#not someone who he will potentially be a teacher to next season

[atiny-for-life]

Ateez and KQ Entertainment - A Summary

When it comes to K-Pop companies, anyone who's been a fan of any group for a while will know the majority of them are awful, greedy, and will sacrifice the health and safety of their artists for profit in a heartbeat. It's an awful industry built on the backs of underpaid, overworked young people who've been shamed and exploited since they were trainees and oftentimes bullied into plastic surgery, eating disorders, and mentally damaging competition with their peers. Many idols end up with chronic health issues, especially heart problems, long before they'll ever reach the average retirement age.

So what about KQ? Are they any different? Should we view them as one of them? Or are they an outlier like KOZ Entertainment which was founded by Zico, an active idol and former Block B member who has since signed his own group, BoyNextDoor?

Side note, and for the sake of completeness: After Block B, which means all members including their parents, were exploited by their former agency Stardom Entertainment, it was KQ who created an agency (Seven Seasons) solely for Block B so they could continue activities - a job they were definitely not prepared for so there was mismanaging going on and Block B fans don't look upon that time fondly. Since then most, if not all, members eventually stopped renewing their contracts.

However, these days, we've got Ateez, Xikers, Maddox, Eden and everyone else under the company refer to KQ as a family. Why is that? Let's gather what we know.

The Beginning: Accepting Hongjoong as a trainee

Most Atinys will already know the story of how Hongjoong joined KQ as their first ever trainee back in 2015. He's shared this story many times over the years (recent examples: Zach Sang Show interview, K-Star Next Door, I.M on the Beat interview, T-TIME : Grrrgak!) but for those who've never heard it, here's a summary of how it went down:

Hongjoong wanted to make music so he put a bunch of self-composed songs on a mixtape and sent it to several companies, including the big three. His reason for targeting KQ specifically was his love of Block B's music, which made him disregard the fact that KQ wasn't looking to sign anyone else. In fact, they were only a management agency at the time so they weren't even in a position to accept trainees.

Regardless, he sent the tape together with a letter, telling them they should reach out and contact him if they'd like to work with him. Whoever received that letter at KQ tossed it aside, unopened, and a year went by. The company then moved buildings and, while packing up, someone came across the tape and letter.

Intrigued, they listened to it (untrained rap and all) and heard the potential, which led the CEO to make a judgment call and give Hongjoong a chance. KQ called him to ask if he still wanted to do music. Of course, Hongjoong said yes and took the risk of signing with them.

Ateez's lives as trainees under KQ

While it was Hongjoong's music school principal who initially gave him the idea of not just being a songwriter but also an idol, it was KQ who further encouraged him.

However, as their first ever trainee, Hongjoong had a difficult time. First, with Eden initially trying to push him to quit music because KQ had put him in charge of training Hongjoong as a producer and Eden had zero interest and training to be a teacher. (Of course, those feelings didn't last too long and Hongjoong wormed his way into Eden's heart fairly quickly.)

But even without that, he struggled with being lonely because most other trainees who walked into the practice room, never stayed. Additionally, KQ was quite poor at the time, so Hongjoong only ate fried rice most of the time which he quickly grew tired of. Many of you may remember this story from Hongjoong's mother's letter shared in this video last year:

In late June 2024, during a live, Hongjoong also shared he was diagnosed with two separate conditions during his trainee days, orthostatic hypotension (drop in blood pressure when standing up or sitting down which leads to fainting) and vasovagal syncope (fainting caused by triggers such as emotional distress, the sight of blood, etc.) which he's learned to manage since. However, this was something he forced himself to learn to deal alone since he didn't want to worry the company or others.

During these early days, KQ was broke and Ateez had a food budget (which they sometimes maxed out, leading Hongjoong to pretend he was dieting and push the others to use his budget for themselves) and weren't allowed to use their phones in the dorms, likely to discourage them from getting distracted and sleeping too little but, aside from Hongjoong, no one seems to have followed that rule. See, the famous clip of Hongjoong talking about being salty when he discovered Seonghwa's two hidden phones:

However, KQ famously never enforced any sort of dating ban unlike most other companies which later gave us one of the funniest headlines of all time:

And they were also some of the first idols who proudly showed off their tattoos while many others were still banned from even getting them.

Ultimately, they already went viral predebut thanks to their outstanding dancing and Jongho's ability to split apples with his bare hands while singing.

Something I can't source but remember: Yunho, I believe, once shared the practice room used to be tiny and in terrible condition before they moved to a bigger building right before San joined the company.

Investing in and defending Ateez

During their trainee days, KQ flew Ateez (plus their then maknae, who wasn't ready to debut in 2018 and presumably moved on to another company) out to LA where they received rigorous dance training so they could become the performance group we all know and love today. They documented the whole thing here:

Something worth noting about this time is: they've been consistently providing English subtitles for all their content which was definitely a huge contributor in how much more popular they've always been overseas compared to domestically.

In an attempt to get Ateez more exposure, KQ took the financial risk of paying for Ateez's participation in Kingdom: Legendary War all the way back in 2021 which was, honestly, a hellish time for the fandom - even KQ acknowledged that in a lawsuit they filed against some false rumors being spread about Ateez around the time, stating:

However, we have decided that the current situation, in which false information is misunderstood as true, can damage not only our artists’ reputation which has been achieved through hard work but also our fans' mental health, who are our artists' biggest supporters.

Participation in the program was deeply exhausting for Ateez (who were without Mingi at the time - more on that in a bit), but did prove worthwhile when it garnered them a significant amount of new fans thanks to their positive attitude regarding the competition which had the vibe of "We're just here to make friends and put on a great show."

Regarding this part of their history, it should be noted that, in the wake of Kingdom: Legendary War, additionally information came out, exposing severe mistreatment of Ateez at the hands of Mnet:

After constant disrespect, a Korean Atiny [...] made a lengthy post of all the times Mnet had treated the K-pop group poorly. The final straw might have been Ateez not getting a single nomination for any award on Mnet's award show, MAMA 2021, despite the channel calling them ‘performance kings’. On top of it, fans found it humiliating that Ateez, the only group that was not nominated, performed at the award show too. [...] Korean Atinys claimed that Mnet’s staff would scream at Ateez while filming their reality shows. They were not told about the venues where they would be performing like the outdoor festival event and their makeup room was the smallest during the ‘Kingdom’ shoot. While other participating groups were given sofas, Ateez members were given stiff office chairs.

However, this is not something to blame KQ for - Mnet is famously hated by all idols and is even known to mistreat Hype artists, who are far more influential. They abuse the power they hold over all artists since everyone depends on them for promotions. One company alone, especially one on the small side, doesn't have the power to take them on. It'd take collective action on all companies' parts.

In the year that followed, 2022, KQ sued an infamous gossip YouTuber, who'd been spreading lies and rumors about idols for years, reaching all the way back to first gen idols. Even other fandoms cheered on KQ at the time for finally doing something against her.

Excerpt from the article:

The YouTuber has been criticized in the past for starting false rumors about idols. NMIXX‘s Sullyoon, BTS‘s Jungkook and RM, actress Han So Hee, And NCT‘s Jisung are just a few of the celebrities the YouTuber has targeted. According to reports, the person behind the Sojang YouTube account has been actively writing about rumors since K-Pop’s first generation. Before YouTube, the netizen had been active on online communities, Facebook, and Twitter. According to reports, it is believed that Sojang is a woman in her mid-to-late forties. This isn’t the first time the YouTuber has been sued. EXO member Xiumin has previously sued her, and BTS’s V had threatened to sue the YouTuber last December.

Again in 2022, they also took strong legal action when a tracking device was placed on one of Ateez's cars, stating "The defendant asked for leniency, but the company has not agreed to any leniency or settlement to prevent further damage and set a precedent for those who think of downplaying privacy violation offenses."

KQ has also proven themselves willing to back their artists' personal dreams financially, like when they paid for Hongjoong's non-profit photo exhibition which gathered money for charity and supported his wish to have a busking event, and got Seonghwa to meet his favorite ASMR YouTuber.

Recently (June 2024), Hongjoong also shared they're now getting paid extra incentives, as of last year (2023), as a thank you for all they've done for the company and the sum doesn't seem to be all that small.

Of course, there are also the most tangible and noticeable investments: creative marketing both locally and overseas, high quality music videos, regular vocal and performance training, booking music show and interview appearances and, notably, appearances on platforms outside the usual K-Pop sphere, i.e. React in 2019.

Ateez and the rest of KQ - family relationships?

We all know that famous clip of DJ Yunho calling KQ the best best company while Wooyoung's trying not to choke on his laughter:

And we also know Ateez and their respective families all get along - all their parents seem to have become friends and adopted the rest of the Ateez members as their own kids. Especially Wooyoung seems to call everyone's parents "mom" and "dad" and San's dad is deeply invested in everyone's health and well being. Hongjoong has even involved his brother before to help him choreograph for his MAMA performance.

Outside their immediate family, they all also have a group chat as Ateez with their CEO where he refers to them as his kids and he also watches their lives sometimes, attends concerts, etc.. Someone made a compilation here back in 2022 but they still imitate and quote him to this day:

And it's not just their CEO, they all seem to really love their managers and vice versa with this guy going viral for his adoration of Yeosang on multiple occasions and this clip between Wooyoung and his manager going viral more than once. You can find many compilations of the dynamics between Ateez and their staff but here's an example.

And here's an example of how Xikers and their staff treat each other (spoiler: it's adorable chaos).

We've also seen the hair and make up staff goof around with them and we also know how close they are with B.B.Trippin, the dance crew who create the majority of their choreos, who've been fostering an unbroken relationship with KQ since the early days due to their ties with Block B.

Today, they continue to tour with Ateez despite how sought after they are by other companies with JM, their leader, even stating in response to the question "What are your favorite groups to choreograph for?":

"Of course it’s ATEEZ! Right now I’m not making the choreography myself, I’m only working as the general director. But I’ve been with ATEEZ since the members were first together and we talk a lot, so we fit well and I like working with them."

And, of course, we know how close they all, but especially Hongjoong, are with Edenary and Maddox from not just Ateez's content, but also Maddox's:

How KQ handles health issues

In the beginning, Ateez were severely discriminated against in the industry, as is true for all groups of small companies. As a result, they pushed themselves extra hard during what limited performance time they had in order to leave an impression and slowly grow their Korean fanbase. To quote Mingi: "When we just debuted, we were known for the madness."

During their first tour in 2019, Yeosang broke his finger during a performance and set it again by himself without ever leaving the stage or even slowing down.

Seonghwa, in an equally bonkers move during the same tour, cracked his ribs while coughing and still chose to perform. At the end of Hala Hala, when they all pretend to snap their necks and collapse, his rib kept him from being able to get back up, leaving Yunho and Yeosang to basically carry him off stage.

After those incidents, KQ became far more vigilant and ensured Ateez watches their health and safety more closely, with Seonghwa sitting out a performance in 2020 due to an injury. Their statement stating:

During a recent modern dance lesson, Seonghwa experienced pain near his hip joint. He went for an examination at a medical clinic specializing in that area, and he has been diagnosed with a mild sprain. While it is a minor injury, he has been advised by the medical team to avoid intense movement for about two weeks, in order to avoid the worsening or relapse of the injury. Therefore, Seonghwa will only be taking part in the Meet & Greet segment of ‘KCON:TACT 2020 Summer’ on June 26, and it would be difficult for him to take part in the performance.

In November of 2020, the same year, roughly two years after debut, Mingi developed some severe anxiety which led to him getting tested and diagnosed before he went on a (back then) indefinite hiatus to get rest and regain stability in his life.

During this time, he didn't participate in any public activities but stayed in close contact with all the members and even San's dad who checked in on him regularly since he's San's dad's favorite.

He returned in mid-2021 after about half a year of intermittent schedules to get back in the swing of things and under the clearance of his therapist. His mind was made up that he wanted to keep on doing this and he seemed happy to be back:

Jongho, too, had a more severe injury in August 2023 and needed to get surgery to fix it. Thankfully he, too, recovered fully after a hiatus that lasted a couple of months which was followed by him sitting on a chair side-stage during performances for quite some time until his knee was fully healed.

More recently, we've also heard Seonghwa share that they used to struggle severely while touring, even requiring oxygen masks backstage to keep themselves going, which led the CEO to put together a team of pro athlete trainers to ensure Ateez can physically meet the demands of the industry without sacrificing their health any further.

Most recently, it was Wooyoung who needed to sit out for a bit when he developed cholinergic uriticaria. Thankfully, he's already back in the swing of things as well, though we may not see him participate in outdoor schedules during the summer or in the south.

Most Common Criticisms of KQ

1 - Ateez are overworked!

This is undeniably true for all successful idols. It's a brutal, brutal industry and unless all companies slow down, there is no way to take time off without being forgotten and losing out on future opportunities because a lot of fans are quick to move on whenever a group disappears for a bit. Many don't even stick around for more than one comeback to begin with.

Especially during the end of the year award period, all idols are deeply overworked which is why we saw Ateez get time off around early April. They also take breaks for holidays and Hongjoong has said before that they're adults and know what they're doing when a fan told him they're being overworked (I wish I could find the clip right now).

I also remember Seonghwa saying during an interview that KQ never makes decisions without talking them through with Ateez so they understand each other's reasoning and no decisions get made over their heads (once again, I wish I could find the damn clip but all I remember is Seonghwa had longer black hair and his outfit and the set were kept in black, white and gray tones).

2 - KQ is controlling!

If you've read the whole post, you'll already know Ateez have a lot of freedom compared to other idols, especially now. They get to do lives without supervision, pursue solo projects (including quality music videos for their covers and original songs), Yeosang was an MC for The Show for a long time where he got to show off solo, while Yunho and Hongjoong got to be Idol Radio DJs for a long time where they got to be mentors, show off as dancers and make new friends. On top of that, Yunho, Jongho, San and Seonghwa all four starred in a drama (with Yunho being a co-lead) criticizing the abuse and mistreatment idols face in the industry which Ateez reference to this day.

Hongjoong also gets to work with Xikers now, giving them guidance Ateez surely wished they'd had in their early days, and he even collaborated with Chungha on her first album in her new agency, while Wooyoung got to work on a dance passion project with Watcha which was close to his heart just last year.

On top of all of that, they get to goof around constantly while a lot of bigger names in the industry have much more scripted content. We've also heard Ateez be extremely honest with fans when it comes to their wellbeing, including when they're tired or struggling. They've even told stalker fans off on live with zero consequences from the company on multiple occassions.

Their freedom goes double when it comes to their music where we know all members get to participate in both the song and choreography from recording all the way to live performance.

3 - Wooyoung and Yeosang don't get enough lines!

From an outsider's perspective, this is true. However, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes outside of what they tell us. For example, Hongjoong shared just recently that all members sing the whole song and then lines get distributed based on who suits which parts best.

It's also worth mentioning that the distribution is balancing out more and more over time. A trend which will surely continue now that both Wooyoung and Yeosang have released more covers to flex their vocals and 'Will - The World' included subunits so they could all show off and try out writing lyrics for themselves.

In Conclusion

I think, when it comes to Ateez, a lot of fans who raise concerns about KQ don't look at the bigger picture or lack some of the information needed to make a fair judgment. Though there is of course also absolutely valid criticism.

Please be aware I'm definitely not saying "Be a company stan, they deserve it!". The primary focus should always be on the artists themselves, not the people managing the funds in the background, but what I am saying is: "Trust Ateez."

There are so many idols out there who hate their companies, who are on the brink of collapse from exhaustion (P1harmony, NCT Dream, Enhypen, to name a few) and it's noticeable. They say it, they want fans to create a ruckus and demand better treatment, but Ateez isn't one of them.

All eight are very outspoken people and, from what we've seen and heard, so are their families. If KQ weren't full of decent people, Ateez wouldn't involve their siblings and parents in projects, they wouldn't spend time together outside of schedules.

There have definitely been instances where trending hashtags were justified, such as when there was lacking airport security because KQ had underestimated how many people would show up to welcome them, but there's a lot of unjustified complaining going on as well which can be easily debunked.

I hope this roundup of base information will help some people get a clearer picture of what the company dynamic is like so everyone can come to their own conclusions.

[jamiesfootball]

Considering the potential ripple effects of Jamie and Roy in Amsterdam.

Of Roy finally opening up to someone about this promise from his granddad that never came true, and how to young Roy it probably seemed such an insignificant thing to complain about — his granddad’s dead, and he’s complaining about how he never learned to ride a bike?

But grief always hides in these small injustices, and Roy was little, and his granddad died, and no one ever taught him how to ride a bike.

And out of pain and frustration, he spits this at Jamie, who takes it in strides and turns it into something tangible and fixable. Jamie who was already willing to offer Roy comfort earlier in the season, who listens when Roy is struggling and gives him this alternative- you don’t want to talk about what’s bothering you. We’ll do this instead, yeah?

Then the very next episode, Roy has a bike. Roy went out and bought himself a bike.

But then there’s Phoebe. Did she know how to ride a bike? Now that Roy knows how, does he teach her? I have to imagine if she already knew how to ride a bike, she would have insisted that Roy learn too, so they could ride bikes together. This makes me think that maybe she also didn’t know how to ride a bike.

So Uncle Roy buys her a bike and spends the weekend teacher her- uh oh, what’s this? Phoebe’s mum also doesn’t know how to ride a bike? Because at the end of the day, she is also Roy’s sister, so if no one taught him then well there’s a chance no one taught her either.

So he buys a third bike. And a helmet, a bright purple one that matches Phoebe’s bright pink one, because they need to make sure Phoebe has good role models when it comes to safety. Then him and Phoebe spend another weekend teaching her how to ride a bike too.

She tells him to piss off when he laughs at her falling into the grass again, but she can’t help but ask, “What’s gotten into you, anyways? What made you decide to up and learn how to ride a bike?”

What a lovely consequence of Roy sharing a drop of the grief that’s burdened him since he was nine.

What an amazing ripple effect of Jamie Tartt staring down his own trauma and trying to be a nicer person despite it all.

That’s three people who might’ve learned how to ride a bike because of him.

[butterflydm]

2x8 - some thoughts this morning (mostly about rand)

The contrast for Rand between this and last season's finales.

Facing Ishamael alone in the dark vs alongside his friends in the light.

Going off by himself after the confrontation (with no one in Fal Dara being aware of his actions) vs being heralded by all of Falme.

Moiraine willing to kill him because she doesn't trust him not to fall to the dark vs being willing to do whatever it takes to support him because she does trust him.

And within this episode itself, we have Lanfear telling Rand she's the only one who cares about him (manipulative technique to try to keep Rand emotionally isolated and dependent on Lanfear) vs that beautiful ending of him being supported by all these people who genuinely care about him (and not the guy that he was 3000 years ago).

I loved the placement of where the heron is on Rand's palm. I always thought it was in the middle and it felt kinda awkward to me but it looked really good the way that they did it.

book spoilers through the shadow rising are below

I am sad that the /wot subreddit freaked out over Rand's power progression getting smoothed (just like they did last finale) because they were doing so much better for most of this season. Alas, sigh. /wotshow is somewhat better, at least.

But, yes, about Rand's power progression. One of the big things about book 4 is that Rand is desperate enough to learn the One Power that he is willing to use one of the Forsaken as a teacher. That means that Rand needs to not be a powerhouse badass. The books mostly handled it by powering Rand up at the end of each book and then depowering him back at the start of the next one, but a lot of that was buyer's remorse on Jordan's part, imo, as he realized he'd accidentally made Rand too strong for the next part of the story. If Rand had already had those big power moments from the books, then it would be jarring that Rand is desperate enough to let one of the Forsaken that close to him (especially after everything with Lanfear); this isn't a book so we can't get Rand's internal justifications for the choice. The viewers need to believe that Rand NEEDS Asmodean. We've seen that Rand has raw strength, but his control is shaky and he doesn't have anyone to learn from.

The show turning Rand's growth into something more steady is good, imo. Right now, even as untrained as he is, Rand can run circles around non-channelers without thinking about it (killing Turak and his entire squad), but he's unprepared for facing other channelers because he lacks finesse and control. So... he needs a teacher and Logain didn't work out.

Enter Lanfear's way of contacting Rand while not contacting him. This actually feels like a clever way to handle it -- that Lanfear might use Asmodean as her proxy to stay informed about Rand while covertly helping him out, since she's kinda in time-out right now.

Also -- I've had a thought about the plotline that Ingtar didn't get... what if it goes to someone else? Mostly, I am wondering this because Lanfear specifically said, "Light protect you, Rand al'Thor" at the end of the episode. There are none who walk so long in the dark that they cannot seek the light?

I've also had a thought about Siuan. I know there are a bunch of theories out there that basically boil down to "she wasn't acting the way she really feels in her heart" and most of them don't really do anything for me. I just don't feel like the evidence is there and Siuan's actions are reasoned out and clearly explained in the episode.

...and then we learned in this episode that Ishamael did not want Rand in Falme. Not yet.

So everything that Lanfear did in 2x7 was entirely of her own design. The only thing she did on Ishamael's behalf was deliver Mat to him. But she and Ishamael were not working together to bring Rand to Falme.

So I think that there's real potential that Ishamael has continued screwing with Siuan's dreams this season; because we can reasonably guess that he was the one who gave her the idea of Moiraine taking the Dragon to the Eye of the World, and we've seen both Ishamael and Lanfear playing around in TAR this season, and compared to the tiny bit we got about Compulsion, we have gotten a LOT of exposition about TAR and multiple scenes set there.

Rand believed that Ishamael wanted him in Falme, but he was wrong. Ishamael didn't think he was ready yet.

...but if Rand is locked up in the White Tower for months? Shielded from the One Power and helpless? Completely isolated from anyone he cares about? Maybe then making a deal with the Dark One would start looking a lot more tempting.

And all of sudden... we've got motive (Ishamael wants to break Rand emotionally), means and opportunity (TAR/dreams, which we know he has access to), which were things that were missing from the other theories that I've seen.

Briefly: the 'it was all a ruse by Siuan' theory lacks proper motive imo -- attempting to trick Rand in this way is just as likely to backfire and make him unwilling to ever trust Moiraine again and Moiraine should absolutely know that by now; and the 'Siuan is under compulsion' theory lacked proper opportunity because we saw how Siuan brushed Liandrin off in 2x6 and she's been traveling all season so Traveling or Skimming to find her in order to Compel her would be more difficult, for the same reason that Lanfear didn't Travel when she was trying to chase Rand in 2x5.

I am also thinking about how the various changes that the show made will affect some storylines in the future. Renna, Seta, and Suroth's early deaths definitely impact a storyline later on and I definitely want to unpack that at some point (did Suroth die? I will double-check when I do my rewatch).

I really want to talk about how much I deeply loved the choices they made with Mat's storyline but I think I want to do my rewatch first, because I'm pretty sure my brain blanked out for parts of it because I was so happy. Everything about Mat in this episode was just so beautiful.

But there has been so much Mat foreshadowing for Rhuidean and certain other future things that I do find it confusing when people say that the show is going to skip those things for him. Maybe the fact that Ishamael's 'past lives tea' was confirmed to be a lie will make some of those people think twice about their assumptions?

Oh! The glorious contrast of Ishamael, LTT's BFF in his past life, being the "betrayer of hope" and then Perrin giving Mat the Horn and telling him to take it to Rand, saying, "you're his only hope". That's so good, that's so tasty, I can't wait to dive into the Ishy-Mat compare-contrast.

I plan to write up a post about my thoughts about where we might go in s3, and I'll post that next week sometime. This weekend is for my rewatch and my deep dive, and I'm really looking forward to it. So much happened in the episode that I know there's a lot that I missed talking about last night.

[markantonys]

Someone on Twitter:

"Have we even had a scene showcasing Rand's potential/ power? Neither the Eye of the World nor the "battle“ with Ishamael felt like Rand's accomplishments I think."

I'm tired. 1. The Eye absolutely counts. 2. Okay I was underwhelmed with the Ishy battle I wanted it to be more flashy cause that was supposed to be his declaring himself Dragon moment and that definitely didn't land for me because of that. 3. Did Turak and his soldiers not count? That was brutal and efficient and definitely shows his potential imo. Rand doesn't even reach the same power levels that he does at the Eye bookwise til at least Knife of Dreams so like...I think people need to chill

man i'm so tired of people who have no idea how power progression is supposed to work lmao if they want rand to be having flashy big showdowns in the first 2 seasons then they'd better be prepared for him to feel stagnant and/or like a letdown in future seasons 🤷 you just know they'd be going "but why isn't rand able to do X in this season when he could do it LAST season?" if the show did exactly what the early books did in constantly giving rand a big blowout moment at the end of one book and then resetting him to being a helpless baby channeler at the start of the next one.

as for his ishy showdown not being ~flashy~ enough or not being ~his moment~, that's literally the point. it's a pyrrhic victory for rand - he was able to defeat ishy, but absolutely would not have been capable of it without his friends & moiraine assisting him (and risking their own lives to assist him, at that), and i'm sure he's very aware of this. this will motivate him to be desperate enough to improve his channeling skills that he's willing to get training from a forsaken. simple as that. if he was already skilled enough to have a big exciting moment of self-obtained victory in 2x08, then why would he need asmodean to train him in s3? audiences wouldn't buy him being desperate enough to resort to something so drastic.

especially since the show has upped the threat level of the forsaken massively and is actually making them frightening villains. book!asmodean is sad wet and pathetic for all of his onscreen-time despite his evil backstory, so it doesn't feel that risky for rand to take him as a teacher, but if show!asmodean is made more competent & scary in the same way as ishy, lanfear, and moggy (based on her one scene) have been, then that means rand is taking a much bigger risk in the eyes of the audience and we thus need a much stronger reason to believe he would be wiling to take such a risk. rand needs to consistently fail in the early seasons so that he's motivated to improve his skills by any means necessary in s3, same as how nynaeve needs to consistently fail so that she's motivated to break her block by any means necessary. basic cause and effect here, people! basic character progression! characters need to fail so that they can grow, and people who do not understand this have no business criticizing the storytellers who do understand it (not directing this at you here anon haha just at the annoying crew whining about rand and nynaeve Not Getting To Succeed At Anything).

"bUt EgWeNE-" egwene is not the same character as rand, and thus is not developing at the exact same rate as rand, and thus is allowed to have her victories whenever it suits HER progression, even if rand hasn't gotten his victories yet. egwene's victory came in 2x08 because s2 is when her biggest formative storyline of the early books occurs, whereas in s3/TSR she takes a step back while rand comes to greater prominence with HIS biggest formative storyline of the early books. and egwene sure as hell had her share of failures in s2 before getting her victory, just the same as rand even if he needs to cook a little longer before getting his own victories.

[devotioncrater]

not ted melancholy about leaving, sitting in the press room alone. not trent happening to find him there, "of all the press rooms." (it's funny because there's only one, but they're sad when they're laughing.) not them getting an actual one-on-one fucking conversation this season

Also, while ted's future's up in the air. I'm begging ted to also ask about trent's future. because trent's also on the precipice of leaving, with a big who knows the fuck what waiting for him (other than, like ted, his child). they've both found community at richmond, and they're both at a point where they might feel like they have to leave it all behind. just someone (ted) ask trent what he's doing after this book. and please let there be a good answer to that

all of this!! let them confide in and comfort each other. because they're both at this crossroads of What Is Next, sort of like that robert frost poem ted referenced in ep 7.

"Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

and i 100% agree, they need to have a one-on-one conversation again onscreen. an actual heart-to-heart, because we haven't been privy to that since episode 2.

of course we see them onscreen having these types of private conversations such as here:

and yet we the viewer are never invited in on them.

which is bonkers to me because these two are constantly implied & shown to have grown close to each other throughout the season.

ted letting trent sit-in on the parent-teacher conference.

"hello, ted" "hello, trent" with nothing for roy or beard

ted and trent participating together at girl talk with rebecca.

trent introducing himself to ted's mom

ted actively engaging & being endeared with trent's enthusiastic dork side

ted instinctively filling trent's mug with liquor first, trent instinctively holding his mug to ted. familiar-like, routine-like

we can see trent's crush on ted from space. he's practically singing about it. but on the quieter side, there are all these little heart eye moments ted has for trent, too. they add up. all of ted's gay praises on men & men's physiques (robert redford, oscar wilde, hair, facial hair, clothes, etc) can be read as a subconscious link to trent. it's subtle. it's all blink-and-you-miss-it.

which makes me wonder — since Ted Lasso is in ted's character viewpoint for his scenes — is the reason we haven't seen any of the one-on-one conversations he has with trent (which DO happen offscreen) a reflection on ted? what i mean by that is, are we not fully seeing trent, and the nature of ted's relationship with trent, because ted himself isn't ready to share? to come out? or to even allow himself to recognize what he could potentially be feeling? out of sight (offscreen), out of mind?

we see this storytelling technique be used with colin. how we don't see him come out to the team because that is not what he wanted as a character. his main concern wasn't "i'm gay" it was "how will the team react?". and so to honor his wishes, the team's reaction is what was shown onscreen. the show gave colin's character agency and it gave him privacy, too.

so maybe, hopefully, we will get another one-on-one scene with ted and trent. and this time ted will be ready to share, and this time we get to see their dynamic at full scope instead of these glimpses throughout the season

[mollysunder]

Potential Complications of Ekko's Time Shenanigans

There's a lot about Ekko that makes me nervous for him next season. Besides the fact that the Firelights tree house could easily get firebombed, because it's a literal hole in the ground with no cover. We'll ignore that most of the exits are above ground-level or sealed with a heavy door, and that some of the small metal fixtures on the treehouse look like human skulls. There's this larger, but more understated threat that Ekko's going to lose his mind after using the Z-Drive too many times.

When Vi berated herself for how she should have been there to protect Ekko, she wished that she could change the past, Ekko said, "That's a good way to drive yourself crazy". I thought that answer was pretty ironic, because wanting to change the past is his whole thing. At first I thought it could be a one off thing to tease Ekko's future ability. Then I remembered that Ekko has a joke voiceline that makes light of the effects of time travel on his mind. Sometimes Ekko would say, "Time scramble doesn't travel my brain.".

The dangers of the Z-Drive became more plausible the more I thought about Ekko's place in Zaun. Of the three most prominent minds in Arcane's Zaun (Singed doesn't count, he's from Piltover), two of them, Jinx and Viktor, deal with debilitating mental illnesses brought on by their respective work. For Jinx, her bombs killed her brothers, worsening her paranoia and fear of abandonement. While Viktor's work with the Hexcore has only further isolated him from his already small circle of friends, which will only make his future depressive spiral worse once the Hexcore causes him to be exiled in disgrace from Piltover. In both their cases, their work has lead them to be partially alienated within their communities, usually by their notoriety alone.

Ekko is supposed to be the exception to the rule for most Zaunite champions, but in Arcane he's not. Ekko builds technology to sabotage Silco's Shimmer supply chain, putting a target on himself and anyone associated with him. Ekko and the Firelights have to live clandestinely from the greater Zaun. Their fight against Silco has caused them to be less connected or just present in Zaun than someone like Jinx is. And on top of that isolation you have Ekko being placed in a de facto leadership position for his group for who knows how long, everyone there either looks the same-ish age as him, or are literal children. All the while he's responsible for the raids they carry out that were shown to carry a high fatality rate, at least one of the raid members looks younger than Jinx did in Act 1. Ekko may live in a nice tree, but he isn't doing well.

Then there's Heimerdinger, who is sure to be a pivotal influence on Ekko's story next season. Every mentor-student relationship in Arcane has shown that the students (Jinx, Vi, Viktor) inevitably internalized the lessons of their teachers (Silco, Vander, Singed). But more importantly, these pairs tend to share parallel experiences with one another, though it's more general than 1-to-1. And based on Hemierdinger's VA, Mick Wingert, the most defining aspect of Heimerdinger's characters was the suffering he experienced at the loss of his home, Bandle City, from the Rune Wars. Wingert stated that the closest frame of reference for the loss Heimerdinger experienced was similar to a Holocaust survivor. If the director and writers found Wingert's interpretation appropriate enough to play Heimerdinger, then part of that is likely to come through more in the next season.

Ekko's perspective is bound to change once he works with a person who will tell him that everything that can go wrong, in fact has gone wrong before. And the weight of Heimerdinger's words will probably carry considerable weight on Ekko's opinion next season. Heimerdinger's character is likely to fulfill the role of (grand)parental figure that Ekko has long needed. I can only see Heimerdinger heightening Ekko's fears and anxieties on the potential future disaster that will destroy his community and his responsibility in preventing it.

For next season, Ekko will probably believe he is at least partially responsible for Zaun and Piltover's war because he couldn't stop Silco or Jinx in time. When he finally creates the Z-Drive, he'll have the opportunity to rewrite every new potential mistake he could have made, even if it's only by 2-seconds. Ekko will either keep rewinding until he gets trapped in his own timeloop and breaksdown when he realizes his efforts are futile, or the instability of the Z-Drive creates too much attention and some outside party intervenes and pulls him out.

[ambersgiantpanda]

Unpopular opinion: I actually loved Patricia/Jason Winkler dynamics. And not just as friends or whatever relationship they had in the show. I saw couple potential there.

And I usually don't like teacher/student romance trope (because I can't imagine it in real life, it's weird for me), but something about Pason is just out there...

(detailed explanation of this is under the cut, and it's a long post, grab your judgement and popcorn)

Let me explain, if Jason hadn't been lured into Victor's Society and kept helping Patricia no matter what, just imagine how close they could've gotten. Like, she was feeling so alone and no one believed her and she thought she was going crazy, but then she got Jason as an alliance and had the support she really needed at the time. And she wouldn't have called Rufus and would've saved herself some trauma if Jason stayed by her side because Rufus was her last option and she wouldn't go there unless Jason betrayed her (which he did and she ended up in the warehouse, thank you very much for that)

So, let's imagine that didn't happen and Jason's still unaware of the elixir and the immortality and the cult and everything, he's just as confused about Joy as Patricia is and he wants to know the truth. They start working together, maybe Jason even joins Sibuna (I have the same vibe about it as about the headcanon that if Mrs. Andrews stayed for season 3 she would've helped Sibunas and they would've had an adult by their side who believed them, knowing how crazy Victor can get). Next thing I see is Patricia grows to like Jason, he was the first one who believed, he was reliable, and he was there for her when she needed it most. And so, she starts to develop some sort of feelings, she starts feeling more than she should.

And Jason is not stupid or blind, she sees the change in her behavior and connects the dots, realizing that maybe, just maybe, there's something warm appears in his chest too when they interact.

I know Jason probably wouldn't go far with this relationship at first, because of the professional ethics and stuff it would feel wrong, but (and we do remember that he had a life-threatening disease, right?) maybe someday he'd just wake up and think, "fuck it, I'm gonna die soon anyways", and finally accept his feelings for Patricia. (it might be out of character for him, but he's still a human; he's young and he's dying, he definitely wants to experience life, and it would be wrong not to, considering that his clock is ticking very quickly).

And it would be such a good first relationship for her as well, cause she'd have someone as mature as her (almost all of Anubis kids are very mature btw), I can so easily imagine Patricia in a relationship with someone older than her. With Eddie, she is the mature one while he often acts like a child (especially when he first appears in the show; he grows up only later when he has all these responsibilities as an Osirian), and with Jason, she could've just let herself be and enjoy his company without being alarmed that he could do something unpredictable and stupid any minute. And he would definitely treat her like a queen and a treasure because that's what she deserves, it would be a very stable relationship, and it would be so relieving for season 1 Patricia. Especially in season 1 she just wants comfort, she wants to feel calm and safe and not like a nervous wreck, freaking out all the time with no one by her side.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Peddie very much, it's my endgame and nothing will ever change that, but rewatching season 1 again made me think about Jason/Patricia in the new light, and I really like the headcanons I'm starting to see and develop more and more.

[101flavoursofweird]

Emerald Trio Week: Day 4- Unconditional Love

Spoilers: For most of of Season 3, including the finale.

Set: After the ending of Season 3 but before the time slip. Hunter has just started attending Hexside.

Warnings: Hunter has a panic attack, minor reference to Belos’ treatment of Hunter and referenced character death.

Description:

“Do you remember my aunt?” Bonnie asked flatly.

Hunter blinked at her. “Who—?”

“She studied barde magic here!” Bonnie burst out. “She loved singing and partying— That’s all she did!— but you called her a wild witch! You locked her in the C-Conformatorium for years…!” 

Hunter takes the blame from a classmate. Willow and Gus comfort him.

-

Hunter hadn’t thought his classmates would object to a talk on the history of wild magic.

Hexside had embraced the properties of wild magic— allowing multiple tracks, adopting palismen, and letting Eda the Owl Lady back into their halls— during the Emperor’s reign.

Now, after Belos’s defeat, wild magic could be used, studied and discussed freely by everyone.

Yes, there were some who still favoured Belos’s old rules (certain former Coven Heads), but Darius, Eberwolf and the rest of the CATs would keep them in check. 

Darius had offered to throw abomination hands if anyone so much as frowned at Hunter. Hunter had told him that wouldn’t be necessary— for the most part, Hunter had been welcomed at Hexside with open arms… which was incredible, considering his past.

The students had been ( understandably ) wary of Hunter at first, but many had come around to him after he’d helped expel Graye and the Coven Scouts from the school. Particularly, the Emerald Entrails had vouched for Hunter. 

It helped that Hunter was already close with Willow, Gus, Amity and Luz— and they had saved the Boiling Isles together.

Well, Hunter couldn’t say he himself had stopped the Collector or Belos in the end, but he had been lumped in with the group of heroes, to which everyone was grateful.

People were either glad to see Hunter or they ignored him. Either option suited Hunter fine.

Now that the Boiling Isles were being rebuilt and Belos was gone, Hunter just wanted to attend Hexside as a regular student… without his own palisman. 

Those first few weeks of school were tough, even though Hunter had his friends to rely on.

He needed to take extra classes to catch up with his peers, but Hunter embraced his packed schedule. Anything to keep him busy and to keep his mind off what he had lost.

He went to class, completed his homework, helped clean up the school, attended tutoring sessions led by Amity, rounded up missing palismen with Luz, tidied Willow’s garden, read Cosmic Frontier novels with Gus, played flyer derby with the team, introduced Darius to the sewing machine, crossed over to the Human Realm, visited the zoo with Camila and Vee, discussed the wolves he had seen with Eberwolf when he got back, and generally hung out with his friends

In most of Hunter’s classes, he sat next to a friend— or a friend of a friend— so he was never really alone. He took extensive notes, which his teachers admired and his companions appreciated. (Luz and Edric especially!)

Hunter rarely drew attention to himself, so he invited little if any attention from potential detractors.

(Willow had warned him about Boscha, but Boscha had behaved herself so far.) 

If anyone was opposed to Hunter’s presence at Hexside, they didn’t voice their complaints…

That was, until the history teacher asked everyone to do a talk in front of the other students. It could be on any historical topic of their own choice— something they were passionate about.

Hunter, of course, chose to talk about wild magic.

When he had finished—  to the applause of his teacher and classmates— Hunter asked if there were any questions.

The closest friend(?) Hunter shared this class with was Emira, seated at the back of the room. She flung her hand up in the air.

Hunter smiled at her, but he decided to answer someone else’s query first— to try branching out. He picked a pale red-haired girl in the front row of desks. (Bonnie, he thought her name was.)

“Do you remember my aunt?” Bonnie asked flatly.

Hunter blinked at her. “ Who—?”

“ My aunt,” Bonnie repeated, “ Arianna Barb?”

Hunter swallowed. He didn’t recognise the name, but he recognised the barely-concealed rage in Bonnie’s voice.

What should he do? Ignore the question and act like the callous, unrepentant Golden Guard she so obviously believed him to be?

Or should Hunter apologise? Should he accept responsibility for a wrongdoing he he couldn’t even remember?

He settled on an uncertain apology. “Sorry, I don’t—“

“She studied barde magic here!” Bonnie burst out, banging her fists on the desk. “She loved singing and partying— That’s all she did!— but you called her a wild witch! You locked her in the C-Conformatorium for years…!” 

Did Bonnie mean Hunter, specifically, or the Emperor’s Coven as a whole? Did it matter?

Hunter forced himself to meet Bonnie’s bitter, tearful blue eyes. He felt rooted to his spot at the front of the class. He spluttered, “I’m sorry—!” 

“Hey— hey, Bonnie!” The history teacher tried to intervene, putting himself between Hunter and Bonnie’s desk. “That’s quite enough…!”

“ Y -you made her get a sigil for the Healing Coven!” Bonnie cried. “She h- hates blood…!” She hiccuped and covered her face with her hands, quivering.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter breathed again.

Then he bolted from the room. He heard voices (Emira,  the teacher ) calling after him, but he couldn’t stop. 

Corridors, lockers and faces flew past him— until he bumped into someone and they both went sprawling across the floor.

“What the— Hunter?” Amity reached for him.

Hunter was already on his feet, rushing away.

He didn’t want to talk to Amity (who he knew liked him least of all their friends). He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He couldn’t take their concerned, disturbed, scathing looks.

Everyone knew Hunter was different— as the former Golden Guard, as Belos’ nephew, as a non-witch— and they didn’t know how to accept him.

How could they, after everything Hunter had done?

Maybe he had ordered for Bonnie’s aunt to be sent to the Conformatorium— or maybe he’d approved it— or maybe he’d had nothing to do with it— Hunter couldn’t remember!

He should have done more to help the citizens who were suffering during his uncle’s reign!

Too late now; everyone he’d failed had been scarred, branded with sigils, or worse.

Who knew how many people Hunter had hurt— directly or indirectly? How many of them were family members of his classmates? They had every right to loathe him.

Hunter had felt the exact same way— that burning need to lash out and scream at someone— after Belos crushed— when he…!

Finally— mercifully — Hunter found an empty room. (A class room that would probably be occupied at some point today, but right now, Hunter didn’t care.)

Hunter shut the door behind him and stumbled behind a desk. Panting, he slid down to the floor and folded in on himself.

He was definitely alone now, but there was a downside to that; nothing could distract him from his own thoughts. 

Look at yourself, a cold, slimy voice whispered inside his mind. You’re acting like a child…

Gripping his head in his hands, Hunter reminded himself for the gazillionth timethat Belos was gone.

Luz had told Hunter— she’d promised— that Belos had dissolved in the boiling rain, before he was stomped out of existence. Every last drop of Belos.

There wasn’t some surviving part of him that had slithered back into Hunter’s body… 

Was there?

Hunter hadn’t seen Belos die. He only had Luz, King, Eda and Raine as witnesses. What if they were lying to make Hunter feel better? What if everyone was lying—?

Breathe, Hunter, a different, warmer voice reassured him. It sounded a lot like Gus or Willow.

Amidst his fear, Hunter tried to breathe , just as they had taught him; inhale through the nose, count to five, and exhale through the mouth.

Hunter kept this up, until his chest felt lighter and his heart rate decreased.

Sit up slowly, Camila had said gently to him, after she’d rescued him from the lake. Hunter felt a bit like that now— emerging from the depths of his panic and despair…

He unfurled from his fetal position, closed his eyes and rested his head back against the desk. It felt solid and stable. Hunter was safe. 

You are only sixteen, Darius would chuckle at him, whenever Hunter was acting too seriously.

Flapjack would have on tugged at Hunter’s hair with his beak.

Hunter opened his eyes. He sighed with relief. He’d done it; he’d calmed himself down and he could continue through the day as if nothing had happened. If anyone asked, he would tell them—

The classroom door creaked open. 

“Hunter…?” Gus poked his head inside, with Willow right above him.

Hunter’s heart leapt at the sight of them, but in a happy kind of way.

“Hey, guys,” he mumbled.

“Are you okay?” Willow asked softly. She and Gus held back— gaging whether or not he wanted space— until Hunter nodded.

“I am now…”

The two of them joined him; Gus sitting cross-legged on his right and Willow kneeling on his left.

Hunter wondered, “How did you… know where I was?” (Did his friends just have some way of sensing whenever he was in trouble?)

“Amity sent us,” Gus explained, much to Hunter’s surprise. He made a mental note to thank Amity later.

“Gus and I used to hide in here too,” Willow added, “when we were little…”

“Really?” Hunter smiled slightly. He pictured a smaller Willow and an even smaller Gus huddled behind a desk.

Had Willow started bottling up her worries back then? Maybe… Still, she would have done her best to comfort Gus.

“Really.” Willow smiled wistfully at Hunter.

Gus said, “Actually— this is where Willow and I met!” and started to tell Hunter the story of their first meeting. 

Though Hunter listened eagerly, he wondered in the back of his mind how Gus and Willow would describe their first encounter with him. (Back then, they hadn’t even know his real name…) 

At the Club Fair, Hunter had made a passable first impression on Willow with his flying skills, but Gus had been more sceptical.

Gus’s suspicions had proved correct when Hunter… accidentally got the team thrown into a cell…

Had Bonnie been right? 

Hunter shuddered.

Willow noticed. She squeezed Hunter’s shoulder with her hand. 

“Emira told Amity what Bonnie said— and Amity told us… That wasn’t fair of Bonnie to blame you—“

“It wasn’t fair what happened to Bonnie’s aunt,” Hunter muttered.

“No, it wasn’t,” Willow said. “But that doesn’t make it your fault.” 

Gus opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to add something, but he must have thought better of it. He simply nodded in agreement. 

“Thanks…” Hunter sniffed. He wasn’t sure if he could believe Willow’s words— if he could believe in himself yet— but having his best friends’ support was enough, for now.

[wolfblood-of-anubis]

something else to say about House of Anubis’ Season 3 + Touchstone of Ra

something i never liked about s3 was their choice to make Victor into a sinner. the thing about Victor is that while he’s greedy— he’s not evil. he does care about the well-being of the kids when it comes to life and death. he was afraid of Alfie dying in S1, afraid for all of them in S2 after Alfie was plunged into nothingness.

but then in S3B, when he’s made a sinner it’s just pure evil no-conscience Victor and it sucks. he’s not the same Victor we know— and i know that’s the whole point. im not gonna lie, seeing Patricia, Fabian, and Alfie become sinners was fun because it was like the longest running remaining Sibuna members got taken and now the two newbies are left. though again, i still liked it because S3 started with an Eddie and KT partnership and it ended that same way, with them together fighting as a duo.

but i would’ve been much happier if Victor hadn’t been taken as a sinner, make someone else like Benji or whoever instead.

why? lets gets into Touchstone of Ra real quick. the thing about that movie is that Victor— for the first time in HOA history is on Sibuna’s side. and not at the end, from like the middle of the movie. it makes it much more interesting because the dynamic changes, we could’ve seen Victor reacting to how they work and asking “These are the kids that pull one over on me time and time again?” as well as recognizing the potential in them, like Fabian with the hieroglyphs and everything.

instead, the movie is rushed and we get three newbies that are- in my opinion- seriously some of the laziest add-in’s of all time. the weird guy that’s kinda gross to add in that comedic effect, the smart asian girl, the vapid blonde with money and clothes. they really didn’t pull any brain muscles on them, huh?

i assume the whole point of them, and Eddie ‘initiating’ them as Sibuna recruits for the next year was their attempt at a possible sequel series somehow. and it clearly failed. but it’s still not even that fun, because a lot of the movie brings in these new kids while instead we could’ve had Jerome and Joy involved in the final mystery seeing as they were big parts of the first two. especially because we added in Mara at the last second. and then it’s just another new awkward dynamic trying to catch her up to speed as well as having Fabian be in a weird intellectual rivalry with her when she shows him up and i get it, Fabian’s used to being the brains of the operation and in comes the girl who beat him for valedictorian and she’s got a lot of answers so yeah, it’s a bit envious of him. could you blame him?

i resonate with Mara sometimes but rewatching the entire show, the girl keeps doing messed up stuff every season (well S2 isn’t terrible) but she messed with Mick during the goth girl phase, almost got a teacher fired because she was jealous, the entire Jerome revenge in S3 (while i sympathized with the first bits, the fake-love-Joy-thing was low for her) and then here you have the movie, she’s the newest member whom they never even fully indicted (even the babies get a quickie initiation ritual from Eddie).

so i guess this is to say that Mara got gradually worse (s2 didnt do much so she gets a pass there)

but oh yeah, the Victor thing. i would’ve MUCH preferred it if Victor had ended up helping Sibuna in idk mid-S3B. like he figured out that ritual went wrong, Robert’s evil, shit’s fucked. and he realizes what he’s planning on doing, releasing Ammut. so, he accidentally finds himself aligned with the kids. it would’ve been so nice to see

@frobisher-smythe @mask-of-anubis @yackers @sibxna @joymercerssecretgf @sibunaaanubis @incorrectsibunaquotes

[jinxthejubilee]

Venus - We Need to Talk (Again)

Back here again, aren't we? I'm so sorry, but I just can't help myself.

Because I have just discovered that there were plans to reveal not just one, but TWO lost turtles in ROTTMNT, I will discuss the story potential both Venus and Slash could have, should this show ever come back. (Please Nickelodeon, do something right for once and give us this show back-) But I must finish Venus first, before moving on to Slash.

And for those of you who might ask about Jennika, I thought about making her own page to hold out hope that she could make it into the Rise universe, only to come to the tragic realization that it was highly unlikely that she could ever appear in the show, given that Venus and Slash are pretty infamous as characters, and that the creators said that there were 2 missing turtles and not 3. My apologies to all Jennika stans.

Anyway, I did talk about Venus already, yes, but after revisting her backstory from The Next Mutation, I've come to the conclusion that her debut story isn't all bad? Yeah, I can't believe I just said that either.

I'll give the Next Mutation writer's 15-year-old brains credit, the idea that Venus was adopted by someone else and learned ninjutsu/magic is a cool concept, if explored correctly.

Since it's been pretty well-established that Big Mama's assistant was likely going to be revealed as Venus, I have an idea as to how she got there.

Now I could be wrong, but I believe that Big Mama's assistant debuted in Season 2. Whether or not she was just hired or was hiding out until the time was right, who can say.

For those of you who don't know or simply wiped that show from your memory, Venus was raised by Master Chung I, a human martial artist who taught Venus everything he knew.

Chung I died after confronting the Dragon Lord and demanding that he release Splinter. And his last words to Venus were for her to travel to New York City.

Now if I were in charge, I would keep some similarities to this, but obviously take some creative liberties.

In my Rise version of event, Draxum's lab explodes, the boys and Splinter take off, and Venus and Slash are presumed by Draxum to have died.

Instead of Venus' father being a human, I would make him a yokai, who finds her somehow and takes her to the farthest end of the Mystic City.

This father-figure would parallel Splinter in a few ways:

He would simultaneously be responsible, yet neglectful at the same time. The guy would be very much a loner with a tragic past, so while he would take care of Venus physically, her emotionally needs are something he simply can't and would not handle.

He would never leave his home. Granted, it would be hard to do so, as he lives very, very far away from other yokai, but he just refuses to interact with anyone he doesn't have to. But not because he's lazy, it would likely be due to paranoia and his strict moral code to keep his whatever he's keeping secret, safe from everyone.

Less of a father, and more of a master. A total flip from Rise Splinter, who focused more on fatherhood than teaching his sons dangerous martial arts, this guy is "teacher first, father second."

I see him as a cat. Not sure why I went with that, but it was a cool idea I thought of while brainstorming. While Splinter is an overweight, yet agile rat, I imagine Chung I would be a skeletal, agile, and exhausted cat.

I even have a sketch I drew.

Honestly, just think of 2012 Master Splinter for a frame of reference on his personality. He's still wise and knowledgeable, but instead of kind and compassionate, he's grumpy, unwelcoming, and snappy.

Not the greatest upbringing for Venus: living in isolation and rarely going outside, only knowing and living with one person her entire life, training constantly every single day, and being told that her emotions should never interfere with her duty, but she knows that it's the best for her! Poor thing...

So how does this play into how Venus became Big Mama's assistant? Allow me to explain:

The whole reason why Venus' father isolated himself and Venus was because of an ancient prophecy. I haven't worked out all the logistics of the prophecy, but basically he needs to protect that sacred amulet he has around his neck, or the Dragon Lord will rise once more.

Unfortunately, shenanigans happen and the Dragon Lord is awakened, but not at full power. Though he has just enough to kill Chung I.

Heartbroken and determined to stop the Dragon Lord, Venus travels through the Mystic City for any information on another ancient weapon that could destroy the beast once and for all.

This leads to her meeting Big Mama and learning about the Battle Nexus tournaments.

Whether Venus likes Big Mama or not, I haven't decided, but she's honestly just using her to gain battle experience and knowledge on everything going on within the Mystic City and/or the surface.

Depending on when all of this happened, she might have become Big Mama's assistant at least several months to a year prior to the boys being introduced to her in Season 2.

I picture that the big reveal of Venus being their sister would play out a bit similarly to how I discussed previously. I loved looking through everyone's ideas about Venus, and I can say without a doubt, that the amount of fanfare behind ROTTMNT and Venus overall is worth Nickelodeon bringing back this show.

Note: Well! I hope you all enjoyed this! If you read till the end, thank you very much! Please tell me what you think of my ideas, that would be very much appreciated! Until next time with my comments, concerns, and ideas about Slash, have a great day everyone! Byeee! 💗

[wqintraining]

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 1, EPISODE 11

We open in the school’s gymnasium, where Dani, Karma, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Northstar are decorating for the school’s winter dance, while Dazzler and her band are getting set up on the stage. The boys are all using their powers to speed things up, while Dani is hanging streamers with her bow and arrows. Karma thinks they’re all just showing off. 

Dani just hopes the kids all have fun tonight. What the kids have been undertaking these past three months has been experimental and so different from when they were students (Northstar quick to butt in and mention he got a REAL education and was never a student here), and it can’t have been an easy adjustment for a lot of them. She knows adjusting to becoming a teacher hasn’t been easy for her. 

Xuan mentions she was already working as a librarian before she got Jean’s call, so it wasn’t too much of a change for her, but the others are inclined to agree. It’s been more fun than they’ve thought though, Kurt and Beast by virtue of having found kids they can share their passions with, Nightcrawler mentioning a girl named Pixie as someone with a great deal of enthusiasm for the thespian arts, while Beast think Ms. Washington has the potential to be the next great Mutant scientist. They turn their attention to Northstar, who just says he’s been happy to help a kid in a way he wasn’t expecting to. 

Dazzler then calls over to them, double-checking how much time they’ll have after the dance’s king and queen are announced. 

Beast gives them an answer, while Xuan and Jean-Paul note how outdated this tradition is. 

NORTHSTAR: “It could be a king and a king.” 

KARMA: “Or a queen and a queen.” 

Dani agrees with them in concept, but come on, they’ve been paying attention to the kids. Are they really gonna act like they don’t already know who’s gonna win? 

The others laugh, unable to argue. 

BEAST: “Well, I suppose they’ll be having a more fun night than everyone else then.” He smiles wistfully. “Oh, to be a boy again.” 

We cut to a little boy sitting in a modest kitchen, wheeling a toy truck back and forth across a table. We then see his mother, a conservatively dressed woman with a cross around her neck, preparing dinner.  

After a few moments of peace, both of them turn in horror as a gun clocks. 

WOMAN: “W…William?” 

Stryker, several years younger than he is in the present, stands before his wife and child with a gun raised, his hands shaking, and his eyes bulging and vomiting tears. 

STRYKER: “Marcy…Jason…God rest your souls.” 

Stryker repeatedly shoots his wife and child, killing them. He drops the gun before he himself drops to his knees. He looks down, away from the site he just made, and screams. 

But eventually, he breaths. 

STRYKER: “Be gone, demons.” 

In the present, Stryker stands tall, entirely cold and composed, dressed in ornate robes as opposed to his usual suit. He has faced many setbacks, but he has persisted. And now, with the new tools God has blessed him with, it is finally time to end his war with the X-Men. 

As we pan out, we see he stands in a massive factory - one packed with Sentinels. 

 In the Institute, Julian, (wearing a fancy shirt with an especially douchey collar) and Sofia are playing ping-pong, using their powers to maneuver their paddles instead of their hands. 

JULIAN: “It’s a shame this school doesn’t have a ping-pong team. You’d kill at it and I’d get to see you moving around in a cute uniform.” 

SOFIA: “Are my leotards and training costume not enough for you?” 

JULIAN: “With you beautiful, enough is never enough.” 

As Sofia blushes, more sheepishly than usual, Julian grabs his paddle with his hand to catch Sofia off guard and score a point. 

SOFIA: “You lousy cheater!” 

JULIAN: “Oh come on, you know I’d never cheat on you.” 

Sofia clenches her fists. 

As Sofia’s winds retrieve the ball, a panicked Brian runs in, shouting that the two of them need to get outside immediately. Something’s happening to Mercury and Dust and he’s not sure what. 

The three rush outside to find Cessily and Sooraya congealed in their liquid and sand forms, stretching out and expanding. Students all around them are watching with concern. 

They’re horrified, with Sofia asking why Brian got them instead of the X-Men. They need real help! 

Julian tells her not to worry, and says he’s got this. He lights up and begins using his telekinesis on the girls…and starts using them to spell out letters, the amorphous blob of the girls not only gaining definition, but becoming beautiful as the metal coasts the sand to create a metallic sand print, as Cessily and Sooraya’s faces appear on them, giggling. As Sofia questions what the Hell’s going on, Julian says they can finish the rest. 

Sofia’s jaw drops as the girls reach their final form, their merged bodies spelling out, “Sofia, will you go to the dance with me?” 

As Sofia stands speechless, Brian rests an arm on Julian’s shoulder as he faces her, and the crowd lets out an echo of “Awww”s. Julian tells her he’s tired of all the flirting. They both obviously like each other, so they should just be together. And the dance is the perfect place to make it official. 

Sofia questions why he’s asking her like THIS. 

JULIAN: “What? Too much? We were talking it over, thinking I should ask you out in a “Mutant” way, and this was what we came up with.” 

Cessily and Sooraya untangle themselves and retake their humanoid forms. Honestly, they just wanted to see if they COULD pull that off. Cessily scratches the back of her head, admitting she was the one who needed Julian’s help, while Soo could do it all on her own. 

Brian then enthusiastically reminds Sofia she still hasn’t answered. 

JULIAN: “Don’t rush her, man. But you will go with me, right?” 

Sofia struggles to answer. Everyone’s faces, especially Julian’s, fall, as Sofia starts tearing up. 

SOFIA: “I’m sorry!” 

Sofia blows her friends away with a single, powerful wind, before flying off. 

Everyone is concerned and, for once in his life, Julian is speechless. 

Cyclops is working in his office when there’s a knock on the door. When he doesn’t respond and just keeps working, Emma walks in anyway. Without even looking up from his computer, Scott tells her this better be about business. 

EMMA: “Actually, I was going to ask you and Jean to skip the dance so your dreariness didn’t bring down the children’s mood, but it seems you’ve already taken it upon yourself to stay preoccupied.” 

Scott ignores her. 

EMMA: “Fine, yes, if you’re going to keep being a baby, I have intel.” 

As Scott may recall, in her less noble days, she and Shaw were two of the main bankrollers of companies producing Sentinels, death machines designed only for killing Mutants. Of course, this is one of her many regrets, but she didn’t burn every bridge she had there. She just received a tip that a Chinese manufacturer recently fulfilled an order for over two dozen Sentinels. And, of course, a quick look into this revealed that Cassandra Nova was the recipient.  

Scott slams his fist down. It's bad enough they’ve let the Purifier situation drag on as long as they have, but for this mad woman to go around thinking she’s Xavier’s twin sister as she’s causing all this pain is just insulting. Emma questions his disbelief regarding the info Jean picked up from Nova’s mind, but Scott tells her flatly that if Xavier had a sister, he’d know. 

In any case, Scott has another reason to be frustrated: they’re understaffed. Kitty’s off visiting her dad on Genosha, Jean and Storm are providing relief in Kenya, Sunspot is doing "something" about rebuilding his family business, and Laura may be part of the team now, but she's still a student first, and he doesn't want to deny her her first dance. 

Emma thinks it's no problem. The two of them will handle things themselves. Scott can obliterate the Sentinels before they go online, and, even if Nova happens to be present, with the knowledge Nova had removed it from them previously, Emma was able to forge new mental defenses. 

EMMA: "Who knows? Maybe we can even talk about what's really on your mind on the way."

Emma walks out, saying she'll meet him in the hangar bay in 20 minutes, before Scott can even respond. 

In the weight room, Brian tries talking to Julian as he works out his anger on a punching bag. None of Brian's attempts to change the subject work. Julian just doesn't get it! What's Sofia's problem?! 

As Julian takes a moment to stop and breathe, Brian tells him he's really sorry it didn't work out, but maybe this is for the best. He has other people who care about him. Maybe he could go with one of them. 

BRIAN: "Maybe you'd wanna go with me."

Julian's eyes widen before he punches the bag again, this time using his TK to knock it off its chain and smash it. 

JULIAN: "Get real, Brian."

Julian grabs his towel, leaving behind a heartbroken Brian as he sulks off. 

In Sofia and Noriko's room, Sofia is buried under her blankets and Nori is trying to get her out of there.

NORIKO: "Come on, Princess, I saw how much you paid for your dress, and I'm not letting that be a waste just because you made the best decision of your life and said no to Keller. What's up?"

Sofia blows the covers partially off herself, still crying. She likes Julian. She likes him a lot. But she's also scared. Back at the Massachusetts Academy, she nearly killed a man in her rage. And on Halloween, she saw, she felt, her worst fear: becoming like her father. 

NORIKO: "Please don't tell me you're scared you'll hurt the jerk."

SOFIA: "No. I would never hurt him. I fear that the less kind parts of him would bring out the worst in myself. A boyfriend is different from a friend. I cannot risk him influencing me in that way."

Noriko sits down next to her. She's sorry she's dealing with this. For what it's worth, she was the one who talked her down from killing Shaw, and she still can't even imagine her turning out like her dick of a dad. And if Keller isn't the biggest dick of all time, he'll understand if she tells him this. Either way, she owes herself the fun of going to the dance, date or no. Do it for her. Do it for her followers. 

Sofia cracks a small smile as she wipes her eyes. 

SOFIA: "I'm trying not to call them "followers" anymore. The perfect cute nickname could boost engagement by multiples." 

NORIKO: "There's my ridiculous girl!"

In the Blackbird, Scott is piloting, while Emma is filing her nails. With Scott clearly not listening, Emma is yammering on about some of the most debacherous times she had back in the Hellfire Club, clearly intentionally trying to get a reaction out of the stone faced hero. Eventually, she’s successful, with Scott shouting at her that even if she doesn’t respect him or his wishes, she should at least be mentally preparing herself for battle. 

Emma stops filing her nails and looks at Scott. 

EMMA: “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” 

SCOTT: “I’m sorry?” 

EMMA: “Ten years. Where do you see yourself? I envision myself laying on a stunning beach, mojito in hand, reading the trashiest romance novel I can get my hands on as I look out at the sea with the knowledge that I’ve eliminated all threats to Mutantkind.” 

Scott, ignoring the absurdity of what she just said, asks what this has to do with anything. Emma tells him that if he knows where he’s going to wind up, with complete faith it will happen, then he has nothing to worry about going into a battle, because he can be sure he’ll make it through alive. 

SCOTT: “That’s not how that works.” 

EMMA: “For normal people, maybe. You’re a soldier who’s been fighting all forms of monsters, gods, and otherwise evil beings, yours truly included, since you were 16. You’ve faced endless hardships. You’re not about to die breaking toys you’ve smashed a million times.” 

There’s a pause. 

SCOTT: “Tell you what: I’ll say where I see myself in ten years if you tell me a single hardship you’ve faced since you were 16. And things that happened while you were a supervillain don’t count.” 

EMMA: “How dare you.” 

SCOTT: “How dare YOU imply I should think like you as if we’re in any way the same. You’re right about everything I’ve been through. And you’ve seen even more firsthand. You were a rich Boston girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth, the most privileged life imaginable, and you joined Hellfire less than a year after finishing college. All of your struggles have been of your own making. Unless you want to tell me I’m wrong.” 

Emma finally shuts up, facing forward with an icy stare. 

SCOTT: “That’s what I thought.” 

Laura stands in her room, dressed in a black button-down shirt and black pants, nervously looking in a mirror. James tells her to breathe. She has nothing to worry about. 

That doesn’t help Laura though. She turns around and asks what if Sofia says no. 

JAMES: “Allow me to rephrase: You’re Wolverine. You’re not allowed to be afraid anymore.” 

While Laura remains anxious, James tells her he’s seen the two getting closer through their sessions with him and Scott, Laura’s saved and/or tried to avenge Sofia on multiple occasions, and he heard she already said no to Julian. With how all-over each other those two are, what other reason could there be besides her heart belonging elsewhere? 

Laura finally stands tall and confident. On her way out, James tells her not to forget the rose he got for her to give. 

JAMES: “It’s classic. Trust me. Sure I can’t convince you to comb your hair?” 

Laura just blows a strand of it out of her face before walking off. 

Laura knocks on Sofia and Noriko’s door. Sofia answers, dressed in a slinky black ballgown and elbow legnth gloves. Laura is in awe. Sofia tells Laura that she looks simple, but still extremely handsome, to which Laura blurts out a proposal about the two of them maybe going to the dance together, sticking the rose in Sofia’s face. 

LAURA: “Oh, um, you look beautiful.” 

Sofia is taken completely off guard. 

SOFIA: “Laura…this is very sweet, but I’m not…” 

Sofia trails off as she looks into Laura’s big green eyes and rapidly flashes back to her in Mojo’s prison with Julian, her being shot, her nearly killing Shaw, and the end of her nightmare. 

Sofia smiles. 

SOFIA: “I’d love to go with you, Laura.” 

Sofia takes the rose. The two just stand there awkwardly. 

LAURA: “Um…what do we do now?” 

SOFIA: “You could tell me what time you’ll drop by to escort me to the gym.” 

LAURA: “Right. Good idea.” 

While she’s being stoic and awkward, Laura’s hands are flapping. 

We cut to the inside of the sentinel factory, the interior guarded by Purfiers. Emma telepathically informs Scott of how many there are and where they’re positioned. 

Cyclops proceeds to blast down the factory’s entrance, running in and taking down every single guard through a combination of quick, efficient, and well-times optic blasts, and martial arts. 

Emma gives Scott a slow clap as she casually struts in and teases him by saying how sexy that was, stomping down on a barely concious Purifier’s head with her high-heel to knock him out. Before Scott can refute this, Stryker makes his presence known, stepping down a staircase toward the two, acknowledging that the strength given to them by Satan is indeed impressive. And that is what makes them as frightening as they are, beyond merely those who consort with him. 

Scott readies himself to attack as he tells Stryker the only ones they’re a threat to are those who’d try to kill them. Stryker sighs and pulls his hand out of his pocket, revealing he’s holding a dead man’s switch. If he lets go of the button he’s holding down, bombs inside the Sentinels will go off, kill them all, and wipe out everything else in a 15-mile radius. Scott questions what he wants. 

STRYKER: “I did not have the chance to truly engage with Mrs. Summers. The lord spoke with her, personally. A greater honor than she deserved. Still, I wish to speak to you, Cyclops. Man to man. Before the end times for Mutantkind arrive, I want to make you see that I am not a monster, but a righteous servant. I want you to admit that I am doing what is best for you all.” 

Scott scowls at him, not having any other option for the moment but to listen. 

In the cafeteria, Noriko, Cessily, and Sooraya are eating together. Nori and Cess are commiserating over the fact that no one's asked either of them out. Nori tells Soo she's lucky: she might not have a date because she'll only date other Muslims, while they KNOW they don't have dates because they're losers. Sooraya rolls her eyes at this, while Surge and Mercury curse their gauntlets and mercury form, respectively. 

MERCURY: "Have you had dates before?"

SURGE: "A couple. You're Ms. Cheerleader though, so I'm guessing you've got a lot more experience with, well…"

Noriko sticks her thumb in her mouth and pushes it in and out rapidly, laughing after a couple seconds. 

SOORAYA: "What is wrong with you?"

Nori kicks her feet up on the table. 

NORIKO: "Absolutely nothing."

"Hey, Cessily!"

The girls' attention is drawn to Roxy as she jogs over to their table. Cessily instantly shrinks as she approaches, becoming slightly more liquid than usual. 

CESSILY: "Roxy. Hi. You…know who I am?"

ROXY: "Girl, you're part of the squad that has half its members constantly getting into trouble with the X-Men. Everyone knows who you are. Some of us also think you're cursed."

Roxy goes on to say that's not why she's here. She's been watching Cessily, not in a creepy way, she thinks she's really cool, and she wants to take her to the dance. 

Cessily is excitedly and wiggly over the fact that Roxy Freaking Washington wants to go out with her and instantly says yes. 

CESSILY: "Bye, Surge!"

Cess leaps up, hooks her arm around Roxy's, and walks off with her. 

Noriko sighs. 

NORIKO: "Well Soo, just you and me."

Dust proceeds to fly off without another word. 

SURGE "You guys suck."

Noriko falls out of her chair. 

Cyclops walks deeper into the factor with Stryker, who desired privacy away from Emma. He tells him that he wasn’t always a reverend. He has raised to be a man of God, but after an unpleasant childhood, he lost his faith. He became a soldier, serving his country instead of his lord. A childish mistake, but he doesn’t regret the “good” he did. 

STRYKER: “And when I was finished serving overseas…I fell in love.” 

We flashback to the events Stryker describes, as he tells Scott how he met his beloved Marcy after moving into the apartment across the hall from her, and they instantly fell in love. She was a good, Christian woman, she was brilliant, and she could make him smile. They were inseparable and, for the first time in his life, he was truly happy. 

It wasn’t long before they were married and had their first child, Jason. Marcy had helped him regain his faith, and he’d found a new purpose in working at his local church. Things should have been perfect.

 STRYKER: “But then…they fell victim to the same curse you have.” 

Back at the school, the dance has begun! Laura is extremely stiff and uncomfortable as she walks Sofia, who’s hanging off her arm, into the gym. Sofia tells her to relax and that tonight is just about having fun. 

LAURA: “Right. Yes. Fun. I can have that now.” 

 Bling!, dressed in a full tuxedo, is cool as a cucumber as she twirls Cessily around on the dance floor, the infatuated Mercury being metaphorical and somewhat literal putty in her hands. 

Brian is sulking in a corner drinking punch. A poorly dressed kid with glasses and short brown hair walks up to him and asks if he’s got room for one more in the loser corner. Brian shrugs. 

Julian looks like he’s having the time of his life as he dances with a recurring background girl. 

Noriko is working the punch table with Dani, venting about how she expects it from humans, but how could everyone here be so shallow as to not ask her out just because of her gauntlets? What other reason could there POSSIBLY be for her to not get asked out?! 

DANI, smiling knowingly: “No idea, Surge. No idea.” 

Dust, who isn’t dressed up at all, is welcoming Kitty, Storm, and Jean home. Storm picks up on how uncomfortable Sooraya already is here, and offers to take her outside, while Kitty heads out onto the dance floor to show these kids what real dancing looks like, and Jean contacts Scott telepathically to ask him how the mission is going. Being stuck alone with Emma can’t be fun. 

In the factory, Scott responds to her that Emma would be preferable to who he’s stuck with right now. 

Stryker continues to spin Scott his story. He was just living his ideal, suburban life, happily removed from the violence of his past, when something horrible happened: his son’s hands turned purple. They immediately took him to the doctor, only for their tests to reveal that he had a “so-called X-gene”. The doctor prattled on upon the fake science he knew, but Stryker as a clergyman knew better; he knew that “Mutants” were just humans who’d been touched by the devil and tainted with his evil. 

STRYKER: “I wasn’t sure what to do, Cyclops. I was terrified. Not for myself, but for my poor boy, and the danger his existence now put my beloved wife in. I prayed for him, oh, how I prayed for him, but that didn’t let me sleep better each night. On the rare occasion I actually could fall asleep, my dreams were haunted by the terrors of what my son, my Jason, could one day do.” 

Stryker clenches his fists and tears up. 

STRYKER: “And then, a couple weeks later, my wife sneezed. And bubbles came out. Bubbles, Cyclops! Human beings do not sneeze bubbles!” He slams his fist down on a safety railing. “Before then, she’d agreed with all my words. She’d agreed with my concern for our son. But now that she was one of them, one of you, she told me that I was wrong, and that she felt completely normal; she said that nothing was wrong with her or Jason. That…that was when I knew my wife was gone. That was when I knew how being a Mutant twisted the mind.” 

Stryker grins manically as tears stream down his face. 

STRYKER: “Don’t you see, Cyclops? I had no choice!” 

CYCLOPS: “No choice to do what?” 

STRYKER: “To save them! To grant them salvation, and keep them from spreading sin everywhere they went! Marcy was a holy woman! It’s what she would have wanted!” 

This is enough to even mildly surprise Scott. 

CYCLOPS: “You killed them.” 

We flashback quickly to the murders. 

STRYKER: “Yes. And if their souls managed to reach Heaven, I know that they are grateful. I know that they are looking down on me, rooting for me to do the same to all of you. And I know that, soon, all of you will be grateful to me as well.” 

Scott scowls at Stryker as the reverend nods. 

At the dance, Kitty and Kurt are engaged in an intense dance battle, the two taunting each other as Kitty phases through Kurt and Kurt teleports onto her shoulders. They’re arguing over who’s the best dancer here, but all the kids watching them find them both to be extremely cringe. 

PIXIE: “So not tidy.” 

Sofia and Laura are dancing together, and it’s by far the happiest and most at ease Laura we’ve ever seen. Sofia smiles at her and tells her she likes this side of her. 

LAURA: “Being here…being with you…I’m not miserable all the time.” 

Sofia giggles, apologizing again for that past interaction. She really is glad she said yes to coming with her tonight; she’s having a lot of fun. 

SOFIA: “Would you mind getting me some punch?” 

Laura eagerly gets right to it, but, thanks to her hearing, she picks up on Sofia sighing. Turning her head around, she catches Sofia witsfully watching Julian and his date. 

NORI: “You alright, Laura?” 

Laura crushes the cup of punch she’d just gotten in her hand. It doesn’t take long for Noriko to notice why. 

NORIKO: “Oh, that son of a…” 

Noriko super speeds off, causing the punchbowl to spill all over Danielle. 

All Laura says is “Sorry” in a gravely tone before walking off, Dani cursing under her breath.  

In the corner, Brian and the other kid are on their phones. Cessily, in a panic, comes running up to them, asking if they’ve seen Roxy. She said she was going to the bathroom 20 minutes ago and hasn’t come back. 

BRIAN: “Uh, have you tried looking in the bathroom, Cess?” 

CESSILY: “Obviously! Oh god, you don’t think she’d ditch me, do you?” 

NERDY KID: “Of course she would. It’s what “cool girls” like her are best at.” 

Cessily runs off in a panic. 

Brian tells him that wasn’t cool, but the kid just tells him it’s the way it is. The primitive social ladders which define high school, which define life, haven’t changed in over a hundred years. 

Brian tells him this school isn’t like that, but the nerdy kid then questions why Julian didn’t agree to go out with him. 

BRIAN: “How do you–” 

“You’re the freak squad. People talk.” 

BRIAN, even more depressed: “Maybe he’s just straight.” 

“Or maybe he sees you as a convenient friend and follower, even if he doesn’t acknowledge you as the same species.”

The nerdy kid pulls up something on his phone. 

“You should check out my blog. It’s all about this. Quentinquire.org.” 

Scott asks Stryker what exactly it is he wants here. The leader of the X-Men’s approval to genocide his race? Stryker shakes his head. No, no, no. That’s not it. He knows he’ll never “approve”. He just wants him to understand. He wants him to see that, at the end of the day, he’s helping them. He knows he is. 

We flashback one final time to right after the Stryker killed his family. Traumatized and on the floor, Stryker’s hands shook, but that didn’t stop him from putting his gun to head, intent on shooting himself. But then, God spoke to him. He thanked him for his selfless deed. He had proven himself worthy of leading his crusade on Earth. 

In the present, as sweat drips down Stryker’s face, Scott smirks. 

SCOTT: “No. That’s not what you want. You’ve already tried to hurt and kill countless Mutants. You don’t care what I think about that.” Scott steps toward Stryker, reverend holding up the dead man’s switch as he cringes and backs away. “You murdered your wife and child based on your faith. And you’re only alive now because you heard God’s voice. But my wife kicked your god’s ass. And now you’re wondering if you’ve been played.” 

STRYKER: “No! No, you’re wrong! I know the God I serve!” 

SCOTT: “No. You don’t. That’s why you want to hear me approve of your crimes. Because if I don’t? Then you may just be a crazy man who killed his family and got played by a telepath.” 

STRYKER: “Quiet!!!” 

SCOTT: “Or what? You’ll kill us both? Not doing anything to change my mind.” 

Stryker shouts at Scott again, holding up the dead man’s switch. Scott tells him it’s time to end this, but not by blowing himself up. He can’t speak for any god, but he’s sure if they could ask Marcy and Jason what they’d want him to do, they’d say to turn himself in. 

Scott slowly moves closer to Stryker, hoping to disarm him…but Stryker’s grin returns as he catches Scott off guard, dropping the dead man’s switch and striking him across the face with the hand which had been holding it. 

Scott panics as Stryker cackles. Scott sighs that it wasn’t real, but Stryker corrects him: it wasn’t set to blow up any bombs in the Sentinels; it was set to activate the Sentinels. 

The factory starts rumbling, Scott and Stryker grabbing the railing to keep their balance, and the booming sounds of the sentinels turning on echo through the whole building. 

EMMA, telepathically: “Mr. Summers, we have a little problem.” 

SCOTT, telepathically: “I know. I’m on my way.” 

Scott turns around to run off to help Emma, but, out of the corner of his eye, he notices Stryker pulling out a gun, reacting just in time to blast it out of his hands. Even still Stryker makes it clear that if Cyclops won’t give him what he wants, then he will kill him personally, while his sentinels kill his white witch. 

At the school, Dazzler finishes a song. As everyone applauds, Jean gets up on stage, hyping her up, and telling everyone the night isn’t over yet, but it is almost time to announce the dance’s king and queen. First though, she wants to make a quick speech. Jean’s speech primarily takes place in the background as we cut to other events, but we do hear enough clearly to get that the general idea of the speech is about how everyone here may come from different walks of life, but they’re united in the thing that makes them special and, in spite of their differences, she’s gotten to see them all come together as friends and classmates this semester. 

JEAN: “As long as we all stick together, we have nothing to fear.” 

While this speech is going on, Sofia finds Laura, having been worried where she went. Laura tells her not to act like she cares. She knows who Sofia really wishes she were here with. 

Sofia hangs her head. 

SOFIA: “I’m sorry.” 

Elsewhere in the gym, Noriko shoves Julian, asking his date, Preview , to give them some privacy. Julian asks what Ashida’s problem is, with her getting in his face and shouting at him that he’s such an idiot. He’s been chasing after Sofia all semester, and now he’s just giving up? 

Julian shoves her away. Sofia said no, and, yeah, he hates that, but he’s not gonna dwell on it. It is what it is. She wanted to go with Laura, not him, and he’s happy for her. Besides, what does Noriko care? Shouldn’t she be happy they aren’t getting together? 

Noriko swears in Japanese before slamming her hands on the sides of Julian’s head. 

NORIKO: “Julian Keller, read my lips: Sofia doesn’t like girls!” 

JULIAN: “Wh…what?” 

NORIKO: “She wanted to go with you, you dumbass. She’s only here with Laura because she’s afraid you may bring out the worst in her, and because she’s too sweet to say “No” to Laura’s puppy eyes.” 

JULIAN: “They are pretty big.” 

Noriko slaps him, and points over at Sofia and Laura. 

NORIKO: “Do they look like they’re having a good time? Are you having a good time? No. So now that you know what her problem is, fix it!” 

Julian knocks Nori back with his TK, growling at her to stay out of this, before hanging his head and sighing. He’s just not sure what he’s supposed to do. 

“Whatever you have to.” 

Brian walks up to the two. 

BRIAN: “That’s what Ms. Frost is always telling us about getting what we want, right?” 

JULIAN: “Brian…” 

BRIAN: “Hey, don’t worry about earlier. It’s chill. People like you and Sofia? You deserve each other. So go get her.” 

Julian continues to hang his head, before finally picking it up and donning his cocky shithead smirk. 

JULIAN: “Okay. I have an idea. Where’s Cess? She’s not gonna want to miss this.” 

We cut to Cessily, alone, crying in her room. 

In the factory, Scott and Emma struggle against Stryker and the sentinels, respectively, as Stryker proves to be more than a match for Cyclops in hand-to-hand combat, while Emma, despite her multiple, incredible powers, is overwhelmed by the murder machines thanks to their great number and refusal to stay down. 

STRYKER: “Do you think I want to be doing this?! I was happy! I was at peace! But then your ilk came into my life, and when God called upon me, I had no choice but to answer!” 

Eventually, Stryker manages to remove Scott’s visor, and without his optic blasts, the fight completely turns in Stryker’s favor. He gets Cyclops pinned on the floor, and just starts whaling on him, bloodying his fists with each strike across Scott’s face. He tried to make him see reason! He tried to respect him as the leader of his people and offer him peace in death! But just like Marcy, he’s too far gone for that. 

Unable to open his eyes without killing Stryker, and unable to get the reverand off of him, Scott is seemingly helpless. He’s too weak. 

STRYKER: “Come on, Cyclops! Stop holding back! Show me the demon inside you! Confess your sins before the Representative of God!” 

Scott only clenches his eyes shut further. No matter what, he cannot open them. 

EMMA, telepathically: “My father was a monster and my mother was a drunk.” 

SCOTT, telepathically: “Huh?” 

EMMA: “You wanted to know what hardships I’ve faced since I was 16. My horrid parents plagued me until I was 17 and broke away from them. Likewise my older sister, who was born without a heart, my younger sister, who’s never been anything but trouble, and my high school tormentors, all of whom sought to make sure each and every day of my life was a living Hell. The only bright spots in my life before I left that house were my brother, and the knowledge which came only after my X-gene developed fully that it was why, if nothing else, I’d been able to live as my true self. Winston Frost hated Mutants, but there were people he hated more.” 

As this conversation goes on, Scott continues to get beaten, and Emma continues her hopeless battle against the sentinels, doing everything she can to survive and keep them at bay. Interspersed with this, we flashback to what Emma is describing. 

EMMA: “I was offered inheritance of the entire family fortune after finishing high school, but I refused to be tied to that man any longer. It was freeing, but the end result was four years of scrubbing toilets and taking any other menial, backbreaking jobs I could get to pay my way through college. And even after graduation, with my family having disowned me, I was nothing but another girl with a business degree and no connections. So I had to get creative…” 

The flashback we see is one of a 21 year-old Emma stripping beautifully before an audiance. 

EMMA: “I’d tried my hand at stripping before and I’d failed miserably. But with how I’d trained my telepathy, tricking drooling men into believing I was the most incredible performer they’d ever seen was hardly a challenge. Of course, one man was able to see through my illusion. 

Backstage, Emma is smashed face first into a mirror. 

We cut back to the present. 

EMMA: “But that’s a story for another time.” 

Scott questions why she’s telling him all of this. She answers that she was simply doing what he requested in exchange for answering her question. 

Now, where does he see himself in ten years? Is he going to die here? Can he see himself leading Mutantkind to a brighter tomorrow? And is he willing to do whatever it takes to make that a reality? 

EMMA: “I’m already doing everything I can. Our fates, all our fates, are in your hands now, Mr. Summers. What are you going to–?”

Emma is cut off, finally being shot down and neutralized. 

Panic and rage takeover Scott’s bloody mess of a face. Stryker cackles. 

STRYKER: “This is pathetic! You are a monster! Quit acting so self-righteous and act like one! Show me your true eyes, show me the eyes of the beast, and let me face their evil head on before I finish this, and move on to exterminating your entire damned–”

Stryker is cut off as the sound cuts off, a tear drips down Scott’s cheek, Stryker’s malicious smirk shifts toward peaceful relief, and while we can’t hear him, Scott screams, and red consumes the screen. 

Emma is about to be finished off as the sound of Cyclops’ full power echoes through the factory, before the man himself arrives on the scene, a wave of red energy eviserating every last sentinel. 

Emma is in absolute awe as she watches this display of power. And for another reason. 

When all that’s left of the walking death camps is scrap metal, Scott closes his eyes, takes deep breaths, and puts his visor back on. 

He hops down to the lower level to offer Emma a hand. 

EMMA: “Thank you…Mr. Summers. That was something I wasn’t aware you had inside you. Where is Stryker?” 

Scott hangs his head and clenches his fists. 

Emma smirks. 

EMMA: “Please, darling, don’t tell me you feel bad about this. If there was any man who deserved this fate, it was him.” 

CYCLOPS: “That’s the thing.” 

Scott looks up and scowls at Emma. 

CYCLOPS: “I feel great.” 

Emma’s smirk becomes a more gentle smile as she places a hand on the side of his face. 

CYCLOPS: “We should get home.” 

EMMA: “We should. My hero needs his reward after all.” 

Scott brushes her off and stomps away. 

Back in her room, Cessily is still crying. She’s still alone, until someone knocks on her door. She goes to answer, and on the other side is Bling!. Cessily questions if laughing at her with her friends wasn’t enough and now she wants to laugh at her face to face…before Roxy steps aside so she doesn’t vomit all over Cessily. 

Cessily asks if she’s okay, and Roxy nervously  laughs. Turns out she got food poisoning earlier, and when she realized she wasn’t gonna be alright for a while, she ran off on her own so Cessily didn’t find out. 

ROXY: “I…didn’t want you to think I wasn’t cool.” 

But, Cessily had been texting Dust, Roxy ran into her, and, when she found out Cessily was crying, she knew she had to apologize. She’s so sorry she left. This was stupid. 

Cessily laughs. Yes. It was. And a massive bitch move. But the dumbest part is thinking she wouldn’t think she’s cool just because she ate a bad egg or something. She’s Roxy freaking Washington! Did she not notice how she was all over her all night? 

CESSILY: “I just was so worried, even before you ditched me, that you wouldn’t like me. No one’s like me that way since, you know…” 

Roxy smirks, taking Cessily’s hands. 

ROXY: “Since you became a girl of metal? Cessily Kincaid, I’ve been looking for another one of those since I was nine years-old.” 

CESSILY: “R…really?” 

ROXY: “Really. And if you’ll let me take you back to the gym for the last couple dances, I’d love to show you how sorry I am, and how much I’ve been waiting for you.” 

Cessily’s face squirms with uncertainty, before she ultimately squees, running off with Roxy. 

CESSILY: “Never ditch me again!” 

ROXY: “Count on it.” 

As Jean finishes her speech and is about to announce the king and queen of the dance, Julian flies onto the stage and takes the mic. 

JULIAN: “Everyone listen up!” 

JEAN, telepathically: “Mr. Keller, what do you think you’re doing?” 

JULIAN, telepathically: “Come on, you’re about to crown me king, aren’t you? Call it starting my speech early.” 

Jean sighs and shakes her head. 

JEAN, telepathically: “Proceed.” 

While Noriko and Brian are looking at him hoping he pulls this off, Sofia and Laura are concerned and confused. 

Julian tells everyone that knows they’ve been watching him and his squad these past few months. And why wouldn’t they? They’re obviously the best Mutants here! Their kickass TA is already an X-Man, and there’s no one scarier - in a good way. 

Laura snort laughs. 

Sooraya doesn’t even like fighting, but she could take anyone here! Cessily has more spirit than anyone he’s ever met! 

Cessily and Roxy walk in as he’s saying this. 

ROXY: “Uh, what’s going on here?” 

CESSILY, smiling: “Julian being Julian.” 

And Brian? Brian is the best friend a guy could ever ask for. 

Brian smiles with acceptance, as Julian then says that Noriko may be a loser, but they care about her anyway, prompting Nori to flip him off. 

JULIAN: “And Sofia? Well, we ALL love her, right? Let’s hear it!” 

Sofia is bashful as the whole gym cheers her on. 

JULIAN: “That’s right! You know all who the best of the best are! That’s why you’re about to put crowns on our heads! And that’s why, before we graduate, the two of us are going to be X-Men!” 

The whole gym continues to cheer as Sofia starts to both soak it in, and realize what Julian is doing. 

Julian says he knows Sofia has doubts about herself, about him, but the only future he sees for them is kicking ass together and saving the day as the best heroes this world’s ever seen. He knows he’s a jerk, but she knows he’s more than that. And he’s seen her at worst, and can still only see her as perfection. 

JULIAN: “Come on, Beautiful. Give it a chance. Please.” 

Everyone is cheering on Sofia to get up there, and the look on Sofia’s face makes it clear Julian’s words have reached her. Even still…

LAURA: “Go.” Sofia turns to her with remorse.  “I’ve been hurt worse before.” 

As Laura hangs her head, Sofia gives her a big hug. 

SOFIA: “I am sorry I cannot feel how you want me to feel, but I do care about you Laura. A lot.” Sofia pulls back. “I’m taking you shopping over break. You need less black in your closet.” 

LAURA: “That…sounds awful. But okay.” 

With Laura at peace, Sofia flies toward the stage. Julian is holding his arms out open for her, but she slaps him. 

SOFIA, smirking: “No more big, public displays of affection like this. They’re already tiring.” 

JULIAN laughs. “Deal.” 

The two take hold of each other and share their first kiss, the cheers reaching their peak, as Jean seizes the moment to properly announce them as the dance’s king and queen. 

Inspired by the moment, Mercury kisses Bling! Both girls are sufficiently awkward about it and giggle. 

As the dancing resumes, Julian and Sofia finally get to dance, and Mercury and Bling! pick up where they left off. 

Laura is left all alone, watching Julian and Sofia, but…

BRIAN: “Who needs the hets, right?” 

Brian, smirking, offers a hand to Laura. 

Laura shrugs with a smirk of her own. 

Brian and Laura take the dance floor together. 

Noriko sighs, happy she was at least able to help her friend, but she’s still got no one. 

Then, a short, porcupine looking kid named Quill walks up to her and asks if she’d want to dance. 

Nori takes the kid’s hand and makes clear she’s leading. 

We pan away from the dance with everyone at peace. 

In the middle of the night, Scott and Emma arrive back at the institute, having missed the dance, with everyone having gone to sleep. Scott told Jean they were on their way home, and the mission was completed, but he didn’t give the important details. 

Emma asks if he’ll be taking credit for his noble deed tonight, or if he’d like her to “take the blame”, so “pure, holy Jean” doesn’t get mad at him. 

Scott says there was nothing “noble” about what he did. He’s going to make clear to Jean that he knows that, and hope she forgives him given the circumstances. The fact that it made him feel so good, making sure that monster would never hurt anyone again, is wrong. 

EMMA: “Feelings are never “wrong”, Mr. Summers. They’re who we are. Good or bad, you can embrace those feelings, or you can repress them because an old man who groomed you to be his weapon told you how to feel.” 

SCOTT: “I’ve told you not to insult Xavier.” 

EMMA: “And I’ve told you I can see right through you. I’ve told you I know there’s someone so much more real underneath that stiff facade of yours. Tonight, I got a glimpse of that man. And I’ll be damned if I don’t get to thank him.” 

SCOTT: “Emma, you–”

Emma cuts Scott off, grabbing the sides of his head and kissing him. Just like when Mystique kissed him disguised as Emma, he kisses back for a moment before pushing her away. Only this time, he’s not falling over, he has Emma excitedly grinning at him and tossing off her cape…and he knows what he needs. 

Scott pulls Emma into his arms and passionately makes out with her. 

We cut to the next morning. Scott and Emma are in Emma’s bed, passed out, naked and tied up in silk sheets. 

Out in the hall, Jean is looking for Scott. She can sense him somewhere around here. 

JEAN: “Are you making me breakfast again you big sweetie?” 

Jean knocks on Emma’s door, asking what happened last night and if she knows why Scott didn’t come to bed after getting home. 

As she asks, Scott and Emma wake up, the former in horror at what he’s done, and Emma moaning and squirming around in pleasure. 

JEAN: “...Scott?” 

Jean forces Emma’s door open and sees the two in bed together. 

EMMA: “Oh! Hello Jean, darling. Care to join us?” 

SCOTT: “Jean…I…let me explain. I…”

As Scott struggles to find the right words, Jean sheds a tear. And as the tear goes down her cheek, it becomes a flame. 

Jean screams at the top of her lungs as the full Phoenix aura emerges around her, and she psychically shuts down Scott and Emma’s brains, rendering them both catatonic. 

Outside the school, a small group of the remaining Purifers burst onto the front lawn, determined to avenge their fallen leader. 

As they charge forward, the door is opened by Jean. 

PURIFER: “Die, demon!” 

Every Purifer present tries to shoot her down with their machine guns, but Jean stops every single bullet, dropping them to the ground. 

Jean tilts her head to the left. In an instant, all of the present Purifers explode, leaving only blood and gore behind. Jean flies off as she screeches like the Phoenix. 

[hotch-girl]

Let’s talk ER!! Who are your top five fave characters and why?

plssss thank u so so much!! no one ever sends me asks ab er im excited. this is actually hard bc there are a lot of great characters who’ve all annoyed me at some point dsjfksk. im going to rank them: 

5. mark - i almost picked kerry or benton because they have better character development. when i first started watching, i didnt care ab mark. and the season and a half post-susan i hated him akdjfsk. but i sobbed his last ep and mark leaving changed the tone of the show more than any other character who did. i always loved how (unless he was in a bad place) he put patients above his career, too. also 1x19.  

4. early season susan - the only reason shes not higher is because late season susan was terrible 😭. shes likable but her storylines are nonexistent. there was actually a lot of potential for her to battle kerry over the importance of being a good practitioner vs. research and fundraising. INSTEAD WE GOT CHUCK!!!! shes still a favorite because her characterization in s1 is amazing. shes a great teacher and a really good doctor. i loved her niece storyline in s2 and wish we could’ve seen more of her dealing with the fallout in s3. susan was my favorite character when i first started but her good seasons are so brief shes not a fave-fave 

3. neela - imagine if they didnt give neela thosee bad romantic storylines imagINE THAT!!! neela means sm to me because shes the only er character i identify with. it helps i blocked out tony and ray and only paid attention to her friendship with abby 😌. seriously, her plot ab being good in school compared to struggling in real life resonated with me bc i worry ab similar things. theres another scene when she talks about going into surgery because it gives her time to think and plan and a chance to be good. most people probably dont even rmr it but it meant a lot to me. neela is set up as a character who's the foil to abby- seemingly ready to be a doctor while abby struggles. but neela develops into someone who it takes a while to figure out what she should do and accept who she is/what shes good at. forever will love her for that  

2. carol - my other early season love <33. loved her deciding not to become a dr and her mental health storyline is so important. overall, shes a genuinely amazing character (shes mean to jeanie but she comes around and is nice eventually!!!). love how she wanted to foster the little girl and that she always treats the patients with dignity. 

1. abby - my best er girl the number one girl!!! abby went through sm that actually seeing her get to be happy meant the world to me. of all the characters, she had the most trauma. she was literally kidnapped and the next ep all she did was act a little sad, smoke, and that was it dsjkfsk. still abby never becomes bitter like mark or self-important the way carter did. she deals with a lot and still is always willing to help anyone she can. i dont think its possible to watch er and not love abby. she CARRIED the middle to end of er. mark lied bc abby set the tone, not carter. she was the heart of country general my forever er love <33

[oh-three]

Okay, but I was watching the Making of PJO special, and one guy called it "Percy Jackson season one" and now I'm almost certain they're going to adapt the other books.

Also I can't not mention the five seconds of Star Wars props in the background. I see you, Grogu, Chewbacca, and Boba. Don't think I don't.

Walker, Aryan, and Leah really do have amazing chemistry though. And Walker's chemistry with Charlie.

They really put so much into this series, and it shows. There's something about watching the BTS, watching it happen that makes it feel so nostalgic both toward my childhood and the books themselves.

"She can really scream." 😂 Walker is Percy Jackson.

This is the best thing about watching BTS footage. Watching the cast bond, watching them become a family, watching them teach each other and lift them up to their full potential. I miss when BTS releases used to be more common. I'm very glad that this show got theirs released.

Walker is actually very inspirational though. He's so talented, and so invested in his work- I can only imagine how his career will develop. He deserves the attention he's getting.

I will never not say how much I love that Cerberus is a Rottweiler. All the the creatures are amazing in this show, but as someone who's owned a Rottie-Lab mix, there's something so personal about Cerberus.

Something, something, the producers hiring teachers to continue Aryan, Walker, and Leah's schooling while they create this. And the way they remain so positive throughout juggling both.

Bear McCreary is underrated.

I knew the casino gave me mall vibes. Good use of something that was never completed, though, and I like that it's not being wasted.

There's also something really awesome about the younger cast interviewing the actors of the Gods.

Coming back to my first note, Walker just said "next season." They are totally doing all the books, right? Right?? 🥺

Also, Walker's dad deserves a shout-out for being so supportive. It's so wholesome.

[juniperhillpatient]

Return to Omashu Re-watch

No thoughts, only mean teenage girls who could & would kill me

This is the episode where we get to see the formation of the Dangerous Ladies™ & it's exactly as iconic as I remember it. (To be fair, this is another episode that I've re-watched pretty frequently on its own.) The Girls Are Fighting & you should be scared!

So, Omashu has been taken by the Fire Nation & the Gaang are horrified. I think it's interesting that Katara & Sokka were basically like "Bumi is probably dead. Oh well, let's move on." Sokka is practical & always focused on moving ahead so it's not a surprising reaction for him but it's a little surprising from Katara. The trend for her character is to try to help everyone who might need it, & that would include a potentially lost or hurt Bumi. I'm theorizing that Katara's lack of interest in this project is a combination of her belief that Bumi is dead (although Katara is often more of an idealist) & her heavy focus on finding a new earth-bending teacher now. Also, this mission is personal to Aang. He's had so much taken from him. All he has left of his old life are Appa & Momo. So, of course, he wants to find the only friend he has left from the life he left behind.

Sokka's plan to fake 'Pentapox' is pretty funny & smart. Also, the Fire Nation guards yelling "PLAGUE!" when the earth kingdom citizens were heading toward them holding their hands out and groaning hit a LITTLE too close to home in light of recent years 😂

Azula's manipulative prowess is targeted at someone other than Zuko & Iroh & it's fascinating to watch. Azula's recruitment of Ty Lee is such a mind game. The audience is getting an ongoing introduction to an entirely new & much more dangerous type of villain than anything we had last season.

We would never see Zhao or Zuko subtly threatening someone the way Azula does Ty Lee, having the net set on fire at her show & the animals released then talking about excitement for the "next show." No, the other two main antagonists of the show thus far - Zuko and Zhao - are much more in your face. Azula could have ordered Ty Lee to join her, or she could have outright threatened to set her on fire, but she took a more careful and calculated approach. The only other character I could see taking a more subtle approach like this is Iroh.

In light of later revelations - that Azula believes "fear is the only way" to relate to people & that "trust is for fools" - as well as the knowledge that Azula does view Ty Lee & Mai as friends (I think this is shown clearly in their dynamic, but it's also proven by Azula's hallucination saying "your friends, Mai and Ty Lee") - I think that in a twisted way, Azula wanted this to seem like Ty Lee's choice. She didn't want to order Ty Lee to join her, she wanted this to feel like a friendship. Could she have understood that about herself or articulated it? I highly doubt it, but sometimes we don't understand our own emotions & motives. And of course - a disclaimer that this is my interpretation/theory.

Mai's recruitment is much more straightforward. Mai is miserable in Omashu. Her parents are busy doting on her baby brother, and she's constantly expected to act like a quiet good girl. She's bored, & she doesn't say it but probably lonely. Also - Mai loves violence. Mai's first encounter with the Gaang isn't even with Azula & Ty Lee, it's on her own, & she is excited to fight. Another interesting aspect of Mai's character is that she's 100% onboard right away with abandoning Tom Tom. I could see an argument that Mai was afraid to argue with Azula, but I don't buy it because there is no evidence for it. Ty Lee has clearly been intimidated into joining Azula, but we haven't seen that with Mai. So, I think that Mai just doesn't seem to care about her brother at all. This isn't a moral judgment on her by the way, just an observation.

The Dangerous Ladies Vs. The Gaang has to be one of the most exciting fights we've seen so far. Everyone's different styles are showcased & it's just amazing to watch. I think it's super interesting that Ty Lee almost kicks Sokka & Tom Tom off a building. She was ready to murder a baby & it's only cartoon logic & luck that she didn't!

Speaking of ready-to-murder - I'm fascinated by the different Fire Nation characters' approach to fighting Aang. I can't recall Zuko ever trying to kill Aang. He's been set on the whole "capture" thing. Zhao spells out to Aang that he won't kill him because it would just trigger a new Avatar. But there's no argument I can see that Azula is not trying to kill Aang during their fight in this episode. She is actively shooting fire at him, again & again. So, does she know that if he dies a new Avatar will be born? If Zhao knew, I have to assume Azula does. Of course, she does kill him (sorta) later, but we'll analyze that when we get to it. For now, I'm just saying that this is interesting. Azula is capable of a fighting style that doesn't go for the kill, or Zuko would've died during their last encounter. But, she chooses to go after Aang by shooting him with fire which would kill him if he failed to block or dodge her attacks. Super interesting to me.

Anyway, Aang's conversation with Bumi is very interesting to me. We learn about three of the apparent eighty-five 'jings.' Fighting is positive jing and retreating is a negative jing. Aang knows this, probably from his teachings with Gyatso, but Bumi explains that there's a third jing - neutral. I'm not sure how I feel about the argument that "doing nothing" is sometimes the best call. Bumi is a very interesting morally gray character. I understand what he was trying to say, & what the narrative was getting at, but still, Bumi abandoned his people when they needed him. I have a feeling I'll come back to the quote: "Your teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral jing. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking." For now, though, those are my thoughts on the episode!

[disabledrunner5]

My Runner 5’s/ZR Universe MCs. (Spoilers for seasons 1-3 of ZR with illusions to later seasons)

Because eh why not?

using @ummmmandy​‘s picrew and inspired by @runner5anna‘s post (I’m still working on my 5′s playlist so that’s coming at a later date)

Runner Five: Alicia Emily Bright

The OG, my traumatised baby, who I will protect with my life but also trauma dump on. 

Has left side Hemiplegia.

Is neurodivergent AF (autism)

diagnosed with GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)

Very sensitive to loud noises, wet clothing and mess on her skin.

Selective mute due to anxiety from the helicopter crash and autism.

Had to kill her zombified mother with a kitchen knife on day zero.

Also had to shoot her younger brother, Louis, at Mullins after he was bitten a few weeks before she arrived at Abel.

Is currently dating Sam Yao, and is actually engaged to him (as of season 6).

Short sighted.

Huge Nerd. Will talk about Doctor Who and Red Dwarf for hours if you let her. Loves DnD.

Has an emotional support puppy by the name of Scraps, a Jack Russell Terrier who she rescued in season 2 and whom she adores. To lose him would literally be like losing a child to her. He is her baby. It sure would be a shame if something happened to him, say for example, someone killed him at the end of season 5. 

Forgets to look after herself constantly, potentially has a death wish (or at least thats Abel Township’s theory), will kill and be killed for those she loves.  

New Canton Runner 5: Joel James Bright

Born in 1979, to Edith and Robert Bright. Younger brother of Dominic.

Married childhood sweetheart, Maria when they were 19.

Father of Alicia and Louis Bright.

Was in a band in university. Gave it up to start a family.

Secondary school history teacher.

Adores his children, will die for them.

Plays guitar like a pro.

Short sighted.

Got knocked out by his zombified wife on Z Day, and was assumed dead by his children.

Despite his bleeding head, he managed to find his way to New Canton in the early days of the apocalypse. Believed his children were dead (he was half right).

Close with Chris McShell and Lem.

Overjoyed to discover at least his daughter was alive.

Very protective of Alicia in new Canton following the Abel explosion in the season one finale.

Died in London, buried under a building he blew up.

Left a message to Alicia via video and Alicia stumbled across the site whilst in London and retrieved by luck his broken glasses to remember him by.

Nobody knows what happened to his body.

Has a memorial in New Canton and an grave by Mullins base, next to his son, Louis’ grave.

Walker- Tabitha ‘Tammy’ Natalie Walker.

Alicia’s uncle Dominic is Tammy’s father.

Lived in Scotland with her mum, Allison.

Lived in Fostercare after the death of her mum, six years prior to The Walk.

Goes by either ‘Tabs’ or ‘Tammy’ (sometimes even by her middle name as she’s not overly fond of her first name)

19 years old at the start of The Walk (which takes place c. 2016 as Boris Johnson’s still Mayor of London) and turns 20 during.

Coincidentally, her surname is the same as her computer generated codename, Walker.

Bubbily, but also extremely sensible and serious.

More extroverted than Alicia, but less than the average person.

Was on her way to meet family at Paddington station as she was travelling down for a week in London with her dad, step mum, Ruby, half siblings, Tara, David and Luke, her uncle Joel, her aunt Maria and her cousins Alicia and Louis, as an early birthday present when she was approached by Fiona and dragged into the whole mess.

Close with Alicia before the events of The Walk.

Has a massive crush on Lawrence. in fact they sort of start a relationship.

Has PTSD due to the events of the Walk.

Survived day zero and lives in Mullins base during the apocalypse. Where she reconnects with her father Dominic, and cousins Alicia and Louis, but Louis dies a few weeks in and Alicia leaves for Abel Township on a special mission. Neither cousin are aware the other is still alive since then.

Sapper 5- James ‘Jamie’ Edward Carter

Jamie Carter was born to Molly and George Carter in 1900. He’s their only son.

His father was a policeman who was one of a handful of people who knew the identity of Jack The Ripper (although Jamie would never learn who it was) and his mother was responsible for uncovering the ‘Bicycle Face’ conspiracy at the age of 16, and was an avid suffragette and campaigner against police corruption.

Because of this, his family has always been, unbeknownst to him and his relatives, on a government watch list. 

He left school at 14 and started an apprenticeship in engineering.

He then signed up to fight in the war in 1915, underage. He survived, travelling across the globe from Africa to Russia.

Eventually he met Elizabeth Stewart, a Scottish nurse whilst in Russia.

Both of them were stuck in Russia after the war for a couple of years, and during that time they fell in love. They managed to leave Russia back to the London just before the Tsar was assassinated, and Jamie returned back to his apprenticeship, becoming an accomplished engineer and setting up his own company. 

despite this he constantly suffered flashbacks and nightmares from his time at war. 

They had three children. George, Joseph ‘Jojo’ and Edith ‘Edie’. 

He passed away in March 1999 at the age of 99. 

He is the grandfather of Dominic and Joel Bright and the great grandfather of Tabitha Walker, Alicia, Tara, Louis, David and Luke Bright. 

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 616

@wereah and I are still trying to get through Heaven’s Official Blessing. It’s just been hard to match up schedules and take out time to stream the show together. Nevermind the potential Internet problems that come within.

The two of us afterwards were talking about the last show twist, and potential unreliable narration of two of the characters. It occurred to me the next day that I couldn’t tell if our sudden jump to this idea that the characters were unreliable due to the fascinating set up the show did in the first season, or because we’re both adults who are media nerds at heart. 

Unreliable narration, whether it is from the story itself or from the characters in the story is a technique that has always been a bit touch and go. This is primarily because recognizing, or even assuming someone or something may be unreliable, requires media literacy. 

Though, in all fairness, the nature of storytelling is probably the reason why you need to teach the idea of unreliable narration rather than assume the reader will pick it up.

Because the story, movie, show, comic, etc., needs to inform the audience about the world and characters within it, most of the time the narrative and the characters will be reliable in imparting that information. They have to be, otherwise the audience doesn’t know what information to parse. As children, all our stories are painfully honest, and it’s always the assumption that the characters are reliable. 

In fact, I didn’t come across unreliable narration until I was 18, taking advanced English and Literature classes in high school. In English class, it was the story of Hamlet from Shakespheare. Hamlet himself was an unreliable narrator, still grieving the death of his father and not understanding the circumstances that led to his uncle and his mother getting married because he wasn’t there. While he paints his uncle as an usurper to the throne, let us be clear, his uncle wanted the throne so badly he would have tried killing Hamlet before he got back home, because you can’t gain the throne by marrying the old Queen. Succession does not work that way.The uncle only began plotting to kill Hamlet when he started fearing for his life.

In my Literature class, it was actually the narration itself potentially being unreliable. Though, I would argue that Margaret Atwood didn’t mean to pose it like that. For those not familiar with the Handmaid’s Tale, the tale ends both on a cliffhanger and on the reveal that the whole story the audience was reading was a series of audio tapes left behind by Offred the main character. Now, as an adult, I’m pretty sure Atwood had intended that ending to be hopeful. This idea that the country of Gilead became no more eventually, and that the story of Offred then becomes something studied by students in hopes that this would never happen again. After all Offred, was a woman, a handmaid, had Gilead still existed, the students and we the audience would have never heard her story. However, at the time my teacher pointed out to me while we spoke about the book one-on-one that the problem with knowing it was a series of audio tapes that students were listening to, means we don’t know what order the story actually happened in or what was removed. It made the narration itself unreliable. 

Unreliable narration is a fascinating story device to me, because it can spark the question of why it’s happening in the first place. Were-Ah and I had fun speculating on who was unreliable and why this might be happening, or if maybe we were wrong and everything was true. What information was withheld from us. I would like to believe Heaven’s Official Blessing took a narration device, and just did it very well. I think so anyways, but I recognize that unless you’re taught to notice it, you might not realize there is an unreliable narrator in your story.