#idk it just makes the most sense to me plot wise

[crows-of-buckets]

Playing dao on hard mode is both extremely frustrating and insanely fun. I am getting my ass kicked and have reloaded a save five times in a row but I refuse to give up I will clear this game and all the dlc on hard mode I swear it

[gothamcityneedsme]

i have complex feelings about it but in td when karkat is actually like fully integrated, he is much more static because the story is... Less directly affecting him? hes there as Dave's Boyfriend largely

[poppyplate]

minor season 5 spoilers for lmk!!!

(some sketches + my thoughts on the new season :0)

this season was so good!! i'm gonna put my long rant about my thoughts below, just cause i have a lot of things i wanna talk about :3

animation: ik the animation change was jarring for some people and i did almost cry about flying bark leaving the show when the news first dropped, but i honestly think wildbrain did a great job and the animation is still super cute and fun. it's definitely different and you can tell, but they still do all the silly animation things that flying bark did and this season honestly had some of my favourite humor (visual and otherwise).

i'll definitely miss the old animation, fully hand drawn 2D animation is becoming harder to come by in cartoons now so it's sad to see this show lose one of the most exciting aspects of it, but i'm looking forward to seeing how wildbrain does in the following season(s?). i'm honestly just glad we're getting more monkie kid content.

plot: i did enjoy the plot they set up. this season did feel different pacing wise? if that makes sense. not that it's necessarily bad i just noticed it felt a bit different. i'm really excited to see more about this whole chaos thing.

ik li jing wasn't necessarily a villain, but he was an antagonist for a bit so i'm adding my two cents about him and nezha. i didn't love what they did with their story arc, but ik there's only so much that can be done in a 10 episode season where each episode is only 10 minutes long. i think their arc would've just benefited from more time :(

villain(s): i think the nine headed demon is such an interesting character (even though he did confuse me a bit) so i hope we get to see more of him. probably my favourite big bad so far personality-wise.

main characters: i'm glad sun wukong had more screentime this season!! he always either isn't around or gets trapped, so it's nice that he was present again.

i definitely felt this season focused a lot more on the monkie trio, which was bound to happen, but i like them so i was fine with it. idk how much of a redemption arc macaque is trying to have, but i kind of hope it's not a standard redemption arc. not that i didn't enjoy macaque's character this or any other season, i do like him most of the time. i just personally hope they keep him as more of a neutral figure even if he does stick around with the group.

i don't have much to say on mk that hasn't already been said. i love the guy and i hope he gets to be happy again soon T^T

side characters? ig: i thought mei and red son's episode was cute. i love dragonfruit interactions a lot, but i do hope red son gets some more screentime next season cause i miss him </3

i am happy sandy got some more screentime though, his episode with mk was cute. also tang was so real this season, he's just like me fr (i hate manual labor).

other notes and whatnot: this season felt shorter somehow, even though it wasn't and i'm not sure if we'll be getting a special like we always do or if they're just going to move on to the next season. either way, i'm excited to see where it goes from here.

although i wasn't in love with the ending of this season, it just felt a tad rushed and i definitely think we would've benefited from a few special episodes again.

i'd give this season a solid 8/10. i would love to go through all the episodes and share my thoughts on them, but i'm just gonna share my ranking of the episodes.

(i feel pretty even with 1-2 and 3-5)

1. collar the king

2. temple of the goddess

3. the cage

4. sacrifice

5. strings that bind

6. into the pagoda

7. claim to flame

8. harbinger

9. the storm within

10. festival fugitives

[birdiewriteslit]

so that episode was awful

why is percy all knowing??? he just knows who crusty is?? that is so unrealistic and different from his book counterpart.

1. percy knows basic greek myths along with a few obvious monsters. he’s constantly asking who different monsters are and is confused most of the time - this is a big part of the books because he actually learns things normally wherein the show he just knows shit for no good reason (it also makes it super boring to watch bc if it’s not exciting to percy, it’s not exciting to the audience).

2. it’s pretty important for his development as a character and the story that he’s an idiot

and how tf did he just know it was kronos all along??? that is such a strange conclusion to come to given that there was NO EVIDENCE AND ITS THE MOST RANDOM THING EVER (show wise)

i hate how they all just know everything and the traps aren’t really traps. you can’t have a good story without good conflict, and you can’t have good conflict if your characters are geniuses who know every myth ever and every weakness of every monster.

if they were to cut anything from the book, it should’ve been crusty’s waterbeds. idk why they had that in there if percy was just going to explain who he was and that’s really about it. the underworld isn’t even connected to the store in the book?????

they make dumb plot changes that don’t need to be made; ex. four pearls and percy finding the bolt in his bag before hades

poseidon is british for some reason (idk that just makes no sense)

one gripe i’ve had from this show from the beginning is how there’s so much telling and very little showing. we spend so much time talking about things that either aren’t relevant or are unnecessary. this really gets me bc everything else that actually is important is rushed because of it. the storytelling in the show is just overall terrible compared to the book. every good writing element was snatched away for the show. the info dumping is actually crippling (speaking of crippling, why tf is hephaestus not crippled and ugly? that contradicts the myth itself????).

i read these books when i was ten, and they were very special to me. as a book reader, i see a ton of flaws in the show. as a writer, i see a ton of flaws in the show. i really can’t imagine how non-book readers enjoy this show because i don’t think it would make sense to them, and because of all the other reasons about poor storytelling and whatnot.

anyway i’m mad about these things and the little things as well because we were promised a book accurate show, and this is just not it.

me convincing rick to let me rewrite the entire thing:

[waywardangel-wilds]

Another HC because I’m in the midst of brainstorming for fic writing purposes:

[once again, this is just my hc, no one who doesn’t want to has to accept it!]

Hobbies.

Peeta and Katniss both have their individual activities - Painting, baking, hunting, writing, music, etc. they’ve, of course, shared each of those with the other but none of those are something they could consistently do together because it’s just not the others jam. But thing is, they want to have a shared activity! That’s where the garden comes in.

Peeta started the garden (unwittingly) when he planted the primroses. They both take care of those flowers with so much love and patience, it was only natural to plant something else eventually.

Now, their house doesn’t have an aesthetic garden - neither of them knows the first thing about landscaping - their garden is all about life and learning and utility.

I’ve always pictured their Victor Village house as a large ornate house on a big plot of land. So, there’s a lot of space in the front and the back. I think their actual garden is in the back of the house, just because I’ve always pictured their kitchen in the back of the house with a door leading right to it, but I might be wrong about that layout. When it comes to houses in books I tend to create an entire layout in my head based on vibes and not the text at all haha. Like I literally have a stronger mental image of their house than of either of their faces lol.

Anyway, the garden is in the back. There’s a homemade scarecrow there, made up entirely of Peeta’s old shirts which have been stitched together and stuffed with hay and leaves.

They grow all kinds of food - they’re those neighbours that always ask if you’d like some tomatoes in the summer ‘cause they’ve got lots! There’s also all kinds of medicinal plants - think of the garden as a natural next step from the plant book.

Sometimes, Katniss teaches her music/daycare class/group of kids about plants via the garden. She does this before taking them into the woods to get them familiar with the shapes and colours they’re going to be looking for. She then tests them in the woods, “who can find me a katniss root?”

I see their garden as natural / not like a farm or a typical garden - like the plants might be in rows (?), sure, but no one is controlling in which direction they grow, nor are they necessarily divided by type. Like when you’re growing rubber, they would plant it in the way that makes most sense for that plant - big distances between each plant (for rubber not for like every plant lol), plus keeping it side-by-side (root wise) with another plant that does well with it, in the case of rubber I cannot remember if that’s corn or sugarcane? It doesn’t matter, you get my point, plus they’re not planting rubber in twelve lol. It’s more like those forest gardens you can sometimes find - the ones indigenous people used to plant back in the day? Along their migration routes? Something like that. I don’t see Katniss valuing some sort of Capitol-imposition looking garden that doesn’t jive with the surrounding environment. She wants something that feels like the woods and looks like it belongs. So it’s all native plants and vegetables, and they’re planted in a way that makes sense for the ecosystem.

My point is that their garden is their shared hobby. They spend a lot of time back there, so much time in fact that Haymitch sometimes drags a chair there to hang out with them too. Peeta set up a hammock between 2 fruit trees (I wanna say plum trees but idk what ppl in Appalachia would grow so ignore me) and is known to fall asleep in it all the time. The first summer they started spending time there Peeta got horribly sunburned so he has a designated hat for being out in the sun (“the Peeta hat” to Katniss and “The Hick Hat” to Haymitch). Katniss teaches Peeta all her food preservation secrets -- Peeta already knew some stuff, it’s not like the bakery didn’t also have to keep a store of food, it’s just that Katniss knows even more things you can do with food — their cellar is filled with everything you can think of, pickled, fermented, even dried. Everything.

When the kids are born it’s a family activity for as long as they’re interested — they grow out of it eventually, choosing to spend their afternoons playing in the street or at a friends house instead — they get a real kick out of planting seeds, picking fruits, yanking out roots, and weeding and checking for bugs. The girl did a whole science project on it once, it was all about the water cycle and the role of plants. Katniss proudly keeps a picture of her and the project on the fridge. It hangs there for the rest of her life.

When they’re elderly they still take care of the garden. The kids hem and haw about their knees, heat stroke, water intake, sinkholes, and the possibility of a sudden and unexpected earthquake. Their worries are soundly ignored. The plants keep growing, the food keeps coming. By this point there’s a number of pet graves (buttercup descendants, a few fish, and an ill-fated bunny that was not killed by the children it was an accident!) When Katniss and Peeta are no longer around, one of their kids keeps the garden going, they keep the house in the family and teach the next generation about what plants are good for eating and which ones are good for healing. Can you believe it?They even have a book!

[trekkiedean]

the thing about cas's arc in the first half of s9 is that it's a prime example of why I cannot look at this show through a purely watsonian lens. there is no way to make it make sense except bad writing. and "idk it was bad writing" is a copout with most shows, and can very much be a copout with this show, depending on how selectively you apply it. but also, with spn, not only is the writing bad, but the show is SO hyperaware of itself as a story that I have a lot of trouble ignoring the doylist factors, the way I would at least try to in another show.

like, I have a ton of logistic/plot questions about the whole early-s9 situation, because the basic facts just don't really make sense from 9x03 to 9x06 to 9x09. but more than that, I feel like any purely watsonian explanation requires me to either throw out a lot of dean's past characterization (I can be pretty hashtag deancrit, but I do think it's ooc for him to kick cas out with absolutely nothing) or a lot of cas's future characterization (I think cas's takeaway was that dean does not care enough about him to help him unless it will serve some larger purpose of dean's to do so, and I think that informs a lot of cas's future behavior). like, the potential watsonian explanations are:

dean offered cas some supplies/cash/a fake id, and cas was just too proud/hurt/stupid to accept

dean offered cas some supplies/cash/a fake id, and cas took them, but he was too proud/hurt to keep them or too stupid to keep them safe/use them wisely

dean is a complete sociopath who doesn't give a shit about cas and kicked him out with literally nothing but the clothes on his back, and cas's self-esteem is so low that he thinks it was okay

dean is too stupid to even realize that cas might need supplies/money/resources

and I don't find any of those explanations satisfying, because there are things in other episodes that undercut or refute all of them: if dean genuinely just doesn't give a shit about cas, why did he bother trying to find him in 9x03 in the first place, or care when april killed him and get gadreel to bring him back? if dean didn't give him anything in the way of money/supplies, then how did cas get from kansas to idaho, or get a job with no papers or bank account? but if dean did give him cash/the magic credit card and fake identity papers, then why did cas need the job in the first place and/or why is he sleeping in the back room? and if he didn't, if cas is truly in such a dangerously precarious situation in 9x06 because he has nothing else, then how, in 9x09, does he have a fairly nice, well-fitting suit and presumably a fake badge and a car? if dean gave him some money to begin with, and cas is just clueless with money and blew it all, then how did he get savvy enough, between 9x03 and 9x09, to acquire all of those things himself? if dean gave him money and/or the suit, badge, and car to begin with, but cas was too proud and hurt to make use of them, what changed his mind? if he has those things in 9x09 because dean helped him after 9x06 and either gave them to him or gave him the means/money to get them, then why wouldn't dean have just done that in the first place? if dean didn't help him at all, despite knowing what a dangerous situation cas was in before they found him in 9x03, then why does dean approach cas in 9x06 like he expects any reaction but completely justified anger and hurt, and treat cas's new job like it's a silly little thing cas is doing for funsies rather than his best chance at survival? but then, why is cas treating the whole thing like it was no big deal in 9x09?

meanwhile, the doylist explanations are:

the episodes in question were written by privileged white people who have no idea what actual poverty and homelessness entail, and didn't care enough to do some basic research (or even like, ask the cast member who'd actually experienced serious poverty and homelessness for some input)

there was little to no coordination among the writers to ensure story or emotional continuity across episodes (if you told me berens and buckleming just didn't read each others' scripts or watch each others' episodes I would 100% believe you)

they didn't want to pay misha for enough episodes to show us what the fuck was going on with cas in the 9x03-9x09 span, let alone have him kicking around the bunker

and also possibly

everyone knew that if cas was kicking around the bunker, and they put him in the standard hunter uniform, dean's spirit would fully possess jackles and derail every scene by flinging him mouth-first onto misha's dick

and all of those make a lot more sense to me than any purely watsonian explanation is ever going to. and again, I do think that shrugging and saying "bad writing" can be a copout, and with other shows, I would make more of an effort to at least try and find a satisfying watsonian explanation, but spn is not only badly-written, but self-aware, even self-obsessed, in a way that other shows are not, so it's a lot harder for me to just disregard the non-diagetic factors. so I do tend to think that if you choose a watsonian explanation for the whole thing, it can be kind of a rorschach test, because you basically have to decide which character's development to prioritize, dean's or cas's.

[bambiilooza]

okay so ii thought this would be fun soooo

what epic saga is ur fav nd least fav, what is ur fav song in each saga, ur least fav in each saga, your overall fav and least fav

feel free to ramble and/or go off on a tangent about hidden meanings i fw that shit very hard

oh boy. these were really hard to narrow down. thanks for this ask btw, it was fun!!

my fav saga :

the underworld!! ik it's the shortest but each song is such a banger and it's the only one for where each song gets better from the last. all three of the songs are in my top 10 easy.

the polites cameo broke ppl's hearts ik but it was amazing to hear steven in the role again. i love his voice. anticlea was amazing too.

no longer you was actual fire. i LOVE epic's version of tirisias a lot and his voice is perfect. the orchestration in that song is actually beautiful and both actors absolutely kill it.

and monster? oh i'll take about monster later

least fav saga :

cyclops saga. i like it but i don't have strong feelings about the songs except for my goodbye. plot wise, it's important ofc but i dont find myself listening to it as often cuz it's just sad. i do like all the songs tho

i will say polyamorous the cyclops sounds REALLY GOOD in the remastered version. woah what a voice improvement holy moly

i really love my goodbye tho. that song is in my top 10. the 'YOU'RE ALONE!' is actually insane. i need like a 100 animatics for it. it's too good.

fav song in each saga :

just a man

i LOVE jay's performance here. this song made me cry when i first listened to it. i mean it's just everything.

i think most ppl thought 'oh musical about odyssey call epic probably silly boyish fun' and for the most part horse and the infant leads u on with that. then THIS SONG happens and ur crying on the floor.

i love watching animatics for it too. unlike most songs in epic, there is no action in this song, it's pure agony of a man grappling with one of the hardest things anyone can do and it's fucking amazing.

and i said it before just now but the VOCALS. stunning. perfect. jaw dropping.

in my ideal epic animated movie, what i want is for horse and the infant and just a man BEFORE the title card drop. and when ody sings the last line of just a man, it fades to the title screen. then it would be daytime and full speed ahead can happen.

idk if that makes sense but i think it would slay so hard.

my goodbye

OH MY GOD. THIS SONG. IT IS HEARTBREAKING

the callbacks to warrior of the mind takes me by surprise everytime like holy shit she really just said that?? then ody's 'YOU'RE ALONE!'

it's perfect. the pure rage from both of them is just so good.

it's my favourite saga ender. it's so cold and just wow. like athena was in one song before but the EMOTION from both of them is enough to make u wanna cry.

ruthlessness

see one part of my brain is like 'oh that's interesting the villain and hero have conflicting moralities and the hero may become like the villain and he is establishing the hero's thinking as flawed for his purpose.' then the other half of my brain is dead from how much steven rodriguez SLAYS the performance.

the lyrics are great as with all the song. the callback to remember them? chef's kiss. poseidon really sat down with his son and took notes for his villain number lol

but my fav things about it the performance. the poseidon voice is so so so so good. and i'm not saying it in a 'haha i find it hot' way. i mean i do but also, it's just perfect for poseidon. he sounds like if salt could talk and that's a compliment btw. his sass and personality is great too.

'but noooo' i just. i love poseidon's voice so much.

and i am shaking in my boots for get in the water.

there are other ways

i love the route jay went with the plot. this portrayal of circe is so important to me, i love her sm. i read the circe book just before the circe saga - and i liked it overall - but the ending left a horrible taste in my mouth so this was a very welcome change.

it's so well done. our boy ody '🥺my wife🥺'-ing his way out of the situation? perfect. ik it's more complicated but the end of the circe saga is such a good character moment for him.

and CIRCE. CIRCE MY QUEEN ILY.

her sympathising with ody and helping him is great. i love that she gets fleshed into, why she does what she does and when she sees the good in ody. she really is a loving queen and i love her sm.

her vocals - especially at the end - are stunning. i love tayla sindal's voice for circe. like with poseidon, that is the perfect voice for the character.

i really love gigi's animatic of this song and that's just how i imagine it happening. it's actually perfect. my fav song was a tie between this and done for but the animatic made me fall in love with this one.

monster

odysseus gives into the pam pam 🦖🦖

it's my favourite song in epic. i have a LOT of thoughts on it but i actually cannot put them into words.

mutiny

this one is fresh so my thoughts will not be cohesive. the amount of callbacks in this song actually kills me.

i cried at the livestream. exactly at the lyric 'ody we're never gonna get to make it home' i mean.

ODY. ODY not CAPTAIN. I CAN'T END THIS. poor choice of words nm

but i will say i've seen some takes on eurylochus that i definately do not agree with and he's one of my fav characters. i'm sad he's gone, his acting and presence was amazing and underrated in all the other sagas and he's just a great character.

least fav in each saga:

i like all of these songs btw. i don't dislike any song. i don't wanna got into detail cuz for all the answer is just i like the others more.

full speed ahead

polyphemous

storm

wouldn't you like

the underworld

different beast

winner : monster

second place : there are other ways

third place : ruthlessness

my overall least favourite song : polyphemous/different beast. again i like these songs, i just prefer others

[avelera]

Random thoughts on the D&D movie in no particular order:

I loved the jokes. All of them. All the stupid jokes. I was their target audience and they succeeded at making me cackle at dumb shit while my partner's soul left his body

The landscape shots were breathtaking and honestly made me tear up at the beauty in places. In the theater, I remember thinking, "Yeah, FUCK yeah, these guys understood the assignment!" Nine out of ten times, I think fantasy should be animated, because if you don't pour millions into the budget, the action looks like crummy LARPers wearing silly costumes in the woods. This movie understood that if you're doing live action fantasy, you owe your audience some damn beautiful landscape shots and damn did they deliver on some beautiful landscape shots.

(cut for spoilers)

I sincerely appreciated Holga and her husband being divorced but still amicable. I'm so tired of the trope of exes being evil or awful. They just seemed like two adults who wanted to love each other but the circumstances of being together doomed them from the start. It was played for laughs but it was just a moment I genuinely enjoyed as divorcee. I also loved her ex's new wife looking exactly like her, both for the gag, and for what it said about both of them being each other's type even if it didn't work out.

I also cackled like a hyena at Holga's halfling fetish while also finding it rather sweet and enjoyed imagining all the reasons why she might have that preference lol

As a basic Drizzt Do'Urden loving bitch, I squeed when I saw Icewind Dale on the map. Then I had a moment between that and the Underdark of wondering, "Am I gonna see him? Even in the distance? Am I going to see my first love, Drizzt Do'Urden??"

And then I realized: the Paladin. The Paladin is Drizzt. Only good person who came out of a nation destroyed by evil. Too good for this world, too pure, to the point of being sanctimonious but is also a hottie. Xenk is Drizzt.

Oh, I also squeed when I saw the Underdark.

I appreciated how knowledge of D&D improved certain story beats (like the gelatinous cube or the displacer beast) but wasn't required to enjoy the plot. That's how references should be done.

The most agonizingly cringe moment for me was when Holga was dying. Just. I appreciated the beat. It couldn't go any other way. They delivered on their set up with the tablet, the only question was ever, "Who besides his wife is going to get saved with it?" And it made perfect sense who it was. I'm glad they didn't try to pull a fast one. But the scene was like... 10 seconds too long of her dying for me to not roll my eyes. We know you're going to use the tablet on her, dipshit, please keep this moving.

BUT I think the reason they did it was to land a sincere moment with the daughter, and I appreciated that. I think the scene could have been improved by Holga being like, "Don't you fucking dare use that tablet on me!" and then smacking him when he did it anyway and then he'd have to explain that he set out to save his daughter's mother, not his wife, who has passed on, etc etc. but I'm not sure that would have been much better so maybe the drawn-out opera death scene and the sincerity was better in the end idk.

I KINDA wanted to see the actors as the players playing D&D BUT I know why they didn't and it was a wise choice, it undermines the drama too much to say it doesn't matter because it's a game. Maybe if instead they'd should the characters playing D&D in universe as normal humans? Idk

I thought there'd be more Xenk? I thought he'd be in the arena with them? A little bummed but I also loved his GM NPC energy.

The combat and camera work was great! Genuinely enjoyable and well made, I appreciated the artistry that went into it.

Loved the bardic distraction scene for truly capturing the chaos of a D&D party's attempt at breaking and entering

Loved the portals bit for truly capturing the strategy and planning that can go into a functioning D&D campaign's clever heist, even if I'm sure it would have taken 5 sessions to plot out IRL

Honestly, it was just a fun, solid film! It's been a while since I've seen such a fun, solid film! I would buy it and put it on in the background to just enjoy and not angst over it! It was worth the price of admission, it was faithful to the spirit of D&D instead of sneering at it the way the early 2000s one did, and I had a good time! It wasn't the highest of art but it would have been weird if it had been! I liked it a lot!

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

ALSO. HEYHEYHEY. probably u will have to wait until after i finish 39 to answer this but holy shit dude. how does this translate to new haven wards??? i KNOW youve thought about it man. oh my fucking god. what r we doing to wibby. wraith. <- i really like this for him btw. haven't they been through enough!!!!!! also is this related 2 the second trigger situation it HAS to be right??

OKAY!!!!! HI !!!! HERE IT IS MY THOUGHTS ON WIBBY SECOND TRIGGER !!!!!!!!

when i say thoughts i mean this is less going to be an essay like my other nhw posts and more just. me throwing spaghetti at the wall and then turning to you like :D!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK etc etc. i havent rlly thought about this like... plot wise??? or tried to make it make sense yet. so dont be disappointed when this is sort of short in comparison

anyway. for the LONGEST time i thought we were going to make the "absorbing kemuri's soul" thing his trigger event so that he could have the smoke powers, but.... honestly in comparison to everything else that moment was not NEARLY traumatizing enough

the reason i like this specific event as his second trigger is like. its SO fucking similar to his first. in his first trigger event, he fell off the cliff. he was still alive at the bottom, but unable to move or speak or call for help. he was stuck there for [x amount of time] but never actually triggered until someone found him and took him back. in this.... he literally gets torn in fucking half. but hes still alive. he can feel it, he knows whats happening, its the most terrifying and painful and miserable thing hes ever been through. again, he cant move. he cant talk. he cant call for help. the others dont even realize hes still alive at first, so he can hear them screaming. he still doesnt trigger until.. dakota. dakota, who can Feel it. dakota, who rushes into the danger zone as soon as he's able to and knows hes alive and desperately tries to push him back together, the whole time crying about "its gonna be okay, we'll fix it, you're gonna be okay" and just. desperately trying to do anything. THATS when he triggers.

the thing is thoughhhh. i dont think the second trigger is what actually heals him. i think he triggers and every single one of the capes in that clearing goes down for the vision, INCLUDING muse. wraith is one of the first ones to come back to consciousness but. hes still fucking torn in half! he can feel this horrible new power but he cant do anything about it because hes still got his guts all over the forest floor! uhhhh for the way he gets healed theres maybe a couple options,,, either trickster also gets the vision and thinks its hilarious that he caused a trigger event and has muse stitch wibby up himself or likee... he has to stay like that until they beat trickster and get ashe back and then they have to keep ashe in his breaker state until he fixes william. or theres some sort of.. before they beat trickster or whatever they force him to control muse into fixing him. IDK. something along those lines.

AS FOR HIS POWERS...... IDK. i dont know what they would be. i want them to be sort of like. functionally similar to the smoke powers i guess???? but maybe not explicitly the same. i still want him to be able to give xavier and david fucking awful horrible nightmare visions. i think that would probably fall under either master or shaker category????? IDK help me out with this one. also like u said before we're gonna have to fuck with the timeline and have at least the belltech part of greyscale happen after the muse final battle. which. ohhh my god i have a lot of feelings about that for the freedom city wards especially. oaugh.

I THINK THATS IT FOR NOW... IDK GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS I KNOW EVERYTHING IS SO FRESH IN UR MIND BUT IF U HAVE ANY IDEAS I WOULD LOOOOOVE TO HEAR THEM

[wife-of-all-dilfs]

also question about writing bc right now a bitch (it’s me, hi !!!) is struggling. how do u decide on plots & how do u structure them? bc i have two separate fic ideas & i do plan on writing both of them but not only am i struggling to decide which i wanna do first bc i really like them both but i also don’t know how to structure either of them.

i’m also procrastinating like a motherfucker so yk that’s super fun <333

i didn't see this in my inbox. i'm so sorry, forgive me, por favor 🙏

HI!! honestly, i really struggle with creating plots, it often takes me a long time to piece something together which factors into my excruciatingly long writing process.

i typically get inspiration from movies, tv shows, and books, and i give them my own original twist. i self-indulge a lot with my writing, meaning i write what i would enjoy in a relationship or i channel my emotions into what I'm writing (sadness, happiness, hornyness, what).

my advice (and i do realise i'm a little late to be giving advice) would be to write the fic that you resonate more with, the one you have a clearer picture in your head of, the one you are more emotionally connected with and know you will enjoy writing all the way through to the end.

structure-wise, i just dot-point vague descriptions of how I want the story to pace—different characters actions, internal dialogue, verbal dialogue, setting description, etc. it is very basic and messy, but it's just a guideline to keep your writing juices flowing.

e.g.:

character a walks over to character b

character b looks character a up and down, causing them to blush

[write description of character a's feelings for character b]

character b flirts with character a

"dialogue, flirting"

they get interupted

it's a shitty example but it explains what I'm trying to get across.

also, make sure your pacing isn't too fast or slow; writing a story is like sailing down a river—at some points, the water is going to flow more slowly, giving you time to savour your surroundings and create a visceral image in your mind's eye.

at other points, the water will turn to rapids, and only the most basic descriptions are necessary to the plot. deciding on which pace to use is mostly done on instinct and practice.

if you still can't decide which fic to write first, you can always try writing both at the same time. you aren't bound by any rules. write in a way you enjoy, even if it seems unorthodox to others! <333

idk if this made any sense, but I do hope it was at least a little bit helpful lmaoo

[butterflydm]

s3 spec (distracting myself from waiting for the new episode)

Well, it's a Thursday morning and it's hours until the new episode (plus I have to wait until after work to watch) so... wild speculation about s3! Guaranteed to have many wrong guesses! Let's go!

(contains spoilers through book 8: the path of daggers)

What is it going to mean in a practical sense that s3 will be a 'closer' adaptation of book 4?

What do the characters do in book 4 that needs to be adapted?

I'll start with the easiest person first: Perrin needs to meet Faile and begin the process of falling in love; and he needs to go to the Two Rivers to defend it from Whitecloaks and Trollocs. This is Perrin's clearest and most cinematic plotline in the entire series. It's also been pretty cleanly set up in the show already.

In the books, he goes to the Two Rivers with Loial, Gaul, Bain, Chiad, and Faile.

speculation: the show, he will first meet Faile in the Two Rivers, there as a Hunter of the Horn; Bain and Chiad will go with him in Aviendha's stead, because Aviendha will obligated to go back to the 3FL; Loial has a friendship with Perrin and it makes sense that he would go - in the show, Perrin is the person that Loial has spent the most time with and is closest to; Gaul will probably be introduced when we get more Aiel at the start of s3 and will decide to go with Perrin... maybe because Chiad and Bain are going with him?

Alanna and Verin might also likely be waiting for Perrin in the Two Rivers.

Second easiest: Rand needs to go to the Aiel Waste, go to Rhuidean, and become the Car'a'carn. He's already in place to find out at the end of this season or the start of next season that he's potentially the Aiel's Car'a'carn, but needs to prove it. Moiraine may tell him that he needs an army and the Aiel are fierce warriors, plus he may want to learn more about his biological parents and their past. Moiraine and Lan would naturally want to go with him to keep training him, so that part's easy.

In the books, Egwene goes with him to learn how to be a Dreamer from the Aiel Wise Ones. But that's a book 3 plot and she hasn't touched on it at all yet this season. Will we see any hints of her being a Dreamer this season or will that begin at the start of s3?

Theoretically, Egwene doesn't have to go with Rand to Rhiudean -- she could go back to the Tower with Elayne and Nynaeve so that she and Elayne can take their Accepted tests, find out that Liandrin has flown the coop, and get clues on where to chase her. Then she Dreams and learns she needs to go to Rhuidean, and so she... travels there on her own? While Elayne and Nynaeve head off to chase the Black Ajah on their own? This would mean that Liandrin is 100% revealed to Siuan as Black Ajah. idk this part is wobbly for me (narratively, it's so much easier if Egwene just goes to the Waste with Rand)

Mat also needs to go to Rhuidean. If Egwene does go back to the Tower, then Mat could go with her and then onto the Waste (but why would he ever want to go back to the place he was imprisoned for months? a second round of dagger healing?)

It feels like we need the redstone doorway, or something similar, to keep Mat on his path to Rhuidean rather than going back with Perrin to the Two Rivers. That was the question that Mat originally entered with, iirc -- should he go home to the Two Rivers? And he was told to go to Rhuidean instead.

Will the parts of book 4 that happen in Tear mostly happen in Falme instead?

They can't interrogate any Black Ajah, because there aren't any around in Falme, but we could see the bubbles of evil, we could see the redstone doorway (Turak, as a collector of ancient oddities, might be the owner of it in his version), and we could get the beginnings of the Forsaken Civil War that is kinda happening around this time, as Lanfear works to defend Rand while another Forsaken is sending Shadowspawn to attack him. None of that really needs to happen in Tear specifically.

On an interpersonal level, we might get Rand and Egwene's final breakup in the first episode or so of s3. They've both been through so much, they're on different paths, etc.

The pace in the series has been pretty fast (the Seanchan showed up this season so much sooner than I expected).

New characters that s3 will introduce: Faile for sure; a bunch of Aiel for Rand & co to interact with; and Elayne & Nynaeve may still end up dealing with a Seanchan who was left behind when the Seanchan run away at the end of this season. They might introduce Melindhra next season, to give her relationship with Mat time to develop before the big betrayal. When I did my reread, I was actually really surprised at how little Melindhra there was. We'll probably be getting Moghedien and Asmodean, and potentially Rahvin or Graendal as well. We kinda need both a 'claim Rand' faction and a 'kill Rand' faction in the Forsaken.

We'll probably get an episode focused around the Battle of the Two Rivers (Perrin episode). Hopefully we'll get a focused episode for Rhuidean as well (Rand & Mat episode). So that's two out of eight. The coup should happen this season -- maybe that will be our big midpoint moment, when the momentum of the season shifts? That's three. And the finale would be Rand at Alcair Dal & then capturing Asmodean, while Nynaeve faces off against Moghedien?

So: first episodes does the setup of expectations for the season; then we travel to our new locations from Falme; we get introduced to Caemlyn at some point (are we going to have multiple episodes with scenes in Caemlyn?); boom the coup happens; boom Rhuidean happens; boom the Battle of the Two Rivers happens; then Rand goes to announce himself as Car'a'carn and faces off against Asmodean and ends up with him as a captive teacher.

ep1: Falme taking the place of Tear in terms of set-up events

ep2: having left Falme at the end of ep1, we arrive at our destinations? maybe this is Egwene & Elayne's Accepted tests

ep3: Perrin arrives in the Two Rivers, Wondergirls leave the Tower (again), Rand arrives in the 3FL

ep4: the Tower coup happens when Elaida arrives to find Elayne missing (again)

ep5: Rhuidean?

ep6: something something... maybe Nynaeve & Elayne's plotline?

ep7: battle of the Two Rivers

ep 8: alcair dal & asmodean

Things from the first four books left to be tackled in future books at that point: just the taking of Tear from the end of bk3, basically. Mat's luck, potentially, though that might still get introduced this season (not sure there's time but, hey, it very well could be).

It does make sense to me to wait on introducing Tear until Callandor actually matters in the story which isn't until... wow, The Path of Daggers, I think, is the first time that Callandor really matters in the story. That's when Rand uses it against the Seanchan and it messes him up and he ends up killing some of his own people. Which would mean that it wouldn't need to happen until even after The Box (TM) and Dumai's Wells and such. Is that right? That feels so late in the story for the book 3 Quest Item to actually matter!

Hmm, Tear as happening AFTER the kidnapping would basically make it replace Illian, which I could see working (Rand ruling Illian literally never matters narratively in the books - it's never really a full setting the way that Cairhien, Tear, or Caemlyn are; it has a strong emotional beat of Rand feeling like he's earned it as Rand al'Thor and not just the Dragon Reborn, but that kind of beat can be done in other ways).

idk it depends in part on how they're going to be handling Caemlyn and on Elayne's storylines, because she and Rand need a solid chunk of time together. How and when will the show carve out the time for them? Could the Black Ajah hunt actually lead our main players back to Cairhien, and they meet up with Rand there with the Aiel?

haha okay I am trying to peer WAY too far in the future and we just do not have enough information for that right now. I'm just way too impatient for tonight's episode, lol.

[the-aesthetic-weasel]

Some things that are wrong with s4 Umbrella Academy in no particular order:

I love this show and the characters and I just wanna vent about everything that pissed me off the most ok? Obviously super spoiler heavy so I'm putting it under a cut

Even the setup at the beginning was weird and made no sense. I get what they were trying to show - all of them are trying to live in reality without their powers and they are all miserable. Some of it was obviously just like. Could happen but a lot of it was just out of character and made no sense:

1.1 -Alison: Where the fuck is Ray. Are you telling me that Raymond Chestnut, who was a proper pillar of morality with 50's sensibilities, just WALKED OUT on his family? Bullshit. Someone had the idea "make them all miserable" stuck in their head and got way too trigger-happy.

1.2 -Diego+Lila: It's highly improbable they would end up like this. Why are show writers so fixated on the idea that this is what having kids has to look like? Even if they did very well end up living in the suburbs, they would have some kind of secret bullshit going on with Diego being a batman-style vigilante and chasing the city's crime boss Lila. Job wise it's also stupid - Lila is smart, capable and speaks a million languages, there's no way she would be a stay at home mum, especially with her whole family living with them. Diego could definitely also find a job that would make him happier - a cop, bouncer, even working a trade, something to do with metal. Also six years is actually not that long. Even if the marriage didn't last, they wouldn't change so completely into different people.

1.3 - Why is Five working for the CIA, and why is he taking orders from some rando without even argueing. He should be drinking mimosas and growing orchids in Florida. I feel like he would probably enroll in university just to tell all his professors they are idiots.

2. Why does Klaus, who is obviously having a very hard time without his power, protest so much against getting it back? He doesn't need drugs anymore to keep the ghosts from his brain, he's spent three seasons coming to terms with his powers and not needing to surpres them with drugs. Did we just forget about that? Also his whole plot is completely pointless. It was just the writers going "What should we do with Klaus? Idk give hime a weird adventure with sex and drugs. Also make sure the CGI dog is so bad it pulls you out of the story and makes you think this is pixar for a moment)"

3. Also, where do they all live? Why were they driving all day to Maine or something and then they get into a car accident and Klaus just walks off, resurfacing in Alison's house? What?

4. Why was that girl in a squid? That was never explained and how did the Keepers know she was important?

5. Now the big one - the absolute lunacy of Lila/Five. The whole thing was BAD. Not just because Five wouldn't fuck his brother's wife (I actually don't think he would have such a moral problem with cheating, but he would at leas acknowledge it), but he would never fuck Lila. It would actually be Lila who wouldn't cheat on Diego, originally she fell in love with him against all odds and it was such a massive, complicated lovestory, she wouldn't just completely forget about all that. And even if they did fuck, they would never fall in love and be all disgustingly sweet about it. Also neither of them would ever settle down in a house and just stop trying to get back to their family and the apocalypse. Especially Lila just spent the whole season unhappy about being settled down - she wouldn't just grow strawberries while her husband is fighting the apocalypse. It was complete bullshit.

6. Why didn't Victor just tell Ben about the particles and about how can they go on happily snogging forever if he just lets him suck out those particles. It's not that difficult to say.

7. Abigail Hargreeves could do a lot of smarter things than just orchestrate the apocalypse because she's mad at her husband and she thinks they should all die. Also Reginald going "Oh yes love, that's actually the best solution you are so clever. Let's die"

8. What are Alison's powers. Is it just "general superpower" now? I've been wondering that about Victor for a while now but they were always quite vague with it, now it just seems they went completely off the rails.

Ok I think I'm done now. There was other dumb shit but these are the things that made me the most angry.

[sunshine-embry]

A Silly Little BMC Au :D

I got lazy and didn't do any art but I'm too excited to post this.

So it's called opposite au, and I'm gonna yap about my idea a lot so press read more if you wanna be flash banged by text :)

.・��-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.Characters.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Jeremy: He is now a popular punk kid. Still friends with Michael, but hates Rich and Jake - he actually bullies them - and still has a crush on Christine. Instead of his parents divorcing, his mom died. Personality wise, he's now super super mean and that's important.

Michael: BIG EMO. Still friends with Jeremy, but is now player 2 iykwim. I have nothing else to say about him :/ Also has homophobic parents while he's gay idk :/

Christine: Anti-social math nerd. Very shy, yet somehow very popular. She doesn't actually like Jeremy all that much, mainly because he bullies Rich and Jake. Also hates Michael, but that isn't plot relevant. Also very minimalist.

Rich: Nicest kid in school. Can you see the plot so far? Anyway, just overall very very nice. That's his entire personality. Also imagine his entire closet being those types of shirts that say "in my mind I am holding a frog' and things like that.

Jake: Stereotypical anti-social nerd. That's basically it. Also his entire closet is just sweater vests . Also also still best friends with Rich.

Chloe: Second smartest girl in school. Basically hella cutecore. I don't have many ideas for the girls :/

Brooke: Smartest girl in school. Also tomboy

Jenna: Prettiest and most popular girl in school. Girly-girl

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.Plot.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Act 1

Jeremy likes Christine who in the mathletes. Michael manages to convince Jeremy to join the mathletes, in which Jeremy asks Christine out. Christine obviously says no because Jeremy is a bully ect ect.

So Jeremy goes to the bathroom to take a break from the nonsense math where he sees Rich washing his hands. Rich introduces Jeremy to a SQUIP to make Jeremy more nice.

So Jeremy and Michael go to the mall and buy a SQUIP for Jeremy, which need to be taken with lemon & lime Sprite. So he takes that and goes to the mall store(?) and sees Brooke and Chloe.

Since they never really talked before, and since Brooke's impressed by how nice Jeremy is, she asks to take to him on a date to Denny's (I REFUSE TO CHANGE HER TAKING HIM TO DENNY'S)

Jeremy politely accepts, even though the SQUIP tells him not to, but then ghosts Brooke.

So the next day, Jeremy goes to the mathletes meeting again and Christine tells Jeremy that she has a crush on Jake who's also there because he's a nerd.

Christine and Jake start to date, making Jeremy big sad, so he dates Brooke to get back at Christine.

Act 2

Jake throws a Halloween party at his house because he's trying to become popular. Basically everything is the same until Rich sets a fire.

Rich goes around not so politely asking if anybody has any cherry Sprite.

Of course, nobody does, so he sets Jake's house on fire. It makes sense. So the rumors go spiral like usual, blah, blah, blah.

So Rich - after he leaves the hospital - holds a sleepover at his house, inviting Jake, Jeremy, Brooke, Chloe and Jenna

So the Squip starts being not so nice to Jeremy and tries to force him to Squip his friends, in which he does.

The Play happens but it's in a sleepover scenario, Michael breaks in through the open window once Jeremy calls him, the whole thing (I kinda wrote myself into a corner by making Christine in the mathletes instead of the play so just work with me)

And yeah. I kinda didn't know what to do with the second half. that's it :/ Might write a fic about this.

[lifenconcepts]

Y’all have no idea what you’re doing when you mess up a character. Sure, a bit of blood is nice, but if you REALLY loved them then you would put them in misery and anguish. here are some ideas :3

physical, emotional, mental distress, ill, harm..

Chop off a limb, their reaction can be plentiful expressive and entertaining.

Make an ordinary human quality an over abundance. there’s lots of opportunity here. Such as too much hunger (basic) or having enhanced vision (sensitive eyes too) or too much blood in the body or lots of one substance or limb like having 2000 eyelashes idk man. Make the consequences believable so it doesn’t resemble a superpower (like super hearing but their ears constantly are in pain and they get migraines from it and they ring).

Throw them into an unlucky situation where their vehicle messes up and if they’re on public transport then it just brings them somewhere wildly different than what they wanted would be nice if they also didn’t have a safe place.

Give them a sudden overwhelming emotion, play god, make them absolutely manic or depressive or unprompted hostile. It’s fun.

Give them a random delusion. There’s lots of possibilities here from commonly represented ones like feeling watch’s and what not but you can experiment! Make them afraid to take off their clothes, make them unable to walk through door frames, make them disconnected with their body (could be one on its own), make em irrationally afraid of pots, make them desire to destroy every slug in the world, there’s so much creativity to be unleashed!

Get rid of the most loved and prized thing in their life, this one’s a classic.

How would they respond to threats? Threats to their well being, to their home, to their belongings, to their financial stability, to their families, to their friends and pets, to their sanity, to their body, to their life?

Teach them a false belief and allow them to destroy themselves.

lead them into a false sense of security and rip it out of them at the very moment they need it most.

fuck it. Teleport them to a messed up place. Crumbling building, country without the language they speak, planet where there’s no air, they’re suddenly in the sky, no recollection how they got there.

Ruin their job or hobby for them.

The one thing that’s least likely to happen happens and what seems to be a one in a quadrillion chance actually happens (such as a bit of dust travelling so fast it blind them, or a sandwich causes them to slip and slide down the stairs and crash into a metal wall).

Make nobody able to understand them (interpret it however. Could be just language wise or just unable to comprehend their bodily cues and constantly misunderstand and misread their behaviours and thoughts).

Eh strip them away from their humanity or something. No more emotions, no more soul, no more love, no more morals. Only pain and suffering.

have them choose between two things equally dear to them (common trope but not common enough).

Make them a sad song personified, take Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence for example, or any of The Smith’s songs (incredible, really).

Make them suddenly have a desire to destroy themselves, an idealised fascination with something strange such as wanting to see red on themselves or want to feel the raw bones in their hand.

A tad bit of insanity is always wonderful. Truly.

ANYHOO if anyone needs help to think of a plot for their story or fanfic please feel free to request me, I have dozens of theories and ideas of how to not only make a believable thing but also an interesting character and truly effective hurt! I insist, I can help!

[skibasyndrome]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thank you so much @darktwistedgenderplural, @wilmonsfolklore, @iwouldnevergetintofanfic & @earlgrey-lateatnight for tagging me in this!!!! This is so much fun!!! 💜💜💜💜💜

How many works do you have on Ao3?

17! (but only 12 of those "count", the other 5 are 6+ years old)

What's your total Ao3 word count?

107,628

What fandoms do you write for?

Young Royals

Top five fics by kudos

You crave the Applause / Yet hate the Attention

Lavender Haze

It's in the water, baby

Never Letting You Go

Close, Closer

Do you respond to comments?

Yessssss, I really want to reply to every comment I get because I appreciate people taking their time to write them a lot, but sadly I've been super busy this semester and so there are quite a few still waiting to be responded to. But!!! I've seen them, I have and continue to feel over the moon about them and some day you'll all get your replies!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If we're only talking about the current fandom... none? I don't think I've ever given anything an angst ending. I don't even know if I'd be able to do that with Wilmon

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

By that logic, all the rest lmao. I think the ending that made me personally most giddy/happy for my blorbos was probably Lavender Haze because the potential, the big feelings that don't have a name yet, the I-really-wanna-see-you-again of it all? Yeah that one feels the happiest.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not usually, no. Although I had one salty anon who apparently thinks writing about characters being attracted to each other qualifies as fetishizing the actors? Lot to unpack there.

Do you write smut?

Yepppp

Craziest crossover:

I don't think I've ever written anything that could be considered a crossover

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yeah, in the early days of me writing fics people would go around and just... copy a whole fic and post it to their blog instead?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I get comments asking me if people can translate my fics, but I haven't seen a translation thus far, no.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! Would love to try it some time though

All time favourite ship?

Wilmon all the waaaaayyy

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Ugh the list is so long. One thing that I'd LOVE to write but I'm just not sure I've got it in me worldbuilding-wise is a fic where wilmon are ancient greek heroes to be

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told that "filth with feelings" is one of my strengths. Oh and some of my favorite compliments have been ones that said I was good at really getting into a character's (let's be real, it's Wille's) psyche

What are your writing weaknesses?

How long do you have lmao? Idk where to start, hmm. I think I just always question myself and every choice a little too much in general, I have a very weird mix of perfectionism and impatience going on, I start too many new things before old ones are finished, my English isn't as good as it could be, I don't know when to stop rambling...

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I really don't see why you wouldn't use it. I think it's a nice little touch, at least I like it a lot on YR fanfic. It needs to make sense of course, but why not have a casual little "nej" somewhere, I think that's fun!

First fandom you wrote in?

One Direction, in ye olden days (2012) lol

Favourite fic you've written?

Oh this is difficuuuuult, aaaaah. But tbh I like Lavender Haze and the sequel All this shit is new to me a lot. Those are my sweet, sweet babies, because, I think I've said this before, this is my first multichaptered Wilmon fic that isn't "just" pwalp (=porn with a little plot) and I feel like I get to try myself out a lot with All this shit. I like the process of writing it and as for Lavender Haze, there are just some tiny elements in there that I feel immensely proud of.

I'm gonna (very much no pressure) tag @grapehyasynth, @oneofthosebells, @toffeelemon, @goldenwilmon & @piebingo and anyone else who sees this and hasn't been tagged yet (and if I'm double-tagging, apologies!) 💜

[sonnet-of-anarchy]

Had a think about it, and I believe the finale was going to cause issues regardless because, really, we’re never going to be satisfied with an ending we didn’t truly want to happen & that’s ok. It’s ok that it’s divisive because people process differently and we’d all an alternative ideology as to how ghosts should conclude.

Essentially, I’m glad the team could end the show on their terms & write a finale they were happy with, but I equally understand people’s dissatisfaction. For me, there were parts I enjoyed and parts that felt off.

I enjoyed the chess husbands, naturally - Julian’s compulsion to make Robin happy really touched me because he’s never really cared about anyone like that before. Unlike s4 he wasn’t doing it to prove a point - it just came naturally. I thought it was interesting to utilise the ghost’s powers in a situation that ‘made them known’ - I know a similar thing happened in the grey lady but I still enjoyed the irony of Julian finally making an impact on the world but, even in death, it wasn’t with a positive outcome. Some things never change (a point I’ll get to later).

The humour landed in places for me too, like Robin being called a pet and his ‘no’s at feeling Christmassy. I also loved the orgy cut & Cap’s baby noises.

What didn’t work for me, like most people, was their leaving after the last resort’s conclusion. It felt a little contradictory - but half of me feels this episode was written/planned quite some time ago hence some characters regressing to their roots (Thomas and Alison, Kitty’s Jealousy).

I thought Robin’s end speech, for a Robin speech, lacked its usual profundity. Yeah, it had the tear-jerking quality because it was finale but substance-wise it felt quite generic and flat? Idk. Like, we know Christmas isn’t about commercialised commodities, every piece of Christmas media on the planet had told us this.

Equally, the ambiguity of the ending/lack of faces (for me) missed the usual friendliness and domestic quality of ghosts (like the s3 finale, for example). As much as knowing all the ghosts were there it felt odd not to see them as throughout the show the charm came from sharing Alison’s gift, as an audience.

There were a few plot points that to me didn’t quite work for me too. Robin said the ever since Alison he’d enjoyed Christmas yet he doesn’t feel the spirit until she decides to leave? The focus on Mike’s Mum was interesting, but as stated her lone, ‘overbearing’ trope had been utilised previously and took the attention away from the MCs somewhat. Personally, I was never a massive fan of the baby plot so I knew that wouldn’t appeal to me so much. The characters regressing to pre-development felt a little frustrating but I sort of understand why they chose to?

Quintessentially, you stays how you dies for better or worse - and I think they were trying to prove that nothing really changes for the ghosts, nothing ever truly moves on and that juxtaposes with Alison and Mike’s new chapter? Like, the ghosts have grown as a result of her influence but there’s only so much Alison could offer? She’s alive and changing and they sort-of realised that - which is character development in itself, I suppose.

They love her and want her to be happy - the show reached a sort-of cycle in that they wanted her to go because they hate her, wanted her to stay because they need her, then let her go because they love her.

Maybe that’s too generic or cheap for a show like ghosts - maybe the ending lacked substance or sense and, to an extent, I agree. But that’s what I think they were trying to do and in part it worked, in part it didn’t. But I’m glad nobody moved on because it embodies the ‘core’ of ghosts that they’re always there just the same in limbo and the world keeps on spinning.

Anyway, those are my thoughts :)