe you’re granting the world, and not yourself, a boon by ending it? I hope you can’t see that, because that means you don’t realize…” Emma cackles as she chokes on her own blood before it dribbles now her chin. “That means you don’t realize the final thing humanity will learn is that Emma Frost was a better hero than Jean Grey.”

The Phoenix’s grin disappears as Jean gets pissed.

The X-Men continue to battle Nova, who, between Storm and Sunspot’s attacks, and her focus being drawn toward Kitty, needing to stay aware of her at all times as she phases across and underneath the battlefield so she can’t grab her, is being worn down. But she refuses to go down and changes tactics.

With their mental defenses not as strong as Storm’s, Nova takes control over Sunspot and Kitty’s minds and forces them to fight her for her.

The kids are all mortified by what’s happened to Julian, as he continues to screams. Surge in a panic and talking super fast asks Wolverine what they should do, but with Laura flashing back to when she killed her mom, she’s frozen up. Sofia makes the call herself. They have 3 down, one critically injured, and they don’t know how to fight these new sentinels; they have to retreat.

Sofia carries everyone down to the ground, while the sentinels fly off toward their original destination.

WIND DANCER: “It’s going to be okay, Julian. I promise. Surge! Cauterize his wounds!”

SURGE: “Wh…what?”

WIND DANCER: “You should be able to do that, right? Do it now!”

While Surge charges up her hands, closing her eyes and cringing as she takes hold of Julian’s bloody nubs to cauterize them, Laura stands over her friends. Julian was maimed, Mercury and Dust are unconscious and were nearly killed, Surge is a mess, and she’s sure Wind Dancer is just forcing herself to keep a brave face.

LAURA: “I’m sorry, everyone.”

Laura falls to her knees.

Cyclops tells Dark Phoenix to kill them if she has to, but please, spare the world. He knows Jean, he knows Phoenix, and this isn’t what either of them want to do. They’ll regret it for all eternity, just like last time.

DARK PHOENIX: “Do not dare tell us what we want!”

CYCLOPS: “I’m not telling you what you want. I’m telling you what I know about you. I made a mistake. A horrible mistake I can never undo. I’m…I’m realizing things. About who I am. About my life. And not everything is how I thought it was. But I swear, I love you just as much as the day we met. And there’s no one in the world who knows you better.”

The Dark Phoenix falters, uncertainly appearing on her face, watching a vision of her and Scott’s first meeting, as it transitions into her and Scott’s wedding. She looks back at Scott solemnly.

Storm dodges Sunspot and Kitty’s attacks as she tries the old tactic of telling the two to get a hold of themselves.

STORM: “That never works.”

Storm flies up into the sky and, with a singlie bolt of lightning, knocks out Sunspot. She’s going to hit Kitty next, but when she realizes she’s disappeared, she’s momentarily distracted. Nova takes full advantage of this, seizing the split second to hit Storm will a full force mental blast. The goddess bleeds from her eyes as she’s brought to her knees.

As Storm shakes, Nova hunches over to her and puts a gun to her head.

NOVA: “Any last words?”

STORM: “I am no telepath. But I hear your words. And your actions speak louder than they ever could. You have nothing but hate inside in your heart.”

NOVA: “And all the happier for it.”

We go into slo-mo as Nova starts pressing down on the trigger, but before she can fire, Storm grabs her and gives her the full electrocution treatment, stunning Nova, making her scream in pain like she’s done to so many others, and breaking down the last of her physical defenses.

But she still stands, while Storm falls over. Nova, scorched all over her body and barely standing, laughs at Storm. She knows she could have killed her there. But she didn’t. She’s too good and pure for that. And too stupid to know better.

Nova pistol whips Storm.

NOVA: “Oh, it would have been fun to break you. Alas, I had to settle for Cyclops. Watching him kill Stryker was amusing though.”

Storm is barely conscious, but her eyes still express shock at that.

Nova puts the gun to Storm’s head once more.

But once again, she’s stopped. This time, courtesy of Katharine Anne Pryde, as she emerges from the ground and uppercuts Nova. Nova’s eyes fill with shock and bloody flies out of her mouth as her jaw is broken, and she’s knocked unconscious.

KITTY: “Count yourself lucky, you monster. I could have killed you too.”

Kitty helps Storm up, with Storm saying she cut that a little close. Betsy and Sunspot, both now conscious, approach the two, leaning on each other, express how they only had one shot at this, and needed to make sure they got it right.

Turns out, Betsy wasn’t fully knocked out by Nova’s attack; she only made her think she was, and she was in bad enough shape to sell it. She snapped Kitty out of Nova’s brainwashing, and hid her mind while she was underground so that, once Storm had sufficiently weakened her, she could nail her with a surprise attack to finish her.

BETSY: “I have to say, Sunspot, I wouldn’t have taken you for a strategist.”

ROBERTO: “Oh, you know, I’m a man of many talents.”

Kitty laughs, and checks in with the kids on the coms…only to see how they’re doing in person.

Laura, Sofia, and Noriko approach the adults, each carrying one of their friends on their backs. Laura’s eyes are lifeless, Noriko can’t stop looking at all the blood on her gauntlets, and Sofia is struggling not to cry.

Despite being in bad shape themselves, the adults rush over to the kids to look after them. Beto and Betsy look after their injured, while Kitty hugs Noriko, and Storm hugs Laura and Sofia.

Jean looks at Scott lovingly. “Please” is all he has left to say. She turns to Emma and sneers.

JEAN: “What of you? Are you willing to give your life for this world?”

Emma sneers right back at Jean.

EMMA: “Well, that is why I was brought along.” She pauses. “But before you smite me, power down, and make a half-hearted attempt to salvage a marriage which was dead before it even started, I want you to look at me, really look at me, and tell me that is what you desire.”

SCOTT: “Emma, what are you–”

EMMA: “Shhhh.”

Jean and Emma continue to stare each other down. Until Jean smiles, not with the burning intensity of Phoenix, but with gentle warmth. They have made their decision: Earth does not burn today.

Scott and Emma’s face light up, only for Jean to utter a dower, “However…”

On the Blackbird, Nova, who’s been equipped with power-dampening handcuffs, is still barely conscious as it turns out, and she laughs, coughing as she does so. Kitty asks what’s so funny about heading to a life imprisonment.

NOVA: “That doesn’t matter. None of this matters. The second the Dark Phoenix was in play, my victory was already assured.”

While Betsy is banding up Hellion, the others look at Nova with concern, demanding she tells them what’s going on.

NOVA: “You’re about to find out.”

Jean grins evily as she flares up her power even further. The world may not burn today, but they must still pay. Their betrayal must have consequences.

JEAN: “And so, you shall both die. You shall die among the people we three vowed to protect.”

Scott and Jean panic, but there’s nothing left to say. Time unfreezes as Scott and Emma are transported to Genosha.

With Magneto nowhere to be seen, the two broken down heroes are helpless as the sentinels fly over Genosha and firebomb the entire country.

In the Blackbird, Betsy drops to her knees in silent horror as she sees what’s happened. She shares the vision with the others, with Storm and Betsy taking the sight similarly to her, while Kitty screams and cries.

Season 1 ends on the sight of Genosha completely destroyed, and 16 million Mutants dead.

#New X-Men: The Animated Series #New X-Men #Academy X #Scott Summers #Jean Grey #Emma Frost #ororo munroe #kitty pryde #roberto da costa #laura kinney #sofia mantega #julian keller #noriko ashida #cessily kincaid #sooraya qadir #brian cruz

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