#i beg the writers of this show to not waste the potential of these two

[idealistic-imaginings]

there are two wolves inside of me, the one that wishes for sydcarmy to develop in the most unconventional way. i'm talking kisses they completely ignore, staying the night, sharing clothes, calling each other in the middle of the night. together in all the ways but just not verbally defined. hardcore yearning and being complete idiots. the others having to spell it out for them that they're literally in love with each other. And it still taking months, years for it to marinate and stick in their brains

the other, where sydney has lost her trust in carmy and it will take a lot of proactiveness and grovelling for it to be repaired. angry, tunnel visioned for that star. puts her career and ambitions first. her insecurities in the limelight. deep in denial of her feelings. she's kicking and screaming.at her most avoidant, trying to run away from whatever this thing is with carmy. she herself is sydcarmys number one enemy. going completely bonkers. carmy, way more aware of his feelings but never wanting to cross the line with sydney, he'll take whatever she gives him. fearful that he'll lose her again.

(this post is completely inspired by two phenomenal fics I just read: Simmer; Melt by ggs_29 and snow is outside but i'm by your fire (i feel all the love you bring) by adogwithabirdatyour_door)

[thereisnolumos]

darklina thoughts: I wanted to get into the shadow and bone Fandom(books and show) because of the amazing gif set of the darklina kiss I saw

Like who are these two that are sharing such a beautiful kiss. And look so aesthically pleasing together with the darkness and light vibes. I was so excited to find out who these two were because these kind of ships are my everything. Than I find out and 😨😱😤😠🤬!!!!! It was like running full steam a head with tons of excitement and crashing face first into a wall when I find out everything about this Fandom. Both about the books and show. The author and this beautiful ship. And I'm like God why do authors do this ship. Tease us with everything we want and the full potential. But than do a completely one 80 and waste are time on things we don't care about, or find insulting or toxic, and tells us are tastes are dumb and toxic. So now I just read fics and look at beautiful art of Darklina and the potential they could have been. It's just so annoying because this stuff happens all the time!!! And don't get me started on what I heard about the author. I don't know if their true. And wish I could find out real stuff about her. But if it is. God she is so messed up for doing this to us.

I only got in the fandom bcs I randomly saw a teaser for the first season and Ben Barnes was there in all his dark glory. I knew nothing about the books, but the way that show was promoted I was expecting the epic dark romance, villain who’s not really a villain gets the girl all the vibe. Plus cool world build and complicated detailed story overall.

I got none of that.

That show was interesting and hopeful for the first 5 episodes (we will always have 1x05🖤). It wasn’t as detailed and complex as I expected, but it had potential and the main pair - the one they based THE ENTIRE promotion on by the way - was having one of the most fiery and spark inducing chemistry I’ve ever seen on the screen, so I kept my hopes up for the overall plot and focused on them. And then… then they backpedaled SO HARD on everything that made that show interesting for the broad audience, I wonder how they didn’t give themselves a whiplash… though considering the horrible quality of s2 they probably did

Though I didn’t like the way s1 ended, I still thought there is hope, and “we need a conflict for our main pair, I guess”. I truly, wholeheartedly believed that creators and writers of the show are not complete idiots and know how to read the room and what the most of their audience is there for, so that’s what they’ll deliver. But oh my, how wrong I was.

The second season is downright unwatchable with how horrifyingly terrible it is. I only suffered through the entire thing for Ben, who, bless his heart, tried his hardest to deliver the complexity and depth of his character, who he only agreed to play if they “won’t make him a cardboard villain”. And they did exactly that in s2, or tried to, bcs Ben Barnes and his talent didn’t let them, despite all their efforts. The rest of the cast I guess didn’t have enough experience to fix the worst writing imaginable with their acting, so most of the characters became absolutely bland and uninteresting and SO IDIOTICALLY STUPUD, I yelled at them constantly, scaring my cat the entire time.

Also, as much as I understand it from exploring the fandom, the creators and writers of the show are die hard fans of the Crows, and they don’t actually like Alina’s trilogy at all. So… why didn’t they just do the books they wanted I’ll never know. Instead, they forced the Crows in the plot they were never a part of (making all of them okay with selling a girl to slavery in the process. Despite one of them being the former slave and the other one being the one who got her out of it… make it make sense, I beg of you), in the second season they wasted SO MUCH time on their plot lines that 1)didn’t matter one bit for the overall story, 2)were absolutely uninteresting to everyone who isn’t the Crows fan beforehand. In the end we got half-assed Alina and Aleksander’s story with half-assed Crows’ story. They should’ve just made the Crows show, without touching Alina and Aleksander

I haven’t read the books, but from what I gathered in the fandom, though still committing the same sin of putting all the promotion and marketing into the Dark romance trope without actually delivering on it, and force feeding the fans one of the worst and most toxic pairings ever with Malina, at least Alina and Aleksander’s characters weren’t made so cardboard and stupid, and there was tragedy in their story, not the shit that they gave us in s2. Though I absolutely DESPISE the fact that Alina looses her powers in the end and goes on to live Mal’s dream life… Like WHAT THE FUCK?? What levels of internalized misogyny do you need to have as a woman, to write this plot line for your female protagonist???? I can’t.

On Mal’s toxicity: at least that made him a fleshed out character in the books. Absolutely horrible one, how could the author make him “get the girl” is beyond me. But at least he had a personality, however terrible one. In the show, I guess understanding, that no one would root for that asshole, they removed his toxicity almost completely, but that made him as bland as stale porridge. There wasn’t ANYTHING left on his character. At all. How anyone could’ve rooted for him I absolutely refuse to understand. Any woman deserved better than Blade😈

I don’t know anything about Leigh Bardugo, except for the fact that she butcher my native language and makes me furious. If you don’t know the language at least on a medium level, perhaps don’t use it in your books. Or at least hire someone who does. The way she butchered it, I’m not sure she even used Google translate…

So yeah, I’m with you on only reading Darklina fanfics and admiring fan art. I’m not at all sad that they cancelled the show, and I’m even giddy that those creators and writers didn’t get their wet dream of the Crows spin off. They didn’t deserve it after the shit they pulled in the second season. I do hope that they won’t ruin any other shows in the future. I am sad for the actors, who deserved much better and who were actually good at their parts, while the writing was okay. Poor Archie Renaux suffered the most, his character didn’t have good writing at all, not for a single scene. I hope we’ll see more of all of them.

And we need Ben and Jessie to do a film together. Preferably a rom com, but I’m not picky. Just that their characters are together. Such chemistry can’t be wasted

[far-side-skies]

Reworking Noob

Inspired by this post by @crossyyt. Saying what we're all thinking, Number One Fan was a lackluster episode despite the fact that it furthered what little overarching plot we managed to get out of the end of Season 2.

And it's because of this guy.

Gifs from this post by @atmosiacyclonia

Yeah, Noob. "The fan", and the writers' way of making jabs at both the fanbase and the industry as a whole apparently. Kind of entertaining on a first watch, especially over a decade after the show has ended, but looking at it critically...

He's just kind of a nothing character overall. We didn't need him to get involved in the quest for Warp crystals, he doesn't add anything to the story, he doesn't leave any meaningful impact on the story and yet he gets frozen in the prison crystal in Cyclonia Rising. Anyone could've been in his place and not much would've changed overall.

But I'm a believer that all characters have a use, you just need to find one for them. Noob didn't have much potential, but the potential that he did have feels wasted.

So let's see how he could've been put to better use.

TL;DR: I put him on the reserve team that was mentioned in Talon Academy and then never brought up again. Alternatively he could be a relative of Dark Ace.

Edit: I hit post on this too soon, added more thoughts as soon as I realised this wasn't in my drafts anymore.

First off: remove the meta commentary aspect. Poking fun at fans is bad form and commentary on real-life merch production in a fantasy setting like this is, in my opinion, nonsensical and makes my worldbuilding brain itch.

Second: Let's take a look at this kid's design.

When did y'all notice that Noob has black hair

and red eyes?

I only noticed a year ago.

Remind you of someone?

Allow me to freak out a bit, because

This can't have been an accident, right? What was the intent behind it? As far as I've noticed, these are the only two characters with this specific colouring. What was Nerd Corps trying to tell us??

Ok, freakout over. What are our options?

Noob and Dark Ace are related, and Noob's obsession with the Storm Hawks comes from knowing that he had a relative who was part of the old team.

Possible, but considering how quickly Noob bounced from being a Storm Hawks fan to an Absolute Zeroes fan, I don't think it's likely. If that is the case, then a rewrite of the episode would be needed to show a little bit more loyalty from Noob. I don't know about everyone else, but the jump from one fanbase to another feels like a pattern of behaviour in my opinion. He rotates through special interests on the regular. Nothing against that in a real-life context, but it feels like another mean-spirited jab at fans.

Meta commentary aside, Noob could be rewritten to be a fan of the original Storm Hawks because of this potential relation to them. It'd give us something close to a "real" origins episode if Noob was given a chance to infodump about his old idols. Maybe he dislikes the new team for being "inauthentic", or he doesn't care all that much about them, he's just interested in the Condor; a crucial piece of Storm Hawks history.

As for Dark Ace? Noob could either be unaware that the copilot he might be related to was a traitor (possibly indicating that the Sky Knights tried to cover up the traitor aspect), or he rejects the copilot out of disgust. He's just a traitorous Cyclonian after all and fodder for an identity crisis in Noob if he was anything close to a main character.

In short: Noob could've been used as an exposition device.

Option 2, and my personal take on how Noob can be made useful:

Rewrite him in full and give him a touch more screen time. Put him in Talon Academy for a scene or two, and then have him beg to join the reserve team that Aerrow suggested to Lynn. "Number One Fan" makes good on this suggestion and is about the whole reserve team, not just Noob.

I see this as a two birds, one stone solution. Noob gets to be useful, keeps his character trait as a mega-fan of the Storm Hawks, and that loose end from Talon Academy gets tied up somewhat. As much as I love the show, its episodic writing lead to quite a bit of disappointment. But it just means we get to play with all the elements like dolls.

Let him be an exposition piece for the world in regards to sky knight merchandise, but have it make sense in the context of Atmos. If he really is the only Storm Hawks fan out there (which I find doubtful), why are action figures of the team being made without the Hawks knowing? Either all his figures be handmade, or repurposed from existing figures of more popular teams like the Rex Guardians. Or hell, keep the joke that there aren't any Piper dolls in production, but have it be due to resource scarcity brought in by the war. Or Cyclonis bought every single Piper doll to use as target practise for whatever machine or weapon she's working on.

As I said above, let him be from the Talon Academy. Have him be so enamoured with the Hawks' takedown of this Cyclonian institution that he latched onto them as heroes and then got wrapped up in war propaganda in his efforts to become their number one fan. He's obviously a good few years younger than the team, so have his understanding of the war be incredibly shallow, and maybe give him an arc where he learns from that.

I was going to add more to this a lot more but a misclick or some kind of tumblr goof caused this to he published half-finished instead of saving it to my drafts, so eventually I'll make another post elaborating on these ideas. For now though I'm curious to see what everyone thinks, and their own takes on Noob. Is he a waste of screen time? Did you guys scrap him in your AUs? Did yall forget about him? Let me know.

[sniper-childe]

Hello! I’d like to share some of my notes if I were to Beta-read the most recent Archon Quest. I will be going through what worked, what could be taken out, and what could’ve been better. Note that I’m looking at this through an editor’s lens so I’m going to try NOT to change the plot we were given no matter what my opinions are about it BUT some of the said opinions may slip out.

Also, a bit of a disclaimer: I know that Genshin isn’t an actual literary work but miHoYo is known for its writers’ great storytelling and I’ve always loved their work so it really came as a surprise as to what happened to the mess that is Inazuma Act 3. So yeah.

Contains:

1. What was foreshadowed about the characters and why the payoff of their portrayals felt cheap.

a. About Kokomi and the rebellion.

b. About the Fatui, the James Bond villain wannabe.

c. About Ei and the Raiden Shogun.

2. How Chapter 2, Act 3 could have been the turning point that would have us, as the Traveler, cement our perceptions of the Archons and Gods of Celestia OR what I think the death of Signora was supposed to be but was undermined by this one tidbit.

BONUS: I wrote this before Kokomi’s story quest was released but decided to wait for it before posting. And guess what? I think Kokomi’s Story Quest works better as an Archon Quest. At least, some parts of it.

miHoYo teased us this intelligent leader of the resistance that is well-versed in the Art of War. The end of Ch2: Act 2 showed us a powerful Kokomi. So why was she sidelined all throughout the act?

I actually like the idea of the resistance asking the Fatui for aid. But miHoYo chickened out and made it so that they did it unknowingly. To which I say: how? If Kokomi was so smart she should’ve known better. I figured it was the Fatui within a single sentence, so why didn’t Kokomi?

They should’ve stuck with the concept of the underdogs – or in Kokomi’s words, the little fish – of war in an act of desperation. They could’ve shown a calculated Kokomi “making a deal with the devil” and will do anything to win the fight against the Shogunate.

In her Character Teaser, she was willing to burn the enemies’ supplies – to starve the enemy. She can be ruthless, that’s why Kokomi actively giving Delusions to her foot soldiers would have made much more sense to cause the Fatui to be involved rather than the whole “the Fatui orchestrated everything” schtick.

Which brings me to my next point: when did the Fatui turn into a James Bond villain? I hate that trope so much. It’s like the Deus Ex Machina of villainy. It’s lazy. And it doesn’t even fit the Fatui’s modus operandi.

In the prologue, the Abyss Order corrupted Dvalin and the Fatui was just there waiting to steal Barbatos’ gnosis while the Knights are distracted. Morax decided to retire one day so the Fatui swept right in and offered a test of Liyue in exchange for his gnosis.

The last two locations had their own story to tell while the Fatui was just in the background like the opportunistic antagonist that they are.

It also would have been a stronger plotline to have the already set lore – like the tenuous relationship between Watatsumi and Narukami – be the driving force of the Inazuman Civil War.

The prologue and chapter 1 also delivered what we are told we’re going to get in the Story Preview. That’s why they are satisfying. However, with chapter 2, the way it ended turned out to be more about the Fatui rather than “what do mortals see of the eternity chased after by their god.”

Sure, we got the consequences of the war in the World Quests and some of it in the second act. But making the Fatui the Big Bad in the end takes value away from the actions of the characters that are supposed to be the main feature of this chapter.

How much of the Eternity the Raiden Shogun is pursuing is directly from Ei? How much of it is its own understanding of eternity, coupled with Ei’s memories, and its own response? How much of it is the Fatui’s influence?

I have to say though, I’m fine with the puppet actually. Believe it or not. I have had kinda figured that out with the weird shifting of emotions in and out of the puppet. And the dead glowing eyes. So kudos to the design and animation team for that foreshadowing.

It was also said that the current Electro Archon lost someone dear to her and, while I didn’t think it was a twin, I did figure that the current Electro Archon wasn’t the real Electro Archon. So the whole Baal and Beelzebul backstory didn’t really surprise me. So I guess that was foreshadowed too? But my friends didn’t feel the same way so I don’t know. I’m not touching that.

But I do agree that all of the new lore got info-dumped to us by Yae rather than have us find out about them. To be honest, I would have wanted the backstory of Ei to be in her story quest rather than it be in the Archon Quest. A World Quest could work too.

I just feel like the 2.1 Archon Quest ended up cramming so many themes and subplots when it should’ve been focusing on what was promised: the darkness that is brought by their god.

They already had set up the Visions are people’s motivations/ambitions and that taking them away also takes away their agency.

Then they could’ve played with the idea of the people of Watatsumi looking up to Kokomi as their pseudo-god in-place of Orobashi and so with her actively giving Delusions could fit well in the said theme.

They could’ve made Ei and Kokomi character foils of each other and have the final showdown be about them.

And then it’ll all, of course, end up with the people of Inazuma learning how to work without their “gods” or something like that, which is the overarching theme of the whole series if you think about it.

But as I said, my opinions about the plot shouldn’t matter and I’m only here to make what was already written better.

So let’s talk about something that the puppet has done which didn’t make any sense on the surface level but could’ve been clever if it was done right. Killing La Signora.

Okay. So there is a pivotal moment at the end of the first arc of a three-act story where the main character experiences something that will leave them no choice but to move forward. This usually is a physical thing like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. But it can also be a mental or emotional situation.

Over at Honkai, the first arc ended with the death of a beloved mentor and a shattered world (both external and internal). The characters had no choice but to step up and “to stay alive, bravely” (yes, I won’t stop using this line ever). It was so very well done and even after so many years it still hurt no matter how many times you reread/rewatch the scene.

This reread value is what shows how much a twist is well written.

And that is what miHoYo is known for. So I had high expectations with the plot twist (technically this pivotal moment is called a plot twist because it twists the feel and/or pace of the story). Chapter 2 is the perfect spot to end the first act of a seven-chaptered story. So I’m really preparing myself for the inevitable twist.

But then we ended up with Signora’s death.

Okay. So. They could have used that to show us, as the traveler, how Archons and Celestial beings are unfeeling and not to be trusted. We were told this repeatedly by Dainsleiff and by the Abyss Twin. But it is only textbook writing 101 to show NOT tell.

And Signora’s death could have been this portrayal. Although, to be honest, it would have been more impactful if the one who died is a friend of the Traveler.

Them seeing someone die at the hands of an Archon could have their idea of gods shift. Because there is no turning back once you see the proof right in front of your eyes.

But instead, the puppet did it. So what was the point of Signora’s death if not just a power demonstration? We already knew that the Raiden Shogun is powerful. So why did Signora have to die?

Sure, one can argue that the puppet was enacting the Ei’s will so maybe there was a point. But! In Ei’s story quest, we were told that the puppet would have no hesitation when it comes to killing whereas Ei can show mercy.

Which begs, again, the question: how much of the Raiden Shogun’s actions is a reflection of Ei’s will, and how much of it is a logic response of an artificial intelligence from Ei’s memories?

Honestly? I don’t like that they killed off Signora. It doesn’t feel right. I would’ve taken Beidou’s death over Signora’s no matter how much I love Beidou. There was just no build-up to it and it feels weak. I… didn’t feel anything besides confusion. The anger only came later because of the wasted potential.

But overall, I do think they could’ve made it work if it were actually Ei doing the killing.

--

So I just did Kokomi’s Story Quest and man. The soldiers wanting to continue the war is what they really should have made the motivations of the actual war rather than have it as a post-war response and then have Kokomi fix their mess.

Seriously. While it was really interesting to see the usual trauma response of soldiers who had only known war their whole life, they wasted this idea, man.

Before doing the Archon Quest I had thought that the Watatsumi had a hand on the Vision Hunt Decree. Because if I were a tactician, I would have made something to anger the people of my enemies and have them have their internal issues. And while the Shogunate is weak, that’s when I will strike and claim Inazuma for my people and my god.

Then Orobashi will rise once more.

Yep.

Obviously, I really wanted Kokomi to be a more active character in the Archon Quest.

Anyways. If you reached the end, thank you for reading this ~1.5k words of musings. Tell me what you think. Or don’t. You do you.

[sillysunshinesstuff]

The Absolute Fuckery that was 15x20

Ok there were a lot of reasons why the final was bad. Like so many fucking reasons. Even without the queerbaiting,this is some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen and here’s a few reasons why: 

Destiel

Yes. Big main reason here. They should not have included a confession and have one of the main plots of season 15 be Castiel’s and Dean’s relationship if they didn’t intend to follow through in any way. It shouldn’t have been introduced because the story became disjointed and thematically unsatisfying due to not being addressed in the final in any sort of way. Also, queerbaiting in 2020? Just to get your views up for the last few episodes because they knew Supernatural had become a shit show of bad ratings? Calculated and cruel toward the LGBTQIA+ community who has supported their careers for years. 

Saileen

The absolute least they could have done was see this plot point through but they did not. We do not know if Eileen lives and even if they release information that she did, it’s still bullshit because we don’t get to see any part of her story. She has been reduced to a two dimensional character with no agency or purpose. Another woman just meant to prop up the male lead. Bullshit. 

The Empty

What the fuck was the point of everything about this plot line if it would just be trashed half way through? Why did Cas make that deal with Ruby? Why did she beg to get out? Why did the Empty accuse Jack of making it loud? I really thought they were going somewhere with this one but they chickened out. There was so much potential for this; the angels and demons being awakened, balance being restored in heaven and hell, a big final show down between them and God. There were so many things just dropped when it came to this and that is why season 15 is absolutely frustrating because it feels like we just wasted our time with useless world building that didn’t amount to anything. 

Kevin

I truly did think they’d address this in some sort of way, but the last time we saw Kevin, he was cursed to wander the earth until he became insane because his soul couldn’t ascend to heaven. I was really excited about this because I thought it meant there was going to be some restructuring of the Supernatural universe. The plot would be how the universe Chuck created wasn’t perfect and it had flaws and it was up to Team Free Will to fix some of these gaping holes. They made a point of calling it unfair. It was a wrong that should have been righted in some sort of way in the final. 

Benny

This really isn’t just about Benny, it is about the concept of purgatory. A running theme in the show is that good people don’t deserve what happened to them. We see a lot of “good” monsters throughout the show. Characters who helped, sacrificed, and died for the brothers. At the end, they are sent to monster hell or purgatory. There was an episode this season where Sam and Dean killed a teenage boy who had been turned into a vampire. The teenage boy accepted his death because he knew it was for the best. He was afraid of hurting more people and he accepted that it was unfair. They made sure to emphasize how unjust the rules of this universe were and the emotional toll these universal rules took on the boys. Benny’s demise was spoken about briefly and we see Dean very hurt about his death. But the audience is left with the feeling that this is wrong. That the way the Supernatural universe is structured is wrong. Good people get turned into monsters, die, go to purgatory, and then die the ultimate death there. Is this what’s in store for all the “good monster” characters in the show? Garth? His family? They’re werewolves who fight their monster instincts, do they they still deserve purgatory? Did that teenage boy? A gaping hole that I thought the show was going to address in some way. Maybe offer redemption to those in purgatory or have Jack completely wipe away the concept of monsters in the universe. After all, it was just Chuck’s shitty writing, why couldn’t they wipe it clean and just leave people? “Cure” people of the monster and officially give the boys a way out of hunting? No monsters means no hunting. They’d be truly free. I thought this was direction they were going based off the certain episodes and characters discussed. But nope.

Jack

They reduced Jack’s character to plot food and that’s it. His ending was sloppy because it didn’t take into account any of the growth he’s had over the last three seasons. We predicted his ending from season 12 and that’s bad writing. Just. Awful writing. This character had dreams, motivations, relationships, but that all quite literally dissipated. He was used as a magic button that solved all their problems. 15x19 truly showed the lack of thought put into his character. He should not have been a main character if he didn’t have more influence on the plot than simply being a cop-out for having to write a well thought out solution. He was literally just there to snap his fingers and fix all their problems. 

Dean

Oh yeah, Dean’s ending was a big fuck you to any character growth this character has had over the last 15 seasons. There is a line in his final 15 minute goodbye monologue where he says they always knew it would end this way. Which, exactly. We always thought it would end this way because it’s so goddamn predictable. It’s shitty writing because it doesn’t try to subvert this. It quite literally says that any growth Dean has had meant nothing because it didn’t change his end. Dean Winchester was always meant to die a young, bloody death. Everything he’s done, everything he’s bled and sacrificed for meant nothing. His prediction came true. It makes the audience wonder why they stuck around for this long ass journey if they knew the ending all along. It isn’t about what this character deserves. We have always known that the hero deserves happiness, but the ending should say something about why the story matters. Why did we see Dean struggle all his life about accepting himself? Loving himself? Seeing himself as someone who deserves to live? It was yet another theme and plot point throughout season 15. It’s what Castiel proclaimed to him in his confession and it is what Dean finally acknowledged by telling Chuck that’s not who he was. Dean Winchester is not a cold blooded killer. Dean Winchester deserved to live. It was beautiful character growth. A wonderful end to him. But they said fuck that when his last words were that he always knew it would end this way. That he always knew he wasn’t meant to live a long life. The writers wanted tears and they got them. I was crying, not because it was a beautiful satisfying death or ending, but because they tore apart 15 years of development for my beloved character. Dean Winchester has shown consistently that he wanted more than hunting, he wanted more than the life he got stuck with. But they didn’t follow through. They just decided to make an emotional ending because that was the coolest broest bro masculine thing to do. 

Castiel

Literally everything. Literally fucking everything. Another character that was reduced to plot food. Castiel, the angel who rebelled against heaven and fell for the man he raised from perdition, was not deemed important enough to be in the final. This was the biggest fuck you of all. His story had become so complicated over the last few seasons and his purpose was kinda everywhere but they finally focused it when they had his happiness be Dean. When he said he found his faith when he found a family. When he became a father to someone who would one day save the universe. Castiel lived for the love he learned he was capable of. His ending just made no sense. I guess we’re supposed to assume Jack saved his from the empty but he wasn’t shown. He was not shown greeting Dean, the man he died for over and over again, his happiness. He was not shown being reunited with Jack, his faith. He was not shown enjoying the life he fell from grace for. He was a book with half its pages ripped out. Castiel didn’t get an ending. He got erased. 

Sam

That fucking wig. 

This is just some of my rambling thoughts I wanted to share will all of you. I have been a fan of this show for so many years. I invested so much time and love into something I’m going to look back on with bitter disappointment. Some of shittiest writing I have ever seen. Thanks for reading and add some more reasons. I know a missed a shit ton. 

[kitkatopinions]

Blake has nothing going on for her now or in the future except Yang and to a lesser extent her team. These are the consequences of bungling the faunus storyline and replacing it with nothing. They've cleaned their hands of Blake's personality and goals. Like you said ship bait is all that's left.

Blake is honestly the worst treated character amongst Team RWBYJNR + Oscar imo, and tbh, I think even Qrow gets a better rep than her. And that’s saying something, because Qrow has been so badly handled.

The worst thing about this for me is the wasted potential. Blake was really wrapped up in their horribly bungled racism/faunus allegory even more so than Weiss. There are obviously problems with how CRWBY continues to try to use the racism/faunus allegory in some problematic ways rather than dropping it completely, without seeming to put in any effort to actually fix it. Blake’s story being so wholly wrapped up in the faunus racism arc had made her character problematic (for instance, she looks hypocritical for being totally against reactive violence in the case of the White Fang, but is training to be a Huntress and is just fine ripping through White Fang members.) Blake has a lot of good to her character from volumes 1-5 if you can separate her from the bungled allegory however (although I totally understand when people just can’t do that.)

Removing Blake from the faunus/racism arc doesn’t have to leave her with nothing as a blank sheet that must be built from the ground up, her character should’ve stayed the same. Blake’s base character at the start of the show that remains pretty dang consistent for five seasons is cynical, stubborn, defensive, active, passionate, focused, someone who has more life experience and a bit of a darker worldview than her friends, someone who has a hard time making friends anyway, a fairly quiet, independent girl with a tendency to run when things get to be too much and tends to self-destruct and push people away, but is still brave and selfless, with a moral code she believes in (although misused, a character that believes things like ‘stealing is always wrong’ is not an uninteresting one. Blake’s moral code was just used badly.) Blake also has a more subdued way of expressing her affections. A few things about Blake - like her tendency to run, many of her insecurities, pushing people away, and self-destructing - started to get worked through and addressed in an actually meaningful way during volumes 4 and 5 (although her resolution with Yang was wonky, but I could talk more about that in a different post.) However, in good narratives, these traits don’t just go away because they start getting worked through. For instance, just because Zuko in ATLA turns to the good side and starts addressing his trauma and working through his anger issues doesn’t mean he isn’t snippy, hotheaded, and prone to outbursts anymore. And for another instance, just because Yang starts trying to control her temper doesn’t mean she’s no longer prone to anger based reactions, snapping, being defensive, and getting into fights.

While Ruby, Weiss, and Yang read as more consistent even if there characters are going in a bad direction - Ruby’s always been reckless and considered her team the end all, her character now is the incredibly frustrating result of this never getting checked or worked through - but Blake is severely lacking in many of her old traits.

Blake has become an incredibly passive character who can’t stand up for herself and tends to just go along with whatever Ruby wants, and is more than willing to steal and lie and let others steal and lie. She’s lacking in passion, even her supposed stronger moments carrying a more passive tone. She relies on others to save her, both by relying on Yang and Weiss to defend her from mean anti faunus people, and constantly relying on others in fights, not able to land hits and begging Ruby to help her when she’s left without Yang to do her fighting for her. She doesn’t make choices herself, literally in the ‘will we launch Amity or defend Mantle’ conversation, Blake is one of the only people who isn’t shown out and out picking a side. She’s no longer cynical and no longer seems to mind waiting around - telling her younger, naïve teammate who’s spent hours doing nothing that it’s okay that she’s been doing nothing and hasn’t really helped anyone because Blake knows she’ll do something eventually and admires Ruby’s optimism. Blake no longer is independent enough to even be temporarily left by Yang without reacting like she did something she has to be guilty and ashamed of.

Like, what is this? Seriously, what is it? They didn’t even fight and they have her reacting like this.

It’s like the writers decided when they dropped her faunus arc that they could now create a new character from the ground up. A passive, supportive, co-dependent, damsel in distress character who can give the other girls a leg up and fuel their more compelling arcs. You know what? May isn’t Maid Marian, Blake is. She’s Disney’s Maid Marian. She’s the encouraging love interest/friend figure who can be jokey sometimes, occasionally tries her hand at convincing other people to do things, and to prove she’s not totally helpless, gets a hit in every now and again.

Look, maybe I’m being a little over dramatic, but that’s how she feels when you compare her to the other characters. Even Ruby, sitting around drinking tea and crying on staircases until the plot falls into her lap two different times, is a much more active character than Blake.

The closest CRWBY have gotten to making Blake an active character was when they had her react in anger to Neo knocking Yang into the void, but again, it didn’t amount to anything.

The writers could have made Blake the same character she was before while still deviating from her White Fang plot. She could have continued to be an independent, somewhat snarky, brave, passionate girl with more of a cynical worldview and a tendency to overwork herself in her hurry to get real work done that would help make the world a better place, while she tried to push past her more pessimistic tendencies and her struggles to connect with others in order to be there for them, because she believes in them and their purpose and herself. And you know what? I’m just gonna say it... That version of Blake, V 1-5 Blake, is the version that works best with Yang! Like don’t get me wrong, Yang and this new character have some cute moments and it’s... Lacking, but it’s at least something. But Yang and Blake as she was could actually be a compelling ship, they could fit well together. And Blake as she used to be could’ve interacted really well with the Atlas arc and the story in season six. She could’ve related to Ozpin when they find out about their past, she could’ve been on Qrow’s side when it came to stealing the plane in Argus and have to be convinced, she could’ve been trying to talk the Ace Ops into being reasonable, she could’ve been at Robyn’s rally, ready to help out in the fight against Jacques and passing out flyers, only to get angry and upset when she hears how Robyn talks to Marrow, she could’ve been on May’s side when May told them they needed to take action, she could’ve been right there with Yang telling Salem what’s what, or if they had to split the two (which I’m more than fine with,) they could’ve had Blake with the Mantle crew, but stay behind to help civilians, or they could’ve had had leave the manor with May. And if they were going to try and make Blake guilty for a fight, there should’ve been an established conflict where Blake and Yang disagree about Ironwood, and then that leads into a wider conflict about who was wrong and who was right. I don’t know, guys, I’m not a professional.

All I know is that Blake doesn’t feel like herself anymore and the writers won’t give her anything. It’s frustrating. This was kind of a vent post, but... You know what, I can vent about it. It feels like the writers are doing this on purpose at this point.

[whistlewhileiblogit]

Thoughts on TLoU Part 2....Again

Yeah, I am back with another vent, rant, thoughts on...thing. I wanted to wait a long time after writing my initial reaction to the game, because I figured I’d get more clarity or something. Anyway, so here are my unedited and unfiltered thoughts...8 months later. So as always, this is going to be rambly, and I’ll probably just bold parts of note in case anyone wants to jump around. So here we go!

Oh and, SPOILERS AHEAD

Things I liked: These pretty much haven’t changed. The game is obviously beautiful, the gameplay itself I enjoyed immensely (when mentally separating it from the plot), the Joel and Ellie flashbacks. They were fantastic, and made me feel very reminiscent of the first game. Jesse and Dina were cool, but I found them underutilised, which is a massive shame because they were cool characters.

Yara and Lev were also great, and again, Yara was another completely wasted character potential. But love them nonetheless.

So yeah...that’s pretty much it, I think?

Now for the things I didn’t like...

The writing is the biggest sin in the game to me, as it creates so many structural issues. The pacing is wild and jarring, we aren’t given enough time to bond with certain characters before they are killed off, the narrative itself manages to be incredible simple yet complex simultaneously, but it is a total mess.

Let me explain. The end of the game essentially comes down to “revenge bad”, no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can also include other aspects like, “do good deeds”, but they seem sort of tacked on, considering what happens throughout the game. Ellie goes through the entire story with vengeance for Joel being basically the only thing on her mind (or at least, at the forefront of it), and then just...doesn’t go through with it at the end.

Honestly, the game felt by that point that she HAD to go through with it, after all, how would she learn her lesson? Yet she learns her lesson, without actually getting revenge? So what was the point? Some have said that she learnt in that final fight with Abby to forgive Joel, but this makes no sense. Ellie had already started to forgive Joel before his death. Obviously, she wasn’t over it yet, but she clearly wanted to make amends with her father figure. Besides, she’s fighting Abby, after all. And she certainly didn’t forgive her.

I think a lot of people took Ellie letting Abby go as forgiveness, but in reality, it was in complete grief. There was no point in killing her anymore.

But again, THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Given every. Single. Thing Ellie went through the game, all to find and kill Abby. Losing others she loved and cared for, her family, her fingers (and her ability to play guitar which was the only thing she had left connecting her to Joel)...all of that and she just let Abby go?

It would have made so much more sense had she gone through with killing Abby, only THEN to realise it didn’t make her feel better in the long run. That she was still conflicted in her feelings for Joel. Why bother having Ellie go through every point in the game, only to have her back out at the last second and STILL lose everything? What is that saying? If you do the “right” thing, you’ll still get shit anyway? Ugh.

So speaking of Abby...I thought hey, maybe after all this time, I’ll be able to grow to like her! Yeah, nope. She is just as unlikable as always. Abby is a deuteragonist that we are meant to grow to care for, like we do Ellie. But here’s the thing; Ellie has an ENTIRE GAME beforehand PLUS a freaking DLC game that gives us so much time to love her. So you would think that the writers must think, we’ll make Abby super likeable! NOPE.

Throughout the game, Abby is stoic (which isn’t a bad thing on its own), serious, and just flat-out boring. Sorry Naughty Dog, but I don’t find a character who collects coins as her biggest personality trait interesting. She isn’t funny, or kind or particularly clever. She has her strength, and that doesn’t count as a personality. She’s also a shitty friend, and person, and gets called out for that in the game by Dr Preggers (still don’t remember her name).

Even Abby’s flashbacks do little to make me like her. Oh wow, she has a magical, amazing, super perfect animal-helping papa? And? I just can’t latch onto her character and story. Even if she were really well written and interesting, I wonder if I could have after the game presents her as a total fucking barbaric monster in the first two hours of gameplay.

No, I’m still not over Joel’s death. And despite what some people try and say, it isn’t BECAUSE he died. I went into the game fully expecting Joel to die (I was lucky enough to see no spoilers prior to playing), because I felt like that would be the next step narratively that ND would go. This was a terrible decision on ND’s behalf, but I’ll get into that later.

Joel’s death as the way it plays out, does not only Joel a great disservice- but Abby as well. If ND wanted us all to like Abby so much, they easily could have just made her show some remorse, or conflict, or even just a quick, somewhat merciful death to Joel. But instead, we get ~torture porn~, which becomes the first scene of many of these in the game. This scene is so fucking brutal and sickening, I personally cannot watch it. I have seen it ONCE, and after that I have avoided having to watch it again. And I am not a person with a weak stomach.

Instead of having a death scene worthy of Joel’s character, like having him save Ellie somehow or going out in a blaze of glory, as many have suggested...we got an incredibly beloved character being treated as merely a plot device.

Imagine if the roles were reversed, and Ellie had been killed in Part 2, not Joel. I doubt those saying they’d be cool with it really would be. Especially in such a disgusting, horrific manner.

And one of my biggest grievances with the game- the retconning. I’ve had some people argue with me, that the game doesn’t retcon anything. Those people are fooling themselves or just being wilfully ignorant. Part 2 completely contradicts facts from Part 1. Including:

- Joel didn’t completely lie to Ellie. He half lied. If Joel finds all of the recorders in the hospital, it is revealed that the fireflies DID find dozens of immune people. And killed all of them trying to make a cure...and it didn’t work. This is literal in-game proof that the fireflies never would have succeeded in their quest, had Joel let them kill Ellie.

- Part 2 would have you believe that the fireflies were doing well with their groups and their research. Part 2 shows a beautiful, modern-day looking hospital. But the fact is, as shown in Part 1, the fireflies were on their last legs, and killing Ellie to try and find a cure was their last-ditch attempt to find meaning in their cause. It never was going to work. The hospital is shown to be filthy, and barely up to scratch by all standards. The fireflies were struggling, despite what part 2 tells us.

- The character design changes. We have all seen the comparison pictures of the doctor in part 1 vs part 2. They tried to make Jerry (?) look so wholesome and kind, begging for humanities sake. That isn’t how it went down, and he isn’t the same person. They just wanted Joel to look like a total villain.

I also want to mention what a disservice the marketing was to this game. I know Naughty Dog is very anti-spoiler, for obvious reasons, but they went above and beyond hiding spoilers that they straight up falsely advertised the game. And no, I will not forgive them for that.

The game completely undoes what made the first game special. It was a story about two people, struggling to survive, and somehow through it all, finding a familial love and trust within each other, and fighting to keep it, no matter what.

Ellie and Joel ARE The Last of Us, and Part 2 literally kills of half of what made the first game so incredibly special. As soon as Joel was killed, I wondered how the game would remedy those moments, and aside from the few Joel flashbacks, there really isn’t anything comparable to these scenes. Ellie is alone, so she doesn’t get to develop, or show her personality. And even when she is partnered up for short periods of time, she is too miserable (for good reason), to be the joking, lovable character we knew from the first game.

Final thoughts...

All in all, I would say my opinions have stayed pretty much the same for Part 2. I will forever love Part 1 (played it not long ago for the millionth time), and it is always going to be special to me.

But part 2, as it is, is nonredeemable to me. It really could have been something truly special, like part 1, but I guess that’s just what made The Last of Us so special.

[sincerelytheintrovert]

Tamlin’s Redemption Arc

Excuse me for the long post... 

With the new TV show coming out, there are going to be more people joining the fandom from both sides: those who hate the sound of Tamlin’s name and those who don’t think he’s the worst thing. Which means there are going to be more people arguing for and against Tamlin’s redemption arc (which I’ve seen get really nasty and personal). I, personally, am completely torn.

****TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF ABUSE AND PTSD BELOW****

On one hand, Tamlin as SJM has written him now IS an abuser and should not have any sort of redemption. On the other hand, I love when characters are on the morally grey line and have amazing growth potential. Because life isn’t two-dimensional so why should characters be?

In order for SJM (or a talented fanfiction writer) to redeem Tamlin without legitimizing his abusive tendency, a balance needs to be met. With that said, doing so is going to be VERY hard. Here are my thoughts on ways to help rebuild his character from the trash can that SJM made him:

****SPOILERS FOR ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR AND ACOSF BELOW******

Explore his PTSD

One of my biggest criticism of SJM, it is that she does NOT know how to write healthy ways for characters to deal with PTSD. “ Feyre and Rhys pulled each other out of their trauma”. “True love” and sexy time does NOT fix PTSD.  This is such a damaging belief that is perpetuated by YA books. You know what else doesn’t fix PTSD?  Locking someone up in a tower with their only option being to climb down 10,000 steps that could potentially lead to their death (poor Nesta). For more information on how to help someone recover from PTSD see this link: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/helping-someone-with-ptsd.htm. 

People forget that in the series Tamlin is ALSO suffering from PTSD. Note how in the link above Feyre received the help she needed from the Inner Circle whereas Tamlin arguably did not receive any and continuously suffers even throughout ACOSF. This is one of the main reasons why I would be fine with a Tamlin redemption arc.  Let’s explore the source of his PTSD a little, shall we? 

1) His whole court is held CAPTIVE for 50 years and HE is the only hope- Even beyond his own court, all of Prythian was plunged into a half-century long war with an enemy who is powerful enough to capture all their most powerful High Lords. That’s 50 years of fear and hopelessness which is enough to power PTSD for at least a decade untreated. 

2) He has to send out his friends to be sacrificed constantly- I’m reminded of how at the beginning of COVID-19, doctors were begging for people to stay home because the ICUs were so full that they had to pick who got ventilators and who didn’t, essentially picking who survived and who died. Now imagine doing that for 49 years. To your friends. That is some TRAUUUMMAAA. 

3) Per Feyre’s own admission, Tamlin also has nightmares- For all the people who say “he didn’t stop her when she was starving herself”, my response is, “what if he never noticed?” because when you’re dealing with your own inner demons, it’s almost impossible to see others’ problems. 

In summary, SJM created a character that has a bunch of trauma and labeled him a bad guy (she does the same with Nesta except that Nesta gets to be forgiven because...plot?). One of the ways that a writer can redeem Tamlin is have him NATURALLY and HEALTHILY recover (no, Elain’s love cannot help him). 

Explore his past 

There are so many things about Tamlin that would make him a much more interesting character in ACOTAR but SJM never goes into it because the story is told from Feyre’s perspective. Here are some examples of his background that could be explored:

1) Explore his family issues- His brothers hate him because he is so powerful; his dad is a meglomaniac who is fine with torturing humans but beyond that we do not know more about his family or upbringing. Despite this, in ACOTAR, Tamlin refuses to become his father and opposes torture of humans. Where does this sense of morality come from (his mother? a mentor?) I believe SJM made a conscious decision to not go into this because then it would almost be identical to Lucien’s family problems. BUT if his background was fleshed out and we found that his abusive tendencies stemmed from an abusive family then THAT would add more character depth. For example, if Tamlin’s father is overbearing to his mother, a young Tamlin could equate love with “being protective”. This wouldn’t JUSTIFY his actions towards Feyre at all but it would help add more to Tamlin’s character beyond textbook abuse. 

2) Why the hell does he have a stone heart? Sorry, did I miss something or was this never explained? Can someone explain? Does he still have the stone heart AFTER Amarantha? 

3)His friendship with Lucien- Their friendship is so strong pre-Feyre, it would be interesting to read about how they build their friendship pre-murdering Lucien’s brothers as well as how they support each other during Amarantha’s era. It would also be interesting to read a story where they both struggle to rebuild their friendship and find that they have grown apart. This would also give the added benefit of giving closure to Lucien.

Explore his point of view

The final way I can think of writing a redemption arc for Tamlin is to explore his point of view. This is by far the hardest task as it could easily be turned into an “I thought what I was doing was okay so I am not at fault” (aka abusers’ favorite excuse).  But by exploring the guilt and struggle that he must be going through after the war with Hybern, Tamlin could experience more growth. This would need to be done painfully slowly so he sees the full impact of his bad choices. 

For example, I think it would be impactful to read how he helps rebuild his villages and how he has to deal with his subjects’ negative opinions of him. In the process of rebuilding his Court, he could forge new relationships (hopefully, healthy ones) and begin the process of not just becoming a less terrible person but potentially a good person. This also could serve as a great way to improve the world building in the series (which IMO needs work).

In case you’re still reading, I’ve also decided to include a short list of  how I think Tamlin’s redemption arc should NOT be done:

1) Romantic redemption with Elain- No. 

2) Quick, meaningless death via self sacrifice/ becoming a martyr- personally, this would feel so cheap and a waste of potential and since he is already at the bottom, NO ONE would care. It would be better to keep him alive.

3) Redemption through trauma- As explained above, I think he’s gone through a lot of trauma. It would be really unreasonable to expect that additional trauma could some how “fix” his problems”.

Sincerely, 

The Introvert

[duckie-baby]

let's talk about s02e08: the sins of the father.

let's talk about how this could've been a pivotal point in arthur's character arc, if the writers of this show weren't fucking cowards.

let's talk about how it was completely unfair on merlin's part to lie to arthur, because arthur deserved the truth goddamnit and it wasn't merlin's place to take that away from him.

of course, this is later justified by merlin saying that he knows arthur and that he wouldn't be able to live with himself or the guilt of it if he had gone ahead and killed his father. and of course, like every other potentially life-changing event, all of this is never mentioned by the show again.

magic is damned even further in arthur's eyes, uth*r threatens everyone who knows the truth into silence, vaguely implies that he's totally chill with his son fucking his manservant as long as they're all of the same anti-magic ideals, the episode ends in all smiles.

but whew! at least arthur's been protected from the harsher sides of reality, once again! god forbid this character gains any sense of self-awareness!

my point is, if all of this was to keep arthur from killing daddykins bc it would weigh on his delicate conscience, to preserve the Goodness Of His Character As A Man And King, why the fuck should merlin have to lie to him about it?

consider, instead of:

Morgause is lying! She's an enchantress. She tricked you. That was not your mother you saw. That was an illusion. Everything...everything your mother said to you...those were Morgause's words.

we could have had something along the lines of:

What your father did was wrong, Arthur, but is this man the man you want to be? The king you want to be? Would you be able to ascend the throne even as your father's blood glistens, still fresh, on your sword? Would you be able to live with yourself if you made this decision?

if he kills his darling father anyway, honestly, Good For Him. he has every right to. uth*r went through with a dangerous spell despite knowing the risks, then commited genocide in its name whilst lying about his reason as to why.

uth*r has commited genocide.

he is not a good king or father either, as proven several times throughout the show. he deserves no mercy, no pity.

but the choice should've been arthur's to make. this scene should've been a testament to arthur's character.

if he kills daddy dearest anyways but then feels Super Guilty about it later, we know he wouldn't have made a good king. you can't head a country when you're prone to making drastic decisions without thinking them through bc you were throwing pissy fit at the time.

so if he still goes through with it, he must not been shown to regret it.

but say he does let uth*r live. maybe for whatever love remains for the man who raised him. but he renounces him as his king, as his father.

arthur starts publicly going against his policies and decisions. bc if uth*r could have been so wrong about this alone, what else is he wrong about? arthur refuses to carry out his orders if he believes it’s against the interests of the people.

raising taxes? how about No. oh, he can’t knight commoners? just Try and stop him. he learns to trust in the counsel of merlin, gwen, morgana, people who we know interact direct directly with the citizens of camelot and want what’s best for them; builds his own circle. he routinely breaks out prisoners from the dungeons he believe have been punished unjustly.

especially the people who use magic. he openly speaks out against his father and his persecution of it.

uth*r can try and stop him, alright. but there is a clear rift in the kingdom now, two distinct factions. those who believe in the king that arthur will be, and those who believe their loyalty is still to the current monarch.

and look at these people, from the execution scene from s01e01:

look at their faces (and also hnfvbdjh colin morgan and his obscene fucking cheekbones jesus christ). they don't seem to appreciate uth*r saving them from the evils of magic much. how many of them have lost their friends and family to his crusade? how many of them remember a time when magic was still allowed in camelot and the kingdom flourished?

these people will stand with arthur pendragon.

yeah. the ones who still believe in uth*r’s authority are few and far in between. and they know where they can shove it.

arthur learns. about magic, about its history, the old religion. merlin finally reveals his magic to him, so does morgana. he goes to the druids and he falls to his knees and he begs for their forgiveness. morgause begrudgingly allies herself with him, seeing his determination to right his father’s mistakes. he still struggles with the little boy within him who just wants his only parent’s approval, sometimes. but he is slowly but surely becoming his own man.

arthur becomes king long before he takes the throne. uth*r is forced to watch, a meaningless figurehead, as everything he worked to achieve comes undone at the hands of his own son. no attempts to make the viewers sympathise with him. he is angry and miserable and wasting away and there is nothing he can do about it; and it’s exactly what he fucking deserves.

and merlin? merlin finally realises kilgharrah’s word isn’t gospel. morgana is redeemed before she ever loses herself. but they must learn to trust each other again, bc merlin left her to face her fear and self-loathing alone when she needed someone more than ever (you might be cute, merlin, but not enough to get away with THAT). he finds himself taking young sorcerers who don’t know how to control their power under his wing (gilli, daegal, oh god the endless opportunities here), including mordred. MORGAUSE TEACHING MERLIN AND MORGANA MAGIC.

he and arthur are equals now, partners in destiny; the world is theirs.

and for the love of god, give me villains whose entire personality and motivations don’t boil down to I Hate Uth*r Pendragon And Also His Son.

give me kings who are afraid of camelot’s growing power, give me bandits and slave traders who realise they have no place in arthur and merlin’s albion. give me uth*r apologists scrambling to maintain their position in court, hell, give me anarchist organisations if that’s what it takes to spice things up a little.

give me the golden age of albion we were promised.

of course, all of this requires characters acknowledging and growing from their mistakes, and making their actions have lasting consequences — so i suppose it really is a bit too much to ask of the writers.

[cinematicnomad]

1, 7, 25 for the fanfic end of year ask :)

001. favorite fic you wrote this year i have a soft spot for take my hand (take my everything) which was the first fic i wrote this year! and kind of the first step back into writing creatively on something new that wasn’t the 7 year monster sterek fic. also my first foray into 9-1-1 fic and was just a lot of fun! 

007. longest completed fic you wrote this year the longest fic i wrote was my second for the year! so show me (family) wound up being around 16k+ for 9-1-1 which kind of burst out of me over the course of one 48 hour window unlike take my hand which took a few weeks to crank out. 

025. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read SO MANY FICS DUDE!!! i’m gonna rec a couple, some that i re-read this year and some that i discovered for the first time, all from a variety of fandoms. BUT heads up, you didn’t specify a fandom so it’s gonna be a little scattered. also someone else sent me this same question but specified 9-1-1, so i’m gonna reserve those recs for that ask. GET READY!!

and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (7/7 | 84k+ | M) destiel; AU: college/university; john winchester’s A+ parenting; angst with a happy ending

only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet jack allen is just kansas mechanic dean winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.

until, that is, a string of coincidences leads dean to auditing a poetry course with one dr. castiel novak. the professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia’s foremost expert on the poetry of jack allen.

note: i discovered this fic back in the pre-pandemic times of feb 2020 and i’ve read this fic TWICE since, leaving a lengthy comment each time. the poetry in the fic itself is stunningly gorgeous and i have a habit of reading it out loud to myself while reading bc it begs to be heard. this fic is seriously beautiful and makes me want to read all the poet!dean au’s out there in the world. unfortunately there aren’t that many so i just keep coming back to this well. i don’t think i can express enough how much i love this fic. 

lost time by ARCurren (105/105 | 350k+ | T)  bransonxsybil; AU: canon divergent; outsider POVs; original characters; slow burn

the story of a free spirit who was asked to give up the man she loved for a system she didn’t believe in and what happened next. AU after 3.04. 

note: did i think, when i stumbled across this fic years ago, that it would wind up being one of my all time favorites that i return to time and again to re-read? never. did i re-read it for like the dozenth time this year?? 110%. this fic is everything i want from fanfiction—it’s beautifully written, expands on canon, and shows me all the hidden moments the cameras never did (not to mention it’s historically accurate and delves deep into irish politics of the time). the first third or so of this fic is all about tom and sybil’s slow burn romance at downton, but the fic really bursts into its own when we follow the two to dublin and get introduced to all of the author’s deliciously detailed oc’s. heads up warning: this fic was never officially completed, though the final chapter is a beautifully written summary of the final arc of the fic. even so, it’s fucking worth it. 

misfire by mothlights & unpossible (6/6 | 28k+ | T) sterek; time travel; angst with a happy ending; alive hale family; magic; alternating POV

“the debt must be repaid,” she says, and it has the weight of a vow. the words resonate through him, ringing through his ribcage and the bones of his jaw, and stiles loses his breath and maybe his grip on reality because she draws herself upright and where there had once stood a supermodel-level MILK now there is galadriel’s much hotter older sister, a presence of unmistakable power in their ordinary, smells-vaguely-of-thai-takeout hallway. 

“oh shit,” stiles says. 

note: this fic is the first in the misfire ‘verse and i need you to understand that it literally broke me when i binge read these fics a month or so ago. i am a sucker for a solid time travel fic especially bc there are such few good ones in fandom. but this gets at the heart of it all by exploring the idea of stiles getting the chance to save derek’s family and taking it...after he and derek are romantically together in his true timeline and then actually dealing with the ramifications of how that alters everything and how stiles survives in this new present where he and derek are virtual strangers. everyone should definitely read this, but you should also know that i fucking sobbed while reading the sequel (which also has a happy ending, but really digs deep into the nitty gritty angst of the repercussions). 

map of the world by seperis (11/11 | 154k+ | M)  destiel; end!verse; alternate universe; canon divergent; original characters; slow burn

the world’s already over and they’re already dead. all they’re doing now is marking time until the end. 

note: look, if you don’t know about down to agincourt by @seperis, what are you doing with your life?? the series is over 1M+ words so far, the fic author is on book 4 out of a planned 8, and it’s fucking phenomenal. i know i’ve tagged a couple of these recs as slow burn but...this is the slowest slow burn to ever burn. canon!dean travels back into the end!verse timeline just as lucifer kills dean and somehow cas made it out alive and has to keep dean safe while he learns to become his end!verse counterpoint. the world building in this series is intense and i cannot recommend it enough. i’m still in the midst of my re-read bc it’s SUCH an endeavor but i highly recommend it to everybody. 

invictus by ellanasan (116/116 | 355+ | M) hayffie; au: alive abernathy family; pre-hunger games; canon prostitution; slow burn

“so then, before i can even think about doing something stupid like trying to stab him with his fucking golden paperknife, he gives me a choice, see?” haymitch continued, almost detached. “either i play nice like all the other victors or he’ll kill my family. i could either become his puppet—greatest punishment he could give me, according to him—or i could become the example.”

AU in which haymitch’s family lives.

note: hello, have you ever wondered what the hunger games series would be like if haymitch’s family were alive? i fucking hadn’t until 2 years ago when i stumbled across this fic and fell head over heels in love with this ship. @ellanainthetardis is my go to hunger games fic writer for anything exploring canon and i’m obsessed with anything she writes about the OG victors pre-canon (finnick, joanna, chaff, etc). this fic is just 300k+ exploring that world and all the intricate details of how cruel the games could really be. HIGHLY recommend. i definitely re-read it this fall when i needed a pick me up.

don’t know what i’m supposed to do (haunted by the ghost of you) by crazyassmurdererwall (1/1 | 30k+ | T) sterek; canon divergent; angst with a happy ending; ghosts; stiles POV

stiles sees dead people. yep. seriously.

(he’s got this. he’s totally got this. so what if one of them is derek’s mom?)

note: did you know that @crazyassmurdererwall is one of my all time favorite people? and that she’s wicked talented? and that in our spare time she’ll send me a billion fic ideas that are amazing and i get to hear all the intricate details of her plot bunnies? but i digress. this fic is one of my all time fave sterek fics i’ve re-read it sooo many times. there’s just something about the heartache and stiles’ insecurity and the way he tries to shoulder it all on his own. and then there’s alli’s brilliant writing, the way she weaves through a scene and paints a picture just so and manages to tug at your heart strings with her precise word choice. there’s some amazing world building in this fic as it explores this other facet of the supernatural that canon teen wolf never touched upon, and i’m so grateful for that bc alli is the only one who should be allowed to write about ghosts and teen wolf together. 

lagavulin and guinness by snarfle (10/10 | 163k+ | explicit) hartwin; slow burn; PTSD; suicidal thoughts; graphic depictions of violence; domestic abuse

plenty of people had looked down on eggsy throughout his life. he had gotten fairly used to it. didn’t mean it was fair, but he knew how these things worked. what really sucked was that the new arthur was worse than the old one.

“eggsy grimaced. he didn’t know how to explain to harry—who seemed like he hadn’t been discriminated against a day in his life—that the new arthur kept giving him what amounted to suicide missions, and that he was currently bleeding out in a warehouse because of the deliberately bad intel she had given him.”

also featuring: dean is harder to get rid of than eggsy thought, his mum is going off the deep end, there are way too many nefarious plots in play, and eggsy is really beginning to wish that harry would stop holding his hand and kiss him instead.

note: look, i know i recced this literally less than a week ago but i ALSO stayed up til 5AM re-reading this last night and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. i was on a bit of a kingsman kick earlier this year, so i’ve actually re-read this fic TWICE so far in 2020. i will give you a serious warning in that this fic delves deep into domestic abuse through the lens of a variety of different relationships. it also explores the potential for abuse in hartwin, bc this fic is one of the few that actually commits to the fact that they’re literal spies who murder people. actively. a lot. but seriously, this fic is one of my fave in the fandom and i STRONGLY recommend it. 

waste of breath by bryrosea (1/1 | 22k+ | M) loganxveronica; canon compliant; missing scenes; navy; past child abuse

logan echolls, the nine years, and the navy.

note: bryrosea has an obscene number of amazing logan and veronica fics (her canon divergent series stay with me is another i re-read this year), but i’ve found myself returning to this fic a lot over the years. i’m a sucker for canon compliant fics that explore the missing scenes in between canon and this fic hits all the right buttons by diving deep into how logan echolls went from being a trash fire at hearst college at the end of s3 to being a decorated navy pilot by the movie. it explores logan seeking out therapy and making a life for himself that he can be proud of, all while pining after the girl who got away. and bc this author is amazing, she followed it up with a sequel from veronica’s point of view in the series done by only me. 

the law of equivalent exchange by awed_frog (8/8 | 60k+ | M) destiel; POV castiel; pre-canon; post-canon; canon compliant; immortality; reincarnation

“and what’s the point of it?”

“of love? there isn’t one. loving is its own purpose.” 

note: i mean??? i don’t really know what to say except that this is one of the truly most beautiful fics i have ever read. it follows castiel through time as he meets different reincarnations of sam and dean across history and falls ever more deeply in love. it is achingly tender and so ecstatically written that i die just thinking about it. and that summary? i mean. holy fuck break my heart why don’t you? i don’t know how i missed out on this fic for so long since it was published in 2015 but i only learned about it for the first time back in july and it was. life changing?? when the fic finally reaches the canon timeline and he meets THIS dean it’s peak yearning. 10/10 will read again.

ahead in the count by elisela (17/17 | 50k+ | E) sterek; AU: sports; pitcher!stiles; teacher!derek; long distance relationship; getting together

“yankee fan,” derek says, laughing when stiles makes a disgusted face. “the bronx bombers, stiles, you can’t be a new yorker and—”

“stop talking right now,” stiles sighs, shaking his head. “i can’t believe i still want to kiss you after that,” he says, pulling derek in by his coat. “this is making me rethink everything.” 

“i’ll never watch them again,” derek promises, and stiles laughs against his mouth. 

or: stiles is a starting pitcher for the NY mets when he meets and falls in love with derek. derek doesn’t know. 

note: i read SO MANY of @elisela’s 911 fics this summer, which i loved, and then she got into teen wolf and started writing sterek and i just about died. this fic is amazing, one of my fave sterek AU’s that i’ve read in years. it’s just the right amount of drama and angst and fluff filled with all the joys of miscommunication and character relationships that makes reading sterek such a joy. reading this fic and finding out eli needed fic recs pushed me to dive back in to reading sterek fics for a bit this fall so i can say with the utmost authority that this is one of the best i’ve read in a long time. 

i used to think one day we’d tell the story of us by notequitegucci (2/2 | 32k+ | M) gendrya; alternate universe—modern setting; outsider POV; friends to lovers; friends to lovers

9 times a stark encounters gendry + 1 time he meets the starks.

note: again, this is the first in a 2 part series titled love me like you do that explores arya and gendry’s dynamics together through the point of view of her family. game of thrones ended last year with a whimper but i keep returning to the gendrya tag on ao3 to seek out new, amazing content and also to re-read some old favorites. i can’t remember if i came across this for the first time last year or this one, but i’ve read it and re-read it more times than i can count since and i love it more than i can describe. i’m a total sucker for outsider POV fics and my biggest pet peeve in canon is the fact that none of the stark’s ever found out that arya and gendry had a history together. this modern au fic almost makes up for it by giving me a gendry encounter with every family member and then the big reveal. it’s peak content. 

theeeeeeese recs got a little away from me. i wasn’t originally intending on adding lengthy notes to each entry but ... oh well!! these are all amazing so please enjoy. 

fanfic end of the year asks

[awhiskeyriver]

PSST AMELIA (i have hit the level of comfort where i feel i can scream at you, oop) TELL ME UR BETTY THOUGHTS.... also me too, i really wanna write stories based of Taylor's songs all the time. there's a whole subset of tumblr ask game called like, taylor universes, where we personify songs and on God it's my favorite (i wish i had more swifties in my ranks or i'd host one)

LOL, you can always scream at me! Oh man, that sounds seriously so fun! I would love to personify one of her (or all of her, lol) songs and turn them into stories. She has such a vivid way of writing music it begs to be seen in story form, lol.

Okay so....you may regret asking me for my Folklore thoughts, LOL. This is long and it might make absolutely no sense to anyone other than me but I hope that’s not the case!

Obviously **I know this isn’t true and wasn’t Taylor’s point at all** I’m just a writer and things spin out of control in my head and...yeah...basically this is how I’ve managed to link (almost) all of the songs in Folklore together into one story line of James/Betty/August.

The story begins with in the song Betty, towards the end of Junior year, at the prom.

//I know where it all went wrong, your favorite song was playing from the far side of the gym. I was nowhere to be found, I hate the crowds, you know that. Plus, I saw you dance with him.//

I think James has anxiety of some sort [more to come on that later] and in my mind, Betty is more charismatic, maybe even casually popular not in the core group of popular girls but very well-liked and known around the school. Editor of the school paper, ran for student president, etc. Meanwhile James is more low-key, out of the limelight, and the idea of being in such a large crowd dancing gave him anxiety which is why he said no. Seeing her dancing with someone else (even innocently), made him feel worse about himself and his insecurities as well as a little mad at her for not standing with him, but choosing to go dance with friends [‘him’] instead. 

So, he left the dance early [walking home on broken cobblestones] when August sees him [when she pulled up like a figment of my worst intention. She said, James get in let’s drive. Those days turned into nights. Slept next to her but I dreamt of you all summer long.]

Personally, I think James only officially cheated on Betty once. The night of the dance with August. August is a more overtly popular; more obvious beauty that is noticed by many boys, maybe a cheerleader, etc. Many people think this popularity instantly equates with happiness, but she’s not happy, actually suffers from self esteem issues and the pressure to conform [Mirrorball: I can change everything about me to fit in]. But James doesn’t ‘oogle’ her or treat her the way typical guys she dates or fucks do, so she’s attracted to him. They kind of bring out this excitement in each other that Betty and the other guys in August’s life don’t. [Mirrorball: I’ll show you every version of yourself tonight. I’ll get you out on the floor- August can pull James out of his shell in ways that Betty can’t]. This is maybe a more “obvious” song link to make, but also how in Mirrorball it’s talked about “spinning in my highest heels love, shining just for you.” And in Cardigan, when Betty is describing August “high heels on cobblestones.” 

ANYWAYS. James feels mad guilty about what happened between August and him, swears her to secrecy, but the weight of the secret weighs on him. At the end of the year, he tells Betty he thinks they should take a break over the summer, so they do. August and James continue to talk, first through platforms like Instagram, commenting on a photo or story, then it turns into constant talking, to texting, to hanging out and inevitably having more sex. For James, it’s a vice of sorts. He feels guilty, he wants to forget that feeling meanwhile August is starting to develop Feelings™. [entire song of August, obviously, but lines like “you were never mine.// your back beneath the sun, wishing I could write my name on it. ] To her, James is also developing feelings for her and wants to be with her. [I remember thinking I had you. Wanting was enough, for me it was enough.] But as the summer starts to end, things become more squirrely between the two of them, and the feeling of being James’ side piece starts to sink in more, and the more she begins to lose him, the more desperate she is to hold onto him. [August: cancel plans just in case you call and say meet me behind the mall. Illicit Affairs: Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him so you leave no trace behind, like you don’t even exist.// A drug that only worked the first few hundred times.// what started in beautiful rooms ends in meeting in parking lots.]

It comes to a head at the end of (the month of) August, as summer is ending and the new school year is approaching when James tells August he wants to get back together with Betty and what happened between them meant nothing to him. [Betty: Slept next to her but I dreamt of you all summer long.] August is rightfully hurt, embarrassed and angry [Illicit Affairs: Don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby look at this godforsaken mess that you made me. You showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else. Don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby look at this idiotic fool that you made me. You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else.// And you know damn well, for you I would ruin myself a million little times. Peace: All these people think love’s for show, but I would die for you in secret. Mirrorball: When I break it’s in a million pieces.]

So, senior year begins. Betty and James gets back together. August goes back to the way she was previous to her summer with James, but truly she is broken. Can’t even look at him. The guilt and stress of August is still eating at James, but he’s trying to forge ahead with Betty and the two of them grow stronger and closer throughout the first part of the school year. August’s friend, Inez, obviously notices her downfall, but August continues to allude to “the guy she met over the summer” without saying names. One drunken night, she slips and says James, and Inez being the gossip she is is like w h a t. [Peace: Your integrity makes me seem small.// I talk with shit with my friends, it’s like I’m wasting your honor.// And you know that I’d swing with you for the fences, sit with you in the trenches. Give you my wild, give you a child.// Give you my sunshine, give you my best. But the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.] August forgets about the conversation [she was drunk], but Inez doesn’t and can’t help herself but go to Betty and tell the rumor she heard about James fucking August. Betty, being a newspaper editor, doesn’t believe her without gathering up facts. But as she’s piecing things together, Inez’s story begins to make sense. She confronts James about it, who reluctantly admits to everything.

Betty, of course is devastated and heartbroken. The boy she trusted the most, her first love, wasn’t at all who she thought he was. [Cardigan: you drew stars around my scars, but now I’m bleeding.] And the fact that he didn’t just come clean and tell her after the first time, but continued to cover it up (and keep seeing August) is unforgivable. [Cardigan: tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy--Betty is ready to grow up, think about college, think about life, meanwhile James is clinging to the excuse that he is ‘only seventeen’ [(Betty) Would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?], refusing to grow up and own his mistakes. 

Betty breaks things off with James. James hates August thinking she did it on purpose. Betty hates them both. August kind of does too.

[August- Mad Woman: Every time you call me crazy, I get more crazy and when you say I get angry, I get more angry.]

[Betty- Cardigan: A friend to all is a friend to none, chase two girls lose the one.//When you are young they assume you know nothing.] 

After months of being broken up, James is still not over Betty and tries one last time to win her back at her graduation party before she leaves for college. [Betty, I’m here on your doorstep and I planned it out for weeks now but it’s finally sinking in. Betty right now is the last time I can dream about what happens when I see your face again. The only thing I want to do is make it up to you. So I showed up at your party]. The end of the song, where he’s talking about kissing in her car again, etc is him building their makeup up in his mind, psyching himself up for confronting her because he thinks it will all pay off.

Betty is shocked to see him, as is everyone else at the party, they’d become something of a spectacle, she brings him outside in the garden to talk in privacy without everyone interjecting or staring. Jame’s apology comes in ‘This is me trying’ where he’s trying to explain his actions more logically than placing blame on everyone and everything else, from Betty. [I don’t quite know what to say, but I’m here in your doorway. // They told me all of my cages were mental (the fact that he has anxiety, etc) so I got wasted like all my potential//pouring my heart out to a stranger, but I didn’t pour the whiskey (his and August’s first encounter/cheating incident after Prom). But “this is him trying, at least he’s trying...it’s hard to be at a party when [he] feels like an open wound” and quite honestly, “it’s hard [for him] to be anything these days when all [he] wants is [Betty]. It’s a great apology, he wears his heart on his sleeve, but Betty doesn’t want to fix things between him, she wants to move on. It was too difficult for her to get over him once, she can’t open herself up to trusting him again. [Cardigan: I knew you’d linger like a tattooed kiss, I knew you’d haunt all of my what ifs.// I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired, and you’d be standing in my front porch light.] 

Betty leaves for college.

A few years away in college has caused some healing for Betty and some insight into life outside of her small town and high school boyfriend [The One: If you never bleed you’re never going to grow, but it’s alright now]. But when she’s talking with her mom and something comes up about James, thoughts and feeling she hasn’t felt in years come racing back. She can’t help but wonder how things might’ve turned out if things didn’t end how they did because as much as she hates to admit it, she’ll always love James in some way. [We were something, don’t you think so?// if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you.// it would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one.// I persist and resist the temptation to ask you if one thing had been different (if he hadn’t slept with August) would everything be different today?.// You know the greatest films of all time were never made.] [My Tears Ricochet: And I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want just not home. And you can aim for my heart, go for blood, but you would still miss me in your bones.] 

***Now, things get a little more dicey here not as tight, lol but bear with me***

Betty comes home after graduation from college and runs into James. They’re cordial and nice and when James asks if they can get dinner and catch up, Betty agrees. They have a good evening, reconnect a little, but when they go riding and drive to some familiar places from their childhood, past hard conversations re-arise. It brings a lot of unwelcomed emotions back up in Betty, and she realizes it’s harder than she thought it would be to forgive James. [The One: the greatest films of all time were never made. Exile: I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.] Meanwhile, James just wants to forgive and forget the past, after all, they were kids, only seventeen. His hurt comes from the fact that after he tried to patch things up after graduation, not only did Betty dismiss him and leave, but she never reached out or spoke to him again. [Exile: It took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it. Holding all this love out here in the hall.] He came to the front porch/door to try and fix things with her, and she “left out the side door.” 

Betty [My Tears Ricochet: Even on my worst day, did I deserve babe, all the hell you gave me? Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you, til my dying day. // And I still talk to you (while I’m screaming at the sky) and when you can’t sleep at night (you hear my stolen lullabies)// Hoax: My twisted knife, my sleepless night, my winless fight this has frozen my ground.] 

Hoax is where things come to a head with Betty and James. [Stood on the cliffside screaming, “Give me a reason. Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in. // You knew it still hurts underneath my scars, from when they pulled me apart. But what you did was just dark.]

Mad Woman continues as August finds out that Betty and James get back together, and cannot get over it. She never got over James either. Only her sadness turns to anger. [Now I breathe flames each time I talk. // They say “move on” but you know I won’t.// It’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together.] 

Invisible String comes when Betty and James are in a stable, happy place in their relationship again. Possibly engaged for marriage. [Time, mystical time, cutting me open then healing me fine.// Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons. One single thread of gold tied me to you.// Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven.]

And, I like to think that August did eventually move on and found someone who appreciates her and truly loves her, isn’t just using her for revenge, or because she’s hot, or because they’re trying to forget their own problems. But someone who actually values her for herself. (Invisible String: Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart. Now I send their babies presents.)

AGAIN, this is obviously just my own theory/fun. Not meant to be taken seriously. Hope you enjoyed!

[miraculouscontent]

*rubs hands together*

I will say this before I start: there are a lot of good shots and musical cues in this episode. I mean, that doesn’t make it a good episode, but I do recall being on edge when Hawk Moth started enacting his plan with Catalyst.

...Granted, all of that completely died when one of the akuma touched Marinette’s purse, but ehhhhhhh, we’ll get there.

Duusu is also really adorable (even if the “romantic” line was rather forced and painful) and I’m glad we FINALLY have confirmation on the whole Emilie thing even if we could’ve already guessed it.

[Dire Liar]

First things first, I don’t know why Bustier felt the need to call Marinette forward in front of the whole class? And I mean that in a character sense.

Back in “Zombizou,” Bustier escorted Marinette outside to talk to her about setting a good example for Chloe. It’s even set up in a way that makes Marinette feel like she’s the one in trouble (especially since Bustier doesn’t talk to Chloe about it).

Now, the reason why it’s different here is obvious: Lila had to be there so Marinette could call her out and they could both be sent to the principal’s office together, and also because the class wouldn’t be able to defend Marinette had Bustier talked to Marinette about it in private.

The problem is that it makes Bustier look like a terrible teacher for not dealing with this properly. Had she just escorted Marinette out of the class, Marinette still might’ve accused Lila, but it wouldn’t have been so bad and also not involved BUSTIER LITERALLY CALLING OUT LILA’S BAD GRADES IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS.

(which is honestly stupid regardless; if Marinette is right and Lila framed her, Bustier literally points out the reason why it would be Lila as if that proves the contrary, since Lila got the worst grade on her test which is absolutely what someone trying to frame someone else would do to try and keep themselves from getting caught??)

Speaking of which, I’m glad this confirms that Marinette is smart enough to ace her tests (since Alya points out that Marinette always scores highly on tests), but my question then becomes how Lila knew that Marinette would. It’s not as if Marinette comes off as the type of person who’d ace every test, and while Lila recognizes that Marinette is smart enough to know that she’s a liar, that doesn’t mean that she’s better at doing tests than, say, Max.

I’d also like to point out that, if Marinette did cheat on the test (as Bustier seems to believe), there’d be no reason for Marinette to keep the answer sheet afterward, so it doesn’t make sense for her to keep it in her backpack. If Lila had managed to find the answer sheet before the test started, give Bustier the anonymous note, and then Bustier asks to see Marinette’s backpack (in private) right before the test began, that’d be different. It would also be different if Lila had made sure that Marinette had ace’d the test perfectly, but we don’t see that.

(willing to excuse the injury since I imagine that Lila kept insisting that she was in pain regardless of the nurse not finding anything wrong)

In addition, let me just say that it’s bizarre to see Bustier tell Marinette that she can’t accuse Lila without proof, only to then send them both to the principal’s office. It’s not quite on the level of not talking to Chloe in “Zombizou,” but it’s still pretty bad. If the note hadn’t been anonymous, then Lila could’ve just gone with Marinette because she’s “the one who saw it happen" even if Bustier wouldn’t explicitly say that. Lila is trying to cover her tracks, but at the same time, she couldn’t have guaranteed that she would be sent to the principal’s office to enact the next part of her plan, which is my issue.

There’s also the fact that this episode continuously goes out of its way to not involve Lila’s mother, especially in the scene where Lila talks about her “disease,” because the writers know that everything’s going to unravel if Lila’s mother is told about any of those lies.

And it’s not as if Lila’s the only factor here.

[Over the Head]

The other thing about this episode is that it’s trying to follow up on the character’s actions in “Chameleon” without actually following up. It features Lila, flashes back to “Chameleon,” and has Lila going through on her threat to turn Marinette’s friends against her.

But it doesn’t feel like a proper follow-up because it doesn’t properly follow up since nothing happens. No one else is given concern about Lila, Adrien continues “supporting Marinette” only in the background (basically “Oni-Chan” Part 2, except it’s Marinette instead of Nathalie, Gorilla, and Ladybug), Alya still believes that Lila is a good person, and Marinette’s expulsion is forgotten about so I guess the class (presumably) just goes right back to trusting her. It’s as if the episode was trying to compensate for all the salt that happened in “Chameleon” but simultaneously couldn’t let things resolve in any way.

It’s a case of “too little, too late,” essentially.

I mean, just for starters is Alya herself. While it’s totally great that she wants to do detective work and that she believes Marinette’s innocence, it doesn’t absolve her from the fact that she can’t have Marinette and Lila’s side at the same time. Like, she literally can’t.

The fact is that Lila is the one who accused Marinette of both pushing her down the stairs and stealing her pendant, yet Alya is convinced that someone who is not Lila is the one who framed Marinette. The pendant is one thing because all Alya knows is that the pendant was in Marinette’s locker--she didn’t know the details of Lila’s accusations--but Lila accused Marinette of pushing her down the stairs. If Alya is supposedly such a great reporter, as she claims to be, then she should know who the one that accused Marinette of doing these things is because that’s the first thing she should go after.

This isn’t even mentioning the fact that Alya later got interviews during her investigation and Lila was one of the people she interviewed.

And let’s be real about this, because I’m sure we can all agree that Lila would not be soft about whether Marinette did these things or not. When Lila goes in on something, she goes all in, and if Alya tried to absolve Marinette of blame for the stair incident by asking (for example) if there was anyone else around at the time, Lila wouldn’t hesitate to confirm that there was no one else. If Lila’s plan is to get everyone to turn on Marinette, then Alya is a prime target, so Lila would put up the vulnerable act and say, “I know that it’s so unlike her, but I’m sure she was the one who did it! I’m sorry, I didn’t want to say anything, because I know you two were close, but it’s the truth.”

Point being, even if Alya didn’t know that it was Lila making those accusations at the time, she would later on, and at that point, she can’t continue being on Lila’s side if she wants to prove Marinette’s innocence.

Alya doesn’t even have any other leads for who might’ve done it, which is ridiculous because CHLOE EXISTS. If Alya is trying to figure out suspects, then Chloe would be the one to target because Chloe has a long-standing history of hating Marinette, yet Alya doesn’t even have a list of potential people who have a grudge against Marinette (which could’ve been hilarious, by the way; Alya trying her absolute hardest to keep Lila out of her suspects, so she starts suspecting people for dumb things like, “Marinette gently bumped into them in the hall once”; WASTED POTENTIAL).

It’s just... dumb that Alya tries to say that Marinette has a motive without thinking about the motives that other people might have for framing Marinette. It felt like they only had her mention motives to rub salt in the wound of anyone who remembers Alya’s jealousy comments from “Chameleon” and “Catalyst.”

AND ANOTHER THING...

Tikki states after the scarlet akuma attack that Alya didn’t get akumatized and that it somehow means that Alya still trusts Marinette.

I...

I have questions.

Like, first of all, Tikki’s comments only make sense when taken into context with Hawk Moth’s plan to use the classmates feeling betrayed by Marinette to akumatize them, which is something that Tikki obviously wouldn’t be aware of.

Secondly, Alya not getting akumatized doesn’t mean anything about how Alya felt during the matter because--I mean--wouldn’t Alya knowing that Marinette is innocent make her more likely to be akumatized? I understand that getting akumatized for the sake of someone else is a rare occurrence in the show, but Alya’s best friend just got expelled and Alya truly believes that she’d been framed, yet she doesn’t get akumatized over it?

Yeah, no. I don’t buy that.

Then, there’s Adrien. Just like with Alya, yes, it’s great that he’s actually doing something for Marinette, but it ultimately means little in the grand scheme of things. While I appreciate that he did try to intervene before Mr. Damocles cut him off and that he tried to put his foot down on Lila’s behavior, here are the facts:

Fact number one is that Marinette had to prompt Adrien before Adrien intervened. Yes, he defended her in class, but when he sees the pendant fall from Marinette’s locker, Marinette has to call out to him directly before Adrien tries to say anything. I honestly can’t blame Mr. Damocles for cutting Adrien off in that moment, because Adrien not stepping forward before Marinette’s prompting would just make Mr. Damocles think that Adrien is only sticking up for Marinette because she’s begging him to.

Fact number two is that Adrien rewarded Lila for her behavior in the end. Regardless of how he spoke to her or how upset he was, Lila is still “friends” with him “officially” and even gets a bonus in that she’s now known to the world as “Gabriel’s muse.”

To some degree, I get what Adrien is doing, but it’s not obvious enough, and this happened all the way back in “Chameleon” too.

Back then, people speculated that Adrien told Marinette not to out Lila because he knew that Lila would just lie her way around it. However, Adrien didn’t say that and thus made it look more like he was just trying to protect Lila’s feelings.

If Adrien was using that logic here, then it seems like he’s using his friendship/status as a bargaining chip, believing that he has no evidence against her (which isn’t true; he knows that Lila isn’t friends with Ladybug and another voice against Lila is more powerful than just Marinette by herself since she “has a motive”) and thus resorting to threatening her with their friendship to get her to do what he wants.

Yet, by standing by Lila’s side and refusing to do anything, Adrien caused a lot of akumatizations, almost causing Marinette’s in particular (twice). Lila was the one who started it, but Adrien is the one refusing to stop her for good.

So yeah. I gave Adrien slack in “Desperada,” but I will not give him any slack here. This is an entirely different game he’s playing and I’m not a fan.

And here’s the thing: I would like to see the conflict on both Adrien and Alya’s ends. It’d be interesting to see Adrien be hurt by Marinette’s situation, but being afraid of speaking out because he doesn’t know what kind of power Lila has to ruin his reputation (which his father would not be happy about). It’d be interesting to see Alya continuously see Lila as a suspect, but trying so hard not to believe it because she’s constantly accused Marinette of just being jealous and doesn’t know how to handle the fact that Marinette has been right all along and Alya favored Lila over her best friend.

But without those pieces there, those conflicts can only be speculated on; not confirmed.

One more note about Adrien since Chat does a thing here as well: this is like the second time that Chat has been fooled by a Ladybug copy (”The Puppeteer 2″ being the first), and what gets me is that it’s never the behavior that throws him off; it’s always something else (like him smelling the wax or the real Ladybug showing up to intervene). He also has to be told again by Ladybug that she loves someone else (when he tries to kiss her) even though she already stated as much when she broke apart Chat and Sentibug.

And BY THE WAY, “I’m in love with someone else,” is not a reason for Chat not to kiss her. Whether Ladybug loves someone else or not is beside the point and implies that it’d be fine if she didn’t love someone else. No, the point is that Chat shouldn’t kiss her because she’s not in love with him and has already said so multiple times.

I dunno, the fact that Ladybug being in love with someone else was brought up three times in this episode makes me wonder if they’re planning something for the finale. It’s just a lot of mentions for one episode.

I would also just like to point out how depressing it is to know that neither Tom and Sabine knew anything about Lila. Marinette apparently never confided in them about her and, even if her parents do believe that Lila’s disease is at fault for what happened, they apparently hold no animosity towards her whatsoever for getting their daughter expelled (they can still feel at least a twinge of anger about Lila even if they believe she’s genuine; it’s called being human).

I mean, granted, I’m not surprised. Tom goes on to talk about how much he knew his daughter was innocent, but I simply do not believe that. They wouldn’t have had their daughter working in their bakery after the shock of getting expelled from a school where she had so many friends if they didn’t believe she did it. Her life was just thrown for a loop and they’re trying to keep her busy with stuff that she clearly doesn’t want to do, so no, I don’t believe for a second that they thought she was innocent. Even with Hawk Moth’s line about revealing the truth when he was akumatizing Sabine, that was directed at Marinette as well, so he naturally would’ve had to swing it as something deeper going on or Marinette wouldn’t have been on board.

OH AND SPEAKING OF MARINETTE--

[why]

I was willing to set aside the lack of focus on Marinette’s conflict in “Queen Wasp” because I both knew it wasn’t going anywhere and knew that it was at least not something affecting Marinette in a severely negative way...

but I will not let up here because oh my god.

Marinette got expelled in this episode, and it’s brushed off at the end like it’s not even a big deal. Everything is just reset to square one, and there are no apologies to Marinette, no “sorry for getting akumatized because I thought you betrayed us,” and Marinette had to call Alya to have someone check up on her because no one checked up on her after all that.

Also, regardless of how negative Marinette must’ve felt after being expelled, it is such a massive disservice to have her not even fight back against the akuma when Chloe rejected her akuma in “Miraculer.” “Chameleon” was a shining moment when Marinette repelled the akuma all by herself, but once it actually touches her and gets inside her head, she doesn’t even resist?

And it’s just a matter of raising the episode’s stakes and showing that Marinette would immediately remove her earrings if she were akumatized in civilian form. Her expulsion isn’t for her character; it’s for the plot.

Heck, and if that’s the case (just needed Marinette to be expelled to turn the class against her), than Mayura’s sentimonster could’ve just been Sentinette instead if Sentibug, with Sentinette going and doing actually bad things or Mayura literally just appearing in front of Lila and putting a Marinette sentimonster under Lila’s control (Lila already accepted an akuma so why not?), then Nathalie keeping Marinette occupied with doing other tasks and claiming that she’s “already told the school” about it (since we’ve seen from “Simon Says” that Gabriel doesn’t need to be Hawk Moth to keep his champions active, so we can presume that it’s the same for sentimonsters) while Sentinette wreaks havoc. Hawk Moth can still just akumatize Nathalie afterward and the results would be the same except Marinette doesn’t have to be involved since the plot isn’t going to touch on her pain anyway. I mean, if Lila ends up having Sentinette as her sentimonster anyway, then that could even give Nathalie the idea of Sentibug later on.

Regardless of how much I care about Gabriel and Nathalie’s plot (which is a mixed bag; cool to see Nathalie doing things on her own but I still don’t know how/why she got feelings for Gabriel), that doesn’t mean that Marinette’s plot has to be sacrificed for it. All of the realistic feelings that Marinette should have are just brushed aside because things are happening and there’s no time for it.

And that’s not even taking into account all the other things that happen in the episode. Not only is Marinette expelled (which Tkki doesn’t comfort her on and just focuses on how she almost gave up the earrings; I’m not saying it’s not important to discuss that part but UGH), but Alya discouraged her from claiming that Lila did anything when Marinette knows it was Lila (again, going back to this “being human” thing; even if Marinette knows that Alya doesn’t have all the information, she has a right to feel hurt), her parents kept her busy with baking instead of letting her breathe or even giving her a day to allow the situation to sink in, and she had to just watch in shock while her own superhero partner believed a sentimonster over herself.

(By the way, unrelated, but while I’m not denying that it was sad to see Sentibug “die,” there is virtually no evidence about Sentibug being a “pure” as Chat claims until Ladybug gives Sentibug the object; like, Chat is literally talking about how there’s nothing evil about her while Sentibug is standing alongside Mayura and glaring at him. There’s simply no time to get to know Sentibug before she inevitably falls.)

There’s also the fact that Marinette, y’know, had to deal with all these terrible emotions on a day where she also had to fight Hawk Moth, so that was great for her, I’m sure.

Not helped by the self-deprecating comment she makes about not being anywhere near as perfect as Sentibug, which tore my heart out in case you’re curious.

I don’t know. This show has a weird habit of involving Marinette with the plot while simultaneously having no idea what to do with her. They have her around to react so that things can happen, but they don’t want to go into the details of how that interaction will affect her on a deep, personal level. It would make sense if that was how Marinette perceived things--that she wasn’t allowed to feel or else risk being akumatized--but the show treats it as if that’s how it should actually work, and then wrap it all up by having Marinette see Lila being called Gabriel’s muse on TV after Marinette herself did literally nothing wrong and everything wrong was being done to her instead.

Thus, it’s just... sad.

[ifeveristoday]

Angel + Spike is dead, long live Angel + Spike

A postmortem on Boom’s Angel + Spike. The final issue of the series dropped today and I wasn’t going to write anything about it, because I had gotten increasingly disappointed with the direction the series took. With some exceptions, I don’t actually enjoy hate watching/reading/experiencing something because life is too short (especially NOW) to waste time on things you don’t like. My snark is better used elsewhere, you know?

But with this final issue and the topic of bad endings in 2020 fresh in fandom, I felt something had to be written.

A spoiler filled recap and thoughts underneath the cut as always.

tl;dr: the Supernatural of comic book endings but at least no one goes to superhell.

Angel + Spike and a series finale was listed on Boom’s website as early as three months ago, but only confirmed to be really, really finished by the second writer recently. 

And that’s a shame, because it started with a lot of potential that got squandered over its sixteen issue run. The new creative team only had three issues to wrap up what came before them and the direction they chose to go..really didn’t mesh with what was established. If they had more time, maybe they would have been able to solidify their vision and make those different characterization choices stick.

Unfortunately, they didn’t.

The problem that consistently plagued the series overall was that it felt like the writers (both the original and the new one) only took the most superficial of interpretations of the original show and completely forgot about what made it special. Even as a non-fan of Angel the series, I can appreciate the show for what it did really well.

The comic reboot completely lost the plot midway and neglected the characters, particularly Angel and his interpersonal relationships with Fred and Gunn. Then the decision to make Kate the reincarnation of Angelus’ lover/evil right hand and violating Fred and Gunn with possession (spoiler alert: Gunn survives his possession and then is sidelined for the rest of the series, Fred becomes possessed by a representation of the Devil *and* an ancient earth goddess and basically the human Fred is dead WHAT A SHOCKING TWIST said no one who’s experienced the original canon ever), Spike the voice of reason and Angel cut off from his team and only focused on Kate, while feral werewolf packs and Wolfram and Hart belatedly schemed in the background.

There was just Too Much.

And yet not enough of what should have been the most important part - the characters. By the time the second creative team took over Angel, I was caring less and less about Angel and what his crew were up to, because they were so separate (Angel’s characterization really suffered after the Hellmouth event. The estrangement and sudden disregard Angel had for his team didn’t really go anywhere meaningful other than to set up Spike as a bemused greek chorus.)

Not only did Angel’s character/motivations suffer, so did the other characters, namely: in all universes, women who are in Angel’s orbit/world SUFFER.

No agency for anyone!

Fred gets possessed by Baphomet and takes over Wolfram and Hart as defacto CEO and does a bunch of ooo girlboss/evil things. Then she has a competing spirit take over her body, an earth goddess/entity who overpowers Baphomet and expels him out. But ordinary Fred with her math and never to be discussed experience in a mental institution/trauma is gone. She’s more powerful now. Angel only remembers to rescue her after Gunn brings her up in an earlier issue and after intimidating the evil Brachen version of Jeff Bezos, Angel finds out it’s Wolfram and Hart behind her disappearance.

Kate conveniently gets memories of her time as Angelus’ lover/second in command and is conflicted about starting a relationship with Angel, who conveniently has forgotten he has a curse and is reallllly eager to kiss and reminisce about all the outdoor sex they had in a past life. Lillith and Lilah, the two deliberately drawn as femme fatale/cool characters have zip to do with the story as it wraps up - Lillith says some of her usual mysterious Angel you have a deeper purpose blah blah new concept of the dream sea or body of water with importance and then promptly disappears from the narrative. Lilah showed up in some swanky suits and gets murdered by Angel in this issue, after doing very little except to follow Fred/Baphomet around.

And we get a surprise Harmony cameo, which is not only unexpected but completely unearned, because she calls Spike Blondie Bear, which begs the question, when the fuck did Spike get close to Harmony? Harmony is in the Buffy comic (or showed up once in the early issues and then blip) and so, presumably still a teenager. What is she doing receptionist work for Wolfram and Hart for? Is time in the Angel comic operating faster than it is in the Buffy comic? Are we in the future? Is this hell?

The cavalry arrives but Fred’s inner goddess has saved her, at the cost of her original characterization and as they flee from the Wolfram and Hart’s security demons, they get taken to a multiverse dimension which looks mighty familiar -- a hotel, which is looked after by a familiar pair of vampires - Angel and Spike. Spike has long hair that’s tucked up in a bun and full tattoo sleeves on his arms, while Angel just looks scruffier.

Have these last three issues just been a weird convoluted path to get to canonical Angel/Spike? Is this the worst slash fic ever?

But that’s where it ends, the Angel team with Kate still hung up on being Angel’s reincarnated lover, Goddess! Fred, Spike being the cool Uncle you ask about sex (we get Lemon as Spike’s safe word, which....I will allow as an incredibly dumb meta joke), Gunn and Oz just being there and not in recognizable character, and Angel. 

Some other details:

There’s a Brachen version of Jeff Bezos in this verse and a joke about all the money in the world and he lives in a glass fishbowl, all the while Angel, a vampire has a glass house in the hills of Los Angeles. With a secret armory in the basement. That Spike knows about. Make your obligatory joke about the bottom here.

BUT. Did you even read the early issues, bro?

Angel has a glass house. Evil millionaire has a glass house. Don’t throw stones.

Gunn is basically written out and only pops up to fight by their side and his whole reason for getting involved with is explained as being a lawyer for Wolfram and Hart and will never get punished.

Werewolves appear to be universally shunned by other demons and wow I’m glad we didn’t have long with the series before it turned into this whole tortured allegory of oppressed peoples because it’s always great to line up mythical creatures with the plight of real marginalized people suffering, I’m talking about you Rob Thomas and your zombies yes I am.

Women get killed and fridged and basically exist to further men’s storylines and I wish this wasn’t a hold over from canon. Thank fuck Darla didn’t get involved in this universe, or anyone from Buffy.

So with that multiverse ending - does that mean Jordie can sweep them into a crossover with her multiverses in future issues? Perhaps. These are important characters, particularly Spike and Angel, so I doubt that we’ve seen the last of them.

But at least now they’ll be written by other people.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Max and Eugene in Peril on the High Seas

So we have another obligatory animal focused episode. This one fairs much better than Max’s Enemy and King Pascal; but it’s still ultimately useless filler. 

Summary: Rapunzel and the group are finally leaving Tirapai Island when the cargo ferry arrives, but Eugene and Maximus get into an argument, resulting in them falling overboard. They manage to save themselves on a passing ship, but discover it to be a prison ship where all the criminals, including the Stabbington Brothers, Lady Caine and Axel have escaped and taken control. Eugene and Maximus attempt to escape, but discover the villains' plot to ambush the cargo ferry and set out to stop them. Meanwhile, Rapunzel and the group discover Eugene and Maximus are missing and set out to rescue them.

There’s No Ticking Clock In Season Two and That’s to the Series’s Detriment 

So we’re finally leaving the island and this bit of dialogue tells us that they were on said island for at least six weeks. Which matters not in the slightest in the grand scheme of things; which is the problem. 

In addition to there being no outside threat forcing Rapunzel on this journey, there’s also nothing that’s forcing her to hurry up. So we’re doubly lacking in tension. There are no stakes in season two so things feel over long, and arcs that have the heroes stay in one place for more than two episodes at time stop the momentum of the series dead; leading to tedium for the viewers. 

We Didn’t Need King Pascal Just to Set Up the Firefly

The firefly is one of the few elements in the show that has proper set up and resolve. It’s established as the threat in one episode and then used as the solution in this episode. However both episodes are utterly useless in the over all arc so, while clever, it’s a wasted idea. It’s also unneeded since this intro exposition re-explains what the firefly is and what it’s deal is in case people missed out on King Pascal anyways. 

The Reason Why this Max Focus Episode Works, but Not Max’s Enemy, is Because It’s a Double Act

The problem with the mandated animal themed episodes every season is that Max and Pascal aren’t strong enough characters to work by themselves. They’re sidekicks; they’re designed to play off other characters. The writers seemed to clue in on this by making this episode and Max’s episode in season three, team up episodes. So now today’s episode becomes a Eugene focused episode too. Which in turn allows for their character dynamic to be fleshed out more. 

We needed more interesting combinations of the mains in episodes like this one in order for the group to feel like a group. We also desperately needed to do something similar for Pascal instead of just rehashing the same plot for him over and over again. 

This Plot Point Makes No Sense

When I first saw this episode, I thought it was foreshadowing later developments for season three, seeing how it’s one of the few episodes in season two that connects back to season one. However, once you know the events of season three, this episode no longer makes logical sense within the greater narrative. 

For you see, Andrew and Varian have teamed up to take over Corona at the beginning of season three. Yet that begs the question of why didn’t Frederic ship them away on the prison barge as well. Varian you might could excuse being missing here given his age, but Andrew? There’s no reason to keep Andrew around; none that is given on screen anyways. 

Also this mutiny couldn’t have taken place after the Saporian take over either. For starters all the guards retreated from Corona entirely when it became evident that the Saporians were in charge. That’s a stated plot point in Rapunzel’s Return to explain why Cap is missing. There wouldn’t have been a need for a mutiny if Andrew just let all the criminals go and there’d be no reason why Andrew would send them away using his own guards. The Saporians are small in numbers and that would be a waste of manpower. 

Also, because the Saporians are outnumbered, it doesn’t make sense to send away potential allies. Lady Caine has more logical motivation to join Andrew in his take over than Varian does. She just wants revenge on Frederic and riches. She cares nothing about ruling a kingdom and holds no qualms about hurting others; so she’d be the perfect partner for Andrew’s plans. Add in the fact that she has a whole gang/small army of criminals under her command, and she could have brought along some much needed manpower. 

Lady Caine is Wasted!!!

Speaking of Lady Caine, this is her final appearance in the show. Introduced in the pilot as an important character, yet given only three episodes and shoved out of the picture before the final season. And they didn’t even bother to bring up her original motivations or goals in any of her return appearances. 

Chris mentioned in interviews about how he wanted to ‘defy audience perception’ and so pulled a bunch of bait and switches in the writing; but this isn’t that. This is just straight up lazy writing. There’s nothing clever about introducing a character as being important and then not using them. It’s a frustrating waste of time and a waste of a concept; not a surprising ‘gotcha’ for the audience. 

Proper set up and resolve exists in storytelling in order to get your audience invested in what is happening and then give them a satisfying pay out for their continued involvement. Modern television writers have gotten so caught up in ‘shocking’ twists that they forgot the importance of giving satisfying endings to their audience. Because if the audience isn’t satisfied they will walk away. Hooks alone are not enough to keep them around as evidenced by the series ratings drop. 

Also, Why is Weasel Here?

I once suggested that this episode would make more sense if Max’s Enemy came before One Angry Princess in season one. Implying that Caine and the gang were sent away before Andrew’s arrest. This idea flies out the window with Anthony the Weasel here. He was last seen running away at the end of The Return of Quaid. How the hell did he wind up here? 

He had to have been arrested, put on trial, and then shipped away with the other criminals in between TRoQ and PotHS. Which just raises a whole bunch of other questions.   

How much time has passed between then and now?

What did Weasel do to get caught in Corona?

Why did it take so long to ship Caine and her gang out when it was just a matter of days for Attila to be banished? 

Why wasn’t she put on that same barge Attila was going to be put on?

If there was enough time to ship Attila and the Weasel out then there was plenty of time to ship Andrew and Varian, so why are they still in Corona?

Why is there even a prison barge to begin with? Are they just that stripped for room and man power in Corona’s dungeons?

Where does the prison barge actually go to? Does Corona own a prison island or do they have a deal with another kingdom? What is the world building behind this plot point? 

Also where the heck did Dwayne go? 

You Need Villains 

In the end it doesn’t matter. This is just a lame excuse to get rid of all of the season one villians besides the Stabbingtons. Which only stick around because they’re movie originals and need to reappear and be redeemed before the wedding short; otherwise they’d be gone too. 

Which is the dumbest idea ever! Season two and even the first half of season three is devoid of any main antagonists so why are we getting rid of anyone who could potentially fulfill that role? Who’s stupid idea was this? What were they smoking? This goes against basic writing 101. There’s no story if there’s no conflict! 

Eugene Has a Point

Like there are reasons why law enforcement aren’t on call 24/7 and there are also reasons why different territories have different jurisdictions. Not complying to that undermines law and order, not upholds it.

If a police officer from the US could arrest people while on vacation in Spain, it’d be a political nightmare. Even extrication of wanted criminals who seek refuge in other countries requires permission and cooperation from those countries governments or you’d be violating international law; which potentially could be seen as an act of war. 

Also you would still send in people who are actually on duty. Right now there are protests in my country regarding the lack of accountability police officers have. Plenty of cops break the law both on and off duty because they know they can get away with because of the nepotism within the force.  Max pulling out a guide book that essentially gives Corona’s guards permission to ‘enact justice as they see fit’ while even off duty is clear case of an abuse of power, and futhers the narrative that Corona is a dictatorship/police state that persecutes it’s most vulnerable citizens. 

The fact that the narrative then rewards this line of thought by placing Max in the right on this is just another check off in the long list of promoting authoritarian beliefs that this series teaches. People with power are held to different standards then those without. That’s just a fact of life. Having Eugene or Max acknowledge that this does break the law but is still right thing to do would be far better message and give the characters more complexity. 

Who gets to decide what is ‘bad’ here? What is this ‘something’ they are meant to do? This rule is a gateway for corruption because it’s not clearly defined and relies too heavily on the idea that guards are naturally ‘honorable’ and good and not, you know, people. 

There’s a saying in law school. Nothing is simple and fair. If it’s simple then it’s not fair; and if it's fair then its not simple. 

Laws are complex because life is complex, people are complex, and not everything applies the same way because situations are different. That’s why we have courts. And yes, sometimes there’s too much discrepancy in sentences, leading to some people being harshly over punished while others get away with little more than a slap on the hand; but having things the other way around would still cause such discrepancy as not everyone’s experiences are equal to begin with. 

And before you say I’m reading too much into a kids show, this is a conflict that the episode itself has decided to introduce. If you wanted a simple message about doing the right thing than ‘the law’ should not have been brought up at all. Because laws are not simple, they are not universal, and they are not infallible. If the writers thought this idea too complex for their audience then they shouldn’t have introduced the idea. 

It's better to not bring up deeper subject matter at all than to introduce it and then not address it properly.  

Oh, and We Get Confirmation that Corona Speaks English, for Some Reason... 

This was also hinted at this in the supplement book, My First Year As A Princess; which was suppose to replica of Rapunzel’s Diary in the show, though it’s sverealy been paired down from the original concept. 

Anyways, it’s pretty much canon that everyone is indeed speaking English on screen, even though there’s no logical reason for this. Chalk it up to yet more lazy world building. 

Corona is never hinted to being a replacement for England itself. The few hints we get to it’s placement on the world map suggests it’s on the main continent of Europe and is a peninsula. Other real world languages like, French, Italian, and German are confirmed to exist, with Italy at least being a real location in this world. 

Also we spend this whole season traveling to other kingdoms. So why would everyone speak English? This is before British and American imperialism, and before the internet, so English wouldn’t be a default secondary language for the many countries that it is today. So how does this work? 

Once again, if traveling the world is a big plot point of your story then you need to determinate where and how your main protagonist fits into that world. If they’re a princess of a kingdom then we need to know where that kingdom is in relation to the surrounding places we visit or discuss.  

Axel is Still Useless

Max didn’t need a rival. This character adds nothing to the over all story and is one villain/character too many in an already overstuffed series. I don’t mind the idea of pairing down some of the minions and other background characters. I just take issue with getting rid of all of the villains. Particularly interesting ones that could have done more, like Weasel or Lady Caine. 

The Very Existence of Lady Caine Undermines Both Rapunzel’s and Cassandra’s Arcs

So the series wants to present this idea that Rapunzel is compassionate and is all about giving second chances, yet Caine, one of the most sympathetic villains in the show next to Varian, is given zero chance at all. The show is too busy trying to make Rapunzel look ‘bad ass’ by easily taking down an seemingly equal badass female villain, that doesn’t stop to think about the implications of this conflict. 

The series fails because the only people Rapunzel redeems are people that she needs something from. She needs Styalan to gain the Eye of Pincosta. She needs Varian to help defeat the Saporians and ease her bruised ego. She needs Cassandra because she’s her best friend and it hurts her personally for them to no longer be friends. None of the redemptions in the show are actually about the characters who are redeeming themselves, it’s about their effect on Rapunzel’s personal life. 

But placing Rapunzel’s personal feelings above what other characters actually need is the opposite of compassion. It’s selfishness. It doesn’t make Rapunzel the focus of the story it just makes her look like an ass. 

Moreover Lady Caine’s arc is directly tied to Corona’s corrupt legal system. Rapunzel can’t be this purveyor of change if she and the show never acknowledges why the system must change to begin with. 

Last off, Cassandra’s arc is then diminished by the existence of more sympathetic villains like Caine and Varian. They have more reason to do the things they do, and their actions connect back to their goals. Cass doing worst things for less reason, and then getting away with less punishment than them, is a slap in the face to the viewers. It turns her from a likeable character to an unbearable twat, and makes her later redemption a product of nepotism rather than act of agency on her part. 

Everyone is ill served by writing Caine out and not giving her a conclusion to her personal conflict. Rapunzel, Cassandra, Frederic, and Lady Caine herself are all denied a chance to grow as characters and that’s infuriating to watch. 

Also Yes, This Episode was a Big Missed Opportunity to Add Urgency to the Plot

As previously mentioned, season two needed an ongoing external conflict. Anyone of the villains on the ship could have been the main antagonist of the second half of the season. Just have the person in question escape in the confusion, or overthrow the new crew of the ship a second time. Then have them show up later looking for a fight. 

My money is on Lady Caine, but the Stabbingtons or Weasel could have done just a well. Caine wants revenge on Rapunzel. The Stabbingtons are after Eugene. Weasel wants power and riches, so capturing the princess and holding her for ransom could have been a goal. Then have them learn about this hidden power then voila you gotta a set up for a race to the end of the quest.  

You also could just picked an underling at random and then elevated them to main villain by giving them a good goal and a backstory. 

Also finally, Andrew and/or Varian, we’re options that they could have added in here. Varian more so than anybody else as he already has reason to go after the moonstone because his father. 

Heck, you still could have added Varian and not made him the villain if you didn’t want to. This could have been the start of his redemption arc instead, and one of the previously mentioned villains,a Brotherhood member, or one of Zhan Tiri’s Disciples could have still served as the main antagonist. 

In short, most of the problems with Tangled’s story are really easy fixes and the writers had multiple options at their disposal that they didn’t take. Which is just further evidence to last minute rewrites and Chris and Ben’s missamangment. 

Conclusion    

I enjoy this episode because it’s one of the few to tie back into season one, but it’s is a missed opportunity and it is a shame that it went nowhere. 

[thunderbirds-are-fab]

The Mechanic

An unnecessarily long fan essay examining the character ‘The Mechanic’ from Thunderbirds are Go by thunderbirds-are-fab

Pretty much since the Mechanic was first revealed as an upcoming character to be introduced into Thunderbirds are Go, he’s been surrounded by mystery. There were a lot of wild fan theories about who he could be and if he was related to any original character in particular (He was either Brains’ brother or his father, Kyrano gone mad, and even Jeff in some weird disguise trying to traumatise his children to someone), but he has since turned out to be a completely new character and therefore had a lot of possibilities as to how he could fit into the established TAG universe.

Sadly, two seasons since his introduction we still don’t know all that much about him or his super villain origin story, and with the conclusion of Season 3 we likely never will. The writers put this guy on the back shelf, and this is why I’m writing an essay piecing together all the messy details we have regarding the character of the Mechanic. It turns out there’s quite a lot to talk about, so get comfy.

*Episode spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched Seasons 2 and 3*

The biggest tease about the Mechanic was his hinting that he knows Brains very well or even personally in Earthbreaker, but after that it’s not really brought up again. Massive wasted potential there. He made it sound like he and Brains were old rivals from long ago, but Brains doesn’t show any signs of recognising him. Brains himself never really reacts to the Mechanic’s hints that they might know each other during Earthbreaker or after, and never even tries to guess at who this masked engineer may be, which feels ridiculous.

“Hey Brains, in all your years of being one of the world’s best engineers, did you ever meet anyone in your field of expertise who was capable of making an army of robots completely on his own, looked like he could bench press MAX with one hand, and maybe seemed a little power-hungry and unhinged?”

“Nope, sorry. That sounds like it could have been anyone.”

Surely if they were both brilliant inventors working on similar stuff, they would have mutually run into each other before???

Not only does Brains not keep up his end of the ‘we-may-know-each-other’ plotline to make it believable, but after Earthbreaker the writers seem to drop it from the Mechanic’s character too. He doesn’t show the same ominous bias towards focusing on Brains again whenever he crosses paths with IR, and if anything he seems to reacts with distrust towards Brains when he first offers to help him in Home on the Range. In Brains vs Brawn Brains offers to help him again, but still acts wary of him wanting to get close. If they had known each other before then this could have been a great bonding moment for them to reconnect and win each other’s trust, but instead Brains has to use the promise of “engineer to engineer” which is as far as their personal connection seems to go in the end.

Brains also only ever calls him “the Mechanic” the same as everyone else does, and going into Season 3 this lack of a proper name becomes more of a problem for the Mechanic’s character as a whole. We finally see him without his mask in Chaos Part 2, but a face reveal is all it is. It’s not a grand finale Scooby-Doo moment of “Aha! It was old man Jenkins the janitor all along!”, and this again feels like wasted potential to me. What’s the point of having a masked villain if he’s still exactly the same person without the mask, just a little sadder?

Between being taken into GDF custody in Brains vs. Brawn and then being negotiated for release in Break Out (a 20 episode gap, which is quite a long time span in TAGverse), the GDF don’t seem to have done any background check on him whatsoever. Everyone, including Colonel Casey, still refers to him as “the Mechanic”. If even the in-world authorities couldn’t find this guy’s original identity, then it seems that the entirety of who he was before never existed, and that’s because the writers never properly wrote it. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the TAG writers and have rarely had to fault them on anything in 78 episodes, but fitting their OCs into the series for more than an episode or two is by far their biggest weakness *coughcoughwhydidn’tyouuseEOSmorecough*

His backstory was clearly set up before his introduction, but then scrapped for whatever reason. Perhaps with everything else going on in the show they simply didn’t have time for it? This I can understand, because there’s only so much time in a children’s show and action has to come first in this genre, but it opens up a lot of additional plot holes when you keep trying to build a story on top of a poorly-established character.

What I’m trying to get at here is that without ever having his personal motivations revealed, looking back on the Mechanic’s pervious actions in the story gets a lot more confusing, and makes his character development and the plot development between Season 2 and 3 more difficult to understand.

I’ll split these last points into two parts:

1.    How do we know he built the the T-Drive when he’s unidentifiable?

In Break Out it’s suddenly revealed that the Mechanic was the engineer who designed the first T-Drive engine/Zero-X prototype... But how? How do they now know that??? Surely being the engineer who came up with this fantastic revolutionary warp drive for the spaceship that allegedly killed the great Jeff Tracy would make this guy pretty famous? His former name should probably be common knowledge, and yet he’s still only ever called the Mechanic. It’s been suggested to me on anon that maybe he’s shunned his former name in favour of the Mechanic moniker, which is fine, except that’s no reason for all of the other characters never to speak his true name even when he’s not there to hear it. To us he’s still just the villain we were introduced to, never the man he was before. Without being shown how that past and him today are linked, it’s difficult for us as an audience to attach such important prior information to a character who doesn’t seem to have previously existed.

2.    Was he ever really a true villain, or was it all because of the Hood? And does his change of heart make sense?

We’re never told how the Mechanic came to be. Why did he go from brilliant engineer, to turning over to the dark side and becoming a puppet of the Hood? In Break Out he hints that the Hood manipulated his bitterness over ~something~ in order to get him to work under him, but again it’s frustratingly vague! In the beginning we assumed it was through some personal grudge with Brains, but as I’ve already gone through at length, all that backstory just got washed away. Another anon has suggested to me that his rivalry with Brains was manufactured by the Hood. He didn’t know Brains personally, but developed a grudge against him through being compared. “Brains is brilliant, but you’re a failure”... because of the Zero-X disaster? He’s clearly as good as or even better than Brains when it comes to inventing things, so he had to have had something big happen to him in order to spiral downwards as he did. The Zero-X disaster would certainly fit the bill for that, but it’s a shame to leave all that to speculation. If it were true, then would it have been so hard to fit that into the show?

Anyway, the Hood somehow fostered a hatred for IR in him that served his own motives, and so began their partnership. He’s clearly very strong, so that’s probably why the Hood needed extra control over him via cybernetics. It’s in Brains vs. Brawn that we first learn that the Mechanic is at least partially being controlled by the Hood. Since the Hood spent most of Season 2 in jail, this was maintained through a connection between his bionic eye and some kind of cybernetics that the Mechanic has (forcibly implanted by the Hood or just already there and hacked, we don’t know). Partially coerced and partially forced, but we will never really know how much of each.

The Mechanic is a lot more violent than the Hood ever is on his own. The Hood may not care much for other people or the collateral damage he causes (e.g. in Falling Skies he’s fine with abandoning the Estrella Grand hotel full of people to crash and burn if he decides that he doesn’t want it anymore), but it isn’t really his priority. For the whole of Season 3 he makes the Chaos Crew do the physical dirty work he doesn’t care for (btw I let the Chaos Crew off for not having much background story because their “we’re bad just because we enjoy being that way” motive stays fairly consistent throughout the show. They aren’t that complicated). 

In contrast, the Mechanic has frequently plowed forward with no regard for anyone’s safety. He doesn’t make sneaking around his Plan A like the Hood, and he doesn’t hit and run for fun like the Chaos Crew. He’s brutal. Earthbreaker really sets him up for being a ruthless villain because he’s so focused on getting what he wants that he’s willing to take down anyone who gets in his way. Even when Scott asks for him just to let IR work around him to rescue the civilians below, he attacks! He’s a genuinely scary and thrilling character for how relentlessly destructive he manages to be every time she shows up in Season 2. Seriously, just read his wiki page and you’ll see it’s got ‘perfect villain traits’ written all the way through it.

Then comes the redemption arc.

In Brains vs. Brawn he is subdued and chooses to trust that Brains can redeem him. In Break Out he shows remorse for his actions. He believes that he deserves to be in prison and is beyond redemption for what he’s done. He puts Kayo’s safety before his own and saves her life. He could have disappeared, but instead comes to Tracy Island of his own free will and voluntarily works with his former enemies. That’s a pretty big change from someone who was hellbent on destruction regardless of innocent people begging for their lives! It’s a pretty big ask to believe that all of that relentless anger and complete apathy towards human life was only there because the Hood was in control the whole time.

There’s something else which leads me to believe that “I was being controlled by the Hood” isn’t the watertight excuse it’s presented as. The Mechanic makes it sound like he’s totally stuck and irredeemable without the Hood’s control being removed, but prior to that happening in Buried Treasure he makes choices of his own that the Hood could’ve stopped.

Between being dumped by the Hood in Escape Proof and Brains vs. Brawn, he’s pretty much a villain under his own steam. He’s working independently on continuing Project Sentinel, which has the aim of using to destroy the Hood for having control over him. Sure, he may only be doing bad things because he’s desperate for revenge against his abuser, but he’s still willfully endangering a lot of other people in the process. The Hood may have lost interest in him during that period, but the control system was still in place that whole time - and he was resisting it! If he can manage to hide himself from the Hood and work directly against him despite that, then he still has some free will of his own.

In Chaos - Part 2 Havoc learns the Mechanic is in space prison, which is why the Hood has lost control over him. Arguably the HEX probably had a faraday cage around his prison cell to block the Hood’s influence, and it is stated that it’s harder for the Hood to influence him from space anyway. But after breaking out and coming to Tracy Island of his own free will, shouldn’t being back on earth have put him back under influence again? The only time he had to fight against the Hood’s direct control after that was when Brains disturbed the control software and alerted the Hood, who then suddenly reveals that he has a fail-safe that can wipe the Mechanic’s memories. Wow. If he could really do that, then why didn’t he do so in Escape Proof and not leave the Mechanic as the potential enemy that he turned out to be? Sure, he later says that he still has plans for the Mechanic, but you would think that during Brains vs. Brawn when he’s getting shot at by a giant lazer whilst being thrown around by IR, and the Mechanic is resisting his commands to stop, that then would have been the ideal time to use the secret factory reset ability?  

Afterthoughts aside, I’m still convinced that the Mechanic had a lot of evil in himself that wasn’t just there because of the Hood, and it’s really a wonder that the Tracys let him into heir home after how many times he tried to kill them. i really don’t blame Scott for staying suspicious, even though he was the one most obviously anxious to find a way to get his father back. 

Despite all the questions that the show failed to answer about him, I still think that the Mechanic was a good villain. Whatever his super villain origin story was supposed to be, I think it had a lot more potential to be morally complex than the origin they ended up giving the Hood. It’s a shame that writers across the board these days often don’t have the time to write villains more complex than the trope of “once upon a time somebody made me sad, so I decided to be evil to get revenge”. I know that somebody out there will be looking at this unnecessarily long post and screaming But fab, it’s just a kid’s show! Kids won’t care about tying up offscreen plotlines or any of this crap! And my answer is yes, I know that. That’s why I’m not actually mad about what the writers did with the Mechanic’s character. The writers of TAG did a great job and the show works as it is, but I can’t help but feel that they only had to push a little more or add a line or two somewhere and then all of these questions I have about the Mechanic could have been answered. A little backstory goes a long way in fleshing out a character, and Thunderbirds is a franchise with a lot of history.

[thebenedicttwinsfuck]

Dear Consent Issues Writer,

Thank you for checking out my letter! I can’t promise this will be short but I will do my best to make it understandable! I’m going to list everything under a cut, just to be safe, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

As previously stated in the sign-up, my DNW’s are as follows:

- First Person POV - Gore inflicted on the victim - Permanent Marks (scarring, branding, etc.) - Blood Play - Breath Play - Vore - Torture Porn - Major Character Death - Castration - Ingestion of bodily wastes - Any injury causing brain damage - Vomit - Needles - Animal Cruelty - PiV sex

However, I also have a fair amount of likes as well. These are probably too long to compile all into one list, but here’s a short list of kinks and fetishes I will never say “No” to:

- Ageplay/ABDL/Infantilism - Watersports - Scat - Mind break - Humiliation/Degredation - Medical Play (Without needles, see DNWs) - Begging/Crying - Dollification - Feminization/Sissification

Specific Prompts Per Fandom:

The Two Princes -

Joan & Cecily xcon Rupert & Amir

I love this prompt for the potential. Joan and Cecily training Rupert and Amir to be their perfect babies, wanting nothing but to fuck their mommies, have their mommies fuck them, or (potentially, if you’re feeling saucy) instruct the boys to fuck each other.

Amir xcons Rupert/Rupert xcons Amir

Similar concept to the top, only with one person in each party. If you don’t want age play to be involved, you could also do feminization or dollification for these two, I’m not particularly picky with these pairings.

Amir & Rupert mxcon/Joan & Cecily mxcon

This is something I see working best with intoxication or sex pollen, where both parties are affected and are pining after each other, or are simply needing to get off fast and the other person is the only one around for miles that can help them. Get creative with why they’re horny messes.

Sanders Sides -

Patton Sanders xcons Any/Virgil Sanders xcons Any

I love a good reason to hate Patton and/or Virgil. If it’s not on my DNWs list, by all means, give me all the unsympathetic content with these two fucking around as they please. Bonus points if they’re in a relationship and the non/dub-con is done with someone not in the relationship.

Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Janus Sanders xcon Logan Sanders

What’s sexier than Intruloceit? Two of them ganging up on one to have them however they please. I love the concept of these two being all soft on Logan, showering him with praises and telling him how good he is even as he’s struggling to get away.

Patton Sanders forces Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Roman Sanders mxcon

This is one very specific scenario that I’d love to see. Roman gets a little too close to Remus for Patton’s liking, and in order for Patton to cast them both out from Thomas’ “light” side of the mind, he has them fuck each other. Spicy.

Remus “The Duke” Sanders & Logan Sanders mxcon

Very similar to the mxcon from TTP, I see aphrodisiacs or sex pollen being the reason for this situation. Have fun with why they’re horny and how they get off.

Original Other -

Sex Pollen Plant xcons Male Hiker OR Non-Binary Hiker

Give me all the sex pollen driving these hikers mad until they’re desperate to get off and the sex plant is the only thing that can satisfy them. Give me multiple rounds of fucking because it’s just not enough. Give me anything short my DNWs.

Non-Binary Master xcons Male Slave OR Non-Binary Slave

This one is fun to me to play with the roles. The slave of course can’t say no to their master, but what is their master asking them to do? How far do they need to go to please their partner?

Aliens xcon Male Astronomer OR Female Astronomer

Similar to the sex pollen plant, I’d love to see first contact with aliens who have xeno anatomy, or make the astonomer impossibly horny and “probe” them however you see fit short my DNWs.

Non-Binary Werewolf xcons Male Cryptid Hunter/Non-Binary Cryptid Hunter xcons Male Werewolf

Bit of a crack idea, but fun to watch nonetheless. Cryptid hunter finds the cryptid they’re looking for, but do they catch the xcon on film? Would they even want to share their discovery with the world now?

Werewolf & Bigfoot mxcon

You can also play into the crack here. I’m imagining very passionate hate sex for whatever reason you choose.

Evil Sorceress xcons Non-Binary Servant

I imagine the servant isn’t very good at their job in this situation, and the Sorceress uses magic to get the servant to do whatever she wants in bed. Again, play around a bit if you want.

Original M/M -

Male Werewolf xcons Male Cryptid Hunter

See the Original Other for the scenario here, just change the pronouns.

Male Cryptid Hunter xcons Male Werewolf

See the Original Other for the scenario here, just change the pronouns.

Evil Warlock xcons Delinquent Servant (M/M)

See the Original Other for the scenario here, just change the pronouns.

Master xcons Slave Who Attempted Escape (M/M)

This one, I see as a punishment for the slave who attempted to escape, obviously. How far did the slave get? What does the Master require in terms of a pound of flesh to get even? Feel free to have fun.

Slave xcons Master (M/M)

This is another one where you can play with the roles. Why does the slave xcon his master? For revenge for past xcon? For something else? Why is he so desperate to get even? Play around and see what feels right.

Male Frat Boy xcons Trans Male College Student

This one would probably involve transphobia of some sort. Trans man is doing his thing, maybe gets a little drunk, and the frat boy gets him to a point where he can’t say “no.” Morning-after regret or morning-after shock and rage depending on the POV party is a plus.

Male Army Cadet xcons Trans Male College Student

This one hits extremely close to home for me, because this is what I dealt with. It took me a long time to feel safe, but reading xcon and knowing that I could stop when I wanted to helped me recover, so I’m offering the situation in hopes that if someone does do it, I can heal a little. Trans man doesn’t want to have sex. The Army Cadet would push, and push, and maybe tease the trans man, touching him without his consent until the trans man is begging to stop or have sex so he can get off. And of course, the Cadet would go the sex route. If you want to punish the Cadet that gets you very high marks in my books. But if this is too niche an offer or you don’t think you can handle it, I have so many options for a reason. Seriously, I take no offense if you don’t do this one.

Male Army Cadet & Male Navy Cadet mxcon

Crack hate sex. I live for it.

NCIS -

Nick Torres xcons Timothy McGee

Feel free to make Nick unapologetically the bad guy. I especially think that after “Philly” in Season 14, Nick would try to bed Tim and not necessarily take no for an answer.

Jethro Gibbs xcons Anthony DiNozzo OR Timothy McGee

I can see Gibbs taking advantage of the whole “newbie wanting to fit in” mentality here. Play it straight, play it crack, play it angst, it’s all good.

Jethro Gibbs xcons Anthony DiNozzo & Timothy McGee

Tony and Tim comraderie. Maybe Tony warns Tim to not join the team over knowing what Gibbs would do to him. Either way, I want the strong BrOTP here.

Nick Torres xcons Ellie Bishop

Full disclosure, I’ve never been a fan of Torres/Bishop. But I love the thought of Nick doing something like this that would make them break up. Established relationship, Nick takes advantage of her, showing his true colors, and she leaves. Maybe she gets together with someone else? Who knows.

Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane xcons Ellie Bishop

I really like making Bishop the victim, but unlike Torres/Bishop, I do genuinely ship this. Feel free to make it a mind game to Jack, trying to figure out how to break Ellie, either period or break her in, so she can have a sex slave for whatever she pleases. I love dark!Jack.

Ziva David xcons Anthony DiNozzo OR Timothy McGee

I see this happening when DiNozzo goes to find Ziva. Or maybe McGee goes in his stead. Either way, Tali comes from a rape, and the man xconned in question has to deal with the aftermath.

Eli David xcons Ziva David

An explanation for Ziva’s prevalent Daddy Issues. Maybe he xconned her from when she was a young girl, maybe he only started after she became a woman (either 18 or 13, depending on your interpretation/the whole religious thing). I don’t have a lot of expectations for this one, so run wild.