#oz summoning a demon is also cool though

[dudeimintomonsterprom]

[asexualzoro]

list of reasons i find Brook ridiculous

for brook’s birthday, ive decided to follow up my other two posts of this genre by dragging yet another idiot swordsman. i have everybrook open on my phone next to me. here we go

- first and foremost his most ridiculous crime is existing. as he’s already so ridiculous as a character, im going to talk only about things hes done

- i want to know, did Brook make a conscious effort to change his laugh to sound like his favorite song? how long did it take? what was the in between period like? what did his crew have to say about this? the rumbar pirates were big on playful teasing, did they let Brook live this down? 

- ALTERNATIVELY: was brook’s laugh already like that? is that why bink’s sake is his favorite song? is that why it was York’s favorite-- oh we only made it two bullet points before i made myself sad

- relatedly i cannot make fun of anything Brook did in his backstory it will make me too sad. hes spared for now

- i DO want to say from a writing standpoint its so fucking ridiculous to me that he mentions twice being a convoy captain in the past and it never comes up again. oda?? why even bother to include something that cool if you weren't even going to do anything with it?? you could have said hes just always been a pirate but no. oda?? oda

- there was that bit where a bunch of people thought Brook was satan and addressed him as such (i think Satan-sama in the original, and the translation i read was like... Lord Satan or Lord Demon or something). not only did Brook never correct them, but he also ran with it and later used this case of mistaken identity as a reason to threaten to eat a man’s heart 

- also both men and women were showing him their underwear in that bit. bi rights

- those satanists let Brook get kidnapped while saying they would try to summon him back. do you think they're still at it

- Brook is older than... basically every old man in the series. Garp, Whitebeard, Rayleigh... all of them. something about that is so weird to me and i cannot place why

- Brook has seen and can prove the existence of an afterlife in One Piece canon and its then never addressed again

- Brook missed so many huge events while being dead. im looking at a timeline rn and these include the obvious, like, roger’s execution and subsequent effect on in-world culture and society and whatever. but also things like the destruction of ohara (which was in his home sea), the founding of the world power known as the revolutionary army (which was about 20yrs ago), and the births of every other member of his crew. wack

- he seems to know about stuff related to the pirate king post time skip, and i wonder if thats because someone told him or he’s just playing along now. maybe he just thinks Luffy made up the term pirate king cuz it sounds cool and he wants to support his captain’s interests

- if he DID ask though, like, who did he ask? his managers? did he pull aside some fan asking for an autograph at a concert like “hey, you look like a knowledgable young lad, mind helping me out?”

- i would love to be there when someone takes the time to explain roger, the pirate king, raffle, the One Piece.... and Brook asks them “what is the One Piece?”.... and someone has to look him in the eye (...or not) and tell him “i don't know” 

- Brook has technically died of fright (his soul left his body), like... at least once? it was luffy’s fault

- Brook was an urban legend on the florian triangle and i doubt he even knows that about himself

- when they're heading to fishmen island Brook gets all scared when they encounter a possible ghost ship and Usopp slaps him

- when captured by big mom he sleeps so godamn soundly and securely that he is harder to wake up than she is and this fact nearly gets a bunch of his crew killed

- Brook is the only character i can think of who has ever broken the fourth wall. he only did it once. maybe seeing the afterlife means he now knows hes in a manga. or maybe being isolated for 50 years just made his head be not screwed on right

- speaking of, there’s a bit in WCI at the wedding where Brook is decapitated. i don't know how it goes in the anime, but in the manga like... no one is shown to have decapitated him. his head just pops off. maybe he was just having fun

- also the bit where he rips the fake face off in wci. when someone calls him gross he cries

- there’s a bit in fishmen island where Brook is trying to ask Nami if he can see her panties (disgusting bastard) and he inadvertently protects her from being dehydrated by some guy they were fighting. except the panel setup reminds me a lot of / mimics ace protecting Luffy from Akainu, and it haunts me

- speaking of bits from fishmen island that haunt me, there's a page where it’s strongly implied Brook fucked a mermaid (maybe two). i will of course include the page here

- yeah. sorry. 

- when Brook first meets the strawhats he invites himself inside because “it’s cold out!” but he later admits in punk hazard that he cant feel cold. he was just lying

- no one introduces himself to Brook except Luffy for the entirety of thriller bark

- half related, Franky cradles Brook in his arms / carries Brook around for like a full scene in thriller bark 

- there's a link two second bit in film gold where the crew is just relaxing while they're planning for how they're going to get Zoro back and they're all shown eating burgers from pirate mcdonalds or whatever. and Brook is eating a burger and hes so messy that hes got burger on his forehead, and Franky is next to him just looking at him

- Brook also wears fake skin in that movie

- Brook has a running gag where he gets upset when things refuse to eat him and i was going to make a joke about it but im wondering if maybe hes just afraid of being left behind........ made myself sad again

- he cries when a dragon won't eat him tho

- Brook admits to reading monster hentai when talking to Sanji and Kin’emon and if i have to be burdened with knowing that so do you

- when hes trying to figure out the weakness of the zombies on thriller bark he overhears one ate a salted fish and lost its shadow and immediately assumes “oh, must have been the fish!” idiot man

- where does his sword cane go when hes not using it. it just appears. where does he store it

- there's a bit where the strawhats all use a combo attack at thriller bark and the first step is firing an electrically charged Brook in a slingshot through oars/oz. he ends up in a wall and no one ever pulls him out. i don't even think the manga shows how he got down

- enemies post time skip regularly assume Brook is dead when they manage to knock the crew out and it makes me wonder how popular of a rock star Brook actually was

- Brook goes on a mini rant to no one while they're descending to fisherman island where he wonders aloud how he sees without eyes and it makes me lose it

- this isn't Brook technically but Nekomamushi is based on a song Brook’s voice actor wrote about his cat.

- Brook literally doesn't have a brain. like i know we all know that but its so fucking funny. we make jokes about other strawhats only having one braincell or whatever but Brook straight up 100% just has a seashell where his brain is supposed to be 

-  why does he have rubber glove looking hands when hes haunting the castle at wano i fucking hate them

- relatedly, there’s a bit where Brook mentions he’s been, at kinemon’s interaction, sitting in a well for like... possibly days? is he okay

- honestly i love everything about Brook’s actions as a ghost in wano bc its so fucking funny but my FAVORITE fact is that Brook is in the wikipedia article about starving skeletons

im leaving you with that. appreciate ur local skeleton today

[incomingalbatross]

Mabel the Vampire Slayer

A list of character-correspondence headcanons for a GF AU that’s been on my mind for a while.

(Note: This applies ONLY to characters and NOT to pairings!)

Mabel: Buffy but happier. Partly because she’s Mabel (who would love Slaying) and partly because there is no AU which is allowed to crush Mabel’s spirit.

Dipper: Willow but without all the Bad Parts. (...though they are BOTH prone to misusing powerful spells for personal reasons, to be fair.)

Ford: Giles but American. (...And, bizarrely, with less demon-summoning in his past.)

Stan: Angel, but less emo. Also only platonic relationships with anybody.

Wendy: Faith but stable.

Soos: ...I have an origin for Soos but I don’t think it actually fits with anyone?? In personality he’s Oz, of course, but in story role... Maybe Anya. Dunno.

Candy and Grenda: ...Definitely Scoobies, but all the specific parallels are taken. Sorry, guys. :( (They’re still Mabel’s People, though.)

Pacifica: Cordelia. Full stop.

Robbie: Xander? But worse.

Gideon: Spike but with zero redeeming qualities. Including the coolness.

I don’t have any concrete parallel for Fidds at all... I was going to make him a Watcher initially, but honestly I just can’t see him as one of them? Ford yes, but not Fidds... I dunno. Maybe his family has history with Southern Vampire Gideon.

[yoshimickster]

RWBY Vol 5 episode 11: THIS IS IT-I think(spoilers).

OOF-one hell of a party last night, my brother’s friend had this SUPER intense basil vodka that was liquid intensity-BUT FUCK THAT SHIT-onto the Micksterecap! And you know how it’ll start folks-

NOTHING HAPPENING! Its cool, after last episode I have accepted the pacing as a brilliant use of slow burn. Nice night though, look at that big ass, not disintegrated moon!

1:44

HAHAHAHA-oh man, they both be sharing the same “This is fucking bull shit” face. Oh I be they’ll get along like aces when Weiss finally proposes to Yang.

1:51

Ruby: Oh, shit, look at that thing!

Ruby: That is one nice ass slightly leaning tower!

Qrow: Ruby quit possibly foreshadowing and get a move on, we’re meeting Leo to what is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTALLY not a trap.

Yang: Man, out of ALL the guys on your side do turn evil, lucky it wasn’t one of the SMART ones right?

Qrow: Well...lucky by MY perspective.

They all then slowly walk INTO-

2:24

...a...trial room? Or the entrance to a trial room? *GASP*-is my RWBY/Ace Attorney fan fiction FINALLY coming to fruition?! AND YES-Qrow would be the Phoenix.

2:33 Leo: Thank you for...uh...coming.

Qrow: Oh god dammit Leo, WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO LIE?!

Weiss: I take back EVERYTHING I ever said bad about you Ozpin in season 1, this guy is WAY dumber!

Oz: Water under the bridge.

2:41

Qrow: Eh, you know what they say, the more the merrier.

DAMN-hitting the title THAT early in? My “Shit going down”-ameter is going off the CHARTS!

2:42 Aw man, LOOK AT HOW COOL HIS WEAPON IS! He better use it before Qrow logically murders him and/or he returns to the light side of the force.

Leo: Why...did you bring your weapons?

Qrow:Leo...you are literally wearing a weapon right  now. As am I, like I ALWAYS do, as the rest of them now do because they know that this world is a scary nightmare factory.

Leo: Yeah...I am DUMB!

2:54 Yang: Hey, what’s that shit?

2:59

Yang: DAMMIT MOM-17 years you’ve been avoiding me, only NOW do I see you regularly, AND ITS WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO KILL US!

Raven: I AM TRANSFORMED!

And then she turns BACK into a human, all while telling Leo his nepharious misdeeds movie style, utterly ruining Leo’s all ready terrible plan. You’re fault for trusting scary teleporting bird ladies dude!

 4:38 Ruby being the cinnamon roll she is TRIES to get Raven to rejoin the light side  and quash her defeatist attitude. 

AND IN PREDICTABLE BITCH RAVEN FASHION-

4:51 Raven: You sound, just like your mother.

And she says it in a REALLY nasty way too, like you just wanna STAB this bitch. And OF COURSE-

She opens a portal that...shoots a fireball?

4:56

Oooooooooooooh, right right right, Cinder, that makes  more sense. Was thinking her portals worked glyph style or something. ALSO-was Cinder just waiting all this time for a portal to open and then shoot a fireball through it? I hope she was sitting down, this took a while to plan.

5:05

Shit, the whole GANG is here. Ah well I bet there will be NO-ONE else joining-

-AND HERE COMES DEATHVOICE-hoo boy. We THEN see the whitefangbangers-

5:44 Setting up bombs ALL around the tower that was foreshadowed earlier! Preeeeeeeeeeeeeetty obvious Rooster Teeth.

Look at him, he’s like a kid with a new toy! A murderous, murderous new toy.

6:19 OH SHIT-it turns out that Leo got them into the fucking VYTAL festival, he’s been a part of this since season ONE! Fuckin’ cowardly ass lion.

6:49 DOUBLE SHIT-he gave Salem the info about the local huntresses and huntsmen and had them KILLED! FUCK THIS PUSSY UP...wait, pussy like pussy cat, not the other way.

But enough about that-THE DRAMA BOMB WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR-

7:03

LOGICALLY ANGST RIDDEN JAUNE! I mean I’m PRETTY SURE its not gonna be him who kill Cinder but...wouldn’t that be wonderful?

He then gives one FUCK of a speech...which Cinder responds with...hoo boy-

7:38

Cinder:...who are you again?

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH-that is just MEAN! MURDER HER!

...okay I still want her dead, but DAMN does that flame sword look COOL!

AND THEN WE GET OUR MATCHES-Jaune vs Cinder(PLEASE don’t die), Emerald vs Ruby(weird match-up, not much there thematically, but still cool) Mercury vs Yang(BREAK HIS ARMS) Qrow versus Raven(duh), Hazel versus Renora, and Weiss versus Vernal who TOTALLY doesn’t need to use her powers on her, right Raven? Fuckin’ bitch.

8:38

BATTLE CLASH! Quick, hit the right buttons!

9:32 Oooooooooooooooooooooh, Oz is maaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! ALSO...is Leo a lion faunus? NEAT!

OH SHIT-his weapon is a...compass? I dunno, I’m liveblogging!

ZOOP-nevermind, its an awesome matter making deally bop!

AND THE REVEAL-that he is Ozpin(not quite) and Oscar admittedly gets some blows on him, good for him! GRANTED Leo is a total broken wuss-BUT STILL!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut  that turns out to be what he WANTS as he can then deliver him to Salem...HOOOOOOOOOO boy, best get to fightin’ Oscar ol’ boy!

CUT TO-

11:47

Weiss versus Vernal, who sports two LOVELY throwing blades, nice!

Weiss then zigs away, puts up an ice wall-

ATTEMPTS TO SUMMON THE KNIGHT-

12:00

OOH-but Vernal dispels it with a power Slash! SEE-Raven, she DID need to use her powers! Seriously, how’d you forget that this girl could make bad-ass knights out of thin air, of ANY size!

12:11 Vernal: Don’t think I’m going to let you take the EASY way out!

Weiss: Should you really talk, little miss magic pants?

Vernal: TASTE MY BLADE!

Holy shit so much battling-CUT TO-

12:23

Cinder bullying Jaune in the background, while Ruby fights Aladdin!

After Emerald professes her obvious love for Cinder-

She puts the WHAMMY Rwby with her mind powers-

She GOES IN FOR THE KILL-making Ruby shoot a bullet WHICH-

-freaking NARROWLY goes by Weiss! Just think, our ship-charts would’ve been altered YET AGAIN by that bullet. I remember when Phyrra died, oh the sadness.

OH-her blades also shoot! ALSO-look at Vernal’s smug ass face there, bitch.

OH SHIT-they were laser blades! Guess she didn’t use her powers-BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY-we got CRACKLE YO! SHIT IS GETTING CRAZY!

CUUUUUUUUUUUUU TO-

Jaune fighting not only Cinder-BUT ALSO-his demons!

13:14 Jaune: STOP MESSING WITH ME!

Me: NO NO NO dude, poor choice of words!

13:21

Oh shit shit SHIT-she doubled the attack power, ATTACK POWER IS DOUBLED!

The two then attempt a battle clash, Ruby sees it and goes all-

13:33 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ALSO-there are your stupid silver eyes you impatient FUCKS! Yeah you know who you are, and you AREN’T critics, your just whiney fans! Don’t be RWDE y’all.

OOH-but Emerald knocks her out mid Avatar state! Hope that doesn’t block her off from her powers for most of the season, only to learn later that she WASN’T blocked off from her powers the whole time.

13:40

It DOES however temporarily put her in pain! HAHA-fuck you Cinder! Jaune of course ain’t takin’ NO slack on this by the way-

DAMN-straight up GRAZED son! Logically she...she wasn’t happy about that.

See?

Jaune: I always wanted a woman to stomp on me, BUT NOT YOU!

HURRY JAUNE-friggin’ unlock your obvious semblance and PULL THAT SWORD TOWARD YOU!

Cinder then berates the kid, WHILE(and I’m NOT judging him for this, heat of battle) stupidly tells her that the OTHER fighters are more important than him. ALSO-

14:30

Hazel fights weaponless apparently! Neat!

What happens next...HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY-

14:50

UGH-using Phyrra’s weapon?! That’s LOW! But seriously-SHE THROWS THAT SHIT-

15:02 RIGHT INTO WEISS...also forgive me for the next line-

Jaune; WHY DO ALL MY 17 YEAR OLD NOT-GIRLFRIENDS KEEP BREAKING ON ME?!

SO YEAH-I am...PRETTY sure its a flesh wound but...HOLY FUCKING SHIT that’s a cliffhanger! CHOP OFF HER HEAD JONNY BOY!

Fuckin’ hell, the action was admittedly not as good as last weak but this was still one HELL of an episode! See you next week folks ON MICKSTERECAPS!

[itsclydebitches]

Buffy’s “Empty Places”: Deconstructing Merit, Luck, and Betterment

Anyone who’s spent five minutes with me knows that I love ranty metas, and Buffy’s “Empty Places” is something I’ve wanted to tackle since I finished it. However, rather than try to unravel the entirety of that shit-show conversation I want to focus in on what Anya says near the end.

You really do think you're better than we are. But we don't know. We don't know if you're actually better. I mean, you came into the world with certain advantages, sure. I mean, that's the legacy. But you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You've never had anybody come up to you and say you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to you. So that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us.

Here Anya lays out three important questions that I think are crucial to interpreting the Buffyverse.

Did Buffy “earn” her power? 

Is she “luckier” than her friends? 

Is Buffy “better” than her friends? And what exactly does “better” mean in this context?

Honestly, I still stand amazed that Anya can even voice the first two questions among Buffy’s friends and not get immediate, wicked backlash. Admittedly her use of “luckier” could be interpreted to mean “randomly,” but her word choice is still significant. Buffy is by no stretch of the imagination lucky. Does her calling give her purpose? Yes. Does it give her cool superpowers? Absolutely. But none of these benefits are free gifts—they’re balanced, even outweighed, by her responsibilities. This calling means that Buffy has no other options in her life, no career or family as a ‘normal’ person would experience it. Her powers are to keep herself and others safe, not to have fun with. Buffy didn’t win the freaking lottery here, this life was forced on her.

Throughout the entirety of the series we see the others’ (realistic) jealousy of Buffy: Cordelia views her as a threat to her popularity, Willow as the ‘cool’ girl she always wished she could be, Xander resents that Buffy always has the power to help, and Faith has a whole damn plot-line devoted to her jealousy, yet at no point does anyone acknowledge that Buffy is only the “lucky” one when things are going their way. They want to help, but they know she’s the only one who can finish things. Buffy announces that she’s the only one who can finish things… and everyone’s hackles go up. They don’t want her responsibility; they also don’t want to acknowledge that her responsibility makes her different from them. You can’t have it both ways. To say nothing of the fact that the rest of the Scoobies can leave any time they want. They can walk away from this life. Buffy can’t. She’s not the lucky one, she’s the one who’s trapped.

Now, did Buffy earn her power? Oh boy. Again, I don’t know how Anya can even ask that. Did she earn the power prior to receiving it? Perhaps not, but Buffy has absolutely earned her right to it since. She gave up the social life she desperately craved, a college education, she killed her boyfriend for the greater good, was ready to kill another friend (Anya) if the need arose, Buffy died, twice, and stuck around after she was wrenched out of Heaven to keep fighting the good fight. I honestly wanted to ask in that moment: what more do you expect of this girl?

Furthermore, there’s evidence that Buffy did ‘earn’ the Slayer power right from the start. She was chosen. Why? We don’t know exactly, but out of ALL the other Potential girls in the world Buffy was the one the legacy activated and I personally think she was chosen for a reason. It’s also telling that Season 7 throws Buffy into a houseful of other would-be Slayers and essentially let’s us compare them. One girl runs away. Another commits suicide. The others force out their leader and walk into a trap. Did Buffy make a lot of the same mistakes at their age? Yes, but it’s also worth considering that these girls aren’t ready in the same way she was at fifteen, that some might not possess the fortitude to be the Slayer, that seven years ago the magic chose Buffy for a reason. She was the one most suited for the position.

So is she “better” than her friends?

After Anya gave her little speech I had one, significant sentence running through my head:

Buffy is the only one who hasn’t been corrupted.

To lay out just a few examples:

Giles rebelled as a teenager by summoning a horrifying demon that eventually killed his friends. Buffy rebelled as a teenager by demanding that she get to go to the prom or out on dates with Angel.

Willow takes away the consent of her girlfriend, her friends, nearly kills Dawn, and when she suffers the loss of a loved one immediately seeks revenge, going so far as to try and destroy the entire world (something I think the show let’s her get away with far too easily). Buffy loses her mom and though there’s no person to seek revenge on, she also doesn’t release her anger on other innocents.

Years ago Anya happily chose to be a vengeance demon. She spent a thousand years torturing and slaughtering who knows how many. After being left at the alter she immediately turns back to those ways and attempted to seek revenge on Xander (and please picture for a moment how she might be received if that episode hadn’t been played for humor. If the whole ‘you can’t seek your own vengeance’ rule wasn’t in place and Anya had succeeded in killing Xander). She proceeds to murder a group of college boys before turning back to the good side.

Faith’s entire storyline revolves around her going dark. We can come up with endless justifications for her—from a terrible childhood to not fitting in with the Scoobies—but the fact remains that she is a clear foil to Buffy: the ‘bad’ Slayer to Buffy’s ‘good’ one. Ultimately, no one forced her to adopt that role.

Andrew very happily goes along with all the tormenting Buffy/killing women/taking over the world stuff, showing not an ounce of true remorse. Despite all his claims of ‘coming over to the light side,’ the only reason we’re given for him joining the gang was because he killed his only friend, was kidnapped by them, and literally had nowhere else to go. He’s not necessarily a ‘good’ guy now, he’s a lonely guy sticking with the only people capable of protecting him.

Xander and Cordelia are outliers in that neither ever achieves any real, formidable power (at least not on Buffy), but what power they do accumulate they don’t use well. Xander casts love spells, the magic equivalent of roofying a girl, deliberately falls asleep while he has the responsibility of watching Oz, or lies to Buffy to help get Angel killed. Cordelia uses her social power to harm everyone around her, as often as possible. 

What I’m getting at is that most of Buffy’s friends go through the same sequence of events: free will + power = a decision that harms others to an extreme degree. The free choice aspect is important because I think there are only three core group members that don’t fit this pattern: Oz—who resists being a wild werewolf who would kill others if not locked up—Tara—who carefully controls the type and extent of her magic—and Spike—who never does anything of his own free will, if we buy into the Angel/Angelus dichotomy that the show initially set up (and then admittedly muddled with Spike). But if we go by that lore, everything he did post-vampirism was the demon. The women he killed with his soul was the First’s doing.

Notably, none of these people are in the room with Buffy to back her up.

Instead she’s surrounded by others who at one point or another are corrupted by the power they’ve attained. Buffy is living with a group of people who have willfully committed heinous deeds - deeds she’s forgiven them for - while they’re more than happy to toss her out the second she makes a mistake with actual consequences. Importantly though, Buffy never goes down the road they did. To my recollection the closest she gets is with Faith—“We are better than them”—but even then all Buffy does is loot a deserted store, playing at the ‘bad girl’ role without ever actually becoming her. Does she make mistakes over the years? HELL YES, but unlike the others they’re always made with good intentions. Buffy releases Spike because he’s needed and she honestly believes he’s not a threat anymore. She gets some of the Potentials killed because she’s trying to save the world. She pushes everyone away and acts ‘cruel’ because she’s told time and time again that that’s what they need—an unfeeling “general.” At every turn Buffy puts the greater good above her own needs and desires, from the small (dropping out of college) to the unfathomably large (killing Angel, dying twice). Is this ‘realistic’ characterization? Perhaps not, but it’s what makes Buffy the hero of the tale. No matter what she’ll always put others before herself and do whatever is required of her to keep them safe. 

Honestly, her friends can’t claim the same. 

So yeah, in this respect I’d say Buffy is “better.”

(Anyway, this all makes it sound like I hate these characters when in fact I love them all lol. Forgive the new Buffy fan still working through drama 20 years late. @thepinkrvnger​ I’m tagging you again not with the expectation that you’re gonna read any of this shit, but to let you know your previous Buffy response got me laughing. Kudos 👍) 

[theclacks]

Buffy - Season Three Thoughts

So… that was a thing.

Where do I start on season 3… Okay, I’m going to recap in chronological order and then do over all thoughts (especially compared to season 2) because if I start with overall thoughts, I’ll be here all night and probably not make much sense.

So yeah. I really like Buffy’s period of mourning. There’s something very cathartic about watching characters mourn. And watching characters get mad at each other. And the first two episodes did that in spades, I love how Willow acted dismissively cheerful and then just LAID into Buffy later. I love how Buffy’s originally close-friends party turned into a random party and the one overheard line along the lines of “do you know who this party’s for? I don’t know, some girl who just got out of rehab” just hit stone cold.

And then Angel showed up.

Now I know Angel was GOING to show up because 1) he was in the credits and 2) he goes on to star in his own spin-off, but I don’t know… I was expecting the whole first half of the season to be a life without Angel/search for Spock Angel kind of thing. And I was really liking the whole mourning/slowly accepting Angel’s death so for him to come back as SOON as Buffy put down her ring I was like “……okay?” but then I also couldn’t complain because ANGEL.

And then it turned out he was feral Angel which was cool but then THAT got resolved in a single episode which was another kind of “…..okay?” then again. ANGEL.

I’m just glad they had Buffy’s super quick temp boyfriend Scott dump her because that would’ve been an even more annoying obviously-one-ship-is-the-preferred-ship love triangle than Twilight.

Oh, speaking of love triangles… quadrangles… things. The Willow/Xander sudden attraction love fest thing. Not a huge fan. But it lasted comparatively shortly and didn’t destroy the Oz/Willow pairing (in fact kind of strengthened it) and it gave way for adorable Cordelia/Wesley flustered shenanigans AND Cordelia subconsciously summoning Anya, so overall I don’t mind where it ended up leading the series in the slightest.

Although I do want to talk about Faith.

I hate Faith.

Maybe she gets better in later seasons (if she’s in later seasons? I assume yes even though I hope no), maybe part of my hate is just missing Kendra and viewing Kendra as the superior alt!slayer. Although Buffy did make many references to Mr Pointy this season, so I guess Kendra still lives on in spirit.

But yeah, the gang had such a chill, well working groove this season that the ONLY way to cause tension was to throw a Faith-shaped socket into the works. Like she was pretty much only there to stir trouble and be a pity fest and I’m sorry Faith fans, but it’s an EXTREMELY big leap to go from bitter “Buffy’s more popular than me” to “I’m going to join forces with the dude who wants to murder the town because he gives me things.” IDK, I think it would’ve actually made more sense for her skip town entirely, forge her own path? But maybe she wasn’t brave enough for that? IDK. Her darkside turn simultaneously didn’t feel as fluid (i.e. didn’t make sense) OR as shocking (i.e. she’d always been the “bad” girl) as the Angel losing his soul thing did.

Although speaking of Angel losing his soul, THAT EPISODE WHERE FAITH TRIES TO CAST IT OUT OF HIM. And at the end she’s like “guess I’m the best actor in the world” and Angel suddenly goes “second best” and it slips into slo-mo, I gasped. I literally gasped. I’d been going “nooo not a repeat” while also going “soulless Angel is extremely entertaining” and then in just 5 seconds everything turned 100% awesome again.

Which, yeah, Angel and Buffy. I think I love Angel and Buffy the most when they’re working together as I team which is why I loved the second half of season 3 more than the first half. They finally got their groove back and he was helping out in fights (even after Buffy said “let’s take a break” and Angel said “let’s break up”) and they just worked. There were a couple earlier episodes, especially the one where Giles drugs Buffy of her powers and regrets it and Buffy’s mom gets kidnapped and Buffy goes off to save her alone that I was like, “ummmmm… bring Angel with you? I know the ‘theme’ of this episode is doing this alone, but in-character Buffy, you should really be caring more about getting your mom out alive than episode themes”.

So yeah. Angel and Buffy watching an erotic indie film together, Angel and Buffy fighting seaside cave demons together, Angel and Buffy acting together to pull one over on faith. That is the best kind of Angel and Buffy and I’m glad the show finally veered back into that direction before he ultimately left the show.

Which leaves the Mayor and the overall plot arc of Season 3.

So I honestly thought the Mayor was going to be a multi-season villain (same with Mr Trick) and was really kind of shocked when he just ate it (along with the library and half of the school building). But more than that, I think I was a little disappointed by the Mayor just because of HOW LONG it took for him and Buffy to face off… which is really my one complaint about season 3, that is, the overall plot arcs weren’t as defined as they were in season 2.

Season 2 had two very clear halves and evolving goals for both sides. The first half had Buffy and Angel’s will they/won’t they on the heroes side and Spike’s wanting to heal Dru on the villain’s side. They both get their wishes near the middle of season and that’s the greatest thing because it ends up being an Into the Woods type thing with their granted wishes causing new problems. Buffy/Angel’s relationship causes Angel to turn evil and Dru’s restoration causes Spike becomes useless in a wheelchair. The goals in the second half suddenly flip on their heads: find a way to either restore Angel’s soul (or kill Angel) on the heroes side and Spike wanting Angel out of the picture and Dru back on the villains side. There was a constant forward momentum, a goal to strive for.

And so wrapping back around to what I THOUGHT season 3 was going to be about, getting Angel back so soon kind of killed that momentum. There wasn’t any greater goal the heroes were really striving for over the course of multiple episodes. Even when Faith turned, the gang didn’t seem to care that much. It was kind of like “good riddance, at least she’s not back-stabbing me anymore” from Buffy’s side. They just sort of went along through their senior high school days with minimum drama.

Which don’t get me wrong. It was nice. It was fun. And I’m probably going to be missing the minimum drama in later seasons. And overall, the quality of the individual episodes was stronger (I’m looking at you Lovers Walk, The Zeppo, Doppelgangland, Enemies, Earshot… heck what am I saying, all the episodes from that until the end). But I really did miss that constantly-striving-for-something feel that Season 2 had.

But then I’ll also give credit where credit is due and just be grateful that I wasn’t emotionally deadened like I was at the end of season 2. If the series had ended at season 2, it would’ve been the most depressingly awesome bittersweet series ending ever. If it’d ended at season 3, it’d be a super entertaining and sweet bookend.

I didn’t even place together the connection until I started writing this review, but I think this season more than anything else was about Buffy’s acceptance, both of her accepting herself and of the Sunnydale community accepting her. This season started off with jocks half-joking/chanting “no more mysterious deaths!” and the guy at Buffy’s welcome home party thinking she was some sort of drug addict. It ended up with Buffy getting crowned (umbrella’d?) as Class Protector and the entire graduating class taking up arms and fighting vampires and a demon alongside her. I mean, regardless of what happens later, those are some firm, shining YES moments.

Final/stray observations

Favorite episode was Lovers Walk by far. I am a Spike fan and not afraid to admit it. Between him falling asleep drunk and his hand catching on fire, drinking cocoa while having a heart to heart with Joyce (and asking for marshmallows), taunting Angel behind Joyce’s back when he can’t come inside Buffy’s house, reminiscing about a park bench where he and Dru killed a homeless man, and cheering up at the end because he’s realized that all he needs to do is become the man he was and torture Dru into loving him again… yeah. That episode was a pure treasure.

I loved the resolution to the Wesley/Cordelia thing. I’ve had those kind of kisses before, the kisses that make you go “oh, umm… awkward, nevermind.” This show, it reads my soul.

While I hated Faith, I loved the addition of Anya to the cast. I knew by her name that she’d become a series regular so when she first introduced herself as “Anyanka” I was like “no….. it can’t be.” And then it was. And she rambled about her past curses to Xander at the prom. And it was awesome.

Also Oz’s thoughts in the mind-reading episode. Grabbing from a transcript because they’re just too good to paraphrase:

Oz (thinking): I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me and she becomes me. I cease to exist.

Oz (speaking): Hmm…

I just love Oz so much. He is one of the characters I had no idea existed going into this and I’m scared for what’s going to happen to him because I know Willow eventually gets with someone else, so he’s either going to leave or die. And I’m REALLY hoping he doesn’t die.

Also are we going to eventually get a human!Spike/William flashback episode? Because we’ve gotten two Angel/Liam flashback episodes and one Dru flashblack episode. I DEMAND A SPIKE FLASHBACK EPISODE.

As for thoughts and guesses on what’s going to happen in season four, I have no idea. All the plot threads are resolved (except for, I guess, Faith kinda, who I don’t care about), everyone graduated, and Angel’s off in his own spin off land. I did cheat though and I watched the first three minutes of Angel + opening credits before I started writing this and Angel and Cordelia being spin-off bros? I don’t know how that’s going to happen but sign me the hell up! I’m guessing she just decided to leave Sunnydale since her dad went broke and all and Xander’s not her BF and yeah? There’s really not too much there for her anymore.

Anyways yeah. I’m planning to watch BTVS AND Angel simultaneously now which means these recaps will become a biweekly thing.

Of course both shows are leaving Netflix this week which sucks (pun not intended). Originally I was going to grab the DVDs from the library but apparently the rest of the city had that idea. Buffy season 4 went from having 3 open copies to 10+ holds over the course of the past couple days. I reserved Angel no problem though and I ended up ordering a used copy of BTVS complete series off Amazon because, hey, it was half off, I’m super enjoying the series so far, and some times it’s nice to pay.

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

Welcome to the first recommendations post of 2020. I’ve missed doing the alternating series of recommendation and discussion posts. In just a few more hours when I get off work, I’ll be heading down to Columbus for the weekend because Damian and I are helping out our friends at Colorworld Books for their booth at Ohayocon. Yep, not even a couple weeks into the new year and we’re having a convention weekend already. Damian has been there all day since we are currently on different work schedules, but we’ll both be there all day Saturday and Sunday, so it should be a really cool time.

Anyway, speaking of Damian, I was struggling with trying to figure out what topic I should utilize for this recommendations post and Damian suggested something where a normal character from our world goes to another world. He was thinking about some manga and anime he likes, but I immediately started thinking of so many other portal fantasy options.

That is what the genre is called, where a normal person goes to another place that is different from ours. Now this could be a completely magical place or it could be very similar to ours. There are different manners in which this travel can be done. Some stories utilize doorways, some rabbit holes, some falling through stones, or even through a book or some sort of technology like a computer.

So, let’s talk portal fantasy.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones are classic examples of portal fantasy.

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A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. I actually just picked up the sequel to this one, but it is a Beauty and the Beast inspired story where a girl from our world is brought into this cursed other world in the hopes that she might be the one to save them. This story is fantastic, and I look forward to seeing what will happen next with Harper, Rhen, and Grey.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Naturally this book makes it on the list because it absolutely pays homage to Narnia (and also kind of Harry Potter) while standing as its own unique tale. I recently re-read the first book in the trilogy, and I’m hoping to finally read books two and three soon. Oh, and I’ll have a review coming for this one soon as well.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is an interesting installment of portal fantasy in that one of the main characters if from a magical world, while the other main character is from ours. But what makes it especially fun is that the other “worlds” are actually parallel versions of London. I own two copies of this trilogy because I think it’s fantastic. I also just realized that I never wrote up a proper review post for this book. I guess I need to re-read and then review.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. Okay so this is a series I need to get further into, but it follows a woman who is a spy for a mysterious Library that collects fictions from different realities. The first installment in the series has her trying to collect a book in an alternate London filled with dangerous creatures, magic, and secret societies. The sixth book in the series was just released, and that means I have a lot of reading yet to do.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. Here’s a book I read last year, and there are a lot of doors to a lot of different places in this one. It is a wonderfully convoluted and complex adventure, and I definitely enjoyed reading it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Yes, this book technically can be counted as portal fantasy, though unlike other books where the main character goes to another world, this book sends our leading lady into the past instead. There is so much lovely description and historical detail in these books. It is obvious that the author spends a lot of time researching and then writing each book, and the outcome is just incredible. This is another series that I’m dreadfully behind on. At least I know I won’t run out of reading material.

Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire (Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Beneath the Sugar Sky, In An Absent Dream, and Come Tumbling Down). I’m reading the newest installment now, but I dearly adore this novella series. It is impressive how much can be put into a 200 page story. This series includes so many fantastic and authentically diverse characters, while also being incredibly diverse on the types of portals and the variety of worlds. Seanan McGuire is a master of portal fantasy, and hope this series contains many more installments to come. They are all utterly fascinating, and whimsical, and complex, and intriguing. I love reading them, even if they feel like they’re over so soon. Also, how in the world have I only reviewed every other book in this series? That makes no sense to me.

Then, since this all started with Damian thinking of anime and manga, I’ll throw in a few examples for it as well, because why not. Both How Not to Summon a Demon Lord and Overlord are very similar, with the main difference being that one is focused on attraction (it is a harem style manga story) and the other is honestly a lot more layered and complex. But both are still interesting in their own ways. Then there’s That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime which is a bit of a different kind of portal fantasy because the main character dies in our world and then wakes up/is reborn as a slime in another world. However it is still an absolutely fascinating series, so I definitely recommend it.

Well, that’s all I have for you today. What sort of recommendation post would you like to see next? Is there a particular genre, sub-genre, or theme/trope you’d like me to delve a bit deeper into sometime soon? Give me some suggestions in the comments, and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

Recommendations: Portal Fantasy Hey all, Dani here. Welcome to the first recommendations post of 2020. I've missed doing the alternating series of recommendation and discussion posts.