#im well into the next arc.. but still some stuff takes me back that i want to gif or make some screenshots

[cnnmairoll]

Hello. I was wondering if you could you write a platonic angst story where the reader is Blade's child. I was thinking usually the only thing that could calm Blade down when the mara flared up was Kafka's spirit whisper but what if being around the reader was also able to calm Blade down for some reason because Blade barely spends any time with the reader unless it's during one of his harsh training sessions and one night the reader decides enough was enough and started packing their stuff but they left behind their lucky weapon (that's your choice) and Blade found it the next morning.

A Cup of Cold Tea

Character : Blade Genre : Angst Disclaimer : The relationship between the reader and Blade will be platonic as stated by the request. a/n : This was my first Request, but it didn't take long for me to find out about the anon sending the same request to most of the HSR writers despite their request was closed. I kept it in my drafts since it would be a waste if i just scrap it all out, not to mention my friend helped me out on this one, so I decided, why not just write the final paragraph and post? Things has been quite rough and busy for me so I'm not done with my hiatus, but I hope you enjoy p.s im sorry if he's ooc here, I don't know his chara well

His blade descends on you, striking downwards in a beautiful arc to cleave your skull.

You dodge within an inch of your life, the after image of his sword burning into your retinas as you fall into a clumsy heap on the floor. Still, you spare no moment for yourself as you scramble up, his sword drawing contact to where you lay as soon as you move.

The minutes blends into hours, time being a concept of little value in the face of Blade's viciousness. It takes everything you have to simply focus on the present, dodging and deflecting when you can. You always stay on the defensive in fights like these; any window you have to strike opens itself for only a millisecond before Blade runs it through clean with his sword.

It makes you wonder how you'd fare if Blade gave it his all. You've seen Blade fight on missions enough times to know that he is much deadlier when he is putting in active effort. In contrast, his movements here are much more sloppy and rabid, fueled only by the unadulterated desire to destroy. It is the madness of his mara in its purest form, though it doesn't make his attacks any less fatal, as proven by the countless wounds that litter your body.

Dead within the first minute, probably, comes the stray thought. It proves to cost you when you earn a gash on your arm, blood spilling freely from your left. You grit your teeth; you need to pay attention. There's never a guarantee for your life when Blade gets like this.

Red spider lilies bloom around you like a garden welcoming death. It sings of carnage, reeking of blood that it greedily consumes, begging for more even if it will eventually wilt away. It feels symbolic, in a way. Out of the two of you, only you are the one who is able to experience true death.

Still, you cannot help but find the blooming sea of red beautiful, even if it is always likely to be your final resting place.

There is a lull in Blade's movements, the manic in his eyes glazing into a dull scarlet as he catches his breath. Immortal he may be, but even he has a limit he will reach. It is a mercy; not only does it signify that his mara has not yet reached a point of no return, it also allows you time to recuperate. Had Blade been given unlimited stamina on top of his self-healing, you would surely have died a long time ago.

Now that the man has tired himself, it is time to bring him back.

"Father," you begin. It comes out as a feeble whisper, your lungs still burning from exertion. Still, you must press on. "Are you okay?"

Blade is silent for a beat, then two. This is fine; you can wait for as long as he needs for your words to reach him. You've gone through this routine enough times to memorize his mannerisms, all of which are currently saying that you are in the clear. So long as his grip on his weapon doesn't tighten again, then you have nothing to be afraid of.

Silence reigns within the room, until you recognize the clarity return to Blade's eyes.

"..You," he grunts, voice hoarse. It's scratchy from his manic screaming and laughter, and you make a mental note to add honey to his tea for his throat.

You nod approvingly. "Yes, Father. Are you okay?" You repeat the question, and this time, Blade manages a sharp nod.

You grin, happy at his answer. You open your mouth to speak again, but Blade cuts you to it. "What happened to your arm?"

The man stares hard at something, and you follow his gaze to find the gash on your left arm. The bleeding has mostly stopped from what you can tell, but it's still an ugly thing to look at. You'll have to wash it soon.

You hum, considering. "It's only a minor cut, Father. I can patch it by myself later."

His eyebrows twitch, his eyes narrowing. "Come," he says simply, walking towards the door.

You let your sword disperse into particles of light before following Blade out of the room. You know there is no arguing with him when he gets like this. Any attempt to reassure him that you can handle yourself will only end with him staring at you with unreadable eyes until you inevitably give in. You're not sure if he does this because he is aware of this fact. Blade doesn't strike you as the type to be attentive to such details, but it's worked every single time, so.

You are both silent as he tends to your wound, cleaning it thoroughly before dutifully bandaging it. Blade even add bandages to the smaller cuts you would've left alone, meticulous in making sure all your wounds are taken care of. You know it is his way to apologize, as he is a silent man who prefers actions in lieu of words. That, and that he's always been awkward when it comes emotions like remorse.

"Get some rest," he says, returning the equipment to the first-aid kit. Blade looks at you, expectant, and it is only when you nod does he leave you alone.

He never calls you by name. It's something that bothered you when you were younger, but it's something you've grown to accept. You're not even certain Blade can recall your name if asked. You know it is his way to cope, to always be prepared for the day when you, too, will leave him. Remembering names are a burden on his soul, so the least you can do is spare him from remembering yours.

Your patience reached its limit. In the dead of night, you quietly packed your belongings and left a note behind. It was brief but carried the weight of your feelings: "I need to find my own path for a while. I hope you understand." You didn't sign it, hoping that the absence itself would convey the message more powerfully.

The moon hung high in the sky as you walked away from the place you called home, your steps determined despite the uncertainty that gnawed at you. You had no plan, no destination in mind. You just knew that you needed time away.

The next morning, Blade woke up to find the room unusually quiet. The absence of the usual sounds—your soft footsteps, the steaming sound of the kettle pot when you made his morning tea—was like a deafening silence. He pushed himself up, his senses alert even before his eyes fully opened. His gaze darted around the room, searching for any sign of your presence.

The sight of your neatly made bed and the note left on the table struck him like a blow. For a moment, he stood frozen, his heart heavy with a mixture of regret and realization. He had been so consumed by his own pursuits that he hadn't noticed the growing distance between you.

His eyes shifted to a corner of the room, where a familiar object caught his attention. There, placed with careful intention, was your lucky weapon. The fiery red blade of the sword gleamed in the soft morning light, its hilt wrapped in supple black leather. The pommel, resembling the closed bud of a red spider lily, held a sense of elegance and balance that echoed the bond between you and Blade.

A pang of guilt and longing gripped Blade's chest as he picked up the sword. The weight of it felt familiar in his hand, a stark reminder of the times he had shared with you. The sword seemed to dance in the air, reflecting both its deadly capabilities and the beauty of its craftsmanship—a reflection of the connection he had with you, one he had been neglecting.

Blade's footsteps were heavy as he left the room, carrying the sword with him. As he went to sit down and process your absence, he noticed a cup of tea placed neatly on the table. The tea, once steaming and fragrant, now languished in its cup, forgotten and neglected. It had been carefully prepared by you before you left, a gesture of concern and care. The faint aroma of the blend, a comforting blend of herbs and warmth, with a hint of honey, still clung to the air around it, a lingering reminder of their intention.

But time had been unkind to the tea, its temperature steadily dropping as it sat abandoned on the table. The steam that had once risen from its surface in delicate tendrils, carrying with it the promise of comfort, had now dissipated into the air. The liquid's once-rich hue had faded slightly, a sign that its vitality was waning, much like the embers of a dying fire.

Blade's eyes fell upon the cup, his gaze drawn to the cold tea that had been left for him. His fingers, calloused from years of wielding the blade, reached out to touch the cup, and he felt the chill radiating from its surface. It was a stark contrast to the warmth he had felt earlier, a reminder of how quickly time could transform something from inviting to forgotten.

As he wrapped his fingers around the cup, he couldn't help but recall the hoarse quality of his voice that had consumed him during their training session. You noticed, as you always did, attuned to the subtleties of his state. The touch of honey they had added was a balm for his throat, a gesture that had been both practical and considerate.

Blade's throat tightened with an emotion he couldn't quite name. The cold tea before him held within it layers of meaning—your concern, your attempt to provide comfort, and a reminder of his own shortcomings.

Regret gnawed at his insides, twisting and churning with every breath he took. Guilt clawed at his conscience, tearing through the facade of indifference he had so carefully crafted. Loneliness engulfed him like a suffocating cloak, reminding him of the void left in your absence. And yet, beneath it all, there flickered a tiny ember of hope—a glimmer of redemption, a chance to right the wrongs he had committed.

Blade couldn't shake the overwhelming sense of despair that threatened to consume him whole. For in that moment, he realized that the hardest battle he would ever face was not against his enemies, but against the demons of his own making—the ones that whispered of his failures and shortcomings, echoing relentlessly in the caverns of his heart.

[acidsaladd]

incoming rant abt a possible ninjago atla au u have been warned

the gist of the au and what i have in me head is that lloyd is the next air avatar but for some reason the air nomads are skeptical/afraid of baby lloyd so misako takes lloyd and skidadles far away from the temple. because of this, lloyd grows up as a regular kid with no air benders around to teach him air bending And no knowledge that hes the avatar (and therefore that he can bend the other elements)

fast forward to when hes like 9?? 10? wu finds him, surprise ur actually the avatar its training time something something big spiritual evil that might be related to garm something something then wu Leaves and so the training bit falls onto the ninja. which. none of them is an airbender mind u and lloyd Still doesnt know airbending. so they teach him the other elements and Hope that he somehow learns air by proxy

i have a very small and not rlly thought out idea for what an equivalent of the aging tea could be but this is basically it in terms of bg and going forward its just ur usual avatar and ninja shenanigans

ok. now. i have a couple ideas for why the air nomads could be wary of lloyd. one is that they know garmadon is his dad and garm has been cursed by a Particularly Evil spirit and so they think evil dad equals evil son and they dont rlly wanna deal with that so they r like we must get rid of the child he will reincarnate either way its no biggie which,,, uhh yea lets not

the other one is that the nomads have discovered that lloyd is going to be the first avatar that is a direct decendant of the first ever avatar (the fsm) and so they want to like?? harness his power or smth idk.

(the only problem with these ideas is that it kinda relies ok the air nomads having kind of violent and evil solutions to problems so i stil. dont rlly know 😭)

the point is!! one way or another, misako starts seriously fearing for lloyds life and the fact that he might not ever have a choice over it as his own so she takes the baby and Runs.

[abt the fsm, raine lowkey gave me this idea entirely so shoutout raine hello but i was thinking that theres two of them. like. u have the FSM, the first ever avatar, all plwerful godly being. and then u have the dad, the f in fsm stands for Father, this guy is just wu and garms dad. i dint have much else thought out for him just. yea]

now. if i want to talk abt the possible aging tea equivalent i need to talk abt garm. soo augh idk abt garm but i think rhe gist of it is that hes been possessed/corrupted by a spirit bc of a deal he made or for messing with a spirit when he was researching things. the point is hes known as this being that brings chaos and stuff but then wu and misako reveal to lloyd like, thats ur dad actually, and misakos being researching ways to bring him back and lloyd stumbles on this research and decides (not so smartly) that if one qants their dad back one must do it himself so. he manages to contact the original spirit that garm annoyed

so they talk and the spirits like "well i Would give him back but he kinda made me lose my time and energy on him for like,, 4/5 years so unless u figure out a way to give me rhat time back i aint giving him to u" and lloyd goes bet take does from me no biggie

so then lloyd makes this deal not rlly knowing what hes doing and he goes back to the real world and suddenly he has a brand new dad and also abt two whole heads more in height woops

(this all happens post training arc starting so lloyd already knows the ninja and has been living with them for a while)

OK NINJA TIME

so ive been Rlly debating whether i should do the Usual thing and just stick em in the element rhat they have in the show. OR (and this is the idea im leaning more towards) i go with vibes. obviously the vibes are still informed and consider their element in the show

ok first kai and nya. i want them both to be fire nation buut idk if i should make them both firebenders or make them have their usual elements. i do wanna let nya be a waterbender, However since they do live in the fire nation (most likely in a more rural town far from the mainland) nya would be a waterbender that uses mostly firebending styles and techniques. i just have always found this type of mix and match they do with aang and zuko specifically SOO COOL i love it so im gifting that to nya

cole is an earthbender obvi. i havent rlly thought much abt cole bc i immediately decided he would stay an earthbender and didnt question him further.

NOW HEAR ME OUT HERE. i kinda rlly want to make jay earth kingdom and leave him as a non bender. why??? bc the Vibes man. i want to rlly focus on his engineering and tinkery side. i think he would still be rlly involved with bending and stuff and he tries to find different uses to bending outside of fighting. maybe him and cole are childhood friends and jay is always bugging cole to try some of his projects with coles bending.

and finally zane!! hes water tribe but i struggled to settle him on either tribe. i think the northern tribe could fit him in the future but i do think he's originally from the south. i feel like the south gives him more potential to be the specific brand of Peculiar that zane was in the beginning of the sbow. and since this is situated pre war, the southern water tribe would be bigger and better off than how we see them in atla so it would be cool to explore that

so im picturing him as the weird son of the local medic and whatever else dr julien gets up to . so maybe dr julien is teaching zane stuff and he gets Rlly Rlly good so they send him to a bigger settlement with better teachers and eventually he decides to leave the south pole to continue learning and stuff.

i do have ideas abt how wu gathers them together but ive ranted way too much so i will make another post on that if i remember to

[lover-of-mine]

I fully agree that it was a lot to have buck hurt eddie like that. Like I get why they did it cause let's be real if eddie had been able to walk it wouldn't have been Tommy at buck's door but I wish they'd go about it in another way...

On another note, do you think buck will analyse his whole relationship with his family and friends with his new found discovery (I still can't believe we have bi buck still feeling shaky omg) and also im sure you've gotten something similar asked but I kinda would like a reassurance well as close to one as I can get, but do you think that means we are headed toward buddie? Or will they be like hey at least you get this kinda thing?

Thank you for your posts they've been great and like I feel we all lived through this together and I'm thankfull for your takes :)

This is actually the first time I thought about them hurting Eddie as a plot device to stop him from reaching out occurred to me. I see it, I don't like it, but I see it.

Okay, yeah, I kinda think he will, finding out you're bisexual as an adult, specially when Buck did as well with women as he does, will be some cause for panic (I say this as someone who was good with men and only found out she was bi as an adult) about particular reactions of people around him (kinda terrified what this means for him with his parents about to come into town) because even if you know some of the people who love you will be supportive, is still a scary experience, even more if you've been trying to find this one thing about yourself for decades, so, yeah, I do believe he will be forced to reevaluate a lot of stuff in his life, and Tim and Oliver seem to be ready to try and tell this story right and I am super interested to see how this will go (I can't believe Bi Buck is real, it literally rewired my brain, I might be losing my mind because I need to sleep because I've been up for who knows how long because every time I try to sleep my brain goes BUCK IS BI and then I start freaking out about again)

I know a lot of you come to me for the logical side of it all to get some reassurance and I love that I can be this person, really, especially in moments like this, so, I love that you came here 🫶. But the buddie of it all, I don't see why they would make Buck queer and not go there with Buck and Eddie. I maintain what I've been saying, that the loft scene is gonna tell us if they are turning up the heat or if we are keeping the energy we had so far while Buck explores his own feelings about being bisexual, even more if we are gonna get 2 for 2 and they are planning on making Eddie demi (god imagine if they actually put a character like Eddie in the ace spectrum, I would die), because then you can use a Buck who's settled into being bisexual to drag the realization from Eddie, because this can cascade into Buck realizing what he's looking for is what he has with Eddie, and since men are an option now, he could look at their relationship and be like "oh so I needed to figure out that I like men, for me to realize that the love I want is with this man" and then trying to figure out if Eddie could feel the same about him, and Eddie having his own queer arc about how no one has felt as right as Shannon because he needs a deeper connection that he does have with Buck and them going there. Buck being bi puts at least halfway there on the road to canon buddie, because now it is an actual canon possibility that Buck will develop, or find out he already has feelings for Eddie. Especially with how intertwined with the discovery with Tommy, Eddie is. Everything that points to Tommy, points to Eddie if Buck just looks to the right, yk? Obviously the showrunners and actors will keep saying there's no plan, and they are seeing where it's going, but if they handle the next episode well, just sit back and enjoy, because they're cooking. They could've made Buck bi be only about Tommy, but they didn't, they made a very intense point of adding Eddie to the mix so I will continue to believe they have a plan and this is a slow burn that's gonna happen, because I honestly, even more now with canon confirmation that Buck is bi, I think it's the only way to look at them, yk? I don't see why they wouldn't go there now that they are not hiding behind the "they are both straight" excuse. And personally, as a writer, I think it would be a waste of a setup not to go there now that we know they can go there.

[r0-boat]

I am sick right now. Mostly soreness and stuff. And I have a feeling that if Volo really cared for the reader despite refusing to admit it, he’d kinda slip up and be the mother hen type. Like refuses to admit he’s concerned at all but his expressions betray him and he forces you to rest and stay hydrated and stuff. Can I get some content on what he would do? (Bonus points if reader asks if they can fuck when she’s better lmao🐶)

To be honest saying I also feel pretty sick

I tried to aim for something more wholesome if you don't mind

Volo with a sick reader

Laventon and Cyllene went to go check on you when you didn't show up for morning training. To find your body still in your futon your forehead was hot.

"Miss I swear I'll be fine in a few days this isn't necessary," you say but Cyllene would not hear it. Diseases can lead to death if not treated well and she could be damned if you took this fate

So there you were wrestling on your futon bored, feeling like shit, tapping the screen of your arc phone home trying to see if Arceus still left any of its old apps or at least some internet connection.

The door to your house jiggles before sliding open. Volo ducks he's helping your door slamming his massive backpack down to the side.

He shuffles in his backpack taking out various powders and oils. Oh no. This is what you were afraid of. Back in your time at least they made medicine tasteless or candy-coated. But with the powdery medicine hisui has no safeguard for the bitter taste. And not to mention your relationship right now with Volo is um... Complicated?

"Volo, I didn't ask for help" you coughed clearing your throat afterward. " im not helping you... I'm testing out new medicines that are going on sale soon as well as Cogita's home remedies. Your Galaxy grunts told me that you were dying so I came to use you as a test subject" he's smirked.

You tried to get up wanting to yell at him but nothing but coughing came from your throat. Volo's smirk fades immediately " hey, hey, hey! Take it easy. Come on, lay back down, Save your strength"

Yeah testing medicine my ass. But you didn't press on it further.

You watch as Volo takes a glass of water to pour and mix a powdery medicine. You couldn't help but feel warm inside knowing that Volo still cares about you. Even after what happened.

He sits the cup down next to you. "Here try this one." His voice was softer than before "it's an old Celestic medicine, it helps soothe the throat. I'm warning you now it tastes very bitter so drink it fast." You nod preparing yourself mentally before downing the whole cup. To your surprise, your throat feels less inflamed.

He stayed with you the entire day trying to out medicine. Leaving only to come back with food "you need to eat." He says getting more agitated "please, you need to regain your strength" ugh he's starting to sound like your mom now.

By the end of the day, you're exhausted drifting off into sleep. Volo can't help but smile at your sleeping form deciding to stay just a little bit longer. Not like he was planning on leaving when you're still sick.

[amber-bnnuy]

**bzzt** **bzzt**

is this poketch working again? why couldn't it have been a newer model..

....

Oh! It's working!

The readers can see that, Amber. You don't have to start every post with "is this thing on?".

S-SHUT UP!

Hello people reading this, assuming people are actually reading this post.

We are here, still in sinnoh! We're in jubilife right now, and we're about to go check out our rooms in this hotel place I've heard about. I think I'm gonna rest here for tonight, and maybe make this some kind of home for me! they take the same currency here as in the other world too, right? i should be fine then, I've got like. a couple hundred thousand poké.

wigglytuff's guild unionized a while back and the pay was increased from just 10% of the money earned to 70%. about time, as well!

So yeah! Just making an update post to let you all know the current situation!

To recap, we're staying here for a little while and heading to canalave soon to try to research team chrome! I think I'll also check around this place to see if it brings back any memories of being human!

The staff here were surprisingly nice to me, and didn't treat me like some weird thing just because im a talking lopunny! they said that this was the second time this has happened this month, and that some pokemon not native to sinnoh were seen talking to each other, and one of them was speaking human languages! weird, right?

Anyways, we're heading to sleep now!

...

...

so I'm in the room now. arc, the neighbors are so noisy!! I can hear them even though I'm in the room next to them!! listen to this:

[ID: A low-quality video, presumably in 144p, of a lopunny against a wall. the lopunny appears to be holding the camera. The audio in the video is a bit hard to understand, but still understandable nonetheless.

"ARCDAMNIT COBALT, I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO INTO MY ROOM!! I SPENT HOURS TRYING GET MY INTELEON PLUSHIE IN THAT POSE!!!

BUT IT WAS SO BORING WITHOUT BOTH OF YOU HERE!! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING? AND IF WE'RE GONNA SHARE A BODY LIKE 90% OF THE TIME I SHOULD GET TO SEE YOUR STUFF!!

BUT THAT STILL DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO GO INTO MY CLOSET AND TAKE OUT LITERALLY EVERYTHING!! EVEN MY BED IS MESSED UP NOW!!

... you two have been arguing for half an hour PLEASE shut up im trying to sleep!!"

End ID.]

.. I'll have to side with the girly sounding one.

... i don't think I'm getting any sleep tonight..

anyways I'm heading to bed now. goodnight, everyone!

[modernbaseball]

... i want you to drop your numbered list of s4 problems <3

omg anon i love you. sorry if this gets long except no im not you asked for MY list so you shall receive MY long ass list!!!

obligatory if you don't want to hear criticism then don't go further. it is not my problem if this enrages u. but if u disagree/agree/have other opinions let me know im totally fine with some respectful back-and-forth about this season. despite what i make it sound like i don't HATE it and im open to other opinions

i do not talk about the marwa problem because. yeah. there's one more episode i guess. so what i'm saying is come back next wednesday to hear me talk about the marwa problem

character traits and flaws are being played up in excess

remember how DUMB nandor is? remember how BAD he is at understanding others? he is never going to understand a single thing said to him or when someone is upset or when he has made a mistake despite having established deep relationships with these characters. and also he's going to have the same story arc as last season but with a LOT less respect for women!!! (so much for himbo)

nadja is #GIRLBOSS (a lot of people might go "well maybe i like her like this!!!!" ok fine sorry that i like my female characters to be more than a plot device. she had to want a night club so they could do night club stuff. so empowering. she's had some good moments this season but half the time its YAS GIRLBOSS!!! ok just recognizing that this is a stupid "feminist" trope doesn't make it anything more than that)

laszlo is BISEXUAL DAD (honestly don't have a lot of issues here. good for him. just wish they would chill out with the Quippy One Liners. they're funny because they exist within the narrative)

guillermo is SOMEHOW STILL BEING MISTREATED (despite having 2 seasons dedicated to this particular issue. can we move on)

2. disregard of detail

ok it's stupid but it really DOES bother me that the intro has adult colin pictures when the intro was adjusted to fit details like colin's death in the past. if the vampires in-universe see baby colin as being his own person, why do we see him lumped into the same images as adult colin?

other little things that bug me

the vampires are suddenly well liked and have friends in the community (nadja's club opening and nandor's wedding)

the baron being seen as someone of prestige when the whole thing was that he is a vampire nobody

ignoring the big obvious fact that there WAS a vampire nightclub

where is all this blood coming from

hypnosis was previously only used as an occasional plot device and we got a whole episode about why that is (brain scramblies) and now it is in EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. it is TIRING. it is CHEAP. it is NOT. INTERESTING.

the nightmarket just existed this whole time?

all the wishing stuff. if nandor was willing to take guillermo's advice for one wish, why not others?

3. bigger isn't better/nothing matters

so in the past, wwdits was built upon a pretty simple concept: What if vampires existed in modern day, but they were pathetic and lame and boring?

oh an epic and powerful baron is meeting with them? no he's actually lame and also guillermo kills him on accident. a trial with the vampiric council?? nah it's in some basement and the vampires get away because colin brought an umbrella. vampire killers??? lame inexperienced group of young adults who end up not killing a single vampire.

things had weight and importance. the show worked as a dark silly mocumentary because it felt grounded in the simple docu-type shit, like "how would modern vampires find more virgins to eat?" "how does guillermo get rid of bodies?" now it's like, yeah we have blood on tap pretty much. whatever.

4. the fucking time jump

why spend an entire season setting up an epic three part finale which then sets up an insane cliffhanger to fucking throw it away within the first episode? tension created for nothing. elaborate story set up for nothing. character's individual motivations and obstacles set up for nothing. no pay off. makes season 3 feel significantly less good because what was it even for anyways

5. character motivation

character motivation is not shown or understood over time: it is not stated ("i want a vampire nightclub!") and assumed we believe it

vampire night club. just.........................this has never, EVER made sense for nadja's character. especially now. there was 0 set up to indicate she would ever want a thing like this. is this trying to be more female-empowering? ppl might call it "satire" or "subverting tropes" but it isnt enough to just preform a trope and state in-universe that you know it is a trope (saying she is a girlboss)

nandor wants to find love still i guess. this feels sort of like they realized nandor was left without something to do after scrapping his journey home story so they were like ok i guess he's just doing the same thing he did last season. i thought his new motivation was to find himself but i guess they just didn't feel like doing that anymore so

6. the nandermo problem

ok. this isn't so much a criticism like the other ones as it is...idk. my Feelings or something.

if this is NOT leading to nandermo: ok i guess. not the end of the world. sucks that they baited this particular couple (not QUEERBAITED, yes, i am aware) and continued to run the "WHO IS NANDOR'S LOVE INTEREST!" plotline into the ground for nothing but ok. i would have been fine with a brief romance and a horrible break up FYI. they are just funny when they are obsessed with each other. sue me

if this IS leading to nandermo: would it fucking kill you to act like it. what's the point in them getting together if they avoid the two of them being together or having any normal romantic/sexual subtext like the plague except for one-off lines and D-plots. either commit or don't

7. actually fuck you im adding this one to the list

ohhh we are so diverse ohhhh we are so inclusive look at all the same sex casual sexual relationships and romances. NAME A WOMAN. NAME A WOMAN. yes we've gotten f/f breadcrumbs but can nadja just fuck a woman or something. can we just have some same sex women in here. so much classic lesbian media is vampire related it would not be that hard. it would not fucking kill you. come on.

charmaine is there. the guide is there. marwa is there. better yet get some more female characters in general. better YET. i want my jenna back

[aethergalaxias]

ninjago crystallized rewrite (kinda)

UGH so i guess i deleted that post i made where i asked people about complaints they had about crystallized??? so here i am making a brand new post instead. please kill me

spoilers below!!!

harumi

give her a consistent character please. please. please. ple

redemption arc?????

im giving her a redemption arc instead of keeping her evil because i think thats what the writers were aiming for,,, it just didnt turn out well :/

also i feel like keeping her as a villain would be way easier so i wanna do the opposite >:)

no llorumi. get away. die 

in this version shes only working for the overlord because he brought her back to life and she doesnt want to die again

a lot less cruel; shows genuine regret over her actions 

still doesnt like lloyd, but willing to work with him to get rid of the overlord

refused to explode the ninja in ep 14 which led to the overlord replacing her with clouse (yes. clouse is here) as his second in command

some shit happens with pythor and harumi finds out that he freed the great devourer. harumi gets pissed and decides to betray the overlord

instead of lloyd escaping on his own harumi helps free him and they escape the temple together. emotional conversation ensues. harumi officially leaves the council and becomes an ally

shes down fighting with the main gang during the climax instead of at the overlord’s floating island thing

after helping to rebuild the monastery she pulls a garmadon and goes off on her own to go on a journey of healing and self-reflection or whatever

or she goes to jail and then goes on a journey of healing and self-reflection or whatever. consequences babeyyyyy

i mean i could also just keep her as a villain

i feel like that would be a lot easier. not rewriting a lot here since keeping her evil takes way less effort than giving her a legitimate redemption arc

getting rid of all the scenes where shes like “noooo dont kill lloyd D: possible redemption arc?? oh no wait nvm im evil again” shes just consistently evil now

lloyd doesnt take her with him when he leaves the temple she just jumps out after him. because she is insane <3

uhhh idk what to do with her at the end. she either dies or goes back to prison

problem one fixed. onto the next one.

oni lloyd oni lloyd oni lloyd

it was built up to be this huge thing and we got like five seconds of him??? unacceptable. where is my boy??? let him be angry and go feral and destroy stuff he deserves it

while escaping the council lloyd goes partial oni. he only realizes this once he ends up in the river, which ends up freaking him out, which ends up with him being unable to revert back to Normal Human Form. not full oni at this point hes just got like. the horns and fangs and stuff

(he stays like this until the final battle because why not)

(he stays like this AFTER the final battle because why not)

lloyd is like “oh no im a monster :( what have i become :( this is horrible :(“ until garmadon tells him to stfu and starts training him

(training goes better in this version since lloyd’s stuck with the oni traits which leads him to be a little more accepting of them)

episode stuff happens. yea h

uh uh overlord “kills” garmadon, lloyd goes batshit and turns full oni, Fucking Murders the overlord, crap now hes lost control of his oni form oh no. garmadon is freaking out, garmadon turns into an oni, the elemental dragon shows up, cool epic battle, lloyd regains control, yayyy happy ending cue the music

post battle he still keeps the horns and stuff. its part of his acceptance arc or whatever. im a very big fan of creacher lloyd okay

problem two fixed. man i am killing it

um uh those were my two major problems i guess i’ll just put minor stuff here

nya doesnt get her powers back. consequences for being turned into the ocean. sorry bbg 😔 no more elemental powers all the ninja are average human beings except for zane who is still a robot

“bbbut then howd the merlopians get the message that they needed help???” idk power of friendship. someone sends them an email. nya just yells it really loudly. general Bad Vibes or smth

nyas still a ninja bc like you dont need elemental powers to be a ninja. or something inspirational like that idk

pixal stays as samurai x because nyas too busy being an epic girlboss 

the elemental dragon IS the og 4 ninja. they had an awesome magical girl transformation or whatever. dw they turn back to people afterwards just without their powers

clouse should be there. clouse needs to be there. clouse is revived as part of the council and becomes a major antagonist

lloyd legitimately thought his friends were dead in that one episode??? and then he found out they werent and he was like oh ok cool :D ??? anyway now theres a scene after nya and wu rescue him where hes like hhhhhhow the fuck. are you alive i thhought you all got murdered and then he has like 50 emotional breakdowns at once bc i! like! suffering!!!!!!!

wu’s wing mechs are actual dragon wings because garmadon got wings therefore wu should also get wings. i think thats only fair

wu DIES. he falls off the temple and DOESNT land in the water and the newspaper kids DONT find him. sorry dude its for the greater good (lloyds character arc again)

the new ninjas actually do stuff. they are helpful!!! annoying but helpful. also they dont get turned to crystal right off the bat wtf writers

vania gets lines. and a cool emotional fight with her father

lloyd’s problem with his father learning empathy is less focused on the fact that he’s part oni and more focused on the fact that he was literally brought back as a violent destructive overlord hellbent on murdering his son and conquering ninjago

i get rid of the birthday card line. like i get the significance behind it but you could have picked literally anything else??? turned the emotional moment around real fast 

also lloyd and garmadon get a better reconciliation arc instead of just arguing Forever

minipix gets a name goddammit. she literally saved their lives and they’re like “oh yeah minipix 7 is a good name” what the hell. why 7. are there 6 other minipixes who've saved your ass from exploding?? yeah i dont think so

that is ALL I HAVE RN ill probably come up with some other stuff later

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. I can't even trustt this "cute" moment between zeus and artemis bc rachel is just way too anti zeus and too big of a fan of "twist" villains that I just have the feeling she's going to use this as a stepping stone to set up artemis the next villain because idk she doesnt like hades still and be like oh what BETRAYAL of persephone! now both of the twins should be punished now! or w/e.

2. It's not just that a time skip is lazy and out of place, if you're just going to flashback to explain what happened anyway, then don't do a time skip? Just show the progression as you already have done? Why skip ahead only to jump back? She's basically trying to do too many things at once and none of it is done well.

3. the wild part to me is has rachel ACTUALLY read the old texts? because they're way more progressive than her work. demeter's hymn praised her and persephone while calling out the abuse of men, women like aphrodite (who has a ton of sex with many partners) or artemis who didnt have sex were all held to high respect and never shamed for their choices, and stories like the odyssey/Iliad explicitly called out slavery, yet rachel is here in 2022 being ore conservative than men from 800 BC. like???

4. A time skip in LO isn’t a bad idea in and of itself. We’ve been complaining about RS’s slow pacing for years and she’s finally taking a different approach, which is good! The only problem is that her execution of the time skip ends up leaving out integral and interesting details about how the characters’ relationships with each other have changed in the decade since we’ve seen them. I was looking forwards to Minthe and Perse reconciliation arc but we don’t even know how they grew to that point

5. I love the her current look is a "turn off" line tho bc it's both persephone being aware hades is a gross old man who only dates under 25 years olds but doesnt seem to linger on this realization (P is legit so stupid) but also that rachel has zero self awareness that shes not a very good artist bc persephone still looks exactly the same despite being ten years older. like rachel will just say whatever lie she thinks up despite direct contradiction in comic and be like wow im such a good writer

6. Out of all things wrong with LO, I don't think I mind the switch from serious to silly in the mid-season premiere chapter? The part where Zeus gets threatened with ConSEqueNCEs for punishing Persephone is dumb as hell, but the transition to her speaking to the screen like she's talking to the audience before revealing something ridiculous is a tried and tested way of moving to a new scene, so I kinda like it. It's marred by her talk of pierced ears and green hands, but it's not bad.

7. How did you get into  Lore Olympus  in  the first place?

From OP: I found LO after seeing a lot of ads for it. I already knew of its existence but decided to try it because why not (I think I got into it around episode 70ish). I was obsessed with it, not solely because of the romance but because of the art. However, I started to question a lot of the stuff in the story and looked through youtube and tumblr to see if I was the only one feeling this way. Surprise surprise, I wasn’t and now I’m here lol.

8. I'm confused with the whole Artemis being called protector of women. You'd think she would do something to earn that title, but all she did was ask to be with Persephone in the mortal realm? It makes zero sense.

9. I know changing your physical appearance is sometimes an external sign that a change is going on internally but... did RS really have Persephone pierce her ears as the ONLY sign of her taking her life into her hands? I don't mind it as a heavy-handed metaphor but girl has done the bare minimum in ten years (a punishment she was happy with until they actually sentenced her with it) and you're telling me it's #girlboss because she pierced her ears???

10. What's so annoying about the timeskip too is it's not just lazy, it makes the last FOUR YEARS be for nothing. HxP relationship is exactly the same and their characterization is stagnant, big deals like Leto and Kronos are just swept to the side, Eros and Psyche was dropped I guess? Minthe and Daphne is resolved off scrteen, and the now the actual myth is supposed to start after FOUR YEARS of nothing happening? It's just a waste of everyone's time, but Rachel gets rich off of it at least 🤨

[sincerely-nines]

jimmy really didn't understand that, why if they have more than 3 lives they won't give it to their yellow friends? he's not selfish! he was also thinking about grian! just one death and he had to leave. jimmy didn't want that for him! but... they wasn't going to give it to him. and when he decided to take it, martyn tricked him. of course he would, he knows that jimmy trust him. exiled, huh? he will surely do better alone! or maybe not alone...

scar still thinks about 3rd life. it was a good season and he had a friend next to him. but this season? he's alone. scar knows it and no matter how much he tried, there's no one next to him. it's all futile.

one day scar just was coming back home and... what is that? whos building this house here? scar just come in. empty, of course, but... he's so exited!! is it means that someone will live here? on the creaper killing fields?? it's really cool!

and who you think could live here? of course it was jimmy! the guy had nowhere to go! he wanted to feel safe and.... the boogieman curse is here too. but he just went to scar. he just wanted a life, but still he's here.

both was too happy to see each other!

"what happened in the south?

"well, we were passing around lives, creating bounds, creating friendships and i decided: hey! my time's to run now! and um... martyn caught up to me, i was very gullible, i traded it back and he left ib the wilderness, so- :("

"he left you in the wilderness?" "yeah.. and they- there no way back :c"

"im not the only one who's been left in the wilderness by some of those fools!" "mhm" "i was making friends with mumbo, we're gonna have some great times" "yeah" "and he left for five fish." "yea- wait. whoa.. whoa....." "yeah"

i really love to think that what would happen if jimmy and scar was allies on last life. they are both know that's feel of loneliness, when no one need you. i can see them hugging, making the strong bound, scar teaching jimmy how to sell stuff, they have the best time ever c:

So far three smps have had exile arcs and not once have i liked it LOL. I think i just really despise when a character is all alone,i dont fare well with it so i can totally support this

[astral-from-afar]

Disclaimer: This is all in good fun and was mostly inspired by the upcoming jjk poll. Will not tag this in jjk as I am not here currently to start fighting people.

Ok the latest poll got me thinking about what characters were on that list last time. So this is basically me side eyeing everyone for their choices last year

Megumi - I get it. Megumi’s pretty cool. Took me a while to get to that point but I’ve accepted this man’s popularity and I just go along with it. Really don’t have anything else to say about him.

Gojo - Can’t believe he was still in the box during this. You can tell how strong the Gojo fans are because he has not been seen in action for YEARS yet you’re still voting for him. Props to you I guess. Good luck beating Gege and getting him 1st in the next poll

Yuji - Ok my boy was not fighting in the TRENCHES to become 3rd in his own series. Yes he should have gotten 1st yes I will stand by that until the day I die and yes I still can’t believe he got outdone by a guy in a box.

Geto - I know you’re all coping bc of his death with him being in top 5 and honestly me too. Gege still won’t let this poor man rest so you won’t let the anyone else in the fandom rest as a consequence. Don’t expect him to be in top 5 again but who knows.

Nanami - Overtime sorcerer SUPREMACY. I best see him here again because he does not miss. Nanami fans are the real ones so I’m not dragging on him.

Inumaki - Salmon Salmon. For a man who also hasn’t been seen in 2 years he did pretty well all things considered. I’m still waiting for him to show up so until then you go Inumaki fans.

Choso - Ok I’m just salty here but you lot really put HIM here on the top 10. How much screen time did this man really have. He did not deserve to be placed that high and if I see him being placed higher than Yuki then we know it’s on sight. He’s great and all but really? Just really?

Yuta - As a resident Yuta has never done anything wrong, I am disappointed in all of you. Did vol 0 mean nothing? Was his interactions with Yuji nothing to all of you. To the point of Choso overtaking him. Smh

Toji - I’m going to assume it’s the horny and leave. You did not drag the no child support, fugly grey sweatpants, boring ass guy into the top 10. Just admit that he’s hot and take your leave. Ok being fair he was a good antagonist during the hidden Inventory arc but istg if I hear more Toji stuff we are not going to see me again.

Naoya - OK LISTEN UP HERE EVERYBODY. HOW MANY PANELS DID THIS FUCKER HAVE. WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE HELL DID HE DO IN THE ENTIRETY OF THE MANGA OTHER THAN BEING COOKED BY MAKI. IM WAITING. This just feels like fandom misogyny as the next two people are in the manga for 10x longer and did more things overall, to then be overshadowed by this dickhead.

Nobara - My beloved you did not deserve to be snuffed out of top 10. I am still on that copium that she’s still alive but honestly you really had to do her like that :(

Maki - Ok this is where I really question some of your tastes. So she had one of the PEAK arcs in all of the manga, went to hell and back and served us in every shape and form and this is what she gets. Losing to Naoya. Telling you lot to sort your misogyny out for the next poll because if she doesn’t reach top 3 Istg

Sukuna - Right, he’s a bit of a guilty pleasure as he is one of the funniest characters in this series after Kenny and Todo. Am suprised that he didn’t hit top 10 but he’s been binding his time to skyrocket to the big numbers especially in the recent chapters.

Todo - AYYYYYYY. Kyoto student found in the wild quick catch them before they get into the sea of irrelevancy. Ok that was too harsh but I’m proud of the Todo fans for getting him up there. He truly is the homie of the jjk world hopefully he keeps his placement because he’s too cool to not be on this list.

Utahime - OMG OMG OMG OMG. This was very unexpected. I thought Shoko would be here (she’s 24th) but I am grateful for it. The voice at the back of my head is trying to say that it’s cause of the shipping but I am ignoring it to focus on my girl entirely. Congrats everyone. If she manages to get in the top 15 again, do you think Gege will add more to her character. Nah he’ll probably just put her on the hit list which is not what we want to see here.

Yeah I think the poll overall was alright and obviously was for fun but after the placement of certain characters you know I’m side-eyeing you lot.

Characters I want/hope to reach the list : Yuki,Riko, Kirara, Hakari, Higuruma, Angel/Hana, Kenjaku, Uruame

[sheryl-lee]

hi, what are your thoughts on the season finale? im.. processing

hi, i have MANY thoughts and i'll try my best to articulate them (under the cut, because i know there are still a lot of people who haven't seen the episode yet)

spoilers below!

so overall i actually really, really loved it. idk if that's a hot take because i have seen a fair amount of people who have disliked the finale and the season as a whole, and while i respect those opinions i personally disagree on both counts. i have some problems with the season, but i still enjoy it more than season 1 and this finale was, in my opinion, incredible and really makes me like the season overall much more as a result.

of course people are upset that nat died, but imo they're using their love for nat as a character to support their claims that nat's death was sloppy writing or unnecessary. don't get me wrong, i love nat in both timelines and was devastated by her death in the present day, but i can also understand that it was what makes most sense for the story and it's a narratively satisying choice for both the character and the plot. people in fandom are really against killing off characters, even if their death makes sense and is emotionally effective, and while i do get the attachment to a character, it really annoys me that people can't overlook that attachment when a character's death is rich and complex and adds to a story. both things can be true; you can love a character and think that their demise within the story is a necessary conclusion to their arc. i was worried that nat would die and, as i said in the last ask, i was wary about its execution. but imo the writer's nailed it and seeing it play out on screen changed my perspective. i'll miss juliette lewis so much though, she was truly wonderful as adult natalie :(

nat being antler queen was also a really well executed twist; so much of what we've thought to be true in the series has been changed fundamentally by it (the entire pilot episode is filled with hints that nat is antler queen if you go back and rewatch it! my mind is blown). i disagree with people claiming that the writers are retconning or making things up as they go, there are so many hints throughout the series that worked towards the nat reveals in both the past and present, both of which are narratively rich and compelling developments that make me even more excited for the next season.

beyond that, the cabin burning down was something i had predicted weeks ago, so it was cool to see that i was right! ben's days are numbered for sure though, he's gonna die in like episode 1 of season 3 🫡 van's character arc in both timelines was also really interesting; lauren and liv are AMAZING and i cannot wait to see more of both of them (same for simone and courtney as lottie, they're both phenomenal). seeing how the shauna/nat rivalry (really a one sided rivalry on shauna's part jkdvdkfvkfd) plays out in the 96 timeline next season is also gonna be really fun to watch.

we're still in the dark regarding who javi's friend was (i kinda thought that would get revealed in the finale, but ig it's being saved for next season), and jason ritter allegedly filmed scenes as cabin guy that ended up not being in the finale after all, so i'm really curious if that will also be saved for next season (but i'm still on the bonus episode clown train 🤡). the dark tai stuff was similarly discarded in this episode and i'm really intrigued by where that goes.

tldr; great episode, really rich and ultimately satisfying, i find myself liking it the more i've sat with it, and it changes so much of what we've seen so far while also setting up what's sure to be a really intense and dark third season.

[warrior-u-preservation]

Interview with The Path Podcast (Full written responses)

(Note: The interview itself will be different, since mod myne represented both mods on the podcast. However, this includes our full feelings on the questions that were provided to us.)

Who are you and how did you end up walking the path of a "warrior u" writer/comic creator?

Myne: I go by worldismyne for fandom related pursuits.

I'd like to clarify that Aisha Thani is the creator of Warrior U. Just like multiple people have written for Stan Lee's creations, I'm just a writer who's received permission from the creator to distribute and monetize works within her universe.

I've been in the WU fandom since 2014; at that time Aisha made the comic, ran an in character ask blog, a concept art blog and the main blog. I can only imagine how much work that was. A hard drive crash killed about 6 or so pages of Ambrosia, the last story arch she was working on; three weeks worth of updates up and gone. I watched writer’s block take hold and kill my favorite series in real time. Having to go back and redo work she’d already done had given her time to look at it and go ‘I can’t post this, this is awful’, but by then all of us were waiting for the next update for over a month, she couldn’t go back and rewrite the entire arch. It didn’t help that this was the origin story for a fan favorite character, so there was all this pressure to make it perfect. Instead, after about six artists made fan comics to feed the hungry fandom… she announced the end. The website, the blogs, one by one they all ran into issues and got shut down. Hundreds of pieces of art and story concepts just… lost. Once the comics were rereleased on gumroad, that was it, the fandom slowly died. Before this project, the last time the creator posted new content was in 2017. Then in the middle of the pandemic, out of nowhere I get 70+ notifications from Coffee reblogging the pieces of art I had saved from the old blog, including drafts from the unfinished issues. 

Coffee: well, i go by coffee online, im 20 years old and when im not working on my various personal projects i work part-time. i was introduced to warrior u WAYY back in the day (i think i was like 9-ish?) by my brother who found out about it through some unknown and mysterious ways. back then i had very limited internet access (meaning i could only visit sites that could be loaded by the internet app on my nintendo dsi), so i pieced together a bit of a plot from what i could find on google images. i wasnt able to fully read the comic until i was 13 (i had to BEG my mom to pay for the pdfs lol), but it had kinda always existed in the back of my mind ever since i was introduced to it. i decided a little over a year ago to start out the tumblr blog because i had recently read through the comic again and was really sad about just how hard it is (or i guess WAS now) to find a lot of things related to the comic. as the name of the blog suggests, its original purpose was to preserve/archive warrior u stuff so it could be more accessable to your average internet user who might not wanna go digging through internet archives. it was originally for official content EXCLUSIVELY, but myne talked me into also including fan-made content (and im glad he did, its WAY harder to find some fan content than i remember it being just a few years ago). its kinda hard to tell how good of a job it does at BEING that archive, but i like to think it could be useful to someone out there.

i had toyed with the idea of finishing the last official story arc- ambrosia- near the beginning of the blogs lifespan, but i knew that it was too big of a project for me to do myself. i didnt wanna dissapoint people by leaving the ALREADY unfinished arc STILL unfinished. i had written in the "about" section of the blog that the dream was a full fandom revival, but i didnt actually expect that to happen. when myne joined the blog we eventually started playing with the idea of finishing ambro. i forget how exactly we officially decided we would do it, but we did! at some point near the beginning of ambro, we had also decided we were gonna write our own fan-arcs and post those too, and the rest is history!

What was it about warrior u that made you say "this is it. i need to make more content of this."

Coffee: honestly? i think it was just how much i enjoy introducing people to the comic. i already make tons of fan content on my own time, so that wasnt really the crazy part. i had shown a couple of my mutuals the comic after i re-read it, and the feeling of seeing other people actually talk about and even make ART of warrior u was absolutely surreal. i guess thats what happens when you just silently admire a dead fandom for years LMAO! another big part of it was HOW the comic ended. after taking a hiatus, the creator ended the comic mid-arc because creating it just wasnt enjoyable anymore, and thats obviously completely fair. however, the arc it ENDED on was elaborating on the backstory of one of (if not THE) most popular characters at the time (and my personal favorite), so i had always wished that the issue could have been finished. its kinda hard to put into words, but finishing ambrosia was like a love letter to the comic and its creator to me. as flawed as the plot of that arc may be (and as unsatisfied with it as the creator was, at least back then) i still felt like it deserved to be finished. it was like fixing an old toy from your childhood, i felt like we were taking care of the comic in a way, giving it the love it deserves. maybe thats just my tendency to personify objects and get overly attached to them coming through, but hey thats how it is sometimes LMAO

Myne: When the comic was still on hiatus after the harddrive crash, some people had asked Aisha if she wanted to hand the series over to other artists to help her. She said she wouldn’t even know where to begin that process or if she’d wanted to do it. I would have offered then, but my skills as an artist and a writer weren’t nearly as strong. I held onto the drafts thinking, one day I’d do it. 

Myne: After Coffee and I started talking I realized, I can do it now. I know what kind of style of pens were used, and I whipped up a page, just the line art and sent to Coffee as a thank you. I thought, it isn’t much, and it’ll take me forever to color everything, but if there’s one person willing to read it, I’ll try. When I explained how difficult it’d be for me to color, he offered to do it for me. Suddenly a page that would take a month for just me to do on my own took 3 days.

Myne: Something, that seemed like a monumental task became a realistic goal. We were able to find, restore, and edit 45 pages within a few months. I’m still amazed we were able to do weekly updates without missing a day. Coffee asked if I’d ever be willing to write fan issues while we were working, not realizing I was the author of the longest fics in the series. Of course I said yes. Seeing Warrior U get finished, even through fan creation, was something I’d wanted to see for years.

You're from Az right, how is the webcomic weeb culture over there as opposed to california?

Myne: Idk about much about Cali, I've noticed the cons are more... professional? Where as Arizona cons have more of a fanclub vibe. Most panels are hosted by your fellow nerds rather than sony or production companies. I will say, that it's become more common and widespread in the last ten years, with multiple anime specific events year round. Back when I was a kid, I'd get made fun of for drawing 'japanese' people all the time.... it was pokemon fanart... Where as nowadays, I feel the average kid recognizes most big name titles thanks to hulu and such. 

What are your favorite anime/manga/webcomics and do any inspire your work?

Coffee: not really an anime, manga, or webcomic, but ive always been super inspired by the "scott pilgrim" series. when i was in middle school i was SUPER into it, reading all the behind the scenes stuff i could find. it even made me look into "comic illustrator" as a career option, but i also did the same thing with "game designer" and "animator" so yknow. as for webcomics, the only one i ever really got into was homestuck. side note- the overlap of oldschool homestuck fans and warrior u fans is FASCINATING to me. my current theory is that all these tumblr kids were looking for other webcomics to read while homestuck was on one of its MANY hiatuses(?) and so a bunch of them flocked to warrior u! theres tons of homestuck crossover content and references in fan art on our blog (some of the art styles also look homestuck-ajacent) so its at least clear that a lot of fans back then were also really into homestuck. ANYWAYS other than that i havent really read many other webcomics tbh? weird considering i MAKE one now but what can i say, im more of a Gamer than anything lol. as for anime, my favorite is easily keroro gunso (or sgt. frog if youre using the dub name)! its another thing i discovered when i was young (this time i was like 8) and have just never gotten over. theres a lot of Questionable stuff in it (prime example is an adult alien being madly in love with a 14 year old girl) but if i dont look at canon its not real so i love it anyways <3.i honestly dont know how many people really know about it since the western fanbase is so small, but its like HUGE in japan (or at least it was at one point, the titular keroro has a cameo in lucky star as a keychian) and the manga is still running to this day iirc. it was created by mine yoshizaki and the basic premise is that a platoon of frog-like aliens come to earth to take it over but they really suck at it. they begin living with humans and from there its kind of a mix between a slice-of-life and monster-of-the-week anime. i cant really say anything in depth about the manga because ive only read the first 5 issues of it, which are basically the same as the anime (fake fan smh), but ive heard that it gets more mature and serious than the anime does (which i guess is bound to happen when it goes on for so long). also the manga has some ecchi moments and blood used for slapstick purposes so if anyone wants to check it out just keep that in mind lol.

Myne: Obviously Warrior U. I'm a bit of a visual novel fiend, so Danganronpa is a series I've found a lot of inspiration from over the years. More recently  Though for the comic, I draw mostly from late 80s / early 90s high fantasy. Things like Labyrinth and Robinhood: Men in Tights. Honestly anytime I get stuck trying to come up with a gag, I look to Mel Brooks. 

So in continuing someone else's work, do you feel a sense of pressure to be just as good as the original?

Coffee: i definitely felt that way when it came to ambrosia, but i feel a lot less pressure when it comes to our upcoming issues. i wrote and made thumbnails for a few small scenes in ambro and i was SO SCARED of those scenes being noticably worse than the rest of the issue. i know the original creator has seen our version of ambro and those scenes by extention, but i dont know her exact thoughts on them. im satisfied with them but theres probably always gonna be that kinda star-struck stage feeling at the thought of the creator reading the scenes i wrote. its like getting stage fright. for our upcoming issues i dont feel as much pressure because theyre fully fan-written. our comics arent official in any sense of the word and theyre basically just fanfiction with extra steps, so its not nearly as stressful as trying to tie together an "official" story. there definitely WOULD be that pressure if we were ever given the rights to warrior u or something (which i dont want to happen) because then it WOULD be official yknow? also if the creator decides to keep up with what we post ill feel a bit more pressure, but i get the feeling that she wants to distance herself from warrior u a bit so im not sure how likely that would be.

Myne:  I do. Partially because, the fan content we’re making is completely free while the original series is purchasable on gumroad. So there’s a chance that some people may start with what we’re working on, then go backwards to the original.  I'm hyper aware of the tonal shift that's about to happen, no matter how much I try, I can't perfectly emulate someone else's writing style. The best I can do is capture the spirit of it. I just keep repeating "it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be". It's a little harder taking that advice now that it's my scripts we're turning into issues. There is some freedom in knowing the series was never meant to be perfect though.

What drove you to writing the longest fanfiction for the series and how did it feel to be recognized and promoted by the original creator?

Myne: When I was younger, I would write fanfic instead of paying attention in class, and I really wanted a full story about the leads getting together. Knowing that the creator was reading every fanfic at the time added more fuel to the fire. I had a guaranteed audience, the audience. I was so grateful that she recommended it to other fans. That fic was 25k, I've written about 100 K in the last year to help maintain interest in addition to new pages to the comic. To that I blame hyperfixation and hiatus brain. You have to be the biggest fan of the thing you're making.

So i see the that most of your work including the webcomic Warrior U is on tumblr why did u choose to promote om tumblr as opposed to other webcomic outlets like webtoons, mangadex etc?

Coffee: the answer to this one is actually pretty simple; i already had a warrior u blog and tumblr is the social media/blogging site that im most familiar with! we have recently started using comicfury and tapas, but that was entirely mynes idea. im personally pretty content with just hanging out in my little corner of the internet so any attempts to expand or get the word out is mostly (if not entirely) mynes doing LOL!

Myne: It's interesting you bring up those two actually. Webtoons recently come under fire for being pretty crummy to it's indie comics, particularly if you write in any genre other than romance. Mangadex is a pirating website, so most of the comics there are fan translations rather than uploads from the creators : they had a pretty bad data breach a few years back too. At first we only had permission from the creator to upload on tumblr. Once we got permission to move forward with the fanmade run, we branched out to tapas and comicfury. They seemed like the best options for the genre and style we write in. Even still, we see about double the growth in readership on tumblr as opposed to the other outlets, and I think that's mostly because the blog updates daily, even though we only publish one page a week.

Do you have any plans on creating your own webcomic/manga?

Coffee: yes and no. i sometimes draw small fan comics and id like to make more polished and "finished" ones in the future, but nothing with any kind of overarching plot, at least not in the near future. i have a very hard time making original content for whatever reason. i DO have one (1) personal project that is completely original, but i plan on making a game with that. then again i have NO idea what im doing with that project anymore so who knows, maybe one day i WILL decide to turn it into a comic! only time will tell…

Myne: I have a visual novel I'm working on. It's about teen super villains that have to go to reform school. Think teen titans meets gifted kid burnout. The game's been in development hell since our first alpha build and writing about apocalyptic civil unrest wasn't as fun as it was pre 2020. We're about 200k into the draft for the full game and we're having to switch engines, which means cutting a bunch of features, but we're slowly getting there. If that fails, I'll try adapting the story into a comic.

To those people who will see this and decide to strut down the path of comic creation what is some advice you can give them?

Coffee: i think the most HELPFUL advice i could give would be this: you dont have to do everything by yourself. i personally have taken tons of inspiration from indie artists/game designers/etc. some prime examples of this are daisuke amaya aka pixel (who created cave story) and toby fox (who created undertale and deltarune), who both made incredible pieces of art that were defining to me as a person when i discovered them either entirely alone or almost entirely alone. you hear stories all the time of these great pieces of art being made by one or two people, and ive always wanted to be like that. as a result ive alwasy had a hard time reaching out for help when it comes to my art, feeling like if i cant do it all alone that itll never be as good as it could be. as a result though, all this mindset does is keep things from actually getting done and needlessly stress you out. NONE of the warrior u comics would exist if i had never gotten help from myne, and the blog would have probably gone inactive a LONG time ago too. i think thats the biggest lesson ive learned from this whole thing personally. theres absolutely no shame in working with a team of people if thats what needs to happen to see a project be realized.

Myne:  One, try not to put more than 8 panels on a page, that's helped me a bunch with page layout. And two, find someone you can show your work to. That can be a friend, a mutual online, a family member; as long as you have that one person asking "what happens next" you can keep writing. The stories/comics I have that are the longest are because of that. 

What inspires your art and what would u say you consider your style to be?

Myne: Invader Zim, Danganronpa, and Pacthesis have heavily influenced my art style. (pacthesis made a series of free dating sims on deviant art). I've always considered my art style to be pretty shoujo manga, but lately some of my pieces have been labeled too western for weeb spaces.

What advise can you give the next person who wants to draw art and share it with the world?

Coffee: i give the same advice to everyone i meet that says theyre thinking of making art in any form, and i mean it from the bottom of my heart: DO IT! im so in love with art of all kinds and the process of creating it, and i think that getting into any creative hobby is nothing but a good thing and i deeply believe that everyone should do it. whether you wanna draw, write, make music, develop games, sculpt, knit, etc, do it! quality doesnt matter at all, you can make the most technically awful thing in the world but as long as you enjoyed the process of creating it then it still has value. dont be nervous about your art being good enough. if you dont want to share it then you arent obligated to! i dont share like 90% of the stuff that i make but i still create art almost every single day! recently my qpp (queerplatonic partner) has gotten into drawing and im SO happy for them. they primarily use mspaint and a mouse to draw and their art is SO adorable and i love it so much, and im not just saying that because i love them. it doesnt matter what skill level you start at or what tools you have, you can always start making art. and dont compare the art that you make to others art, which i know from experience is a VERY easy trap to fall into. i dont have as much to say about that point because im not as passionate about it but uhhh yeah :3

Myne: Social media algorithms are not going to make you happy; no matter how well you play the game and low engagement does not mean you're a bad artist. If you keep posting and talking to other artists, you'll find your audience.

So at wonder con where we met ylu were cosplaying power from chainsaw man with a group of girls who were cosplaying other chainsaw characters. Do you girls normally group up and cosplay and if so how did you get into it?

Myne:  I was born into cosplay. My parents were gamers and cosplayers, and I started picking my own characters to cosplay when I was 14. I started getting more into it in college when I could find other people to cosplay with, it wasn't until this year I started aiming for photoshoots. I tend to be in at least one large group cosplay a con, and bring a different costume every day.

What was your favorite cosplay you've done?

Myne: It's a toss up between Persona 5 Joker and Alluring Secret Rin. Those were the ones I put the most work in that still hold up. Though I'm currently working on Eris from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and that may overtake them.

Have you ever thought to cosplay someone from Warrior U?

Myne:  I do actually! I've cosplayed as the main character Finn a few times. I really like taking simplified designs from comics/cartoons and turning them into heavily detailed looks. '

Where do you see warrior u being in 5 years from now?

Coffee: man, honestly if were STILL working on this project 5 years from now that would be CRAZY. this is already the longest ive worked on a single project before, along with being the most ive ever gotten DONE for a project, so thinking about what it could be like in 5 years is like. WOW. by that point we would have archived most (if not ALL) of the older stuff we could find, so our blog would probably just be new pages and fan interaction if were still going! the dream is still for a full fandom revival, and weve already got a small active fanbase (of like 5 people but still) so who knows, maybe that dream will be a reality?

Myne: We have at least 3 years worth of story drafted and lined up, and even more outlined. So ideally still updating. By then, we'll have some physical releases of the finished arcs that we've written available for purchase online and at select events. The creator has said she has no interest in making physical releases of the original run. I'd love for that to change, but I respect her decision and I won't press the matter. I'm just grateful we have permission to sell anything we make using her characters. 

If you could go back in time 5 years, what advice would you give yourself?

Coffee: 15 and 16 were ROUGH ages for me tbh. i wont get into it because its super personal, but i was struggling with a lot and just generally not having a very good time. i think the best advice i could give to myself would just be that like. things will eventually get better. no matter how dark or hopeless things may be, theres always a silver lining and a light at the end of the tunnel. now if 15 year old me would have taken that to heart is a whole DIFFERENT question, but thats what i would say. 16 was like right before i (finally) started getting treatment for my mental health, so i think considering everything thats what i would say.

Myne: So many bad things happened during those five years, but… I wish I knew what burnout felt like, so I could recognize it. I have this tendency to put my self worth into “how much have you done today”, so once I started working full time and my father passed,  I couldn’t recognize that I was physically and emotionally exhausted some days and needed rest, so I’d just punish myself mentally for not being more motivated. You shouldn’t need permission to rest, and I felt like I had to. It’s healthy to ‘nothing’ sometimes, especially if you’re dealing with things you have no control over.

Coffee: thank you for interviewing myne and i for your podcast :D!! its absolutely wild to think that ive done anything interview-worthy and yet here we are! for anyone thats interested in the comic because of this, i also emplore you to go check out the creators current comic "si3lah" (pronounced like si-ayn-lah i think? the 3 is a stand-in for an arabic letter) on gumroad! it deserves way more attention than it currently has and you should 100% go support the original creator if you like the stuff we do (wink wink).

[lostacelonnie]

Sorry this took a bit to get to time slipped right by & life happened a bit. Plus i got my first tattoo & thus couldn't use my right arm as well for a bit. Weather here has been like. Back & forth between rain/snow & mostly sunny so i can only blame the horrors. Oh good! Im glad its mostly easy stuff for you this month. Wait what? Thats all wild & im glad those teachers got fired for that. If only we were that regulatory of teachers in the states. A win win situation indeed. A carnival? That does sound like a lot of fun i gotta add that on my list of stuff to hopefully see one day. Yeah honestly! Like something about schools just. Is way different & can only be explained by school air. Thank you! I got sparkle decently quick which i needed her for her buffs so im glad. Those 30 free pulls from the anniversary will help my archeron gain i hope. Shame jingliu is in the same patch so ill have to wait for her again. One day clara will come to me. I hoped it would be on sparkle's banner but i got e1 gepard instead. I cant even reach gold & gears because the final boss of swarm disaster is still beating my ass i need better imaginary units. Or to work on ratio maybe he can deal with that damn boss duplicating itself. Oh talents are another thing i should focus on maxing for characters i just. Keep forgetting. Next patch we have triple drop coc & su planar ornaments which is gonna be nuts i cant wait to farm then. Ive played wendy's arc a bit more & like. Wow cocolia is awful what the hell. Worst mom of the year. Im excited for you to continue them both are so good. Oh thats what all that was about okay. Seele best girl always. Oh no worries take all the time you need to jot it down. Yeah some people get. Real intense about their us patriotism & its. Embarrassing. My condolences on losing such an impressive noita run. One day ill get into honkai part 2. But for now its a slow movement through part 1

ah very fair and apologies on my part as well!!! yknow how it is. same old same old. i was personally also Quite busy with our dear beloved school festival which drained me for like a solid week 😭😭 but it was SO worth it. im def helping with it next year as well. AND YOO TATTOO??? THATS AWESOME....... man i wanna get tattoos when im older (and piercings. i dont have a Single one i feel inferior to like all of my friends) but ive never really known what Of. and yeah same with the weather..... it was like. 9 celsius like two days ago and its 25 celsius today. Wild. and thankies!!! i Got Through it (with varying results tbh) but not anything to get me really down so we chillen. AND YEAH RIGHT???? our school is just generally a hotspot for strange individuals (both students and teachers) but its usually in the positive way. but ah what can you do. and yeahhhhh i heard it kinda sucks in the us. and same!!! ive heard a Lot of things about the carnivals in spain since theyre a pretty Big Thing and our teachers love to tell us about them so i actually ended up looking quite a bit forward to seeing one someday. if money allows for it, that is. AND GOD FOR REAL. school air my beloathed school air. OH CONGRATS ON THE SPARKLE!!! to be fully honest i do Not know what her kit is because i wasnt playing That much when her banner was up. or rather focused more on just going through penacony, both story- and exploration-wise. AND GOOD LUCK ON ACHERON!! i managed to get her, her lightcone, AND claras eidolon in like. a 100 pulls which is probs a new record for me. currently saving but i dont know who for yet SHJD. ill see if any future penacony chars interest me (ive been Thinking about boothill, or aventurine for clara) but if not then its gonna be either jingliu or topaz. and ahh good luck with getting them as well in the future!! GOD I HATE THE SWARM. I HATE THE SWARM SO MUCH. GAHHH. the most annoying enemies in the game by a MILE. but ah what can you do. oh yeah very real i always forget in genshin but luckily dont really have that problem in hsr. and yeah im Waiting for that triple drops for my acheron since rn she just has. Very scuffed temporary gear. but not gonna lie her damage is pretty good regardless. i think the mechanic with not needing energy to use her ult but stacks of That One Thing instead is very fun and interesting. brings a bit of spice into the gameplay. AND AHHH I HAVE VERY COMPLEX FEELINGS ABOUT COCOLIA shes a really interesting character imo. but thats revealed a bit more in the later arcs so i wont share too much hehehehe. tho yeah i agree she is Not a great mother. SEELE BEST GIRL ALWAYS!!!! and thankies!!! also yeah... but at least theres a lot of ways one can make fun of them. i literally cant stop saying "MY PRONOUNS ARE U/S/A" whenever i get a good mark on my english tests its just embedded in my vocab now. and have fun with honkai!!!!

[semi-imaginary-place]

Started watching anime on a whim

Watched 5 episodes of uh the one about the edgy feral witch"s apprentice and i kept waiting for it to get good and theres some good story ideas but too much of is stupid. Also would have worked better with a female protag. Wow he really is consistently feral rather liked that concept actually. But too much of it is contrived like dude's phone has a command to conveniently unlock all the cells with no restrictions or in general the lack to security checks on weapons. Or really the put the one witch baby tree where the humans can get it? And then protag levels half a city but struggles to kill this one dude. Also anime crimes against women: rape for cheap drama is so boring to watch. Op ed songs were great tho.

Finally watching jujutsu kaisen and over the last few years i have seen sooo much stuff for this show and i still didnt know that pink? hair was the protag i usually see the white and black haired dudes. Oh this is well produced, and the animation is good. I see why people like it. Lesbian. I love her already. Oh black hair ive been seeing isnt megumi its the dude with plugs and hair tied up.

Ep5: ok thats very interesting the dynamic. Megumi's trying to get himself and itadori out alive. Initially tries to pressure ... Sukuna? To regenerate even willing to sacrifice his life then switches to suppression because he has no chance in a fight even if that risks itadori bleeding out. Oh theres the dude ive been seeing he's an antagonist? Also whiplash from itadori dying (im assuming some bs happens that revives him) to school tournament.

What is up with all these dudes ripping their shirts off?? This is like the 3rd time this has happened??

Office bro is dead he's challenging the final boss in ep like 9/24.

13 oh yeah they all still think he's dead

18 uh what happened to the run away plan? Eh this arc is pretty boring for me.

I cant remember do sukuna and itadori remember when the other is in control? Also for a series about highschoolers there is remarkably little highschool stuff the cast could easily be in their early 20s joining an organization.

former punk fushiguro lol. also love how the 3 others instantly jump on the opportunity to troll him.

24. it's interesting to see how anime has changed over the years. if jjk had been released in 2003 this would have been an episodic monster of the week style show where every episode they would take out a different curse with reused animation.

i love her. kugisaki murdering a dude in front of their family and boasting about it. damn. jjk draws the line between curses and humans and immediately like next episode blurs that line. i like how this si getting to itadori

Movie: i like how for once the big monster is a girl. The contrast between jjk 0 and the main series really highlights two genres jjk could have taken. With okkotsu(?) Jjk is a darker supernatural horror thriller with its shy low self esteem protag like deadman wonderland or tokyo ghoul among others there was an era where this style/subgenre was very popular. The second genre with itadori is the hotblooded battle shounen. I actually like the latter so im not complaining just an observation. Also i see why tumblr and twitter like geto.

S2e1: gay. The op end ed might as well be ship amvs

i might like this better than the first season wow.

uhhhh wasn't it suppose to be really bad if the girl died

bro that sounds like burnout you need a vacation.

aw i liked the flashback arc. back to 2018

hmm robot kun might not make it out of this. wow yeah just add more death flags.

gojo sure has changed huh. used to be more amoral. kinda sad geto is actually dead he was a good character although given what the series has established so far the author could revive anyone plausibly.

from curses to sapient curses and transformed humans to curse users aka the bad humans i wonder when it'll just be whoever jujutsu highschool doesn't like.

I think I've come around on gojo its funny how the show goes out of its way to tell the audience how good looking he is like girls swarming him or characters commenting on his pretty eyes and flawless skin and then the part i really like how this is contrasted with his annoying personality that no one likes. Its so funny, his coworkers tolerate him at best theres like maybe 3 people tops that actively like being around him. Also he only really started covering his eyes after the flashback arc, i wonder if its because of those events whether its the unlocking 6 eyes (why is it called that) or geto leaving. Because with the blindfold he mostly just looks like a weirdo. I also cant help but wonder if gojo losing sight of his humanity during the tengen incident, like he seemed very... unmoored? meant geto didnt have a grounding point to rely on later. So by the time gojo had figured himself out and how to be a functioning person again geto was already gone.

Scrolled through tumblr and wow people are horny for the deadbeat. Also nanami. The oldest womb dude too but i expected that since he's a half dead looking goth which is just up tumblr's alley. Wow i havent seen a reader insert plague this bad since haikyuu. Go straight girls go (just stay away from me).

judge jury executioner the jujutsu world really is a lawless mobstate.

37. huh. what was that spaghetti scene

39 eyy reached the last currently available episode. lots of active plot threads. i still don't know what was up with chrono(?) or where he ran off to. deadbeat zombi toji has picked out megumi. mahito and whats his face are roaming around. not sure I'll read the manga but i might skim it. the best part of this show is the cool fight scenes afterall.

Was thinking about the framing of the flashback arc op and ed. And they appear so carefree and warm because we're seeing how gojo remembers his highschool days. He's dreaming of days past wishing he could return to them.

[thickest-slimiest-malware]

more detailed spiderverse thoughts

if spiderverse 2 was the final one itd probably be miles dad quitting and thats how we find out you can change canon events or whatever. we didnt need a second story with a second cop dad. i think gwens story wouldve been sufficient if it was just about her band. they also couldve cut the bland bird fight and moved the other spider teams introduction, it wouldve been fine if we just followed miles story until gwen came to him and were introduced to the in-charge spider people when entering the spider world or whatever. if they werent making a sequel thats probably how it would go.

if they wanted to make it better, they should make gwen be less annoying, or have some more insightful thoughts about her being annoying.

also idk what theyre gonna do with uncle aaron but im suspicious of how theyre framing him and that universe. i dont think he would do that to miles, even an alternate miles. hes just a guy with a job. and even if he would do that in a specific snecario, the fact they created the perfect scenario for him to do that makes me think theyre trying to frame him as a bad guy which i dont like.

i hope theyre gonna roll that back in the last movie or make it some sort of misunderstanding, without giving him a redemption arc because he doesnt need it.

ok so this next thing isnt a real problem as is but it would be if they cut the things i described and suddenly lacked content: the villain (spot?) has very little going on. but i think hes a cool guy, they could figure something out. make him more inquisitive like the scientist he is, make him struggle more at the start and maybe show some of his daily life. im tELLING YOU HE HAS CUTE PATHETIC POTENTIAL but i suspect thats not where the story is going just because of the way hes designed. the movie really doesnt favour certain body types (thats a whole other can of worms about this franchise that im not opening here, its been going on since the first movie)

or build up miguel more, maybe make him more prominent as an antagonist (although he works okay as it is, i think the scene where he tries to bend miles to his will is great and he works well as a representation of a forced narrative that miles has to defy). they have to be careful with him, hes kind of a basic superhero guy, whose only (but important and interesting) flaw is that he's too lawful. they should follow that lead

also im repeating myself from a previous post but some of the characters just dont have much personality. i hope they let spiderwoman take more of a stance on things in the next one because shes quite inconclusive. is she a career person that doesnt see anything wrong with what theyre doing? does she let miguel do all that stuff because she respects him? or will she completely change camps and support miles when we see her again? what we currently know about her is that shes a spiderwoman and shes having a baby. thats not very anticapitalist of them, to only focus on what a character is doing for society and how shes useful (although showing that she is useful and valuable will do it for some people, that might be important too. but i never buy that archetype "i balance career with my baby perfectly! look how strong of a woman i am")

to sum it up, words cannot describe how little i cared about gwens deal. i wouldnt have brought back uncle aaron at all but since they did they need to make him endearing again. flesh out miguel and spiderwoman

also im only saying this because i care about spiderverse, and i think it has potential, and it has responsibilities and standards to meet that the first movie has set. i still think if youre gonna watch anything in the theatres right now, it should be spiderverse

[halforcdad]

I watched POI when it already finished airing so whenever I see someone said they watched it when it was still airing I went

Oh honey

Oh dear

Oh sweetie

You watched it live?? You watched 5x10 live?? Not knowing whats going to happen??? *Give you a hug*

I already know what was coming and still that episode left me heart broken just shattered emotionally (which is to say, also, that good writing can still make an impact even when the audience knows what's going to happen so take notes Marvel)

On another note, the 4x11 self-sacrifice lives in my head rent-free. "If you die die for something that you love" and "i'm a sociopath i dont have feelings" then she goes and kisses Root and saves them all I am on the floor bawling

the funny part is i saw bts photos from the finale that showed root and reese together and i naively thought, 'ok cool they still might die, but at least they survive until the end' and the writers really said Lol. but considering the type of show it was (and what happened to carter) and how dire things were going in s4-s5 i kinda prepared for character deaths leading up to the season. it left me numb and sad for a while, but i dont remember being extremely devastated about it. all the stuff we got with shaw dealing with it afterwards, however, that shit hurt bad. and unfortunately i love angst a lot (the writers were very good at writing sad stuff!)

my main complaint is that the death was so sudden and kinda anticlimatic (but i guess there has to be one of those to further stress how much their backs were against the wall). everyone else in the show gets a poetic death/sacrifice scene and in carter's case, at least she was killed by a significant villain in her arc and we're allowed to really feel the pain and consequences of her death, root gets taken out by a guy who started the job like two weeks ago and no time to mourn bc we're in a war Lol (and they had to rub salt in the wounds by showing us her for-sure dead body and telling us samaritan dug it up to get her implant, which while realistic, was brutal).

i feel like a lot of people talk about it as one of the worst writing decisions, but i can see why they chose to keep root's fate the same. yes, it sucked to losing a wlw character (especially when that was so close to clexa, if im not getting my times wrong), but i don't believe lgbt media should only be happy, soft stuff and that lgbt characters should be plot armor protected always. i still found a lot of meaning and emotion in the ending we got with shaw carrying on the work her team left behind with the machine and having some small piece of root to hold on to (and shaw being the only one next to fusco who never really had a lot of direct contact with the machine, getting the chance now to work closely with it and understand root more maybe that way). the show was always dealing with death/loss and grief and emphasizing how people still leave significant legacies behind and stay with us even if it's just the influence and impact they left on their surviving loved ones. i would still prefer if it had ended differently, but at least I could understand the message they were going for.

ill never stop loving 4x11 it's genuinely one of my favorite tv episodes ever. poi was very good at normalising shaw's apd and everything they did with shaw and especially what they did in the aftermath of that episode ripped me to shreds (her telling simulation root that she was her safe place and then telling real root she'd rather die than get them all killed, that made me totally normal). shaw getting the big emotional, meaningful moments in 4x11 (in the machine's simulation when she shows root one last act of kindness with 'maybe someday', the subway scene with the bomber, and of course the ending scene) was so important and well done. and root's slow-moed reactions at the end were gut-wrenching i must have rewatched that scene maybe 1000 times.