#raven's plotline is still all over the fucking place

[kepleia]

i havent been here but know the latest ep killed me and gave me life all in the space of 40 minutes

[littlerockerao3]

Rickon is not meaningless pt.1039475739

So, this is probably another theory that many people before me have already written down and shared but I still want to explain it because... because.

Now, we all know how George R.R. Martin likes to hide ‘Easter eggs’ and major spoilers in minor details (the direwolf choking on the antler, as the most obvious one for example), so maybe what I’m about to share with you can count as one of them as well.

Now, still speaking about direwolves, it’s obvious how every one of them is related to a Stark kid for many reasons. And how they kind of resemble their owners too, and how their names are meaningful (I’ve talked about Shaggydog’s name in another post you’ll find under the tag ‘asoiaf opinions’ in my profile).

So, again, about these direwolves: it is known from the very beginning that Ghost was bound to be Jon’s pup because he was the ‘different’ one from the litter. And Jon’s a bastard, so he’s the different one in his family.

But

Let’s not forget how Ghost isn’t the only different one: Shaggydog is different too. While all the other direwolves have grey fur and yellow eyes, Ghost has white fur and red eyes and Shaggydog has black fur and green eyes.

Now, I remember a few years ago, I saw this overly adorable fat Labrador and wanted to take a picture of it. It was dark, so I used the flash. And guess how the dog turned out in the photo? A black silhouette with shining green eyes.

Now, while Ghost camouflages in the snow, Shaggydog camouflages in the dark (let’s not forget that epic moment when he scares the hell out of Maester Luwin lol). I honestly see this as either a sign of neglecting towards their two owners’ lives (because let’s be honest, Jon felt left out by his family but so was Rickon) or a sign that these two wolves, despite all their differences, have something in common.

Ghost is quiet, Shaggydog is wild. Jon is quiet, and Rickon is wild. Yet, they’re both very good at hiding themselves. You know who else is good at hiding? Rickon: where the hell is he? In Skagos? Has he already left there? What is he doing there? How the hell did a 5yo manage to survive in Skagos?

Now, as much as I’d love to see Rickon as King In The North (which is still another theory of mine), I think that’s not what’s meant to him. Okay, so: his name means ‘brave ruler’ or ‘little king’ right? Only the fact that the name ‘Bran’ means ‘raven’ is proof names are important to George R R Martin.

But, since Grey Wind, Lady, Nymeria and Summer all had grey fur, if the books follow the show plotline (hopefully with a better writing) Robb was King in The North, Bran is most likely to rule over the 6 Kingdoms and we’ll eventually see a Queen in The North.

So, how can Rickon be important as a 5yo whose name means ‘king’? Rickon is in Skagos. He has a bloody beast by his side. Skagos is a place everyone fears. The Skagosi descend from the First Men. The Skagosi are wild. The Skagosi are rumoured to still perform human sacrifices. Everyone fears a direwolf. The Starks have the blood of the First Men. Rickon is fucking wild. Shaggydog fucking camouflages in the dark. Magic could be involved. Rickon could learn things nobody knew about.

There’s fucking unicorns in Skagos.

The reason why I think Rickon won’t be meaningless? I believe he managed to become the leader of the Skagosi. If Davos finds him, if he reunites with at least Jon, he could make the Skagosi fight in the war against The Others. There could be something magical in Skagos that could help win the war. Like, I don’t know, something related to shadows.

Now, back to the direwolves thing: Ghost and Shaggydog are the two different ones. I like to think Arya and Sansa will get to rule the North together. I don’t think Arya is going to leave what’s left of her family and I can’t stand the thought of Sansa staying alone. But I really do think Jon’s place not Winterfell and neither is Rickon’s. They are the ones who’ll go separate ways.

Once it’ll be all over, Rickon will be back in Skagos and be the Skagosi’s little king. But he would have played a very important role for the story.

It all sounds so fucking crazy while I’m writing this lol. And I fear two books is just too little for such a subplot, I don’t know. It’s just a theory. Rickon deserves some more recognition, and since GRRM said he has important plans for him, this is what I could think of.

Enjoy a picture of this baby:

[flashfuture]

I know it’s kind of sus to say “as a (this)” on anon but like I have no earthly clue why it’s so hard for companies to name bi characters because like I feel like they are stuck on “it’s just one stop from being gay” and that’s too much for them that acting as if a bi person in media MUST date the the same sex or it somehow invalidates their realationships with opposite sex like—sometimes I feel like they miss the plot and forget bi means more than one

This is all the place but I’m just a salty samon about this.

In this case I also don’t think you have to be bi to advocate for bi characters. I’m not trans but I push to see trans characters. I feel strongly that everyone deserves to be represented and represented well. Not like in a John Constantine who’s bi but your love life will be a joke way. 

Marvel is much much better than DC at their LGBT rep but they can get a little weird around certain characters. (Tho I’ll never get over DC accidentally making Hal canonically gender-fluid lol)

Johnny Storm has always always been queer-coded and Marvel just refuses. The writers have said he was straight-up sleeping with Daken and it was very clear in the writing itself I feel like it’s his ties to you know old school he’s in the first family nuclear family silver age stuff. 

Same with Namor dude is so pan but they don’t confirm it probably because of how old he is as a character.

I think Felicia Hardy is maybe only the character who has been shown with women and men that I can think of where it isn’t just like a threesome. Which isn’t bad but you know that’s for the sex appeal. 

Actually, I amend Peter Quill very recently was in a poly marriage with a female and male presenting alien and it was very lovely and they had a kid and yeah go Guardians writers. 

Tony Stark has made illusions to dating men and women but it’s not confirmed he’s bi. 

Wade is pan and like me too bitch the fuck but also his love life sucks because well the dudes life sucks. Ryan Reynolds out here pushing for pansexual Deadpool on the big screen like lets go.

Actually, that joke up top about DC accidentally making Hal genderfluid? Well Marvel made Loki and Raven canon genderfluid on purpose. And they own it. 

Also Marvel can look at characters and randomly decide this one is gay now cause we think it would be good is so funny. I can’t stress enough how little I thought Bobby was gay before they had him come out. And that- that is fucking amazing. The fact that they can realize some people take longer to realize, that some people can have had fulfilling relationships with the opposite sex and still be gay is phenomenal. 

Shatterstar and Rictor were very very close best friends back in the day. And with Rictor he has a whole plotline about realizing he was just doing comphet. and they talk about religion and just yeah. 

Marvel does a very good job imo of writing queer stories because the romance feels natural. 

TBH I think DC does romance poorly in general so maybe that and everyone having the same personality is the problem

But yeah I wonder why the hang ups on some characters in Marvel when like really Johnny and Namor? You’re trying to play that game with us??? 

Lol I don’t know where im going with this anon other than I agree bi characters deserve more rep and more respect 

[laufire]

The 100 for the in depth fandom questions (of course!)

Top 5 favourite characters: Murphy, Echo, Raven, Emori, and Octavia. The order has varied but the members have been constant since 5x02.

Other characters you like: Indra, ALIE, Becca, Josephine, Jaha, Diyoza, Hope, Anya, Gaia, Lincoln, Harper, Monty... a lot.

Least favourite characters: Bellamy, Kane, Lexa (she bored me). Clarke and I are in a weird place xDD

Otps: Memori, Biyoza, Clarke/Josephine, Indra/Sheidheda, Echoven. Followed by an army of rareships.

Notps: Clarke/Raven, Bellamy/anybody, Clarke/almost anybody.

Favourite friendships: the remaining Spacefam aka snowkru, the og s5 spacefam, Echo’s infiltration team(s), Murven & Memoraven, Murphy & Monty.

Favourite family: Diyoza-Blake clan. They hypenate.

Favourite episodes: 2x12 (Memori’s 1st meeting), 1x10 (I watched it ONCE when it aired and I still remember it so vividly...), 3x02 (Memori stuff!), 3x10 (ALIE VS RAVEN), 3x11 (again), 4x08 (take a guess), 4x12-3 (they made me return to the show c’mon), 5x02, 5x06, 5x09, 5x10-13 really. 6x08. The episode number gets blurry in my head with s7 but I enjoyed the Echo-Diyozas-Blake episode, the Echoven episode, and the finale for the hilarity factor + the opposite feeling of buyers remorse it gave me.

Favourite season/book/movie: s5. Followed by s3 ‘cause a bitch loves an AI plot.

Favourite quotes: “love at first knife to throat” lives in me. Every uber romantic Memori quote does. Also every Blodreina quote.

Best musical moment: 3x01 sing-along scene. S2 had bored me so much and it felt like a breath of fresh air.

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: everything Memori did in s5-7.

When it really disappointed you: Diyoza and Octavia should have kissed. ON THE MOUTH.

Saddest moment: Finn’s death and Raven’s reaction to it was gutting.

Most well done character death: Diyoza’s.

Favourite guest star: Josephine’s actress, she looked very pretty xD

Favourite cast member: for NON-SHALLOW REASONS, NONE WHATSOEVER- Luisa D’Oliveira.

Character you wish was still alive: Diyoza and Josephine should’ve been there on the beach for my shipping agendas.

One thing you hope really happens: n/a. But we all know Clarke will feel the need to escape to the woods, right? And there she’ll start hallucinating (or not...) Josephine........

Most shocking twist: can’t think of anything.

When did you start watching/reading?: I watched s1 as it aired, for the most part. Quit by a mix of boredom and annoyance at the show. Returned when I heard about How Dirty They Did Clarke in the s4 finale xDD

Best animal/creature: that giant alien whose butthole Clarke & co climbed through is the only one I can remember right now.......... oh thank fuck, Octavia’s poor horse xDD. Helios :((

Favourite location: Becca’s lab.

Trope you wish they would stop using: I don’t want to hear “I bear it so they don’t have to” ever again.

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: male lead swaps and controversial female characters.

Funniest moments: s5-7 Clarke was hilarious and peaked in the finale.

Couple you would like to see: Biyozaaaaaaaa.

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: n/a.

Favourite outfit: Emori’s blue wardrobe owns me.

Favourite item: Raven’s raven necklace :’)

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: nooooope.

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: beachkru is doing alright I guess, now that Clarke left for the woods.

Most boring plotline: s2. I KNOW it’s a fan favourite. Raven had some good scenes, Murphy’s plot was more engaging. But the central stuff/how Clarke-dominant it was? Zzzzzzzz.

Most laughably bad moment: Clarke’s “u want me to be the bad guy? Fine, I’ll be the bad guy”. Ma’am.......

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: the flashbacks in “His Sister’s Keeper” were something else.

Most layered character: Murphy. King shit given where he started xDD

Most one dimensional character: Levitt? But his one dimension is “horny for Octavia” so I’m not judging too hard.

Scariest moment: can’t think of anything.

Grossest moment: did I mention the alien butthole.

Best looking male: Lincoln is objectively pretty af but I’ve grown so fond of Murphy’s owlish face....... I like ‘em a bit weird and with big noses and sharp angles guys.

Best looking female: Emori, to absolutely nobody’s surprise.

Who you’re crushing on (if any): Emori, Echo, Diyoza, Indra (there’s always at least a MILF in my crushes list).

Favourite cast moment: Adina and JR slow dancing in character get up.

Favourite transportation: the spacefam dropship.

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): Eden was very pretty. Also that shot of the Earth on fire with Braven watching over it *chef’s kiss*

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: again, I’m a pro at ignoring/explaining these so I rarely can think of anything lol.

Best promo: absent Bellamy in s7 promo. The way it drove the fandom wild, man. All the Bellamygates that were born of it... groundbreaking.

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: the s4 finale is went it grabbed me to never let go.

[luci-cunt]

Tell me about Magneto🤭

MAY YOU CAN’T SEE IT BUT IM KISSING YOU SO PASSIONATELY RIGHT NOW

Ok so listeeennnn tooooo meeeee, okokokok, so a while ago I went on this James McAvoy bender--don’t ask--and I saw he was in the X-Men movies, whic hi haven’t watched since the Wolverine movies/ Last Stand when I was like, actually a baby. So anyways I flipped them on thinking “yeah what could go wrong?” except I watched them in the wrong order

Anyways here’s an essay on why neither Erik or Prof X was right and the actual answer would be to compromise and these movies how how because they’re both too stubborn and couldn’t it destroyed their friendship and fucked everything up. 

Also the fact that X-Men: First Class is the best Villain origin story to ever cross the screen.

Ok so spoilers ahead for X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: First Class

Now, it should be noted that I’m no an X-Men expert I just love these two movies. 

So for some context: First Class and Days of Future Past are both kind of prequels, except DoFP is a prequel-sequel?? becuase of time travel?? I’ll explain don’t worry. The point is, they take place in the past where all the characters are younger. James McAvoy plays Professor X (who I’ll just be calling X for this whole thing), Michael Fassbender plays Magneto (aka Erik), oh and Jennifer Lawrence plays Mystic--who will be appearing in this essay XDD. 

Alright so first of all have a plot summary: DoFP is about Wolverine getting sent back in time so he can convince a younger Prof X to stop Raven (aka Mystic) from getting caught by this guy Trask who then uses her DNA to create super weapons that irradiate all mutants. The current future Wolverine is in, he, prof X, Magneto, and a few other mutants are trying their best to survive but it’s a losing battle and their only hope is to literally change the past. 

This one takes place after the events of First Class, which I will now explain. 

So in First Class a younger Prof X and Magneto team up to find and recruit bb mutants to X’s school because the government wants to use Mutants to help fight the Russians (oh head this takes placee in the 1960′s right before the Cuban Missile Crisis). This is essentially a Magneto origin story and also--in my opinion--the best villain origin story to ever cross the screen. 

OK so now some details on our main characters: 

Magneto/ Erik Lehnsherr: a literal holocaust survivor who’s only goal in the begining of the story is hunting/ killing nazi’s, specifically one nazi who tortured him specifically and I will get into him later don’t worry. 

Professor X: super smart rich white boy with a heart of gold but also enough naivete to make a lamb look like a Stephen King character. 

Already you can see very stark differences between the two of them. Erik is set up as being a staunch pessimist while X is a vivid optimist, and that makes sense. X’s grown up sheltered and never wanting for anythign while Erik suffered a trainwreck of the greatest traumas in human existence hitting him over and over and over again from like age fucking 9. 

Ok also tehre’s J-Law’s character Raven, who is a mutant that can change her skin to look like anythign she wants it to but her actual form is blue/ scaly/ “not pretty” (bullshit but ok). She met X when she broke into his house one night to steal some food and then they became friends, their relationship will become important later but for now that’s all u need to know. 

ok so anyways, in the begining of First Class Erik is hunting + killing Nazi’s, specifically looking for this one called Schmidt because when Erik was little he and his family were carted away to a concentration camp where Schmidt witness Erik use his metal bending powers and decided to “train” him. aka physically/ mentally abuse him for years. The whole thing starts with Schmidt trying to get Erik to lift a metal coin with his mind, when he can’t (because he’s a child who didn’t even know he had his powers until literally hours ago) Schmidt puts his mother’s life on the line and when he still can’t Schmidt kills her. This sends Erik it’s a rage and he crushes some nazi heads but then Schmidt is still standing and mentions how “oh gotcha, so it’s rage and pain that’s the key to your powers huh?” anyways this tidbit and the coin will become important later trust me--

Meanwhile Prof X is graduating from Oxford/ generally being an idiot pretty boy. He’s a telepath who knows about his powers and has used them from an early age. He also wrote some big paper on mutants, which gets the attention of an FBI agent who witnesses the villains being mutants and wants his advice

However, the villains just so happen to be Schmidt, who’s going by “Shaw” now, so when X and the agents catch up to him Erik is already there and on a mission to murder his ass. Some bs happens, Erik tries to pull a submarine out of the water but can’t (T-T this will be important) and X jumps into the water to stop him because the mental stress is literally killing him. 

That’s how they meet. 

It’s important to note: up until this point, Erik didn’t know there were other mutants, so meeting X, who’s friends with Raven, is kind of a big deal for him. He and X become very fast friends and also have a very homoerotic montage where they become dads for a bunch of mutant teenagers, because they realize they can use X to track all these baby mutants, collect them, and train them so they don’t grow up fearing their powers. 

Anyways, the other thing about this is that now that Erik has this newfound group of people that are just like him, he’s opening up, and X is helping him realize he’s actually so much more powerful when he taps into happy memories rather than fueling himself on pain and rage. This scene always makes me sob oh my god--

Also, fellas--is it gay to “access the brightest cortex” of your homies memories and remind him that hate and pain are not good motivators before reminding him that he has good memories he can draw on and showing him that his life has not been entirely painful?

YEs, the answer is yes are u shitting me??

ok so anyways--something to note about this is that X and Erik are both very protective of all their new kids, but Erik is especially so. I’m going to be getting into this more but just tab thsi thought for later :)

Now, the plot’s kicking up a bit, because it’s at this point that Erik and X capture one of Shaw’s (aka the nazi’s) main lackies and they question her until she gives them the info that Shaw’s planning on using the Cuban Missile Crisis tensions to start a nuclear war to wipe out all humans so that only mutants survive in the new world. 

Obviously they want to stop him, but also, you can kind of tell that Erik is not totally against this plan, which only gets to be more later but that’s for later. 

Right now I wanna take a quick break to talk about Raven--aka Mystic, aka J-Law. She and X were childhood friends and she kind of clung to him because she doesn’t have family/ anyone she can really be herself around besides him. 

X insistently says throughout the movie he sees her as a sister, but it’s kinda obvious she��d be down to fuck. She has this big plotline where she keeps trying to get X to understand why it’s so frustrating for her to have to be using energy to look “human.” Because her natural form is the one with the blue skin. X doesn’t understand this because his power is easy to hide, it’s simple for him to just fake-human and have no one be any wiser, Raven, however, doesn’t have that luxury and when she tries to explain this to X it just flies over his head, insisting she hide her natural self to better fit in if that’s what she really wants. 

Queue Erik, who comes in as a king of self love. He’s pretty blunt about it, but his point is basically “you’re wasting energy by constantly pretending you’re something you’re not--stop” and she responds essentially with “yeah but then no one will like me” to which he responds “then make them.”  

Raven’s relationship with both the boys is used through both First Class and DoFP to really highlight their faults. X believes humans and mutants can coexist but he thinks we go about doign that by completely ignoring the pages of history of abuse mutants have suffered--and it’s mostly because he hasn’t experienced it. 

Erik on the other hand will do everything and anything he possibly can to protect his new family/ people, and in his head that means exterminating any and all threats. By the end of the movie--humans become one of those threats. 

The point of this whole ramble is that: they both represent utter opposites, BUT, X’s blind optimism and Erik’s blind pessimism are equally bad.

Ok so back to plot for a second to prove this. 

Shaw is revealed to be a mutant himself and he also has a helmet that can block telepathy. (yes it’s the magneto helmetjasjd;fkjaskl;dfjasldkj jsut wait).

His plan’s complicated but basically: he’s going to poke America and Russia until they pop and incite a nuclear war. And it works. The whole pre-climax of the film sees X, Erik, Raven, and the other mutants all working double time to stop Shaw’s plan (AND IT INVOLVES ERIK SUCCESSFULLY PULING A SUBMARINE OUT OF THE WATER!!! BECAUSE NOW HE’S USING HAPPINESS INSTEAD OF ANGER/ PAIN!!!). 

Anywho, they’re doing all this, but then some bullshit happens, the plane they’re on crashes oh and -- yeah there’s this part where Erik uses himself as a seatbelt for X it’s fantastic but anyways--

This is finally the climax of the film. 

Also possibly the greatest scene in film history in my humble opinion. 

Because listen--in order to stop Shaw they need the helmet off of him so that X can telepathically freeze his ass and they can arrest him or whatever. So they split up--Erik rushes into the wreckage to find Shaw and X stays behind ready to freeze the guy as soon as the helmet comes off but--

Well, vengence is just too tempting. 

So when Erik gets Shaws helmet off, X freezes the guy, and he’s ecstatic, at least until he realizes Erik plans on killing Shaw. 

He’s pleading with Erik because this is vengence and he can’t chose that but Erik just puts on the helmet and--taunts Shaw, pulling out the coin Shaw taunted him with all those years ago and in a mimickry of the game Shaw forced him to play as a child and killed his mother over--he slowly floats the coin at Shaws head, telling him “I’m going to count to ten, and all you have to do is move.” 

But he can’t--because X is holding him--and that’s the point, Erik wants him as helpless as he was, and X can’t let his hold on Shaw go because that would mean putting Erik in danger but he’s also in Shaws head so he feels the coin go through his head as though Erik was doing it to him and the fucking cinematography in this scene is so fuaksdjf;laksjd;fjasd;lkfjadsl;asdjf;ljL:DKJFL:SDKJFL:D KFUCKKKKK

This scene is cinematic perfection don’t fucking lOOK at me unless you agree.

T-T and then, it only gets worse, because now Erik’s finally finished his original purpose--killing the man who killed his mother and ruined his life--and now he’s got a new one, aka protecting his new family aka the mutants. 

AND HE’S ONLY PROVEN RIGHT THAT HUMANS ARE A THREAT BECAUSE THEY TURN AND TRY TO KILL ALL THE MUTANTS IN THE PLANE CRASH AND JSUT--

And so he stops all the missiles flying their way, and turns them around on the humans and X has to stop him but he’s not listening and the rawest fucking line in the whole movie comes when X says

“There’s hundreds of men on those ships--innocent men. They’re just following orders!” 

And Erik simply replies, “I’ve been at the mercy of men ‘just following orders’--never again.” 

And then he goes to blow up the shipsthen one of the other characters goes to shoot Erik and he deflects the bullet wtihout thinking right. into. X’s. back. 

Paralysing him. 

And just akjd;fjasdflkjasd;lfkj this scene speaks for itself

Listen just--akjdsf;ljasdlk jguys this movie has no right being this good.

And then the movie closes off with X and Erik literally begging one another to just see it their way--because they both want so badly to be on the same side but they’re too stubborn and they refuse to see compromise and just ajkdf;lja;sdkfja;sdljkfsadlkf

Ok I realize now that I barely talked about DoFP but this is already so long. The major things I was going to bring up was teh absolutely fantastic bitter exes energy that McAvoy and Fassbender bring to that movie it’s excellent but also the fact that X is literally the only person Erik goes out of his way not to kill despite standing directly in the way of Erik’s goal. 

Like, you remember my whole deal with Raven??? yeah that’s x10 in DoFP (which takes place quickly after this movie) yeah so her and Erik are close, and shown to be close, but the second he thinks she endangers his fam he literally 180′s so quick and tries to straight up murder her. 

BUT HE FUCKING BENDS THE BULLET AROUND X’s HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! X!!!!!!!!!! WHO’S LITERALLY 100% AGAINST HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST

Ok, that’s all. By the way I don’t want to like, up your expecations too much because I actually kind of hate X-Men: First Class almost as much as I love it?? it’s very..... of it’s era, and cheesy, and dumb--but fucking magneto you guys holy SHIT

[bigskydreaming]

Ok so everyone and their mama is being resurrected on Krakoa and so many people in marvel have gone through the revolving door that is death. So please tell me just one little thing. Where is Irene Adler? Is she still dead? If not, then why is she only just now being brought back? Why is one of the most iconic imo queer couples still suffering? #GiveMystiqueHerWife #LetMyWLWBeHappy #BringDestinyBack

She is still dead, but she hasn’t been forgotten - this is actually a long-running subplot Marvel laid down, though I’m with you in wanting them to Get To It already. My guess is we’ll start to see more building towards this particular plotline once X of Swords is done, though it won’t actually be the NEXT major storyline. Just a hunch, but my bet is the next focal storyline the X-books concentrate on after X of Swords wraps up is the conflict brewing with the Children of the Vault, after Darwin, Laura and Synch got taken prisoner by them in one of the earlier issues of the core X-Men title. 

Alternatively, the next major focus is going to be on what’s brewing under the surface with Vulcan (though its also possible these are going to be one and the same. Gabe’s stories have always been linked with Darwin’s more than anyone else, and given that he’s front and central to whatever’s front and central with whatever’s coming with the CotV, it wouldn’t surprise me if our next face to face with Gabe’s ‘dark side’ ties into that same story. Ugh, Gabe going all Emperor Vulcan again and teaming up with the Children of the Vault....now there’s a scary thought. But dammit, just let Gabe be good, I’m so tired of this ‘there’s something just innately dark and evil inside of him’ crap, bleh. BUT I DIGRESS).

But anyway, the thing with Destiny is actually an ongoing subplot. Back in Powers of X, it was explicitly ‘decided’ by Moira, Xavier and Magneto that they were actively going to try and keep any precogs from being resurrected on Krakoa, including - and ESPECIALLY Irene - because basically, they’re afraid of the precogs, and the fact that there’s no hiding from them Xavier’s big secret.....for all his big talk, he doesn’t actually know what the HELL he’s doing. The thing they’re hiding from everyone else is that they actually already TRIED the Great Krakoa experiment at least once before, or at least to some degree, though we do know they’ve done at least some things differently this time around. 

But that was the future shown in Powers of X, where Moira ended up living 1000 years into the future before dying and resetting the timeline....and coupled with the fact that the three of them believe that they’re now on the LAST of Moira’s predicted eleven lifetimes, this is their last chance to ‘get it right’ so to speak, and to find a way forward that allows the mutant race to survive and flourish past any of the endpoints Moira’s previous lives and foreknowledge have shown....

Basically, the fear seems to be that if everyone else on Krakoa knew this background for how they came up with all of this and the futures they’re trying to avoid, as well as the fact that quite simply, they do not know if the course they’ve charted this time is going to be any more capable of circumventing the doom they keep butting up against lifetime after lifetime....this would undermine all faith in them and what they’re doing, and fracture the tenuous alliances that so far have everyone from the X-Men to Apocalypse and Sinister and Selene all working side by side. 

They ‘built’ modern Krakoa according to blueprints gleaned from actual knowledge of the future.....but they’re afraid of competing blueprints getting in the way of the road they’ve taken everyone down and derailing their own plan of action. Especially if everyone else were to find out that for all their confidence, they can’t say with certainty the road this time around is going to actually lead where they’re trying to go....and that in fact, they actually have a track record of a good half a dozen previous attempts where they got it disastrously wrong.

So even though Xavier explicitly promised Raven that he would resurrect Irene in exchange for her cooperation and her place on the Quiet Council.....he, Magnus and Moira have been shown meeting in secret to say that they are actually deadset against that happening. But Raven is no fool of course, and she’s suspected from the start that Xavier’s just playing her, and he has no intention of ever resurrecting Irene. (I mean, she was married to the man once, after all, as blergh as that Bendis-bite was. I may think it made for a spectacularly shitty and pointless story, but just saying, few people know how much shit Xavier is full of better than Mystique does). 

So we’ve been treated to scenes of Raven brooding deep in her underground Krakoan lair over a glance of wine and an angsty look at Irene’s old mask, vowing “I’ll get you yet, Xavier, and your little dog too,” because idk, why pass up a good Wicked Witch of the West allusion when its right there. Mystique works hard for her Brand, let her enjoy it.

She definitely knows the game that’s afoot, and she has no intention of letting Xavier get away with it. So she’s very clearly scheming on how to circumvent him and get the Five to resurrect Irene without Xavier’s help....but that’s easier said than done. She either needs leverage to force his hand, while still probably not knowing for sure WHY he’s stalling or trying to avoid bringing back Irene, and thus having no way to judge exactly HOW deadset against it he is, and thus how great of leverage she’d actually need to pull that off...or else, she needs a telepath she can trust (or y’know, trust that she has them securely in her pocket) but who also is strong enough to take Xavier’s place in the resurrection/brain download process....as well as needing access to the Cerebro archives where the back-ups of everyone’s consciousnesses are stored. 

(Incidentally, part of how Xavier’s been stalling here is he’s claimed once or twice that he only has back-ups stored of mutant consciousnesses from the point when he started actually preserving them, and Irene died BEFORE he started doing this so he just doesn’t have her in Cerebro, but this is pretty blatantly a lie. He brought back Petra and Sway, after all, and they very definitively died LONG before David killed Irene on Muir Island back in the day).

But yeah, I’m as impatient as anyone to see Irene back in action in all her chaotic cryptic glory, and for Raven/Irene to finally fucking rise the way they deserve. And oh holy hell is Raven’s wrath going to be an absofuckinglutely beautiful thing once she finally has her proof that Xavier - her ex-husband, lol, oh X-Men soap opera tangles - has been lying and scheming to keep her wife dead all this time. Like she’s literally said the words “I will burn Krakoa to the ground,” and I mean, its Raven. When she talks about razing Rome to ashes, she’s not joking. The woman does not bluff. She lies, she deceives, she steals, but she never ever fucking bluffs. There’s a big storm coming here and this particular one’s name is Hurricane Raven, not Ororo Munroe. I want it, and I want it nooooooooooow, lol, but I can’t actually claim that this has been overlooked by Marvel rather than just allotted a time table that isn’t to my liking because - 

OH I DON’T KNOW ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVEN’T ALREADY BEEN WAITING FOR THE RETURN OF IRENE ADLER FOR 84 BAJILLION FUCKING YEARS ALREADY, LIKE LOGAN HAS LITERALLY GONE TO HELL AND BACK A DOZEN TIMES SINCE IRENE FIRST EXITED PURSUED BY BEAR AND JEAN’S ASCENDED AND DE-PHOENIXED SO MANY TIMES DEATH HAS BASICALLY HANDED HER A PUNCH CARD THAT’S REDEEMABLE FOR ONE FREE RESURRECTION AFTER ITS ALL FULL AND C’MOOOOOOON. 

I mean.

WILDSIDE is back. After dying in Neverland in Tieri’s Weapon X run, RICHARD FREAKING GILL was brought back to life before IRENE FUCKING ADLER, I would simply like to express my undying HOOOOOOWWWWW??? to that. 

BUT.

I.

DIGRESS.

Ahem. Sorry, I just have very strong opinions on the subject of Irene, lololol. And well, everything. I probably have strong opinions on kumquats and I can’t actually recall at the moment if I’ve ever even eaten one or if I’m just particularly fond of that word and the saying of it. Look, you get what I mean.

Anyway, yeah. We’re getting Irene back eventually. There’s absolutely no way we’re not at this point. Even my cynicism can’t pretend otherwise. They haven’t just left Chekhov’s gun locked and loaded sitting on the mantlepiece here, they commissioned an entire arsenal of Chekhov’s guns and renamed them Irene Adler’s guns in her honor and left them all gift-wrapped on the front porch. Its coming. Its just not. Here YET. (Cut to me being a five year old on a long car ride are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet how bout now - )

So yeah. That’s the scoop, the skinny, the shit(ake mushroom) on this particular subject.

Incidentally, on a related note, I am still of the opinion that pretty much all of Powers of X was one giant red herring, and the real direction all of this is building towards, with Moira, with the Five and the resurrection protocols.......ultimately, I think its all really been about IRENE’S machinations from the start, and Moira and Charles have actually been marching to the beat of HER drum ever since the very first time Irene and Moira encountered each other way back in Moira’s fourth lifetime.

Basically, I think it allllllllll really comes back to the fact that....

Irene Adler is a beautiful fucking liar who lies as only Raven Darkholme’s One True Love possibly can, and she played Moira like a fiddle from Day Fucking ONE.

Full theory on that can be found here:

https://bigskydreaming.tumblr.com/post/188290623176/so-house-of-x-2plot-hole-or-lie-when-destiny

[short-wooloo]

Are they even watching the same show?

On V6E4 Youtube comments I saw someone say this:

“Aaand here it is. The episode that took down RWBY a peg from my list of favorite shows (had 2nd place, now it's not even in top 10). The episode where all of the main cast except for Ruby turn off their brains, and the episode that made me wish death to a character that used to be my favorite in first 2 seasons (Yang, aka the f***ing hypocrite!). Sure, lets be pissed at the only person who has ANY idea how to combat Salem and how all the relics works because he didn't mention that the big bad cannot be killed (because of a LITERAL DEUS EX MACHINA) out of fear of them reacting JUST LIKE THEY DID HERE!“

1.  How exactly did they turn off their brains?  By asking questions?  By being upset (something human beings are allowed to do) that they're in an impossible fight where the man who is supposed to be leading them has kept important information from them and has no plan to win?

2. How is Yang a hypocrite?  By not telling about Raven being the Spring Maiden?  What does that do?  They can't go after her, they have no idea where she is, she's extremely powerful so going after her carries a huge risk, and there's no need to, they have the relic.  And more to the point, keeping this one secret is not the same as the many Ozpin has kept, which people have died because of, no one has died because of Yang keeping Raven's secret, in fact revealing it would probably result in people dying, as it currently stands, 2 people know about Raven being a Maiden, Yang and Cinder (by the way the events happening with Cinder this volume are happening 2 weeks after the events with the main characters), by telling people that Raven is a maiden, that would put her at risk, as she is going to be on Salem's enemies list after Haven, but that doesn't put that many lives in danger, even then the only people potentially in danger here are Raven and the few people she (barely) cares about (hurting them as a way to hurt Raven), which is two, Tai and Yang

3. No, Ozpin doesn't have any idea how to combat Salem, that was the point here, he has no plan, all he's doing is holding her off, it might have been working before but after Beacon that's out the window, and that strategy means Ozpin has to win every time, Salem only needs to win a few

4. "because he didn't mention that the big bad cannot be killed" Ummm...  What the Hell?  That's kinda a huge fucking deal, they're fighting an immortal person, that's some majorly important and relevant information, they're mad because they're fighting an enemy who cannot be killed and he didn't tell them, that's not something to keep secret from people who are fighting and risking their lives against this threat, how many people have died for this?  Fighting thinking it was all for a purpose but it turns out that there is no plan and they can't hurt the big bad

5. A deus ex machina is "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel" Salem being immortal is not a deus ex machina, Deus ex Machina are solutions to a problem. They are never unexpected developments that make things worse, nor sudden twists that only change the understanding of a story. Deus ex Machina are sudden or unexpected. This means that even if they are featured, referenced or set-up earlier in the story, they do not change the course of nor appear as a natural or a viable solution to the plotline they eventually "solve". Deus ex Machina are used to resolve a situation portrayed as unsolvable or hopeless. If the problem could be solved with a bit of common sense or other type of simple intervention, the solution is not a Deus ex Machina no matter how unexpected it may seem. Deus ex Machina are external to the characters and their choices throughout the story. The solution comes from a character with small or non-existent influence on the plot until that point or random chance from nature or karma. A sudden out of nowhere solution to Salem being immortal?  That's a deus ex machina,

6. They reacted the way they did because they had been lied to, they have been willingly fighting and believing that what they were doing was going to help them win, but they just found out they were only holding back the tide, not contributing to victory over Salem, but also that countless others had fought and died believing the same thing, if Ozpin had been upfront and told the truth about Salem's nature and lack of a real plan as soon as possible then yes, they still would have been upset, but they would have had time to think and process, instead they found out from someone else at the worst time and worst way that they had been lied too, and after Oz had promised no more secrets

[sserpente]

In a heartbeat (Chapter 27)

A/N: You asked for a new chapter and of course, you get a new chapter! 😈 Please note that starting from this chapter (27) there will be potential spoilers for Infinity War!

Three weeks with the Trickster God felt like a year full of mischief, joy, love and excitement. You spent most of your time cuddling, reading, fucking and eating. The amount of Midgardian things, including movies, dishes, outdoor activities and work-related stuff, you were yet to introduce him to, kept growing.

It was like being on vacation and stuffing as much action as possible in but a few days. Day in and out, you took him to your favourite places, made him taste your favourite food and had him watch your favourite movie and TV shows—he was particularly fond of Game of Thrones. In return, he started training you again—and by now, you had become fairly good.

It all seemed so perfect, like everything you had ever wished for. Loki was yours, you were Loki’s. You were happy. He seemed to be happy. But perhaps this was your first mistake. To underestimate the infamous calm before the storm.

You had gotten used to being sore in the morning, when your alarm clock went off and you forced yourself to work. The more time you spent with Loki, the more you familiarised yourself with the idea of giving up your job to go to Norway with him. Several hours of the day were lost when you typed away your articles in the office, regardless of his amusing visits every now and then.

It was one of the mornings Loki decided to wake you up by burying his head between your legs, having breakfast in his very own and very naughty way. Your eyes flew open in a daze, pleasure cursing through your sleepy body.

The moment you realised his affection was hardly a dream but real, he had already forced you headfirst into a mind-blowing orgasm. Moaning his name, you ran your fingers through his raven hair, reluctant to pull away even when you started squirming from the overstimulation.

He grinned devilishly when you finally managed to push him off you, his thin lips glistening with your juices.

“Good morning, little minx.”

“I could get used to this kind of alarm clock.” You teased. “Good morning.”

Loki chuckled. As he crawled back up to kiss you, hovering above you protectively, you felt so content he was with you the feeling almost had you cry out of pure content.

“I am this close to calling in sick and spending the whole day in bed with you.” You exclaimed, holding up your fingers to symbolise half an inch.  

“As much as I would love the idea… I will not have you neglect your work.” And that was mainly because he had found a new hobby in haunting Ricardo as an invisible guest in the office. The amount of times he seemed to misplace items, drop things and trip appeared to be highly suspicious, yet you only smirked and kept quiet.

“Fine. Let me go take a shower then.”

Your half-hearted struggles to get away from him were only interrupted precipitously when someone started ringing your doorbell.

“And answer the door.” You added, nodding. You would have to put on some clothes for that first though.

Interesting, really, for usually, the postman didn’t make it to your apartment until ten. When the unknown visitor, however, added his fists to bang against the wood of your door, you frowned. Loki shot up from the bed in an instant, seemingly ready to manifest some daggers to defend you.

Your heart almost melted at the thought and yet, you let out a sigh of relief when you heard Thor’s voice outside your apartment.

“Loki? Loki! (Y/N)! (Y/N)! Loki! Are you here? Is anyone?”

“What’s Thor doing here?” You asked, moving to look the God of Mischief in the eye.

Loki’s blue eyes met yours, his face expressionless. “It can’t be good.”

It was all he said before rushing over to the door, magicking some garments on himself as he approached it.

“Brother.” Thor was wearing casual Midgardian clothes to blend in. The artificial light in the hallway reflected in his metal eye patch, his brows furrowed as he stared Loki down. “We need to speak. It is urgent. (Y/N).” His gaze turned to you, dressed in nothing more than your bathrobe.

He smiled, then hugged you briefly, much to Loki’s dismay. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“I see you, uh, you and Loki are finally…”

“Yes.” You confirmed gently.

“Thor, what is it?”

The Thunderer sighed. “Heimdall can sense it, we have told you before. Disruption, imbalance.  Someone… something is coming, he has been worried for days. The people are starting to notice, they are anxious and they need you to reassure them.” Hearing such words from his brother must have been pure satisfaction, knowing that not Thor could calm their folk but only their rightful king. Loki must have done an incredible job in Norway, after you’d left.

Yet, he hesitated. As he pursed his lips and shot you an insecure glance, you could clearly tell whatever he feared Thor was talking about, was to remain a secret. You had long ceased to question the God of Mischief’s choices—all of them he had purposely, carefully crafted, after all and all of his actions made perfect sense one way or another. You trusted him to make this right.

“I get it. I’m late for work anyway. I’ll be back around six, should I bring some takeaway with me?”

Smiling sweetly, you stood on your toes when he nodded, leaning forward to kiss him. Then, you disappeared into the bathroom and got ready, trying hard not to eavesdrop. You soon realised it was pointless, for Loki had already used a spell to avoid any unwanted ears.

“(Y/N)? Do you have a moment?” You looked up from your laptop when you heard your bosses’ voice. There she stood, next to your desk, impatient and quite frankly… not pleased.

Uneasy, you cleared your throat. “Um… sure. Is there a problem?”

“I’m afraid there is. Have you submitted the proof-read articles to Sarah yet? They were due this morning. It’s noon now, she just called in and told me she hasn’t received a thing.”

Instantly, your eyes widened. “Oh, shit! I am… I am so sorry. I forgot. I will send them right away.”

Your boss nodded. “In addition to that, that article you were supposed to write about Karl Lagerfeld… it’s full of mistakes. You usually write the best stuff, (Y/N), is everything alright with you?”

One of the likable things about this magazine was that its producers were actually humane.

“God… I… I am, really. It’s just…” You still hadn’t heard from Loki. Ever since you had left this morning, leaving the brothers behind, your surroundings were eerily calm. Loki usually announced himself by messing up Ricardo’s desk, today, however, the office was unusually quiet.

“My… boyfriend, it’s complicated… he might be in trouble. I really am sorry, this won’t happen again.” Only when you spoke it out loud did you realise that your words could, in fact, be true. Disruption, imbalance… what were they going to deal with?

She nodded once more. “Don’t worry about it. Send Sarah the articles and proof-read the one about Lagerfeld again and I’ll be happy to send you home early.”

“Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.” With one final nod, your boss turned on her heel and left the office to return to her own. You listened to her heels connecting with the floor again and again when suddenly, you felt a pair of arms gripping your shoulders. Flinching, you suppressed a scream and turned around, almost falling off your chair in the process.

“Loki! Are you mad, don’t scare me like that!” You hissed, glaring at him as you did. It took you several seconds to notice your co-workers were able to see him as well—and right next to him, there was Thor, the same concerned expression on his face as before. Whispers echoed through the room.

“We need to leave. Now.” Loki stated, his stern tone allowing no contradiction.

“W-what? What do you mean, we need to leave now? I can’t leave, I’m at work!”

“(Y/N), I will not ask you again.” His blue eyes were sparkling with panic. Something was up. He instantly infected you.

“Where to?” You muttered, swallowing thickly.

“Norway. For now.”

Thor took a deep breath. It was clear he was already repeating himself when he spoke up. “Loki, do you truly think it’s a good idea to bring her along? She’d be much safer here, among—“

“I will not leave her behind, brother.”

“Guys… I can hear you. And so can everyone else. Loki, please calm down. What’s going on anyway? Can you tell me?”

The Trickster shook his head.

“Not here. We leave now. Come on, little minx. Please.” Please? He had sounded harsh at first, now, however, he seemed almost desperate. Sighing loudly, you nodded and stood from your chair.

“How did you get here? I mean, how did Thor get here?”

“Strange created a portal for us. We don’t have much time.” Loki explained.

“It’s how I got here so quick.” Thor added. “It’s in the tiny room back there.”

You had no time to pack, no time to question, not even time to let your boss know you wouldn’t be sending that e-mail after all.

Your limbs were shaking when you allowed Loki to wrap his arm around your waist and lead you to the copy room, an orange portal already throwing sparks in the middle of it—the other end promising the vast landscapes of Norway and a bunch of Asgardians scurrying around like ants.

Then, you stepped through.

A/N: I was thinking about how to get to Infinity War without messing up my  plotline for a long while. This seemed to be the best way to go with it in the end, letting RC and Loki spend some more time together before the next catastrophe approaches and destroys the peace that was already so hard-won at the end of Thor Ragnarok. Now... what do you think is going to happen next?

[head-and-heart]

The 100 Highlights - “Acceptable Losses” (5x07)

Hey guys! 

I’m back to do my highlight recap of episode 5x07, “Acceptable Losses”, written by Jeff Vlaming. I am really happy to say that I enjoyed this episode a significant amount more than I did the previous one, and I’m really excited to dig into it with this post. 

If you would like to view my other highlight posts you can do so here. 

“She was shot, Marcus. Octavia Blake killed her - not me.” 

^ Okay so I want to start of this post by talking about this line from Abby because I honestly think its really important. The fact that Kane was sort of implying that Abby was responsible for that girls death was really rubbing me the wrong way because, like, yes: maybe, if Abby was well, she would have been able to save the girl. But you can’t get a drug addict to fix themselves just by asking them to. And you can’t expect them to be able to fix other people too. As much as Abby may want to stop, that’s not how it works. I don’t think anyone should be blaming Abby for the death of that girl. It shouldn’t have even been Abby’s responsibility to treat her, to be honest. Jackson is a doctor, too. And he’s in a way better condition to handle that kind of situation at the moment. Obviously they wanted Abby because they can use drugs to get her to do what they want, but it doesn’t seem right for Kane to put that guilt on Abby’s shoulders. 

It just reminded me so much of Abby saying to Raven in 4x03 that the radiation wasn’t killing that child - she was. It’s not true. Raven didn’t kill that girl, and Abby didn’t kill this one. It was Octavia. 

Also I know everyone’s having fun hating on Kabby this season but I must have missed the memo cause I don’t really know why y’all hate it so much

Anywayyyyy

Harper SPOKE

“Funny, that’s the same thing we said about getting back down to the ground. And then we found you.”

LISTEN. I don’t know why y’all were hating on Bellamy for “shooting Octavia down” in this scene. The way she was talking to him in this scene absolutely SCREAMED manipulation to me. I was so happy when he said this to her - like, we’ve been waiting for seasons for him to stand up to Octavia, and finally he is. It’s a lot better than him just sitting there in silence, taking whatever she was probably about to throw at him once she had his sympathy and compliance. 

Also, WHAT A DRAG. This writer has all the one-liners, damn. There was so much sass in this episode - I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

Okay, I REALLY love that they brought back Jasper’s suicide letter again in this episode. It was just SO important. So easily they forget about characters who have died on this show and what they meant to the people who are still alive, and I’m happy that that doesn’t seem to be the case with Jasper and Monty. Jasper’s presence in this episode felt like the callback this season needed - it helped me feel a lot more connected to the show, and to the characters. It was a well-needed reminder of the heart of this show and what it’s about.

Also, it is absolutely necessary to give ALL the kudos to Tree Adams for the work he has done this season (and especially in this episode). It’s crazy how much that man has managed to emote with his music. His presence on the crew of this show has served to elevate it in every single way. When I heard “The Awakening” being played over the scenes revolving Jasper ... it was A Lot fam. I think it is the most tragic and beautiful song that they have done on The 100 and it is also very deeply linked to Jasper as a character and everything that he went through. I love that, even though that song is from Season 3, they have continued to bring it back for both Season 4 and 5. It shows that they remember where they came from, and the journey that has brought us to this moment. 

It Just Means A Lot.

Actually, everything to do with Monty and Clarke in this episode was INCREDIBLE. Man, I really felt their dynamic. They connected so well and it just made me really emotional. They used to be such a team ... Before. It’s nice to see that they can click back into that place so quickly again. Them teaming up ... it almost felt like old times. 

“Monty, you can’t pick a lock with pruning sheers.” “Ye hath little faith.” 

Thanks to this post here I am now aware that this is exactly what Monty said to Jasper in 2x07 when they were trying to unlock another door and Now I’m Sad (and yet also really happy that they put so much care and detail into this episode?).

Monty was just amazing this episode - like damn he’s so smart. He’s such an undercover badass. We don’t appreciate him enough. 

I have to hand it to the writers with this one cause I really did NOT see that worm thing coming lmao. I was SO sure that we were about to get a cannibalism reveal and I’m pretty sure the writers are well-aware of that. They were having fun with us. 

But on another note, I’m actually really happy that they brought the worms into the story. Otherwise, 5x05 would have pretty much just been a filler episode with no real significance. But, in doing this, they’ve made it so that episode is even more relevant than we thought. AND WOW WHAT A FUCKING TERRIFYING WAY TO DO SO.

BELLAMY AND MONTY AND CLARKE HAVING A CHAT JUST LIKE OLD TIMES WOW I’M EMO

We can’t forget they were the OG murder trio of 2x16 i love three pals bonded through the blood of their enemies

“Be diplomatic.” “Get out.” “Real diplomatic.” I LOVE TWO (2) COMEDIANS WOW BELLARKE REALLY HAS ME SHOVED STRAIGHT UP THEIR ASS HUH

“Clarke, he was there when Pike shot her and killed 300 of her people.” I know everyone is really mad about this line but on rewatch I noticed that they changed this line from the script so that it puts the blame for the massacre on Pike’s shoulders rather than Bellamy’s and while I do think it was a bit of an awkward placement, I appreciate that they changed the line so it didn’t feel like such a punch in the face. 

Also, Clarke’s pause and then “I’ll go with him”? Peak comedy. I love a woman.

“When I was a kid, after the battle of San Francisco, I watched the evacuation on TV. Thousands of refugees being packed into aircraft carriers. I remember seeing soldiers pushing helicopters overboard just to make more room, and Diyoza was there. She was the one giving the orders. The machines were expendable, but the people weren’t. But up in space, when we reported that the miners were getting sick, Eligius saw it differently. Order Eleven came down: ‘Bring home the Hythylodium, leave the prisoners.’ Like they were garbage. Captain Stevens agreed and I didn’t.”

There’s something so compelling about the way Jordan Bolger delivers his lines. It reminds me of him talking to Clarke in 5x03 - I could listen to him talk about his backstory for hours. When he speaks he just has a way of captivating the audience. And also CHARMAINE DIYOZA WAS A MFING WAR HERO AND I WON’T HEAR ANYTHING ELSE. Damn, she continues to be the absolute best. 

“So you see, Diyoza’s not as bad as you think and I’m not as good as you hoped.” WHAT A FUCKING LINE.

I am living for Zeke’s character and his relationship with Raven is so intriguing. Jordan and Lindsey have such great chemistry.

“An honest spy is either incompetent or working an angle. Which are you?” CHARMAINE TRULY CAME FOR HER LIFE GOD SHE’S SO SAVAGE I LOVE A WOMAN

“Karina died because her doctor was too high to operate.” “Really? And here I thought it was the bullet.” THANK. YOU. 

The way Charmaine calls Kane out in this scene really just made me want to like, pump a fist or something, lmao. When he’s like “maybe it would be a good way to get rid of some of these ...” and she says, “What, Kane? Undesirables?” I. FELT. THAT. 

“Kind of like sending 100 juvenile delinquents to die on the ground. Or abandoning 300 prisoners on an asteroid?” You know, I really didn’t expect Charmaine - of all people - to bring back this old argument from Season 1 but I WAS SO HAPPY THAT SHE DID. Say what you will about Diyoza but she’s nothing if not loyal. She’s not here to abandon her troops and she’s not willing to discard any of them - just like she wasn’t willing to abandon any of those refugees. The fact that she’s so open to allowing defectors into the camp at all, that she is feeding them, giving them shelter, actually sitting down to have chats with them is just so ... uncharacteristic of a “villain”? And I love it. 

“Trust her? She’s a drug addict. ... Too soon?”

Literally me, every time Diyoza opens her mouth:

Got to take a short second to say again how interested I am to see how this whole Gaia/Madi plotline is going to play out, now that we know that she is actually here to keep her safe. It’s such an interesting dynamic, with her being so close to Octavia.

I know a lot of people are annoyed that the flame is still part of the show but honestly, I think it makes a lot of sense (considering Madi’s position as a nightblood) and plays a lot more interesting of a role now that the time of the Commander’s is supposedly over and their faith has been destroyed ... almost. In any case, I’m pretty sure that the flame will be gone for good by the end of this season because I think that whatever happens with Madi and Octavia’s reign and Wonkru is going to lead to its destruction, but in the meantime I really don’t mind it being part of the story.

I have to talk about the scene where Gaia shows her the flame because I LOVE how it was filmed. The music was so eery and fit the mood perfectly, and the fucking whispers??? We’ve never actually seen how a real, living nightblood reacts to the flame and I think it’s actually super cool that Madi can feel a bond to it - it was literally beckoning to her. It was giving me major Lord of the Rings vibes. 

And wow, Lola really killed that scene. You can clearly see the way her emotions are creating inner turmoil for her. She’s been hiding from the flame since birth and yet she also cannot deny the draw that she feels towards it (again, like Frodo with the ring). Lola has such a potential as a little actress - I’m really excited to see where she goes.

Side note but ... who’s going to tell these writers no one actually refers to their sibling as “big brother” just casually? 

“There are times in war where you have to do the wrong things for the right reasons.” And I’m sure this is exactly how Echo justified every single thing she did pre-Praimfaya too. I have to admit that I actually liked what they did with Echo this episode just because it shows that she still has areas that require growth. Her priorities and loyalties changed up on the Ark but she has yet to be truly tested. This is her test, to see how much those six years really changed her. If this episode is an indication, her instinct is still to fall back into old habits during times of war. I’m optimistic that what this means is we are going to get to see Echo have real development, on-screen, this season.

Monty reading Jasper’s letter ... I Am Not Okay. 

Again, loved all the callbacks to Jasper in this episode. It’s really interesting that his character arc has carried over from Season 3/4 and seems to have reinvented itself in Monty now. I’m hopeful that Monty isn’t going to go down the self-destructive path that Jasper went down, but that he might actually use Jasper’s memory to pave the path towards real change. We rarely get characters who want to end the fighting rather than continue it - I’m interested to see where Monty’s character arc goes as the season progresses.

“Jasper was smarter than all of us [...] If the war is the only way to have the last survivable land on Earth, then maybe we don’t deserve it.” He’s not wrong ...

Octavia throwing a skull at her mirror in rage ... I just have to laugh

“If we lose, [you helping Kane escape] will be why. How does that make you feel?” “Awful, and I’d do it again.”

LISTEN INDRA THIS SEASON IS EVERYTHING. She’s one of the few characters who is not afraid to call out Octavia on the way that she is leading. She can see so clearly through Blodreina’s bullshit and yet she loves Octavia despite it. That’s Strength.

“I miss him, too.” Lemme just go roll into my corner and CRY MY FUCKING EYES OUT because Bellamy and Jasper was one of my all time favourite dynamics and I miss it so much

“Make algae, not war. That’s cute.” IT IS FUCKING CUTE BELLAMY ALL RIGHT

“If the early batches don’t kill them like they nearly did us.” “That’s before I got the recipe right, and you know it.” I STAN

Seriously, though ... Monty is just SO (so) underrated. 

BELLAMY BLAKE HAS A FUCKING DIMPLE ON HIS RIGHT CHEEK AND I WAS NOT EVEN FUCKING AWARE OF THIS FACT BECAUSE IN ALL THE FOUR AND HALF SEASONS THAT CAME BEFORE THIS THE CAMERA HAS NEVER FOCUSED ON HIS SMILE LIKE THAT BEFORE SO YEAH I AM SALTY BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED OF THIS CUTENESS GOOD NIGHT

“75% of your people are dying.” “Well, that’s good . . . For Octavia.” The casual way she delivers this line askqiakdksansks i stan a comedian

LISTEN. The reveal of Diyoza being pregnant LITERALLY made me gasp. Out loud. I literally jumped off of my couch and cheered. I am SO excited about this reveal. I didn’t think they were going to actually use the fact that that Ivana was pregnant during filming in the show because they had her taking tequila shots in 5x05 (*sigh*) but I’m really happy that they decided to. It just adds a whole extra layer to Charmaine. She’s not just a leader - she’s a mother. And I do wonder at how that might affect Abby’s and Charmaine’s dynamic, because that’s one thing they both have in common. 

Another reason I really liked that reveal was because I think Charmaine being pregnant gives her a higher chance of surviving this season. She still may die, but it’s a lot darker to kill off a character when they are carrying a baby inside of them than when they are not, and I know the CW has regulations on that kind of thing. 

That being said, Karina was heavily implied to have been pregnant and she still died ... Although they did cut out the lines that explicitly stated she was pregnant from the script so maybe her death was why?

Anyway, I’m really excited about this plotline.

Raven looking at a beaten up Shaw with tears in her eyes ... this is the angst I live for. Man, I could get invested in this relationship. Not to mention, Zeke becoming one of the prisoners is SUPER intriguing. His role within Eligius is what kept him conflicted before, but if Eligius has rejected him too now, who will he become? What will he do to help Raven and the others? Right now, I’m sure he wants nothing to do with her but I know that won’t last forever and I’m really excited to see what they do with his character.

I know that Madi beating Ethan in that fight was a TERRIBLE idea but I’m really excited about it. Madi has surprised me as a character (in a good way) because she has so much of her own agency outside of Clarke. I think the story of her struggling with her hero-worship and glorification of Octavia versus her love and loyalty to Clarke is super interesting. She may be fucking everything up but she’s doing it on her own terms, and that’s exciting, because Madi easily could have been written in as a plot device to cause conflict between Clarke and her friends as well as within the Grounder system. Instead, the writers have given her flaws and strengths in her own right. She is way more fleshed out as a character than I was expecting going into Season 5 and I think this story with her and Octavia will be really interesting. 

Also, I 100% predicted that Madi would be Octavia’s second in my spec masterpost months ago. In fact, a lot of my spec about Madi and Octavia has been taking shape pretty nicely so I’m really interested to see if the rest of my spec regarding that relationship follows through too ...

Clarke taking the radio and calling Diyoza just like she called Emerson in 2x16 ... damn. DAMN. Nice to see the return of “you may be the Chancellor, but I’m in charge”. She’s So Powerful.

BELLAMY AND CLARKE STARING DIRECTLY INTO EACH OTHER’S EYES DURING THE ENTIRE RADIO SCENE UNTIL BELLAMY COULDN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE AND TURNED AWAY AM I SENSING SOME TENSION HERE

But seriously, he knew exactly what she was going to see even before she said “That’s why we’re going to take her out.” Even after six years Bellamy can read her so well

I’ve been waiting all season for the turbulence I was promised and OH BOY AM I READY FOR THE ANGST

HAKELDAMA 2.0 HERE I COME

BOOM. Out.

That was a KILLER episode. It took me forever to get through this recap because there were so many aspects of the episode that I really, really enjoyed. It hit all the right emotional beats, the music was on point, and the plot was super intriguing. It really feels like the story is picking up and I am SO excited to watch 5x08.

It’s going to be harder for me to keep on top of these recaps for the rest of the season as I’m going to be very busy (and I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to watch most of the episodes live) but I’ll do my best to get them all done. I can’t promise that they will all be completed in a timely fashion (before the next episode airs), as I have been doing them thus far, but I’ll try to get them done when I can!

Thanks for reading!

[melete-the-melodious-diva]

Alright, time to dump my thoughts here about RWBY Volume 6!

Definitely my favorite Volume so far. The first one where Team RWBY is back together in the new artstyle, and they all look gorgeous. The animation this time around looked wonderful, and it helped the story tremendously to have more access to different models and expressions for the characters so the story could be more show and less tell.  The general consensus seems to say this volume was amazing at the beginning, and then faded into decent in the last five episodes. I’d actually pinpoint the problem at the last episode, but I will say the Cordovin “arc” was poorly paced and did not help with the character development at all. This arc entirely existed so we could get a Shadow of the Colussus fight, and that’s an issue when the arc takes up a precious four episodes of time to introduce and complete.  That said, I’m going to try and separate this into different arcs and espouse the merits/demerits of each

1- Train 6/10

 Cool fight scene, nice to see QRWBY fighting together. Also did well by introducing Maria as crazy but with common sense, and sowing more seeds of doubt about Ozpin.

2-Ozpin Backstory Arc 10/10

This is my favorite arc in the show and one of the best done in the entire show. And I’m not saying that because of the lore dump, that’s nebulous.  So the episode where Ozpin actually loses his cool and the lamp was done amazingly well. Even when losing his composure, Ozpin is very quick to try and focus on the task at hand and be pragmatic about this situation. Not to mention, Yang’s constant prodding is very unwarranted and it shows how Raven’s seeds of doubts mixed with Yang’s temper have brought out the worst in her. Oscar, for as little screen time as he gets in this series, also has one of his biggest defining character moments by willfully defying Ozpin and airing his thoughts to everyone else. Oscar hasn’t had much character establishment. We know he’s not exactly fond of Ozpin just because of the current situation, but he’s not overtly antagonistic either. However, he was having none of Ozpin’s shit the moment Ozpin willfully continued to lie to Ruby. So the actually backstory. Holy shit. Not only does it humanize Ozpin and make it clear that this guy does not have all the answers, but it also gives far more complexity to our main villain. You’re not meant to sympathize with her now, but you understand how Salem became a vindictive witch of the Grimm. She’s been warped by centuries of grief and a lack of self-determination, all compounded when Ozpin tears away her happy ending from her when he tries to steal their children away. Also, now the story finally has a freaking endgame! This backstory helps contextualize the journey of our heroes and what they’re doing. It wasn’t outwardly spoken, but the message was clear from Ozpin’s actions. Humanity is fucked if the gods come back to judge it. Our heroes don’t have to be opposed to Salem’s ideals or plans(whatever those are), it’s just that her methodology of gathering the four relics will kill everything because humanity doesn’t have its shit together. I will admit that Jinn’s genie nature and the obvious specificity of the “Can I kill Salem?” were a bit too on the nose, but hopefully the series won’t string out that plot line for more than a volume.

3- The Apathy Arc 8/10

Goddamn if there was ever a time for RWBY to do a horror arc, it chose the literal best setting and time to do so. Ozpin is gone, everyone is in shock and feeling betrayed (especially Qrow and Yang), and a blizzard is fast coming. Everyone knew immediately that something was wrong just based on the muted colors of the house and the Ruby’s mention of how everything is abandoned rather than destroyed. The dead bodies in the beds were chilling and one of the most graphic things this show’s ever done. From there, the viewer immediately is screaming “GET OUT OF THERE”, but the cast legitimately has no other place to go unless they want to brave a blizzard. Maria was a very welcome addition to the cast, and this arc really let her shine as a dry-witted voice of reason. Allowing her eccentricity to reveal the true nature of Bartleby’s farm was done very well and nothing about her exposition or behavior felt forced here.  Qrow’s alcoholism getting worse was a very interesting character analysis because we see how much Ruby hates this, but she can’t bring herself to reprimand him. It also shows how much his broken trust in Oz has affected him, which is a wonderful lead-in from the previous arc. When the cast is affected by the apathy, it is one of the best examples of tone through visuals and voice acting that I have ever seen. Nothing is technically wrong, but things are very off. Their pupils are just a bit too big for comfort, their voices are a bit too dry and emotionless. Yang’s suggestions make sense for her emotional state after Ozpin’s betrayal, but it seems irresponsible to throw their responsibilities away for someone else to find. The actual Apathy fight itself is a nice horror movie conclusion, with no actual jumpscares, but terrifying imagery, all ending with Blake simply accepting death before we get Silver Eyes out of the situation and onto the next arc. Good conclusion by confirming that Yes Maria was a SEW as a lead in to her backstory and also in jumpstarting that plotline after ignoring it for two volumes.

3.5- Maria’s Backstory Won’t go into this much but all the character designs were gorgeous and it helps establish Maria very well and I love that Tock the Croc’s kill timer in universe was the exact same irl :D

4- Argus Pre Cordovin 5/10 (good score, means the show did as well as expected)

This arc was a good breathing point to compare to the intensity of the episodes up to this point. Terra and Saphron were adorable with their little baby and the cast’s reunion was sweet. Team JNR’s reaction to Ozpin was done really well. Jaune’s always been very prickly to Qrow about this mission, so it makes sense that he’d be super pissed about Oz lying about the mission and leaving. Nora and Ren’s anger was a nice addition. They weren’t ornaments to Jaune’s emotional breakdown, they were struggling with this information as well. Oscar’s disappearance was a dick move on behalf of the writers, because everything was set up for him to finally confront the nature of the person inside him and his eventual merge with that person. But they skim over this for a fakeout with a nice speech where Oscar just accepts the death of his personhood without resistance. This would have been not a dick move if the show’s creators didn’t leave us with a “Oscar has dissapeared” cliffhanger for two weeks. Jaune meeting Pyrrha’s mom and talking to Ren/Nora about his issues was wonderful and done super well. They really needed that discussion and I’m very glad the show finally had it.

5- Cordovin Arc 3/10

Haha little lady in a shoe with a napoleon complex. cool. why was this arc the finale fight? No seriously, the Leviathan didn’t get a fight, he just got a silver eye debuff that led to a one shot kill. Cordovin is the last fight in the series and it’s... underwhelming. Not that the animation or choreography is bad, that’s all gorgeous. But the story and characters screech to a grinding halt to focus on this fight for three episodes. No one is getting developed, The plot is just waffling so we can get a full 13 episodes before we move onto Atlas. This battle should have lasted one episode, and then have multiple episodes to focus on Silver Eyes and the leviathan. Hell, don’t even make a fight. Just have Team RWBY succeed at turning off the radar, at which a Leviathan grimm comes and starts destroying the city because no one anticipated it. Adam can still come and distract Blake/Yang from the fight, and QRWBYORNJM can have their big shadow of the colossus fight. Cordovin’s character is also woefully simplistic, which would be fine! If they didn’t give her a last minute redemption that felt horribly out of touch from the rest of her actions. It was a writer’s asspull to get everyone to Atlas, which I’m thankful that they didn’t stall on, but it could have been done so much better.

5.5 Adam Arc 9/10

God this arc was amazing. Adam’s character was never complex. His motivations were always clear, and his M.O. was rather run of the mill abuse perpetrator. Blake has a reason to sympathize with him, but he ultimately used her and made her feel worthless so he could feel more powerful. However, this arc is such a cathartic and important emotional moment for Blake and Yang. Yang finally faces the source of her trauma head on, and she’s scared. Adam has taken away a part of her before, and she’s not prepared to lose anything again. But Yang’s character hasn’t changed, she still reacts to problems with “punch IT” and Blake validating her strength and comforting her  was so good. Blake has gotten over Adam, as evidenced by her actions in Volume 5, but that doesn’t mean that the scars of what he’s done don’t still affect her. I’m unsure of it’s intentionally, but the scars that Adam leaves on Blake aren’t noticeable. They hurt, they cripple her, but the cuts are on her hip, a place that would usually be covered by her coat or her shirt. It’s a good meta textual reference of how abuse usually hurts people in ways that can’t be seen by others. Also, Adam’s face reveal was probably the best possible thing they could have done with Adam’s face. After so long of making him a monster with a grimm mask, we finally see the source of his anger,and the source of Blake’s symapthy. Branded right on the eye by the Schnee Dust company. Ouch. This is not a moment meant to make US sympathize with him, that flew out the window when it was revealed that he actively abused Blake before she left him. But this moment is an important reminder that Adam is not a Grimm. His brand of monstrosity isn’t as simple as a being of pure destruction, it’s much seedier and harder to catch until he’s already in a position to kill you. Yang and Blake’s duo stab through the heart with the broken remains of Gamboul shroud was one of the best moments in this entire series and I don’t have anything to say other than that I paused the video when it happened and just stared. Blake’s reaction after killing Adam is also perfect for her. She loved Adam. She definitely doesn’t anymore, but he still was able to get under her skin and remind her of everything she hated about herself. Which is why when Yang comforts her, they add that all important piece of dialogue about Yang knowing that Blake won’t break her promise. Yang isn’t putting herself in a position of power over Blake, she is comforting her as an equal that respects her and her strength. That, and the fact Adam and Yang’s semblances are near identical, goes really far to show how much healthier Yang and Blake’s relationship is than Blake and Adam’s.

6- The Leviathan/ Silver Eyes 3/10

Gonna jump around a bit but silver eyes were finally explained in this arc. As currently presented Silver eyes are... terrible. They cut all tension out of the story when the main threat of the series can be solved by happy thoughts and puppy dog tails. Salem just becomes a non-issue if all of her forces can be killed by Ruby thinking happy thoughts. I’m hoping that some sort of catch or consequence will come later. Like: Using the power of the Light diminishes your own light, and therefore would give Ruby more destructive impulses because she simply has fewer protective impulses to draw upon. Ruby doesn’t even get tired when using the dang things. As they currently stand, Silver eyes will cut the tension out of any Grimm encounter. In the post credits scene, we see Salem making her flying monkeys. Hooray, wicked witch of the west. Problem. Why should this have any meaning? Ruby can just kill all of those Grimm at once. This doesn’t negate every conflict in the series, there’s still the problem of the asshole humans/faunus, but the show’s main villain and her main method of attack are just nullified now. The one good thing about this is Maria’s confirmation that no one knows wtf silver eyes are. Qrow and Ozpin know about them, but Maria’s explnation strongly imply that no one actually knows how they work. Oz and Qrow likely just knew that Summer had the power to kill Grimm and just didn’t know how she did it. This makes the previous volume’s act of ignoring the things at least slightly more palatable.  So the Leviathan. Ruby’s conclusion to the Silver Eyes arc by activating them all on her own. This was mostly just a montage to redraw scenes from the show and get a Summer Rose face reveal. There wasn’t a story purpose, and the character purpose was very thin because we really don’t learn anything about Ruby here. We know she’s haunted by Penny and Pyrrha’s deaths. We know she enjoyed her time at Beacon and likes her teammates. We know she loves her mother and looks up to her. There’s nothing new presented here about her, she just has to go through a series recap to activate the eye death lasers.  Hate to end it on such a negative note, but I really do love this volume wholeheartedly, including the parts I rated low. Here’s to waiting until next October! haha.... expect fanart of Neo and Cinder by the by

[tanoraqui]

Some thoughts on The Raven Strategem, while I sit here tragically bereft of both The Stone Sky (next Hugo book I really fucking want to read) and Revenant Gun (last MoE book, which I SHOULD put off until I read all the other Hugo noms but lbr if my hold comes in that’s like...50/50 chance at best):

The Raven Strategem is the Mwennin story of building a path to your enemy on the backs of your dead soldiers. Cheris actually does relatively well at NOT doing this - as opposed to some people, coughHellspincough coughKelCommandcough - but also, this is how all war works. Children in caskets for power, suicide formations, letting sending your favorite brother to pull a suicide mission to assassinate 2/3 of the heads of state...there’s a cost, and it is lives.

This was also addressed in Ninefox Gambit - it’s a trilogy about fighting, about war. Ninefox Gambit was more about WHY people fight, though, I think. There heretics fighting for ideals like democracy vs the Kel fighting just because orders said to. Both camps, in fact, had a hidden fox in their midst - Vahenz among the heretics, revealed to have been fighting for...it’s a little unclear. She’s an “agent at large”, but employed by whom is never said. She seems to be a fairly free agent, encouraging chaos wherever she is before moving on. The other fox, of course, is Jedao, who fights, as is revealed, because some things simply cannot be borne.

Though they’re the sole survivor, neither Cheris nor Jedao is the main character of The Raven Strategem, which is neat. Oh, an inordinate amount of time is spent by reader and characters alike trying to figure out what the hell is going on in her head, but the reason the POV is elsewhere is that Cheris isn’t really having much development - she’s getting a job done. She’s the natural disaster that the rest of the characters contend with, pushing them forwards. The book suffers a little, imo, in how clear it is who the winner is going to be - we all know, or at least I sure did, in part admittedly bc I’d read the back of the 3rd book, that the real fight is with Nirai Kujen in Revenant Gun. But that IS the point. Kujen is the danger because calendrical warfare is about hearts not guns, and he’s the only person who has a goddamn clue what is going in Jedao(/Cheris)’s. The Hexarchate is fucked because they lack key information:

This isn’t Shuos Jedao

To the extent that it IS Shuos Jedao, such that it matters, Hellspin Fortress...well, he did snap, but he was never mad. He’d been coming for their throats since he was a teenager, and even if he hadn’t been, they’ve done more than Cheris can bear, too. For the exact same reasons.

Servitors are people too

(Kujen seems mostly unaware of this, too, though it’s possible he’s wised up by Revenant Gun. That may be a problem.)

So, while Cheris provides the dramatic background action, The Raven Strategem does like any really good book turns into an essay disguised as a novel. In this case, the subject is loyalty. You have Khiruev, standing in for most of the Kel as she’s yanked around by the blatantly false, induced, wrong loyalty of formation instinct - until she gets a chance to choose, first to die for a belief and then to live because, frankly, why die if you don’t have to. (Suicidehawk no longer, hm?) You have Brezan, who is loyal to Kel Command because he chooses to be - but it was never really Kel Command. It was to the people. “the hexarchate was a terrible place to live, but it would be an even worse one if no one with a conscience consented to serve it....serve, and hope that serving honorably made some small difference.” (I love him a lot.) we get that line while he’s waiting in a cell thinking that basically Kel Command can stuff it, but he needs to get back to save Khiruev - whose first impression as his general was to tell him to “help me never to forget that it’s people [raven soldiers] that we send out to die.”  Real personal loyalty is earned by looking out for those who give it, service for service. This is what convinces Brezan to give Cheris a chance, that the swarm has been looked after in his absence. This is the start of Khiruev giving her alliegiance to Jedao/Cheris, that Cheris firmly refuses Khiruev’s offer of her death. (Not one more raven soldier than necessary.)

Earning loyalty, says this book, is also a matter of vulnerability. Khiruev’s request of Brezen “wasn’t the sort of confidence you’d expect as a newcomer.” This is emphasized in the third plotline/character, Mikodez - hexarch of the faction famed for backstabbing, yes, I see and appreciate your use of irony there, Lee. Mikodez’s paramount goal the protection and betterment of his people - over and over he says, “I do my job”, and that job is the Shuos. Which is why he has a secretary who keeps trying to convince him to accept immortality and a brother who drops to his knees to call him “Hexarch” and ask to go on a suicide mission. That was the only time we’ve heard “I’m your gun” earnestly - no Kel would count, with formation instinct, and Jedao is either heavily ironic or outright lying whenever he does it. And then Istradez asks if any of it is real, or is everything a game now...and Mikodez gets right down on his knees, too. He wins an argument with Zehun by sending them all the plans he’s ever come up with to kill them. If you want to be a leader, if you want people to trust themselves to you, you have to return the favor.

Maybe that’s why Cheris gets people signing up for her ideals more than her own self. She’s too goal-oriented, too Jedao, to be vulnerable these days. Hurricanes don’t flinch. 

It’s interesting that Istradez’s fate runs up against Cheris’s insistent refusal of Khiruev’s death. But then, I already said - Khiruev’s wasn’t true, not the first one. That was formation instinct. The Vrae Tala was real. 

...all that said, I really don’t like how we still don’t, like, have a basic explanation of how calendars work? My guess is, if you manipulate time and how humans perceive reality, it can allow you further warp reality to produce the “exotic” effects. But, like Cheris caused a “calendrical spike” - HOW? Just by sitting in her room doing math? Was it all the servitors around the Hexarchate changing their clocks, or something? Did she need to be traveling, or was that purely a distraction, and she could have done this all from a hotel? I want just a couple sentences explaining that, damnit, and after that I think I could comfortably roll with it. 

Also, ngl, for Hugo’s voting...the “Not one more child” scene from Obelisk Gate is sticking with me harder than anything in Raven Strategem, so if The Stone Sky can live up to that...And we have all the other books to read :D Maybe I’ll end up writing an off-the-cuff essay on all of them; that could be fun.

[blueraith]

Some folks still need to learn how to constructively comment

Wish I could say that I’ve been writing Chapter... 12(? Legit, I don’t often remember the chapter numbers outside of the Google doc) since posting Chapter 11 (we’re just gonna assume I know where the fuck I’m at in my own story, okay? Give me this).

But that would be a bald faced lie.

(Mostly because of my sister’s graduation and all the family visiting and the concurrent back injury I was suffering. Really kills the writing mood when you can’t sit up properly to type.)

This is going under a read more, because this incident Vexed Me To The Max(TM) and triggered a Rant of Epic Proportions(TM).

But graduation has been over, and my back has been feeling great. What really kept me a bit down since all that was over and done with is that very morning I’m feeling better, I see that I have two comments on the 100 fic I’ve put on indefinite hiatus. Yeah, it’s not an active story, but I still care about it, and I’ve been thinking about it recently. So, in short. I still care about it a hell of a lot. Hell, I care about everything that I write. I’ve written fanfiction at what’s nearing 10 years now, but nothing has erased the fact that putting yourself out there in the public eye takes a hell of a lot of effort and, sure, a smidgen of courage and confidence.

Well, this lovely commenter told me that my word count was way too high, that I was slowing my story down, and that they skipped to the last chapter (from Chapter 2, they skipped 6 chapters of ongoing character development, an ensemble cast, Ark politics, and canon fix-its) “40k words and [Clarke’s] still not on the ground yet??”

This is me paraphrasing both comments. I deleted them with extreme prejudice from the fic because I wasn’t leaving that kind of useless bullshit on my work after it effectively ruined my mood for, like, four days.

Why was it bullshit? Well, for one thing taking the average word count per chapter, it’s only a little over 5k words per chapter. Look. I balance out my word counts very carefully for each story that I write. This fic has a longer than average word count compared to my more recent stuff (which is around 4k per chapter) because of all the fuckin shit I was pulling off in this particular fic. Reworking canon to better explain why the Arkers were resistent to the radiation on the ground while having the superior blood that the Mountain Men wanted without putting them up in their shitty space station for thousand of years that evolution would have actually required them to have gone through to be remotely realistic.

Jake’s alive in this fic because I don’t like dead characters shaping character development on a pre-canon basis. Personally, I dislike orphan/parental loss storylines before the specific original work has even started. I get that orphans exist in real life. But YA media has a disproportionate amount of dead parents. Eh. I wanted to do something different. So, this means there’s an entire extra character in the story that I have to write and develop.

Diana Allers actually matters in day to day Ark life instead of just showing up and nearly murdering everyone because she’s a selfish bitch for little to no reason other than to make Abby’s already pretty damn full storyline even more packed than it already was. (Seriously, why didn’t they develop Allers more? She’s lazily implemented in canon, and I hate it. Lord only knows I enjoyed Abby and Raven’s plotlines far more in several places of Season 1 rather than Bellamy’s Manpain Adventures Lite Before He Turns Into A Complete And Utter Psychopath Later On In The Series).

Jaha is far more competent and slimey than he is in the show, rather than being a foolish man who is barely toddering along in the plot towards something useful.

Abby and Jake are at odds because Jake technically betrays Clarke and allows her to get arrested in the beginning of the story. They adopt Raven in the interim and they’re all awkwardly trying to free Clarke while pretending that Jake and Abby aren’t having marital problems. Well, Jake and Abby are pretending, Raven is as blunt as she usually is and just calls shit like she sees it.

Ensemble cast. There’s literally a tag on this story that tells you all that “This Story Is Literally About Everyone.”

So.

Yeah.

Clarke’s not on the fucking ground yet. But you wouldn’t know that, would you? Having skipped past 6 chapters.

Is 5k really that long? I wouldn’t know, personally when I read a longfic, I go into it knowing that the chapters might be long as fuck because I know that I’m reading a fic that could literally take me through several days and I read pretty damn fast. Not that 40k words is really all that much when you’re rewriting a TV show using all the characters who already exist in canon and then getting into their thoughts and motivations because that is literally what books do, this isn’t a screenplay, I wouldn’t be caught dead writing one because I despise them. Sorry, but you’re getting the full range of thoughts and emotions of everyone involved. I know, that’s just awful, getting hours and hours of content for free, but god forbid the plot doesn’t run on your timetable.

But that’s really the crux of this rant, isn’t it? NEVER complain about word counts, people. Too short? Who the fuck cares? The author could be just beginning their writing careers, so to speak. Word counts of any significance takes practice, first of all. So, not only could they might or might not have the required experience to write longer chapters, they may not even want to. And that’s fine. Because they do this FOR FREE.

Same thing with longer chapters. Are you really going to come at me, nearly a year after I’ve written and posted this work, complaining about word count, as though there’s even a remote chance that I’m going to go back and edit down all of that time and effort I put into that work to satisfy your fragile reading stamina?

Pfffffffffft.

I mean, this is funny to me in some regard because I’m over here wondering just what would be a good length for this person. Part of the reason my chapters tend to be at least 4k words long is because that’s generally where I can get a comfortable amount of character interaction, introspective thought, and plot moving forward. All three of those things matter to me when writing chapters. I hate reading too short works (and no, I don’t tell these authors this. I read what they give me and just deal with it because they’re entertaining me for free) and it’s little more than characters just trading dialogue with each other. I want to know what they are thinking about as well. I want a bit of narration. I’m reading something from a specific character’s point of view, and I want that chapter to ooze the personality of that character.

These are all the things I keep in mind when I write to my word count goals, personally. Doing it in less than 3k words might be possible, but it would sure as hell be annoying.

But most of all, it just irritated the fuck out of me. Like I’ve said multiple times in this rant. I do this for free. I don’t expect you guys to know this, but in order to get these substantial updates when I can manage to actually feel well enough to write and get them published, it takes me EIGHT TO TWELVE HOURS of sitting in front of a computer screen to have a chapter finished. On a good day. Yes. Most of the chapters I put out are done in one day, in one block, and I’m often up until 5 AM finishing something up. I have severe ADHD. Sometimes it is a chore to get shit put on a page because I can’t sit down and focus my thoughts enough to sound even coherent. Sometimes I have issues keeping up with what the beginning of a long sentence was about and I have to constantly keep up with what the fuck I’m even talking about in any given thought.

So, you have an author with a severe executive function disorder attempting to concentrate hard enough to get her own thoughts in character for each and every character that is featured in any given story while attempting to resist even the most mundane distractions while desperately hoping she’s going to hit a period of hyperfocus long enough to get substantial work down, but if that happens she’ll probably forget to eat because she’s on a writing binge that goes on with actual significant work for a period of several hours.

I love writing, despite the challenges I have to deal with in order just to get it done. I love most of the comments that I receive. I’m coming off a period of extreme depression from some family issues I was dealing with. My skin is rather thin at the moment and that irritated the fuck out of me, but those two comments knocked more wind out of my sails that I really wanted them to, and that bugs me even more.

But I am more experienced in fic writing than probably your average person. This commenter pissed me the fuck off, but I’ve moved past this, it’s hardly shattered my motivation to write forever.

But a careless commenter could easily do that to someone just getting into fanfiction. And it makes me wonder just how often this happens everyday, every hour, when entitled, spoiled people who think their needs are more important than the author doing this FOR FREE decide to voice their terrible opinions on their works. I love my readers, I don’t hold myself beholden to them, but they are extraordinarily important to me. Plot, pacing, and character development are all my own when I write because first and foremost, I write for myself. It’s a hobby that I clearly have to work very hard at to even be remotely successful at, and taking anyone else’s standards into account is never going to happen when I have to live up to my own already very high expectations. But I do keep y’all in mind when I’m devoting my time, energy, and effort in. The chapter lengths I have partly exist to make up for the wait times I inevitably have between each release. I very much know that I am sporadic and inconsistent when updating. So, when I do, I want to have something that isn’t just a whisper in the wind when it finally cycles to the top of the AO3 listing.

I know there are inevitably readers who didn’t like my content, or do think my stuff is too long. That’s fine. But don’t come into my space and give me two comments that were effectively “TL;DR” and expect that not to be a slap in the face. Because it is. I have wonder if the fandom kids today even know the kind of slap backs this sort of thing would have gotten in LiveJournal.

But, never mind that. I’m a big girl, I took some petty revenge in deleting that bullshit from my boards and then setting the fic to moderated mode, but what I would like anyone who decides to read through what is actually a long winded post (all my rants are, admittedly) to learn is that you are not reading professional work. You are not reading work that has been paid for. You are not reading work that has been professionally edited. I’m not saying that you can’t have standards for fic, lord knows I have many, but I don’t go into an author’s work and leave shitty comments. Never. Constructive criticism on fanfiction keeps the author’s time in mind, their skill level over what they’re actually capable of, and whether or not they’re even open to criticism. Some authors don’t even want your advice. They just want to know that you liked it. And if you don’t, just don’t say anything. I’m not quite that fragile personally, when someone is giving me useful criticism that can be used to actually improve my quality of writing, but I will freely admit that clearly I have a sore spot about comments addressing word counts.

Get out of here with that shit.

In short. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

[fedonciadale]

The Queen's justice - episode 3 - what I liked and didn't like

This is no recap, just a bundle of thoughts on the most recent episode: I liked the episode overall, plenty of characters that were more consistent than before. Plenty of plotlines I've thought for a long time were likely to happen. Although : no GHOST, no Arya, no Gendry... The North : What's not to like? Sansa as a competent ruler who actually cares for her people, and not in a bossy way, but listening to people (makes you wonder what she did with her time before Jon left, or why Jon never asked these questions, when he is so concerned about food in the books); Sansa continually putting LF into his place, might not be the smartest move, but it's fun to watch. then there is the Stark reunion! Hooray! Bran acting all emotionally distant is no surprise, he is the 3eyed Raven now and I always expected him not to become Lord of Winterfell. Sansa haters said she was undermining Jon by jumping to give Bran the title and that Bran was suspicious of her. They must watch something different. I declare DarkSansa is as dead as she was in the seasons before and I wish the show would stop feeding the Sansa hate by teasing DarkSansa every season... Still no Starkbowl! Sansa is missing Jon, and I'm not crying, I'm not crying.... Cersei/Jaime/Euron : Have I told you already that I love Lena Headey? What several times? Well, she is great. Cersei doesn't give a fuck that someone sees her with Jaime. I think this is such an interesting character development, if you think about her panic in the very first episode when Bran caught them, then her telling their father about her affair trying to get some agency, then her 'confessing' to September Unella and now she just does what she wants. That doesn't make her a likeable person or a good Queen, but she's no hypocrite. And then Euron. I mean his teasing of Jaime. The man is a nutter, but I love to see him having screen time. Jaime is just fucked, he sits beside himself most of the time. Olenna had a great, great exit, and the Dorne storyline is officially buried, thank God! The reintroduction of the Iron Bank was pretty cool. Cersei really is quite cunning. Sansa is right to fear her. Dragonstone : Jon Snow was finally back in his glorious brooding self. The last episodes had me truly think, that there must have been an impostor. He talks with Tyrion about Sansa, like with LF in a way that tends to be more possessive than protective. 'I didn't ask', he says when Tyrion offered the information that his marriage to Sansa was not consummated. I think that Tyrion who is a good judge of character nevertheless heard the unspoken question which he answered. Like other scenes with Ramsay and Littlefinger this can be put down as 'over-protective' brother, but I say three times is not a coincidence, but a tradition and I know I wear shipper googles. If Sansa comes back as a subject with Theon and Sand or.... Dragon sighting as a nod to Jon's Targ parentage and perhaps a move of Danielle to frighten Jon. The scene with Danielle and Jon showed again how biased the leaker was. This was juxtaposition, Danielle all entitled, Jon humble (Davos, Davos!). Danielle giving all this (inaccurate) historical examples, while Jon was calling her out on her hypocrisy and refusing to bend the knee. They were set against each other. Apart from the very sloppy treatment of Westeros' history this scene could be read two ways: a setup for Targbowl or the beginning of a Romantic Comedy where the boy and girl don't like each other very much in the beginning. Since GoT is not a Romantic Comedy, guess where my money lies. That does not rule out a tryst of Jon and Danielle. I always thought that the secret parentage of Jon could very well lead to unwittingly committed incest. But IMHO it will be both, Targbowl and a tryst. Jon is now virtually a prisoner in Dragonstone and this might actually be a good explanation for his willingness to leave Dragonstone later, even on a suicide mission. Jon misses Sansa. He doesn't say so, but he wants to leave and he talks about her arguments as the arguments of his advisor. I'm not crying, not at all! He didn't call out Tyrion on his trick that he did not mention the kneebending in his letter. I feel this was sloppy writing or Jon didn't want to alienate a valuable ally, but Jon and Tyrion together were good. And Jon might be right: His not being a Stark might save him in the South or it might endanger him further. Nice foreshadowing that one! Jon and Danielle had another encounter after they were told by people they trust that they should try again. Bonding didn't really happen, they were opposed again the visuals supporting that they didn't even look at each other, although I would argue that Danielle eyed him as a possible fling when Jon walked away. It's hard to tell with Emilia. If Lena played Danielle we could be sure. To sum up : Danielle thinks Jon is stupid enough to be distracted by the mining of Dragon glass and Jon think Danielle is stupid for not listening to reason. Chemistry? Zero. I think Mellisandre is wrong again and she has a history of being wrong. She did not bring together fire and ice, this is a red herring. Just my thoughts, the MS Jonsa still sails...

[occupyvenus]

We are not okay in fact we are slowly but surely dying

eeehhhh …. okay? I mean, that’s true, I suppose. 

… are you talking about the existential conclusion that all living does indead end with death, mixed with the realization that happiness is nothing but a fabrication of your brain to keep you from being utterly depressed by all these big, deep, philosophical questions, no one has a satisfying answer too, with the only objective being for the meat-sack your mind is inhabiting to go on functioning, which is forever compelled to follow the instinct of passing on your genes to the next generation, while you slowley accept the fact that the only inherent “meaning” behind your very existence is to secure some part of you has it’s place in your species gene-pool, because that’s how “life” itself has prevailed, dreading that all your “higher-functions” are nothing but evolutionary tools to do just that… in which case, I congratulate you on your existential crisis! Welcome to the club! I would recommend checking out Existentialism, Nihilism or Absurdism to get through that phase! I mean, that won’t change that all of this is factually true, a happy mind is mostly unaware of it’s own irrelevance. So yeah, we are only staying alive to die one day, but who cares? That’s just what living is. Fuck it, let’s watch some Game of Thrones. 

Or maybe, since we are at this topic … I mostly post about Jonsa, are you worried about the ship, nony? No, my love, don’t be. We are fine. Don’t let all the leaks and spoilers get you down. Nothing that has happened in canon so far (leaks don’t count as canon) has changed my opinion about Jonsa having a very, very good shot at happening and being endgame. So calm down, my dear, everything is alright.

I’ve talked a bit about what the spoilers/leaks/boatbang could mean for jonsa and how accurate the leaks even can be. Go through my “got-leaks”, “the fuckplot is on” or “got s7″ tags. Even better,  watch the Jonny chocks Littlefinger Crypts scene one more time, that should lighten your spirit. I was heaving a bit of a doubt-phase between ep1 and 2, but that scene kicked me straight out of it. Here read my ultimate break-down for the scene. It was jonsa-gold. LF knows something is off, which means something really is off. This scene (including it’s execution) only really makes scene, if we are moving in phase two of jonsa-becoming-canon-in-an-uncreepy-way: A character in the show, other than our two lovebirds, noticing and acknowledging the possibility. 

Don’t let the antis and nay-sayer get to you. That’s exactly what they want. Btw, no leaker “confirmed” (as if they actually had the power to do so) that jonsa was a red-herring. That was a misstranslation. Let me remind you of some of the key-arguments for believing in jonsa-endgame. (vs j0nerys, because their relationship in the leaks is causing all this panic. Approach with a bit of caution if you like both ships. ):

J0nerys has not always been “an integral part of the story”. J0nrya was the major love-story of the original outline. 

The series title was “a song of ice and fire” even back then. It’s not an indication that Jon and the D are the “central” characters of the story. House Stark is and always has been, the heart of the story. The last books orginial title was a “A time for wolves”, not “A time for dragons.”

Jon falling for one of the stark-sisters was an important plotpoint. This possiblity isn’t “far-fetched”. It’s not implausible “because they thought they are siblings”. The reveal of his true parentage would have ended the “torment” over his forbidden love. 

Sansas character is still around for a reason. Her original plot-line was changed for a reason. She was updated to being one of the key-six. Grrm talks about Jons, D@enerys, Brans, Tyrions, Aryas AND SANSAS story. She didn’t betray the starks, she didn’t marry joffrey, she didn’t die. She will not play a vital role in defeating the army of the dead (compared to three-eyed-raven bran, mother-of-dragons dany, or returned-from-the-dead-azor-ahai-ptwp-song-of-ice-and-fire-lightbringer-whatever-his-deal-is-in-the-end jon, etc.). This might sound a bit awful, but the only big important porpuse I can see for her character is to be jons love interest and having an important role in rebuilding westeros after the war as queen. Okay, it sounds pretty awful, I love sansa and her character, don’t get me wrong. I know what it sounds like.That’s not how I mean that.

Grrm didn’t put the sublte hints at jonsa in his books just ~ because. He takes about a century for writing each book, he thinks a long a time about what to do. Jon being the hero sansa prayed for, cutting off Janos Slynts head; Sansas time in the vale, hiding as someone else’s bastard; ned promising her someone brave and gentle and strong - promising someone like aemon, the dragonknight (even if jons targ-name isn’t aemon, he is still a targ); the prince she wanted turning out to be a bastard and the bastard she never much cared for turning out to be the prince she always dreamed of; jon dreaming of a family in winterfell, of children alike to the siblings he lost and sansa doing the same thing; jon refusing winterfell because it belongs to sansa, when sansa is afraid that people only want her “for her claim”; sansa being the only stark who senses his death ; “stone and snow” being all that’s left of winterfell, like her and jon; etc. 

When taking the changes in book-to-show-adapation into consideration: Sansas plotline was vastly changed again (more than that of any other charcter) for a reason. The biggest impact of this change was that she was reunited with another major character pre-schedule: Jon. Coincidence? Putting her there had absolutely no purpose, they didn’t even use it to flash out “the north remembers”. The only thing it really accomplished was to give us a season full of Jon and Sansa interacting. If all of this was building up to j0nerys, why didn’t they merge their plotlines pre-schedule? Why didn’t they cut her most boring plot (meereen, by popular vote) to put her onto Jons radar sooner? That’s exactly what they’ve done with Sansa. 

D&D themselves said that their relationship will be “crucial” to watch. So far, that promise hasn’t paid off. Their interactions were intersting, but not “crucial” to the overarching plot (for now).

Grrm himself has said, that “the meerenese blot” essays, a super long analysis of Danys time in Slavers Bay and specifically Meereen, with the ultimate conclusion that Dany is set onto a dark path, perfectly understood what he was trying to do there. There are so many signs that she will turn into an antagonist, if not somewhat villain, of the story. She and Jon might hook-up (I could see D&D writing in some sexy-time even if nothing like that happens in the books), but she will not be “the love of his life”.

Last, but not least the show has been dropping subtle hints about this left and right. From the apparent Ned/Cat parallels, to their choices in lightning, dialougue and settings. From Jon staring at Sansa tits, staring at her lips after an hour-long gentle foreheadkiss and literally threatening to KILL A DUDE IF HE TOUCHES HER. Sansa realizing that he is the exact opposite of Joffrey, building up his confidence as a stark, building up his confidence of as a king, being scared for his life when he decides to go south. If you’re feeling down, watch season 6 again.

Seriously, don’t take the leaks (a super-condensed, purely verbal, biased, unconfirmed summary of what might or might not happen) more seriously, than everything that has happened in canon so far. If you work under the assumption that Jonsa will happen, so many things fall right into place. It’s really hard to believe it doesn’t mean ~something~.

Most importantly: a ship doesn’t live or die with canon. A ship lives through it’s fandom. On the off-chance that D&D only accidently created one of the best instances of subtle foreshadowing in TV-history, setting the stage perfectly for this twist since Sansa and Jon first met again on the show... On the off-chance that the universe conspired to have all of these things line up to one conclusion for no reason at all ... yeah, so what? We have so many amazingly talented writers, artists, tinfoilers and co-shippers. The fandom will stay alive, even if we truely all are “delusional”. If all of this leads to nothing and j0nerys are destined to be together, to be the song of ice and fire and even more fire, save the world and have a magical targcest!baby, well there is only one thing I can say: 

Nony, we are okay. We are very much alive and will be so for the forseeable future. 

P.S. I am only midly concerned that I’m really not sure which one of the answers applies. I know it’s one of them, just not sure which one. So I wrote something for both, just in case. 

[knightofbalance-13]

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/158855797736/one-tiny-little-unfortunate-implication-about

So, he was depressed when Raven left, right?

So, why did he manage to bounce back in less than two years? I mean, he kinda decided to marry Summer two years after Raven left.

I don’t see how Raven was a major loss if he managed to bounce back as quick as he did… Raven was defiantly a “thing he has lost and will never get again.”

Real sensitive there, Tai. No wonder Raven left you.

Let’s go

@dudeblade

THat kind of implication can be used for literally EVERY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW:

Ruby doesn’t care about her father or sister at all because she left them behind with just a note where they will worry about her constantly thus Grimm attacks!

Jaune didn’t care about his family because he left the behind for the same reasons as Ruby.

Summer didn’t care about her family because she went off on a mission where she could die and depress everyone.

I literally took the three nicest characters in the show and put in that exact implication. That does nothing.

This also implies that being depressed for two years isn’t enough time to mourn. Most fictional stories I have seen with plotlines either show them either recovering after around ten moths or never so two years isn’t that unusual. My mom broke up with her boyfriend around a year ago and she’s better now so are you syaing she never loved her boyfriend because if you are: I’mma rain down thunder like you’ve never seen!

Also: He obviously Raven as he thinks of her psoitively, he loves that he sees some of her in Yang and is visibly and aduibly hurt talking about her in V4 E9. WHat’s your counter there: He was faking it for Yang? Can’t really fake stuff liek that.

And let’s talk about Raven: She ditched Taiyang after having a kid with im, the guy who probably risked hsi ass to save her and loved her, without so kuch as a word or even care that ab Grimm might kill him in the insuing depression. She came back into Yang’s life once in eighteen years only out of a rule, abandoned her yet again this time using her brother to spit bin Yang’s face, never even considered visiting Yang after losing her arm, spit in her brother’s face and tried to manipulate him throuygh family. And that’s just the personal stuff: I’m excluding her murdering Xion Village, deflecting the blame for that, letting Grimm ransack the place and fucking over humanity juts out of pettiness. Taiyang could beat her iinto a full body cast and she’d still deserve it!

In short: Yet MORE Ron The Death Eater bullshit while pulling a Draco in Leather Pants on Raven. Just more dudeblade shit.

[luimnigh]

A Review of: X-Men: Apocalypse

I can’t believe I literally missed the Apocalypse.

X-Men: Age of Apocalypse

Directed by: Bryan Singer (ugh)

Written by: Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris.

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Lucas Till, and of course Hugh Jackman.

Score: 5.5/10

Watch If You Like: Having seen all the X-men movies, okay-ish movies that are entertaining and you need to kill two and a half hours.

Content Warnings: Hard PG-13 Violence, Mass Destruction of Cities, use of Stuffed Into the Fridge, on-screen child death.

Spoiler, as always, under the cut.

Yeah, this one… this one ain’t great, but it ain’t awful either. Honestly, it feels like a mid-2000s superhero movie. A okay quality one at that. The problem is our standards for superhero movies have gone up.

But yeah, it’s flawed. Heavily so. But it’s still an entertaining two and half hours. I don’t regret watching it, I would watch it again if it came on the television and there was nothing else on, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again. Everyone gives decent performances with the material they’re given. Fassbender and McAvoy are the usual standouts. Oscar Isaac is a compelling villain.

It’s just that the plot isn’t great, relies on a lot of worn-out tropes, has some badly-shot scenes and CGI failures, and the timeline of these movies is beyond messed up at this stage.

The Good:

This movie’s Nightcrawler, while getting less screentime, is much better than X2’s portrayal. He’s religious, but not religious self-harming, which was probably offensive to Catholics.

Everyone gives pretty good performances. Sophie Turner is good, guys, she just wasn’t given good material.

I like how it ties back to First Class more than Future Past did.

Peter’s plotline is pretty good.

There’s some fantastic scenes, like the opening and the Quicksilver scene.

The Bad:

Psylocke and Angel get absolutely screwed over by the movie. It says something when Last Stand did better with Angel than this movie did.

They fridge Magneto’s family. Again. Because they couldn’t give him any motivation beyond “I want to kill all humans again because I didn’t learn my lesson the last time”.

On this point, why the hell is Magneto living in Communist Poland? I’m sure it’s a lovely place if you ignore the whole, y’know, secret police and dictatorship. If you’re trying to lie low, maybe live in a place without a secret police? Said secret police who find out about him and come to arrest him in the movie? Hell, the last time he was in Poland, it was during the Holocaust. You’d think he’d might want to avoid the country.

Speaking of the Holocaust, the Auschwitz scene. Now, I’m not Jewish, nor were any of my ancestors affected during the Holocaust, so I don’t feel like I’m fit to debate on whether Magneto destroying the ruins of Auschwitz was cathartic or if it felt like he was erasing history that should be remembered. But I’m pretty sure having Apocalypse and his crew standing there in full costume was kinda tasteless.

While there’s a lot of good shots and imagery in this movie, there’s other parts where the CGI fails, or where things just look kinda fake. Going back to Magneto, when the secret police officer releases his hold on his bow, the arrow does not look like it would fly anywhere near Magneto’s wife and daughter.

The whole Alkali Lake plotline was pretty pointless, and served only to give us a Wolverine cameo. Seriously, it serves no purpose besides conveniently giving our heroes a jet and taking Jubilee out of the movie.

Speaking of Wolverine, that scene with Jean Grey is really fucking creepy because they seem to play up the whole romance thing. While Jean is a teenager. It gets worse when you remember who directed this.

There’s a lot of mood whiplash in this movie. It goes from serious to silly to serious in seconds. Like the Quicksilver scene, which in a vacuum looks awesome, but just beforehand the Professor was kidnapped and Havoc died, and directly afterwards they’re dealing with the emotional fallout of those events. Kind of undercuts the whole awesomeness of that scene.

On the topic of Quicksilver… I’m sorry, he’s too powerful. It feels like he should be winning this whole conflict because he’s faster than an explosion.

Why the hell isn’t Moira angry about the whole mindwipe thing? She should be angry about the mindwipe thing.

Magneto killed thousands of people and gets to walk away like nothing happened.

Apocalypse denuclearized the planet and leveled Cairo and no-one seems to be concerned for more than five minutes.

On this topic, Storm. Why did it take you so long to turn on Apocalypse? He leveled your home city right in front of you. You had friends there. They’re dead now.

Psylocke just walks away from the final fight. Awkwardly.

At this point, the timeline is just fucked. Charles, Moira and Eric should all be in their fifties but look like they’re in their thirties; Alex, Hank and Raven barely look older than thirty when they’re in their mid-forties; there is a twenty-year age difference between the Summers brothers; and why is everyone who’s being born earlier due to Days of Future Past’s timeline split in their teens when that was only ten years ago?

The dialogue is clunky at points.

The Ugly:

Bryan Singer has been the subject of multiple accusations of sexual assault of minors over the course two decades. There are at least seven victims. These accusations are finally getting traction after all this time, and I can understand why someone wouldn’t want to watch this movie as a result of his involvement.

No-one had a good time working on this movie. Bryan Singer was frequently missing (some scenes were directed by the cinematographer) and unpleasant when he was around, there was tension between him and Sophie Turner, Oscar Isaac’s costume was uncomfortable and not suited to the humid conditions, and Jennifer Lawrence described the experience as “all chaos, no fun”.

In conclusion… there’s some good stuff in here, but I don’t think I can fully recommend it. If it comes on TV, maybe check it out, but I wouldn’t really bother seeking it out.