#it was the main episode I would rant to my partner about when I first started the podcast

[cabincryptid51]

Day 3 of @intr0vrt3dextr0vert 's Magtober: Favorite Episode

For some reason I like the episode about the funky little clay spiral man, so have some art of MAG 126: Sculptor's Tool!

This is my first day posting one of these, but I have the first two days as drafts that I am going to try and post at some point this week!

I don't know how many days I will do, but I do have some ideas for future prompts, so I will try to at least do those!

The text is meant to read, "They do not have a name, it would only confuse them"

Non distorted and no text under the cut

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Granted, tumblr’s search function may broken but I can’t find a post on your blog centered on Alya’s writing. As a person constantly on the look out for critical examination of Alya’s role in the narrative and the compromises on her principles, relationships and competences made to artificially engineer the episode’s story, I’d be very interested to see your thoughts

I use Alya's writing as an example of a character done dirty all the time, but I don't think I've ever done a sugar post focused on her and I totally should. Before we get into it, I will openly admit that her bad writing bothers me more than Marinette's or Adrien's because she is best girl and we stan her. What can I say, I'm a writer whose best friend is an artist with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. I like characters who are writers and with artsy, anxiety-ridden best friends. They are my people and that gives us a great starting point for this post.

Marinette is the unambiguous main character of the show, so it makes sense to design both her hero partner and her best friend around balancing her out, giving them strengths to fill out the spots where she is weak. It's how you make a strong cast. When Alya is allowed the shine, she fills that balance role wonderfully and I love it! Some of my favorite moments are when Marinette goes on one of her rants and cool-headed Alya drags her back down to Earth:

Marinette: We're gonna stroll over there real cool as if we just happened to be passing by. Alya: Then what? Marinette: Then? I'll invite him out for a fruit smoothie at the end of the photo shoot! Then, we'll get married! Live happily ever after in a beautiful house and have two kids? No, three. And a dog! Maybe a cat? Nah, forget the cat. A hamster! I love hamsters! Alya: Let's just start with just happen to be passing by and see if we can get to that smoothie.

This banter from Stormy Weather is fantastic. It's exactly the type of thing I want to see from these two as it gives Alya a very different flavor of supporting role from Adrien. While Alya and Adrien are both card holding members of the Marinette hype squad, Alya is more of a voice of reason while Adrien is there to validate Marinette and follow her crazy schemes without question.

This brings us to the first issue with Alya's writing: when the plot demands it, they make her a gullible tabloid journalist even though it goes against everything her character should stand for. The reasons I'm comfortable saying this are many. The first one is that Alya is very clearly supposed to be seen as a serious journalist. That's why you get scenes like this one from Feast:

Alya: Now you know back in the day sculptures were painted, right? Most of the paint vanished over time, but tiny microscopic pigments still remain. Thanks to this special app, witness how it originally looked. But here's the big thing. All these works of art have something in common. It's the same symbol! Look, everywhere. It's like some kind of secret society emblem. As if a kind of Order of the Guardians has been watching over the superheroes since the beginning of time!

This scene would not exist if Alya was supposed to be the kind of person who only cared about getting blog hits because this type of content isn't where the money is. But money and clout aren't what Alya cares about. She's just a passionate reporter (or fan girl) who wants to know everything she can and who is having fun sharing her obsession with the world. This is an extremely important aspect of her character because it brings us to reason two that she clearly wasn't meant to be a clout chaser: if she was a tabloid journalist who only cared about hits, then she should have never been given a miraculous.

I could go on a rant her about how poorly Alya's blog is used after she becomes Rena Rouge, but I'll spare you the word count and just say that, as soon as she joined the team, she should have stopped sharing secrets on the blog. It makes sense that a blog would initially fill her need to share the fine details of her obsession, but once she's on the team, the blog should have been replaced by her teammates. She could still have the blog, but it shouldn't have things like the freaking guide to how the miraculous work that we see in the season four episode Gabriel Agreste:

Alya: The Miraculous are magical jewels that give powers to superheroes, like Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring. But supervillain Shadow Moth also has two Miraculousbrooches in his possession, and they will give him his powers. We can figure out from this that the Miraculous can either make a superhero or a supervillain. It's all riding on who wears it, which is why these jewels can't fall into just anybody's hands.

Alya, you are supposed to be Marinette's sole confidante at this point. Why are you giving the world this information? The writers are doing you dirty, my dear, and I'm so sorry. The best I can do is to promise to never treat you like this in my stuff.

Now, to be fair, there is some nuance to this. Alya is a human being. She's allowed to have flaws, so I can absolutely forgive her for getting caught up in the moment and posting scoops to her blog without thinking (see: Oblivio). That's honestly a great weakness for her character to have as it makes perfect sense for a fan girl to fan girl. At the same time, if you want to have a fan girl character who becomes part of the things she's a fan of, then you usually need to give that character something that will tone them down and make full fan girl mode something other than the standard setting.

Making your fan girl a serious reporter is a great way to do that! It allows you to have that initial bust of fan girl hype that quickly switches into serious get-the-details mode. Without that kind of complexity, Alya would just be another Wayhem and one Wayhem is already one too many.

While I will give Alya some grace on this topic and even call it a good thing for her character, the same cannot be said for her writing because the writers fail to embrace her hype as an in-the-moment weakness and it ruins her character. To put it another way, a lapse in judgement about posting a photo is excusable as a photo is quickly acquired and posted. A lapse in judgement about a full interview with a total rando who is claiming to be Ladybug's best friend is not excusable (see: Volpina). It's a completely different flavor of poor judgement as - at a minimum - it requires Alya to stand there talking to a person for several minutes and never once question what that person is saying. Those are not the behaviors of a good journalist.

Of course, this brings us to the most glaring example of Alya's character assassination: the Lila thing. Almost everything about this arc paints Alya as a terrible friend, which is a massive missed opportunity as Lila is the perfect antagonist for Alya! Who better to take down a liar than a truth seeker? It's such an easy way to give Alya her own mission to focus on, especially if you make Lila more subtle. You don't even need to have Alya believe Marinette without question. Just have her be an investigative journalist who is like, "You know what, this new girl clearly bothers Marinette and I know Marinette can get caught up in her own head, but it doesn't usually last this long. I think something is up, so I'm going to use my skills to see if Lila is telling the truth that way I know if I'm supporting the right person here." Don't have your character claim that she checks her sources and does research if you're going to turn around and have her believe whatever she hears without checking any of it!

Even outside of the Lila thing, I wish we saw more of Alya's research skills! They were such a good thing to give Marinette's best friend as Marinette is great at focusing on a clear task, but research is the kind of thing that would overwhelm her, so it makes perfect sense to make her best friend a researcher as that lets the team have someone to help track down whatever Gabriel is calling himself this week. The writers even understood this to some extent as we saw in Mr. Pigeon 72:

Alya: Marinette, how long have you been working on this? Ladybug: I dunno, six-seven days, maybe ten. Now that we're on spring break, I finally have time to put my whole heart into it! Alya: When was the last time you worked on one of your own designs? Ladybug: I do loads of designing! Look! (pointing to the contraption at her door) I designed a security system so that nobody can enter my room when I'm not in it. And if I put on this hat (puts on modified hat) I hear everything that's going on in here, even when I'm out of the room. Alya: I'm gonna have to break it to you because I'm the only one who can. THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE! Girl, trust your BFF. When I'm researching something obsessively and I can't think of anything else, that's when my mind can get really blocked. You know what you need most right now? A break! Ladybug: No way! No breaks until I find out how to keep Shadow Moth from reakumatizing people!

Remember who ultimately figures out how to keep Shadow Moth from reakumatizing people in this episode? Alya! Because her creative style is all about researching and looking at the evidence. You know, the classic skill set of a reporter?

I really do mean it when I say that the show has a fantastic setup for telling a good story. Alya's character should have been a perfect addition to Marinette's team. My favorite lineup is the line up from season two with Kagami and Luka in non-love-interest bonus roles that I won't get into here since it's a little too deviant from canon to make sense without explanation. Instead, I'll just give you the clear roles they perfectly set up and then squandered for the original miraculous five:

Ladybug: Battlefield commander

Rena Rouge: Big Picture Strategist (basically Marinette excels at reactive thinking/leading during a battle while Alya excels more at proactive thinking/long-term tactics)

Chat Noir: Peacekeeper/Heart/Hype Man

Carapace: Protector/Stop Button (much like Alya and Marinette, Nino and Adrien should have been two sides of the same coin with Adrien being focused on making everyone happy while Nino focuses on keeping everyone safe)

Queen Bee: Wild Card/Chaos Element (I love a good chaos element who is there to suggest the options that won't occur to people who have been raised to follow the rules.)

I'll also point out that this lineup would show that the characters weren't interchangeable and make the two main couples feel more unique and meant for each other. For example, Nino's tendency to encourage others to stay safe would pair terribly with Marinette's need to not get too caught up in her own thoughts. The second Nino second guesses one of her plans she'd fall apart, so she needs Adrien to be her Chat Noir. Similarly, Alya's impulsivity weakness would make her a terrible match for go, go, go Hype Noir! She needs a partner who makes her take two seconds to second guess herself. There was so much potential here you guys! So much potential! It could have been beautiful! Instead, we got canon...

There you go, my broad love letter to Alya. I could keep going, but you didn't request a specific topic, so I'm just going to end it there. Feel free to ask for more, but please do it in another ask as this is already super long and - out of kindness to my followers- I try to avoid essay after essay on the same post unless they really need to be connected.

[kandyzee]

So gonna be ranting about this mf on twitter

Major Ian gallagher defence coming.

OKAH FIRST Ian 100% deserves mickey the same way mickey deserves Ian. When mickey is first introduced he is a homophobic closet case with no support system by the end of the show he is happily married to his fucking high-school sweetheart with his own apartment in a nice area and he has his own business. HE HAS ALL OF THAT BECAUSE OF IAN. Ian became mickeys support system and was always pushing him to become a better person. He shows mickey that he's not 'fucked for life' and he trys his hardest to protect him. Even if the way Ian did it , he got mickey to come out. Mickey needed that push. U think he would have come out if he didn't have someone he loves telling him to?

Now the cheating. The only time Ian cheats on mickey is during his manic episode in s4/5 AND HE GOT HELP AFTER. It's crazy to me that people don't think Ian regrets that and seriously use it as a reason to hate Ian. U better hate fiona and Debbie and Lip too. Yk what better hate mickey too cause he did have a wife and boyfriend (this is a joke don't kill me)

Ian not signing the marriage papers is upsetting but it's not hard to understand why he did it. Ian grew up around frank and Monica , his main representation of marriage is an absolute shit show. He's scared of turning his relationship with the man he loves into that. This is an expected fear from Ian given his worries about being like his mum. He doesn't want to complicate things. And he talks to mickey about this. Ian not signing isn't him being horrible it's his way of trying to protect mickey from himself because he loves mick.

And Ian is always trying to protect mickey, he backs him up in fights, when mickey breaks out of prison he doesn't go to the cops, he breaks up with mickey when he thinks their relationship is hurting him, he tells lip "hit my husband again and I'll fucking kill you". CLEARLY PROTECTIVE.

I don't have ss but mf was also like "Ian laughs at mickey being raped" so talking about that now.

The first time Ian "laughs at him" is in s3 when he tries to talk to mickey right after it happens. I don't think it takes a genius to know that Ian was trying to lighten the mood, not laugh AT mickey. He was also traumatised when Terry catching them happened. He laughs nervously because he has no clue how to navigate a situation like that at such a young age. He's a child making a badly timed, uncomfortable joke because he watched something terrible happen.

The second time Ian does this is with Caleb. During his relationship with caleb, Ian tries to convince himself that mickey was bad for him a few times. Making yourself hate someone is a lot easier than accepting the fact that they are gone. He shouldn't be telling someone he basically just met about that, but in his defence, he's talking about something he probably feels happened to him as well. Ian is affected by all that happened with mickey, and it makes sense that he tells people. In the same way, it would make sense for svetlana to tell people about the day it does for Ian too. All 3 are victims of Terry. Ian also has people telling him how bad mickey is all the time (mainly fiona tbh what if her problem with the milkovichs ) so he's trying to believe that, a easy way to do that is get validation from someone who hasn't been been around mickey. Caleb has never met mick, he has no reason to try defend him. I also don't really think what Ian was saying was making fun of mickey, it's not nice but yk?

This is getting long omg

On him being ugly

UGLY?!?!?

Cameron monaghan is GORGEOUS. He is the definition of cutie pie AND fine as fuck.

When mickey punches Ian because he didn't sign the marriage papers, HE DID NOT HAVE IT COMING. No one deserves to be hit by their partner. I mean, Jesus crist mickey literally broke his leg. His is probably the worst aspect of their relationship by that I mean the violence. A lot of it is playful, but it's not always healthy. Mickey was understandably upset but he shouldn't have hit Ian.

Okayyy now the hall of shame stuff. To me, that shit doesn't count cause Ian and mickey both act kinda out of character. I really don't like Ian saying that, and he shouldn't, but it's hardly a reason for Ian not to deserve mick. 87% is still the majority of his heart, and Ian wasn't saying he doesn't love mickey. Also acting like mickey hasn't said worst things.

"Ur nothing but a warm mouth to me"

"better than going off and having another bipolar episode"

LAST THING. Yes, mickey sacrifices a lot for Ian, like when he goes to prison for him, but not everyone shows love through large reckless actions. You shouldn't expect Ian to give things up to prove he loves mickey. Sacrifice isn't the only way to show affection. U can do it through words or gifts or quality time. Ian shows his love a lot through words, like when he tells mickey, "we have nothing to be ashamed of" early as s2. He makes him feel better when mickey is scared he would be a bad dad.

Ian gallagher haters are DUMB . Some people shouldn't be allowed to watch shameless cause how can u be so small-minded. People who say 1 of them doesn't deserve the other are just aggravating. Gallavich has a lot of ups and downs, and its part of what makes them so appealing. Despite all the bad things they go through, they always love and fight for each other.

Rant over

[stendysolos]

silly rant about wendy and stan :3

but like the rants are seperate

so to whoever wants to read this shit i think wendy doesnt work with anyone else besides stan. if you say "kyle can treat her better!" first of all stfu u kyndy shippers are annoying asf and second of all no he would not. he would clearly get jealous of other guys and he would be really controlling (not in earlier seasons) and lets just be fr for a sec... wendy would either fall out of love or get back with stan again because yknow they always go back to eachother. and plus an arguement between wendy and kyle would be ugly especially if theyre together, they both can get mad asf and the arguement would last ATLEAST a few days. and atleast stan can handle her disagreeing and yelling at him. now lets see who else shes paired with. i wanna talk abt wendy and token. first of all i dont believe wendy ever loved token because we never see theyre relationship outside of raisins. what i believe is that wendy only dated token to try and get stans attention because he did neglect the relationship and maybe she was attention-hungry. and now the final one i wanna talk to about is cartman. i hate wendy x cartman (more than i hate kyndy) because we know it would never work. she even said that she lost all feelings towards cartman after chef goes nanners. and even if you argue and say that they had good chemestry in that episode let me remind you that she ran back to stan at the end of the episode. she clearly hates cartman and clearly would rather killherself than date cartman. i dont think cartman deserves to be with anyone (except maybe yentl) because he's pretty much unlovable.

now onto stan, i dont think he works with anyone but wendy. lets take a look at style. first of all kyle has left stan several times before. he left him for token and he also never helped him with his depression in your getting old. but guess who was there to cheer him up? wendy was. wendy was one of the only people that didnt get sick of him in that episode and it really shows how much she cares for stan. and in you have 0 friends even though wendy was kinda being... weird, stan did listen to her and tried to edit his settings on his facebook.

also i wanna bring up... best friends doesnt = dating.

also i wanna talk abt stendy as a relationship. i think that they might be able to work as friends but as partners is when theyre dynamic works best. girlboss and loser bf. in all honesty stan and wendy might have the best dynamic/healthiest relationship out of everyone. theyve been shown to care about eachother lots of times and in the older seasons was when they really had their cutest moments. modern stendy isnt bad either, wendy is able to forgive stan at the end of the chat gpt episode because she loves him. and stan really cares for wendy too. he went with wendy to see shitty movies just to spend time with her and he also wrote a song for her. stendy is my absolute favorite ship and i hate when ppl make them cheat on eachother. stan would never and wendy wouldnt either. and one thing i noticed is that stan is loyal to wendy, sure he may have had a few crushes on other girls but, he never actually tried to make a move on any of them (except ms ellen) but through out all their break ups, stan never dating anyone besides wendy, which shows he really does love her enough to the point where he would hit on anyone while she was gone

also this section is just random but i wanted to put it here:

would stan work with other girls?

theres 3 main people i wanted to pair stan with. heidi, bebe, and red. first i want to talk abt is red and stan. i feel like they would be more friends than lovers. we dont really see much of reds personality but we do know that she acts like the other girls. stan doesnt really interact with girls that much so we dont really see a certain dynamic between them. another girl i want to talk abt is bebe. bebe is an interstening character, she can be nice, outgoing and funny but she can switch up to be sassy and rude. stan and bebe are like the listeners/jocks of their groups. they both have their hobbys that go on the field (stan plays football and bebe is a cheerleader). i feel like stan and bebe would be besties shit talking everybody. and lastly i want to move onto heidi. i feel like they could work as an alternate incase stan and wendy have a permenant break up (lets be honest thats never happening). i feel like heidi likes/ is fond of stan. she went up to him for advice abt cartman and he's probably the one that knows cartman the least. and in the bracelets episode he asked her for glue which i find funny. and i feel like their love of animals would help them bond.

ok i think im done with this rant

so basically:

wendy and kyle dont get along prob, stendy is a healthy relationship, cartman and wendy hate eachother, stan and red are mutuals, stan and bebe are prob besties, and stan and heidi could work but like... stendy solos.

ok bye yall

[tezuze]

Hi I’m gonna rant about Ghost Game for a second

Not to meaning to add to the endless “What the hell happened to Ghost Game????” discourse but uh, yeah I guess I am contributing to that

I have quite a bit to say about my theories on what I think went wrong and what they could’ve done better and why I desperately do not want a season 2 (I know the irony of how that looks on me) but if I wrote all that in one space I think it would be so long that even I would start begging for me to shut up

So, I’m going to split these up into more digestible categories that I’ll write whenever I’m procrastinating

In case I never get around to anything else, I’m going to start with the biggest loss to me, how I think the Digimon were supposed to influence their tamer’s personal growth and visa-versa

I’ll put the rest below the cut before I get outta hand

Hiro and Gammamon: Augh. These two frustrate me the most. So much lost potential in my book, but I would feel weird putting the mc anywhere but the top of the list, so I decided to put them in the order they join the cast and therefore you get my most passionate feelings first.

Almost one of the first things we learn about Hiro as a character is how self-sacrificing he is. He’s your stereotypical mc who wants to help everyone, but the narrative points out that he’s willing to be helpful at the expense of his own wellbeing, which paints his conventionally good trait as a flaw. And that’s about all they touch on in the base show, with a lot of reading between the lines. I would’ve loved to see the ramifications of his self-sacrificing nature and have the cast point out how he’s really harming himself and stretching himself thin just to appease others. I don’t think the “being helpful is good, but not at the expense of your health” moral is touched on enough so I always get excited when stories have that as one of their themes.

And then there’s his partner, Gammamon, the exact opposite of Hiro. He’s needy, dependent, wild, and selfish at the start. He doesn’t care about others (or their belongings). He’s demanding. He’s destructive. He proves to be a handful for our polite little Hiro, especially with his dad missing and this responsibility suddenly thrusted upon him.

I would’ve loved to see Gammamon teach Hiro to be a little more selfish (or at least, more self-preserving), while Hiro teaches Gammamon to be more considerate and tame. Of course, we see Gammamon grow in this way but the story doesn’t really make it clear that it was necessarily Hiro’s doing or give much of a catalyst at all for why Gammamon has personal growth other than it would be troublesome to have such a brat as the main creature. Now, I know that Guilmon’s arc was kinda similar in that they didn’t have direct events or anything that would make him mature, but it still felt more… realistic? Tended to? Idk I’m going to force myself to move on.

Ruli and Angoramon: Honestly just kinda disappointed with the lack of attention these two got in general in comparison to the other pairs, but I digress.

We meet Ruli with the impression that she’s brash, headstrong, and charismatic. She does things her way on a whim. Especially in the first few and select episodes, but in my opinion, it seemed like they kinda pushed her to the background and her personality was very passive and mild at times (and I don’t think that was on purpose).

Similarly to Hiro and Gammamon, Angoramon has quite a few contrasting personality traits. He’s softspoken, knowledgeable, and introspective. When Hiro first meets Angoramon, he doesn’t want to reveal himself because he’s nervous and doesn’t want to be a bother.

I think these two were supposed to balance each other out. Ruli would learn to think about things more and not run in half-cocked, maybe start to appreciate the more slow and peaceful things in life like nature and reading (Yeah Ruli, don’t think I forgot about that scene where Angoramon wanted you to read one of his favorite books and you DIDN’T and never DID). Meanwhile, Angoramon would come out of his shell more from sticking around Ruli. Possibly learn not to be so overbearing? Idk, honestly I don’t think Angoramon has as much room for growth because he seems the most level-headed character in the cast.

Lastly,

Kiyoshiro and Jellymon: Now, I know I have some bias toward these two so it might seem I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt but I’m going to try to come at them as objectively as I can.

They kinda half-executed what I think they were going for with these two, so they don’t offend me as much (which I think is part of the reason why I like them so much), but a full written out arc between them would’ve been a dream.

Kiyoshiro at the beginning of the series is, well, a sniveling inconsolable scaredy cat. On top of that, he’s kind of cocky and stuck up, obsessed with order and somewhat an introvert (to a lesser extent and differently than angoramon, in the “can’t relate to other humans” kinda way). Outside of his flaws, he is at least kind and pure of heart (I mean his name more or less means “pure white”) with a strong sense of justice and morals.

Jellymon, the devil creature, is so chaotic her intro episode goes right for the “everyone is going to die and it’s all Jellymon’s fault” thing. She has her moments of scheming and kinda like Gammamon, is pretty selfish and demanding with hints of Ruli’s recklessness as well.

As far as their canonic growth goes, Jellymon’s the only one that sees the bravery in her darling, which helps him nurture that courage and cast aside some of his fears (which, yay they actually kinda do in the series albeit pretty indirectly and kinda inconsistently). Also, the narrative never outright says Kiyo is lonely but he surely doesn’t have any companions, but we can see him grow on his partner and admit that it’s nice to have such a close friendship (pretty sure the whole “I like humans” thing was directed at Jellymon, even though she’s not human shhhhh it makes sense I promise)

Now for what they didn’t really touch on, I think these two were supposed to break each other’s stubbornness. I think Jellymon was supposed to show Kiyo how to relax more and not become so absorbed in studies/research and such. We meet him already knowing he has a love for anime, idols and the like so I’m not sure if he could really learn the lesson to appreciate more of the little things, but maybe she’d show him to love some more like, people-centered type things? (I mean she does love festivals). On the flip side, I think Kiyo was supposed to use not his classroom knowledge, but his personal knowledge to show Jellymon all there is to love about humanity outside of their monetary worth and give her a genuine love for the human world. Oh yeah, and teach her to stop scamming people.

“”””I’m gOinG tO tRy To LiMiT mY BiAs oN KiYoSHiRo aNd jElLyMoN”””””””” *Proceeds to spend half my rant talking about Kiyoshiro and Jellymon even though I think they did them pretty well*

Anyway, would love to hear other’s opinions on this as well as if it seems like I’m reaching and there weren’t supposed to be arcs like this. I just feel like the characters are too inherently flawed and contrast too perfectly with their Digimon for them not to have intended some more character-centered personal growth arcs.

I’m sorry and thank you for reading my dumb thoughts.

[tubbietommo]

what's your favorite kdramas?

FINALLY! SOMEONE'S ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. I've been waiting for someone to ask me this, cause no one ever wants to listen to my kdrama rants lmao.

My ultimate forever number one kdrama is: Crash Landing On You I swear this is my Roman Empire. I'm not joking. I think I've watched this one like 6 times already. I can't get enough of the two main character (especially now that they are married in real life), but even the whole group dynamic I'm just in love with. I can't imagine someone watching this and not liking this serie, I just can't.

My Name Is also a kdrama I've watched like 3 times. Personally I find this one a bit underrated. It's really good but it also makes me depressed at the end so yeah. Usually when I rewatch it, I watch it till en certain scene and stop there.

Uncontrollably Fond Is THE Kdrama that made me want to watch more Kdrama (also.. Kim Woo Bin if you know what I mean, love that man to pieces and will watch anything that has him in it. So Black Knight was also pretty good but felt rushed in the end.) But this serie is definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. Also the relationship between the two.. idk it's cute at times but it's also toxic at times so yeah. But this one has a special place in my heart.

Our Beloved Summer Vincenzo Extraordinary Attorney Woo Twenty-Five Twenty-One (was so good until the end though. The end ruined it for me, but it still made the list so I guess...) Suspicious Partner (this one made the list just for the chemistry alone. That was insane. Like the whole behind the scenes of this serie is a whole ass kdrama as well. Also the compilation of that laugh and angry Chang-Wook is gold. Honestly I don't remember much of the story itself though... But I would watch this one again just for the chemistry.) I'm currently (and finally) watching Something in the Rain, and oh my god. I'm at episode 6 (I started yesterday evening... idk how this happened), and if the vibes stay like this, then it's gonna be an easy top 3 for me with this one. This genuinely makes me want to fall in love with someone. I suddenly have the NEED to fall in love with someone. And every time that damn song starts with "Sometimes it's hard to be a woman....-" it tickles my brain in the best kinda way, I just get butterflies from watching this serie. I hope it's not getting ruined, PLEASEEE.

Not Kdrama, but if you love Kdrama's, you have to watch Hidden Love, which is a Cdrama. Oh it's so adorable, and I'm glad they didn't make it weird about the age gap. It's a bit slow in the first few episodes but so worth it in my opinion.

I also have enough Korean movies and Japanese movies if you're interested in them too (currently mostly watching them for a school project, but hey.) Most of them are a bit of a different vibe from the kdrama series I watch (at least in my opinion.) Ryusuke Hamaguchi has to be my favorite film director, without a doubt. So I can make a part 2 but just for Japanese and Korean movies. I will gladly do it.

[morganarchy]

Guys I know it's The Year of Our Lord 2023 and I am still thinking about BBC Merlin that ended in *checks watch* jesus christ 2012 but I was rewatching the series with my partner and we were really enjoying it and I felt very validated that this show I had watched as a teen WAS good actually, but then...

Like why is Season 4 like that? Like why are the last two seasons so garbage? I'm sorry?? Why did we do Morgana like that? Katie McGrath CAN ACT I've SEEN IT why is she DOING IT LIKE THAT??

We still haven't been able to finish season 5 because it is a bit of a slog and they really just flattened several characters, most notably Gwen and Morgana, but others as well. Why is Gwen, who was absolutely a main character in the first three seasons who had a lot of agency suddenly like, a background character who occasionally intervenes but is otherwise there for Arthur's character development?

ALSO WHY is Morgana NOT a good villain?? There are NO STAKES when she's the antagonist of an episode or even a slew of episodes. I think the longest time she's been able to "win" is like...two episodes? Maybe? Morgana should have been like Cersei in terms of threat levels, but she's just not and that's so a) uncharacteristic in terms of her S1-3 characterization and b) NOT GOOD STORY TELLING because your BIGGEST VILLAIN isn't even the most threatening thing they've been up against. Ghost Uther was more dangerous than Living Morgana!

She's a goth paper bag in seasons 4 and 5 and they do a horrible job trying to make us sympathize with her but also fear her (something done much better for villains in GOT or other shows - GOT is just on my mind because of the shared aesthetic - and NOT COUNTING the last few seasons).

Also Merlin?? Hello?? Why has he become the cop? S4-5 Merlin is essentially that cop in all cop shows who has a "gut instinct" that THAT GUY is the bad guy and he'll go against the law to beat his ass up and get him to confess and when Gaius or Arthur or anyone else calls him out he's like "Yeah but I had a /bad feeling/ about them" like BITCH WHY??

I love Mordred's arc, but it's predicated on Merlin being the literal worst and obviously our main characters need to have flaws but Merlin hates Mordred in a very un-Merlin-like way. He used to reject his visions or at least try to change them, but as soon as he sees Mordred killing Arthur or whatever he immediately hates Mordred no matter what Mordred does to show Merlin that he is changed. Old Merlin would have accepted that! Maybe that was a deliberate writing choice in the "I've learned I can't change fate" kind of way, but it plays very poorly on screen.

Anyway this was supposed to be a one paragraph rant about how BBC Merlin did my girl Morgana dirty in later seasons and I just kept remembering things to say so thank you for listening to my TED talk feel free to interact I'd love to talk about it.

[warningsine]

Some things here.

Debbie says "Mark owes me for the rest of his natural life," but does not extend the same punishment to Ruth, because she's already forgiven her. (See how in the previous episode, she encouraged Ruth to play her own role, the main heroine of their show, when for a whole year Ruth had been playing the cartoonish villain in Debbie's story.)

She actually listens to Ruth's advice about Randy.

Not only she brings her kid to Vegas, but when she wants to go out on a date and needs a babysitter, she goes to Ruth and not to any of the other ladies. (I'm sure Tamme or Cherry or Dawn and Stacey or even Sheila would have offered to help her.)

And that's because she listened to Ruth's "I think I avoid talking about Randy."

It's Debbie's way of saying,"I trust you now, Ruth, and I've forgiven you. I want you to be involved in this important part of my life too. I want you to have a relationship with my child."

When she comes back from her date, she finds Ruth asleep in her room. Debbie does not wake her up or take Randy and go to her own room, she only watches her sleep and then tries to relax too.

Moving on.

In 3x06, we also hear Debbie say, "I hate all of them. Men." And she actually goes on an angry rant about how all guys (including her ex-husband, including the younger jocks--whose first names she didn't bother learning--she fucked) suck--how the patriarchy sucks and limits both hers and Ruth's (professional) options.

While we're at this, it's interesting that Debbie only considers seriously dating someone (Tex) after Ruth confesses that she loves Sam. And she literally makes incredulous faces (that Ruth can't see in the dark) and goes "What?!" twice during that particular discussion.

(She did the same thing after she saw post-coital Ruth seem happy with Russell. "Welp, you're moving on. So now I guess I need to start dating too." That's how she ended up having meaningless one-night stands with those valets. Remember her s1 confession to Cherry that sex with that male wrestler wasn't good for her, because there was no emotional connection? There are hints that something similar happened with those valets. When she found herself in Cherry's room in order to scold her, she let that valet waiting outside and didn't give a shit about going back to him and starting their session. Instead, she stayed to listen to Cherry's personal problems. She got high with Cherry and admitted that her life would have been much easier if she had never gotten married and had a kid.)

She still advises Ruth to go after him [Sam] though, because she loves her and wants her to be happy.

Moving on again.

Turns out that Debbie's "all men suck" sentiment comes true for her again.

Tex seems nice and not a bigot (again, interesting how she lies to the guy that's interested in her, because she wants to help a gay man with his AIDS fundraiser and goes there crossdressed/in a Marlene Dietrich suit) and non-threatening. (So did Mark.)

And yet, it turns out that even Tex doesn't really see her as an equal.

For one thing, he doesn't respect her work (the wrestling part).

For another, when they have a discussion about how actors don't have agency/power (she naturally can't help but think of and mention Ruth), he basically tells her, "Well, my work is dirty and you need to stay away from it. You'll never be my business partner, you're gonna be my wife." He makes it clear in that moment that he wants a younger beautiful/charming trophy wife for his business meetings. Debbie seems like she's drowning again (like when she was Mark's housewife) when he asks her about his ties.

That's clearly when Debbie decides to ruthlessly and unapologetically backstab him and dump him--especially after Ruth gives her that "wake up, Debbie, you're talking about wanting bigger things, but not doing anything to get them" call/talk.

The actress went a step further. She said that Debbie's attraction to him was based on her desire to become him: wealthy and powerful. She was flattered, because he made her feel wanted and sexy. (It's hard to miss how much Debbie craves constant validation, what with her huge insecurities.) Also see here: Ruth's "he's fun, easy and he likes me" about Russell.

But what does she need from a partner? And why can she never find it?

Debbie needs someone who respects and admires her, but doesn't hesitate to call her out on her bullshit when needed. Someone that can't be scared away by her greed and anger. Someone that makes her feel good about her body without objectifying her/treating her like a blow up doll. Someone who loves and accepts her the way she is, flaws and all. Someone who's good with her kid, whom she loves. Someone who encourages her to chase her dreams and ambitions. Someone who's her equal in every single aspect and makes her a better person. Someone that sees through her when she lies to herself. Someone who understands her "better than anyone."

Hm. That someone already exists though. Maybe Debbie doesn't need a husband, after all, but a wife.

Not just a random wife either. She needs Ruth.

Even when she chases her through an airport terminal, because she can't wait two weeks to tell her that she's going to build a straight men free "Eden" for both of them, she doesn't seem to realize what the nature of her feelings for her best friend are. She only knows that she loves her a lot and that she needs to give her a warm hug (a la 1x01 before the betrayal) before they separate for the holidays.

And then Ruth rejects her (always the heartbreaker), and that finally seems to do the trick. (For Debbie, at least. I think Ruth would only dare go there if Debbie made her intentions clear first.)

"Oh. I can accomplish these things, but I can't--do not want to do them without the love of my life by my side. Because the most powerful thing I ever did was loving her." [paraphrasing the actress]

There goes the lightbulb. [cliffhangery ending]

(Before I forget: fuck you, Netflix!)

In season 3, they fully resume their close friendship, but both of them fail to notice how different their dynamic is to the one they had during their pre-Markgate era.

(Their relationship used to be intense for all the wrong reasons. Jealousy, inferiority complex, lies, lack of communication. Then again, maybe the unresolved sexual tension has always been there and complicated things.)

Like, sure, they're both in a different place and have grown as people. Ruth doesn't take Debbie's shit anymore, Debbie now knows how to treat her better and be there for her in return etc.

But there are also some strong romantic undertones there that even the men in their lives can't diminish or dismiss.

As Liz Flahive said, these two were the actual will-they-won't they of the series.

[stxrdust-widow]

Late to the party: Bones edition.

(Need more people to talk to about this show btw. I’m sure my friend is growing tired of my gushing/ ranting lol.)

Ok so I’m watching Bones for the first time and pretty much loving it so far. I enjoy this genre of show (I also like Castle, Elementary, etc) and I appreciate a good slow burn. I think they did an excellent job building all that tension and chemistry, and it was palpable to the audience and I liked their character growth from s1-present. I really like how Booth and Brennan were able to become best friends before lovers, and the will they- won’t they is always fun (as long as it ends in they will), but my main gripe rn is mostly how they got together.

Don’t get me wrong, I like how Booth was the first to realize his feelings, and how sure he was even though he knew Bones wasn’t ready, saying how she couldn’t change and he accepted that. I like the episode where Brennan finally realizes her feelings and how it’s too late for them because it builds more longing and tension. I just feel like they should have gotten together at a different time in the season, or just waited for s7, because it just didn’t flow for me. Like all this waiting and longing and build up for the audience, how we waited nearly 7 seasons and watched them grow as partners. And then boom, s7, it’s like 5 months later and we saw no resolution to those building feelings. We didn’t see them learning to be something more together, or seeing they’re friends reactions to finding out they were finally together. And maybe we didn’t need to because they already knew each other inside and out, but it left me feeling disappointed because I wanted to see all those things. (I like the emotional climactic scenes a-la-Castle lol, where they both crash into each other figuratively and literally)

Maybe an unexpected pregnancy later in the season would have been better than having it be the result of their very first night together, when emotions were running high. (I’m aware the Emily Deschanel was pregnant irl but I wish they would have just hidden it, however horribly it probably would have been). I would have liked for the writers to have given us as the audience some scenes in between the s6 finale and s7 opening to show them learning to be a couple on top of being partners, even if they still kept the baby storyline. Because even mid s7 (where I am atm) they barely have any ‘couple-y’ scenes and I want more.

Unrelated, but I also find that the show does their penultimate episodes very well, but the finales leave me wanting for more, but I digress. I’m only mid s7 rn and I’ll keep an open mind, but I guess that’s what fanfiction’s for lol. Still not over the Gormogon storyline, felt rushed to a conclusion, I don’t like Zack being swayed to becoming a ‘killer’. It felt very ooc and he was too sweet of a character to turn evil🥲

[aethernightmare]

Q: "Why are some parts of your Genshin playthrough missing? They aren't in the playlists and I can't find them."

The short answer, is because I made them private on YouTube and subscriber-only on Twitch. In them I talked about some personal stuff going in my life at the time (neighbors from hell, my home getting regularly vandalized/damaged, my landlord illegally scamming me out of a place to live, moving back in with my mom, some of the abuse I was going through but was powerless to stop due to the pandemic, and my mental health). And in the end, I was ultimately just tired of the nasty, often bigoted and opportunistic backlash I was getting for daring to talking about it. Or for not being "100% positive and uplifting uwu" all of the time.

And since my commentary can't easily be edited out without missing huge chunks of story or progress, I just sequestered the videos and limited their audience instead. I'm not against any of my takes (that I remember) from that time, but I was under a ton of stress, and so my videos were more hangout/rant vlogs than entertainment.

~~~

The longer answer is that truth be told, I'll probably end up either unlisting, privating, or making most of my Genshin videos subscriber-only once the game ends, if not maybe even somewhat before that.

A lot of them ended up being more pandemic vlogs than actual "let's play" content, due to the genuine amount of stress I was under at the time. And for some videos, I've done that already due to negative reception. Mostly it would be for early videos up through Inazuma that would go private. With maybe the first few videos left public for at least some regular discovery, and so my channel doesn't completely collapse. Maybe I'll make highlight reels of those regions instead, but that remains to be seen.

Most of Stardew Valley, Zoo Tycoon, Ocarina Of Time, and even an episode of Xenoblade are already sub-only now. You can view them with a Twitch sub (maybe a YouTube membership in the future if I get partnered), but even though I don't remember disagreeing with any of my takes or rambles in them, I still don't want them having a broad reach during a time when "drama" content is at an all-time high, because of the massive rise in people monetizing harassment against even small LGBT, minority, and neurodivernent creators.

We're basically in G*merG*ate 2.0 at the moment, and it's even nastier than before, because people aren't even trying to pretend it's about "ethics in game journalism" anymore, and is just blatant hatred and phobias on one side, vs. purity culture masquerading as progressivism on the other. With all the normal people and actual minorities caught in the crossfire.

I'm not the only person taking this approach to limiting access to my stuff either. A lot of smaller creators that I follow (many of whom are also LGBT or POC - albeit not all of them) are making a lot of their more "personal" stuff like vlogs or podcasts sub-only or Patreon exclusives too. Not even because of adult themes or sensitive topics, but just to put a barrier of entry against bad-faith actors. Because most drama-wh*res won't get past a $5 access fee, and lose most if not all credibility towards arguing against content put behind an 🔞 paywall.

Also, I gotta be old on main for a second, but kiddos today really are just...too hyper-sensitive towards online or fictional media?? "It traumatized me! It leads to violence or immorality IRL! 17-year olds are minors and thus have the same sensitivities and lack of comprehension and critical thinking as actual kindergartners! If you see anything for "adults" on any level (blood, violence, sexuality, swearing, nuanced positions regarding a difficult topic) it'll mentally and spiritually scar you for life and you'll have no hope for a good future! And trauma is an invisible brand that will make you both a pariah and a messiah forever, that you can never overcome, and will make you incapable of both recovery and judgement!"

Were you guys...raised in a cult?? No seriously, because all of those were ideas you'd only hear from super hardcore fundamentalist groups/cults back in the 1990's and early 2000's. And now y'all repeat the exact same shit like it's normal. And it's both exhausting and terrifying. Honey, if you aren't allowed critical thought, self-examination, and have a hardcore "status quo or else it's evil" mindset...that's a cult. Or at the very least, a red flag warning of where this can go very fast.

Idk, just this whole "if you interact with even mildly mature media or hear something other than what your parents preach it'll [turn you to stone]!" mindset is very bizarre to me. Everyone in my generation played or watched at least some mature games or movies before we were teenagers. We read books based on our reading level regarding the difficulty of the prose, not this false modern idea of "age-appropriateness". We didn't have to give whole-ass media criticism sermons if we enjoyed or want to talk about something a little "problematic", in order to "cleanse" us, and thus feel the need warn others beforehand of the "danger" to let them know we're not "corrupted" by "impure thoughts". Let's be real, those types of Somerton-style videos are just confessionals in disguise. Think about it.

And this lack of access to fictional expression and the ability to discover yourself as an individual creates weird, obvious problems through learned helplessness, infantilization, fear-mongering, stunted independence, a lack of emotional self-regulation, and an eventual lack of mindfullness or boundaries towards others (because that was always "someone else's job" - if said guardian ever actually handled it either).

TL;DR: Tablet-raised and social-media-indoctrinated teenagers scare the shit out of me. If Disney movies, and other literal children's media are the maximum height of your comprehension ceiling, as well as your entire frame of reference for judging other real life aspects or issues, I don't trust your judgement anywhere. And I'm much more comfortable vibing in an environment of older, and more mature crowds. Hence why I'd love to have the option make my content all 🔞 (and still remain monetized), even if there's no actual explicit themes or materials. So I could create an environment more like a chill bar, where it's just adults allowed to talk like and be adults. Again, even if there's nothing necessarily "explicit", some of us just want a space where you don't have to babysit or cater to the tantrums of bitchy youths. Or adults who new grew up or learned how to behave.

"Kids today only behave this way because of stuff they see on the internet!" No, they behave this way because you either let the internet raise them for you (just ignored them and stuck them in front of a screen), or in general did a shitty job as a parent in all other aspects of their life. My generation wasn't like this, and we had access to the original, uncensored, pre-YouTube, pre-Twitter, pre-ad-sense/adpocalypse internet. No trigger warnings, no content moderation, and no mega platforms. And yet...we still handled it better than you?? And caused barely a fraction of your problems?? Almost like the real issue is a lack of individual maturity/netiquette. As well as people farming engagement through rage-bait drama (which has only exploded in recent years due to monetized repost bots).

Anyways, I kind of hate the wider modern internet right now, and want to curate my own content to better suit the experience I want to have. Rather than whatever this current high school level "Burn Book" bullshit is.

So yeah, I'm just over it. The fake outrage. The fake grandstanding. The drama blasting. The grifting. The fearmongering. The proselytizing. Y'all need a chill-pill. But in lieu of that, the best I can do is just be myself in a better curated space.

[boysthatlove]

Boss, Noeul and LITA EP6

We need to talk about it. 

First off, am I over it? No way, myself and almost the entire BL community aren’t over it. But what I will say is that a lot and I mean A LOT has happened since episode 6 of Love in the Air has aired. We are all shook, shaken, and stirred from this episode and it made me think about Boss and Noeul because they are doing a great job in their roles as Phayu and Rain. 

So going all over social media and seeing, hearing and, reading everyone’s reactions, it is clear that this NC scene has set new a new standard on how BL actors should be preforming their love scenes. And I want to say, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. We should really assume that Boss and Noeul are an exception to the rules. 

As example, two other BLs that aired this year (KinnPorsche and Cutie Pie) both has CPs that had great chemistry, if not amazing. While we want to give full credit to workshops and the intimacy coaches, what occurred with Boss and Noeul is next level. 

Two words that will always save a BL actor moving forward: Method Acting!

i.e. they completely separated themselves from the parts that they’re playing. So from the interview where they said that they improvised and in that moment they were Rain and Phayu, I have believe them; because I can’t image the director saying “... and make it nasty.” That is what was and we were here for it. And still are.

I want to say we would be nice to have Fort and Peat be just as natural, but I really don’t know. I feel like fans tend to put more pressure on the second CP and not really appreciate the first or main cp ( e.g. VegasPete in KinnPorsche). 

I also there is something that we don’t know about Boss and Noeul, we don’t know what has gone on during those ‘workshop’ or when they spend time together alone (alone) to build the trust that they allowed to share with each other when performing those scenes. Is my delulu mind thinking of something else, yes. I believe that one likes the other more the professional partner, more that a friend, yes absolutely. Or, they both like each other and one has a better way of hiding it, we don’t know and we may never know.

All I know, is that they can try to call each other ‘best friend’ all they want, but what they did on episode 6, I would NEVER do that with a best friend. Ohm and Nanon are best friends and I could never NEVER see them doing that and not because they are under GMMTV.

I can talk about this for hours, but I am going to end my rant here and I will see you all for episode 7.

[saltygilmores]

My Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls: Season 1, Episode 20 ("PS I Love You")

What happens in this episode: Rory's bizarre eating habits continue to entertain. Luke hates everything. Lane gets paired up on a science project with Dean, pity the poor thing. Lorelai plays with Luke's belt. Lorelai gives Rory a confusing speech. The people in Rory's orbit are sowing the seeds for her eventual failure in life. Lor and Max are back together, but having seen this show three times before, I know it's thankfully short lived. I call Lorelai "Lor" throughout this review and I sound like fucking Christopher when I call her that but I'm tired and these reviews usually take me 3-4 hours with no breaks. There is only one episode left in Season 1 and 6 more episodes until Jess shows up. Rory and Lorelai are playing a game at Luke's where they wait to observe the first three men to walk past the window, and pick their future husband. Lorelai must choose either the first or second man to pass by or get stuck with the third. The third man to walk past the window is Kirk. This scene was very cute and funny. Until it becomes Rory's turn and the first man to walk by is this toenail infection:

I know I pick on Jess' wardrobe, but there's also this fucknugget, who wears the same outfit every single day. Some poor cow sacrificed its life for that stupid leather jacket that probably smells. Max is back. I don't really hate him or anything. I could just...do without him. Sigh. Max calls Lor at the Inn where they make about a dozen jokes about not wearing pants. L&M have apparently been having "very successful phone calls for the last few weeks" and now they are going back to dating.

Lane drops a bag of nasty Salt & Vinegar Lay's potato chips on Rory's head in a way that really made me chuckle, if I wasn't a lazy piece of shit and I thought that more than 2 people were reading these things, maybe I'd make a gif. Rory is again indulging her gross Lay's potato chip fetish, and it was bad enough when it was plain Lay's, but now she's really crossed over to the dark side and is eating Salt and Vinegar Lay's. Is each episode going to feature Rory doing something truly bizarre with food? The last three episodes have seen her take a can of sprinkle cheese into her bedroom, eat a plain slice of French toast as an on the go snack, and now she's back to eating her nasty chips. Once I notice a pattern more than twice, I start keeping track. I just want to let it be known that I think Lane is very funny, intelligent, a good friend, and an all around cool person and I rarely have any issues with her. I think we can all agree that she deserved better. Lane: What are you doing tonight? Rory: Homework, homework, and more homework (hey, I thought you just said you had a job). You? Lane: "Going to meet my science partner." Dun dun dun. Rory is again boycotting Doose's and making Lane do her shopping because she might run into Dean. If these boycotts to the two main purveyors of food in town went on long enough, would Ror & Lor eventually starve to death? Can't they go anywhere else? There's obviously a Walmart somewhere nearby.

Luke Danes, ever a devil with the ladies, is shopping for Rachel's birthday and picks out a kittycat pot holder that meows. I like cats, but if that potholder was a dog that barked, I'd marry him. I can't stop staring at those flowers Lor is holding, they are so pretty. Luke is off on a rant about birthdays, which turns into a rant about malls. And since this is one of my favorite Luke Rants of all time. I am going to transcribe it word for word. "I don't know how to buy gifts,okay? I don't like buying gifts. I don't like getting gifts. This whole gift giving/getting process is completely insane. Suddenly on a certain day, the level of my affection for a person isn't measured by the way that I treat them or what we share. Just because I didn't buy her furry slippers or a giant shoe tree, all of a sudden I suck. No malls! I hate malls! They underpay employees and sell overpriced merchandise! They contribute to urban sprawl! They encourage materialism! The parking's a horror! You drive in, you pay a buck to park and even if you're only there for 5 minutes...." And Lor fucking cuts him off and offers to shop for him. I wanted to hear him keep going, damn it! Luke is right to be concerned. If this were my gritty Gilmore Girls Reboot (working title either The Hollow or Gritty Gilmores) Luke's Diner would have either been turned into a Starbucks within a couple of years, or went out of business and crumbled because small town economies are fragile and their local government is corrupt. Luke, handing Lor his credit card: Nothing too out there. She likes simple. Clean. Nature. Elephants and candles. Can you find her a candle shaped like an elephant? Dean shows up at the Kim residence, walks in the door without knocking or ringing the bell (okay, fine, it's a shop so I guess I'll allow it) and Mrs Kim pops out of nowhere where she begins furiously interrogating him about his motives, causing Dean to spout "Geez!" This episode is so freaking funny! Lane was paired with Dean for her science project together (poor Lane) on "mold, spores and fungus" so I guess Dean will be the test subject. Mrs. Kim is none too happy and rightfully suspicious of Dean being in her home.

If only more people would say this to him. You go, Mrs. Kim! Lane: I invited him over to work on our science project. Mrs. Kim:

Can't stop laughing. Does anyone besides me think way too much about the lives of Lane, Dean, Jess, Shane, and Lindsay as they all attend school together? What is that like? Does this drama (which lets face it, for all 5 people concerned, is centered around Rory) ever continue at school or does it conveniently wait until the last bell rings? There can't be many students at that school so how often do they run into each other or have classes together? Do Dean and Jess have gym class together, where they throw dodgeballs at each other (or does Jess just make excuses and go smoke under the bleachers)? Where does everyone sit in the cafeteria? Were there specially trained counselors on hand at school after Jess murdered Shane? In my unrated Gilmore Girls reboot titled The Hollow, this would be thoroughly explored.

I see all too, if by "see all" you mean I notice stupid shit like this:

What is "Finger white cake" and why has it been marked down in price not once but twice? Now a real bargain at..38 cents? Come on in to Luke's and get your Clearance Finger White Cake. Dean: I'm sure once your mom gets to know me she'll like me. Lane: No, she'll hate you forever, it's nothing personal. Dean to Lane: Is this weird for you? Yes, this feels very weird. Oh, you were talking to Lane.

Yes, going 5 minutes without hearing about Rory would be very refreshing, thank you.

A stopped watch is still correct twice a day, and sometimes Dean Forrester has an intelligent idea. Rory found out Dean was at Lane's house and is having a snit-fit.

This is how I look while listening to Max as well. Paris: I'm just making an observation. Rory: Great, we'll build a dome over you and jam a telescope in your head. SUCH A FUNNY EPISODE! Max and Rory are alone in a classroom, a foot apart, where he's telling her that he's concerned about her after her breakup with Dean, which Lorelai told him about without Rory's knowledge. This feels reeeaaaally super duper inappropriate. Rory also wasn't aware that Lorelai and Max were even talking anymore. This scene made me uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable, but as in uncomfortable clothes... This scene is one of my favorites in the series. This episode is great (until it's not anymore).

Guess who just walked in to see this? Starts with an R ends with an Achel. She is none too pleased to find out that Lorelai has not only been shopping for her man but that also she's fiddling with her man's belt.

I just like this shot of Lane and her two cups, looking deep in thought. Rory has a tiff with Lorelai over the Dean Breakup/Max Reunion sitch and so she runs away to her grandparents' home without telling Lorelai. Max comes by the Ror & Lor residence, where Lorelai gets a call from Emily that Rory is at her house. He sees that Lor is emotional, vulnerable, and crying again. So he's either going to propose to her or try to sleep with her. Those are the only two options.

This dark blue/denim shirt with the rolled up sleeves, blue hat, and wristwatch looks sooo hot on Luke! Why would you ever try to change him Lor? (I'm a huge rolled-up-sleeves & watches slut so this look really speaks to my lower half) Lorelai and Luke are both discussing how much they hate Dean but I only believe one of them really means it. Yeah, sure Lorelai, you want to key Dean's car. Whatever you say. Luke to Lorelai: "Coffee's on the house today." It's always on the house because Lorelai never pays for her coffee anyway.

Hey, quit staring, his eyes are up top, Lor! Honestly. Perving is so sinful. The old one broke? Did Rachel tear it off in a fit of passion? Nah she never would she's boring as fuck.

Tomatos Sign Spotting? No. Aww, Lorelai's going to visit her boyfriend.

No you don't Lor. I think what you meant to say was "Let's make out in the employee break room." "You are going to be hard pressed to find another girl as fantastic as Rory." #JusticeForLindsay She is SO not convincing when we're supposed to believe she hates Dean. The DALA (Dean & Lorelai Affair) is just getting started. Dean is being a bratty little shit to Lorelai and raising his voice at her, but it's okay, he's not Jess. Dean tells his future wife Lorelai that he said I love you to Rory and all she did was sit there and he doesn't understand why that makes him a jerk. Oh I don't know, I think you may be leaving just a LITTLE bit of detail out here. Just a teeny weensy amount. Just a smidge.

Justin Timberlake's creepy smile is making this scene all the more bothersome. What was a terrific and funny episode until now is going to crash in the last 5 minutes as it so often does on this show. As we hear one of the most confusing Lor-To-Ror advice speeches ever. In my humble opinion that no one cares about. Lorelai tells Rory that she talked to Dean, and I'm starting to feel really sad for Rory. Does she have any fucking autonomy at all? Lor is off telling Max all about her daughter's very personal business and butting in by talking to Dean, without asking Rory if it was okay first in EITHER situation. Rory looks defeated and even remarked earlier in the episode that she was tired of people trying to coddle her and protect her. Now, let's make this worse! Lor: "He said I Love you and you didn't say it back? That must have been rough on him." Um, FOCUS, Lorelai! Your daughter! Who the everliving fuck cares what your daughter's shitty boyfriend feels? Only you do because you want to fuck him. Lor: "I haven't thought enough about what I'm supposed to be teaching you." Oooh boy. This can't be good. I would expect a mother to say first and foremost, "It's okay to wait to say it until you're ready and not under pressure." and that only comes much later (sort of). My other issue is that Lor only learned a few scant details of what happened minutes earlier from Dean, who left a TON of things out (and you can totally believe everything he says), and Rory never went into any detail about why she couldn't say it (although Lorelai did ask her many times and Rory kept refusing, to her credit), so Lorelai decides she'll just fill in the blanks and guess what happened and launches her speech from there. I think the point of this weird speech is that she presumes Rory is afraid of commitment and can't express her feelings. Maybe this would sound better if she knew what Rory was feeling in the first place, instead of basing her shitty advice on a 2 minute interaction with Dean at a grocery store. I'm sure there have been a dozen interpretations of this speech but personally I thought it was strange and Lorelai just wants Dean and Rory back together so he'll be back in her home where she can fuck him.

"It has to be right and real and has to take a lot of thought. I want you to be ready when it happens." Well, at least she said it, but she's sending mixed messages. Is it "put a lot of thought into it" or "just go for it"? Blah. It wasn't as bad as I remembered, and I'm willing to give Lorelai credit for the fact that she did try to talk to Rory several times and Rory wasn't at all forthcoming about what happened, I guess. I know it's trendy to hate on Rory but fuck, Lorelai sucks. Goodnight.

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

[hawkgirlz]

honestly been wanting to rant about this for a while but I truly do think the john stewart/shayera hol ship ended up damaging their characters rather than helping them.

to start, john was originally an architect before the justice league show gave him the military background. since geoff johns worked on one of the episodes in jlu, it was clear he was a jlu fan & basically incorporated that into comic john. by doing so, we ended up with one of the worst written john stewarts in history, a john that was so patriotic and explicitly said that he was willing to kill people for america. while gj does get backlash for how he was written from john fans, I do think jl + jlu should be incorporated in that too as it was what started the military origin in the first place. it's true that the show led to john's popularity but outside of that, it didn't really benefit him in the comics. plus the main reason the origin was given was because they wanted him & shayera to have something to relate to in the show which was very stupid considering john was already apart of the glc. but apparently that wasn't enough? and then there's bruce timm being the weirdo that he is, he apparently didn't like john's origin in the comics cause it addressed racism like one time. as if anyone was even asking him to do that???

despite her rising popularity from the shows, dc instead decided to kill shayera off while jlu was airing during pre-n52. I do think this also links to jl + jlu having shayera go by hawkgirl instead of her comic alias, hawkwoman. i was actually surprised when I first read that comic shayera despised being called hawkgirl & I will never understand why the show proceeded to call her that. all it did was confuse people since kendra had arrived to comics two years before the show aired. it was clear that kendra had taken all the hawkgirl hype as she was the person who actually went by that alias in the comics.

now I'll actually dissect the ship. for the record, I am well aware that this is an alternate universe, but despite this, I still think the ship did more damage than good to the gp's perception of these characters.

like I said, the build up towards john/shayera was genuinely good. it was the classic slowburn between partners, then friends, to lovers. but the problem is, they had to retcon a lot of shayera's background in order to make the relationship actually work. you see, the jl crew was originally planning on making katar hol (hawkman) the villain who initiates the invasion & physically abuses shayera. anyone who has read hawkworld + any comic of katar/shayera altogether would know how insanely out of character this would have been for him, and for the sake of this post, I'll be referring to his hawkworld characterization. the crew ended up pushing the idea back not because of how ooc it was, but because they were scared of the backlash from comic fans. in the comics, shayera was assigned as katar's partner in the thanagarian force, except that the thanagarian government wanted shayera to specifically spy on katar prior to their plans for an invasion. the thanagarian government knew katar would most likely resist their ideas & wanted shayera to tell them everything she finds out about him. when the betrayal was revealed, this obviously hurt katar. shayera ended up disobeying due to her developing feelings for katar & together, they stopped the invasion. the invasion in question was also being initiated by shayera's corrupt father and when you look back at it, the show was kind of bland in comparison. the show CONSTANTLY reduced shayera's character in regards to her being a love interest, not once did we ever get a moment where we actually discovered what her life on thanagar was like. which is what the hawkworld comics did. my point is: if you have to ruin a character to make a relationship work, then maybe the ship just isn't good.

and honestly this is me being nice in my analysis because nothing about john/shayera was even original writing wise. most if not all aspects of their relationship were stolen from katar/shayera relationship in the hawkworld comics and anyone who actually read them would agree with me on this.

one key point that bothered me in regards to jlu was the origin they had given shayera regarding her reincarnations. while dwayne mcduffie revealed that bashari doesn't actually exist & that it was john/shayera's feelings messing with the asbsorbacron, it's obviously not the case for the eyes of the gp. the irony is that jlu stans tend to complain about hawkman/shayera, talking about how boring it is since they're reincarnations when jlu ended up doing the same thing for john/shayera, by having chay-ara cheat on katar with bashari. this + their son, rex stewart, was jlu's way of saying john/shayera were always destined for each other. this isn't any different from the reincarnation cycle regarding the hawks, but for some reason, it is to some. what I find funny is that people genuinely believe that john/shayera pushes shayera in a 'solo spotlight' by keeping her away from the reincarnation process. when all it did was tie her down to it again but with a different man. the inclusion of bashari + rex stewart basically got rid of what could've made john/shayera's relationship interesting for shayera as a character. john's motivations to possibly get back with shayera suddenly weren't his own, which was why he stayed with vixen. it's also ironic that shayera was upset about this because like I said, jlu stans were saying that john/shayera pushed her in a solo spotlight despite the show tying her down to another reincarnation cycle.

i don't know if I can even stomach what they did to katma, that's literally his WIFE in the comics but the gp just considers her a fling now.

what's frustrating to me about john/shayera as a ship is that the ship altogether was done for nothing in the end. people might be wondering why john/shayera are never included for comics in main continuity. the answer is simple. dc editorial doesn't allow comic writers to include them. the irony is john/shayera was the only couple on the show that had the crew arguing with each other because not even they knew what to do with them lol. it was actually confirmed that a lot of the crew turned their back on the ship after the ancient history episode was revealed and that was when they began to despise the couple because they believed the comic reincarnation backstory being massacred was unnecessary (which is completely valid tbh).

comic writers have spoken about their love for the couple but being unable to write stories for them. wonderbat gets some content in main continuity so it's clear that dc editorial specifically has beef with john/shayera, which is why I think the ship was such a waste in the end. the ship is clearly popular with the gp but what was the point of pushing aside their canon love interests to the point where the gp's perception of their love lives is also skewed if the editorial in question doesn't even want to acknowledge them? as a comic fan, I'm simply annoyed that they couldn't have just been with their canon love interests instead of this mess.

*also i was confused in where people had gotten the idea that hawkman himself is egyptian (as aldis hodge was receiving backlash for being casted as carter hall) & it turns out that jlu was also responsible for this lol. I want to add that comic katar hol post-crisis was not egyptian, he had a native american mother & a thanagarian father. he wasn't even egyptian in the show, jlu had given the hawks an extremely racist/orientalist background where they were white passing thanagarians who crashed into earth and had taken over an Egyptian civilization of Black & brown people. and yes i say white passing cause they were still a different skin tone from the actual Egyptians and not even Bruce Timm's art style could hide that. just so many unnecessary changes when the comics were never like that.

this video also perfectly explains why their relationship went downhill: https://youtu.be/LgCjhZfJ704

[essentiallykpopandbl]

With Bad Buddy ending tomorrow, I wanted to get my feelings written down somewhere. And since I started this blog because of my need to talk about Bad Buddy, here we are. Will this post turn into a rant? An appreciation post? Will I just ramble on with no actual point to make? We will find out as I go.

Bad Buddy has hurt me. But not in a bad way I think. I have experienced the emotional highs and lows of this show week after week, crying from laughter and sadness as two young Thai men have acted their way into the hearts of the world (or at least the world that is aware of BL). Part of what makes this show so good is how real Pat and Pran feel. Pat is the big hearted friend. He is goofy, loud, energetic, and loyal beyond belief. He is big because he needs room to hold all his personality. When he loves, it is with his whole heart. Pat showed me to love deeply and fully, to follow your heart, and fight for what you want. He taught me how important it is to show those we love how much we love them and that respecting your partner's needs is sexy. Pran is the friend you want to have in your corner. He is thoughtful, talented, quiet, and extremely caring. Pran likes to think through his actions and the impact it has on others. He will ALWAYS put others first. Pran battles his inner demons everyday and struggles to be a person separate from the pain that has been done to him. But he taught me how to be strong. That the world will push you down, kick you, scream in your face to not get up but that you can't stop trying. The future is scary, and Pran knows that, but he taught me to embrace the unknown. That we need to trust in others we love when we can't find enough trust in ourselves. Pat and Pran love each other. We saw that on screen time and time again. They love in different ways. One way is not better than the other. One does not love more than the other. They are equals, but more so, they are flawed and broken people that are helping heal each other.

Their love is tragic. It grows for each other more with each passing episode. However, it does not shock me that something so beautiful can come from a place of such hate. Their families hate each other. They force their sons to hate and compete because they can not grow up enough to accept their own mistakes. But the world needs balance. Nothing can be all bad or all good, so Pat and Pran's relationship is so good as a balance for the evil put into the world. But there are times evil wins. Times when light can not get rid of the dark. Times when something good is destroyed by the bad. And that is the biggest comparison to Romeo and Juliet this show has. It isn't the feuding families or the story arc, it is the tragic love shared by the two main characters.

Who knows what will come of the episode tomorrow. My heart hopes that Bad Buddy can stick the landing. I feel like I am watching Simone Biles flipping God knows how many times through the air. It is so impressive but she just needs to get both feet on the ground and she has won. Bad Buddy has all the stuff to be one of the best BL shows if it can just stick it. But my heart also knows that it might not end well. That is the truth with any show. We invest time, energy, and tears into something we don't know how it will turn out. We grow to love the characters and hope and pray that they get the happy ending we want. But that is not always the case.

Bad Buddy has been a journey for me. It has brought me a lot of comfort but also a lot of stress. But a journey I would experience all over again if I could. I am going to miss these two boys who have caused me to completely rethink my life and relationships. I need the show to end so I can go back to my normal life but I don't want it to. So before it goes I want to say thank you to Bad Buddy. Thank you for giving us Pat and Pran. Thank you for giving the world Ohm and Nanon acting together. Thank you for the joy you have brought me. Thank you for the lessons you have taught me. Thank you for the tears I have shed. Thank you for the talks you have forced me to have with myself. Thank you for the good, the bad, and everything in between. I will always look back on you with love, admiration, and appreciation.

[ackerfics]

hi, rory! <3 what majors would the sc veterans take if they were in the modern world?

hi, anon !! thank you so much for this ask, this is heaven in disguise from all my schoolwork. tbh, the whole time i was working for a lab report, my mind will go back to this ask bc i wanted to have the association as accurate as possible hhhajshw

i asked one of my friends for help and thank God for them bc my single brain cell really said 'it's time for you to rest' after staring at one backlog. without further ado, here are the veterans' majors if they're studying in university:

first off, hange zoe, because if you ask me this question in real life, they would be the only one i can answer. every damn time i would think of them in a college setting, being a biology major is really hange's forte. at this point, this is what everyone would associate them with.

hange is all about experimenting and doing brilliant breakthroughs in any field of science but knowing that they have this unparalleled fascination with the unusual and unexpected life-forms (ahem titans ahem), the biology lab would be the surest place where you could find hange. i feel like biology is too broad so i will add that microbiology or bacteriology are just some of the specializations they will be taking in their time in college.

imagine, being lab partners with hange and immediately knowing that you will have one of the highest grades in the class because they're that well-versed in a specific lab report. and if you're partners with them for the rest of the academic year, you might as well have a shot at an immaculate grade. i'm not saying that you should depend on them too much though hHHHH, hange is still a member of the majority of the student body who relies heavily on caffeine to keep them invigorated. who isn't at this point?

so far, some of the biology majors that i encountered (well, more like chatted behind a screen — online classes suck), they have this energy that could drain my social battery too quickly and hange fits that description. (note that this doesn't apply to any college bc i observed this in mine soooo 🤭) they're the type to always go on a tangent on a certain science article or coerce you into joining this org thing. i can imagine levi just looking at hange like they're the one sucking his brain cells out whenever they speak about a documentary in bbc they watched the night before.

and if you're stuck on anything biology-related, hange will be the best person to ask help from. they're the first ray of sunlight you get while waking up. they're that approachable.

okay, so erwin smith.

don't come at me but he just radiates this ceo vibes and with that, one of his probably majors is business administration. i know this is so stereotypical of me but let's face it, erwin is a smooth talker through and through and if he doesn't take up marketing, business is one way to spend his college years. knowing his personality in attack on titan of establishing deals easily with a determined resolve, he fits the broadest description of being a business administration major. (again, don't come at me because my consultant for this statement is google and nobody comes after google sometimes hhhhh)

just for the benefit of myself, i will add what google says about this major, "[they] learn the mechanics of business through classes in fundamentals, such as finance, accounting and marketing ... students find ways to solve problems using data and they develop communication and managerial skills." and i thank you.

he's also probably the most well-spoken and most professional when conversing with others among his friends (and i'm not saying this to drag the other characters but this is what i pick up on) and that is exactly the qualities his major specializes. it is expected for them to strike deals and be a people person and who better character for the job than our very own erwin smith 🤩

now i mentioned 'one of the probable majors' and yes, aside from business administration, philosophy just exudes erwin smith. ngl, when i imagined erwin in a college setting, this major will always come first. his mind is just so sexy to me??? and i hope you guys think the same, too, because i don't want to be the only one who thinks that 👀 kidding aside, erwin is one of the smartest people in attack on titan and every time he speaks in one episode, my brain will instantly go mush, and that's what i feel when i hear philosophy majors talk.

philosophy majors (according to any other youtuber who does lookbooks for various majors hhhhhh) challenge what is unanswerable and analyze questions with no right answer. i feel like erwin, like hange, will talk all night to explain a theory. just imagine a date with him and you just listen to him rant about a topic that they should be making a report on. just listen to this man, okay?? it's adorable when he lets his guard down to include you in his little bubble of philosophies. he would also mention random things that he learned in classes, sometimes finding joy in knowing the philosophies of other people, or even deciphering levi's dream of an apocalyptic world. (it pisses levi off but he just leave him be.)

if you want a man who can do both of these majors, erwin smith is the answer 😉

sigh, mike zacharias.

this man holds so many talents and will forever amaze me.

i assume all of us here watched the movie perfume. and no, i'm not saying that mike is going to be a murderer but just like the main character of that film, making perfumes will be his forte with that sense of smell of his. and here, i conclude that mike will definitely take up chemical engineering.

he gives me the vibes that if it covers the one thing he does best, he will love his major. (mr. zacharias, can you please spare me that quality because i really need that now 😩) being in the labs while experimenting mundane things that can be found in the environment to create different scents is also a likely situation you can find him in, again, very much like hange. he's the type of student who really puts so much effort in staying afloat the honors list, even to the point of topping midterms in his major, for the sake of his dream. there will never be a moment where you will catch him complain about his major and professors.

he's that type of friend in college who agrees to any rant you say but in reality, he's got his life easy 😭

i headcanon mike owning a perfume shop after college just like how levi always dreamed of having a tea shop.

okay, imagine this little scenario if you're dating mike where he creates this unique perfumes as random gifts for you. they're not the typical perfumes that can seep through the room and can make you gag for no reason, they're subtle scents that will stay for the duration of the day. because again, he's got a sensitive nose, so making perfumes according to what his sense of smell dictates will always result in a revolutionary experiment. if you're randomly blurting out that you want a fusion of flowers and fruits as your perfume, say no more, he's your man.

now, the veteran who i find the hardest to associate a major with — levi ackerman.

after much deliberation and a break from plant physiology, i see him taking up law or criminology.

(i asked some of this from my mom because she attended law school :>>>)

levi is so organized and detailed in the things that he do and he fits in either of these majors since they require tedious memorizations and analysis of laws and crime scenes while being assertive enough to defend someone. he's the typical person who blurts out the true situation of a crime scene when watching film adaptations. yeah, he's that person, the one who sucks the enthusiasm out of you while watching a movie because he just had to correct some of the scenes. nevertheless, he means well though, he just wanted you to understand the reality unlike how films portray gruesome murders. movie nights always end up with levi ranting about half-assed mystery clichés.

levi's binder of readings are always too bright for everyone's good. his notes are full of highlighters and scribbles that it can blind someone. for one, he's always up all night studying his readings and cases for a practice court so by choosing neon highlighters, it's a way for him to wake up. there isn't one book in his possession that he doesn't highlight like it's a fricking coloring book. hange once jokingly said that his binder now acts like his bible and for once, he agrees because he was never seen without one. hange had a field day since levi never agrees with them.

when doing practice courts though, his go-to resting bitch face always come in handy when carrying out his role as one of the lawyers. he's just so sexy with his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he tries to justify his supposed client. the way he questions the accused definitely isn't hot because he's like one of the panelists in your thesis defense, the one who just comes up with questions that have you melting on the spot. he's dangerous i tell you. it also doesn't help if you accidentally hurt one of his friends or just landed randomly in his blacklist for being annoying as hell. relax though, he doesn't mean harm other than the fact that he's ready to throw some hands from all the pent-up rage he gathered in his body.

of course, i couldn't forget how he dresses up like a typical dark academia fanatic so look out for eye-candy.

if you want someone who can recite articles from the constitution, this man is perfect for you 😌

i had so much fun doing this !! again, i'm not generalizing every major i've talked about in these little headcanons, this is all for fun and based on the people i encountered in college. if you want more of this, don't hesitate to ask !! 😚