#like ok this kid was a little asshole but my character does have a lot of empathy for her for complex reasons

[idkiwasntsupposedtobebackhere]

ok so since people didn’t cut my head off for my unpopular opinions i’m gonna expand on the second one. so for people in the gilmore girls fandom it’s pretty much the general opinion that luke is a saint for taking jess in and that jess screwed things up and that it’s his fault luke kicked him out. ”he got himself kicked out”. even people who like jess seem to think this is fair. so as someone who watches gilmore girls mostly for jess i have a different perspective that i’ve never actually vocalized but i figured maybe this little corner of the internet wouldn’t hate me for this, as long as it doesn’t make it out of here.

so i also first of all think that the fact that jess has to work at luke’s and graduate in order to stay there is a bit sad. like everyone around him his age has somewhere they can stay without conditions, and people wonder why he’s the only one worried about making money. and yes, it’s a fine idea in theory, he has to change his ways if he wants to stay with luke bc that’s the point of him being there, sure, but luke could stand to NOT always bring it up to jess during fights that can’t stay with him if he violates the conditions.

bc the thing is that luke very clearly makes it known that he doesn’t want jess there and that the whole situation is kind of a pain in his ass that he’s doing out of obligation. a minor is entitled to a place to stay where they can be an asshole unconditionally, actually, and they shouldn’t have to be constantly grateful to have that. and if luke didn’t want to fully commit and be that place, he should have said no to taking jess in. you don’t get to get all the praise for doing a good deed and then get all pissy about actually following through with it.

like i know luke and jess aren’t the main characters and that their scenes and dynamic are for comedy. but then they play off jess leaving as serious so i should be allowed to analyze their scenes seriously. and my conclusion is… luke is not that nice to jess LOL. like i can’t think of a single scene where he responds to him in any other manner than pissed off or annoyed. he never stops treating him like a bad kid. we know luke cares about jess but does jess have any reason to believe that? or does he think this is all for liz? like i know their scenes are jokes but for someone who complains so much about what a difficult person jess is to connect with, i think luke missed a lot of moments to do it.

luke taking jess in in general is nice, YES, but i’m not talking about just good intentions here. and i know that it was a very good intention but i, again, just super dislike the whole ”you wouldn’t have anywhere to stay if it wasn’t for me, so watch it”-attitude. even in season 4 luke basically said that jess had to come to liz’ wedding because he was there for him when no one else was. and i think that’s a shitty thing to say to someone who deserved more. i know luke didn’t have to do it bc he’s not his parent and that’s why people forgive him and not liz, who is his parent and did have to do it. but i think luke agreed to be jess’ parent and if he didn’t want to, he could have said no to his sister for once in his life. anyways, i think i’ve made my point.

also, i love you luke, my world just revolves around your nephew. i know i’m putting a lot of unrealistic expectations on a guy who’s pretty emotionally constipated. and he did come through with the big things, like giving jess money in sesson 4. but i’m talking about the little things that could have made even more of a difference. just don’t get it twisted ok, luke and jess’ relationship is my fave on the show, i may like it even more than rory and jess’, but when i enjoy something i analyze it. so don’t think i don’t love them, because i do! i just want to squash the idea that luke did everything he could but that jess ultimately was too difficult, because i disagree with that.

[earthstellar]

what are some other nice moments from Rescue bots?

This show is loaded with them!!! :)

Here we go, some nice moments in Rescue Bots!!

I'm going to write this with the assumption that some people reading this may not have ever seen Rescue Bots or might only be somewhat familiar, as I realise the target audience skews much younger than most Transformers media does, so I'm not 100% sure how popular it was outside of that demographic in total.

Off the top of my head:

-There is an in-universe VR game called Element Quest that has a couple really good episodes, the design is cute and there are tons of meme references. Blades, at one point, goes "I used to like video games. Then I took an arrow to the knee." LOL

-I think it's cool how they actually do tie in their continuity with TFP's continuity. For example, "What Rises Above" (RB) canonically comes before "Nemesis Prime" (TFP), and this is directly referenced in the dialogue in TFP when Optimus says that he is late arriving to the base as he was exploring an underground energon deposit-- This is the deposit he explores with the Rescue Bots.

-THERE IS A MUSICAL EPISODE. IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD

-Woodrow Burns, the Chief's brother, is kind of an idiot asshole, although he's not actively malicious. But he is great with the kids and for whatever reason the only thing I can ever remember about this character is when he goes up to Cody after it's been a long time since he saw him last and says "You've grown a whole foot since the last time I saw you-- Now you'll need three socks!" IDK I just think that's a real cute dad joke thing to say to a little kid lol :')

-There is an episode where they explore the local folklore of Griffin Rock, and TL;DR the local lore is that their island is where literal griffins used to nest seasonally. So throughout the episode, there's this kind of vibe of "OK are these electrical magnetic pulses or whatever like a science problem or a magic problem" and it's actually a very cute and fun vibe, especially since Cody is talking about the lore in the first place as part of his work towards a Scouts badge and Blades is very cute in this episode, the bots are all like "okay magic isn't real but uhhh what if magic's real?" for a minute and it's great :')

-Doc Greene/Green creates a ton of fun science devices throughout the show, but the names of some are just so doofy and fun. I love the "Torna-Don't", which is a thing designed to dispel tornados. Of course. lmao

-All the weird small town local events are also very silly and cute, and weirdly realistic for those of us who are familiar with this kind of local event thing, lmao. One of my favourite concepts is one of what seems to be several crawdad-related festivals, in which there is apparently a televised crawdad race. It's a bunch of shrimps put on a tiny racetrack, like Olympic runners. LOL

-At one point, Blurr shows up, and when the Rescue Bots are trying to acclimate him to working with humans, Chase is like "Humans seem to have two genders, which are defined by how many cooties they have." This implies that as far as the Rescue Bots are aware, 1) cooties are real and 2) human gender is defined solely by how many cooties a person has, and not by anything else, thus leaving their understanding of human gender fairly open (and it is also clear they have solely learned about gender from young kids in a small town which is likely why they state there are two genders but then make it clear that gender is a cooties thing and not an inherently physical thing, which makes sense in context and is kind of great because it gives more leeway for gender diversity than I expected) and I love this a lot. What is human gender? Cooties. That's all. So someone with a particularly high number of cooties could be another gender altogether, because why not?

-There is a body swap episode, which treats us to Blades in Dani's body trying on dresses in her room. He picks an orange and white one, which matches his paint job. I also love this a lot.

-Heatwave is gruff as hell especially at the start of the series and constantly starts shit or perpetuates shit with Kade, which is super funny. Just this centuries old Cybertronian fucking with this doofus boy who keeps leaving donuts in his cab. God dammit Kade, lmao.

-There is an episode where Cody is aged up via Science Device, and we get to see an older Cody, who more closely resembles his father than his older brother does. It's cute that he'll look like his dad when he's older. :')

During this episode, he assists in a rescue, and the girl his brother has a crush on tries to hit on him, but he clearly doesn't get what's happening and thinks it's icky because of course he does, he's a kid. I just think this scene is handled well and it's cute that his reaction to being hit on is still "ewww girls" but his brother is still absolutely pissed off about it anyway LMAO like jesus Kade, relax

-Kade's mostly an asshole but he's shown to be a really good rescuer who genuinely cares about people, and he has moments where he really comes through for his family and realises on his own that he should shut up and back down on his bullshit, thus making him a better developed and more realistic asshole brother character than 99% of asshole brother characters in most shows. I think this is pretty solid because it does lead to effective character development here and there, and it makes his positive moments with his family and the bots that much nicer. :)

-Cody is such a good kid. He is often willing to give people or ideas a chance when nobody else will, and even though he's too young to actively participate in most missions, he stays involved by helping at their dispatch centre. He's a smart little dude, who has a lot of heart and a ton of potential. One of the few child characters in anything that I actually like, because I think they write him extremely well: He is young, but he is not stupid. He is not treated like an accessory or like the property of his family, he's his own person with a distinct personality within his family, with a reasonable amount of autonomy. And he's a person who is still learning and has valuable contributions while also needing guidance or support at times. 10/10

-Dani gradually gets better at helping Blades deal with his flight anxiety (and sticks up for him when the others might mock him a little for it), and this is not only inherently very nice and cute, but it also makes a lot of sense as she is a first responder/medic and we see her offer the same reassurances towards the people she helps to rescue.

-The writing for the Burns Family in general is some of the best family group character writing in anything tbh, they handle the family dynamic so well in this show, and it's extra cute as the Rescue Bots all learn a lot from observing how the family takes care of one another and the townspeople they rescue. :')

-Blades has anxiety. I also have anxiety, so I am biased and clearly love this dude, lmao. He's so fucking relatable and even though sometimes the others rip on him, it is clear that they're also very proud of him for trying his best to deal with a situation which for him is particularly difficult (he was forced to take a flight capable alt-mode when this is something he is explicitly not comfortable with) and his team mates do support him, even though Heatwave is a douche sometimes (although it is clear this is usually due to stress or something else and that the actual problem isn't Blades). Over the course of the series, Blades does develop a little more confidence, and it's very cute and nice to see him puffing himself up a little more. :)

-The overall attitudes the bots have towards humans in this show is sweet. It's clear they don't really understand humanity or humans as a whole, but it also doesn't really matter because they are so specifically oriented to their local population on the island and their focus is a relatively small community of humans. They take their duties seriously and will protect this population, even if they don't really understand the people outright. They gradually start to respect the locals (and the Burns Family) more and more as they work with them, and get acclimated to Earth. They love their dumbass weird little humans :')

This leads to a lot of fun shenanigans with the bots not understanding things, or only understanding things as they have been explained by the children, which is hilarious.

-There is an episode where local thieves steal Chase, and inspired by Cody's school drama project, he decides to go undercover after watching a bunch of old detective movies. This includes him narrating things to himself, which he is called on when Dani enters the garage and asks him "Why are the lights off? Are you talking to yourself?" lmao

-Although it isn't explicitly canonical, it's easy to interpret both Chase and Blades as being neurodivergent. Both of them display various behaviours and traits which can potentially be understood in this way, and I'm just glad that there's a show for kids where two of the main characters, who are rescue workers, are shown to be competent and skilled at their jobs and accepted by the community for who they are while also being neurodivergent. <3 It's such a good vibe when the other characters support or defend these two in particular, especially when Chase or Blades might be confused or upset about something. Chief Burns is especially great working with Chase.

-Any episode where Optimus shows up in Rescue Bots usually has some gems of cuteness/silliness. The Elvis line still takes me out, LMAO. "You're bigger than Elvis!" "I have not met this Elvis, and I am unaware of his size." 10/10 writing, I fucking love Rescue Bots

-The bots constantly call out a bunch of details that are entirely appropriate for robots from space to notice and recognise as somewhat weird, whereas a lot of the human characters are so used to 1) being human and 2) living on this incredibly weird little technologically advanced island that nothing really phases them anymore. So we can actually identify more with the bots at time, despite the fact that they are also providing an outsider point of view, which is really clever! :)

-The theme song is a fucking banger. It's so good. I love this song so much. I wish we got a full version of it, but this is the best extended version of it that I've been able to find. Enjoy!!!

-There's a lot of fairly adult stuff in the show, more than I think people realise! The tone can never get too dark outright as it is intended for young kids as the primary demographic, but there's a lot of situations, conversations, etc. that are genuinely engaging and interesting from an adult perspective, which is a large part of what makes it a great watch for all ages.

Some situational examples include scenarios where children are imperilled in natural disasters, accidents, even kidnapping at one point.

Non-kid related situations include risks and threat to civilians from AI development and the dangers that uncontrolled or poorly thought out technology can cause or exacerbate, which is significant in context and also interesting to think about given our current relationship IRL with rapid tech development and concerns around how that technology is being made and applied, either in reality or in theory.

Some dialogue examples include scenes where the bots mention their grief over being unable to save Cybertron, a sense of guilt that they were in stasis for so long even though this was beyond their control, awareness that they may be the last Rescue Bots team in operation on Earth or anywhere else in the universe (a sense of loneliness and a responsibility as the last upholders of their specific creed), struggles with their sense of duty and concerns around their ability to fulfil their expectations for themselves and meet the expectations of others while rising to the demands of their unique situation, and so on.

--

this is already pretty long lmao, there's a ton of stuff I really like about Rescue Bots, but I hope this might encourage others to check out the show if you haven't before, it's well worth a watch! :)

[wonderful-magician]

What if

I wanted to rant about Electra

And did

Okay a lot of this ranting is just made up nonsense! ( Obv based off the musical itself ) I'm rewriting the musical to my tastes and would like to actually discuss the characters more than the musical is able too. This is more like a TV show set-up to be honest.

Okay main point I want to get out of the way. Electra is an antagonist. But he SUCKS at being a antagonist- for rusty. I genuinely don't remember any times he actually addresses rusty that's like actually important. He's really just a driving force against greaseball. He seems way more upset about diesel than steam. Though to be fair, he seems so confident in himself I doubt he's worried about some kid who's just kinda there.

Because Electra just appears. Unlike rusty and greaseball who are established to know each other. Electra literally just APPEARS. He's not part of the nationals. He wasn't even originally entered into the race. He just appears. And is here now. And he just wants to show off and beat the previous champion. Why would he acknowledge the steam engine who has no chance???

He doesn't even do anything outwardly malicious. I mean he listens to Red Caboose's plan and doesn't really mind that they cheat. And uhm. I guess he goes with pearl but she consented and willingly did that so it's not .. the worst. And he sometimes electrocutes people. But really most of the musical he just stands next to rusty and greaseball fighting while like " :/ " or just flirting with the components or something I don't know.

Of course this doesn't change the fact he's an asshole. He's apathetic and very naive honestly. He only cares about himself, and has tantrums like an actual toddler. He doesn't even ask out the pretty girls himself he has his accountant/security guy do that lmao. He's obviously not a guy used to doing anything himself. Or used to losing. And is just generally annoying to anybody who meets him. But he's probably the *most* redeemable of the three antags. In of which. Idk I feel like just having him live at the Apollo-Victoria for a few years or something would help just get him out of his stupid attitude hfhdbdb

A little bit indulgent perhaps. But i feel like in a episodic setting Electra would probably lose some of his apathetic tendencies. Not all of them- he's a computer. And he'll always be self centered and care a lot less about others feelings than most. But I could truly see him befriending Rusty, pearl, maybe even Dinah. Though I don't know if he'd ever get along with greaseball... Give it like 20 years... Maybe more... A lot of time.

But I truly think with the right circumstances he could just be??? A confident guy who is a bit inconsiderate?? Probably still whiny because you can't take the diva out of Electra but y'know what I mean.

Even MORE indulgent. I want a Dustin and Electra friendship SO BAD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. These two are like. Opposites. But in the way that I just feel like they would help each other SO MUCH RAAAH. Electra is confident but struggles with empathy?? Dustin is overly empathetic and very insecure?? THEY COULD HELP EACH OTHER SO MUCH AAAA. Ok ok I need to stop with that.

But essentially I just think that Electra is this young guy. Like really young. He's one of the ( potentially, the youngest ) youngest people in the cast. Only a few years in service and he's already got a horrific ego. Just because he is TRULY good at racing. Can't take that from him. Even if he's very late. Like. Really late to the entry. But I just think he's this young guy who kinda threw himself into the wrong situation. Probably not realizing that messing with Caboose is a horrible idea. And that he was unknowingly racing against gods favorite so. oops.

Ok anyway I should shut up now ok I like Electra he's cool but he's a horrible antagonist but I love him and this probably is really hard to read (⁠＾⁠∇⁠＾⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♪

Oh also why does nobody ever use his hypnotism powers. He has those. Are- are we going to ignore that-?? Ok...

[kitsunefyuu]

Did you notice how some AFO fans who used to like DFO Theory started to hate it and suddenly attack the same fans? Maybe this is due to generalizing DFO as OOC? I once saw someone saying that "to respect someone else's opinion, just remember that you have also changed your opinion several times" but these people only seem to attack what they once liked for no apparent reason, other than "nooooo my beautiful AFO is not like this 😭😭"

Yes, it is a trend that I did notice when I first came into the fandom that a lot of people would say they are former DFO. Then say how they realize how 'stupid' the theory was and unrealistic. As if suddenly now they are the pinnacle of rational and totally know everything about a fictional character.

I never claim my interpretation is the canon, because I know I could end up wrong. That just how it is and I'm always willing to adjust my headcanons with the source material. But honestly I think the AFO fans that liked DFO and now hate it only changed because other people started being hostile to the theory.

Like popular writers, artist, and all kinds of people begun to sneer at that interpretation beside those in the little community. Seeing it as just trying to 'soften' AFO or as something gross to do to the MC. Or worse some people like DFO but hate AFO so when the former DFO see that they change their mind to double down on disliking DFO as they LIKE AFO. As they see it as like you said 'softening' him to make him palatable. The theory itself, however, is only parentage.

Like it still be valid to assume AFO had Izuku with Inko from a One Night stand, and Hisashi Midoriya is just the guy that stepped up for single mom Inko. We have evidence of there possibly being more aware but if don't like it then that an option too.

DFO theory is simply the theory that Izuku Midoriya is RELATED to All for One. That is the bare bones minimum, I don't care if you are OH HE LOVES HIM or HE AN EXPERIMENT or whatever you want to believe. None of that really registers much to me nor should matter, like DFO can be used in many manner of ways.

The ones that seem to hate is most... Well they tend to either want Virgin All for One (for sexual reasons) or want him to be purely asshole(for sexual or just because love assholes that can go either way) or maybe fear of being the outsider. There also many who claim that every time he does a more evil act that it PROOF he never father a child.

Like tell me you never had a mentally unstable parent that does outrageous things. Anyone can have a kid, it sure doesn't take much for a guy to one and done for various reasons. We also literally been confirmed now he can change his face, DNA, and has actually done so. Also we've seen how he is with Yoichi, literal proof of his ability to love it just dark and twisted.

It why DFO is so interesting since if is the child of AFO it an avenue to explore his character. How WOULD AFO raise a child now that we knows what happened with Yoichi? Is he aware of Izuku? Does he care? We've seen him vault family and say how precious family is.

But then, none of that matters to the former DFO fans who now are DFO hates. They just don't want to be the weirdo outsiders believing in something that isn't even 'canon' and as I've said many times. I'm not exactly going to stop writing or enjoying it even if it NOT canon.

No one can dictate what I like and enjoy. And those people projecting hatred once they loved it?

I hope they know it ok to just like different things and change your mind. They should be happy with what they like instead of just wanting to be 'right'.

[ghostradiodylan]

In general Ryan gets so mistreated and overhated by the fandom and it makes me sad because I really like Ryan even in my first playthrough :/ I get that the part where he was arguing with Laura about the existence of werewolves when he watched Nick transform and run out the window was kind of dumb but he’s all around a great character who’s brave and helpful and he helped save everyone’s lives in the best ending….

While I don’t agree with all of their actions I can’t bring myself to hate on any of the counselors. They’re all young adults who are stuck in a horrifying and traumatic situation, of course they’re going to be flawed and not perfect. It just baffles me how Travis, Constance, Jedidiah and Eliza do the most horrible things in the game yet people viciously hate on Ryan : (

Oh, the actual adults in the game are absolutely The Worst. (Even Chris, though I think he wants to help, is incredibly negligent at best).

I think there are a few things happening here that can turn people against Ryan (and I'm not saying anyone has to like him as a character, we all have characters we vibe with and ones we don't, but it's worth examining why we don't vibe with some characters especially when those characters are Black or other POC, LGBTQ, and ND-coded).

Ryan is a victim of some of the less compelling writing choices in the game IMO. They don't have anything to do with his character, really, he's generally well-written, but some of the things that were cut from the game, and the way the relationships unravel in the latter half of the game does Ryan kind of dirty.

First of all, his relationship with Chris Hackett isn't fleshed out enough for a lot of players to understand why he's willing to sacrifice so much on the hope that his mentor isn't actually a werewolf (or a deeply irresponsible asshole of a boss). If they'd left in the scene of Chris following up with Ryan about following his dreams and going to animation school and the initial confrontation with Chris that was patched out, where Ryan questions how he hid this from them all this time when he cared about them and Ryan trusted him (literally heartbreaking to watch tbh 🥺), it might have been a little easier for players to empathize with his loyalty to Chris. This kid has no known father, absentee mother, aging grandparents, a sister he clearly feels a lot of responsibility for, and his father figure who he goes to for advice left him in the worst possible situation. Of course he's going to be in denial about that and about him being a werewolf until he sees it for himself, and then Ryan has to kill him. It's so fucking tragic. And he doesn't even get a second to mourn or even react because the Silas plotline kicks in immediately (and they spent all the animated tears budget on Jacob).

Then there's Ryan's relationship with Dylan, which I could (and will) write about for days. Based on the game we got, plus the cut content, I don't think Ryan was ever supposed to have the option to get with Kaitlyn. I think that's a red herring that allows homophobic players to avoid a gay kiss (kind of a fucked up use of a BAMF character and Brenda Song's star power but, ok). I don't think he was ever supposed to get to romance Laura either. But I do think he was meant to be able to either end up with Dylan, or decisively not end up with him. If they'd kept the relationship system that we still have traces of but no actual structure for, then his ability to say 'maybe neither' to Laura wouldn't be something players held against him because it would have a basis in the choices we've made as Ryan (and Dylan) so far. As it stands, it feels like that is unsupported by what's happened in the game when we've had Dylan and Ryan flirting with each other and taking an obvious interest in each other since they were introduced.

Even if you choose the less favorable dialogue options, Dylan and Ryan are never really shown to be truly at odds (with the possible exception of the gun argument, but even that pretty much smooths over in the end). Even if you have them be hard-headed assholes to each other, they still have their heart-to-heart on the way to the radio hut (which I really think was supposed to have an alternative if they had low relationship stats).

Complicating matters is the fact that a lot of people really love Dylan. Obviously I'm one of them, I mean, look at my url and writing choices. I think Miles gives the best performance of the game, hands down (and I think all the actors did really well tbh). He's a great actor (his line reads are flawless and that sassy boy body language? I die.) but he also gets a lot to work with in terms of the script. Dylan is complex and compelling in a way that tends to be highly relatable for most people. He's probably neurodivergent (ADHD) but it's portrayed in a more palatable way for neurotypical people. Plus, as an audience, we are primed to empathize with the person who wants to be wanted, who is afraid of rejection, who has the cute crush that we want to see reciprocated and is trying not to get their heart stomped on. We've all been there! That's a centuries-old trope in drama and literature for a reason. And while Ryan does not owe Dylan reciprocation, we see some pretty clear signs of it at least being possible. So the game sort of dangles it in front of players like we can make that happen with our choices and then makes a half-baked attempt to snatch it away. That annoys people and, I think at least partially because Ryan's race and stoic demeanor (/autism) have people subconsciously primed to view him negatively, they take that out on him instead of the SMG writers who opted for that rather than fleshing out the relationships any further for the latter half of the game.

Like, yes, it's a horror game not a dating sim (Ryan and Dylan dating sim DLC when tho??), but you spend so much time building relationships that end up not mattering to the outcome of the game, I get why that's frustrating for people. It's frustrating for me! I just think being mad at Ryan over it is the wrong take. I still see people saying "Dylan deserves better than Ryan." Dylan and Ryan both deserve to exist in a finished fucking game where we have the option to get them together or not, but blaming whatever happens, or doesn't, on Ryan as a character is kinda trash.

[thesoftboiledegg]

Man, I did NOT realize how much I missed Morty until I watched "A Rick in King Mortur's Mort." If you've spent thirty seconds on my blog, you know that Rick is my favorite character. I like Morty, but I don't specifically watch the show for him. But his dynamic with Rick is brilliant, and separating them by putting Morty in the background could've been a fatal flaw if season six didn't start turning it around near the end.

When other characters appeared on the screen (especially in group family scenes) I thought "OK, let's not take too much attention away from Morty." I never thought I'd hear myself thinking that. I think that season six is great overall, but that actually made me look at it a little more critically. This show just does NOT work without Morty. Developing the family dynamic was great, but I'm hoping that the show will start focusing on the core characters again.

Anyway, this was a good episode. Like Morty, I kept waiting for the reveal that Rick was just being an asshole and letting Morty talk himself into a disaster so that Rick could save him and then hold it over his head for ages. I wasn't too worried since Rick's been changing so much and going to therapy, but it still crossed my mind.

Maybe Rick's still following Dr. Wong's instructions: being patient and watching events unfold instead of immediately reacting with anger.

The callback to the infamous "The Vat of Acid Episode" blew me away. I didn't think the show would ever even mention it again. That episode was Rick at his worst: an abusive, sociopathic monster who emotionally destroyed Morty under the guise of being nice. So much of Rick's affection in seasons 1-4 was fake or manipulative. He did care for Morty, but boy, he didn't hesitate to smack him down and remind him who was the Rick.

I loved how the end of the episode paralleled the start of "The Vat of Acid Episode" perfectly. It's like this scene with Rick and Morty saying "I love you," grasping each other's hands and jumping willingly into the lava together undid all of Rick's cruelty.

Well...not quite. Which brings me to the one issue that I have with their relationship development: the show keeps acting like they needed to come to a mutual understanding, like their issues were partially Morty's fault. 99% of their problems came from Rick's bullshit.

Rick IS taking accountability, admitting that he fucked up and trying to do right by Morty. However, I think Morty needs to tear into him. In fact, it's a little unsatisfying that he doesn't. Rick needs to know how much he hurt Morty because that's the only way that Morty could ever find peace and Rick could even begin to atone for it.

I don't think Rick's trying to dodge responsibility. If Morty finally unleashed his rage, I think Rick would stand there and accept it. Maybe Evil Morty was supposed to be C-137 Morty's stand-in when he tore into Rick at the end of "Rickmurai Jack," but it's not enough because C-137's got personal issues with Rick that no one else has.

Rick's my favorite character, but--he deserves it. He took his shit out on that kid for way too long. Even once would have been too many times. I wish the show would let Morty seriously confront Rick about everything that he did.

Also, Rick's still got a lot of work to do, but this episode left me wondering where they could go from here. Either Morty's going to start seizing control, or something huge is going to happen that shakes up the status quo.

Still, I enjoyed the sweet moments in this episode. Rick calling Morty "little junebug" was so unexpected, but so loving and sincere. He's called Morty "buddy" and "kiddo," but that's the first time he's given him an affectionate nickname like that. Sounds like something that he would have called Beth when she was little.

I was wondering when Rick and Morty would share an emotional hug (as opposed to the spontaneous one that they shared in "Get Schwifty" all those years ago), and there it was. Not the scenario that I expected, but Rick and Morty hugging while Rick assures him that "we're going to make your dick so fake" is perfect for this series.

And again, Justin Roiland does a great job. I love how he captures the gentle undertones in Rick's voice.

Between Rick (basically) having two daughters in the house, trying to give Beth parental advice and showing Morty affection, it seems like he's learning how to be a father again. The way he extends his arms to Morty while shushing him looks so natural, like when he gently turns on Morty's goggles for him in "Full Meta Jackrick." He's reclaiming in his 70s what Prime Rick tore away from him in his 30s.

I also liked how this episode kept things fresh by returning to Earth's solar system. When Rick and Morty can visit infinite planets in infinite universes, what else is there to do? Return to an "ordinary" setting that they haven't spent much time in. This episode reminded me of "Something Ricked This Way Comes," which Rick mentions directly--another great callback to earlier seasons.

I noticed that Morty and Rick are continuing to gradually switch places. Morty's the one who suggests that they move to another dimension, and he says in the beginning that he wouldn't be too upset if he never saw his family again. Glad to see that he hasn't regressed back into being a passive little boy, which I was worried about.

Overall, this was a solid episode. I would've done a few things differently, but the writers have done a great job of pushing the show's boundaries and transforming the characters. Still, this upward growth can't go on forever, which makes me a little worried about what's coming next.

[amigac0debasic13]

inhaling so heavily so so heavily,, hey guys its me im back. ninjago. This is just a huge rant about me HATING how trauma is handled in this show. ignore this if you do not want to see my HORRORS.

WHY. IS TRAUMA NOT A FUCKING THING IN THIS STUPID ASS SHOW. Im on another rewatch because im FUCKING INSANE but it drives me actually mad that there are so many downright horrific things that happen to these characters that are just NEVER addressed. lets talkabout the fucking first one that caught my eye when I was first watching the show!!! Im basically going from least infuriating to most infuriating, im trying to cut this show some slack but dear god. !!WHY IS COLE OKAY MAN. HE LITERALLY DIEEED. HE TURNED INTO A GHOST. listen Iknow ninjago death means nothing, and im going to talk about that too but he literally could have ceased to exist if he so much as touched water. after he got his body back, why was this never FUCKING mentioned. I think. if I was in a perpetual state of being horrified my existence would amount to nothing and id just stop BEING when I touched some clear shit coming out of my sink id be pretty scarred for life. I loved possession man, but this happened to TWO CHARACTERS. TWOOO. AND THE OTHER CHARACTER IS LLOYD. lets not even MENTION that hes been exploited the moment everyone found out he was a green ninja, and before that a bunch of grown ass people were bullying a CHILD WHO IS ACTUALLY HOMELESS, lets talk about how his fucking body was taken over by Morro while he ALSO worries about his DAD BEING STUCK IN THE FUCKING UNDERWORLD. IM LOSING IT. IM LOSSINGG ITT. On a smaller note, MISAKO ABANDONED LLOYD. KILL HER. I am the hashtag misako hater garmadon deserves better. The show made no attempt for them to bond or try to make amends for what happened when Lloyd was a kid, she barely appears at all really and it just makes me fucking despise her. ALSO MORRO. this kid. reminding you, CHILD, fucking died in a cave. the cave we SAW in the pilot, if i remember right which is FUCKING INSANE>,,?? we SEE HIS SKELETON. THAT IS A CHILDS SKELETON. never mentioned again after episode 8 I don't think. now the MEAT. THE MEATT. whatever the FUCK went on with garmadon after he got resurrected. They actually did cover this a bit with how Lloyd acted around garmadon, but crystalized also sucked ass and really gave us nothing on how Garmadon felt about this. on god im so sick that hes so normal shaped in crystalized too, He was literally growling with every breath in sons of garmadon why is he normal now. Its been years, i get it. also the Garmadon comic. but he SHOULDNT be a normal person whos just an asshole, I want him to be feral okay?? ok??? I am playfully gesturing to Devils Horns by TeuthidaRegina (did i spell that right. idk man. Its a super fucking good fanfic.)

ALSO Vinnys apartment is very inaccurate there should be scratch marks on the walls and then they should kiss. ANYWAYS Besides this, Lloyd being mad at Garmadon was really all we got for how *he* was effected by his once loving father now randomly coming back with his ribs exposed and only being able to say like. 3 words. and also him immediately trying to kill Lloyd. I feel like we should have gotten a LOT more man. Now this isn't really a problem with the show (Its a huge problem in crystalized but that's a given) but more a problem with the fandom, so that's why I'm putting it at the end. this does not hold relevancy over garmadon becoming a BEAST. (also garmadon becoming a beast is the best thing that ever happened in this show btw. you all are wrong and he should have been animalistic from the beginning. still nice. but he should have also growled. all the time.) My issue is with how people portray harumi. I already had my Harumi spout in a post I made earlier, but I only mentioned the toxicity of the ship with her and Lloyd a little bit. Let us THINK BACK on how she literally feels nothing for Lloyd at all. He was a stepping stone in getting Garmadon back, and she probably straight up hates him. She pretends to like him to manipulate him into helping her resurrect garmadon ok?? do we understand?? Ive seen actual tags on AO3 that say "no harumi hate here" and I am so done. all the harumi hate. dont FUCKING talk to me if you want to justify the downright horrendous things shes done. That ship is toxic as hell and Lloyd is downright being abused AGAIN for like the FIVE BILLIONTH TIME IN HIS LIFE. I dont care man. shes an abusive bitch. i HATE HER. Crystalized made the worst fucking decision trying to justify her and I genuinely hate whoever thought that was a good and right decision to make. If she comes back in dragons rising i hope she dies AGAIN, but Im honestly rooting for them to ignore crystalized's existence. Now finally, this is the absolute peak of how Ninjago shittily handles trauma. the ICE EMPEROR. Zane was stuck in a fucking hellscape of a realm for like. what was it. EIGHTY YEARS??? he went fucking mad man, he turned into a bloodthirsty tyrant during that time. and when this seasons conflict was fixed with the "power of friendship" the show literally mentions that the ice emperor is STILL INSIDE ZANES NOGGIN. AND WHAT DOTHEY DOO?? THEY MAKE IT INTO A FUCKING JOKE. its honestly almost disgusting to me how they handled it, Zane has DIED BEFORE. that's bad. he should have trauma. BUT Zane LITERALLY HAS A BLOODTHIRSTY KILLER IN HIS FUCKING HEAD. DO NOT JOKE ABOUT THIS SHIT. ACTUALLY. HE SHOULD HAVE SOME RELUCTANCE TO USING HIS POWERS OR SOMETHING, ANYTHING MAN. HE KILLLED AN ENTIRE RACEE. Genuinely this is one of my favorite shows, and I love adding onto the shaky ass plot and making it better, but I cannot DEAL with this. Im going to throw in the shit that happened in the spinjitzu brothers book, because oh my god Wu and Garmadon should be fucked up with all the stuff they have had to deal with for like. 5 thousand years. but its fine. its okay. its the book series. I wont mention it. (that book series is so good please release the final book please) ((I LOVE wu and garmadon they are some of my favorite characters in the ENTIRE series im blinking my eyes at you. please go indepth on those two. also give Wu a dragon form, or an Oni form, or literally anything he IS NOT HUMAN.) Also if anyone tells me im ignoring skybound its because I do not need to say anything about skybound. we all know what happened. we ALLL know what the fuck they did to Nya. and fucking. mister possibly a pedo creep man who does not care about consent. I dont even remember his name thats how bad I hate him .

[praxieserver]

🎹 💀🍎 for Azi 👁👁

AZI! For reference, this is Azi, full name Aziraphale Page (soon to be Aziraphale Page-Pearce). Basically I gave danwil an ambiguously gendered bird child. They use any pronouns so go crazy!

Now to the questions!

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

Wilson has probably played the violin for them, and they've probably asked him to teach them, so they probably play violin. Actually between the 2 of them, Azi used to be the only one that played the violin, but I also liked the image of Wilson playing the violin, so now there's 2 motherfuckers who woefully play the violin when they wanna angst.

Unironically probably enjoys reading. Not like as book connoisseur, but like. Just reading. For fun. She'll sit on and armchair and read the newspaper like an old man and go "Ah yes. Peak entertainment."

She does the usual Hogwarts shenanigans such as duelling, going into the forbidden forest, making a club to ship your teachers with, the works!

Lastly, he probably also cooks fairly well due to Daniel's influence.

This is all prone to change aince Azi isn't as well established of a character compared to Wilson yet, but thats what I have on them at the moment! :]

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Again, core character aspect I haven't thought through that well yet. However.

She probably has a very strong dislike of the feeling of not being in control/having no agency. (Like father like son amirite guys kekeke—)

Basically intheir Traumatic Backstory™, they're robbed of their personal agency, denied of their humanity, played as a puppet. So after escaping that, she'll definitely place a huge importance in being in control. Thus they'd probably have a really deep-rooted hate of the prospect of being pulled along a string/being caged/being used. This sort of manifest in an interesting matter since they end up coming off as manipulative themselves. As a little kid it's more them bossing around their 'minions' so they can make their favorite teacher slash canon but it probably gets a little more concerning with age. Nothing that bad though. Probably.

I phrase it more as something she hates rather than something she fears, but I feel like she just hates it more than she fears it. It's something she's willing and ready to face, even if scary.

So, for something she fears more than she hates: Showing vulnerability to someone she trusts, but getting that vulnerability taken advantage of.

🍎 - What is the OC's relationship w/ their parents like?

Very close and very good! Because Daniel as a single father who is also a good father is super sexy.

Ok but in all seriousness, they love Daniel lots. They're extremely grateful for him since he's the one to save them from their abusive situation, so she's uber protective of him and wants to return the favor of Daniel taking her in and caring for her. In the "Hey! Only I'm allowed to talk shit about my Dad!" kinda way. She thinks Daniel's a bit overbearing (and to be fair, he is) but she'd sooner peck your eyes out for so much as breathing at him funny than hating him for it.

They have that Parent Trying to be Strict and In Control vs Silly Shithead Asshole Kid kind of dynamic going on basically.

With """""Uncle Wilson"""""" who is definitely not having a decade long will-they-won't-they dance with Daniel that Azi definitely doesn't see at all, they're a menace as a pair. A pain in Daniel's ass. And face. They've drawn on his face countless time while he's asleep. They're also a pain to house, having nearly burned his kicthen down multiple times.

Wilson is more or less the fun """""uncle""""" to them and she lets her get away with things Daniel doesn't. He's basically a second father to her and a part of the family. And in fact she will get him into the family by making him marry her dad. Modern problems require modern solutions.

[devilsrecreation]

I actually do have thoughts on the Season 2 trailer of MAW

First off, it already looks super promising with the MU characters coming back and the entire plotline with Tylor

Johnny’s the CEO of Fear Co. bc of course he is lol. Having said that, it’s really fitting for him. I still bet that Chet is his right hand monster

I love the little Easter eggs during the college reunion clip, like we get to see Frank McCay (the guy in the beginning of the prequel who gave Mike his hat) and Earl “The Terror” Thompson there

“Don’t quit your day job!…Oh wait, that IS your day job” Lmao stop djdhhd

The youtuber DazzReveiws mentioned the kid in the trailer looks like a Cocomelon baby and I can’t unsee it 😭

I wonder what Fear Co. is like. Do they use closet doors or do they scare from under the bed? Or do all monsters come from closets and the bed is just a hiding place? I’ve always wondered that 🤔

Can’t wait to see Duncan again I miss him

I hope Oozma Kappa and the other ROR members come back. I wanna see what they’re up to. Did OK also go from Scarers to Jokesters? Did they move to Fear Co? What’re they gonna think of Tylor? They’d like MIFT altogether cuz misfits

If Javier makes a cameo, I really hope he has lines. I’d love to see what he sounds like. Personally, my voice claim for him is Diego from Awkward Puppets but I also heard Danny Trejo is making a guest appearance so maybe he’s gonna be Javier

Claire looks great, but I wanna know where Brock is. Where is my hype man?

Jennifer Coolidge is apparently another guest star and now I’m curious to who her character is

The new characters look promising too. I’d like to see what they do with Grandma Tuskmon. She seems like the type to bake you cookies if you’re feeling sad but also capable of ripping someone a new asshole if they deserve it

I bet there’s gonna be a lot of references to MI and MU. I can see Mike trying to persuade Tylor into not going like “This is the same guy who dumped paint over me and Sully back in college! You can’t trust him!”

I know Randall’s probably not coming back but can you imagine what it’d be like? Like while Tylor’s dealing with Fear Co, Mike and Sully have to deal with Randall along with keeping the company afloat

Then again, it’d be cute if Randall helped Tylor just to get back at Johnny

“I thought you’d want me to go back to scaring”

“Yeah, but at the same time, screw Johnny”

I can’t wait to know who this lizard lady is

Is she gonna be an unlovable, one-sided villain? A lovable villain? Is she gonna be one of the sweetest characters in the show? Does she have an accent? She looks like she’d have an accent. Or at least an iconic voice.

[funshinebf]

If you made the trigun aristocats au does that mean vash would have three children /LIGHTHEARTED IM JUST BEING SILLY

OK OK SO I WAS THINKING. the kids could be Kaite, Rollo, and maybe Lina? im not 100% sure on that but this is just spitballing.

im mainly obsessed with the idea of the cat band being like. Livio, Midvalley, Rai Dei, and maybe Dominique? the gung ho cats.... ough. i loves it.

im thinking maybe Sheryl could be the woman who takes care of Vash + the kittens... not sure who would be the butler asshole. theres kind of a lot of characters who want Vash dead to choose from so its a little overwhelming LOL. but i think the fuckingggg eccentric lawyer could be Frank Marlon maybe... im trying so hard to remember all the Aristocats characters cause i havent watched it in so many years. rewatches it immediately and takes notes so i can make an accurate Trigun au for it LMFAO

anyways idk who milly and meryl would be but i need them there Of Course. maybe those two fuckin dogs that harass the butler. theyre funny. yeah okay i like that lets do that

the rude ass geese ladies could be Legato and Elendira LMFAO they show up, serve cunt, be cunts, and leave. thats my vision

anyways thank you so so much for opening the floodgates on this cause now im gonna be insane about it. i love you. if anyone has any further thoughts on this please share them im insane

[mountainashes]

Ok so I'm just gonna do 1 final hc post abt the rest of the characters. Bc yea

Matthew Taylor

He likes sports but he does actually try to engage with his friend's hobbies- e.g going shopping with Em and Jess, and he's definitely sat and listened to Mike rant abt politics or sth before. Hannah's bugs made him get over any fear he had of insects.

He's very patient and friendly but when he gets mad he gets MAD. (we see that in game anyway tho tbh).

Ashley often helps him with homework.

He has ADHD.

He has a younger sister.

He has pet guinea pigs that he loves and Jess always jokes she only hangs out with him for them.

He's pansexual.

He's had a tiny little crush on Josh before.

He was decent friends with Mike before everything.

Even after him and Em break up he stays as a close friend of hers.

He's a bit of a pushover.

Michael Munroe (I'll be as nice to him as I can).

After UD he develops a fascination with wolves.

He's not actually as well-off as some of the other kids in the group, and he's sort of insecure about it which led to him putting up his whole confident guy charade which evolved into him being a massive dickhead.

His mother passed away when he was young and his Dad is an asshole. He spends most of his time out of his own house and his own bedroom is quite empty.

He scares quite easily and when he's alone he often ends up talking to himself just so there's a distraction.

When he's alone his whole persona comes crashing down. Part of why he fears isolation.

He has ADD, and he also has narcisstic traits.

He's also autistic but thats more me and my friend projecting when we write him lol.

He's pretty smart in the subjects he likes but he lacks common sense and does lots of dumb things.

He lived in Florida until he was 14.

He's demiromantic bisexual.

He needs to feel useful or he gets quite upset. This often ends up with him taking on the sort of 'leader' role in the group.

He tends to clash with Josh a lot, and Beth.

Christopher Hartley

He's not a massive fan of animals. He's either scared of them or complains about them being dirty/diseased.

He's trans.

He isn't into doing sports but he is surprisingly strong.

He's autistic.

He knows basically everything about technology and fuck all about anything else.

He did not pay attention in most of his subjects and then would end up going to Ashley for help and she'd scold him.

When he was young and first met Josh's sisters he was just. Amazed by the fact Hannah was allowed to be a girl.

He had a short-lived crush on Hannah as a kid. And it was mostly envy.

When he was a kid he had long hair, which he complained about until he got a 'compromise' with sort of medium hair length. When he was 15 he chopped it all off himself and has had it short ever since. (he was also in so much trouble).

He has quiet bpd. (this is sort of projection ignore me pls. I have my reasons I am not going to explain them here).

He's biromantic demisexual.

He's pretty much always had a massive crush on Josh that he barely realised.

He's generally just kind of a disaster bi.

He's very quick to get defensive and upset.

He tends to go way too far with pranks and the only people who can ever really reel him back in are Josh and Ashley.

[writing-plurals]

for a bit of background, i have a lot of ocs who all exist together in the same universe, and im planning to turn them into animations as soon as i develop the skills for it. most of them, if not all, have some sort of childhood trauma, or at least have gone through crap as kids. this is because i love showing characters healing, and also i want to portray how different sorts of trauma can affect people and their futures.

in this universe, there are two plural characters. one of them im not struggling too much which - he isnt as developed as most of the others, but thats just because i havent had enough time for that, he does have a good story though and i feel like he'll be good rep :)

the other one, however.

they're a (paro/tulpa/trauma)genic system, depending on the watcher's interpretation. they come from an abusive family, their parents being Awful to them for as long as they can remember. they have around 5-6 headmates, though ive only focused a lot on 3, of them: their first host, a girl who formed Really early in their childhood, and Vlad. he used to act as their protector, and is also an anger holder, who can get quite aggressive sometimes. (fun fact, his name is inspired by Calma Vladimir by CDN :3 )

in the system's teens (13? or so), CPS take them out of their abusive home, and put them into a nicer one. yet, that's when Vlad's role starts becoming less useful than before, because he's still in survival mode - and out of fight or flight, he's definitely the Fight type. which will get him to act out, get into fights, break stuff... etc etc etc. the others are partially aware of this, and they let him do, because that's what they're used to ("there'll be consequences no matter what we do, why not let him have fun?", or something like that, they're all too used to their previous living situation for this ;w;)

now, in the universe, there is a pretty big... gang? mafia? criminal organization? something like that. it's directed by a man called Judas (it's not a religious reference on my side, he picked his own name and it makes sense he chose that one), who, ignoring the whole crimes thing, is a pretty great guy. he has a habit of taking in ppl going through hardships, mostly ones who are violent, and getting them to join him.

Judas has been seeing the system, mainly Vlad, for a long time. he picked up on how good at fighting they are, and how with a little bit of self-control, Vlad could make a good addition to his Whatever That Is. so one day, when they're 15, he approaches them and suggests they join him. Vlad accepts, and though it wasn't their original plan, everyone else ends up happy with it. so they move in with them, meet a bunch of people, get a found family with Judas and this one girl, yadda yadda happy ending.

besides.

the gang's main thing is killing people. they do it mostly to abusers, assholes, the ones who traumatized its members. it's like...their whole thing. which, yeah, makes sense i guess. but putting a system there feels like im pulling the whole "serial killer with multiple personality disorder" trope, which sucks ass.

they are a serial killer, they are a system, but both things just happen to be, no correlation between them. all the alters are aware of and ok with their current living situation, they'd probably pick it over any they've been in, and only bad people are dying anyways. it's not like Vlad is the only one doing that stuff, either - at the beginning he was, but not anymore.

i'll probably leave them this way, the whole storyline is already planned too, but is there any way to make it so it doesn't follow that one trope?

(pd, the other system does not join the gang, he actually escapes his shithole of a town and lives a pretty chill life with his friends. does this help separate being plural from being a criminal? since its 1/2 instead of both of them-)

I'm not sure you can actually have one not be the serial killer trope if they're literally in a murdering gang? But you are making an important balance by not having the second system be in that position. It at least makes an easier distinction between those two facts about the first system. Because theoretically, yeah! Those two things can coincide in a person, and it is possible to make an interesting story about it.

Something that that trope benefits(?) from here, is made less bad by, is that most of the times we see it in shows and movies, it's a one off, or we don't see how they got there, or it's been paired with another offensive trope (see also Split, with the body changing shape).

In the way you're framing it, it's softened by the other system being Not That, and the context as to how they got there. If it fits the characters, some remorse that it's part of their otherwise better life helps? But that's up to if you think that's something that would fit them.

I hope that was helpful

-Mod Tick Tock

[cha-melodius]

OMG I remembered I have another ask for you: I can’t seem to find The Man from Uncle to watch in the UK, which is a shame bc I want to read your fics about it and also Henry Cavill gets me all 🫠 ever since he wore a henley on Superman. So, here’s my question: tell me a little bit about it? A little backstory on Napollya (iirc from your posts 😂) so that maybe I can just enjoy the fics? Pretty please? x

Back in action for asks! *cracks knuckles*

I would love to give you some backstory! (Also, if any of my TMFU folks are reading this and know where to stream it in the UK, please chime in!)

The good news is that for a lot of my AUs you probably don't need a huge amount of the background to appreciate the dynamic. It's a pretty classic enemies to friends to lovers setup, with the added bonus that (in the movie) they are actually true enemies rather than just people who dislike each other haha. I am going to put the rest of this behind a cut—no major spoilers for the movie, but it's gonna get long lol. So if anyone else also wants a character rundown + some important stuff about their dynamic so they can dive into some of my other fics, here's your primer!

Ok, so character rundown:

Napoleon Solo: aka "Cowboy," aka "The CIA's finest", formerly a top tier art thief who no one could catch, until he finally tripped up and got arrested. The CIA plucked him out of prison to work for them, and his handler still treats him like criminal dirt. Enjoys fancy cooking, classic yet fashionable suits, is utterly charming, a massive flirt, supposed to be the 'womanizer' but consistently shows a refreshing respect for women (especially given the James Bond comparison).

Illya Kuryakin: aka "Peril", aka "The youngest person to join the KGB", a giant (6'5"), inhumanly strong, super hostile and gruff exterior, surprisingly bad liar, polite king to little old ladies, actually softer than a marshmallow on the inside. His father was a Soviet official who got thrown in the gulag when he was a kid for embezzlement, forcing his mother into a kind of prostitution to survive. Probably resulting from that trauma, he suffers from dissociative episodes when he gets extremely upset in which he does things like trashes hotel rooms (his hands shake when he feels one coming on). Manipulated by his handler with threats of being sent to the gulag like his father. Favors turtlenecks and simple outfits, also a fashion snob. Extremely attached to his father's watch, which he wears.

Gaby Teller: aka "Chop Shop Girl", East German auto mechanic who's father was a nuclear scientist pulled out of Germany by the Americans during the war, leaving her behind as a kid. No-nonsense, prefers slacks when dressing herself, sometimes plays mother to our bickering boys. Possible alcohol problems.

Alexander Waverly: British Naval Intelligence, ultimately organizing the operation, a bit of an asshole but in a charming way, keeps together the team at the end as UNCLE (independent spy organization).

Victoria Vinciguerra: The evil mastermind. Napoleon sleeps with her at one point to save the operation, later she drugs him and leaves him to be tortured. Very tall, very fashionable.

Also other minor character you may come across in AUs: Oleg (Illya's KGB handler), Sanders (Napoleon's CIA handler), Alexander Vinciguerra (Victoria's husband), Rudi Teller (Gaby's Nazi uncle).

The main thrust of the movie is that Napoleon and Illya are both sent to East Berlin to try to extract Gaby for their own purposes, only to learn that they will actually be force to work as a team to take down the bad guys. They actively try to kill each other in not just their first but also second meeting. There's a scene where they argue over fashion while buying Gaby a new wardrobe that is *chef's kiss*. Extreme levels of banter and snark in every interaction. BUT, as these things go, they gain a grudging respect for each other. Napoleon saves Illya's life, Illya saves Napoleon's life. They work together as a team exceptionally well. By the end, they are trading extremely fond insults. There are moments of self-sacrificial plays to save a teammate you're not even supposed to like, gift giving, betraying your principles/agency for the other person. There is a canonical will-they-won't they between Illya and Gaby during the movie (one of the reasons another major ship in this fandom is an ot3 between them), but nothing actually happens.

I think that basically sums up their dynamic and gives you the backstory you'd need for the AUs especially. For the post-canon ones it's a little tricker since I'd rather not give away the main twist of the movie, BUT a lot of them are kind of "in the future working as a team already" setup that don't really reference movie events, so you'd honestly probably be fine there too.

All right, that's a lot of text lol. I hope it helps, and I hope you enjoy the fics if you decide to dive in!

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Ok about your latest post: I can assure you your writing does do all of that!

When I first read your story, like the very first chapter, my head started doing backflips.

I tend to maladaptiv daydream a lot, and rinko kinda wormed her way into that! (So every time I hear a song, my mind will just go, "Can you imagine Rinko doing....")

Also

Rinko was the first character I read about that was in a relationship with gojo that could take him on. Not the honored one, not the six eyes, him. It gives you a different perspective about the characters we know. So now we GET to know them threw someone else's eyes, weaknesses, quirks and all.

The first chapter is also the one I reread the most. You created a character that becomes a part of the readers and that we can identify with. (In all the AUs as well I may add)

So yeah, just wanted to let you know that:) (sorry that it's so long, kinda rambled there, sorry🙂)

Have a lovely day/night:)

THIS MESSAGE IS SO SWEET AND PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT BEING LONG OR RAMBLING. DO NOT DO THAT EVEN ONCE!! IT'S WONDERFUL. THANK YOU SO MUCH 😭😭💕

It makes me SO HAPPY to know people reread Another Level and love Rinko and the others as much as I do 🥹 Her relationship with Megumi, especially as it's grown over the years, just makes my heart 🥺🥺 He went from "shE'S NOT MY MOM" to "She raised me." and I just wanna cry.

You especially don't have to apologize for rambling when I don't know how not to rant 😅 SO THE REST OF THE BULLSHIT I HAVE TO SAY IS BELOW THE CUT

Something that I enjoyed so much about writing Another Level and Rinko was the humanity of it. I think about Hollow Echoes and how I realized how unfair and one-sided some people's expectations were of Gojo after how he treated Rinko when she went into his condo without asking that first time. Like, of course he shouldn't have spoken to her like that. But he's still human, and humans make mistakes. They act irrationally and let their emotions drive them even when they shouldn't. Even when they know they shouldn't.

I think anyone other than Rinko would have either completely written him off as an asshole or caved and said he hadn't done anything wrong. But she held him accountable while admitting she was wrong, and it's something I adore about these two. They communicate with each other. They call each other out for being stupid, and they trust each other enough to admit when they're wrong. Admitting you're wrong to someone takes a lot of trust that they won't take advantage of that admission or use it against you, and that's something that both Gojo and Rinko are used to from others. Gojo is used to people taking any little fuckup and holding it against him for years, but Rinko has never done that with him because she understands that it won't help or change anything. There's just something about the two of them that is inherently safe for them to be themselves to the fullest.

Not only that, but Rinko was a safe person for all of the kids. She never talked down to them or straight up tried to 'mom' them. Which is one thing they all appreciated. Almost all of those kids have problems with authority and shitty or absent parents, so they would not react well to someone who just imposed authority over them like a parent.

I've seen a lot of fics that have Megumi calling the reader/oc 'mom' super easily or being really affectionate with them, and I just don't feel like that fits Megumi's character at all. He's an emotionally constipated abandoned kid who has Zenin blood. A kid like him would not just start calling someone 'mom' if they started acting like his parent. Because kids like that: bitter, angry at the world, abandoned kids with issues as deep as Megumi's are typically not receptive to people who force themselves into a parental role. Just think about how he treated Tsumiki, who he clearly loves and respects, when she tried to get him to quit fighting. It's why Rinko literally called him 'a ball of rage' in Bullies. Because he is. And no amount of 'parenting' is going to make that go away.

Gojo never acts like his parent in canon. He acts like a legal guardian because that's what he is. He knows better than to try to actually parent him. So it's just kinda funny to me when people think that Megumi would be this really affectionate kid who loves to be snuggled or coddled, and would like or accept someone who appeared in his life and suddenly just started telling him what to do all the time as if they have the right to do so.

He appreciated Rinko because she didn't try to force herself into his life. To force him to listen or do what she said. She watched out for him, she worried about him, but she didn't impose herself on his life. She made it clear she cared about him and would be there if he ever needed her, and she let him know that she understood his anger. Just like how her mother did. But again, she made it clear from the beginning that she wasn't trying to be his mom. And even now, if anyone asked her, she wouldn't say she is. She'd say he's her kid, but she would never just say she's his mom. And she'd turn bright red if Megumi ever actually called her that, which he wouldn't. He'll transition to calling her Rinko instead of Rinko-san, but he'll never call her mom.

It's also similar to how Rinko was when Maki ran away, she told her what she thought, but she knew she couldn't tell her what to do or think or feel. Because, just like Megumi, she understands their anger. She knows where they're coming from. She's felt the exact same anger they have and she just wants them to have someone who lets them know there's someone who cares about them no matter what, and it's okay to be angry because they have been given a shitty hand in life.

With all the kids, Rinko never treated them like dumb kids. She never spoke down to them or tried to 'give them wise advice.' She offered her opinion or thoughts and told them to do what they would with that and call her if they needed her. While she made it clear she knew they were kids, that never affected how she spoke to them. She spoke to them almost the exact same way she spoke to Shoko and Nanami and Gojo. And that was one reason all her students loved her so much.

ANYWAY THERE'S A FUCKIN KIKO RANT FOR YOU. HOLY SHIT. I'M SO SORRY THIS WAS DEFINITELY MORE THAN YOU SIGNED UP FOR WHEN YOU SENT THAT MESSAGE 😭

I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY DAY OR NIGHT!! 💕💕🥹

[forcebookish]

ok sorry I have a lot of thoughts about this ep so hope this is ok 😭

1. I am genuinely hopeful for a topmew reconciliation and I think the beginnings of it could start as soon as next ep? I don't think it'll be quick or easy but I do think a lot of things are gonna click in place for mew when top is taking care of him while ray is nowhere to be found. also I think he needed to self destruct a bit before he could forgive top. 2. FUCK RAY AND I MEAN THAT!!!! his stans can victimize him all they want but he is the nastiest character aside from boston. the way he treats sand and mew is downright vile but he keeps getting excuse after excuse. (Also sidenote as much as I hate it I think raymew needs to happen once just so they can both get it out of their systems and quickly realize it'll NEVER work). also I know I'm a mew apologist but is no one gonna talk about how ray knows mew just got his heart broken and is still gonna try to be with him while he is kind of seeing/has feelings for sand? he's gonna put mew through hell again?? but he's SO much better than top apparently.

totally okay, anon, let it out. i mean, i'm going to let even more out lol megarant incoming:

1. agreed, i'm sure that topmew can make it through, especially based on the next episode. i think mew just has to go through it a little bit. i'm really bummed that top ended up hitting mew, but at least it wasn't on purpose... unlike the other couples😒 and you know what? i'd want to hit ray that badly too, because

2. SAME!! FUCK RAY! i have hopped onto the ray hate train and i am riding it until the wheels fall off. idk what kind of work or what he's going to have to go through to earn even neutral status again, because his still thinking that he doesn't have an addiction after ALL THAT is truly some next level bullshit. yeah, it's realistic, and that's why it pisses me off so much. you don't, at least shouldn't, keep that kind of toxicity (ACTUALLY TOXIC I KNOW FANDOM DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS BUT THAT IS LIKE, THE DEFINITION OF TOXIC) in your life. everyone's going to get burned AGAIN by him. he's not on his second chance he's on like his tenth chance and they better not give him an eleventh.

mew, sand, and his dad have all told him he's an addict; he drove while drunk AND high, after throwing all of his friends under the bus and INSULTING sand TWICE... AND HE THINKS HE DOESN'T NEED REHAB??? HE THINKS THOSE ARE THE ACTIONS OF SOMEONE NOT ADDICTED TO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL????!?? you said it, anon, FUCK HIM. if he had actually woken up and seen reason, i would have at least have given him a chance but he's run out of my sympathy. he's not a baby, he's an adult who needs to face some real fucking consequences. oh wah wah he hurt his shoulder? fuck off, he could have killed someone and he hardly blinks, pouts when he's barely even scolded - AND CONTINUES TO DRINK!?!??? has the gall to say that he doesn't have an addiction?

that's the definition of an addiction, asshole. oh he's "stressed?" yeah no alcoholic has ever been stressed and used alcohol to feel better🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 oh wait, that's EVERY ALCOHOLIC EVER

i really hope that whatever ray's dad asks of sand is to find a way to get him to quit, but it doesn't look like it based on the preview. maybe sand calls the cops, idk.

i can't beLIEVE that everyone's wearing kid gloves with him. i get that his dad is neglectful and not affectionate, but he could have, and honestly should have, let him go to jail. i hope he gets arrested in the next episode and he finally goes through withdrawal and sees what he's doing to the people he supposedly loves, especially based on what it looks like he's going to do to mew, is unacceptable.

and he already treats sand like trash!!!! all he does is take advantage of his kindness and then throw him away when he doesn't need him anymore. like LITERAL TRASH. did he even apologize for calling him a whore? oh wait, he probably doesn't remember because he was SO drunk and high.

AND YEAH I CHECKED HE DOESN'T APOLOGIZE TO SAND AT ALL IN FACT SAND IS THE ONE TO APOLOGIZE WTF

i mean. sand should apologize but still. jesus christ, ray.

AND YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THIS THING WITH MEW. after all this talk about ray not wanting to be mew's rebound and "knowing" it wouldn't be good,

he still JUMPS at the chance and doesn't think about how this would hurt mew. he waits for one little moment of weakness and FUCKING LEAPS.

(which... i don't want to get into it but this scene reads as extremely sus to me. it's the same position they were in when ray kissed mew when he was asleep. i don't know if that means they're meant to parallel it as ray taking advantage of mew again or if mew's playing him. the way mew talks sounds like a trap; it seems out of character that he would blame himself for ray drinking. and the scene where they're dancing is so... weird... it gave me the same bad vibes i got when topmew got home from the party but maybe i'm wearing my topmew goggles too tight idk)

and this!?!????

i haven't seen ANY evidence that ray has EVER taken care of mew EVER. tbh i would love to be proven wrong, show me the receipts, but mew is ALWAYS the one taking care of ray (probably one of the reasons why top was so appealing: someone was finally taking care of him for once). and now he thinks that he can take care of mew when he can't even take care of himself? please.

he's just selfish. sure, unlike boston, he may care when he hurts people but not enough to stop apparently.

i've been saying it from the start, both boston and ray are shitty friends who take advantage of mew's friendship. just because boston is shittier doesn't make that any less true. mew is going through all of this shit because of both of them. none of this would have happened if it weren't for both of their bullshit.

thanks for stopping by and giving me a chance to rant, anon💖 let's pray for some consequences for ray together🙏🙏

[mandy4ever69420]

opinion on kevin?

i would really LIKE to like him. i think he's really fun and amusing at times. i do miss when he was snippy in s1 i thought that was charming as fuck. also he looked like the chick from the mr brightside video. all flushed cheeks and shapely eyebrows.

my favorite thing in kevin's plot was also about s1 ish in time. i really liked that he was a decent person you were meant to take seriously and he had literacy struggles. this is pretty niche of me but considering the way literacy is weaponized against victims of colonization(+enslaved peoples), how there are plenty of world languages w/out a writing system, and how education is used as a class marker/barrier i have some really strong feelings about sensitive portrayals of people who don't really read. so i thought that was delightful. this is also why it's sad to me when any joke later is a bit about portraying him as funny for not knowing stuff. whatever

unfortunately for kevin and also for V i take people calling immigration extremely personally. and i also can't help but compare that when mickey learned of the way that immigrant workers are treated he was genuinely indignant - like, he didn't have the resource or influence to do what he thought he would about that, but he really clearly just thought it was gross. before any other motives he was just like UGH. vs kevin just thinking "oh awesome idea" + hiring some uninformed guys to work on Asbestos with no PPE of all things. um! well he probably killed at least one of those guys.

he got a lot of the brunt of time rotting away at a character. my guess is because he's not as close to fiona as V was & was in a pretty stable relationship the whole time - a lot of TV shows don't know how to write an established relationship as interesting without just, really dumb drama. shameless does a lot better than other shows with that though. like at least kev and v having problems after having kids is extremely common + probably v was having postpartum depression without realizing it

obligatory "thanks kevin" for being an ally even when it's not very convenient. genuine live reaction first time watching the show when he was like ok fuck these gentrifiers but can we quit the gay bashing. i wanted to like fist bump him or something. he doesn't get all the brownie points in the world though because being not a fucking asshole to mickey does not a saint make. and he was weird as fuck about his hot wife and his hot wife's hot wife. not unrealistic but like dude come on

um and last thing i think it's really funny how scared he was when mickey threatened him a little. this is more a reflection of mickey cultivating his own reputation but i liked that mickey scared the fuck out of kevin bad enough that kevin fucked up his own life (gun in the house, antsy, you remember) without mickey even having to show up to beat the fuck out of him. lol! and his kissassery at that party for terry and all. it was a blessing for kevin's dignity that mickey came out when he did and he could diffuse mickeys nerves by being annoying about it instead of dangerous