#i think i'm missing a lot of the risks season one was willing to make in how weird it could get

[rubykgrant]

There's something painfully ironic about them not being able to creatively write Sigma in restoration when that's part of his whole shtick. He's the creativity(/ambition) AI.

Yeah... we didn't get to see enough of it explored during the Project Freelancer seasons, because stuff was getting blended together with what Reds and Blues were currently doing/Epsilon stuff, so there was a lot of missing moments where we had to read between the lines (sometimes I wish things had happened slightly different; instead of going into season 6, we had a solid season of the Freelancers, so our first intro to Wash is him being the dorky Freelancer, and we get more of the other Agents before they had the AI, including a deeper look at Tex. then we'd see the introduction of each AI, and how they interacted with their Freelancer partners, etc- but Alpha is still kept a mystery. when it all falls apart, THEN we get season 6, Mr Serious Agent Washington, the Meta, and the Alpha Reveal... but I digress)

One of the most compelling bits of info we have for Sigma was Price saying- "The Meta wanted to be human". That is SO IMPORTANT. Even before Maine got injured and was paired with an AI, he had been fighting as a soldier who was constantly put in situations where he had to kill, or push himself so hard he might die. He was still a PERSON though (that little bit when Carolina wants him to be a counter-wight and he hesitates, saying it was too high? like, he's risking his life almost every day doing dangerous nonsense, but being this high up makes him nervous! a whole person is in there!). Sigma was certainly manipulative and a little selfish when it came to his own goals, but ultimately, what did he want? The idea of "humanity", in which you could be treated with a certain amount of respect, dignity, and freedom. How can he get that? He knows the Fragments were taken away from Alpha, and Alpha came from a human mind. Which person was that? A man who was willing to let the world burn, as long as he got what he wanted. The Director was Sigma's "role model" of humanity, and Sigma's whole deal was having the ambition to go FURTHER, succeed where others failed. He didn't just turn Maine into a big puppet, he saw what Maine also wanted, and said- let's do this together (also, my person thoughts about becoming the Meta; it is more than just being a "hive mind" in agreement, this is an entirely new "person", not just the combination of others. when the AI were gone, the Meta was gone, and Maine was alone)

Also, Omega was the Rage AI, but I think we can all agree Alpha had PLENTY to be mad about. Without all the information to put this anger in perspective, Omega was just a tiny EXTREME, and thus, not very pleasant to be around. We didn't get to see the first version of O'Malley start to be more vocal until he found a place in Doc (and I have a WHOLE opinion on who Doc was definitely plural the whole time, he's just had a bad habit of ignoring his own negative thoughts, and thus not letting these other parts of himself speak up. Omega may have opened that door, but O'Malley was definitely part of Doc), and as horrible as he tried to be, he was probably a lot more happy when he could just be an obnoxious antagonist. We only get a brief look at the memory of the original Omega AI with Epsilon, and while he was trying to have some fun with anger issues, he still said- "I'm here if you need me". If he has the chance to be accepted, and process all this anger (his own, Alpha's, whoever he is with), Omega has the potential to be PROTECTIVE (and though Tex certainly isn't a frail damsel in distress, the fact that she was really the Beta, and Alpha was worried about her, can imply that Omega always wanted to join her again for similar reasons). Anger isn't just a bad thing, it can be righteous fury, and a natural response!

[fullmetalgirl98]

Funny. This is the summer of my 26th birthday and, the further I go, the more I realize that something is probably going out in my view of life and the world in general.

And I'm just noticing now that this is also being reflected so much in the kind of stories I read lately and the music I listen to. The fact is that I like plots to have something more to offer, something deep, to the point of bordering on the dramatic or even the tragic. I've never made any secret of that. Maybe I'm simply getting old, idk. But taking a look at what I've been feeding on lately, I think this is getting a little out of hand. This realization is something that hit me hard right after I finished reading A little life, some days ago, so this speaks loud, if you know what kind of story it tells... So I'm going to make a list of the things I've been into recently taking this book as a starting point, since I couldn't help but make connections between things, while reading. So if you loved this book (or any of the things I'm about to mention below), I really think you'll love everything else on the list as well!

Let's start by saying that the themes covered are very heavy and not simple to deal with at all. Some of them can be a trigger for many people (me included), so I won't go into detail, because I don't want to risk belitting anything, but se*ual ab*se, viol*nce, self-harm, pain, suffering, illness, but also love, lots of love…are just some of the main themes of this book. And they intersect very well with those of two manhwa I love: Lost in the Cloud and Pearl boy.

I saw so much of both Skylar (especially) and Cirrus in Jude. And I admit that I always imagined him to be very similar aesthetically to Skylar. Lost in the Cloud is the first manhwa I ever read in my entire life, and now that I've read quite a few, I can say that I still consider it my favorite; it holds a really special place in my heart. Season 2, in particular, made me really suffer and it's the events of this one that unlocked for me the major parallels with A little life.

Then we have Pearl boy. Ohhhhh this one. I read this manhwa a short time ago, at the beginning of the summer, and immediately fell in love with it. But the tragedy, from a certain point on, is just too much. Again, Jooha and Jude have a lot in common, unfortunately…. I find it beautiful, though, how, in both stories, both Jooha and Jude found someone who would stand by them no matter what happened and be willing to do anything, really anything, for them.

Manga-wisely, I cannot fail to mention Kami no fune de nemuru, which I resumed reading just recently. Again, heavy themes? Yes. Obviously. Gay love? Yes. Of course. But here the things get a little bit darker (and no, in case you were wondering, Kei is not the manga version of Skylar and Youichi is not the manga version of Cirrus). (Apart from the aesthetic issue I mentally created for myself) I saw a connection in the way Kei and Jude hide things, the way they lie, their relationship with death and their past self…They're both "damned", in a certain way.

And last but not least, the usual music advice cannot be missed. This summer, for me, was marked by “Found Heaven,” Conan Gray's latest album. And some of the songs really make me think of A little life. In particular, three of them : Found Heaven: "But you prayed, begged and prayed, Heart unchanged. Don't be scared, little child, You're no demon (you're no demon, don't be frightened now). There's a God in the sky, Don't believe him (don't believe him, gods do love you now)" makes me think about what happened to Jude when he was a child, the way Brother Luke used to speak to him, while "You walk alone into the darkest night, You'll never sleep until you're satisfied, You need love, you need one, You need him" makes me think both to his need of Brother Luke and Willem. Forever with me: ⚠️SPOILER ALERT⚠️: ahhhh... I can't help but think to this all as a sort of letter from Jude to Willem after his death :( ("at least in all my memories") Final fight: again, this one makes me think of what Brother Luke (and Caleb, later) did to Jude.

[1dreamsareweird1]

I'm a firm believer that Aphmau in MCD didn't have very healthy relationships with Garroth, Laurance, or Aaron (🤢🤮/hj)

Aphmau at the start of the original MCD series was someone completely different from the person she developed into by the end of it. She went from being this fun and curious person to someone way more mature and downcast. This is an understandable progression given the circumstances of her life. She shows up at a village with basically no knowledge of the world she's in and she decides to help the people of the village maintain it and make it flourish but as time goes on and she learns that the reality of the world she's in isn't kind to the majority of people and that if she wants to keep the people she knows and loves safe then she's going to have to do things that are dangerous and risk her life for that cause and she's willing to do so. And as time goes on and the people in the village gain sentience, especially Garroth because he's one of the only people she's actually able to depend on things get harder because they have their own personalities and lives that she has to learn about and take interest in.

Then she meets Laurance who isn't someone she's very fond of when she first meets him but when she needs help the most she knows that she can trust him to be there for her. When Laurance goes to the Nether she doesn't feel like she's failed a friend though. She actually doesn't care too much about it and all in all she doesn't exactly think about him a lot, of course she's concerned and thinks about going in the Nether to get him back she's passive in him being trapped there and trying to get him back. When it becomes a problem for her (When she saw him outside the old Lord's house with Levin) that's when she starts becoming more concerned because it could interfere with her life in a way she didn't expect. When Laurance escapes the Nether with the help of Ungurth and she sits with him I still don't see their relationship being friends exactly, it's more like she's talking to someone who's a subject of hers and who isn't really a person in the way that she perceives herself to be.

This continues until practically the end of season 1. Back to Garroth he's someone Aphmau can ally herself with but there's nothing in season 1 that really shows she thinks much of him even though he obviously has feelings for her. Then when he thinks he sees her and Laurance kissing in the woods, instead of supporting the fact that she might have found someone she loved (even though that was just an illusion) he goes ballistic. He stands with Zane during the war instead of the village he promised to protect with his life over petty jealousy, it takes Laurance to snap him out of it and by that time it's already too late and 15 years had already passed in the Overworld.

The village of Phoenix Drop had become a ruin and everyone was displaced as a result of Garroth not being able to face Aphmau and communicate with her. On the bright side this is now a time where Aphmau comes to see Laurance as a friend and someone she is able to find comfort in. But Aphmau is continuously screwed over in season 2, she's missed her children growing up and Phoenix Drop, a place that she put her life into is destroyed. Her life's work is gone and it was all for nothing, her old friends are scattered all over the region and she doesn't know what became of them. The worst part is she can't tell anybody about all of her worries. She has a whole group of people that have gone through the same thing as her but they have family and/or people who they can turn to.

Aphmau was someone in a place of power unlike most of the group that went to Irene's dimension and for her 15 years was only 15 minutes so she can't help but see them as people she needs to protect and help. This was not a natural sequence of events or her passing on her duties to Levin when he came of age this was something completely unexpected and world shattering for her. Nobody is able to sympathize with her except for Dante and Aaron. The problem with Dante is that he was going through his own problems shouldering protecting the entire village himself since the rest of the guards were basically young adults or teenagers and he needed someone to lean on. The person who became this was Aphmau because she was his old Lord and the person he knew and loved for over a decade despite her disappearance. Aaron was someone closed off but he knew exactly what he was feeling because he had felt the exact same way. That is ultimately why he was someone who could listen to her and help ease her fears. He wasn't a person who was great at comforting her but he could rationalize and offer suggestions based on his own experience of being a Lord.

Imo the relationship between the two of them should have stayed teacher and student but honestly even though they "got together" for a night in the woods that should've just been a one night stand I understand that there was a mutual respect between them but that wasn't love. They weren't a good pair at all because Aaron was someone with major problems and Aphmau kept crossing lines with him (I just really hate Aaron you guys 🗣️🔥🔥) . Back to their one night stand thing Laurance throws a tantrum when he finds out she's pregnant and releases TWO criminals that tried killing her and her sons and then he fled to the Nether to start a rebellion. The point is they might have worked out in early to mid season 2 but as time went on and Laurance was starting to feel the pull of a Shadow Knight and Aphmau needed stability and a partner she could rely on for that was when things started to go downhill (I actually really liked the tragic lover dynamic but I hated that pregnancy was the thing used to progress the story and make Laurance give in to the Shadow Knight pull. There were so many other ways to do it and it felt lazy because every single series is all Aaron, Aaron, Aaron give us a break from Jason's fursona for like 5 minutes please ☹️🔫)

Garroth stepped up and did what he should've done in the first place and took the time he needed but he didn't actively try and participate in Aphmau's murder which is a step up from last time. Then he took on the role of father figure for the two babies blah blah blah I'm getting bored. Anyways Aphmau should've stayed alone or found another dude to get with if all the boys stayed the same, Aaron sucked butt and MCD was ruined the second he was introduced and there was no hope for positive character growth when he came along because Jesson is notorious for making other love interests awful to make up for Aaron being dookie and to make him look better, that's all.

Also I loved Laurance so much in MCD, even though I said stuff about him he was a good character and I loved MCD mwah mwah

Also if there are any spelling errors I'm sorry lol

[salamanderz13]

TBB Episode 10

Spoilers for the day's episode will be discussed below, so proceed at your own risk!

I was MIA last week, but thoroughly enjoyed the episode and I have lots of thoughts about this week's episode. Last spoiler warning!

The first thing that came to my mind after watching was how inconspicuous it felt. It just seemed like there was a horrible undercurrent of dread and evil veiled behind the "adventure of the week" format. I know others have mentioned this might have been the deep breath or pause before shit starts to go down, but I don't know that I even took a breath. I felt very on edge afterwards.

But first, a few thoughts:

Last week Tech had his moment to shine as a neurodivergent cloen and I love every second of it. It added so much freaking depth to his character!

It was probably a "blink and you'll miss it" moment, but Wrecker absolutely demontrated his neurodivergence at the very beginning while they worked on the speeder. His expression of boredom and utter exasperation over something that could literally save their lives was trademark ADHD. If it's not interesting, it's not interesting and it doesn't matter that Wrecker knows how important it is. He's bored out of his mind. Similarly, Hunter reiterating that Wrecker should have preserved his rations but Wrecker replying that he was hungry was also demonstrative of ADHD. Wrecker went for instant gratification rather than the "rational" option. I struggle with both of these things myself, even when medicated, and I just really enjoyed the nuance of something that was maybe dismissed as "comic relief" by neurotypicals but was readily identifiable to my personal experience.

Hunter, man. HUNTER. My god he was smooth as silk this episode. I just can't with him. He's really out here competing with Rex for number one clone in my heart!

The writer's 100% knew what they were doing with Mokko's metal arm...the bastards.

On to speculation!

Benni has to play a role down the road or at least make some kind of appearance. His whole "I owe you" line stood out too much not to be a sign of things to come. I also find it ironic that Hunter is so deadset on keeping Omega "out of the life" but willing takes her on missions like this and treats her as one of the squad. Like, my guy, she's going to choose this path for herself and you'll have to come to terms with why you're really choosing to work for Cid if not for Omega. A reckoning is definitely coming.

I also get the feeling that TBB might be setting up Omega for an appearance in The Skeleton Crew. The focus on children in the galaxy is just too apparent to not be significant and I would absolutely love to see Omega in future content outside of The Batch. She's really grown into a compelling character this season.

Earlier I mentioned a reckoning and I definitely left this episode feeling like things are going to come to a head within The Batch and I'm genuinely starting to wonder how long they'll remain together as a squad. Many people (myself included) suspected that Echo and Hunter would butt heads (and they did briefly) but I think it'll end up being Omega and Hunter who clash. It's been said elsewhere that The Batch aren't really heroes and that it's Omega who drives them to do any sort of good when they're on missions. After her conversation with Tech, I think Omega is going to start being Echo's voice in the group, pushing them to do more, to help people.

It's hard to say what the catalyst will be that drives them towards that. The obvious one is that one of them dies. I sincerely hope the writer's don't go this route because, again, it's just too dang obvious and not satisfying (imo). Particularly with Rex/Echo. Everyone knows Echo isn't with Rex in Rebels and that Rex initially refused to fight, so something has to happen to drive that narrative. But I would argue that the death Echo is the easy way out. It would be far more interesting to see something more sinister happen to push him over the edge.

But I have seen some compelling arguments regarding Crosshair, Hunter, and Tech dying. I still think that would be the easy way out. I'm not a huge fan of the "kill a character because X needs motivation to do Y." The Walking Dead did it and I absolutely hated that kind of lazy writing. There's absolutely a time a place for killing a character, but it's used too much for shock-value in a lot of scenarios.

Given what we know of the Imperial Era, though, it wouldn't be out of the question that the show is building up to another Order 66-level tragedy. That is Star Wars afterall.

[maya-matlin]

Hi! I'm your OTH/Haley loving anon again (still haven't set up an OTH blog but am so excited that you're going to follow---you might be the only one!) Anyway, I saw someone say that Haley was too perfect to be an interesting character, but I actually think she has some consistent character flaws. The primary one imo is that she has fairly rigid, unrealistic standards and expectations and reacts too strongly when she or anyone else invariably falls short of them. And sometimes she reacts just THINKING someone did the wrong thing even when it turns out they didn't lol. She can be kind of tense and neurotic (Nathan making her not just more relaxed but BRAVE and more willing to take risks is a recurring thing!), and she can be totally judgmental :) I think her strengths far outweigh her flaws and love how deeply she cares and how hard she tries, but I think she does have realistic flaws and layers. Sorry to be such a Haley stan, but I know you love her too! I was curious what you love about Nathan---I adore him and think he's very underrated but I know some people think he became a lot less interesting as the series went on?

Hey! Oh, and I'm sure that won't be true. 💗💗

As for what you're saying about Haley's imperfections, I completely agree. While I realize her character doesn't receive the same focus as Brooke and Peyton, she's still far from perfect and is shown making mistakes fairly often. Her judgmental side comes out a lot. I mean, watching season 1, it's very obvious why Lucas and Haley stayed best friends from childhood to adulthood. Beyond their affection for each other and strong bond, they're easily the most judgmental characters out of the core five. When Nathan starts to influence Haley and bring out her more open minded, braver side, Lucas becomes defensive, critical of Haley acting differently, fearing she's losing herself. Not to make this about Lucas. It's just interesting to think about the original dynamic between Lucas/Haley/Nathan and how both guys brought out different aspects of Haley's personality. Plus, I always think about how Nathan's influence on Haley and him urging her to be brave enough to go after her dreams is what led to her biggest "mistake" of the series, aka the tour and the Chris Keller of it all. But anyways, Haley is an extremely rich, though sadly overlooked character, and no one is going to tell me differently.

NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR BEING A HALEY STAN. I feel like there aren't nearly enough of us LOL

I don't know? Nathan's just.. amazing. I adore everything about his character development. I loved watching him evolve from a selfish, cocky, teenage boy who was molded by his abusive father into following in his footsteps so that he could achieve the success Dan wasn't brave enough to pursue to a compassionate, brave, selfless, devoted husband and father who would do anything to make his family happy. Nathan is so flawed and made many mistakes over the course of the series (though I still personally think that he gets cut too much slack compared to Haley in most circles), yet he basically owned all of them and is the first to acknowledge any wrongdoing. As for Nathan becoming less interesting.. to be honest, I agreed with that for a long time. It's probably due to the show lasting for nearly a decade and my personal interest fading around seasons 7 and 8. I was still in high school when the show ended. So personally, I missed the snarkier, passionate, slightly bad boy Nathan. It was only later that I fell in love with dorky, sweetheart Nathan who willingly gave up his basketball dreams for the sake of his health and was courageous enough to begin a completely new career. While season 8 will forever be my least favorite, Nathan's arc where he goes back to college and puts in the work to become a sports agent is underrated. School never came naturally to Nathan, and yet he had to rely on his brains and ability to learn rather than falling back on his talent for basketball. Plus, it was sweet watching Haley and Jamie helping him study.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

🍺 Jamie, we need the full unabridged Calico Jack essay you certainly have.

Ok so here's the thing. I've already made a lot of the meta about him that I need to make so I'll just link some and give you director's commentary. This is in reverse chronological order of when I posted it so my understanding of my evil alcoholic meow meow has grown more complex and nuanced the farther down it goes.

The full throttle Jack apologia I was on before the canyon materialized - I understand why this one has 7 notes and three of them are from me. I really do. However I stand by most of what I said here. I don't stand by my relative minimization of what Jack did do wrong (Being homophobic, being a bad friend to Ed and saying that they're not friends, Being manipulative instead of just warning Ed and letting him make the call about Stede). I think that what's missing from this little essay is that Jack is, as a narrative tool, trying to pull Ed back into his old life that he hates. His fundamental narrative purpose is to show what Ed's life was like back when he was shitty. Now I think from this perspective that Stede is just as culpable for doing that to Mary but it's not Mary's story any more than it's Jack's story so I am reading against text in this meta. However what you have to understand is that in may of 2022 when I published this thing that Jack was universally hated. I personally saw him as a sympathetic and wrong character where as the general consensus back then was that the dalliances he talked about with Ed had to have been non consensual if they were real because why would Ed ever have sex with a guy like that. Which is a take I have a lot of problems with but the main one is that it denies Ed agency to have sex with a guy that rubs you, the viewer the wrong way. So basically, I agree with this post but I would not make it in the current relatively Jack friendly climate of the fandom. Nor would I make it in a post canyon enviornment where the homophobic masc white guy apologia has reached a fever pitch just because I don't want to be associated with that. Also I'm a lot less charitable to Stede than most ofmd fans for personal, non jack related reasons. Also I want to make a note here that I should have made in that meta but will make now that I'm not saying that Stede is terrible and you shouldn't like him, my argument was essentially that seeing Jack as one dimentionally evil is kind of weird when you're willing to completely write off Stede's misogyny era as an oopsy. I like Stede. Most people like Stede. I stood alone in also liking Jack at the time.

Here's a much more reasonable strain of Jack apologia that I've settled on - In the early days I bounced back and forth between "he literally did nothing wrong except kill Karl" and "He's the worst guy ever (affectionate)" but eventually I saw how the wind was blowing on people who said "he's never done anything wrong" about Izzy and I was like, I'll dial it back even though I'm not throwing Ed or Stede (generally unless I'm also defending Mary B in the same breath) under the bus to say it. You'll notice it's pretty much the same thesis except for instead of being phrased as "Stede was out of pocket and Jack did nothing wrong and you're all highschool brained" it's phrased as "I think this is what happened but these two other things could also be the case and I would still like him. This is the clear role he plays in the narrative giving it to someone else annoys me." Also Beardy is what I started having my Jack tulpa call Ed before season 2. I've explained why Here on the @ask-calico-jack sideblog where I'm the mod because I got an ask about it and I decided to address it out of character. Also I'm Not Going Anywhere is a Jack apologia fic I was writing at the time which I have since abandoned. Basically I whumped him into submission.

My Evidence for Jack being willing to risk his life to save Ed - more apologia that I stand by. Once again I want to reiterate that in 2022 everybody hated that guy and most people still hate him which is fair and natural but enough people have come around that I'm now willing to ignore the haters because I have to fight with the people who like him wrong.

this was part of an ask game asking me what I thought about ships and I went off about Ed and Jack

I learned that Calico Jack was named after calico the fabric and I made this because I'm still on my Jack/Ed enemies to rivals who fuck shit - Not sure about Ed's skin here, is he too orange? depends on whether you're on desktop or mobile.

Calico Jack penis discourse - This one is integral to my view of the pissing scene. I love the pissing scene it's one of the only scenes of tv ever.

Jack is cute he would kill me for saying it but it's true 2 3 4

Brief asside that I feel like I have to put in and here's probably best: At some point in late 2022 early 2023 Jack stopped being so villified and people started to think he was kinda fun. After this the CJizzys attacked. I used to passively like the concept of CJizzy because in my head they were the worlds worst guys being terrible together. It was giving Izzy a pirate captain to obsess over the way he obsesses over blackbeard, except the pirate captain actually liked being a pirate captain so it was healthier than what he has going on with Ed, and also it was like if that one straight couple that are together but hate each other because she's a nag and he's a slob were gay pirates who partake in unsafe bdsm. Then a bunch of people started writing and drawing this wildly out of character CJizzy stuff and I got turned off of it completely because they would hollow out my favoriate little villain to turn him into the perfect white masc boyfriend for their little guy because they cant enjoy a show if there aren't masc4mascs in it, and now because of that I hate the ship. I just can't stand people giving Jack emotional intelligence without him being wrapped in a blanket and socialized by force first. It's not that I don't like woobifying him it's that you're woobifying him wrong and above is the way you ought to do it. anyway, onwards.

Anon asks me how I think Jack felt about being rejected by the crew - I stumble upon an interesting potential motive for him faumenting mutiny against Stede and potentially evidence for him telling the truth about having been mutinied three times.

Ed has a type - I added Frenchie in here because I'm a serial shipper and I stand by that decision despite Frenchie being different from Jack and Stede in most ways but I genuinely think that Stede and Jack are a very similar type of guy

Jack is not a frat boy - this one is me being a dick again but also I'm right.

Jack calls Stede slurs, this is funny - note that Stede also calls Jack "calico" as if his first name is Calico and his last name is Jack and that historically Jack was called "calico" Jack because some guy writing a salacious book about pirates wanted to make him seem gay so to me Jack's nickname for Stede is Fairy and Stede's nickname for Jack is Fudgepacker. This to me is both amusing and homoerotic.

Fic rec - What I think Jack and Ed were like as kids, there's a one paragraph meta and then below it a link to a 2k word fic

Jack has a type - Anne and Mary came out and I love them

Jack fucks - This has always been my take but I think there's a lot of people on here who thinks he doesn't fuck well and all of them are wrong, and more importantly, have not had sex with as many bisexual 50 year old alcoholic perverts as I have, so they don't know what they're talking about. Jack would try to sell me meth on grindr.

Jack and Ed are tragic actually - they could have been highschool sweet hearts who got married if Jack wasn't a little bitch

I am shipping so hard right now - my thesis about my pet 5 way

Aro cowboy pirate- Jack and Jim also have stuff in common

Jack has dimentions don't you dare say he doesn't have dimensions - Jack actually is sympathetic Ed told me himself and he also told you and Jack also says a lot about both Ed and Stede and that's the whole reason he's there is to say a lot about Ed and Stede if you will just listen to what his presence says about the guys you like maybe you would understand him like I do. (you general not you specifically)

and finally

my writing advice.

[deluweil]

Hah, yes I agree so much with you when you say missed all the right marks in this ep. And that's been a problem lately, I think. Sometimes it feels a little like they are wasting time on unimportant things.

There is hope yet for things to be different. And really, it's not the actor's fault when they are handed so little to work with. Also, Oliver did a great job there and you can see he loved it, too.

Thing is, people tend to forget that the general audience doesn't analyze like fandom does. If they don't like things, most of them won't be bothered to connect the dots if they aren't glaringly obvious. So they stop watching. And it sucks. Doesn't mean they are too stupid to get the storytelling just that the story isn't one for them.

We still have hope but apparently a lot of general viewers aren't liking it much right now. And I feel a little sad for the cast.

And yeah, you are so right. Fanon is there and sometimes it makes it all better. 😊

- spn anon

I think those that don't delve into the story or the fandom and just watch the show will continue to watch it.

They weren't expecting anything, except a fun hour to disconnect from the day.

Being in a fandom is our way to disconnect, from rl, from troubles of the day to day, from our own troubled thoughts.

I think the showrunners and writers missing the mark by miles is because they keep outsourcing the drama, instead of working with what they have.

They try so hard, too hard to make the storytelling touching in a most complicated way, that they forget that the simplest way is to concentrate on what exists. Work with the ppl who invested their lives in this show for years.

Like Bobby with Buck and Bobby with May. Like Athena telling Buck to wake up!

Like Hen not leaving the room, and Chimney standing in the hall in front of Buck’s window until he's kicked home.

Like Christopher pleading with his second dad to find his way back to them. Like Eddie barely handling seeing his beloved, larger than life Buck, like this.

Maddie, in the risk of losing another brother, the fact that her brother was willing to climb up, so that Chimney will safe on the ground.

There was no need for outsiders, no need for interlopers who will be gone by next episode.

But still, obsessing over the wrong details get people exasperated with what they keep getting.

I love this show and the characters, and the actors, but I really want the writers and showrunners to pick the regulars, maybe add a person or two to the team and stick with it.

Make it fun, make it emotional, make it count. Hurt us, make us laugh, make us love everyone, endear them to us.

That's the key to good storytelling, and so far, they're not sticking to landing. I'm hoping the rest of the season will just get better because s6a was good, I believe s6b can be better.

But I'm an optimist, so... ;)

On the bright side, we're getting Ravi back, I've missed him! That's one character I was happy to welcome into the firefam, for example.

[justanothergeek77]

Alright here are my takes on season 4 now that the adrenaline has left my system. Spoilers under the cut!

Take number one: wow they really do be making the fanon Canon in this show. Like the found family stuff had been Canon since day one and now MK is legitimately Wukong's kid? Crazy shit. Also poor MK having an identity crisis, he deserves better, but good on him for getting some real agency in the finale

Take number two: what the fuck happened to the samadhi fire??? In season 3 it was this huge trump card and now Mei just... doesn't use it? The fuck? Like it's not even fully re-conned out cause the teacher dude mentions it, but it's just been nerfed completely... disappointing. They could've had her relinquish the power once it was no longer needed to avoid that whole mess, but they did not.

Take number three: the writers actually did a really good job with building tension this season. It's sometimes really difficult to have compelling stakes when you've already done the end of the world plot, but this season does it masterfully. The world isn't at risk, but the people MK cares about are, and that's the important thing in a story. It's great that the characters aren't invincible after their big win against the Lady bone demon, just more cocky at first.

Take number 4: you gotta love the villain motivations in this show. Maybe it's just the anarchist in me talking but I don't think Azure Lion was wrong about wanting to take down the jade emperor. Maybe there's cultural context I'm missing, but wanting to improve the world and taking down the government that stands in your way isn't a bad thing in my eyes. Especially since the lady bone demon was driven to the brink by pretty much the exact same thing: the jade emperor refused to help mortals even though they were suffering. Also, the way Nezha says the jade emperor has bigger plans for the mortal realm seems like a huge red flag. Well, in summary the villains are great because their motivation is the same as the heroes', they're just willing to break shit to get it done.

I got a lot more to say about this season but I will do so when I am more awake

[jfktalkstomeasacoin]

JFK’s Doom Patrol Review of S3E10

I’ll be honest, the middle of this season was a drag to get through. I wasn’t happy with the direction the show was going, I didn’t care about the new characters introduced, and I was ready to stop watching. I am glad to say that this season finale has changed my feelings.

I am a lot happier with everything that happened in this episode compared to every other this season. Instead of more “Sisterhood of discount X-Men”, we got compelling interpersonal drama between characters, like Rita and Rouge, Larry and Keeg. Plus, everyone is getting a good ending! Cliff and Jane are at a good place with each other! Rita is doing something other than being sassy! Madame Rouge is gonna get a redemption arc come S4! the only outliers in this are Vic and Larry.

Vic is a tough character for me to talk about this season. If It’s not obvious by know, I have lived a white experience in America (My genetic make-up is not entirely white but it’s a complicated issue and nun ya business). I have not faced racial discrimination in my life, and I don’t have many people in my life that have (not by choice), so I don’t believe I can give a meaningful statement about the scenes in this season that depict racial discrimination and what that does to a child. I would imagine however that the show tackled the topic well, given the few things I have read on the subject.

Larry in this season has been a rough watch for people who really like his dynamic with The Negative Spirit. I know that some have sworn of the show because of this, citing that it’s just not the same or more personal reasons. It’s not surprising that many would, because a large amount of people seem to really only enjoy Larry and his relationship with The Negative Spirit in this show (or at least an affinity for him that outmatches anyone else). For me personally, I enjoy the direction the writers are taking him and Keeg (Sidenote: I’m making a difference between the alien being inside Larry in S1-2 and the alien being in S3-beyond because I’m not sure they’re the same). I think Larry needs some love in his life that is parent/child based and Keeg is a good way to bring that to him.

This episode is so poetic to S1. When Vic tells Rita “We’re not heroes”, my eyes fell out of my head. I was so amazed when Rita stopped Cliff at the baseball game, not only being able to use her powers, not only being able to use her powers like in the comics, but the two of them saying the exact same lines to each other in the Pilot. Like poetry, they rhyme.

Sometimes i think about how this series will eventually end. What I wanted them to do before i saw this episode, is to finally be rewarded for doing something heroic. When asked who they are, they say, “We’re the Doom Patrol.”, Finally deciding that this is who they want to be. So when Rita started to talk about actually being a Superhero team, I leaned forward into my seat, waited for them to say exactly what i thought they would say, and then Cliff made a Doom Force joke. Funny, but my dreams were halted another day. For the best.

I will have to re watch this season again to make an accurate judgment of it, which probably means I’ll have to re watch the show again. For the 4th-5th time. Idk. Hard to keep track. Ta-Ta for now.

[kairakeiji]

oikawa thinks there's a lot wrong with him.

despite his confident demeanor and natural charm, oikawa doesn't believe that he's what others make him out to be. he's not the great king nor is he a force to be reckoned with. he's just oikawa, a setter from a small school that constantly missed out on punching their ticket to nationals. oikawa doesn't blame himself for his team's losses, or at least he tries not to, but in every game of his that he's analyzed, he's more prone to noticing the wrong than the right.

that set was too low.

if he tossed it a bit higher maybe they would've scored the point.

he put too much power into that serve.

if he moved even a second quicker he could have saved the ball.

no matter how many witty and genius plays he saw throughout a game, his focus consistently stayed on the wrong. so when his last volleyball season ended, when he finished his final days in high school, when he finally got the chance to start fresh, oikawa so desperately wanted to be in the right. he wanted to stop seeing the wrong, he wanted his past failures to not haunt him or feel like a burden as he did his best to move on, so much so that he was willing to pack up his life and risk it all. it was perfect, it was his dream fresh start, a way to finally be at peace with all of his wrongs.

"argentina huh?"

but in order to do so, he would have to leave behind the one thing that felt right.

oikawa froze as he saw you at his front door. "i did tell you i was leaving," he replied.

"i know," you smiled softly, trying to hide any hints of sadness at your boyfriend's departure. "you told me months ago and i'm still in shock."

and oikawa can only laugh softly. "you know-"

"tooru you don't need to explain," you interrupted. "i understand, you want your fresh start, you want to follow your dreams." you sighed. "i just didn't think those dreams of yours would lead you to a new country."

oikawa had always been grateful for your support, whether it was at games or in his school life or even at simple practice, you had been by his side every step of the way. for every victory, every loss, every single second the boy had been dedicated to the game in high school, he felt you supporting him and cheering him on. oikawa had always been grateful for your support.

but he's never been more grateful than he is right now.

"it's gonna be tough," oikawa sighed.

"long distance?" you asked.

"yeah, long distance."

and at that you scoffed jokingly rolling your eyes as you replied. "please, it'll be much easier for me considering you won't be following me around like a lost puppy." but oikawa knows you well, he knows that you're trying to be happy for him despite your true feelings.

"i don't follow you around," he counters crossing his arms. "if anything you're following me."

"oh really?" you smile.

"really," oikawa replies.

and you only sigh, "well it'll be fine then because now i don't have to spend an insane amount of hours in a sweaty volleyball gym."

you're making excuses, oikawa thinks to himself, you're creating reasons that you aren't sure are true.

you're scared.

"you can just see it through my phone," oikawa tries.

"if i'll even be awake," you laugh. "the time difference is insane."

"you barely sleep anyway!" oikawa counters.

"yeah and i'm not going to give up those precious hours to watch you hit balls in a stuffy gym."

and oikawa sighs with a smile on his lips, "you're pathetic."

"and you love me for it."

you're right, he does, he loves you more that words could describe and if he got the chance he would love you every day until his last breath. no matter how much wrong and how much loss oikawa faced in his life, you were the one thing that he thought could fix his life in an instant. you felt right, felt perfect. you made every wrong, every mistake in his life worth it.

but in order to follow his passions, to chase what he's been dreaming of for years, he'd have to leave you behind, the one thing that oikawa's certain he got right.

"tooru," you started, grabbing for his hand.

"what is it?"

and then you met his gaze, your eyes brimming with tears and a sorrowful smile on your face.

and oikawa instantly knew what you were going to say next.

"i think our time is up."

it's not. oikawa refuses to believe that it is.

"with the time differences and the big life changes, i don't think that this will work in the long run."

it will, oikawa knows it. he knows that you both will pour in the time and effort into your relationship just like you always did.

"we can do it," he tries. "i know us, i know you, we can do it."

and you only sigh in response.

neither of you wanted to call it quits. but right now it felt like you were both on the edge of a cliff, staring down at the chasm at the bottom, too scared to take that final jump.

"i think we should-"

"come with me."

you blink, "what?"

and he only repeats, "come with me."

his hands are trembling, his heart is beating rapidly.

"i have an apartment, a place just for the two of us, it's not too far from the university campus and knowing your scores you can get in easily."

but his tone is certain, it doesn't waiver one bit because oikawa tooru knows he would be a fool to let someone like you slip out of his grasp.

"we can go to the same university and you can still watch all my games."

there's no way in hell oikawa's going to lose you.

"you want me to come with you?" you ask.

"i do," he replies.

oikawa think he's gotten so much wrong in his life.

but this, you, felt like the one thing he's truly gotten right.

"come with me to argentina."

heyyy thank u so so much for reading!! i hope you like this as much as i do

reblogs are so so appreciated thank u <33

[ficsforeren]

Hi again-

My favorite is Eren. No one comes close to him. (Eren knew that peace was never a lasting option in a realistic world. In a fairytale it would’ve been. Although eventually war would resume since hatred is in eldians blood.He achived peace for his friends “i want you all to live long lives” and that’s enough for him. Eren is so hard to understand but it makes me respect him even more. )

Either way, I think Isayama mentioned Mikasa being the freest character in the show(might be wrong). I don’t mean any disrespect AT ALL i love your fics, but i think you’ve miss understood some important parts and peaks of her character. Eren is Mikasas biggest fan too😂 he even confessed being jealous of her strength. Eren admired Historias development because he hated the “fake persona” she made up since he thought of it as annoying. But with Mikasa, he always admired her and has done everything for her to be happy unlike what he showed in s1 because he’s not the best with his temper. You mentioned that Historias choices she made saved Eren from the brink of death. Same can be said about Mikasa in most arcs. She was his emotional support at his breakdown and one of his best peaks “nothing has changed” in season 2 episode 12 when Hannes got eaten. They were about to die but her confession made him stand up, make her a promise which led to him activating the founders power and it was a result of him wanting to keep Mikasa safe. Unlike any of the other cadets, including Armin, Mikasa is the only one to have seen the darkest side of Eren. When they were 9, Mikasa activated her powers and saved Eren. When they were 15, Eren took control of his titan power and the first person he saved was Mikasa. They have always completed each other’s emptiness and we don’t see Eren worry about Historia the way he does with Mikasa. He didn’t care if she knew his plan or got with another man but with Mikasa, it was a whole different story. I can’t blame him, she was his home as he was hers. They’re all both have left from their childhood and have been attached since the age of 9. Sidenote- I feel so bad for my love Eren

I understand finding Mikasa annoying sometimes and i admit WIT studio didn’t do her justice with some scenes. There was so much that they left out from her character. Manga Mikasa and anime Mikasa are 2 different stories. Although mentally, Mikasa is strong. She chose to end the love of her life for humanity, she chose to look away from the fact that Eren could have died in “return to shiganshina” to save her other friends. She never broke down or sought comfort in anyone else, Eren was her comfort and she gave it up for others sake. “I’ll keep living”. Mikasa has always been selfless while Historia is the opposite of a character.

Historia in season 4 chose to sideline herself for safety. She wanted to make it out alive. She knew it all and could’ve done alot but she didn’t want to put herself at risk because she’s selfish. That’s literally the role she chose based on the character she is. I love her for reflecting that selfish side of war.

eren's goals completely changed after marley. before marley, he said "i want you all to live long lives" but in 139, he said, "i didn't know if any of you would survive" but he still did the rumbling so he's contradicting his own words. and that's the example of bad writing. also, i will never be okay with eren sacrificing carla but he's not willing to sacrifice his friends. that was just hilarious to me but i digress

i guess we just don't see eye to eye when it comes to mikasa, baby, i'm so sorry. i hope this doesn't upset you. you make excellent points, and i'm sure there are a lot of people who agree with you, but for me... i just don't see it that way, i'm sorry... i'll just leave that to you because you seem to understand mikasa much better than me.

but about erehisu and historia's character, i have things to say.

eren was happy when historia abandoned her fake persona. he didn't admire her then, he was just happy that he got to see the real her. he accepted her for how she was, even when the rest of her friends thought she was cold and distant. eren admired historia because she was strong. he literally said "historia, you've become so strong. i thought you were weak, but it was the other way around. i was the weak one."

of course, yeah, mikasa saved eren multiple times and eren cared about her but i always see it in the way "you're my sister/family" kind of way. isayama literally stated this in an interview:

and let's face it, eren protected mikasa in season 1 and 2, but he literally kept a huge secret about how to use founding titan power because he didn't want to sacrifice historia. hange, always the smartest one in the series, even noticed the way eren behaved differently around historia. this was after he stood up for her:

isayama wouldn't waste so many panels if it wasn't important.

historia and eren are also a great parallel to grisha and dina's love story, the way the males stood up for the royalty women when no one else tried to protect them.

also, historia didn't sideline herself for safety. both eren and zeke wouldn't have let her turn into a titan to inherit the beast titan. they both already had plans from the beginning, and they had the wine plan too so there's literally no reason for historia to get pregnant. i always thought her being pregnant with eren's baby was a way for isayama to give eren more motivation to do the rumbling, because he didn't do it just to achieve his own and his people's freedom, but also because he's a father and unlike grisha, he would do everything to protect his future child and make sure that his baby would be born in a free world. just imagine how powerful it could've been if eren went home, carried his baby in his arms, and said "you're free" like in the original panel isayama had planned. he would've been the best protagonist, one of a kind. he "took the children out of the forest" like what sasha's father said. and both he and historia didn't repeat their father's sins, and instead, they managed to surpass them like isayama said in an interview he did years ago when he was asked about the ending. i haven't seen a protagonist sacrificed the whole world to protect his child and family. eren could've been this.

[outrunningthedark]

I see you're watching fbi and 911ls too. Do you ship oa and Maggie? If you do, do you think the show will make them canon?

I also ship Tiffany and scola (typical enemies to lovers. I mean inknow they're not enemies but they didn't like each other in the beginning hahah), and also Judd and grace ♡

Imo just goes to show how shows can make quality m/f relationships and make ppl ship them when there is actual chemistry and real development (looking at you 911 with bt and eddiana). Wonder how I/we are fetishists now who "only like buddie 'cause they're two hot men"...

I am absolutely, 100% on board with a potential Maggie/OA relationship, nonnie. That wasn't my expectation going into the show because the last time I *genuinely* cared about a m/f couple getting together (back when I used to watch a lot more tv) was the four years I spent waiting for Caskett to admit their feelings. But, as you just said, chemistry cannot be forced or denied, and I cannot wrap my brain around the idea of Zibell finding that same connection with anybody else as long as they're both still part of the show! I hope TPTB are willing to take a chance on those two sometime in the future, but crime dramas are tricky, right? Either your favorite partnership never becomes canon because showrunners don't want to risk messing with their dynamic, or you get what you wanted after YEARS of uncertainty (will they/won't they). So, IF we're lucky enough to watch Maggie and OA realize that their bond goes deeper than friendship, it's probably not gonna happen anytime soon. 🙃 (I'll keep tuning in regardless! Just seeing them on screen has me doing *chinhands* every Tuesday.) Side note that relates to your comment about 9-1-1: I'm finding that it's gotten easier for me to follow m/f ships because the way certain characters are written leaves no room for ambiguity. I support Grace and Judd (as you do!), for example, because there's nothing about their personalities that makes me wonder "Hmmm...what if they're not straight?" (I don't mean headcanons, btw. I mean details in the text that make us question what's really going on the way we have with Buddie since basically day one.) And, on top of that, their relationship is proof that you don’t NEED sex scenes (or even heavy make outs) to convince viewers to root for a canon pairing no matter their gender or sexuality. Do they work well together? Do they make sense? Okay then.  If Tim never included the "jokes" about Buck having a "boy crush" on his new BFF or how he and Eddie should be a couple, OR! Our favorite! Buck accepting the idea of being Christopher's other dad without protest...I can't say I *for sure* would have thought anything of their interactions beyond the surface or even looked at Buck as anything but a straight man. If the scripts were being written to depict them as interested in women, and only women, I would have tuned out long ago because the relationships we've seen so far fail(ed) to capture my full attention: - Shannon was not a good person. She played the victim (Miss "Me, Me, Me") and guilted Eddie into seeing Christopher only to realize she still wasn't cut out for motherhood. (Did she deserve to die? No. But the fact that she did should tell everyone that Tim had no intentions of making her the mother Christopher wanted/needed - which, ofc, is a reflection of reality because kids are abandoned and mistreated by their mothers every single day. Even the disabled ones.) And this doesn't even touch on her ableist remarks that were never addressed, which is a contrast to Eddie, a father who has been deliberately written to acknowledge and atone for his misconceptions. - Ali was fine. I personally don't get the love people still have for her and Buck as a couple because she was around in canon for all of five minutes, but I suppose this is a case of hindsight being 20/20. She was certainly more tolerable than TayKay. - Ana lost me before she came back in season four. I didn't like what she said about Christopher. I didn't like that Eddie was doing the same crap from season two when it happened. Both Shannon and Ana got "passes" for their behavior because Eddie was too busy trying to make amends with the woman he was attracted to/had feelings for. - TayKay...bores me. She just does. I understand the appeal from when she first came on the scene. People were attracted to her and liked watching her get to interact with/have sex with an equally attractive costar. But bringing her back in season four while simultaneously strengthen the bond between the Buckley-Diaz boys did nothing to endear her to me as a gay viewer!!!! I don't care about BT when Buddie is literally RIGHT THERE. ACTING LIKE THAT. Buddie being in a romantic relationship, RASING A CHILD, is a much more compelling story (for ME!!! and all the other gays!!!) than having to deal with two het characters whose chemistry has faded because one actor's performance leaves the audience questioning why they're still employed.

(I'm sure you didn't sign up for this rant, but thank you for indulging me. <3)

[ilikekidsshows]

One thing that pisses me off not just about the miraculous fandom but modern fandoms is fans inability to consume long overarching stories.

Like so many people are complaining about how long the reveal is taking or why haven't certain characters outgrown this trait yet or why is this character arc botched or abandoned. Like guys we just got the confirmation this show will be 7 seasons long PLUS like 3 tv specials. We're only roughly halfway through the series.

Once the reveal happens half the tension in the show is gone! I'm not saying leave the reveal till season 7 and make us wait 9 years this isn't HIMYM but miraculous is not a fast paced story. It's a long haul story. I just wish more fans would be patient. Miraculous is in the extremely fortunate and rare position that it will have a conclusive end and not be suddenly cancelled. That was and still is a huge problem for shows and cartoons with dedicated fans but networks pull the plug for stupid ass reasons.

So miraculous fans please chill the fuck out on things not resolving right away. We still have 78+ episodes plus the tv specials. If we get the end to certain things now it'll be so boring.

I think the concept of Instant Gratification describes the issue with many modern fandoms today. I hate to sound like I'm anti-technology, but the constant stream of quick and short bursts of entertainment allowed by the information age has made people more impatient. It's not about waiting for the climax to get a deeper sense of satisfaction, it's about getting that instant gratification right this instant. It's why one-shot fanfics are all over the place, when multi-chapter stories used to be just as common and popular, if not even more so, and it’s also why people are less willing to read a fic that’s still a work in progress. It's why people refuse to watch Youtube video essays even as they leave comments on the topic based on the title and thumbnail alone because, while they couldn't be assed to watch a 20-minute video (let alone an hour long one), they sure can spend that time calling the Youtuber names and making arguments the video actually already refutes. It's why a lot of online arguments happen only because one party read nothing but the first and maybe the last paragraph of someone's post and skipped all the explanation for their point of view (if I've ignored an counter argument for one of my posts, it was either because I missed it or because said counter argument did this. I have attention deficit issues so I do genuinely forget responses sometimes, but I'm also not writing a second essay for someone who's proven to me they won't read it).

Of course, it's only by constantly consuming only fast-paced content that you can become this impatient. People have different ideas about stories based on what stories they have encountered in the past.

Another thing that influences the Miraculous fandom in particular is that, while I love to show off exactly how much Miraculous has done to build up the overarching plotlines, Miraculous isn't really a show that's about a single story. It's easy to understand why people think it is one though: there's one main villain, we keep discovering more about the mythology, one of the main plot threads is the romantic relationship between the leads and singular episodes and plot elements tend to get payoff later. What is the purpose of a show if not to progress the story? Because the heroes aren't getting closer to defeating Gabriel or getting together, people think that the story isn't accomplishing anything.

I'll do a comparison to illustrate why these things aren't as clear-cut signs of a continuous storyline as people think. In the Spider-Man comics, you can pick any issue up and the chances are that the villain will be a part of Spider-Man's already established Rogues Gallery, who's back for more after who knows how many defeats, and those past defeats might even get referenced in callbacks to previous issues. It's also very possible that Peter and Mary Jane's relationship is the central focus with them not being together yet, having relationship problems or even having broken up (in really old issues the girl might be Gwen Stacy and short-term options have also always been available for romantic entanglements). Does this mean Spider-Man is a continuous story where the only point is that all the villains get put away for good and Peter and MJ live happily ever after? No, it doesn't. Spider-Man is designed to go on indefinitely, so there's no clear ending point. So, what is the point of Spider-Man then, if there is no Ending?

It used to be the single issue, because comic books used to have every issue be a stand-alone story about the hero and their supportive cast. These days it's more every three-to-six issues, because superhero comics are written to have short story arcs that can then be collected into trade paperbacks. A superhero series is not a single story; it's a series that functions as a story engine, meaning the series can generate several shorter stories where the hero helps fix a problem or solve a mystery.

In the superhero genre a villain will never get killed off or removed from stories permanently as long as the writers think they can still come up with stories to tell about them. The hero's romantic life will never be completely smooth sailing unless the writer is using other things to ramp up the stakes. Everything always allows for there to be another adventure.

I think the huge success of Avatar: the Last Airbender made people think that a series that is a single story is always superior to a series with multiple shorter plots. When I was liveblogging Sailor Moon, a viewer offered to give me a list of all the non-filler episodes because they genuinely thought I'd feel like I was wasting time on the show otherwise. This attitude is simply not based on fact. It's not fair to compare Miraculous Ladybug to Avatar, because they're both setting up to do completely different things. Miraculous Ladybug is trying to become a brand, like Batman or Spider-Man. It is part of the "Zag Heroes" lineup, a series of French-created superhero franchises to compete in the America-centric superhero market. This challenge is good for the genre, because Marvel and DC have started resembling each other more and more as these companies stew in their old ideas and copy everything that worked for the other one. The superhero genre needs new blood.

Also, Avatar: the Last Airbender first became popular by doing episodic plots for almost the entirety of the first season because it's actually not a wise choice to expect the audience to be willing to commit to a story that'll only give payoff later when working with an untested IP. Very often shows with longer story arcs start with the episodic format to hook people first, and sometimes the more linear plot is introduced specifically because the audience for the show is now expected to be both dedicated enough and older and capable of keeping up. Because, here's the thing: you can't expect little kids to remember every episode or even every character you've introduced in your show. I'm not sure if people are ready to hear that but I'm throwing it out there anyway. Kids are not dumb, they can understand more complex storylines, but many kids are still training their memory, so they might not remember the details of complex storylines that go on for too long.

This is why the news that Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season was going to have a recommended viewing order originally had me concerned. Miraculous is being branded for kids. The plot requiring too much skill in memorizing story details will make it less accessible to kids and might put those two additional seasons at risk. However, it seems that the "constantly changing status quo" concept of Truth, Lies and Gang of Secrets was a fluke and the evolution of the show is more subtle, so they might not be cutting the amount of episodes for those final seasons because the show is getting too complicated for kids to follow all the important details.

Regardless, Miraculous Ladybug being an adventure cartoon TV show instead of a comic book or a more cheaper-to-produce TV drama does mean that Miraculous Ladybug isn’t expected to go on for decades like a superhero comic or a soap opera. Because of this, it can have evolution and changes and even a planned ending. The show is expected to end at some point, even by the people making money off of it, mostly because making a cartoon like this indefinitely costs a lot of money, and kids’ adventure shows tend to see a decrease in returns if they go on for too long.

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Apartment AU Masterpost:

-Everyone lives in an apartment complex.

-Xisuma as landlord? Or just a really well looked up to person in the complex. Whichever works for you!

-Pranks all the time. Everyone's constantly pranking each other.

-Everyone has 'normal people jobs.' Perhaps Joe is an English teacher? (Cleo's also a teacher. (Irl.) Omg, what if they teach at the same school?) Maybe Bdubs is a professional interior designer? Maybe Cub builds computers? Go nuts, get creative.

-Actually, screw it. Bdubs works at IKEA.

-Everyone meets up every Friday night to go to the pub or go bowling or just do something together.

-They have a discord server because of course they do.

-European Hermits are early-birds, American hermits are night-owls. (This is the only way I can think to portray timezones and waking hours when everyone's living in the same building.)

-They all still love minecraft, don't worry.

-Keralis has so many books his flat is basically a library. He lets people come in and borrow books for a small fee.

-Tinfoilchef is a bit of a shut in but everyone makes an effort to include him.

-Etho would also be a cryptid like Xisuma. Like, we've seen Xisuma's whole body other than his face but the best we know about Etho is that: 1. He exists and 2. From the, like, one single real life photo he's shared, he broke a headset. Also, 3. Allegedly, he's buff. Otherwise; Beef and Etho invite Pause (who lives elsewhere,) over at random intervals to [play ctm maps] and do god knows what. Bdoubs works at IKEA but is the person to make the room displays, y'know.

-Scar sells dice and other tabletop rpg supplies that he designs. His shop is magiccrystals. com

-Cub and Scar made business with the guy who runs the fight club. They get half of the profits and everyone’s always wondering how those two can always afford the most expensive Christmas gifts for everyone.

-Mumbo could be an engineer or work on a STEM field, and he works on some really important and impressive projects and that would explain his polish person, Exept, when it comes to helping another hermit to change a lightbulb or fix a microwave he is an absolute disaster.

-Grian owns a parrot that knows everyones' names and faces and greets them when they come in.

-Scar's apartment has a balcony filled with plants and he has to bring them inside for the winter. (I'm assuming that all 4 seasons happen) Even without the balcony plants, his place is still full of indoor plants including his favorite venus flytrap. There is always a plant knocked over from Jellie's shenanigans. Jellie is supposed to stay in his apartment, however she keeps on getting out somehow, even getting to Xisuma's apartment occasionally.

-There's a grassy patch out back that acts as a backyard, but Stress has effectively taken it over. Perfect for flowers of all colors in the spring and summer, and during the winter you KNOW she’s building an ice castle from which to throw snowball at all her friends.

-Beef and, when he’s visiting, Pause get a lot of questions about Etho (since unlike X who gets one tightlipped visitor in shape of his brother Etho gets two that are willing to be vague) however they charge a fee for people to guess. They’d never actually sell him out but the guesses are always something technical related so there’s not much of a risk, he actually works as a botanist/gardener.

-Iskall is extremely good at ice hockey and, as resident Canadians, Etho and Beef have played with him. However Iskall only knows that he’s played with Beef because both beef and etho refuse to tell him who in the rink was Etho when they played.

-The only person who’s seen Xisuma's face is Keralis.

-Nobody knows what Grian does for a job. Like, when they think they've figured it out what he does, they're thrown through a loop again because he does a lot of odd jobs. Need help with a pet? Grian can help! Rip on your clothes? Don't worry, Grian knows how to fix it! Ect.

-Grian's an assassin. Iskall will make assassin jokes and Grian, without looking up from his coffee will go: "that's not how that works!" And then go back to being quiet. Everyone's like ????

-I love the idea of Grian knowing all these cool facts and when anyone acts he says 'it's because of his job,' and they still can't figure out what he does. He keeps correcting Iskall on assassin facts but they're all just like 'oh Grian sure must love those types of movies, huh.'

-Cleo teaches Joe's kid. (That means she teaches either year 2 or year 3? // 1st grade or 2nd grade?)

-Grian's family is in the mafia but he mostly just vibes. Sure, he works with the mafia, but he keeps his regular life away from work and none of the hermits (besides False because she saved the Mafia boss) know. Imagine boss looking at False and going, 'oh hey, you're already protected.' False is confused and says 'what?' But the Mafia Boss has already left.

-Etho is always in full kakashi cosplay.

-Honorary hermits apartment au: zloy and pixl have a radio show but also act as private investigators. Falsie hires them to investigate how she got the protection of the mafia. On their investigation they start asking Elybeat (that lives on a building right next to the hermits) about weird behaviors that he might have seen. Ely just goes ‘all of what they do is weird. I’ve recorded weird stuff they say and remixed it. They though it was funny and put the remixes as their elevator music.'

-Everyone thinks Etho is an assassin, but really, he's a horticulturist/botanist. He doesn't bother to correct them cause it means he doesn't get pranked, (or, as often.) Maybe someone finds out eventually? I don't know who. Maybe Doc and they keep it hush hush cause they think it's funny or something. || Maybe Bdubs finds out, (because I think he's seen Naruto?? Swear I saw a Twitter post where he recognized a Naruto joke) and he's the only one that recognizes that Etho's dressed like Kakashi and NOT an assassin. (That's lowkey a joke though.)

-Someone warns Grian against parking euro because they think Etho's an assassin and Grian just kinda goes: "alright then." Knowing that there's no way Etho is an assassin, but also realising how the hermits view that profession, he most likely starts feeling kinda bad.

-Beef used to be a car photographer and Mumbo takes photographs as a sideline when he was in college. They would occasionally chat about their past experience in the photography field and sometimes gush about cars.

-Hermit Challenges was actually a truth or dare game among the hermits. Mumbo was basically delirious from lack of sleep to explain his absolute gremlin energy. Mumbo dares Grian to steal front doors before passing out and everyone decided that was the end of that game. No one thought Grian would do the dare. A week later, everyone but Etho and Xisuma were missing their front doors (including Grian.) He stuck them in his bathroom so no one immediately saw the doors.

-As already established, Joe constantly hangs at Keralis's library. Let's say he also has a hobby for writing, and one time he was asking to himself how *insert really specific murder scene* would work in real life. Grian or Doc then overheard him and answers him in a also very specific way, he thanks them with 0 concerns and continues with his writing.

-Etho has been an assassin but it was many years ago, and retired to care for plants. (As you do.) He got hired by The Goatfather but intentionally botched the killings because, 'hey now those two are friends >:(' He and Bdubs still have the endrod game but it involves the whole apartment building and several discord messages going "located" or "flashlight on the move.'

-Stress paints all the hermit's door and puts their names on them. (-🌿)

-The organisization Grian works for is called "The Watchers!" They text him in riddles of what his missions are. This is so that if anyone peaks at his phone, they don't understand immediately!

-What if in YHS happen because of grian family and Sam is from an other family who does not support the grain family. So grian will not bring up high school and school and when joe and Cleo talk about there student grian sometimes cringes remember what happened in high school. (-🌿)

-Grian and Mumbo's hobbits holes were two cupboards they found on their respective apartments and decided to make a room out of them and named them their hobbit holes after they found out they both had them (-🐿️)

-What if it's a really old apartment and the 'hobbit holes' actually connect to each others apartment. (-🐺)

-Mumbo has these periods when he overworks like crazy and when they're over - he sleeps for like 24-36 hours straight. Everybody knows about this and help him if he falls asleep in random plaxes around the apartment. Mumbo once fell asleep right before his door and Grian tried to help him get inside while mumbling. Guess which remix were aded to the elevator music next week.

-Whenever anyone is annoyed or upset, grian sometimes pops his head up from his book and goes "who do I need to kill?" No one takes him seriously though he *would* kill for any of his friends.

-People who have left the server work nearby but have moved to new apartments. (For example, Welsknight works at a nearby food truck) (-☘️)

-With the Grian being a spy you get several oints where he thinks he's been found out but no one puts the and two together. They're all like: "Grian just likes action movies I guess."

-Scar's "wizard robe" is a bathrobe he owns. One day he forgets to change and just walks out in a bathrobe and no pants.

-Since Cleo teaches Joe's kid, maybe that extends to all the hermits' kids? Like the ones that have them, like not at the same time but at some point you know?

-I don't think I saw any regarding headgames, but I could've missed it. Anyways, what if Cleo wanted to make a big Scrapbook in her free time of all her friends, so she asks everybody to try and get pictures. So the PVP heads are candid photos, and the tradeable one are like selfies or group pictures. The other heads could just be a requirement for the picture like have a sheep in the picture. And maybe she gives the winners dinner payed by her or something.

-On the head cannon that hermits that aren’t on the server work nearby, Biffa is the actual mayor.

-Are mobs (and half mobs by extension) still a thing in apartment au? Cause if not I propose that Jevin just has cloob blue dyed hair and a bunch of blue tattoos.

-XB bakes a lot and always shares the food he makes with the others. They adore his cookies. Scar really wants to make some cookies in the shapes of disney characters with him, but he's too shy to ask. (-nameless anon)

-Perhaps Mumbo and Iskall are also protected by the mafia because of grian (perhaps scar is too) They and False have a 'we are protected and have no idea why' group (-Frost Anon)

-Imagine the hermits want to throw a nice party but X and Etho were kinda like “yeah no i’ll pass” so they make it a masquerade so that they can come- and then the whole night no one knows who anyone really is, but still has a really good time.

-Grian wanted a pet parrot, but felt like he would be terrible at taking care of one so he has toy parrots instead, those that have pre made phrases and such, and he is proud of his toy parrot pets. (-🐿️)

-Xisuma hosts a podcast! That's where all of his Xisuma speaks content ends up coming from. (-🇵🇭)

-Etho has a secret food blog called "Cooking With Etho" (based on the actual cooking with Etho segment in usually his modded stuff.) He also knows that there's hermits that either: have no idea how to cook properly or can't cook real meals due to their work. To help with this, sometimes he leaves finished meals or recipes with them (outside their doors or somehow in their fridge) and no one knows who does it prompting the theory of a self care ghost haunting the building.

(All of those in red were from Anons!)

-Joe works as a LAMP Developer.

-False has an assortment of swords, knives, etc. She even had a bow! She also has a dummy to practice fighting on.

(-@unpredictable-pancake.)

-Stress is a wedding designer. (-@the-angry-numel.)

-Iskall also works at IKEA with Bdubs. (-@mandatedempathy.)

-There's a local club that's basically fight club a few people are in. False, Iskall and a couple others are in.

-Hypno is kind of a bit of a loner. Everyone on the floor considers him a friend but he doesn't really have a best friend. He just does his own thing and people usually let him do that. He's fine with it.

-XB and Joe spend a lot of time at Keralis' library house just reading the books. Keralis usually charges every except those two because 1. They're there so often and 2. They're basically his room mates at this point. (-@tomcatacaphe.)

-Ren works at a bar as a bartender or musician. (-@friendlyneighbourhoodpieceoftrash.)

-Building on the last thing with Ren as a musician or working at a bar, he works at a bar as a server but does live music on weekends. It's the bar/pub/restaurant that the hermits sometimes hang out at together.

-I can see Grian working at a pet shop but also on the side of the mafia because of YHS. Or at least he used to be involved with the mafia.

-Beef once had to cart Etho off to the hospital for a chemical burn and explain to the other tenants that the explosion heard suspiciously close by wasn’t mafia activity. Etho is just an idiot with a hobby of making homemade fireworks.

-(-@limelocked.)

-False is the chief of police for the town they live in. Iskall is a hired assassin who normally gets employed by the mysterious figure GOATfather. Doc is the GOATfather, head of the mafia. Falsie is trying to hunt down these two as well as any others associated with them. The nHo is part of the mafia. Falsie has no idea any of them are in the mafia and they refuse to kill her because she has become such a close friend to them.

-Maybe Grian is a spy instead of an assassin? The group the Watchers is a government policing organization bent on trying to crack down on mob activity in the area.

(-@creator0fchaos.)

-The elevator music is hermitgang and remixes. -(@lookitsspacekween.)

-Zedaph is a game show host. Tango makes cartoons. (-@aphion-and-on.)

-Come on, let Iskall play ice hockey! Maybe not professionally if it doesn't work for the AU but he's v good at least. (-@automnalsaffron.)

-Grian maybe works at an animal shelter or an animal rehabilitation center. So everyone who has a pet usually comes to him for help if their pet is sick or injured. (-@vahco.)

-Grian has a safe full of guns, all the Hermits know about it but think they're fake. (-@xxpzmistxx)

-X never comes out of his room so no one’s seen his face. The only way he communicates is via text, Discord, and an intercom right by his door. He almost always gets groceries whenever the hermits are busy and therefore have no time to go out- but the hermits know he’s a real person because sometimes they hear guitar solos coming from his room.

-Hypno is a voice actor!

-Joe and Cleo often go home at the same time, and all the way it's almost always Cleo complaining about her students being bratty and the likes (Bonus points if Joe carpools with Cleo, who owns a car.)

-False unknowingly helps the boss of the mafia after seeing him wounded on a street one day, earning her their protection.

-As a callback to Season 6, Stress became a cat lady for a bit while False became a dog lady. As an added bonus: Cleo became nuts when Cub decided to gift her with spiders for her birthday or some other event.

-Mumbo still sidelines as a cameraman/film director for short documentaries and comedy sketches where he often invites Zed and his buddy Jack to act maybe?

-The first time X was proven to be an actual person was when the girls temporarily kicked the boys out to have the apartment all to themselves for a girls’ night which prompted the boys to have their own boys’ night. X was wearing his grey helmet that night so his face was still obscured tho, and from that day forward they always had a weekly girls’ night and boys’ night alternating on which group gets to have the apartment to themselves.

-False may seem like she can take a shot or two, but in reality she’s very lightweight and easily drunk, and is always the first one wasted. She becomes a flirty drunk who flirts with everyone and everything when she’s tipsy, an angry drunk the more she drinks and eventually a sad drunk before passing out. Cleo and Stress, her drinking buddies, always find amusement in this.

-As a callback to Xb living a thousand blocks away from society in s7, maybe he lives at the highest floor where not many (if not no one) occupies?

(-@heyitsroby.)

-Civil War started because they used to get groceries delivered to their doors and Grian started stealing them when they were left in the doorstep. Everyone stole each others groceries until one day they went into teamss of one side vs the other side of the corridor to the other until Grian stole so many groceries Dic was like 'Dammit!' He started going to the store to get groceries instead of getting them delivered to his door after that. (-@sayeshaa1108.)

-Regarding apartment au: Zedaph is similar to miu iruma from danganronpa: making the weirdest inventions and coaxing the other hermits into doing weird things for science. (-@oh-hecc-im-stupid.)

-Idk if Doc has a profession yet in the apartment au, but it just struck me- what if he owned a private casino?? Cause of s7? Just a thought! (-@853dragons.)

-Cleo really enjoys doing miniature diorama scenes. Like the tiny dudes from "Night at The Museum". She's like crazy good at it, and Joe will sometimes base his poems and stories off of her dioramas. Also maybe Joe has published a book of poems and short stories? (-@lynxes15.)

-Doc works as a social engineer and part time mafia boss. He rarely shows up for game nights. However, when he does, nobody else stands a chance.

-Tango, Impulse and Zedaph go over to each other's rooms so often they practically live together in an apartment room 3X bigger than everyone else.

(-@trashedeggnog.)

LINK TO NEXT POST: https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/617640752709861376/apartmentau-masterpost-2-link-to-previous-the

Posts with TW:

Guns, Gangs, Getting Shot. Don't read if you can't handle this topics.

-Everyone finds out Grian is an assassin/mafia boss because someone from a different gang (*cough cough* sam gladiator *cough cough*) found out where he lives and tried to murder him. Queue epic gun fight scene. If you want some angst, Grian gets shot a couple of times in the fight but didn’t realize it because of the adrenaline and passes out. (-Anon.)

-Imagine someone like, finding Grian's guns and weapons and just being :0 and Grian is a little nervous. But then the other hermit just think the guns are cool (it's probably either etho or doc) and they're just gushing over how cool the guns are. Grian is relieved. (-Anon.)

-iJevin owns at least one gun. He's not in the mafia or a cop or anything, it's just cool and legal so he as one. He's the constant counter for the other gun owning hermits who have them for more mafia related purposes (context: jevin owns at least one gun irl) (-Anon.)

[casmybelovedass]

The Destiel Folder: Season 10

[Season 4; Season 5; Season 6; Season 7; Season 8; Season 9]

Episode 1:

Cas is slowly dying, practically naked, in a bed, and the first thing he says when talking about Dean is "I miss him" (6:35), with a soft smile. "Why would he just disappear?"

... I'm sorry but If Cas Were A Woman, this would look like a scene from a movie or something, where the wife talks to a friend over the phone about her missing husband. JUST SAYING

Crowley: "The girl seemed nice. Slightly damaged. I could see the old you falling for that." (9:29) uhm... who else is "nice and slightly" damaged? I don't know... CASTIEL??!!!

So... these two men (actors Todd Mann and Brad Mann) we see with the DemonGang, are real life twins (9:14).

At (27:18), Crowley states him and Dean did "extroardinary things to triplets" ... and, well, the only twins with a possible other sibling we see are... them

And this is not the first time we hear about Dean doing "things to triplets" with a buddy of his (15x07)... and the first time he was NOT a demon... so, there's that. And triplets don't necessarily mean "all females"

Cas, while talking about the good things that come with choices, mentions "hope, love, dreams" (39:06), and Hannah points out that "those are human things". Human things...

Cas is talking about his own personal experiences with creating chaos, so those are the things he felt after rebelling for... Dean... WOW. ICWAW, it would totally be read it as a reference to Dean. A romantic one. Fight me

Episode 2:

Cas is dying, just got back from a fight that left him wounded, doesn't have enough power to heal himself, is on a mission to restore Heaven, and once again he chooses to go save Dean (9:35), and the way rage builds in his eyes when learning Dean has become a demon. Look at this shit

I might be crazy, but this feels like a touching metaphor to me:

"I think you don't know what you want. Tell me, Dean. What are you? A demon? [...] Maybe you're human. [...] Why don't you do us all a great, big favor... and pick a bloody side!" (22:22)

METAPHOR

Episode 3:

We are reminded that, even tho in terrible conditions, on the verge of death, Cas is willing to risk it all to save Dean, and is devastated by the thought of Dean not making it (4:47 - 5:17)

This is so funny to me, I'm sorry, but Cas is so visibly uncomfortable with Hannah touching him, it's hilarious (15:58)

"I've been around humans for long enough to see how easily distractions occur. Emotions, feelings... They're dangerous temptations." (22:32) like rebelling against your own kind, destroying your home, falling... all for a human?

"I'm trying to keep our priorities clear." Moments earlier, Cas listed "Getting to Dean" (22:17) before anything else. In fact, Hannah says "I am very clear of my priorities... and yours." = Dean (23:00)

Cas is not sure whether the cure will kill Dean or not, and in any case, he wraps his arms around him, and softly says "It's over... Dean it's over." (35:40) as if hushing him to sleep, in what could have been their last moments together... wow. Think about this ICWAW

"Well, I can see his point. Only humans can feel real joy, but... also such profound pain. This is easier." (36:17) Look at the way Sam is looking at Cas looking at Dean

BITCH OKAY!!

SAM KNOWS

POSSIBILE future Empty reference "real joy"

Cas already stated he misses being human, but knows how fragile they are in both body and spirit:

Castiel really wants to be with Dean. For real. But maybe he thinks (see season 9) him being an angel is an obstacle to their feelings.

Only by being human he can truly be happy (MMMMMMHH SEASON 15), but isn't sure he could handle the pain that comes with it. A possible rejection, the thought of Dean dying, him leaving Dean... MMMMHHHHH

"You look terrible." [...] "Well, you, on the other hand, you... *checks out Cas* Looking good." (39:09) full homo right there. Also parallel with Ketch in 13x18 ("You don't look good." "Yeah, well, you're not my type, either.")

The way they are looking at each other here... man.

Cas is so happy to have Dean back, and Dean looks hurt about Cas leaving so soon.

"So... so, you're back?" "At least temporarily." (39:27) bitch, you know that's not what he ment.

In all of this, Cas is trying to make Dean feel better about the whole situation (DAT SMILE 40:18), and Dean replies with "I'm glad you're back, man.", basically no-homoing himself...

Cas starts walking out of the room, but stops and turns back [insert concerned husband here] (40:27), and Dean has that hopeful look in his eyes, like Cas is going to stay, and the hurtful look comes back as soon as Cas is gone

Episode 4:

"On your knees!" "Wow, I'm awfully flattered-" (34:33) SASSY BI DEAN IS THE DEAN WE DESERVE

Episode 5:

Fucking kill me NOW!!! Dean's reaction to Destiel is PRICELESS!! And even before he learns what that is, he just looks at the girls playing him and Cas and... freezes for a moment (13:18) And the eyebrow raise thingy at (13:34)... what's going on in your brain, Dean?

I'd like to point out that the Italian translation for "You can't spell 'subtext' without S-E-X" is, for once, AMAZING:

"It's just that... their bond is so strong it has subtext of a... sexual nature."

THANK YOU ITALIAN DUB! JUST THIS ONCE, THANK YOU! (13:43)

Also at (9:44) Dean immediately reacts to the implication of Wincest subtext, shutting it down and telling the girls to take a step back, but with Destiel he is like... alright

... this is so fucking cute, (25:54) Dean adjusts the girl playing Cas' tie so that it's messed up like the real Cas'. ADORABLE

SAM SHIPS IT (13:57) and is teasing the SHIT out of Dean, who reacts like someone being teased about their crush. Just saying (14:08 - 14:52) [AND THIS HAPPENS IN FRONT OF A PINK-BLUE WALL]

"I know I have expressed some differences of opinion regarding this version of Supernatural." (26:44) ... oookay meta? *turns to "Cas"* "And I want you to put as much sub into that text as you possibly can." ... oKAY?!

Episode 7:

Cas being extremely uncomfortable with women is too fucking funny to me (5:03 - 12:51)

Episode 9:

(15:13) Alright, so, this is a date... what now? Anyway, nice bi flannel, Dean. And the little sweet smiles you two are giving each other? So fucking precious (16:01)

"I ain't exactly a role model." "That's not true." (16:07) how Dean looks at Cas right after that? BABIES!

"How are you, Dean?" "Fine." "*I-call-bullshit look*" "I'm great!" "No, you're not." (16:18) #MARRIED

As Cas is choke-holding a guy, Dean, clearly amused (almost proudly), says "I'd do what he says." (22:17) Like that time with Raphael in 5x03, Dean likes it when Cas gets rough

Episode 10:

Shut the fuck up and marry each other already so you can finally actually BE the old married couple™️ you ALREADY ARE (22:17)

This is the "My husband is so FUCKING STUPID" look (22:30)

"I was hoping you might reach out to her." "... Me? I'm probably the last person she'd want to hear from." [...] "All I know... is she won't talk to me." (23:03) #MARRIED, PARENTS, PERIODT

Shut the fuck up. Cas is the dad trying to figure out technology (23:36) "I'll text you her number. I like texting. Emotions!" DAD

Cas worries about Dean like a wife would with an alcoholic husband

Of all the things Dean could be MAD about at Metateon... the first thing he can think of is him stealing Cas' grace (31:33) (okay, maybe he is going in chronological order but STILL)

Episode 11:

[I AM SO SO SO SORRY BUT DEAN USED THE ALIAS "PRESLEY" (18:55) I AM NOT OKAY]

Episode 14:

Have this deleted scene: Castiel and Crowley bitching over Dean, and Crowley calling Dean Cas' boyfriend

This is some hell of a goodbye-eye-love-making scene (26:57)

Cain compares himself to Dean... and CAS TO HIS WIFE COLLETTE [PARALLELS]

"You're living my life in reverse [...]

First you'd kill Crowley. You'd get it done, no remorse. (Cain had been killing his descendants, for whom he didn't care much)

And then you'd kill the angel, Castiel. Now, that one... that, I suspect, would hurt something awful. [And than Sam is Able, bla bla...]"

AM I WRONG?! YOU'RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I'M WRONG??!!!

Dean gives the First Blade to Cas... oKAY (37:10)

Worried brother-in-laws (41:27)

Episode 16:

This is such a good source of hidden meanings scene! Dean starts his "confession" as a scam. Everything he says at first is to attract the spirit.

He starts talking about seeing lots of women, not being able to control himself, and being sick of it. Then the real confession begins...

Dean feels he's going to die soon, and fears not death itself, but what he would be missing from his life.

"There's things... people, feelings that I... I would experience differently than I had before. Or even for the first time." (25:28) and the priest believes Dean is talking about love.

Well... "people, feelings"... who could he be referring to? Does Dean want love all of a sudden? People he wants to experience for the first time... uhmmmm... Is Dean opening up to his attraction to MEN??!! Or one angel in particular?

ICWAW we would guess Dean was talking about Cas

"Who mixes their blood and bones into paint? No woman has ever done that for me." (39:19) UHM- Dean, what about

6x20 "He has bled, died bla bla bla for us",

7x21 "I'm always happy to bleed for the Winchesters" or

9x22 "You just gave up an entire army for one guy"

ICWAW we would ALL roll our eyes at this statement and scream CAS

THE GUY BLED, LOST HIS HOME, REBELLED, DIED FOR YOU!! HE REBUILT YOU PIECE BY PIECE FROM HELL- SAVED YOU DOZENS OF TIMES!!!

Episode 17:

About saving Dean from the Mark: "We won't- (free Metatron)" "Yes, you will... because you're desperate." (9:44) Hannah knows. Let's remark that

"All I'm getting from you is... colours." (14:26) bitch he is a walking 🌈PRIDE FLAG🏳️‍🌈

Notice how, when we get a Sam-Cas centred episode, we don't get the same interactions with Dean-Cas? Why this?

Dean is always ready to call Cas a "brother", but the only one true bromance here is Sam and Cas'. There are no longing stares, no weird sexual filled dialogue nor tension, NO LONGING STARES

Facts, my people. Facts

Episode 18:

"You killed my friend." "Oh, pff, Dean is fine, mostly. Can't you get past that?" "Never." (12:39)

Charlie being excited about meeting Dean's famous boyfriend is WHOLESOME (37:34)

To have Cas back, 100%, safe and sound, is a win for Dean (38:58) and the face Cas makes after Dean hits him with another no-homo "It's good to have you back, pal." is "UHH not this again". Charlie already ships it

Episode 20:

A #MARRIED couple and their daughter. NO ARGUMENTS VALID (7:06)

Look at how they enter the motel (16:22)

OH MY GOOOOOD!!! #PARENTS coming back home from shopping!! THE HAND ON THE SHOULDER!!! Also

"Happy birthday. I got it at the Hot Topical" DAD

Dean: "Imma head back over there." Cas: "I'm coming with you." Claire: "I'm coming with you too." (17:24) #FAMILY

A fucking family comedy about a dad confronting the daughter's boyfriend and the other dad scolding him:

"What did you do to him?" "I didn't lay a hand on him!" "Dean, that isn't exactly true." "... Well, I didn't kill the guy." (17:14)

Surprisingly enough, this is not the first nor last time Dean acts like a dad to a lost child (AND TWO OF THESE TIMES THE KID IS SOMEHOW RELATED TO CAS) (21:54)

Episode 22:

C: "Claire, you are not going out there. [...] It's too dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you." D: "Claire, you're not going." C: "You're not either, Dean." D: "What?" (19:29)

#FAMILY DON'T TALK TO ME!

"No fighting. [...] Both of you." AAAAAA

This doesn't fucking matter, but Dean just said "... for the ladies. Or the fellas. I don't judge." (36:23)

Cas' speech to Dean... wow. "So if there's even a small chance that we can save you... I won't let you walk out of this room." (39:20)

I hate this scene. (40:11)

Dean is overwhelmed by Charlie's death, Sam and Cas' betrayal, the Mark changing him and all the other shit.

The Mark is taking over, and Dean can't (and won't) help it. Cas knows it. He doesn't want to hurt Dean. He is not even resisting. Doesn't put up a fight.

And just like Colette with Cain, Castiel only asks Dean one thing: "Stop." (40:38) [9x11]

Parallel to 8x07:

The only thing that stops Cas from killing Dean, is him begging, clutching onto his sleeve.

"Dean... please..." (41:08) Cas pleading Dean, clutching to his arm, makes him resist the urge to kill him.

Episode 23:

You can find gifs and the script of some deleted (destiel) scenes in this post by @charlie-minion

As the Mark eats Dean... he starts feeling guilt for the people he hurt... first on the list: Cas (14:54)

(This gif is not mine)

Well... what a season.

[Season 11>>]

[sasquapossum]

Don't Underestimate the White Mountains

I've been in a few discussions recently about how people do, in fact, underestimate the White Mountains (in New Hampshire, US). People who are used to 14,000-foot peaks in the US west look at puny little Mount Washington, which is the highest peak in the Whites at 6,280 feet, and they sneer. What they're missing is (a) it's the elevation *gain* that matters, (b) trail conditions matter, (c) weather conditions matter.

Let's start with the easiest one. Which is harder: climbing a 14,000-foot peak from a trailhead at 10,000 or climbing a 5,000-foot peak from a trailhead at 1,000? Trick question. Given the same trail and weather conditions they're the same. Or almost. I'll grant that the 14,000-foot peak will be a bit harder because of oxygen-level issues, but for most people that's far outweighed by the other factors. It's actually quite likely that you'll have a harder time on the lower trail. Here's why.

Yes, that's the "trail" to the left of the cairn. On a typical approach to the top of Washington or Adams or a few others, you'll be traversing *miles* of this stuff. You'll also encounter sections like this.

OK, so Huntington Ravine is one of the most challenging routes, but I'm trying to make the point that a lot of trails in the White Mountains are like this to a significant degree. They're not like the almost road-like trails with plenty of switchbacks like many are used to. They tend to be more direct. There are more rocks and roots underfoot. Appalachian Trail through-hikers who have hiked north for over a thousand miles often hit the Whites and freak out at how "bad" the trails are. The other thing is, you really don't want to be doing this kind of stuff when it's wet and windy. Which brings us to my next point.

It can get *really* bad up there. Obviously Washington is the worst, but you don't want to be on the top of Lafayette or Carrigain or North Twin in a storm either. The other thing - perhaps the one most important thing anyone reading this should take away - is that things can change very *suddenly*. You can have clear blue skies above you as you go along on one side of the mountain, come over a shoulder, and OH SHIT. There's a storm coming at you. Maybe you could have predicted it if you had seen the recent weather reports and been paying close attention to which direction the wind was blowing at which time of day. Maybe not even that. Conditions can go from beautiful to ugly pretty spontaneously. Now go look at those first two pictures again. Would you want to be going a couple of thousand feet *down* that kind of terrain, when all those rocks are wet and the wind is almost blowing you off your feet? This is why these signs exist.

They're not kidding. Be prepared - your gear, your body, your mind. Be willing to turn back, even if you've been up there when it's grey before (it usually is) and things turned out OK. Even if you already reserved a spot at one of the huts and now need to find alternate accommodation/transportation. Even if you think it might still clear up and you'll never have another chance to see the summit like that.

You absolutely can hike the White Mountains safely, and have a good time. My wife has already completed "the 48" (peaks over 4,000 feet in NH). My daughter and I might get there this year or next. I know people who have completed them in all seasons. But you shouldn't assume that just because you've climbed higher peaks you don't have to be careful on these ones. Anyone, on any mountain, should consider the possibility that a particular section on a particular day is not worth the risk.