#hey wink

[turtle-ika]

we were ROBBED of, possibly, the best Casey and April duo

[s0fter-sin]

last thing i’ll say; people aren’t owed free content but creatives aren’t owed financial compensation either

[destinysbounty]

I'm literally so sad that Cole wasn't in Seabound. Like isn't he the master of Earth? Isn't the seafloor like the deepest place to be? Wouldn't he be closer to his element if he went in the deep sea? Man.

I'm not the first person to bring this up, and I probably won't be the last, but it is a bit odd how Wildbrain feels so intent on splitting the team up all the time. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good split-up in theory - hell, seasons 4 and 9 are some of my all-time favorites, and overall I think the concept of splitting up the team gives us the chance to explore unconventional dynamics in similarly unconventional situations. There's just one main problem with how Wildbrain handles split-ups: 1) there usually isn't a particularly strong narrative reason for it to happen.

Now if I list off every arbitrary split-up and exactly what made it arbitrary, we'd be here all day. But seriously, next time you watch Wildbrain, try and pay close attention to this sort of thing. Once you notice the way they love to split everyone up at the barest hint of provocation, you can't ignore it. It's everywhere. Obviously there are times where they do have narratively satisfying reasons to split up (s13 is an example of this done well imo), but the sheer volume of arbitrary split-ups kinda sours things a bit - for me, at least.

Which brings us to Seabound. I genuinely don't understand why Cole and Kai couldn't have come along for Seabound. They give this argument that "oh, we need someone to stay behind and hold down the fort while everyone's gone", but...first of all, when has that ever been a pressing issue for them? These assholes leave Ninjago City unattended all the time. And even if they did finally decide to make that a priority after all these years, why is Kai staying behind??? If you ask me, not only would Kai realistically want to be involved in the quest to fix his beloved sister's powers, but Kai also would have been way more effectively utilized by the plot, by actually being part of the plot. Y'know, in the submarine with everyone else. Not only because we'd get the chance to see his fear of water get some resolution, but the whole narrative about Nya's childhood trauma would pack a lot more weight to it with Kai present (for obvious reasons).

And as for Cole...y'know what, up to this point I'd never really thought of a good way to give Cole something to do in Seabound, but you present a great point. Maybe there could be some scenes between Cole and Nya, talking about how overwhelming it can feel to be completely surrounded by your element. In this version of events, maybe Cole takes on an almost mentor-like position as he tries to help Nya connect with her element as he had done at the end of season 13. And for maximum angst, perhaps at the end of the season she takes his lessons and puts them to use - but instead of simply connecting with her element like he taught her, she's becoming one with it. This isn't perfect, of course, but at least now we've found a way to make Cole and Kai feel more relevantly involved in the plot.

Don't get me wrong, as much as I'm criticizing it I absolutely adore Seabound. BUT if I were given the task of rewriting it, personally I'd have the whole gang accompany Nya down to Merlopia. And as for having a land crew to watch over Ninjago in the meantime, I'd throw in some supporting characters. The ninja go "oh hey we need someone to hold down the fort and look after Ninjago while we're away", so they round up a ragtag crew of support characters from past seasons to sub in for them. Y'know, Skylor, Dareth, Karlof, and other characters of that caliber. And then we occasionally cut back to this reserve team, whoever they are, as they get up to all the adventures Kai and Cole would've been up to in the original canon version.

(Or if we want to create a lead-in for the next season, then perhaps they get the mayor or commissioner's help in recruiting a reserve team to look after things in their absence, and then this reserve team becomes the New Ninja during Crystalized).

Again, I don't want anyone to mistake my criticism for dislike - Wildbrain holds a special place in my heart, and I do enjoy it a lot. But I also have to admit that this relentless and at many times painfully arbitrary team-splitting is starting to get a bit annoying.

...oh wow, that was a long rant. I'm not entirely sure if any of that made sense, but either way just know that I agree with you 100%. Thanks for the ask!

[wrenkenstein]

was talking to my mom about the autistic experience of not realizing someone is flirting with you and you being nice thinking they just wanted to be friends :(

yea. thats tech bad batch

[daily-hanamura]

[metaphorical-goblin]

Dear Miles I'm sorry for always calling your sizable man chest 'boobs' I just think they're very nice is all and I hope you're having a good day

[spiderdotexe]

recently i have been making 'Miis' in Miitopia .. beause i have not started a actual playthrough (i will finish) Yet. why? i do NOT have Nintendo switch Online and i might get that first so i can make the NPCS strange characters. so for now im making these things. (so if you WANT these MIIS! Well. you cant. yet. ?)

[spacevixenmusic]

Source: Ranma ½ [1991]

[transbrucewayne]

so it’s Oscar’s birthday….anyone got any of those…..oscarmark fics

[marchsage]

winks your psyncs

[granite-lady]

That's the exact opposite of averting attention

[kunipuppy]

[marvins-linguinie]

eddie: you wanna hear a joke about pizza?

steve: oh god-

eddie: nevermind, it was too cheesy.

robin: hey, that was a good one.

steve: that was the stupidest joke i've ever heard.

eddie: i don't wanna hear it, rose shampoo.

robin: what?

steve: i might use rose shampoo, but at least i don't use 3-in-1.

robin: you two argue like a married couple.

steve & eddie: WE ARE!

[cloudyfacewithjam]

Eoin McGonigal (Dónal Finn) in SAS: Rogue Heroes Season 1 Episode 2

[birchbow]

You've said a couple of times that you can't really find an "in" or a particularly compelling dynamic for ashen relationships, and I also have a hard time coming up with an interesting way to frame a set of clubs so that the emotions are sufficiently intense to hold attention. The only thing I can come up with is basically a poly platonic BDSM relationship: a pair of bratty subs constantly getting into the troll-equivalent of slap-fights with each other, who both deeply respect/fear the central leaf and platonically get off on submitting to that authority. And the third troll gets a kick out of demanding and immediately receiving their obedience - like calming a moirail but more of a disdainful, stern, "You are going to sit down and behave. NOW." I dunno, maybe the two brats also enjoy seeing the other one humbled by the authority figure? I can almost wrap my head around this as a sort of kismesissitude where the respect is externalized to another troll (who is maybe older and/or stronger) and hatred is replaced with petty dislike. But it's still such a difficult dynamic to conceptualize.

This is all so true bestie lol. I'm not ashamed to admit that being like "it would have to be at least a LITTLE D/s, right?" has increased my interest from like a 2% up to more like 15% haha. Couples counselling but it's D/s and also the point is that you're not allowed to be a couple... wild.

Honestly, more than any of the other quadrants, ashen relationships seem prone to be like...temporary? If two trolls were constantly clashing and needed intervention, and then one of them was transferred somewhere else or whatever and situations no longer forced the two side leafs together, it seems like the relationship is now over--I wonder if that's a big trope in troll media? Followed up with either the middle leaf then pouncing on any pitch inclination their remaining partner finds in an attempt to rekindle a relationship, OR an ash/pale swing... or ash to something else! Ash->pitch? Either because one leaf left or because the third leaf couldn't maintain control and got sucked in. Hmm.

It's also a very tricky quadrant to like. Get set up, a lot of the time--there are trolls in my fics I could imagine having ill-advised pitch interest in each other, but finding them people who 1. know both parties/would be aware of their liaisons, 2. would know they're not good for each other, 3. have the inclination to step in, and 4. are not already quadranted to one or the other party.... tricky lol.

[the-mew-crew]

Uhm, hey Eel? You good? You seem pretty stressed. Would you like a treat? To help calm down? A berry maybe?

"I don't need a berry I need a fucking brea-..."

"...I'm sorry. That's... not acceptable language. You didn't do anything wrong, I'm... I apologize. My behavior as of lately has been atrocious..."

"I'm not particularly hungry right now... though I have a difficult time feeling hunger at all... when was the last time I ate...?"