#maybe. you know what maybe ouat season 3a isn’t actually that good. and i just have insane biases

[livvyofthelake]

perhaps my mother should never have encouraged my childhood obsession with tinker bell. i don’t think it affected me in a normal way at ALL.

[once-upon-a-side-character]

If you're still doing this, top 5 ouat arcs and top 5 villains?

I am still doing these! I’ve just been busy over the last week (and also I take ages writing very long winded answers). These were such good asks, thank you so much anon! <3

Top 5 arcs:

1. Season 1

Maybe this will surprise people but I won’t deny that I actually really had to force myself to get through the first season of ouat. On my first watch my fave characters were Regina and Rumple (because at least they were funny and therefore entertaining) and I just wasn’t gripped by any of the rest of them. Then I finished up to season 5 (since s6 hadn’t aired) and...rewatched it. And it is was so much better on rewatch. Yes, there are still bits I don’t like about season 1 (the love triangle with snow/david/kathryn still annoys me and I will never not be furious about the graham situation and just how poorly that storyline played out.) but the rest of it? Incredible. Everything just felt so balanced and well thought through. Yes, it was still a show about fairy tale characters (specifically...disney characters) but in season 1 all their stories felt mature and considered (instead of gimmicky). The wardrobe plot? Genius. And I just love the way they set up Storybrooke as a place and how we slowly get to know who each of it’s denizens are.

2. Season 3A

Season 3A was my fave season for a long time. Why? Because it’s gooooood! Pan is fun. I like the ‘Pan is actually Rumple’s horrible dad’ plot twist. I like Rumple’s character growth in his arc. I like Neal and Henry and their interactions. I like Emma’s character growth and how she comes to a lot of realisations about herself in this arc. I like that turmoil that Snow and David are separately experiencing (David’s thing with the dreamshade and Snow feeling guilty that she feels angry about missing out on Emma’s childhood). And I like some of the new characters introduced like Tinker Bell. I just feel like there’s a lot of good and interesting character development going on in 3A and overall I really like it for that.

3. Season 2

Season 2 is just Season 1 but with a bit more emphasis on the fairy tale part...and that’s why it’s good. I love the vast range of characters that we get to see and how much fun Once has in introducing every fairy tale character they possibly can. Mulan gets her debut! I love Tiny and that he finds a family with the dwarves, Cora is a pretty fun villain and I’m glad we get to see more of Victor’s backstory as well. There are a whole host of really great episodes in this season and I really like it <3  

4. Season 4A

4A would be potentially higher on this list if it wasn’t for its pitfalls. The good parts about 4A were the Snow Queen’s arc (which did not get enough screen time) and all the bits to do with Emma’s past and childhood. Loved all of it. The issues I have with 4A stem from the frozen plot line. Now let me just say that frozen is easily one of my fave disney movies, so of COURSE I was pleased to see frozen characters. But I just wish that it had been a cameo instead of taking up the whole arc. And I also wish that they’d changed the damn costuming for the frozen characters as well. Poor Elsa being stuck in that dress for the entire arc was just heartbreaking. The whole thing felt like a cash grab and I just wanted it to be executed so much better than it was. THAT SAID I did still like it and yes I like this arc a lot overall.

5. Season 4B

This is just a FUN arc. I love the Queens of Darkness so I’ll admit that’s a big factor for me but also I love the emphasis on family in this arc. Obviously, you do have the turmoil between Emma and her parents and honestly I’m less keen on that whole plot line but on the flipside you have characters like Maleficent and her broken relationship with her daughter. Or maybe I AM just swayed by the Queens of Darkness

TOP 5 VILLAINS:

1. Jafar (OUATIW)

And yet another reason as to why OUATIW is so good... I won’t spoil too much in case there are those of you that would like to watch Wonderland and haven’t just yet, but..he’s just fabulous, I swear. Genuinely threatening and evil, but also suave and sexy, he makes for a pretty decent villain. But it’s what’s underneath it all that really pushes him to be a great villain. He has one of the most harrowing tragic childhood backstories out of any ouat character but he isn’t given a redemption arc because of it. We have a better understanding of his anger and why he did what he did. We have genuine sympathy towards his character. But it doesn’t change his status as a villain and I just think he has one of the most mature character arcs of any villain in ouat and that some of ouat’s other villains could have benefited from a similar narrative themselves.

2. Cruella de Vil

I mentioned her on my top 5 character list so I won’t ramble but she’s just FUN. I’m sure most of you have already seen that post floating around in response to the new Cruella movie, and how ouat’s Cruella backstory worked so well, and that post sums it up pretty perfectly. The show tries to make you think that a tragic backstory is going to play out...but it doesn’t. And she was just...an evil murderer that likes manipulating people and having her own way. She’s over the top and ridiculous and I never thought I would see Cruella de Vil playing angry birds on screen.  

3. Zelena Mills

Zelena! is! a! fun! villain! Idk guys, I just feel like Zelena gets a lot of hate from fandom in a way that almost none of the other villains do. Is she a terrible person? obviously, yes. But she’s so uncompromisingly evil and she has FUN while she does it and I can’t not love and respect that. I think that her villain origin story is a little weak at times (the jealousy angle is obviously a necessity but also a little overplayed at times) but overall I just love her dry humour and snarky little comments and I think she’s lots of fun.

4. Rumplestlistkin

I care a lot less about Rumple post season 3 but I will say that overall I think he’s a really enjoyable character and a fun villain. Imp!Rumple in particular is super fun (although I really like his Mr. Gold alter ego almost as much). He’s chaotic on the surface but meticulous and calculating on the inside and that makes for a thoroughly enjoyable villain. Killing him off at the end of season 3A would have been a better narrative arc for his character...but I won’t deny that I would have been sad to see him go so early on and the show wouldn’t have been the same without him.

5. Maleficent

Mal is a little different to the others on this list because actually I really like (I’m not quite sure that you can call it a redemption arc, per se, but) the sympathy her character is given. She was always a pretty neutral villain. She mostly seemed to just mind her own business unless she was provoked. And then she had her child stolen from her and I really did feel for her. She’s badass, cool and sexy and I hope she and Lily are having some nice mother-daughter bonding moments in Storybrooke or wherever they are. (Plus that suit is one of the best villain looks in the entire show).

[livvyofthelake]

top 5 ouat story arcs?? or like. characters if that’s easier!!!

oh i’ve got plany of time i’ll do both… i’ll start with characters that’s easier

gideon my most beloved… he saved this marriage. it’s hard to explain but he saved everything <3 he’s my favorite guy ever ever ever of all time and literally every single thing i like today can be traced back to him. even kit. all of it goes back to gideon remember i was 15 when i met him

regina <3 she has never done anything wrong in my eyes. not even the atrocities. maybe it was a bit unnecessary to try to poison emma that time but she makes up for it i forgive her

emma…. the savior….. Thee Protagonist of all time…. she’s a hero she’s gonna bring back the happy endings and she’s going to live to see the rewards of her efforts!!! she’s just Good!!!!

alice my friend alice lesbian alice season seven dyke alice from wonderland and other places oh my god my friend alice. she’s like. to be real she’s a gideon stand in in terms of her role but as a character she’s uniquely her own and i have loved her from the moment i saw her <3

you know what i am gonna give the number five slot to zelena. i love her. she’s done everything wrong especially the atrocities. and she was sexy while she did them <3 camp icon!

honorable mentions for killian and belle and neal and henry and my favorite pair of incredibly toxic father son villains who hated each other rumplestiltskin and peter pan <3 and my second favorite pair of incredibly toxic pseudo father son villains who hated each other. merlin and king arthur. villain is the wrong word. more like. well meaning guy who’s terrible with kids and anti hero. “this isn’t the man you were supposed to be” “i am exactly what you made me” and “you were meant to be like a son to me” are INSANE. once upon a time’s thesis of “bad fathers make you insane” is so real and true. anyway. oh yeah also honorable mention to anastasia who is technically not a character from once upon a time but she’s from the spin off and i adore her

ok. top five arcs. let’s see…

one thing about me is i will always be a season six girlie i love when a show has gone on for years and built up so much that a finale like the final battle pays off in a way a season one finale never could. i loved the black fairy’s curse arc it slayed. emma’s the savior and to take away her belief in hope and love dooms them all….

another thing about me is that i will always be a season 3a girlie too. i have been weird about peter pan since i was old enough to read the pixie hollow fairy books like “vidia and the fairy crown” and “fairy dust and the quest for the egg” and once upon a time going to neverland made me worse in ways i’m still finding out about years later

tee don’t read this. the beginning of season 2 when emma and snow are trapped in the enchanted forest and david and regina are like doing the weird coparenting henry thing that’s somehow working really well actually and they can only communicate through henry and aurora’s shared nightmare hellscape. i love that whole arc so much it slays. it’s a shame the rest of that season is such a flop

not necessarily an arc per se but i adored emma and lily’s whole deal in season four. emma’s bisexual christ figure realness. lily’s judas swag. essentially gideon is just a second attempt at lily’s role, the darkness to emma’s light, etc. and it goes crazy!

underworld arc!!!! emma and killian’s orpheus and eurydice slay!!!!!! i can’t even get into it rn but i feel as though i’ve talked about it enough that you all get it <3

honorable mention to season one’s dark curse and operation cobra <3 you’ll always be famous girl