#fucking kill max are you really gonna make her suffer like that

[rottenaero]

They were gonna put Eddie down like a damn dog.

The group had insisted that Steve visit the hospital today, one year and two months after the incident. It was a random day, and he thought, ‘ why the hell not?’

Family Video had been closed for months, doing ‘ repairs’, so he really didn’t have much else to do.

He thought it was weird, the way the group was as far away from the bed as possible, and how when he entered the room, Hopper almost blocked the exit.

He doesn’t question it though, sidling up to the open chair beside Eddie, who was still asleep after all this time, and punching his shoulder lightly.

“ Hey, Hero.”

He’d taken to calling it sleeping instead of what it was, a coma. Sleeping sounded more peaceful, because with sleeping came dreams and relaxation.

Eddie doesn’t respond, doesn’t react. Steve didn’t expect him to.

He turns his head to Dustin, the one who’d called him in the first place. “ So, why’re we gathered here today? Any updates?” He asks, addressing the whole room.

The boy swallows, and something tells him something’s wrong. Really wrong.

“ Yeah, actually. Uhm, since it’s been so long, we were thinking-“ He cuts himself off, crosses his arms and starts tapping his foot. Thinking, probably.

Hopper glances to him, and sighs, deciding to lead. “ We’re gonna have to let Munson go.” He states.

Steve takes a sharp breath.

“ What?”

‘ Let him go’ like this is a job. Like this isn’t him losing his life. He wonders when they decided to do this, in the hospital room for the ten minutes they were waiting.

Eddie doesn’t give any indication he hears what’s being said, the beeps from the heart monitor still steady and even as ever. A constant metronome of the exact same sound on the exact say beat, all the time, always.

Except maybe not always.

Dustin takes over again, arms placating. “ It’s been a really long time, Steve. We’ve come to terms that he probably won’t wake up, and it’s doesn’t have to be sad-“

“ You’re killing him.” He hisses, “ You’re killing him and it’s not meant to be sad?”

Nancy steps forward, seeing it as her time to speak. “ Steve. You barely knew the guy, and you spend all your time here, it’s not good for you.”

“ There’s been no good signs, no nothing, not even when El looks into his brain.” Dustin nods at the girl across the room, who’s fiddling with her fingers.

Steve furrows his brow, “ Oh, so I guess you’re gonna pull the plug on Max too?”

Lucas’s eyes widen, mouth dropping open, and Nancy glares. “ That is not fair, Steve.”

“ This whole situations pretty fucking unfair, so I guess you’re gonna have to explain to me how this is different from Max.” He stands, stance wide as he points to the man in the hospital bed.

“ Max is making progress.” Lucas says weakly, and El sets a hand on his shoulder. The boy deflates.

He turns toward Hopper and Joyce, the latter still not having spoken. The Byers family had moved back to Indiana for God knows what reason, and Steve knows that if he had the money, that he could’ve moved somewhere else long ago.

“ Does Wayne know you’re killing his kid?” He asks.

He’d met the man while visiting, and they’d usually sit in silence and watch baseball or whatever was on. He never questioned why Steve was there, or why he was holding a limp body’s hand and taking off it’s rings and putting them back on.

When they did speak, it was stories he had from Eddie’s childhood, about how he buzzed his head because a spider crawled on him and he was convinced it was hidden in his hair, making babies.

Hopper pinched his nose, like he was being a pest. “ Stop using words like killing, and yes. He said he didn’t want Eddie to have to suffer, and his bills are getting expensive.”

And he blinks, realization dawning.

This hadn’t just been decided, had it? This wasn’t a ten minute decision while Steve was getting ready to come here.

He speaks, his voice low and keeping even through each word, “ You guys had a meeting.” The ‘ without me’ goes unsaid, but still echoes throughout the room like if would’ve if he shouted it.

They’d decided this whole thing beforehand, somehow knowing that Steve would hang on. And he would, will. He can’t let him die, he can’t lose.

Will nods, and next to him Mike and Dustin look ashamed. He would’ve thought they’d hold out more.

He racks his brain for any reason they should keep alive, can’t find one. Somehow, even without one for them, he has a million for himself.

“ If the bills are the reason, I’ll pay the damn bills. He’s fucking alive.” He tries.

“ You don’t have a job, Family Video is closed. Just let it be, Steve. Please.” Robin had been eerily quiet during this entire conversation, and it brings him chills him when she speaks.

His best friend had been in on it.

He crosses his arms, “ I’ll get a job. Listen, I’ve been having dreams,-“ He lies. He lies because there’s nothing true to prove Eddie is getting better. “-dreams that he’s alive in like a dark space, I don’t know- his mind maybe? I just- I really think he’s in there.”

The hope Dustin gets on his face hurts, but he doesn’t care. The guy will wake up and it won’t matter that the ‘ dreams’ never existed.

Maybe it’s because he’s an optimist, and that’s why he’s trying so hard, as pessimistic as he can be sometimes.

“ Why didn’t you tell us?” Dustin asks and Steve licks his lips.

Why didn’t he tell them? “ Despite all this crazy shit, me having dreams that he’s alive still sounds crazy.” He doesn’t look at the boy as he says this, eyes roaming over Eddie’s face.

He looks serene, the bat bite on his face as healed as it can get. The doctors had mentioned swelling on his back shoulder blades, but Steve thinks his would be swollen too if he sat on them for a year.

‘ A year and two months.’ He corrects himself.

He stares at the hair that, occasionally when it got matted, Steve would go through and brush it, not wanting him to wake up to being bald because a doctor seemed it necessary.

Wayne mentioned how much he hated the shaved head, and he wouldn’t put him through that again.

As he looks at him, he thinks ‘ I’m doing this for you, so you better wake up, asshole.’

Dustin’s eyes are wide, staring at the members of Hellfire. Steve could only describe the look as ecstatic.

“ Holy shit, I mean, holy shit!” He laughs, and Mike breaks into his own grin.

Jonathan chimes in, disbelief sketched into the lines all over his face. “ Sorry, but doesn’t that seem too convenient? I’m not saying you’re lying Steve, just… If El didn’t find anything, that’s pretty much it.”

His lips form into a line, determined. “ I told you, I’ll be paying for whatever. It’s no skin off your back, or money out of Wayne’s pockets.”

Joyce nudges Hopper when he goes to speak, and nods at Steve. “ If you wanna try, sweetheart, you can. But I don’t want you visiting too much, it’s doing you more harm than good.” She wraps him in a hug, before leading the ex-chief of police out of the room.

Slowly, everyone vacates, until it’s just Steve, Eddie, and El.

She doesn’t make a move toward the door, eyes locked onto his face.

“ You’re lying.” She whispers like a secret.

He nods.

She looks toward Eddie, nervous, and she messes with the hem of her shirt when she starts to speak again. “ I lied too.”

She doesn’t elaborate, walking out of the room without anymore information, and Steve blinks.

The hospital has to call Wayne to confirm the transfer, that's how he learns of the circumstances. He doesn't say much of anything, aside from a promise of a visit on Tuesday before he hangs up.

That night, that same fucking night, he gets a call.

It's the front desk lady, voice distressed rushing through an explanation.

" Eddies gone...Only blood in his bed...We don't know where he is."

Steve stares at the wall, the rest of the words falling upon deaf ears.

Someone had probably found out where he was being held, murdered him a year later for his crimes, and stashed the body away.

He sets the phone back in its holster without saying anything to the other line. Not even a goodbye, or a thanks.

He thinks, it only for a second, that he should've let them just pull the plug, it would've been far less painful.

A creaking brings him out of it, and his eyes dart to his door.

It's dark, too dark, and Steve's aware the Upside Down fucked him up in incomprehensible ways, and now every shadow looks like something,

But there was definitely someone in his house.

He keeps slumped on his bed, the same position as when he'd answered the call. He doesn't flinch when the door pushes open enough for a body to slip in.

There's the sound of something dragging along the carpet as they come closer, probably a shotgun, or maybe they're gonna beat him with his own nail-bat.

He doesn't care to decipher the shape, instead shutting his eyes.

A hand grabs his, sets it on dry skin. His thumb touches a rough patch, a scar like feeling.

One his hands had roamed over while patching up his stomach, refusing to get looked at. That concave patch of scratchy skin that they tell you eventually will just be soft, scarred, but normal.

The skin stretches, and he feels a cheek.

Somehow, he thinks if he keeps his eyes shut, he doesn't have to face the thing in front of him, that it somehow isn't real.

A scratchy, disused, and croaky voice sounds out.

" ' Hey, Hero.' "

[cxhleel108]

LITG S8 Thots for this week: Very bad day for loyal girlies…

(Making this while still slightly baked from getting high last night so just know you’re getting ruthless Cahleel today😍)

• So ngl first impressions of the boys…Oakley outsold them all. Call me biased I really dgaf.

• Not even 10 seconds in and Luna already babbling about Jin omg just kill me now.

• Oh bitch I’m officially making it canon that him and my S6 MC fucked around at one point like what? Fusebox stop copying our shit!!!

• Max is Jin 2.0 I literally have nothing else to say about him.

• Kyle not serving to me sorry. I know all y’all going crazy over him and like his body is tea but girl he’s just…no😭😭😭 Also he has a scorpion tattoo which means the Scorpio of the season has been recognized and I care about my MC so I am NOT putting her through that pain.

• And here I thought Oakley was going to end up being the “Gary” of this season…

• Kyle fancies me the most…great! Now leave me alone after I reject you the first time!

• Luna’s going after Jin’s replacement- I MEAN Max! How surprising…

• God I hate you already.

• I can’t stand when they do this. Last time I checked none of these names belong to a 6’3, Ghanaian firefighter with a fat ass and a slutty waist so as far as I’m concerned my eyes are firmly CLOSED.

• Outfit time!

• The other look was boring sorry but I LOOOOVE this one.

• Luna being mad about Jin part 2 omg PLEASE KILLLLLLL MEEEE.

• Ugh yasss we can sleep by ourselves. Y’all will not trap me!

• Bea telling me about this other chick that Oakley went on a date with like I care, ok.

• But you was just mad cuz Jin winked at somebody…girl go to HELLLLLL.

• Outfit time!

• Come on Arabian Nights tease!

• Kyle and Liam been fucking on the low omg?

• Time to suffer through meaningless chats.

• I’m making my girl sound like the most boring person ever trying to ignore these dudes help😭😭😭

• Oh that’s not…

• Luna you are literally only interested in Shawn because you know he’s the only one I’ve given the time of day…does it not hurt being this much of a loser?????

• Outfit time!

• Cute…that’s about it tho.

• Kyle saying he did a tattoo for a celebrity and then the said celebrity being Gabi of all people like wow nobody moved.

• WHERE IS THE FIGHT OPTION??? WHERE IS IT??? LET ME HIT HER!!!

• Liam had us form a whole dance circle around him just for him to start seizing ok.

• Shawn you’re sooooo cute but I really don’t want you baby just stop trying❤️

• This whole conversation with Bea chile I can’t. Oakley went on a date with another girl…ok and??? He called her a head turner…did he say she was turning HIS head??? They connected…OVER FUCKING BAKING. Oakley literally said he was in love with us and was planning on making us his girlfriend it literally makes no sense whatsoever. Fusebox y’all are getting too predictable bruh like obviously y'all are not gonna make our OG LI cheat on us so what is the point of the gossip other than to get US to cheat on THEM?

• And this shit oh brotherrrrr😭 I can’t wait for next week when we find out that Luna was screaming because Shawn gave her a great foot rub like fuck out my face with that. Also even if they are fucking I DO NOT CAREEEEE! I DO NOT WANT HIM!!!!

[whimsicalcotton]

Hi it's me the mf with the polluted marrow brainrot, and I bring you semi-coherent rambles about Marrow Max that were brought on by a song I recently found that just fits her like a glove IMO.

(CW: mentions of suicide & suicidal ideation. Just to be safe.)

The other day I discovered a song called Gifts For The Earth by Deafheaven and idk if it's just me but it gives HEAVY marrow max vibes to me. It's a metal song & the vocals are VERY screechy, so I don't know if you'll like the song itself? Although I think the music itself is really good, but the vocals are still a bit distracting to me even after like 20 plays lmao

ANYWAY yeah my main point is the lyrics feel so fitting to Marrow Max's mental state at her lowest point. The song itself is basically about someone giving up their life and surrendering to death through suicide, depicting images of an angel of Death comforting them as they sink to the bottom of the ocean to become one with the Earth once more.

These metaphors make me think of Marrow!Max so much, like I can perfectly imagine her looking over the cliff during the storm at the start of the fic, feeling drawn to jump into the ocean, as Chloe had done once she found out about the time loops. Feeling beckoned to end it all just like her; to let the ocean waves take her in so she can finally stop the suffering.

(Hell, maybe she actually does in a nightmare she has later on, when she thinks she's gonna lose everything in the new reality… Of course she wakes up, and the terror she feels over losing everything might just make her realize how much she needs Rachel and Chloe, and it pushes her to stop running from them. Or maybe they find her and wake her up from her nightmare, as she sees a figure appear through the darkness of the ocean waves, and then Max wakes up, and realizing they're there, eyes filled with concern for *her*, she fully breaks down in sobs)

It could also be read as a metaphor for Max drowning under the weight of all the responsibility she's thrust onto herself, to save Chloe and the others. Plus the ending lines about the flesh disintegrating into consumption for the earth fits how she can no longer see any benefit to her existence beyond what she can do for others, and how she can save or help them. Completely divorced from any sense of self-worth, she gives herself entirely for the sake of others with no concern for her health.

There could also be a read of the song where it's about Max basically killing off/shedding any part of her that is irrelevant to saving Chloe & Rachel, as everything she once was is drowned in the ocean of her subconscious, letting her become single-minded in her purpose. I guess the angel of death in this case would be Chloe, whose safety she puts above everything else? This one is a hell of a stretch but I find it fascinating nonetheless sfhsdfjkshdl

Anyway uhh sorry about the rambly essay in your asks 😅 I just love this AU & fic and cannot stop thinking about it and wanted to share some of the brainrot with you while waiting for the next update; hopefully you enjoyed reading! & if you like the song too even better!

i see what you mean abt the vocals but i am Also a big enjoyer of good percussion/tonal whiplash music/songs that go on for a Really long time so i had a good time w this one actually! thanks for the rec ^^

also don't even worry about it i dearly dearly love reading ppl's rambly essays about this AU sjdkhfsjhfk <3 (that goes for anybody btw never worry abt being rambly in my inbox bc i am probably sitting here uncontrollably happy-stimming abt it)

👀👀👀 to all of these scenarios/readings also. good fucking food

[roachemoji]

Stranger Things Season 4 Thread!!!!!!!! 04 01

theres NO realistic way in hell some kid was chucking that shit every damn day and making it !!!!!!!!! bro would have smacked someone in the fucking FACE by now!!!!!

starting off with a freak ass routine gotcha gotcha gotcha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

aGAGGLE OF BALD CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its been. 4 minutes and im already so uncomfortable with how they hold the kids hands to lead them around lmao

Brenner cant draw for SHIT girl if that was me id tell him i dont know bc its fucking UGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH. HES RIGHT.

GOD hes. i hate hate hate hate hate hate his fucking face it makes me so uncomfortable.

GIRL HELLO !!!!!!!!! DAMN LMAO

EXPLODES THEM EXPLODESTHEM EXPLODES THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the TONE shift from the last season is really getting to me girlie like that last one didnt feel REAL and this one feels VERY present. even with the rainbow visuals in the room?

OUGHH GOD HES SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

HIS EXPRESSIONS ARE SO ???? HIS GASP SEEING A DEAD KID??? IDK HOW TO PLACE IT.

damn girlie what did you do !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EL'S !!!! FUCKING AUTISM ACCENT? LOVE HER. LOVE HER.

ARGYLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GODIM SO EXCITED TO MEET HIM !!!!!

I CANT PUT INTO WORDSS HOW MUCH I LOVE THE TONE SHIFT AND THEM BEING OLDER AND EL'S LETTER TO MIKE BEING !!!! SO.

THEYRE ALL SO BIG NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KAREN LOOKS SO CUTE AND TED? KILLS HIM.

SUZZIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND DUSTIN <3333333 THEYRE SO CUTE

STEVE AND ROBIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PEOOPLE WHO LIKE BOOBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK ING STE VE. BI MEN AND THEIR LESBIAN BESTIES ???

MAX IS NOT BEATING THE TRANS MASC ALLEGATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT NOW NOT EVER NOT IN MY HEART

UCAS LOOK SO FU CKING GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIS HAIIRRRRRR

WHO TH FUCK IS THIS ARCHIE LOOKING WHITE MAN ?????

THEIR PANTS ARE TEAR AWAY ? I GUESS THOSE HAVE A FUCKING USE .... WHEN IT COMES TO SPORTS ? BUT STILL KAJDSHKJHADS IM FU CKING KAJHDKJAHSD. THEY DIDNT DIE SO WE WOULD LOOSE AT BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHUT UP

Lucas is making a good ass point butalso im so sorry he doesnt wanna be a loser nerd freak anymore :pensive:

the fu cCKING RUSSIANS LAKJSHDAKSJHDKJ HDAMN GIRLIE HOLY SHIT BE CAREFUL ? EW. EW? WHOSE THE LITTLE WHITE WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH ELL BABY YOU GOT THIS. YOU GOT THIS!!!! GO AUTISM GIRLIE!!!!!!!!

IM GONNA KILL. EVERYONE IN THAT ROOM. !! PLEASE LET HER JUST. OUGHHGH GODD. WILL TEARING UP TOO. FUCKING EXPLODE HER!!!!!! EXPLODE THAT FUCKING. BITCH HOLY SHIT ?

WILL IS.

MAX ?? QUEER WHATS WITH THE... GREEN SCRUNCHIE?? THAT THE OTHER GIRLIES HAVE

LUCAS approaching Max who... is the only one who is like ? LOUDLY suffering with shit after watching Billy die and be traumatized vs the core group not NOT being traumatized but handling it VERY DIFFERENTLY ? like they always "bounced back" and Max isn't

o h JESUS WHAT THE FUCK HELLO ?????? bro aksjdhkasjhakhkKJHDFKJSDHFKJH DAMN I WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT THAT BATHROOM HELLO WHAT THE FUCK

Eddie doesnt SOUND like i thought he would ???? AKDHAKDJH i forgot about the hanky code my mans wearing

dustiinnNNSFNKJKSJH DUSTIN. AKJSDH!!!!!! MIKE'S FACE.

Eddie's vibe is. AKHASKDJASHD like my ex boyfriend from highschool

MURRYYYY !!! MISSED HIM. LOVE HIM. RIP ALEXEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she has nIPPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARGYLE AKSJHDKASJH!!!!!!!!!! MOPEY DICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NANCY LOOKS SO CUTE!!!

ARGYLE CALLING HIM A FUCKING GOOD BOY KJHSDKAHADSKJHADSKJH YELLING

im sorry literally N OON wants to play DnD you just have to find the gay people !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (40 years from now)

Out h ere being Mentally ill in da Woods as you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what gay ass drugs are we selling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh hes DRAMATIC fucking theater kid. that man's NOT STRAIGHT !!!! and also defenitely has ADHD. chewing on his fucking HAIR !!! stimming i see u !!

EL BABY GIRL IM SO SORRY I WAN T TO EXPLODE THE WORLD FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO KILL FOR HER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOY SHIT . MAKE THEM PISS THEIR PANTS GIRL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OO OoOOO H BABAKJSHD I FORGOT HER POW ERS ARENT ,,, WO RK ING,,, ABY IM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, THIS IS FUCKING PAINFUL.

tHE focus not having been on Will the entire time except for a snippet here and there is REALLY NICE ACTUALLY likE!!! IDK BUT IT IS. TTHAT MANS FIGURING OUT HES QUEER TOO

MURRY JADKASLASKLJSADKJ !!!! MY MAN ABSOLUTEL LOSING HIS MIND

sTEVE IM AKSDJHS SORRY GIRLIE LMAOOOOOO fuc kinggGGGG TAMMMYYYYY AKSDJAKDHAKJSDHKAJSHD ROBINNN GIRLIEE IM SO FUCKING SORRRYY. JDKLKJDLKJFDSJLKDF I WA NNA FUCKING.

ERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BABY GIRL IS BACKKKK YEAHHHH FUCKING LOVE HER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HER HAIIIRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT FOR HER TO DESTROY EDDIE

DESTROY HIM DESTROY HIM DESTROY HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the fucking mountain dew cansssss his DM set up is so good

I JUST LOVE HOW DND IS USED AS FORESHADOWING BABEY !!!

Dusstin and Erica working together like THIS IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH. love u lady applejack <33333

FUCKING GET IT ERICA!!!! LUCAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASSSEEEEEEEEE

YYYEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i thOUGHT he was tlking to like a lizard and not a guitar AKSJD

IS Chrissy just experiencing like a psychotic break ?? delusions??? I cant tell if its like. ACTUALLY happening to her or something to do with the UD ? Dissociative seizures????? DISSOCIATIVE SEIZURES AND THE UD ?????

FEEL LIKE ALL THE SPIDER VISUALS AND SHIT ARE IMPORTANT AND I JUST DONT KNOW HOW YET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH IS THIS VECNA ? SIR !! YOURE. WET :/

BRO HELLO WHAT

KING WHAT DOES THAT M EAN

ASDASKJHD KASHDKASJH SORRY TO EDDIE WHO THOUGH YEAHHH A FRIEND :3c

GIRL WAHT THE FUCK EXORCIST SHIT HOLY HSHKJASJK LSHAJKHAD HE RE YEB ALLS!!!!!!!!! BROOOO AKSJDHKASHDKASHD

yeah so season 3 was. liike. different and now ? we're back at it!!!! we're back at it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSRRIGH alright

ending with a half song again no lyrics inchresting

[negative-speedforce]

Oh no! Your OCs have just realized their food is poisoned! They've only got a few minutes before they go into cardiac arrest, what do they do?

(okay maybe I watched Casino Royale yesterday. sue me.)

Siv: Is immune to most poisons due to their abilities

Hailey: Literally could not give less of a shit, she's already dead, what is it going to do? Kill her?

Jay: Starts making out with Cassandra because he doesn't have that much time left

Cassandra: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the poison

Arya: Fakes their own death, because the vast majority of human poisons don't affect Fae, and proceeds to become an arsonist of public restrooms

Esme: Beams herself to the club because if she's gonna die she's gonna die having fun

Ember: Calls all her friends to tell them that he loves them.

Gina: Just dies (again) after pretending like nothing was wrong so she won't worry anyone.

Cat: Finds the person who gave her the poison and hacks all their devices so they'll just show pictures of extremely stupid, extremely ugly goats for the rest of time as revenge.

Max: Spends his last few moments scrolling on his phone and making meme posts about how he's about to escape the capitalist hellscape (and he programs a couple drones to go shoot some CEOs)

Kyle: Is immune to most poisons due to his abilities

Eric: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the poison

Jacob: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the poison

Khalil: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the poison

Antonio: Telepathically locates the person who poisoned him and proceeds to give them a psychic attack that traumatizes them so much that they willingly give him the antidote.

Ameerah: Spends her last few minutes fucking with everyone else's emotions because she's a little jerk and she wants to laugh at all the people either having nervous breakdowns or committing violence.

Rania: Synthesizes an antidote because she's smart like that

Reggie: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the posion

Director Hawke: Casts a counterspell that neutralizes the poison

Meredith: Is immune to most poisons due to its abilities

Cory: Spends her last few minutes making TikToks that can be uploaded from beyond the grave

Delilah: God forbid you poison her food because Siv can and will murder you slowly and painfully

Onnie: Is immune to most poisons due to their abilities

Pippa: Is immune to most poisons due to her abilities

Jessi: Has a criminal empire so she's already prepared for such things, she has one of her aides grab her the antidote from her stash.

Hyun-Ki: Either calls his mom to tell her that he loves her, or Jessi also gives him the antidote, depending on what version of Hyun-Ki we're working with.

Marie: Is a doctor with access to a replicator, I think she'll be fine.

Qiara: You really tried to poison a near-omnipotent space god? Are you that stupid?

Liah: Overdramatically prepares herself for death, until Marie comes over and injects her with the antidote.

Soraya: Just downs another cup of coffee and hopes for the best

Thalia: "Ugh finally now I don't have to deal with these idiots anymore"

Reyna: Finally gets to test whether her "Upload a consciousness into an android body" plans actually work.

Laila: Is extremely upset because she never even managed to find a hobby she enjoyed

Athena: Apologizes to the guy she was vivisecting becuase she's probably not going to be able to finish his vivisection. (he's actually kinda relieved tho)

Samira: Asks Aldrich to bite her so she can be a vampire with him and not die (well, not die of the poison, but the question of whether vampires are alive or not still stands)

Aldrich: Is already undead, it might make him sick but it's not going to kill him.

Sohelia: Depending on whether her human or vampire physiology wins out in the end, she's either going to suffer and wake up with one hell of a hangover, or die. Either way, she'll finally admit that she loves all her friends and thinks that they're the best people in the world.

Matt: Finally takes a chance and tries out skateboarding because who cares if he dislocates a joint or starts excessively bleeding, what is it going to do? Kill him?

Vanessa: If it's after she got turned into a monster (and subsequently turned back- mostly at least), I think she'll be fine, she literally can spit acid that can eat through a car. If it's before, however, she's going to die.

Dolores: Is already undead, it might make her sick but it's not going to kill her.

Victorie: Is already undead, it might make her sick but it's not going to kill her.

Kayla: Steals the antidote from the HYDRA stores, since they probably have an entire stash of various poisons (and their antidotes) since they have a tendency to torture and kill people.

[mrkeatingsblazer]

i didnt like vol 2 there i said it

[bogboye]

Whaddup lads just watched Eternals, you know exactly what time it is:

the found family is STRONG in this one (or maybe not so much killkillkill)

they were all so physically intimate w each other raaaaaaaaaaa

also the amount of pretty people is too much for me to handle like the range

I went with my lesbian best friend and I love her, I really do but man she would literally not shut up about Angeline Jolie

Their powers are all so fucking cool

Makkaris sonic boom is just something else

Like every fucking fast fuck you see on TV looks like an arthric turtle trying to reach a place of kale that's laying outside of the greenscreen

But not Makkari though OH NO

Also everyone signing to her oaaaaaa good shit good shit good shit

Finally some good fucking food disabled representation

why was there a sex scene ewewew get it away from me (it wasn't that bad I'm just a dramatic cunt)

THEIR CONSTUMES RAAAAAAA THEYRE ALL SO STUNNING AND FIT THE CHARACTERS SO WELL AAAAAAAAAA

Sprites vibes are so fucking gnc like lads

Also I'm like so glad they didn't do some weird romance thing w them and Ikaris like nay lads I woulda left

Why did I already forget Sersis boyfriends name? Oh that's right because he was on screen for like six minutes max

Yo as soon as I saw Ajak lying there like a fucking Manekin someone pushed over at kohl's I knew something ain't right

RIP to you Queen you were a real one

FUCKING KINGO SKSHABAIEBE I LOVED EVERYTHING BOLLYWOOD HIS DUMB LITTLE EYEBROW AND KARUN HURRRJJDJD

I swear that mf has at least five cameras stashed into every single pocket of his suit

Druig my babe my darling fucking superb you funky little mind controller

He literally went: yeah Imma leave and take the lads me, what you gonna do?

And Ajak said aight fair enough sskdjsnaiaksbssksj

Ikaris? Don't know her

OH you mean the traitorous cunt that killed two members of his family after one of them told him "Hey I think genocide is bad let's stop this"

Fucking all lives matter vibes I hate him SO MUCH

GOOD FUCKING RIDANCE

BITCH

Thena my beloved? My ethereal Goddess of War? I'd fight Arishem for you, just say the word

Also hers and Gilgameshs' friendship is literally one of my favourite m/f friendships I've ever seen on TV

She's suffering from her flashbacks (which reminded me a fuckton of ptsd) and Gilgamesh chose to stay by her side, taking care of her and isolate themselves so no one else could get hurt

I love him so so so much and his death didn't absolutely SIIAVSKADUKDDOAAJBDIS yeah I'm a normal person <3

PHASTOS

PHASTOS PHASTOS PHASTOS RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The man the myth the legend mcus 57th gay character

except THIS TIME we actually met his husband and his son and they were affectionate and they kissed-

crops are watered skin is clear musk is dead

And we had two men that weren't fucking shredded or skinny NO they were stout and they were absolutely fucking badass (not the shit endgame pulled with Thor fuck you fuck you fuck you)

Druig and Makkari own my heart, actually ❤

Also I'm so fucking glad they didn't make Ikaris and Sersi get back together

Yeah he had his stupid little "The power of love" moment

BUT he flung himself in the sun immediately after so it's okay

Die (derogatory)

awwww they made Sprite human let's move on

BAHAHA ARISHEM REALLY YOINKED EVERYONE UP AND INTO OUTER SPACE THIS WAS SO FUCKING FUNNY

chile, anyways so

*Harry Styles shows up* hold on, what was that?

I swear I burst a fucking blood vessel

OH WAIT I REMEMBERED HIS NAME anyway whats w that Dane dude? He's funny but what's a w the sword and that ominous ass voice?

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

[sammyloomis]

i’m curious what your general thoughts on the characters were? i found the main cast pretty likable on average tbh

ohhhHOHOHO well then ill have to make a cheeky list n talk about em all then :] ill go in order of appearence i guess (and yeah i ended up liking most of them! with a few nit picks here and there)

laura: i fucking love her oh my god, i was kind of surprised when i got to the end and found myself as into her character as i was. shes super cool, queen of costume changes, queen of being a rly cool werewolf, queen of having an eyepatch, queen of my heart

max: ohh my god this lad fghj i love him too, hes so..... Dopey idk how else to describe him. hes so casually hilarious idk if hes ever aware of it. he was super nice in my playthrough because i was nice to Him and i think he and laura are a great couple :'] drinks his respects women juice every day

jacob: he was living his jessice riley fantasy spending half the night in his underwear covered in blood. king of being in touch with his emotions, i loved that he cried so much and wasnt as much of the douche bag jock type (like he still Was a dick a fair few times, but im baby girlifying him)

kaitlyn: SHE DESERVED MORE SCREEN TIME WTF MAN like considering shes supposed to be the final girl to ryans final guy she didnt have NEARLY as much gameplay as him :[ which is such a shame because shes GREAT again super super cool, i Loved her and dylans friendship, the whole scrapyard scene was amazing and one of the best in the game imo

ryan: ohh ryan..... ryan ryan ryan. a friend said this yeaterday but he suffers from the mike munroe treatment where the game Clearly wants you to like him by having a lot of segments with him and in doing so it just made me kind of..... Not like him :[ i also felt like he was resistant to laura and the truth of what was goin on for Too Long, like at the point he should have realised the stakes he just Kept Going which was frustrating

dylan: i actually started of really not liking dylan fghj i thought he was kinda annoying :'] but he Defo grew on me once shit started going south. like once the very obviously a front started dropping he was much less of a pest fghjk AND like i said with kaitlyn, the scrapyard scene with those 2 was INCREDIBLE. also love that he asked for his hand to be cut off and then was like WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? D':

nick: hrhhhhh okay. nick. man nick you really fuckin got my goat huh?? just snatched it up like el chupacabra. he was so fucking BORING dude, and when he wasnt being boring he was being kind of a dick >:[ even before the bite. the campfire scene im sure is gonna make a lot of people dislike emma but i would like to point out that HE KISSES HER BACK. QUITE HAPPILY TOO. so yeah, not a big nick fan, but i dont Hate him, i think once he gets bitten its actually a pretty interesting downward spiral

abigail: ohhhh abi you sweet baby. she was very cute and very sweet and UNFORTUNATELY that meant.... she was a lil one note. but again she was SO under used it was so annoying!! it felt like she was just there as a narrative device for nick and once he was out of the picture she was kinda pushed to the back. the parts shes in, all she rly does is.... be there fghj and from what ive seen quite a few of her deaths are being killed by her friends once they turn into werewolves

emma: controversial queen. my thoughts on emma are Complicated, especially after the campfire thing, and a lot of the time she felt kind of uninterested in what was going on which, considering her character and how she talks about putting up a front a lot of the time, i can understand. all that being said, i still love her, i think shes interesting, and i WILL defend her because i know how people like to immediately jump on female characters who arent totally """nice"""..... oh also shes in love with abi so

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E133 (April 13, 2021)

(Little distracted tonight! Please excuse any and all omissions.)

Tonight’s guests on Good Morning Quebec are Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham!

How are Beau and Fjord feeling about their leadership responsibilities among the Nein? Marisha: “Beau has always admired Fjord and respected his ability to speak like an adult. It does feel like-- are Beau and Fjord the only adults in the room?” Travis points out Caduceus and Caleb’s leadership as well. “In that conversation, at least, just because I want it to be a tiny bit meta, a lot of it’s just mindset. Fjord knows that Beau is a world-breaker, can kick that ass, and the idea that part of the focus would be diverted towards how can we get out here, it was feeling a little bit more like we’re done for rather than we can do this. It was his way of doing the old coach reminder of stop thinking of the ways you’re going to get out of this and start thinking of the ways you’re going to dominate this.” Marisha mentions that Beau and Travis are kind of the two who aren’t saying goodbyes, and yet they’re two of the only ones who just have the Nein. “Even Caleb was allowed to say goodbye to his cat! We don’t even have that. It’s just the Nein. They are the ultimate goodbyes for us, if it comes to that. But hopefully it won’t come to that.” Travis: “There’s a certain drive that comes with not having wrapped it up in a pretty bow.”

On Fjord’s decision to have the Rangers engage: “Yeah, that one stings. I was suffering from the good ol’ regurts almost as soon as it happens. I realized it was just Essek and Fjord, and he was just asking me, and boy there were a lot of horseshit RP things going around my head.” He kept in mind that the captain has to be decisive and focus on his people. “I in no way thought of Dagon at all. Fuck, did I send Dagon to his death? Did that headstrong dude go, nah, I’ll do my own thing and get out of there? I hadn’t really experienced that kind of instant regret in a gameplay situation yet. But in leadership moments, or when you have to make a decision like that, sometimes it’s important to take a fucking minute and think about what you’re doing. Even in D&D. I wish I had taken a moment to say, how far away are they? If you engage them from afar, can you slow them down long enough? Set an ambush if you can, but at least be at max.”

On Beau’s meditation attempt that ended in contact with Lucien: “I think I know exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to put another fuckin’ eye somewhere on me. I was remembering Keyleth putting her hand in the spinning black orb of death under the Ziggurat and I rolled a natural twenty.” Travis asks if she thinks she and Caleb are “next up in the queue” now that so many of the Tombtakers are dead. “Yeah. I’m gonna get turned.” Travis: “I’ll kill you real good, Beau. I’ll take Caleb first because he made me promise, but I’ll get you good, too.”

On Fjord now having more information about Vandren: “I love it. I feel like such a fuckin’ moron. It never occurred to me for one second that a shipwrecked person that survived would have maybe just wound up on the nearest island. Nope. Didn’t even bother to do the Castaway grid and check the nearest body of land. I’m a fuckin’ terrible D&D player.” Fjord washed up extremely far away from the wreck. “I love that he’s there. I cannot wait to go find him and have a conversation. I just don’t know which will come first: going to Darktow and confronting Sabien or going to see Vanden. But both of those things are on the list, for sure. Just for closure, I mean, damn.” Brian asks if Fjord is okay with Jester having reached out. “Yeah, totally. Fjord is a big dummy in a lot of ways.” He mentions that Fjord has a lot of ideas in his head about what it means to “be a man” that keeps him from asking for help when he needs it. “When Jester did that, it just reaffirmed his feelings for her and how she feels for him. It’ll take those kind of people in his life to help him along to the things that he wants when he’s too stupid or shy to acknowledge it himself.”

How about that alliance with Essek? Marisha: “Here’s the thing. Beau wasn’t like, ooh, allying with Trent, that’s icky because of moral reasons. It’s not that. The more allies, the better in this moment. Teaming up with Magneto kind of situation. But Beau’s whole concern was is this going to distract you from the overall mission. I couldn’t imagine walking alongside someone who had just tortured me in the way that Trent has. We spent so many episodes watching Caleb have these post-traumatic flashes of when he lit his family on fire. Caleb’s a shotgun, he’s such a good damage-dealer, and if he can’t cope with it. That was Beau’s concern.” Travis: “And just to go along with your Magneto reference, Essek is one powerful person. Trent brings the acolytes. But we recognize that if we stop the Tombtakers and Lucien then we probably have to stop Trent and the Vollstruckers. But I wanted to open it to Caleb, because we gotta face that motherfucker at some point.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Yasha! (krisjaded on Instagram, photography by adambenfer on Instagram)

On Beau’s plan to put a possible eavesdropper off their trail at Pumat’s: “I mean, everything is a long shot.” Taliesin suggested the idea. “I said Darktow because I thought, hey, if he tries to follow us to Darktow, he’ll probably get murdered. He’ll never make it back. We have no idea. It could have been completely transparent, or maybe he’ll be stupid enough to actually try it.”

Fan Art of the Week: a lovely Caduceus! (by arcanum.dice on Instagram)

How’s the relationship with Yasha been going? “It’s so new! And fresh and weird, and she’s trying to remember to be like, oh, that’s right! You’re my girlfriend! I owe you some attention, that’s right. It’s nice to have somebody. We were talking about not really having anyone to say goodbye to in this round of goodbyes, Beau is looking to the future and those relationships are keeping her afloat.”

On seeing more of Aeor, looking forward to it? Travis: “I really want them dead first. If collections of explorers and expeditions from the Cerberus Assembly and the Dynasty have turned up stuff they don’t know what to do with yet, what the fuck are a bunch of chuckle-dicks like us going to do with it?” They’re interested in a distant sort of way - there are bigger issues at hand.

Travis mentions that he’s never been quite so emotionally invested in the game before and notes that was at the root of his competitive attitude at the end of the last episode. “The lines were so blurred in that way. It’s just a testament to the never-ending learning process that comes from this game that I underestimated my entire life.”

[pappydaddy]

Ohh totally the writers regressed Steve's entire development to be solely Nancy's love interest again. His other relationships suffered so much, especially the one with Dustin. He seemed so angry with being paired up with him it was so ooc. Like it's actually criminal that we got a Eddie and Dustin hug before Steve and Dustin, like wth.

Even his relationship with Robin was watered down to push for Stancy. I still stand by the fact that Robin should have been the one who jumped in first to save Steve, but then Eddie wouldn't have given his true love speech to Steve later. And Robin actually pushing Nancy to persue Steve, while being Steve's bestie and probably knowing how fucked up he was after the breakup. The writers don't see heaven for this I'm afraid. Robin needs to talk some sense into him, like please.

I'm so mad at the writers, I hope they look through fan reactions and see that 80% of the fandom doesn't want this kinda shit. Plus it's so fucking unfair to both characters. Steve got rejected twice there at the end and he was clearly hurt, if he takes her back after all the shit Nancy put him through (cheating, calling him bs and making him insecure about his intelligence) what kinda message is this for his character? Like does he really feel so insecure about himself, so worthless that he doesn't think he deserves better??? Or worse if the writers kill him off for Nancy I'm gonna commit a crime if they do that.

And Nancy deserves an arc that isn't centered around guys, let her be single and move away to persue her dream career. Nancy won't ever be the perfect woman for Steve to carry his 6 kids, she said herself in season one. I fucking hate how they ended s4 with setting up Nancy cheating on Jonathan in s5 like she did with Steve in s2. Plus most likely not even facing any repercussions for her behavior because the show excuses any mistake so idk she gets a fee pass for anything really. I tried to like her but after s2 I just can't bring myself, the only scenes where I truly started to appreciate her more were the ones with Robin tbh.

My dream dynamics or hope for s5. Steve and Robin plus party all together fighting evil monsters. We deserve Steve and El interactions, Steve comforting Dustin and Lucas. Plus for once let him actually display feelings, I want to see him grieve Max and feeling guilty for not being the protector like he thought he was. Plus the arc I hoped for s4, realizing he doesn't need romantic love, he already has a family rn and that friendships can make you just as happy. Like I really thought for vol2 he would finally move on and come to that realization but instead we got a love confession.

Nancy and Jonathan can do their investigation shit, stay far away from the group like they always do every season and talk about their feelings like mature adults they claim to be. Like the Duffers talked about s1 pairings definitely Jancy was together for 80% of the time despite Nancy dating Steve so please just go back to that lol.

Sorry this was kinda long, but every time I see Stancy content or discussions I get once again so angry at like everything. We could have so much better but nope.

Obx anon

oh my gosh! it's great to see you again obx anon! how have you been lovely?

i agree with you full-heartedly! i loved nancy in season one and (a little less bc of the steve situation) in season 2, but in season 3 i liked her again because her storylines were something other than conflicted feelings for a boy. in season one, the writers were laying the seeds for nancy and jonathan (even tho they had jonathan take pictures of her???) so they had her dating steve as a way for her to break free of the good girl in the suburbs mentality. this is seen with her losing her virginity, going to the party, shotgunning, etc. they used the relationship with steve to give her character depth and create a change within her.

then in season 2 she ruined steve which allowed for steve's character growth. this growth had the kids involved with it. steve went from king steve to momma steve and that was because of the kids. even in season 3 when he only had dustin and erica with him, he was still momma steve. then he started chucking fireworks at the mind flayer and he was momma steve saving el because he had the kids.

there was no momma steve content in season 4. it was annoyed and borderline king steve content. i hated that scene where he tried to go with nancy and he was visibly annoyed that he had to go with dustin. like i was excited for some steve and dustin content - i look forward to steve and dustin content. on top of that, there was no robin and steve.

everything with steve was so ooc in season 4. i also hate how it seems like they are trying to make the viewers hate nancy. she doesn't seem to be someone who it whishy-washy, yet, every other season she is unsure of her relationship.

but, i did read natalia agreed that robin and nancy would be a good pair and that it would be cool to see that relationship. i feel like that would also explain why nancy seems to jump between steve and jonathan. she seems to be drawn to any guy that is showing any form of affection/romantic interest to her regardless of her relationship status. so, maybe (and i am just brainstorming here), what if she doesn't have romantic feelings towards steve or jonathan? what if she feels like because they like her and she is a girl and they are boys, she should like them and date them?

but, back to canon. i was also upset that there seemed to be no resolution in the two-day jump of any of this. nancy can break up with jonathan if she wants, but steve and her better stay friends. there was also no steve/dustin dynamic. or steve/robin dynamic other than steve seeing her talking to vickie. but i think seeing this shift proves how nancy and steve wouldn't work. (a) they want two completely different things in life like you pointed out and (b) they bring out the worst in each other.

tik tok seems to love stancy and i've had to hit not interested so many times bc it keeps showing me stancy content and i hate it. i feel much better on tumblr where there are so many people who agree with me about this. also, i saw someone on here say that hopefully steve admitting he saw nancy having his six-kids for the longest time was steve's way of saying 'i am finally getting over you and moving on and being happy'. but we really won't know until season 5 comes out (which i hope isn't long from now).

and don't worry lovely! i hate stancy so much too. it fills me with rage that people cannot seem to realize how bad they are for each other. i am also mad that they ruined steve's character (slightly) in this season and i hope they don't ruin it further.

[jonathangoodbyers]

these are my thoughts on the bullshit

eddies death made me cry for the first time in nearly two years and i am a master of repressing my emotions so great cool

eddie is a goddamn moron for dying like that and im mad at him

im going to construct intricate fantasies in my head so he stops being dead there at least

lame and gay that they only had dustin and wayne munson actually visibly mourning him, as if he wasn't also friends with mike.

WILL BYERS: come get a hug baby. him telling mike about his own feelings but pretending that it was eleven who felt those things -> made me very upset. will has been crying a lot and he doesn't deserve it at all. will is so deeply and tragically in love with mike it breaks my heart

steve??? his ending here is basically that he confesses to nancy and then nothing? LAME.

its good that steve acknowledges his own growth and it being spurred by nancy but that doesn't mean that they were like ,, destined to be together. why couldn't he just be like hey thanks for making me see that i was an asshole and ive changed for the better, lets be friends?

jonathan is still lying to nancy about the college thing??? after AAALLL of that??? also lame

what happened to dmitri and yuri. did they just drop off joyce, hopper and murray and then flew back to russia together? are they hanging out? are they going back to their families? who knows not me

season 4 is the season of Max Suffering

and she doesn't deserve iiittt

it did think that she was gonna die for a minute there but im sure she'll make a comeback next season somehow.

i do have a sneaking feeling she might be permanently blind

maybe its because i never got over billy but i think it's a shame that max wasn't really able to work through her trauma abt it with vecna after all. obv she did get some closure in "dear billy" but the last thing she said regarding him was 'yea sometimes i prayed he would die in a car crash and also im suicidal now' like?? she was saying that to bait henry into getting her but i feel like it might've been nice if later on she had tried to resist by saying she did miss billy in some way. like ooh henry you were wrong actually about me being glad that billy is dead bc thats not entirely true !! i mean i think she has very conflicting feelings about him. like yea she did hate him but she also loved him in a way and that can coexist.

i need to stop talking about billy sorry

couldn't anyone give poor dustin some crutches? that boy is limping.

jason dying unceremoniously by just burning up from the earth opening? good. he deserves it a little bit kind of. like yea he didnt understand what was going on but god that boy was annoying.

brenner dead? also good. hes been nothing but a menacing creep since the beginning of the show and im glad he's gone. love that eleven didnt give him the satisfaction of saying that she understood why he did what he did. just love that for her.

where the fuck did that sword come from that hopper used to kill the demogorgon??

robin and vickie 🥰🥰🥰

i knew Vickie's boyfriend wasn't gonna last after that one scene that he was in.

lucas :(((

watching him hold max while she was dying was so painful. so. she better get back thats all im saying

henry?? annoying ass bitch.

i feel like his character is about rejection, being unloved and only seeing the worst in people because of it. which is whyyy it would make sense if his ending was about accepting that people can be good and bad, guilty and innocent. that having done bad things doesn't ruin you as a person, bc thats what he keeps trying to show his victims, that they ARE bad people for their guilt and trauma. a satisfying resolution would be about convincing him to see the good in people. but his ending will probably be more along the lines of big explosion fireball eleven screaming.

eleven and max's friendship >>>>>

el better get her bestie back.

okay those are all my thots so far

[lighthouseas]

Thoughts on st s4 v2

I know this blog is slowly turning into a stranger things blog but I have a lot of thoughts lol

Obviously, major s4 spoilers under the cut so be warned.

JOPPER KISS JOPPER CANON LET’S GOOOOOOOO

If Max dies I’m literally going to jump out of a window /hj but seriously when she was like “I’m not ready to die” I almost screamed like my poor baby jeez.  I don’t think she’ll die though just because idk why they would drag it out into the next season if they were just gonna kill her off

LUCAS MY BOY.  He deserves WAY more credit than he gets.  Lumax for the win

Yes finally Brenner is dead I hated him

Jason is also dead which is great

I CALLED Eddie dying y’all.  He was an okay character imo but he was gonna die at some point.  Especially when he and Dustin had that whole emotional convo I knew.  I KNEW.  I’m sad about how Hawkins treats him though.  That really fucking sucks. He deserved better.

Jonathan is still partially evaporated.  That Jancy reunion was half-assed and they acted like they were about to get divorced 

Ok so.  I saved this for last because...uh well.  The whole thing with Will...obviously, he’s VERY gay for Mike and for whatever reason the writers decided not to have him come out, but hey, maybe we’ll get that in the next season.  But also do take into account that this was the 80s.  I’m not saying gays didn’t exist back then, but it was a hell of a lot more dangerous to come out then than it is now (not saying it isn’t still dangerous, but y’know).  Maybe he wasn’t ready, but at the very least, it was strongly implied.  

Also, to those who wanted Byler to become canon...I’m sorry.  As a writer myself I knew from the start it wasn’t gonna happen.  Writers don’t just establish relationships like those of El and Mike and then randomly drop it for some other fan-favorite ship.  It just doesn’t happen.  I’m not talking in favor of Mileven, nor am I talking in favor of Byler.  I’m just being realistic here- it wasn’t gonna happen.  All of that hype for Byler- it was most likely just to promote the show since basically everyone knows how popular the ship is and the actors, producers, and everyone else hyping it up meant that more people would swarm to see the episodes, which means more money for them.  Yeah, it sucks, but unfortunately, that’s the entertainment industry for you.  

HOWEVER.  I do agree what they did to Will’s character was shitty.  Really shitty.  On his own, Will has so much potential, but they’re reducing him to literally just a little weak gay boy who has spidey sense.  He deserves to be happy- he’s been through literal hell every season and to top it off, he has unrequited feelings for his best friend.  I really don’t know why they feel the need to do that to him since he’s such a good person, but hopefully, that will be resolved in s5.  I’m begging you, Stranger Things, PLEASE give Will the arc he deserves- not a dumbass arc where he just suffers and is in pain.  My poor boy doesn’t deserve that.

Last thing- there’s still a lot of questions I have about everything, which I’m really hoping are answered in season 5.  I hope they’re able to tie up any loose ends, but you never know.  At this point, especially with all of the angry fans at the moment, it’s a make or break.  To be completely honest, I’m excited to see how everything plays out.

[abiggaynerd]

What made me ship maxwil. Sorry this is really just a jumbled mess JKNKJN but hope u enjoy reading it anyway. Under a cut because its too fucking long

Wilson and Maxwell are don’t starve’s main characters. They show up in the original game’s intro movie together. 

Maxwell speaks to Wilson on the radio, offers him a deal, and Wilson takes it. 

Now, think about that- Wilson, with no hesitation, takes a stranger’s dubious offer from a radio that is NOT supposed to be two-ways. He ruins his life without even thinking about it. 

This shows us how DESPERATE Wilson is for human contact. 

Wilson lives alone in a house, far away from his family who hates him, and not a single friend. Some might say Wilson doesn’t like people. But what i see is a person who ADORES people, being forced to be apart from them (exactly like maxwell) because no one will take him seriously. Wilson is working this hard because he is convinced if he just makes one good invention, has one big break, then people will finally respect and like him. It’s not just that he wants knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

He has someone offering him exactly what he wants, and it’s not just the offer, it’s the fact someone is talking to him. Wilson wants someone to listen to him, and believe in him, and that is JUST as important as the knowledge, if not more so. Maxwell has complete faith in Wilson’s ability to make this portal. Wilson trusts maxwell more than anyone else, simply because he’s gotten the smallest bit of positive attention. 

That makes his betrayal absolutely crushing for Wilson. Wilson is the only person who explicitly says he hates maxwell in the first game. He feels betrayed much more personally than maxwell intended, he’s furious, and he finds out maxwell didn’t actually believe in him the way he thought. Wilson is forced once again to completely rely on himself. Wilson likes himself and believes in himself a lot, but he sort of has to. No one else will. And that’s a hard thing to deal with.

Wilson goes through the worlds, because he wants out, obviously. He is the only one to canonly reach the end of adventure mode. Wickerbottom may think he’s an idiot, but he’s the one who made it to the end of the line, not her. 

Wilson is likely expecting a boss fight here, or something, but what he gets is a sad, frail old man who is suicidal and has nothing. Maxwell has completely given up. When you free max, it says “take pity?” Wilson does. Wilson KNOWS this will end badly for him. Wilson KNOWS he’s not going to get anything in return. But Wilson frees him, because Wilson is unequivocally GOOD. Wilson cares about people, deeply, and would do anything for them. Wilson does not like to see people suffer, and Wilson will take on the pain for himself if he can. Maxwell has hurt him more than anyone, but Wilson still takes his place. 

Now if we look at this from Maxwell’s perspective: Wilson is just another person to trick into coming here. Maxwell is putting on a show, using all his charisma, doing what They brought him here for. It’s the same as everyone else. 

Something interesting about adventure mode is that maxwell does NOT want you to continue. He does his absolute best to keep you from getting to the end. Scaring you, killing you, bribing you. You think it’s cruelty or fear of you at first glance, but really: maxwell does NOT want you to suffer the way he does. 

Maxwell brings you here, puts you in a terrible world, but in his mind, NOTHING is worse than the throne. Look at him on the throne and look at him as a survivor- on the throne he has nothing but despair and the desire to die. As a survivor, he’s extremely peppy in comparison. The throne has ruined maxwell, and even though he’s past the point of caring if you come to the constant, he does NOT want to be the reason someone else is on the throne. 

But is the door itself a cry for help? Was that a subconscious thing maxwell did? Charlie doesn’t have an adventure mode. She seems quite happy on the throne. Or is it because the Them are tired of maxwell? Compare Charlie’s world to Maxwell’s: considerably harder. Charlie’s world may allow you to revive yourself, but Maxwell’s is objectively easier. Less bosses, less danger, more resources. Maxwell also tries to give you a world you can have everything you need in in adventure mode, which is THE BEST he can do for you- something probably only allowed because the Them know the survivors won’t take his offer. 

When you get to the throne, despite being in absolute mental agony, maxwell cannot make himself trick you into freeing him. Which he COULD. He could pretend the key will let you out, he could pretend it’s something he REALLLY doesn’t want you to do because oooooo its gonna free youuuu and send you to earthhhh. But he cannot allow himself to do that, because this is the last bit of kindness and humanity he has- giving you the knowledge that the throne is the worst fate possible here. He clearly doesn’t think you are going to do it until you do- he’s shocked and thrilled when he stands up. 

Wilson frees him, knowing everything, after everything, and that SHOCKS him. Maxwell considers Wilson his savior. He owes everything to him. 

They don’t see each other again until cyclum. Wilson attacks maxwell, and while some people may think it’s because he’s angry, i think it’s because he SAW maxwell die and assume it’s either an insanity hallucination come to kill him or a new monster come to trick him. When max doesn’t attack when Wilson stops, he stops. 

Now, there are a lot of things Wilson could do. He could leave, he could kill him, he could ignore him. But Wilson feeds him. Maxwell is TOTALLY FINE. Max can get food himself. And food is a valuable resource. Wilson chooses to feed maxwell, because Wilson is good. They camp together, another thing Wilson doesn’t have to do. Wilson then decides to WORK WITH MAXWELL ON A PORTAL. AGAIN. Wilson makes the ACTIVE CHOICE to trust maxwell, with NO REASON TO. 

Now, we don’t know exactly what happens when the other survivors get there, but it stands to reason Wilson protects and defends max against the other survivors. Even though the portal failed AGAIN, and its possible max was fucking with him AGAIN. Wilson CHOSES to trust Max, even with evidence that could imply otherwise. 

If we look at the quotes, Wilson banters with max a lot, and can be annoyed with him. But when max is dead, Wilson explicitly reassures him he’s already working on reviving him. 

Maxwell, like Wilson, thrives on attention. He needs it, even if its negative. It’s easier for him to be someone to hate than just a sad man to pity. His persona- where he misses the throne and being king, is a lazy asshole, and hates everyone- is just that, a persona. Max is an actor, after all. He and wigfrid have this in common: he cannot handle being HIMSELF because being himself is terrifying. He doesn’t have anything as himself. He’s nothing as himself. I don’t think mentally he would be able to handle it! And Wilson knows this.

Maxwell also, when Wilson dies, asks if he really wants to come back. I think this is the only way he can think of to try to make up for bringing him here. It’s not much, but Wilson wouldn’t feel pain any more. Of course Wilson wouldn’t accept that, but maxwell offers because it’s the only thing he can think of.

Wilson is someone maxwell is nervous and shy around, when greeting. He’s the only one max shows explicit affection for. Like i said before, max sees Wilson as an angel, as his savior, but maxwell cannot handle it. It’s easier for him to be a huge asshole. But Wilson does not let him drive him away. 

I think the banter is something Wilson enjoys! Wilson is a sarcastic person, and he and max are intellectually equals. I think max is someone he really enjoys spending time with, as well as someone he would do anything for.

Now if we look at one of the more recent videos, with charlie, Winona, Wilson, and Max, maxwell sees charlie for the first time in a long, long time. He is frozen, but when Wilson calls him, he immediately follows him out. This shows me he puts Wilson on the same level as CHARLIE now, if not HIGHER. 

But something else that isn’t technically canon that made me ship it is this: when i played adventure mode for the first time, i got all the way to the end cutscene and died during it. I didn’t unlock max so i had to do it again. 

I restarted, and it made me think of Wilson KNOWING adventure mode was not a way out. KNOWING the end was not going to go well for him. But going through all five worlds, AGAIN, JUST to free maxwell. And that really got me to love the ship jknkjn

In conclusion maxwell and Wilson have an absolutely beautiful relationship, and it’s good. 

[angiethewitch]

Hey as someone who never watched stranger things but knows the genre and could at least recognise the actors. What's up with it atm? I am super out of the loop, I keep seeing talk and people seemed happy or excited about it but now I'm seeing people being very critical? Has there been some stuff going on? Were people always upset and i misunderstood? Am I misunderstanding now? I'm super out of the loop but curious and don't know anyone who watched it to ask. (Yes i could look it up but sounds like this could be fandom controversy idk??)

the first 2 seasons were good, some people didn't like s3 so much but I really enjoyed it, but the latest season, s4, was just bad writing. they keep introducing characters we love and then killing them off but never doing anything to the main favs. it looked like max was gonna die but suddenly eleven is jesus and she brought her back to life but she's in a coma now and its annoying because her suffering doesn't push the story anywhere besides traumatising an already traumatised poor teenage girl. the monster this season i really enjoyed but I hate how he targets already vulnerable and possibly suicidal teens.

not to mention the constant queerbaiting. it got to a boiling point this season. they kept dangling it in front of their lgbt viewers and then being like oh you silly children, lgbt people don't get happy endings! I may be married to a man but as a bisexual woman who was primarily interested in women, ive had the experiences the gay&lesbian characters have had.

they completely messed up the characters and rolled back lots of character development. it's just bad writing. and it's upsetting to see the misfits, the outcasts, the lgbt characters, the mentally ill and traumatised just constantly get shit on by bad writing. theres no payoff to their suffering and no reason for it.

people are mad because the show had so much potential but I feel like the writers lost their way. it feels like game of thrones in a way. I was considering rewatching the earlier seasons but I dont really want to because now I know how they've fucked it up, which is how I felt when game of thrones ended.

how they managed to fuck up every character in under 4 hours is beyond me. it's just upsetting.

hopefully this gives you a brief overview, sorry im exhausted so I hope this makes sense!

[witchling-valkyrie]

Stranger Things S4 Vol 2 Thoughts

Spoilers below, obviously. 

OKAY SO. I’ve really only seen two reactions from people: they either love the end of this season, or they hate it.

Since I’m a person who lies in the middle of that, I thought I’d casually weigh in my two cents here. Do with it what you will!

(& for a liiiitle context about me. I’m a bisexual mental abuse survivor & writer. Do with that what you will) 

I’ma start with my love, Max Mayfield

Something I saw about her arc this season on tumblr actually inspired this post. Essentially, it said something along the lines of “Way to have Max work through her trauma only to have her limbs snapped and go blind way to go Duffer brothers”

Okay first all--fair. It is so fair to be angry that Max has come to this beautiful, wonderful revelation about the trauma she suffered from Billy and his death, as well as letting her friends back in to help her only for her to die/nearly die. 

But here’s the thing: it’s supposed to make you angry. That’s the whole point! Because Max is one of our heroines, and she’s already suffered so much. But realistically, life isn’t fair that way. In the world of Stranger Things, life is not fair that way. Character’s amazing mental breakthroughs will not stop them from being physically harmed by a madman trying to kill her, I’m sorry. The “happily ever after” fan in me also wanted Max to fully escape and be totally fine, but I think the writers made the correct choice here. Max’s death/near death is powerful and upsetting! YOU SHOULD BE ANGRY! I sure as hell am--but on Max’s behalf in her storyline, not at the writers for making that choice! 

That being said, I fully think that Max had the best character arc this season. Her storyline was dynamic, thrilling, surprising, and troubling all in one. I hope she gets a “bad bitch take over the world” arc in season 5, because that queen deserves it. 

Side note--I think I would be happy with season five for a badass Max, Eleven, Will and Nancy team-up to fuck Venca up! Like, can you imagine? Woof. 

Moving on...Will and Mike. 

First of all, I’m gonna say that I 100% agree that Mike has gone from a really interesting character to the most blah “what are you even here for” character I’ve ever seen. The storyline of this season could have done without him completely. 

Secondly, I am also really disappointed that Will’s heartfelt and heartbreaking confession (for lack of a better word, I suppose, since he didn’t say the words & Mike is an oblivious blob) was used as a tool to further Mike and Eleven’s relationship. That just felt like twisting the knife. And perhaps I could have understood it storyline wise (if I could ignore the queerbating, which I can’t, but if I could) if Mike and Eleven’s relationship was even remotely interesting anymore, or if there was no other way for Eleven to power through in order to defeat Vecna. Mike and Eleven’s relationship has become boring. as fuck. Like I said above, Mike has turned into an extremely boring character that I can’t get behind in any context, let alone this one. 

ALSO fuck you Mike for saying your life got better as soon as she came into it when that’s when your best friend almost fucking died in fucking hell and is standing right god damn next to you. You’re a monster, Mike Wheeler. SO unless the Duffer brothers are intentionally trying to make Mike into an oblivious asshole (which hey, they might be! Idk what season 5′s gonna hold) then yeah, this was shitty af, cliche, writing. 

Piggybacking (lol) on that, there are 10 million other ways that Eleven could’ve been inspired enough by love to take on Vecna. IE Will and Jonathan, who are her BROTHERS now! Can you imagine a powerful Will Byers speech about how she found him and saved him and how his life has changed since she’s been in it? Or imagine if the timeline was a little different, the Hopper reunion would have been perfect for that moment, and 100x more powerful. 

Plus let’s be real, Mike’s speech sounded like every romance white boy speech in every Hallmark Christmas movie I’ve ever seen, okay. I said what I said. 

Side note--I really loved the Jonathan / Will scene though. They’ve always had one of my favorite relationship dynamics in the show, and this only furthered that for me. I always think it’s important that, when you have a character as traumatized and struggling as Will, you have one character who always sees them. Is this lovely as a romantic trope? Sure, but I think it can be just as powerful as a family relation. Jonathan is that for Will, and I really love that for them. 

A quick thing about Robin here, too. Her SL felt similar to the Will/Mike relationship in this way, but more realistic, I think? Like two women scared to come out but crushing on each other feels very relevant to me. Especially because the boyfriend was not at all relevant and gone in like...2 seconds. Still not great but I understood this writing choice a little more. 

Eddie. 

I’m tired of writers in general bringing on an interesting, dynamic character in just to kill them at the end of the season for some “coward to hero” journey. It’s bullshit, and I thought the writers were better than that, tbh. Would’ve been way more powerful if someone from the OG season died (Not Steve or Nancy simply because I will not allow it, nor Will because that would just be cruel of them). But like, can you imagine if this had been Dustin? Or Mike? Or Jonathan? YEAH. Way better writing. Like, c’mon. 

Russia

I mean I kind of have no words for how irrelevant Russia was other than to give Hopper and Joyce something to do this season. Happy they got together, tho. 

Eleven. 

I’m still very unsure how I felt about her storyline this season, mainly because as soon as I saw Papa I was like “ugh why are you still alive dickweed?” AND YES I know that his presence was meaningful to discovering One, but like..still. Her and One’s relationship was a super cool reveal and I like how that ties into the storyline of the show as a whole, but idk if we really needed the Eleven re-torture scenes for her to get her powers back. 

I don’t really have an alternative suggestion, though. 

Also, I don’t fully understand El’s powers anymore? She can now bring people back to life with good memories of them? I? Have? Questions?

Lastly, I just have to say that Nancy shooting Vecna like she did with no fear and ultimate badassery may have been my favorite scene. I love Nancy Wheeler, fight me. 

So yeah. That’s kinda where I’m sitting at with this season’s end. The Max and Will stuff I really wanted to get out, because I know that’s what most of the controversy was about that. I love other thoughts, but this is just my two cents & I’m not here to fight about it :) Would love to hear other takes, though!